Omaha daily bee., 1893-06-02
EPWORTH LEAGUE SESSION
Third Annual Convention Called to Order
in Omaha Last Evening,
BISHOP NlNDrs ADDRESS TO DELEGATES
lie Discusses the objects of the Church and
the Benefits OF tho Organization
worlds Fair Sunday Open
Ing Touched Upon.

opened at the First Methodist church in this
city last evening. About $50 delegates were
in attendance The feature of the evening
was the address of Bishop w. X. Ninde OF
Detroit. There was significance in his
reference to the Sunday opening OF tho
Worlds fair II is said upon excellent
authority that the Epworth league through
out the United States will boycott the fair
II not by general order it will be through
the influence of each local organization a
conversation with Bishop Ninde at the con-
clusion of his address clearly indicates such
q procedure to be within the range OF
possibilities.
The services last evening were opened by
prayer by Rev. J. f. Moore Of Grand Island.
Bishop Nlnde was introduced and cordially
received.
"Ali thoughtful minds are impressed with
our Christian activity" he said. zone OF
the marvels of Methodist life is the wonder
full growth OF the Epworth league since It's
formation a. few years ago What dull
world this would be, to be sure, IL there
were no young people in 1t. Life would not
be worth living If it were not for its youth
Even we old people have young hearts we
love to hail the Epworth leaguers as Meth
odist young people.
"While / am a Methodist, respect all
religious denominations. There are some
people who seem to have an aversion to the
Methodist faith and would prefer to get to
heaven by some other religious path but
there are over 2,000,00O people on the other
hand who believe in the good old doctrine of
Methodism and it's Christian influences
IApplause.
Doing n Noble Work.
"While this movement of the Epworth
league has been sharply criticised in some
places have no apology to offer for your
power of organization for the general advan-
tage Your purpose of organization is one
that commands our respect. Ralnbows are
made for show and a beautiful show they
are, but human organization is made for
purpose and 1T should be a purpose that
should be attained with a success that will
demonstrate to people that you know how to
use that purpose
''If there Is one thing am proud of it is to
see the young people of our church organ
lied / feel like pointing to them and saying
to members of other churches, Behold our
jewelsp They accomplish something. They
are not organized for display. | once knew
u man that built boat which was only four
feet long and he put whistle on 1T that was
eight feet long Every time the whistle
blew, the boat stopped. Laughter. Peo-
on his boat. He replied that he liked to
blow off steam. laughter. He built the
boat more for gratifying this vanity
than to get good service out of it.
lnPrC are some people, anu nlguU Canululy
say that there are some Methodists, that only
go to u camp meeting or revival occasionally
and initiate that man by blowing off steam.
But do not speak Of Methodists generally
Srrthis respect.
"In some great cities you often see great
Gothic pile Of architecture with lofty
steeple that seems to pierce the armament
church with profuse display of artistic in
terror and exterior; high-priceu quartet
in the choir and high-priced pulpit orator
presiding over the congregation. That is
another place hat reminds me of the man
with the boat that liked to crafty his whim
to blow off steam. Applause.
Religion Beats Architecture.
'sThe Lord Jesus Christ has not much use
for the church of the golden lilies. God
thinks more of n little church with big gos-
pei than q big church with little gospel.
Applause The Methodist churches may
not all be architectural gems, but they are
monuments Of gospel. The Epworth league
is q plain organization Of young people for
the purpose of intellectual development with
view to outside efficiency. Its aim is
to promote the social, intellectual and
Christian tendencies of its members.
fl fosters moral companionship among
other things. 1t is important to realize that
no two persons can meet and enjoy comrade-
ship without exchanging influences. Moth
ing is so bad for young person as to be con-
taminated by vicious companionship. At
times the maddening torrents of mountain
streams rush down the canons and the beds
of these creeks later become dry, but the
rocks are stained with water marks. So it
may be in some of our lives There may be
stains left behind.
"How many so-called friends have proved
our mortal and spiritual ruin2 Tho Epworth
league is formed to promote the right kind
of sociablity and throw tho sheltcring arms
of the right KIND of companiouship
did like the Oxford league. Its
name was too exclusive. 1t seemed
too formal. l like the Epworth league,
with its warm sociability What privilege
people, to honor one another. Another OBJ
ject of the league is to promote intellectual
growth. l thank God every day of my life
for my rational faculties. / sometimes think
our minds We should feed our minds. AS
man thinketh, so is he. We should open
the doors of thought the right way. 1t has
wonderful influence our lives. No man
did not first think of whisky. No
man would commit murder if he did
not first think of murder. No man would
practice Christianity If he did not think
"When Tennyson died they raked and
scraped England for man to wear The
wreath of poet laureate. Finally they
picked out poor old John ltuskin and put tn,
wreath upon his brow. When he dies, who
in all England will be left to wear that gar
land of honorl In America who is left to fill
the places IN poetical intellectually made
vacant by the death of Longfelow, Bryant
and Whittier' We are not raising many such
poets now in this country. Whois there left
in literature to fill the places of Irving and
Hawthornel Where arc such writers to
day2 We must find their successors in tho
ranks of our young people. Any of US car
reach the crowning intellectual heights il
We make good use of our time. This nation
is too busy developing it's industrial
resources to rear successors TO kings o.
literature and poesy.
Hetter Fail than Open sunday.
al passed jackson park in Chicago thC
other day, | saw the magnificent dome O
the beautiful White City. l meditated OF
the pluck and enterprise that bullded thai
Worlds fair-the greatest of its kind in tn,
history of the world Yet realized that tn,
same pluck and enterprise opened the gate.
on the Sabbath day Iwould rather have tt
great fair be dismal failure with CLOSED
gates on Sunday than success with oper
gates on the sacred seventh day upon which
God rested. prolonged applause, II is
great wickedness TO open those gates OF
such n day. TApplause.l 1t is not an ex
preston OF Christian manhood. Applause
rejoice that Methodism has written on il.
banner Christian perfection Applause
IL puts ban on the dance house ana caro-