Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-10-22

comes. and only calls for q hymn ocasion-
ally as her part 1.-The meetings. Why she
comes there 1t would puzzle some to UNI
derstand. She is a constant distraction
from the services to all who sit near her.
with her merry whispers. And yet she "
q church member. an active member o.
your society In consequence of her church
MEMBERSHIP possibly even Sunday school
teacher put to lead seven bad little boys
to the way of eternal life. You sat behind
her class one snndSy and heard her laugh
and talk with them about foot bali. She
asked them the name Of the lesson and the
golden text, and two or three questions
from the lessons}ea& and then settled back
as II her duty was done to wait for the SUI
perintendent's bell to ring. You curled your
lip at such teaching and felt the girl ought
not to be in such a position. OF course, she
ought not, but 1t may not have been In your
power to help It. Yet 1t may be in your
power to help her. SO that she may even
become a help to those seven boys.
Suppose. for instance, you and one or two
others got together to pray for some
branch Of committee work. Suppose that
girl were one Of the members of that COM
mittee, and suppose that you were to In
vtte her to meet with you. She would be
shy and embarrassed, perhaps, and try to
decline, but If you invited her with guile
and loving kindness it might be that the
earnestness of the little prayer meeting
might reach her heart and induce her to
pray for herself, or for her scholars. and
maybe to take hold and become a real
helper on the committee. Such instances
have been known. But before you attempt
this remember to come with faith to the
Heavenly Father and ask for His help In
the attempt.
Now, If all that can be has been tried
upon these unworking members, then ask
the Father to remove them. 1t is better to
have such withered or taken in some way
from your number than to have them cum
Der the ground and cast their deadly shade
upon a younger, healthier growth. But do
not forget that your power here lies In
to. ~rf f1of hun No.
Ing has the wisdom or the right to put the
curse Of the withered fig tree upon a fell
low-being. That is for the Master himself
alone to do. 1t is for you to look out that
such do not enter your midst and be al
lowed to flourish and bear no fruit. Let us
not be hasty in our judgments of others.
but let us be thorough in our work. When
you ask some to enter the society and they
demur because they do not wish to take
part in meeting, for instance, don't say 10
them: ooh, you don't have to do 1t OFTEN,
not if you don't want to. or course tnat
the pledge, but, then, good many don't 90
anything. and some only ask for a hymn,
and George Jones always calls TOT the
same one, no matter what is the subject.
Such fippancy has been the cause OF mucn
discredit to the Christian Endeavor Soci.
ety. 1t is for such members as this that
many are saying that Christian Endeavor
is declining. We are hidden to enlarge our
places, stretch forth the curtains oi 1ua
With corps of STRONG" workers you can
take hold Of your society this winter and
make it as strong as the first one That was
ever started. But don't forget tnat the
power Of your strength lies In prayer.
Hints to the Leader.
There was in a certain little town meet
ing one night which was long to be remem-
bered by those who were present.
They sang BLESSED Assurance" while the
members were taking their seats and until
the prayer meeting committee returned
from their five minutes preliminary prayer
for the meeting Then the leader prayed
few words, asking for the presence of Jesus
and an opening of their eyes that they
might behold what He would have them 10
do They sang There Shall Be Showers
of Blessings as ifrthey believed it. The
secretary, who was fine reader. rose at
a motion from the leader and read the
verses of the text and then the leader
spoke a few words but these rev words
suggested questions, some of which had
perhaps been handed beforehand to few
members to consider. At least these ques-
lions were all caught up and responded to,
whether voluntarily or not 1t could not De
known. These were some of the ques-
tons. They were not asked all at once,
either, for every few minutes during the
hour the leader would throw out another
question: What warrant have we for our
work." This was responded to by verses
such as this: .'sYe have not chosen me.
but have chosen you, and ordained you,
that We should go and bring forth fruit,
and that your fruit should remain that
whatsoever ye ask of the Father IN my
name He will give it, And Wherein lies
the strength of our mightg abide in me
and l in you. AS the branch cannot bear
fruit of itself except it abide In the vine,
no more can We, except We abide in me-
If we abide in me and my words
abide in you, We shall ask what we will and
it shall be dene unto YOU"
Perhaps the leader or the prayer meeting
committee had taken a care that there
should be plenty of these verses handed to
different members before meeting, who
knows? Some one called for a hymn,
What a Wonderful Savior" especially the
verse, He gives me overcoming power"
Then the leader asked rs there anything
we can do to lose this power of fruit bear
ing? Can spiritual power be lost by disuse,
as can physical power?' 1t was wonderful
to see how many members had little Incl
dents to relate of real life, sometimes their
own history; instances of the loss of spir-
itual power because the Christian had hab-
itually gone to places where Jesus would
not go with him, or because he had ceased
to obey the voice commanding him to do
this or that bit of work for the Master.
After another hymn there was a ten-mn-
ute open parliament on how they might
best enlarge and improve their present
work, and as each member was allowed but
two or three sentences there were many
good suggestions. The pastor spoke just
two minutes about what he would like to
have the young people do, and they spent
the remainder of the time in prayer, in
which almost every one present took at
least sentence part. They closed by
singing verse Of My Life, My Love 1
Give to Thee" while the heads were still
bowed.
.'My SOUL thy leaves put on;
Seeking for fruit the Master comes, and see,
He finds thee not, erst He found the tree
Withered at early noon