The Portland daily press., 1901-02-01

what Christian Endeavor has been ip
tie nineteenth century, bat what 10 win
BE- IN the twentieth. The germ elements
In that movement, perhaps, are expressed
In It's nsme rs we'll as they could be In
any other way, and each word in its
lengthy title has a figniilcance.
IL was a young psopls's fociety that
/ was then foriued; those were b0ya and
/ girls who came TO the Williston parsonage
on Friday afternoon, the second OF FeD-
/ ruary, 1881. Their older brothers and
sisters came in the evening, but still Il
was young peoples sooiesy; such 10 has
been ever sincs. These young people, to
be sure, have grown up, as the stalwart
forms OF not few In this audience de-
clare But the movement hiss kept Joupg,
for into it have come constantly fresh
recruits, boys and girls and yourp men
and women, an ever enlarglrg procession
OF all colors and In all rms and In all
climes, but the great maj 1Fitv OF them
heart and purpose
A YOUNG PEOPLES MOVEMENT.
Christian En1eavor has baen In the
nineteenth century, and l believe VIII be
In the twentieth. yourg peoples nova
msnt, where young people, work for
/
always in sference to their elders and
In loyalty TO the church.
The old notion that thsre ought to be
| no z AIDES in church work, no egs dis
tiEcsions In the kind OF servica performed
dies hard, but 1t can hardly long outlive
the nineteenth century.
| Ths apostles declaration was forgotten
In many churches In the old times, that
there were Conferences OF operation, hut
the same spirit" ana so young ceopls's
societies and mestingI were frowned
upon, and little Johnny and his older
brother and his stalwaTt father and his
wriDElsd old grandfather were ali treated
to the Eame spiritual rabulum In the
| weekly meeting, a Kind Of food which the
| z 'audfather reiis1ed and usually served,
but which did not foster Johnny
eowth In grace TO any great extent. Ii
IL Is true, ard IL certainly Is, Tat what
God hath joined tegsther no man should
PUT asunder, 1t Is equally true that what
God hath put asunder through Pgs ana
nat 1ral inclination and sdaptability, no
man should join together In an ar trary,
mocha meal way. 20 IN the twentieth
century, as well as In the nineteenth,
believe there viii be plaos for young
people, for young people 8 societies, for
young peoples activities in every branch
OF the church OF Christ, and that the
church will be vastly stronger, more eff
cieut, and more truly unitsd because of
| these activities.
A PEOPLE S MOVEMENT.
Again, they were young peonle who
gathered at their pastors house twenty
| years ago; they were mt exclusively
young men or exclusively young women:
they wsrs not all boys nor all girls; they
we're Of both sexes, as wan as OF different
ages. MIR. W. 4. Stead, In his pane
gyric on Christian EndeAvor In this Eng-
ltsh Review of Reviews, finds In this faUt
a blessing that is not always app slated
| PERHAPS. lie says: "rhe Chris ian En-
deavOr Society has from the first bsen
fres from that monstrous, unnatural, and
unehristian dogma that ssteriliZ for
Christian services one halr the human
race. From the first young men and
maidens met on footing of p8rf set
| equality in Christian service. What the
Society OF Friends did for few In the
seventeenth century, what the Salvation
Army has done for its own mem bers, the
Chris tiln Endeayor Society has done for
ali evangelical scots.
but 1t is a young peoples movement in
| another genss than that it embraces both
| sexes; It is essentially Peoples move
| ment Ali social grades, 50 far as there
| were any social grades in that yoaug
church, were represented In that little
company; some were in very humble cir
sumstanoes; some came from families of
| the prosperous and the weIl-to-do. It
has been SO ever Since High aud low,
rioh and poo-. lettered and unlettered,
| have come together in tine ranks OF Chris
titan Endaavor. pray God that 1t may
| always be SO.
THE DEMOCRACY OF CHRISTIAN
ENDEAVOR.
What the world most sorsly needs is a
People religious movement; not a rioa
people church or a poor peoples church,
but peoples church What many a
church is dying for is genuine sympathy
and cooperation from the people and with
the people. The religious history Of the
twentieth century Will be a sad ana dis |