OCT '" Kn
'^bhi[,6
>.! K, U V - ■
BV 652 .
N82
1914
Nordell,
Ph
ilip Augus
tus,
1846-
The mode
irn
church
The Modern Church
OCT 7 I9]q
BY
PHILIP A. NORDELL, D.D.
New York
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1914
Copyright 1914
By Charles Scribner's Sons
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
1
I The Modern Sunday School
II Why Pupils and Lessons Should Be Graded
III Lesson Systems of the Present Day .
IV The Training of Teachers ....
V New Types of Sunday School Work .
VI Getting and Holding the Pupils .
VII The Modern Pulpit .....
VIII Public Worship ......
IX How TO Make Public Worship Effective
X The Prayer or Conference Meeting .
XI Getting People to Church: General Conditions
AND Problems . . . . .
XII Getting People to Church: Local Conditions an
Problems .......
XIII The Everyday Growth in Church Membership
XIV Modern Evangelism .....
XV Holding the Converts ....
XVI The Member Who Moves Away .
XVII Woman's Work in the Church ...
XVIII Young People's Societies: History
XIX Young People's Societies: Methods
XX The Pastor's Parish W^ork ....
XXI Making Up a Church Budget
XXII Raising Church Funds
XXIII The Boy Problem
XXIV Modern Church Brotherhoods
in
7
14
20
27
33
43
49
55
62
68
74
81
89
95
100
106
111
118
127
132
139
146
152,
iv Contents
CHAPTER PAGE
XXV The Men's Campaign for Men . . . .157
XVI What the City Problem Is . ^ . . . 163
XXVII The Social Work of the City Church . . 169
XXVIII A Week in a City Mission . . . . .174
XXIX Reaching the Immigrants ..... 184
XXX The Problem of the Country Church . . 190
XXXI New Life in Country Churches .... 196
XXXII The Gospel in Mining and Lumber Camps . 202
XXXIII How A Modern Missionary Society is Administered* 208
XXXIV How Churches Advance with the Frontier . 214
XXXV Church Schools . . - 221
XXXVI The Religious Press 227
XXXVII Young Men's Christian Associations . . . 232
XXXVIII Young Women's Christian Associations . . 239
XXXIX The Federation of Churches .... 245
XL How THE Modern Industrial Problem Arose . 253
XLI The Christian Ideal of Society .... 258
XLII The Church and Industrial Warfare . . 265
XLIII The Church and the Welfare of Wage-earners . 271
XLIV The Church and Race Antagonisms . . . 277
XLV The Church and Public Charities . . . 284
XLVI Recent Phases of the Liquor Question . . 290
XLVII Juvenile Law Breakers . . " . . . 296
XLVIII Prisons and Prisoners ...... 303
XLIX Enemies of the Family . . . . .310
L The Church and the Public Schools . . .316
LI World Peace 321
LII Church Members as Voters 328
DIRECTIONS FOR STUDY.
The Lesson Notes. The Lesson Notes are merely outlines
of the subjects stated in the Lesson Titles. While designed
to give a fair idea of the subject, they should be supplemented
by further reading. Most of the books recommended for ad-
ditional reading ought to be generally accessible. As all the
subjects included in the course have an immediate and living
interest, they are frequently discussed in religious newspapers
or periodicals such as " The Independent " or " The Outlook."
Teachers and students would be greatly helped by clipping
out all material of this kind and preserving it in envelopes
on which the Lesson Titles have been written, and also refer-
ences to books or magazines. This material can afterwards
be put into a scrap-book, and additions made to it year after
year, resulting in a valuable collection of current comments
on the life of the modem church.
The Questions on the Lesson. These are designed not so
much for use in the class as for tests by which the student may
determine how clearly he has grasped the contents of the Lesson
Notes. It will be a great help to write brief answers in the
spaces left for that piu-pose. If this is done at home, the class
hour, instead of being spent in rehearsing the contents of the
notes, may be saved almost wholly for discussing the practical
questions for which the Lesson Notes and the Note-book Work
lay the foimdations.
