The San Francisco call., 1895-07-21
THE CAST|RON PLEDGES,
Why the Christian Endeavor
Society Objects to Dea-
con Morse.
Possibility of a Discussion at the
Congregational Meeting
Tonight.

The members of the Young Peoples
Society of Christian Endeavor OF the First
Congregational Church are looking for
ward with unusual interest to the regular
weekly meeting which takes place this
evening. Many Of them believe that mat
ters out of the routine and fraught with
unusual interest to themselves will occur
then.
The fact is there has been a little rift in
the lutte lately which has marred the per-
feet harmony of their relations with the
pastor, Rev. G. o. Brown. Some OF the
young people are in favor of meekly bow
ing their heads at the meeting this even
ing and giving assent to all the wishes
of the pastor for the sake of peace, but
there are many others who will firmly re-
fuse to yield where they believe principle
to be at stake. 1t is the un certainty as to
which counsel will prevail that makes
every one anxious about the meeting to-
night.
All the trouble, so say the young people,
arose out of castiron vow. 1t is part of
the constitution of Christian Endeavor
societies to pledge themselves to a castlroR
VOW, and the one taken by the young
people of the First Congregational Church
i've years ago was that they were to
attend every possible meeting of the So
| time to the making of any such vow, as he
| disapproyed of pledges, but the society re-
| piled, Without a pledge we are only
mock Christian Endeavor Society" so the
| pledge became part of the constitution.
| A few months ago there was an election
a desire that Deacon Morse should be put
| on the executive committee.
| The society objected, as it thought the
deacon might try to abolish its castiron
| pledge, so the young people state that
! compromise was effected: I. Westgate, the
clerk of the church, and a great friend of
| DR.. Brown, was elected president, on the
tacit understanding that Deacon Morse
! should not be one of them.
| Last Sunday, however, a somewhat ex-
| citing meeting was held, from which every
| one was excluded but members. DR.. Brown
announced that Deacon Morse must be put
on the executive committee of the Young
Peoples Christian Endeavor. Several of
| the members objected that the time for
| the election of officers would not come for
some months, and that there was no appa-
rent reason for arbitrarily adding another
| to the executive committee. The pastor
insisted SO strongly, however, that the
deacon was elected in spite of protest.
Two of the most ardent church-workers,
James Mason and Miss Myrtle Simpson,
especially incurred the pastor ire by their
| lack of desire to see Deacon Morse invested
with office. "The pastor says now that
they must repent, said member of the
church yesterday. "Now we only consider
that they were acting on principle, and do
| not propose to see them bully-ragged. 1t
is all very well to talk of meekness. Our
young people have kept their tempers ad-
| mirably, but insinuations have been made
against those two which neither deserved
"The meeting last Wednesday did not
heal matters at all, and the probability is
that tomorrow night we will stand by
what we consider to be principle. The
presence of Deacon Morse ON our commit
tee is a threat to our castiron pledge, and
it is our duty to defend that"