The San Francisco call., 1897-07-09

objectors. driven TO desperation for criticism,
have complained at endeavor because. for
sooth. they do not believe in pledges, More
| than once have we heard even a man. fresh
from the altar OF benefcent 'Pythianism or
the open Bible of honored Free Masonry,
| where vows most solemn have been taken,
andy clare 81 don't like your Christian
Endeavor Society because 1 don't believe in
pledges
There is nothing in our covenant PRAYER.
meeting pledge. the Magma Charta OF Chris
! tan Endeavor," which most Christians did
! not III effect promise TO do at the altar Of
| chuEch membership; and there is positively
nothing in it tnat all Christians oug hit not to
do. We shall have much to say, also and
somewhat to do about our Cardinal cpusecra-
| tlon meetings. SO long as we remember that
jesus iound 1t necessary 10 go to the mountain
side TO hold conservation aud PRAYER service
In the presence of his Father so long Will
we deem II our hottest duty 10 consecrale and
reconsecrate our lives 10 our Lord. Ii he had
! to pray, we must We shall have frequent oc-
caslon to say that Christian EndeavoI's COM
m1ttee work and methods signify merely that
Gods business IS business, and that it ought
| To De done in a business-like way
II The average business man should attempt
| 10 cohouct mis- affairs upon the haphaZard,
| hit-or-mlss, hat-cOIlection pan--or want OF
| plan-of some churches he would be bank
rupt, ana that right early; and Chris tian En-
deavor has undertaken, rs necessary parts of
| the churches to which they belong, to put
commonsenSe ana prayer baptized method
mo me tnalrs OF religion, giving each active
lnembef some specific work for Christ and
! the church.' AnI. by the way, the true
Christian Endeavore9 puts in italics that little
| the" in the socieIy's motro-'for Christ and
! iHE Church to when the individual be-
, longs.
Some well-meaning but none too well in
| formed people to the contrary notwithstand-
| ing, CHRISTIAN Endeavor is fuller OF proper
denomlnationallsm and freer from I'm proper
sectGrlanlSm than any other on EARTH 1t be-
neves IN paraphrased statement of an old
truth-none the less true for the revision
ITO thine own church be true, ard it follows
as the night the day thou canst not then be
false to any church." Thus believing, and
win no unklnd word or feeling tor those W no
may not altogether agree with us, we find it
| quite easy and comforting to believe also that
there are other gody people besides our
/ selves; hence the joy have in in terdenomi-
national fellowship. Christian Endeavor oe-
! lleves that in INSTRUMENTATION affairs
communion Is not only ii bigger Tut better
WORD taan union: and that If we able TO
have glad interdenominational fellowship IN
/ heaven, we ought to be getting used 10 il on
/ earth.
Reading in our ibles that we NAV know
that we have passed from death unto lie be-
cause we love the brethren, we cannot under
stand now we could find out that we
saVeu II we spent our time and our energit
/ in interdenominational warfare. One OF the
late unhappy wars bravest and devoutest
! chiettains fell m0rtsliy wounded by the buI-
( lets of his OWE soldiery. Thatit was terrible
! accident, friend and foe alike sadly declared;
/ but upon many religious battlefield have
| perlshed other StonewaH Jacksons, Christian
leaders in al, churches stricken down, not by
| the enemy, but by those who ought 10 be
friends; and not by accident, but deliberately
ana Tor no better reason than that these
heroes aid not choose 10 wear the brass but
| tons mod d by "odr church."
Win white flag, upon which is inscribed,
1--WE be Dfethren, Christian EEdeayor has
rushed upon The field and declared that this
fratr1cldai carnage must cease, and henceforth
our churches will fire at Satan, and not at
each other, all the ammunition they have or
! can get. Finally, Christian Endeayor neg
| lecting no other duty, VIII ennoble Christian
citizenship until clean hands VIII cast no nm
clean votes tor unworthy men and ignoble
measures. AS members OF political parties,
we viii be loyal to our parties so long as they
will be loyal TO honor and truth. We will
stand upon our political party platform only
so long as their planks will bear the weight of
righteousness. But, ike Paul, we were free
born, and we venture to believe lhat we have
us many political rights and responsibilities
as the party bosses who claim their monopoly
OF the rights and their independence OF the re-
sponSluliities aforesaid.
We VIII stand for political intelligence in.
tegr1ty independence and industry: and we are
| rapidly reaching the conclusion that Democ-
rhcy should stand for deceucy, Repubhcanisn,
for respectapiltty and PopulIsm Tor purity; or
else we In ust c bey the divine Injunction by
coming out from among them. In palmer
English, alter we have done our best, if we
cannot clean our parties out, then should
reSoIu Iutely undertake 10 clean them up.
THESE are some OF the lessons which this
school OF methods, this Christion Endeayor
convention, Will teach in San Francisco this
year and In my ideal Southern city ne xt
yen. And assuring you of the most prayerful
wish Tor the largess success and usefulness of
TINS convention you Will pardon q parting
word by way of invitation 10 Nashville in %.
Like our acknowledgements oil the West we,
the Endeavorers OF Dixie. asked for an inter-
national convention because we need it, and
because we believe that TINS mlght1est of
modern religion m movements needed just such
spiritual uplft and strengthening as 1T
could get nowhere else on earth, California
alone excepted OF course. Come away down
south in Dixie, to Nashville, '9o."
THE PRESIDENTS ADDRESS.
A stir went through the vast throng as
"Fatber" Clark was introduced and came
forward, and the applause which greeted
him was continued all through his talk.
He said:
You can readily perceive why this year I
have chosen for the subject OF my annual
message the theme, "A world-enciIcling reli-
gious movement; now shall ii fulfill Gods
design?
AT the invitation of friends and in obe-
dience to the call OF God, as 1 believe, l have,
during the past year, been iourneying in
many lands, among people who speak many
tongues. These journeys in behalf vi Christian
Endeavor have carried me more than 40 600
miles to more than score OF peoples who
speak Lear maAy languages. One factor
lhsve iound constant III all these lands; I
have found Christian Endeavor principles
everywhere the same.
The same p,edge, the same conservation
meeting, the same general lines OF effort for
the Master, called committee work The ut-
most diversity in unesseni iia details; the ut
most similarly of purpose is essential priuci-
pies.
Societies that are widely separated in
miles and manners a. the Bengalis, who live
i'll the swampS OF the Ganges, aid the H firs,
on the uplands OF Africa, from the Endeayor-
ers of the Golden Gate ana the Alameda, have
subscribed 10 the same covenant pledge, and,
be tier still, are keeping II.
have attended conventions since last met
you, in the Metropolitan Tabrrne Gle of London
and III the Bee of Bengal, in ST. Andrews
Hall OF Glasgow and III tine ancient capital of
the Punjab, among our IrisA Endeavorers in
Be fast aud on the sunburnt pains OF South
ern India, in crowded Berlin and on the
lonely tabeIands of the Transveal among the
Alps OF Switzerland and on the vast veldr
OF the Orange Free State, girt
Stockholm and in the karoo of South
Africa in lordy Paris and i'll quiet Welling-
ton; in the Cape of Good Hope. made sacred
TO may OF you by the life aid labors of
Andrew Murray ana his associates; and every
where, amid all these dIversltits of custom
and costume, OF manners and methods, of
language and laws, | have found that the
Christian Endeavor ideals are substantially
the sam.
Moreover. the peoples whom l have seen
have been of diverse creeds and views of re-
Iigious truth. All, to be sure, have acknowl-
edged the supremacy of Jesus Christ as the
very son of God ana the only Savior of lost
cin ol1 hov RI u, n III