The Questions for Class Discussion. These are intended
to present for mutual and helpful consideration matters of
practical interest to the class as members of the Sunday school,
the church, the surrounding community or the nation at large.
The questions in each case spring naturally from the matters
considered in the Lesson Notes and from those suggested for
special study. The practical value of this course will be in
large measure derived from an intelligent consideration of these
questions.
The Modern Church
Lesson 1. THE MODERN SUNDAY SCHOOL.
Scripture Reading: An Ancient Open-air Bible School. Neh. ch. 8.
Note 1. Why Begin with the Sunday School? A student
of botany may approach the study of a wayside flower through
a previous study of the vegetable kingdom as a whole. Or
he may reverse the process, and, beginning with the wayside
flower, extend his investigations and generalizations tmtil he has
covered the whole world of plants. So a student of The Modern
Church may begin with the ideal Kingdom of God and its
concrete embodiment in the Christian church, and follow
this by a detailed study of the agencies by which the church
in scores of ways is seeking to realize her mission. On the
other hand, the student, if he is a member of a Simday school,
may start from this institution and step by step work out
through the local chiu-ch into a survey of the church's world-
wide activities. For our present purpose the latter method
has the advantage of beginning with a concrete subject which
has immediate and permanent interest. Furthermore, this
lesson, and those immediately following it, are intended to
assist the members of the class not only to understand the real
purpose of their own school, but to gather such facts concerning
it as will lead to a better idea of its needs and to more deter-
mined efforts to supply them.
Note 2. Origin and Growth of the Sunday School. The
duty of giving religious instruction to the people, and especially
to the young, was perceived long before any one thought of
Sunday schools. Centuries before the Christian era Israel
was exhorted to remember Jehovah's great deeds for the
nation and " to make them known luito thy children and thy
children's children "(Deut. 4:9; comp. 6:6, 7, 20-25). Ezra's
great assembly was called for the purpose of giving popular
instruction in the Law (Neh. ch. 8). In process of time the
synagogue, which had grown up in the Babylonian exile as a
place for local worship, became also the local school in which
the. Old Testament scriptures were the main text-book. In
1
2 The Modern Church ^''^'^
the time of Jesus every Jewish village had its synagogue. The
larger towns had several. Jerusalem was said to have had
over four hundred. The Hebrew sages and rabbis were thus
the real pioneers in reHgious education. Jesus Himself " went
about teaching" (Mt. 4:23), and His disciples did the same
(Acts 5 : 42) . From the earliest centuries the giving of religious
instruction has ranked as one of the foremost duties of the
church.
As a distinct institution, however, the modem Sunday school
dates back only to 1780, when Robert Raikes in Gloucester,
England, began gathering ignorant and neglected children
from the streets to teach them reading, writing, and reHgion.
His teachers were several elderly women whom he paid a shilling
apiece for seven and a half hours' service. That such an enter-
prise should have met violent opposition from the religious
leaders, and especially from the higher clergy of the established
church, seems almost incredible to-day. It was denounced
as destructive of family religion, and as subversive of peace
and order in church and state. Raikes nevertheless persisted
in pushing his enterprise. In seven years from the opening
of his first school the movement included 250,000 children.
From 1785 to 1800 above $20,000 was expended in the payment
of teachers. Before long his ** charity schools," as they were
called, became, in the absence of a public school system, the
common means of providing education for the poor. This
was the real origin of the English system of state schools.
In the United States Sunday schools, though at first en-
cotmtering some opposition, have almost always been under
the fostering care of the churches, and have been recognized
as an important part of their work. The Sunday school has
usually been held in the church building and it has made the
Bible and Catechism its chief text-books. The children were
not only waifs gathered from the streets, but also those from
the well-to-do families in the parish.
