The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-07-07


BY THE REVEREND FRANCIS e.
CLARK.
For every age God prepares his agencies
AS the bee Is made for the flower. as the
birds wing fits the air. and the fin of the
religious world God adapts his plans and
methods to the needs Of the time.
To the mind Of the devout believer there
Of God. In every great movement In the
church OF God can be seen Gods nice add
tnstment Of time and place and method TO
The Sunday school. begun in the last part
OF the Eighteenth Century. had vast work
to do for the Nineteenth Century In popu-
larixfng Bible study. The Nineteenth Cen
fury was to print cheap Bible for every
one. The Sunday school came just In time
to teach every one to study It when printed.
The Nineteenth Century saw peculiar
the brothel the gambling den. commercials
ism and matertalism laid their traps for
him. But God looked down from heaven
OF the century the Young Mems Christian
Association was started to set young men
ism.
The days of the rampant infidel AMI
atheist are also In the past. as devoutly
beiiey ,e: N! No Robert Hume could to-day
No Voltaire or Rousseau could number his
followers by millions. Robert Ingersoll to-
day is little but a memory of eloquent
moved by his mistakes Of Moses, or his
TRADES against the Gospels. But something
more insidious, more subtle. more harm
blatant infideiity is the foe Of the church
of the Twentieth Century. This infidelity is
skepticism of life rather than OF talk.
that the Christian Endeavor Society was
raised up by God for this especial crisis in
the Twentieth, Century. 1t is built
sense Of duty. It's purpose IS no, to smaHe
entertainment straw, but to cali upon them
things for their erd and for e lis &c Church.
This Is the meaning OF the Christian En-
deavor pledge. Call It what you will-cove-
nant. animation. promise; word 1t as you !,
the ring Of high resolve and earnest pur-
pose to confess Christ and work for him;
The Twentieth Century church needs the
the prayer-meeting. The Influences which I
have already alluded to are the microbes
which are destroying. the tissues Of many a
go to the midweek service. It is not good
form in many church circles to give one 8
testimony to the love Of Christ It is OBJ
Stsd heart to IN ons Hny Tnd
a religious experience il considered cant
by some people.
=. The Twentieth Century church needs more
church life. Organization is the sign of
life" It has been truly said, 1.-THE lack OF
1t Is death. Enthusiasm and courage are
forms. Feeling and resolution fade out II
not turned into rule and made steady by
habit" One OF the. century's greatest
in our BUSINESS our our
our farms. Shall the church only lag be-
hind in this respectf To decry organiza-
ton IN church ,, ana la1d It, It N me- factory IS
ton never outrun the leading Of the Spirit.
However many. wheels there may be. be
sure ss., that the living creature is within the
But, once more. the church Of the TWEEN
tieth Century needs to be more united. the
Nineteenth Century. though inaugurating
individualism and division. Fifty new sects
can be counted that sprung UP in the
United States alone within a hundred
to perpetuate denominationalism-a dozen
sometimes IN community where one would
do the work. Whether these things are
wrong am not here to-day to Judge. But
that IL a church trust There should be q re-
combination Of the. Christian forces Of the
It was born In 1881. grew strong in the
last two decades Of the Nineteenth Century
for the sake of the Twentieth Century.
Which 60 soreiy needs the UNITED forces Of Of
the EVIL One. This union was not the cum
ningly devised plan Of man. but was fore
ordained Of God. Az the wheat grows on
the prairie, each blade growing by itself,
but each one contributing to. the unity and
glory OF the harvest field. 80 the Christian
Endeavor societies have grown up without
mans design or forethought, because God
had harvest Of united Christian service
to reap In the Twentieth Century.
Upon these broad and substantial
grounds, then. claim that God has use
for the Christian Endeavor movement In
the church Of the Twentieth Century. There
Is no magic or legerdemain about Christian
Endeavor methods. We have no prophet
Elijah or infalltble Pope or inspired mother
e., Tcro Il