The Saint Paul globe., 1897-05-17
LOCAL EPwoRTH LEAGUERs CELE-
BRATE THE ANNIVERSARY OF
THEIR BAND.
cYNIcIsM AND OPTIMISM
DR.. MITCHELL, OF MINNEAPOLIS,
EIITs FROM ONE TO THE
OTHER
ADDRESSING THE LEAGUE
c., NJ n Church Is the Scene of
O. Number of Enthusiastic
Meetings..

nounitv in the United States yesterday
was celebrated the eighth anniversary
of the Epworth league In ST. Paul the
exercises were held in Central M. f.
church. In the morning there was a
PRAYER meeting led by Rev. I. A. OIL
son and attended by nearly 100 peo-
pie. Piano music for singing was fur
nished by Miss Edith Miller. Later
there was an Epworth league sermon
by Rev. William Mckinley. who gave
a sketch of the early life Of John Wes-
lev in a sermon on Methodism, to be
concluded next Sunday morning Ihe
afternoon service Vas opened with
half-hour song service led by b. H.
Shuman. E. N. WoIever followed with
prayer, and President Lackey, OF the
city union, made a few congratulatory
remarks to the leaguerS present on III
work and progress made. The ADDRESS
of the afternoon was made py rev.
Charles B. Mitchell, of Hennepln Ave
nue. NJ f, church, Minneapolis. LIZ.
Mitchell sail: "This is a strange coun-
try in which we live. There are all
sorts of folks in it. Here we have peo-
pIe from everywhere. There are more
Irish in New York than in Dublin;
more Jews than in Jerusalem; more
Scotchmen than in any place outside
| of Glasgow or Edinburgh. On an IN
| terurban car in which l came over to-
! day from Minneapolis there We're all
i kinds of people crowded in together like
so many sardines. The ungodly crew
| got off at your ungodly ball park. The
rest of us came on to st. Paul. But
| am glad they are here. I do not join
in the cry against these foreigners. 1t
some of us had had our way we would
| not be here ourselves" DR.. Mitchell
contrasted the conditions of things in
America and in other countries, telling
humorously of the assortment Of ma
tionalities it takes to make thorough
bred Americn.4. He said that not only
ha7 tie Un1ted States all sorts of peo-
:, pie, but all sorts of religions. The peo-
pie were becoming liberal and had been
taught that their way is not the only
way. and that there was not very much
difference what one believes so long as
he or she was true. They would get
to heaven just the same. He hailed
i with gladness the day when every one
would not be so narrow. He was glad
religion had come to wear good clothes.
The best women were not confined to
nunneries, nor the best men to mon-
! asteries.
A Christian girl nowadays might
marry man who had not been con-
verted and Christian men marry girls
| who were not pfofessed Christians. The
world and. the church were coming to-
gether. Butfhere lies the danger; the
! danger of becoming so liberal the
| Christians and unbelievers can't be told
apart. The danger was that the true
i lover of Christ might compromise his
religion. The first. thing of Importance
| was to be loyal to what is held to be
| the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. To
| be loyal to Jesus. To put that above
dogma or creed, not to be ashamed to
own to being a Christian; to be tact
full and wise, gentle and kind, firm yet
| sweet, and this was not an easy thing.
Dr. Mitchell did not think piety
thing to make one look sad. On the
contrary, one should look pleasant and
smile The sour-faced Christians did
not have piety, but liver trouble. A
Christian should have a smiling face.
Christ does not dwell in the heart of
man whose mouth turns down at the
corners he said. He urged his hear
ers to be loyal to the Methodist Epis-
copal church, of which there was no
reason to be ashamed. He renaem-
| bered time when churches did not
exchange pulpits. Now the NJ. E.
church has mere preachers, more Sum-
day schools, more scholars, more mem
bers, more colleges and more professors
than any other in the country. He
read extracts from the last religious
| census showing the great growth and
extent of the NJ. E. church.
In the evening Rev C. B. Wilcox, D.
D., former pastor of First M. e. church.
now of Lafayette, Ind, and one of the
ablest speakers St. Paul ever had,
spoke on '"The Glory of Young Men"
His remarks were interesting and
strongly given and were listened to by
a large gathering of young men Of the
St Paul churches.
The church was handsomely decorated
by members of the social committee, un-
der the direction Of J.. A. Campbell A
| large Maltese cross in red and white,
the league emblem and coIors, was ex-
tremely beautiful. Palms and large
| flags were also used with effect. The
musical programme in the afternoon
was furnished by Miss Anstis Stebbins
and Owen Morris In the evening there
was musicbssa male quartette and Mrs
q tJOA II ayrprs PROF PovnoIds pro-