The first united effort to promote the interests of Sunday
schools was made in Philadelphia in 1791, when " The First
Day or Sunday School Society " was founded. Since then
organized Sunday school work has become the most popular
and extensive religious movement in the world. Its importance
has been recognized not only among all Protestant denomina-
tions, but among Roman Cathohcs, Jews, Mormons, and
Christian Scientists. Unions, institutes, societies, commissions,
One The Modern Sunday School 3
and conventions have sprung up in all Christian lands. Un-
questionably the most powerful agency in promoting this
extraordinary progress ahke in the establishment of schools,
in the introduction of better methods, and in the unification
of the world-wide Sunday school movement has been the
International Stmday School Association. This grew in 1875
out of the National Sunday School Association, which was
organized in 1832, but which in the meantime had met only
in 1833, 1859, 1868, and 1872. The last of these, held at
Indianapolis, witnessed the adoption of the Uniform Lesson
System, which quickly spread over the entire Christian world.
The next great step of progress was taken at Louisville in 1908
when the International Graded Lesson System was adopted.
So thoroughgoing and far-reaching has been the work of the
International Sunday School Association that at the present
time a church without a Sunday school is virtually incon-
ceivable, and thousands of Sunday schools exist where there
are no churches. The enrolled membership of all ages and
nationalities foots up over thirty millions.
No such prejudice as was at first directed against Raikes
has obstructed the gro^vth of Sunday schools in this coimtry
where from the first they have been under church supervision.
From the first, also, they have been able to give exclusive
attention to religious instruction since the public schools
provided secular education. For almost a centruy after their
establishment the main effort was directed toward organiza-
tion. The Simday school was regarded as a mere " nursery,"
from which after a period of suitable culture the members
could be transplanted into the church for permanent growth.
Naturally the success of any school was measured largely by
the number of attendants. Extraordinary efforts were made
to get all the people into it, and to plant new schools in all
imoccupied places.
These efforts " to increase the attendance " were foUowed
by a great wave of enthusiasm for Bible study. The emphasis
was transferred from the organization to the book. The former
was regarded merely as a happy instrument for imparting
knowledge of Biblical facts and teachings as a step toward
conversion and church membership. How to teach the Bible
to persons of all ages became a momentous question. In
response to it, courses of lectures were instituted in a multitude
of commvinities, and numerous svimmer schools invited eager
4 The Modern Church Lesson
students from all directions. As a result of this concentrated
attention upon Bible study the Sunday school itself came
somewhat generally to be thought of as the Bible school.
This conception held the ground until the close of the last
century.
Note 3. The New Emphasis. In this enormous Sunday
school development the leaders partially lost sight of the simple
and wise piu'pose for which Robert Raikes established his
schools. In his mind the schools existed for the sake of the
children, and not the children for the sake of the schools.
The latter were not primarily " ntirseries for the church,"
nor institutions for promoting knowledge of the Bible, but
serious attempts to save the children from ignorance and vice
to better lives for themselves, for the church and for the world.
To this end he used as tools all suitable books that came into
his hands including the Bible. But later leaders, in their
enthusiasm for increasing the church membership, and for the
promotion of Bible study, to a certain extent failed to get
the point of view of a present, continuous religious growth
of the child. This failure could not go on forever.
Toward the end of the last century many social and educa-
tional movements combined to swing the Sunday school back
to its true purpose. The teachings of Pestalozzi and Froebel
had revolutionized primary instruction in other schools. Scien-
tific investigation of the nature of the child had shown the fal-
lacy of the old notion that the child is merely a small adult
and that what is suitable instruction for the latter must be
equally adapted to the former. In all problems having to do
with religious education it had become increasingly clear that
the most hopeful solutions must be reached by working in
harmony with the laws of the human personality ._ Expert
teachers, moreover, who had been invited to popularize better
methods of Bible study, woke up to the fact that the Sunday
school, instead of being an object of ridicule and scorn, might
be made a most effective agency for promoting the highest
type of religious education. Active co-operation on the part
of the foremost religious teachers in the country was enlisted
in a movement for lifting it to a degree of efficiency in its
specific work comparable with that of the public schools.
