The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-05-24

Of the young peoples societies 1t is noted how they emphasize education l and give 1t definite religious value. President Hall cites the fact that with in a trifle of over one year the Ep- worth League secured among the mem bership over one thousand classes, with more than eighteen thousand mem bers, for the study of textbook on ] the life of Christ" To the same pur- i pose are the Baptist Young Peoples Union, Christian Endeavor and the l Westminster League. So also the Methodist order of "Deaconess." re- quiring careful instruction to fit for | wise and efficient educational service, and the women's missionary movements are from laymen and are now incor- | porated into the church. It has been said that these women's missionary societies literally forced themselves on the church-as 1t were broke into 1t. Is there a need for extraordinary ef- fort for missionary advancement? Let us look at the field of labor. hun dred years ago. there were but seven missionary societies in the world. To- day there are over 400 societies inter ested in foreign missions, with over 15,O00 trained missionaries. 92.000 na- tive helpers. 36,o00 stations and out | stations. nearly 100 colleges with S5.- 900 students, and 1,250.000 boys and girls in high and common schools! Christian hospitals and dispensaries opened among the non-Christian na- tions and 2.500.0O0 patients ministered to last year. In the various mission ary presses there are nearly 400, ,OOO.- 900 pages printed every ear. The UnI- ted States gave last year nearly $lO.- O00,000 for foreign missionary work. and the native Christians themselves $1, 300. 900.
 This denominational progress of the past demanded of the future greater effort to maintain itself and meet the problems presented.
 Lnyman's Movement.
 Hence the Layman's Missionary Movement began at an opportune time as follows: ''On November 18th and 14th, 1906. there was held in the Firth | Avenue Presbyterian Church. in New York. an interdenominational meeting in commenoration of the centennial or the Haystack Prayer Meeting, On the | afternoon and evening following November 18th, there met in the chapel of the same church a company of lay men. The invitation to this meeting was in the form of "A Call to Prayer" and was issued by a committee of lay men. of which MT. Mornay Williams was chairman. Tn this Call" it was stated that the need of the hour was for the consecration of laymen to the work of missions and those invited were asked to join with other laymen | of various denominations in this great work. Those present will never for get the spiritual uplift they received from these two sessions The time in the afternoon was spent almost wholly | in prayer. as was also a part of the evening. As a result. a preamble and resolutions were adopted and & com mittee appointed"
 The Nashville Advocate says of il editorially: The Christian Advocate halls the present movement among the laymen of the church as the most i'm. portant yet inaugurated in the twen. tieth century" sBoth the editors and the publishers of this paper are ir hearty sympathy with this new move. ment. The church as long been toe much a preachers church. That is what made a wreck of the Roman Catholic Church Protestantism can. not afford to repeat that mistake"
 The central idea of the movement "comes of the ultimate realization oi the fact that however earnest active and devoted the pulpit may be it cannot accomplish the results SO essential tc the spiritual growth of the people without the organized and earnest aid and assistance of the lay clements . 'This great movement means that the responsibility of the citizen does not stop when he anchors himself tn the