The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-05-16
ITS sum OF YEARS Is NINE
EPW0RTH LEAGUE CELEBRAT-
ED ITS ANNIVERSARY

Rev. Matt s. Hughes Delivered an
Eloquent Sermon at Central Park
Methodist Episcopal Church Yes
terday Afternoon Strongly Prais-
ing the League and the Work 1t
Has Dome.
The st. Paul Methodists celebrated
the ninth anniversary Of the Epworth
league at Central Park Methodist
churc yesterday.
May Is, 1889. at Cleveland, O., the
EpWorth league was launched into ex-
1stence. This may be said to have
marked an epoch In the Methodist
church in America, North and South.
ard, indeed, throughout the world, for
the league Is now an active agent in
church work everywhere that Method
ISM maintains house Of worship.
BEFORE the organization Of the Ep-
worth league some effort had been
MADE to bring the young people in the
church closer together. ORGANIZATIONS
were formed with principles and OBJ
5ects very similar to those Of the league
but they were found Inadequate. Thew
lacked unity; their efforts were d.
rected In such q manner that at times
they were found pulling in opposite d.
rect1ons to reach the same end. There
DETERMINATIONS
or provincial or sectional pretensions,
besides great number purely local in
their scope.
AS early as 1872 an effort was made
TO bring the organizations together, but
without avail, and the old order of
tEings, each year more and more un-
satisfactory. dragged along.
In May, 1889, a convention of the va
r1ous societies was called at Cleveland,
~, which was attended by delegates
from all the old societies.
Ine convention was called to order
IN the old Epworth Methodist church
on May IL. and after three days of de-
ne, pate the EpWorth league was born
Inc membership was small at the be-
ginning, but with unity of purpose
ana direction its growth was rapid.
In 1897 1t was made the official organ
lzat1on of the church, and the amend
Hent made to it's constitution that one
OF Inc bishops of the church must be
president. The present president is
Bishop w. x. Ninde, of Detroit. Mich.
IT now came to be organized as a.
part OF the church. Chapters sprang
up IN every parish, and from a rather
slender beginning the organization has
now $4,000 chapters, senior and Junior.
W., wIcn membership Of over 1000, 900.
I Inese are mostly on the American con-
tInent, although chapters exist In every
missionary field. and the organization
encircles the globe
ne nrst branch Of the organization
IN st. Paul was formed In 1899 at Ox-
ford church. To this has been added
IN nineteen chapters at intervals since.
lie Hrst organization had forty=five
mem ners These have multiplied to 500
The celebration yesterday was gen
eral throughout the country. In ST..
RAUL preparations had been made for
IL, ana a good programme provided.
The Central Park church, one of the
most commodious in the city, was Sc
Iected as the place for the anniversary
services. The programme was divided
into three parts-for the morning, att
ernoon and evening
IN the morning the ordinary sabbath
worship, supplemented by a special
Iiusicai programme and sermon on
Epworth league topics, was held in all
the churches of the city.
At 3 in the afternoon the Fsnwnrtb
league held services at the Central
&H>ark church, and in the evening union
services were held in the same church
Inc principal speaker was Rev. Matt
:: Hughes, Of Mir neap lis. He spoke to
Inc leaguers at the afternoon services.
his ADDRESS was forceful, eloquent and
plthy. He said in part: .,
This is an age of organization. We
see spring up around US concerns
which are appa ling in their magni ude.
we speak of capital and labor, two vast
factors in the world The man isS4ost
sight of. the individual has become
part of the whole. 1t is the same with
the churches and church organization
organization has formed individuals
first into small organizations. Progress
SION has fused these into one large one.
This is a good thing.
But what is tie. object of this? What
is the good of it? 1t can be of great
hn %Ny& s4I
ganlZat1on is composed is the right
material. The only trouble is too many
people become members Of societies for
the purpose of becoming a part of
something which is bigger than them
selves.
ITO be effective. the members must
be dominated by the good old religious
IDEAS. Not that religion which is for
Sunday only, and for parade, but the
religion of honesty. brotherhood chart
ty; the religion Of common sense: the
religion which realizes that the way
to be prepared to die is to live blame
less life
Some of your young people, no
doubt, want to enter the African mis-
sionary field. A very good idea. But
look around home. See If you can't
find something TO do before you start
with the cannibal. You have an old
father and mother. Try to make them
happy would rather stand before
the throne of God and say my life was
spent in making my parents happy,
than make thousands of heather con-
verts. Don't get too ambitious. Help
your mother wash the dishes. young
woman, and in the sight of God you
will be doing as much as If you storm
ed continent as missionary"
Among those who took part in the
services in the afternoon were the fol-
lowing members Of the order from the
local churches:
J. E. Munson Clinton Avenue church;
Lawrence Lathrop. King Street church;
William Belford, St. Anthony Park church;
DR.. Beckley, Merriam Park church; State
President e. N. Wolever. Hamlne; c. A.
Palmer, Central Park church; e. A. Elder,
Grace church; Miss Carrie Krieger. Bates
Avenue church; Mr.. Shaw, Wesley church;
E. A. Holmes. North St. Paul. ]. Mann,
First church; W. H. Holder, Olivet church.
DRUNKENNESS IN ANIMALS.