The results are seen in a transformation of aims and methods
that a few years ago would have been pronounced impossible
One
The Modern Sunday School
and visionary. The Sunday school is now coming into its
own place. The aim toward which its efforts are directed is
the development of Christian character and training for Chris-
tian service through the teaching of religious truth in forms most
suited to the successive stages of human growth. This is the new
emphasis that since the beginning of the present century is
being laid on the mission of the Simday school and that under
wise leadership is swinging it into line with the world's best
educational thought.
Note 4. Importance of the Modem Sunday School. When
Jesus renewed Peter's Apostolic commission, His first command
was " Feed my Lambs." Not until Jesus had cared for these
did He bid him, "Tend my sheep" (Jo. 21:15, 16). The
foremost duty of the church is to provide religious training
for the yoimg. The whole future of the church depends on
it. In this respect the Roman Catholic church is far in advance
of her Protestant neighbors. The Catholics hold their great
congregations with a remarkably firm grip because they know
and practise the art of holding the children, Francis Xavier
said, " Give me the children until they are seven years of age,
and any one may take them afterwards." When the Protestant
Reformation was threatening the existence of the Catholic
church, the Jesuits arrested its progress by becoming the best
teachers in Europe and then gathering the children of Prot-
estants into their schools. The latter in many cases have
trusted too much to mere conversion as a means of recruiting
their ranks, and have too often neglected religious training
as a preparation for conversion and as a subsequent means
of holding the converts. In view of ^he fact that only about
ten per cent, of the commiuiicants in Protestant churches
have joined after they were over twenty years of age, and the
further fact that of the remaining ninety per cent, fully eighty-
three have come directly from the Sunday school, little argu-
ment would seem to be needed to prove its immense importance
as a means for reaching and holding the young for God and for
humanity. In proportion to the expenditure of effort, time
and money no department of chtu-ch work begins to yield so
rich a harvest. The gravest peril that confronts Protestant
churches to-day is the drifting away of the children to increase
the already alarmingly numerous non-churchgoing masses.
The strongest and most prosperous chvirches are usually those
6 The Modern Church ^^^^°"
that have given the most intelHgent attention to their Sunday
schools. Protestantism's chief hope for the future Hes in
increasing the efficiency of these schools to the highest pitch,
by all possible means, and at any cost.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
(1) Cope: The Evolution of the Sunday School, Boston, 1911, pp. 3-90.
{2) Haslett: The Pedagogical Bible School, New York and Chicago, 1903,
pp. 17-48. (5) Mead: Modern Methods in Sunday School Work, New York,
1903, pp. 15-23. U) Coe: Education in Religion and Morals, New York
and Chicago, 1909, pp. 286-287. {5) Smith: The Sunday School of To-day.
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. Why do we begin this course on The Modern Church by a study of
the Sunday school?
2. What importance was attached to religious training in Old and New
Testament times?
3. State briefly how the modern Sunday school came into existence.
4. How did the early Sunday schools of this country difler from those
of England?
5. Describe the growth of the Sunday school movement until the present
time.
6. What prejudice retarded for a time the growth of Sunday schools
in Great Britain?
7. What main purposes dominated the Sunday schools in this country
during the nineteenth century?
Two Why Pupils and Lessons Should he Graded 7
8. Mention some of the causes that have given a new direction to
Sunday school aims and methods.
9. What is the new emphasis?
10. What is the value of the Sunday school as compared with other
forms of religious work?
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
(See Directions for Study.)
1. How does the attendance in your Sunday school compare with that
at public worship?
2. From a careful study of your school as now conducted what seems
to be its main purpose?
3. How does the amount expended for its maintenance compare with
the expenditures for preaching and music?
QUESTIONS FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
1. Can you explain why the Sunday school usually receives only a
pittance of the money raised for the religious work of the church; or why
it is often asked not merely to support itself but to contribute toward other
expenses?
2. In view of the percentage of additions to the church membership
from the Sunday school what would you consider the duty of the church
toward its support?
3. What should be the chief purpose of the collection in the Sunday school;
should it be financial or educational?
Lesson 2. WHY PUPILS AND LESSONS SHOULD BE
GRADED.
Scripture Reading: The Religious Education of Children.
Deut. 6:4-9, 20-25.
