Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-07-08
RELIGIOUS NOTES
AND COMMENT

| At a recent meeting of the Episcopal Club
of Boston Dean Hodges OF the Cambridge
| divinity school spoke in the following
striking terms of the leadership of laymen
| in historic religious awakenings:
| There have been three notable periods
| in the history of the extension of the
Christian religion; the time of the martyrs.
| the time OF the monks, and the time of the
Metaodists. In each of these periods re-
| Igion spread phenomenally. The signifi-
canoe of these, for our present purpose. is
| that each of them was an era of lay activ-
ity. The Christian church was begun by
laymen: the Apostles were all laymen. 1t
has ever since owed its best growth to
| the cooperation of laymen. The monks
were lay orders The Methodists won their
great victories by lay preaching. Not only
that, but these laymen in every one of
these three periods did their work In spite
of the clergy. discouraged by the clergy. de-
tested by the clergy. Nobody may pre-
dict the spiritual results of n cordial CO.
operation of clerical conservatism with lay
informality"
One of the novel features of this years
international Sunday school convention at
Toronto was the proposal for central
headquarters for the international move
ment In the shape of a fifteen-Story Office
building. Mr.. Hartshorn submitted to the
convention a carefully drawn sketch by. one
of the leading Boston architects and dis
tributed circular giving some little de-
tails of the project. He was careful not
to localize the building nor to make 1t def
mite in its details. In speaking of the matter
Mr.. Hartshorn said: This is simply
proposition to be left to the guiding pro-
violence of God"
Rev F. B. Meyer, the distinguished Lon
don preacher who has just returned to Eng
land from America, takes a hopeful view
of religious life in America. Still, he says
IN interview in the Christian World of
London, at cannot be denied that in many
cases there is much to deplore. Some of
the churches seem to be drifting into mere
humanitarianism, as If to say, Be good
and kind all round, were the sum of re-
ligion. And in many cases IT seems as If
the Sunday newspaper, which is such
dominant influence in American life, dom
mates the pulpits; sermons deal with cur
rent events, popular topics or sensational
themes, which the Sunday newspaper can
handle much more effectively, instead of
drawing from the deep wells of Scripture,
and giving people what they can get no
where else. Titles and announcements are
made more of than they in England;
1t is an indication of the prevalent tendency
when even serious preacher announces
sermon on The First Runaway Couple
dam and Eve. Then, in many churches
there is an inclination to overdo the social
side of church organization: there are So
Gals and clubs and entertainments almost
innumerable, and the card-playing social
seems almost as important as the Sunday
service And l fear that the custom of
engaging professional singers-sometimes al
really enormous fees-to lead the church
singing is robbing the churches of the
power of sacred song. disused organ
atrophies. 1 confess to you that the one
thing which exhausted my patience every
where was the quartet in religious serv-
ices; 1t was perfect nuisance
gatan, "a, Helsingfors, Finland. to the
Methodist Recorder, London: II am glad
10 say that the little Methodist Society in
st. Petersburg FOUNDED 1880 still exists
although 1t is very small consisting of only
twenty members Until now they have not
been allowed TO advertise their meetings.
which have been held privately In the little
home of Mr. Strandroos. a local preacher
who has lived in ST. Petersburg many
years. But now the little society has made
arrangements to rent a suitable meeting
room, and will try to continue the work
in the name of the Lord. The pastor in
charge, Rev. N. j. Rosen lives in Viborg
Finland, and goes to preach In St. Peters
burg occasionally. Together with Viborg
st. Petersburg belongs to the Finnish dis
trict of the Methodist Episcopal Church
Pray for Russia. Its only hope is in Jesus
Christ, and we must do our best to tell the
people that"
Frances NJ Parsons of Jaffa writes to
the Sunday School Times that as a result
of the worlds Sunday school convention
held at Jerusalem last year, and the recent
visit of General Booth a great spiritual
awakening has taken place in Palestine. In
Jerusalem she writes, souls are being
born into the kingdom daily, among them
good number of Jews"
Rev. Henry Hopkins Kelsey of Hart
ford, Conn in an article on The Sunday
School as Means of Church Growth"
wrote recently:
Increase of the church is through her
accessions by confession. These are
either of people who have been converted
in adult life or who have been brought
into the church through Sunday school The
very large majority are from the latter
source which shows that the Sunday school
has been and is today the most efficient
crease of her membership. We believe its
efficiency can and will be greatly increased
In the near future. Two great movements
are now astir. the revival movement and
the movement in behalf of religious educa-
ton. These converge at the same point
viz, In the Sunday school as the one eff
fective agency, both for evangelism and
for Christian nurture.
THE problem which engages not a few
is a burden upon some, almost a nightmare
to more, is the problem of the young men
and older boys of our cities. We go through
the churches of Sunday morning and they
are not there. We go out to the streets of
Saturday night, or into the saloons and
places of amusements. and they are there
In crowds: we go into the opera house of
a Sunday night and the place is packed
with young men and boys. We see the
masses of the young life of our city march
Ing upon the streets in a military or po-
litical parade, and we are thrilled by the
energy OF so much young life, but 1t is not
in the churches"