The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-10-03
BRUCE TELLS OF
 RESCUE MISSION
HE MATTRESSES ON HIS BAPTIST HEARERS THE IMPORTANCE OF CITY RESCUE WORK AS A PART OF THE cHURcH's DUTIES.

At the union service in the Baptist re- vival yesterday morning, MT. Bruce who is the head of Hope Rescue Mission in Louisville, Ky, spoke on rescue work, in part, as follows:
 Rescue mission work is authorized by the Bible in the 197th Psalm. It deals with men who have wandered far away from home and friends and God. Most people have the idea that we are dealing with the tramps and weary willies such as we see pictured in the comic papers; but they are greatly mistaken. l want to tell you who they are. l am one of them, and God has given me wide ac quaintance and experience among them. They come from just such homes as yours, and are just like your brothers and sisters. There is hardly a family in the land which has not a representa- tive among these people. They are not indigenous to the slums, but are men who have grown up from boyhood under pure surroundings, and have wandered away. large per cent. of the men who have passed through Hope Rescue
 
 school. In Hope Rescue Mission we are trying to save the boy and girl who was not saved at home. These people are a great menace to our civil, social, ana moral life. There is no city in this land over 10000 which has not it's "red light boiling over with vice and sin and over flowing into society. I have been ie1,t s5i trio4 you greatly need a rescue work. I never go to city where I do not find a place like this, and you preachers who stand in your fine pulpits preaching your mes sages of love do not realize this smould- ering volcano. The churches almost in- variably neglect this district, and does not touch with it's saving power this breeding place of vices. A section of Louisville in which 6O,0OO peopl reside, has but two churches, and they are there largely because they are endowed, and fashionable people come there to worship who do not touch the life of the people. People do not live down town when they can live out where the air is purer. I do not blame them for this. but they must
 
 brothers.
 "The thing to solve this problem is the Rescue Mission, for the only true saliva ton for lost men is the Lord Jesus. Down tswn churches should be opened at all hours for this work. You have ! closed the saloon, and l have not seen drunken man since I have been in
 
 none the less, and you need this rescue work. do praise and thank God for the 1 Salvation army, but what business has | the church of the Lord Jesus to turn | over it's work to anybody? Every agency l for the salvation of men ought to be an arm of Gods church, the Lords body. l We do not turn over foreign missions to other agencies, but claim this work as 1 8 privilege of the body of Christ, and 1 why should we do so in this work? 'There are many rescue missions oper- ated under private auspices, but I know of only two immediately under the church. Hope Rescue Mission is under the Bap- tist churches of Louisville, and its af- fairs are directed by the good business | men in them. It would do some of your big fat deacons good to meet once a I week to talk over rescue work. If they 1 consecrated their good business sense to board of directors for such a work it would yield them a better return than they get from their service on worldly 1 service. Last year through Hope Rescue l Mission TAG men were saved, and they | come from every nation of the earth Last year we sent home 300 runaway | boys. We advertise ourselves among the | tramps and very few of them come to l Louisville who do not visit us. I had | rather be in charge of Hope Rescue Mis- | sion than to be pastor Of your First Bap- | tist church. The results during these | eight years are largely due to Dr. Ham | ilton who put me on my feet and stood l by me. found poor fellow who had q job of cleaning spittoons in barrel l house., or low saloon, and kept inviting him to come to see me. Finally he did so and left the saloon and gave his heart to God He stayed with me two weeks when he was taken sick and was carried to the hospital Soon the doctor said he must die, and he had not told me any | thing of his life. l then asked him of his people and he was the son of a ! millionaire father and his mother was a ] nob,ewoman in German. He was a grad uate of Heidelberg university, and had 1 gone down through sin. l wrote to his | people and told them of his condition ]. and they sent me a check for him tc l have every luxury His testimony oi ]; personal religion was clear and when he cied Dr. Hamilton buried him. The next 1 Easter morning his mother sent me l picture of, the resurrection to hang on tho | walls of the mission. You cannot buy c breakfast, nor rent a bed in Hope Mis- | cin l,,t vvl ic in need