Note 1. Public Schools and Sunday Schools Compared.
The public school system of the United States is the pride of
its citizens. The cost of maintaining it is assessed on the
entire community. No tax is more cheerfully paid than that
which provides adequate housing for the pupils and the most
8 The Modern Church ^"^^
approved equipment for the school. The teachers are trained
for their profession, and usually with the intention of making
it a life work. The pupils are of the ordinary school age.
Each week during the school period the attendance is compul-
sory for five days, or from twenty to thirty hours. Pupils
are graded according to their attainments. Promotions from
grade to grade follow satisfactory examinations. The study
material and the text-books are adjusted to the ages and
capacities of the pupils. And, finally, the methods employed
are based on educational principles.
In most of these respects even the better grade of modern
Simday schools lags far behind. Usually the school pays its
own way. The school room has been built for other purposes.
The equipment is meagre. The teachers are unpaid and have
no special training. The children and the adults who make
up the attendance come and go as they please. Neither pupils
nor lessons are graded. The time devoted to it is little more
than an hour a week, and often there is no home study. Pupils
remain with the same teacher year after year, and the most
obvious educational principles and laws of mental growth are
ignored.
One of the most hopeful present signs is the wide-spread and
earnest efforts made to remedy these defects. While the
Sunday school, in view of its obvious limitations, cannot com-
pete with the public school, yet it cannot be denied that the
latter has set a standard which the former within its sphere
cannot safely ignore. Consecration alone will not enable a
teacher to make bricks without straw. How far the methods
of the day school can be adapted to the Sunday school, and
how to do so most effectively, are among the pressing problems
of our time.
Note 2. The Grades in a Modem Sunday School. The
Sunday school, if we include the Cradle Roll and the Home
Department, runs through the whole gamut of human life.
Manifestly some sort of grading is imperative. This is simply
a recognition of the grades already established by age. No
one would think of putting a child and its grandfather into the
same class.
But children of the same age vary greatly in ability and
attainments. After the members of the school have been
roughly graded according to age, they should individually be
Two
Why Pupils mtd Lessons Should be Graded
tested as to their attainments and placed in classes where
they can reap the most benefits. When the men and women
have been separated into an Adult Department, there remains
the great body of the school composed of children and youths
ranging from three to twenty years of age. The systematic
and scientific study bestowed on the child in recent years has
sho^vn that during this period the developing personality passes
through several stages marked by distinctive peculiarities.
These stages have no exact, but only approximate, age limits,
because some children develop faster than others. Ordinarily
five are recognized : (1) Earlier childhood, from three to five years
inclusive; (2) later childhood, from six to eight; (3) boyhood and
girlhood, from nine to twelve; (4) earlier adolescence, thirteen to
sixteen; and (5) later adolescence, from seventeen to twenty-four
or more. The corresponding departments in the Sunday school
are {1) the Kindergarten, or Beginners'; (2) the Primary; (3) the
Junior; (4) the Intermediate; and (5) the Senior. The Adult
Department includes all over twenty years of age. The division
between the primary and junior grades, as well as between
the senior and adult, is not so sharply drawn as absolutely to
forbid their being imited. This is often done. But the pre-
vailing disposition among the leaders in Sunday school educa-
tion is to recognize these six stages, and to retain the corre-
sponding grades.
Note 3. The Plea for Ungraded Biblical Lessons. In the
Stmday school the feeling has long prevailed that somehow
religious education is so different from secular education that
it can be conducted in a wholly different way. Moreover,
the chief text-book, the Bible, has been placed apart from other
literature in a class by itself. It is the word of God free from
all human defects and limitations. Every sentence, it has
been claimed, must therefore have some religious value for every
reader of every age, capacity, and range of cidture. If this
were true, then any passage can be taken as a lesson for the entire
school. According to this theory, a simple children's story,
that of Elijah and the ravens, can be made to yield teachings
fit for adults to struggle with, or a profoimdly philosophical
or theological passage from Job or Romans can be toned do-^ia
to the spiritual needs of babes. The inevitable result of trying
to use lesson material either above or below the pupil's capacity
is that teachers in that part of the school for which any given
10 The Modern Church ^"^°'»
lesson is unstiited are forced to swing away from the real lesson
to themes only remotely suggested by it. The skill of the
teacher is then shown, not in teaching the lesson, but in dis-
covering far-fetched applications which it was never designed
to suggest. The lesson becomes thus, not a text to be studied,
but a mere pretext on which to hang any ideas that can be
used to fill the class hour.
