The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-05-24
The Layman in Religious Life
BY WILLIAM HoIooMBE THOMAS.

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 Judge William H. Thomas on wed nesday night at the Court Street Methodist Church delivered a magnin- cent address upon The Laymen Tn Religious Life" to the assembled dele- gates of the South Alabama Methodist Conference sitting in session with the delegates from the West Florida Con ference for the purpose of organizing the 'Laymen's Missionary Movement, within the two conferences upon sound, practical basis.
 There were many we'll known speak CTS upon the program. and their sub jects were so correlated as to convey to the delegates and public, who assem- bled to hear the movement discussed. the highest possible information on comparatively new subject.
 Judge Thomas delivered the welconn- ing address in behalf of the Montgom- cry Methodist Churches, and spoke at length upon the part which the Laymen had already played in the worlds great religious undertakings.
 His address follows:
 When asked by Brother Cummings to deliver the address of welcome 10 this Conference he said: ''Of. course we hope you will take a broad sweep" Feeling my inability to do as he sug- gested. I trust it may not be out of place 10 reVleW some oL the TeliBiOuS work of Iaymen.
 Life and leadership of today gives welcome to the trained laymen. not alone as a follower of the eccelsiastic but as an originator, the value of whose contributions to religious progress is being more generally recog- nized and his participations enlarged.
 The world has ever heard the man with a message and followed the man xnrtf xtfwt Nkn from whence he came. Hebrew prop hecy bears witness of religious activi- ties of those born as laymen Not withstanding the restrictions of priest ly functions, when the prophet came to interpret the Soul of the Crowd. and to put into words deepest desires, Amos, the herdsman and gatherer of wild figs, was heard as he delivered "the appeal to his fellowmen." Elisha, while ploughing his oxen. was invited to become a follower and disciple. as was Ezekiel the captive priest. to prophetic instruction and encourage ment
 IOl1ards. 5 '
 The history of the Loliards, that semi i-monostic society that originated at Antwerp about 1900 for the care of the sick and the burial of the dead. and seventy-five years later the English followers of John Wyciifse, were ex- amples of laymen at religious work. Wycliffe, a learned theologian, sought to encourage the tendency toward "re- ligious freedom that he saw manifest among the masses" and anticipating Protestantism and Puritanism in the 14th and 18th centuries. organized bands from. those of humble rank and rneager education to go through Eng land reading and commenting upon the Scriptures, and teaching the simple truths of morality and religion%'r
 ROmanisna.
 Through religious brotherhood Romanism has used the laymAn in the their Knights of Columbus, Catholic Knights of America and in the sister hoods of that church.
 Opportunity For Lnymen workH
 The unparalleled opportunity for the laymen for religious service in Ameri- ca has been, and I think properly, ac- counted for in the hospitality of our fathers and of ourselves in all that makes for moral culture and religious conviction, and their confidence ana ours in the -trnfettered- expressions oi ones deepest and noblest idealsS . s7 and at the same time the rapid develop rnent of religious organizations smade necessary by the struggle to ir1aintain national ideals of righteousness amidst rapidly growing and widely spreadtne people, has forced us to utilize the iayrnan and to accord him the right and duty of self-directed. wholesoulec na articination in the work assigned.
 Tn the latter half of the last cen- tury the growth of democratic institu' ttons were sufficiently advanced as to give the layman his chance TOT initia- five and administration in the mora. and religious field. for our religious traditions did not letter" and oppor' tunity ever present was insistent, while liberty in thought and action was a' times akin to license.
 Sunday School.
 Of the two notable religious activi. ties of the last century each originated as A layman's movement in England were quickly transplanted to Ameri- can conditions where each has come to its broadest and fullest develop ment; the. Sunday School becoming tne department of religious education oi the Church, and the Young Mems Chris tiat Association a representative educa- tional organization. taking and holo- ing an indispensable place in society and expanding to meet varying condi- tions and needs. Of the two 1t must be added that the denominational enter prise, came first. and for the time spread fastest, and when society De"
 
 had come with growth and culture, the non-denominational movement founo its place in our social conditions ana is fast pursuing it's horizon from hill ion to hilltop. The Sunday School was the outgrowth of the efforts Of Robert Raikes (17S0) to teach and help the children of the poor; and that he came into personal notice while the efforts of Moffat. Webb, Stock. Cramp- ton and others engaged in the same work. some of them before him. did not exceed their local limitations, Is due in part to Raike's strong person ality, but in a large measure to the fact that at the beginning and during his work for many years, he was the owner and editor of the only news paper published in several counties about Gloucester. There can be nc controversy then, that the Sunday School owes its inception to the laitJ and its development to the guidancS and encouragement of the clergy anC latty alike, yet without the effort oi the latter 1t would fail.
 The author of the Teachers Life o Christ says the Sunday School has ac complished three great ends: Tt hal introduced multitudes of the laity" to their life long careers of useful ness and often constructive service 1t has developed an army, huge fl dimensions. of loyal disciples of Jesus if has created and fostered a wid spread interest in the study of thu