Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1922-06-15
where a fine dinner was served by tn
ladies of the church.
AFTERNOON SESSION

After brief devotional services in
the afternoon led by Rev. W. A.
Smith Of Waterville, a short talk was
given by Rev. Frank w. Hodgdon of
Boston, New England representative
of the National Council Of the Con-
gregational Churches. He spoke of
the necessity of raising the s5,000.000
which is required for the missionary
work of the church and which is a
minimum rather than maximum
figure.
An address by Mrs. Louise NJ. Files,
who is the representative in Western
Maine of the Women's Board of For
eign Missions. followed. She took as
her subject The Charm Of the I'm
possible"
The first part of her talk was
taken up with statistics which
demonstrated the poor showing
which the churches were making II
who would work with the idea Of
missions always in mind.
Mrs. Files then on to say that the
strength .of the whole church lay in
the Young people and for that rea-
son they should be interested in tic
work of the missions. The church
with does not further the work of
the missions in this manner DOES
not make success. In this work
as in work of other kinds, it is nee
cssary to remember that the seem
ilgly impossible is really only hard
work and that one must believe III
81
set out to do.
Holy Communion was then admin
istercd by Rev. Langdon Quimby of
Gardiner.
Or. Clarke's Address
A fine address on The Present
Need Of Religious leadership" by DR..
! Clarke followed. In his introductory
. and explanatory remarks, he said that
! he would speak not with reference
: to the church, but with reference to
| the State of Maine. During the past
| twenty years Maine has made great
! strides in population and with this
! advancement has come an advance
| ment in the enterprise, the ambition,
| and personal wealth of the people.
| With this advancement there is nee
| cssary corresponding advancement
in the type of religious leadership
| which we receive.
| We have lost in great part the old
| family ideas of religion. We no
! longer hold family prayers and the
parents depend more and more on
| the Sunday school teachers for the
! religious training of their children.
! This laaI-1C IA
| the only institution that teaches re-
! llSion, as the schools are on nom
! religious basis.
Therefore the spiritual education
of the children depends upon the
minister and the other religious
leaders, and for this reason the
! speaker said that he believed that
| the responsibility of the church
should rest with the minister and
a small group of earnest workers
! who are imbued with the proper
! spirit. The success or failure of the
church rests in large measure with
| the minister and to be successful he
| must reach the people outside of the
| church as well as those who are in
| his parish.
lie closed his interesting address
by repeating that with an increase
| OF enterprise there must come an in
| crease IN the spiritual moral and
| leadership of the people.
Rev. F. w. Hodgdon
| teV. Frank w. Hodgdon spoke
again in the latter part of tho aftcr-
! noon. taking as his subject. "T1e
| ohilstian Law of Material Property.
lie stated that in his mind the idea
| which many have that the spiritual
! th'hSS VIII be cared for by God while
we are caring for the material
things of life, is erroneous and that
| lie believes that one should acquire
| Inc spiritual and moral growth and
1hat the material things He will
take care of for us.
! AS a proof of this. he told of the
! Pilgrims who came to this country
| <nd who put emphasis onto the
| spiritual Side OF life rather than onto
the material side of it, While they
| We're doing this. however. they con-
stantly acquired more and more of
worldly wealth. The people Of the
| South on the other hand tried in
! every way to gain wealth and they
| are now poor.
We have just finished a war into
Which We went TO make the world
safe 1or democracy. But this can
never be done by force, it must be
done spiritually. We have succeed
j cd IN training the animals and have
! the germs under subsection, but we
! nave still to train our threatening
! brother man into spiritual ways for
| the good of the world. The only
| thing which makes this world or a
part of it safe for people to live IN
! is the fact that we are getting better
| educated to the moral ideas witt,
| respect to life and property
The schools and the Sunday schools
together should cooperate TO give the
citizens the better standards which
are necessary. And they do this witt
the result that we are better than sucf
countries as Mexico and Russia. This
is simply because Of the work of this
combination of schools, and not be.
cause of any special capacity of. the
people of this country. ~ Yankee
school will work on any kind of a hui
man being that God has put on thi:
planet" Rev. Mr. Hodgdon said ant
he went on to speak of the Jew who
was collecting rags at his house. He
was a man who seemed content will
his lot but he had one son who hao
gone to Harvard and was not studying
law at the same college. while hi:
other son was student at Massachu-
sets Institute of Technology and he
was one of the foremost students il