Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1895-07-12


Our success In the past has been woi
along these lines The guide hoard to on
success for the future points IN no otnei
direction.
Second Past successes have all beei
won alon gthe lines of fidelity and intnnses
LOYALTY; loyalty To God and his word, 10y
ally 60 our individual churches and tbeil
interests These very SUCCESSES thrust
upon us the same course for the future
In order that we may be moro intelligent
" faithful. may l suggest that greater au
tention be paid to the study of God:
word, Systematically and consecutively
II Is the proud boast of this society and
il Is no empty boast, that it is as loyal to
lis own church as any purely Genoniina-
tional society possibly can be Statistics
recently obtained relating to the Sunday
services. the mildly week prayer meeting, be
missionary treasury, anu other depart
mpnts Of church work, abundantly prove
this Let this loyalty be as intelligent as
il is intense Let us know why We are
Bsptists and Methodists and Presbyterian 5
and I,ntherns and Disciples of Christ and
Coucregationalists and EpiscopalianS.
Let ms base our service on intelligent de-
yotion as we'll as on traditional venera-
ton.
Third. The successes of the past have
been due to certain distinctive principles,
which have come TO be known as Christian
Endeavor principles. This convention is
not an agglomeration of all kinds of
young peoples societies. 1t Is not gath
ering of musical and literary and social
and amusement societies. 1T is couven-
ton of Christian Endeavor societies. The
growth of these fourteen years is not q
happy combination of odd elements which
have come together by chance. AS every
plant has root, so every Endeavor socie-
ty has q root Rather, it has three roots:
the pledge, the conservation meeting and
system of committees by which its
practical service for Christ Is performed.
You might as Well expect plant to grow
strong and vigorous if you hack away at
its roots as an endeavor society to grow
strong without these cardinal principles ;
and yet some people have not only pulled
up the society to look at Its roots, but
have deliberately cut off one or more of
them. They could not accept the expert
ence Of ten thousand others. but must lop
off one or more of the roots for the sake of
having an original society, and then they
have wondered that it has soon withcred
and died. Originality in organization
is sometimes good thing, but 1t often
costs too much, as many an endeavor So
ciety can testify.
While there is the utmost flexibility
and adaptability to circumstances, doc
Il oh To- aan1n Sft nn1
conditions in all lands, there are also in
all lands these common and essential ele-
monts, which the endeavor society has
introduced into the organized Christian
life of young people, and which diGcrenti-
ate this society from every other. The
vast significance of this truth is found in
the fact that these three features (the
pledge, the conservation meeting, the lead
ing committees) embody the distinctive
religious idea of the society. No form
of words is contended for; no exact uni
formity of method is my plea; but for the
predominance of the supreme religious
thought embodied in the pledge the con-
secration meeting, and the essential COM
mittees, do plead.
The God-ordained purpose of the en-
deavor movement is to raise the standard
of practical devotion and consecrated re
ligious enthusiasm of young people. 1t
is constantly saying by means of the
pledge, the conservation meeting and the
leading committees: Make of your re.
ligion the first thing in all your lives
Place it before your business, before your
social pleasures. before your school, before
your amusements ;""There is one supreme
thing in the world and that is the service
of the Master" This gives
Christian Endeavor a right TO live. This
accounts for Its success in the past This
guarantees its success in the future. Not
only the success of tho movement rs a
whole, but of every individual society,
teaches us this lesson; loads Us with this
responsibility forces upon us this inevita-
bic conclusion; faces us with this necessi-
ty that the spiritual standard must be
that the means to this end
must be observed; in other words, that an
endeavor society must be an en- 1eavor So
ciety, and have the distinguishing marks
of q pledge and Ii conservation meeting
and a lookout committee, which God has
crowned with his seal Of success
Fourth. But while the absolute neces-
sity of keeping the movement true to
type, as the gardeners would say, is laid
upon US, "a necessity no less strenuous Is
ours to wisely follow the later providenti-
al paths which God has marked out.
When, two years ago, at Montreal the
was made to you, Endeavorers,
that as individuals you had unfulfilled
duties along the lines of Christian citizen
ship and missionary enlargement, who |
would have believed that your response
would have been SO prompt and generous
How you have leaped forward to your
duty and your privilege How the rapid |
OF these ideas has spread from |
society TO society, from local union to
local union, from city to country, from
state TO state and province and nation -
Ten years ago the cry was for men and |
women. That will never again be the
unanswered cry, l believe Now the i'm
perativo call is for money to send the
of ready volunteers whom. IN
part, Christian Endeavor has equiped
and called, and sent forth with the ring
ing cry of aggressive conservation upon
their lips: Hero am l. send me. "
The fact, too, that the societies Of
Christian Endeavor, for the most part
over and above what would otherwise
have been given, have put hundreds of
thousands of dollars into the missionary
of their respective boards, shows
- Cre I'D ,at..