Note 4. Why Lessons should be Graded. A child and a
man may walk hand in hand, but they cannot keep step.
The same is true of the intellectual life. The adult has out-
grown the mental processes of childhood. " When I was a
child I spake as a child, ... I thought as a child : now that I am
become a man, I put away childish things" (1 Cor. 13:11).
This is the law of universal progress. In Old Testament times
strong emphasis was put on the religious training of the young.
Israel had " the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordi-
nances " of Jehovah. But -they were not taught to the children
as abstract legal principles. The great teachers of Israel
understood how stories of heroic deeds and marvelous occur-
rences appeal to the young, and therefore the statutes and
ordinances were recast into thrilling narratives of the oppres-
sion in Egypt, of the deliverance by Jehovah's mighty hand,
and of " the signs and wonders, great and sore " which Jehovah
showed upon the Egyptians (Deut. 6:20-23). The Bible with
its marvelous richness and variety contains much that children
can understand and enjoy, but by far the larger part is beyond
them. To ignore this fact is like ignoring the fitness of milk
for babes and strong meat for men. Consecrated men and
women, solicitous for the welfare of the child as well as the
interests of the kingdom of God, could not remain umnindful
of the defects in a system that reversed this principle. Hence
arose an insistent demand for a change. More or less success-
ful efforts were made by private publishers to provide truly
graded lessons, and thousands of schools adopted them. It
was in the primary grades that the unsuitableness of uniform
lessons w^as most keenly felt and it was here that the first
break occurred. Finally, at the International Sunday School
Convention at Louisville, Ky., in 1908, the whole problem of
graded lessons had to be fairly faced. Was the Convention
willing to undertake the inspiring task that men of large vision
and the whole trend of modem thought were forcing upon it?
^o Why Pupils and Lessons Should be Graded 11
Without a dissenting voice the Convention rose to the occasion
and accepted leadership in one of the most momentous forward
movements undertaken by the modem church.
Some of the causes that brought about this result are the
following :
(1) A better understanding of the fact that the mind as
well as the body at various stages of growth requires appropriate
notirishment.
(2) A necessity for removing the impression made on pupils
that the subjects taught in the Simday school are less im-
portant than those taught in the day school.
(3) The superior lessons issued by private publishers. Among
these the eariiest and most widely circulated were the Bible
Study Union Lessons, partly graded; the Constructive Bible
Studies of the Chicago University Press; the series issued by
the Unitarian Association, and that prepared for Episcopal
schools by the New York Sunday School Commission. Various
isolated text-books were also issued, especially for younger classes,
(4) One of the large factors in creating an intelligent demand
for a thoroughly graded curriculum has been the Religious
Education Association. This organization came into existence
in 1903. Its membership includes the leaders in all depart-
ments of religious education. While it has studiously refrained
from competing with existing publishing houses, it has most
effectively permeated the Sunday school world with a sense
of the necessity of adapting the lesson material to the mental
and spiritual capacity of children and youth in their successive
stages of growth.
{5) These various movements stirred up a feeling of unrest
in several of the leading denominations connected with the
International Sunday School Association. The conviction
rapidly gained ground that Sunday schools had too long been
tied up to a system which, whatever its value in the past, was
radically wrong in principle, and that the time was ripe for a
complete change.
It is thus seen that the Sunday school, in order to become
an efficient instrument in promoting religious education in
its widest sense, is now being swung into the ciurent of the
world's best thought. To meet these new requirements it
must grade its pupils, and it must furnish instruction of so high
a grade as to show that, so far as its limitations permit, it is
on a level with the best educational efforts of our time.
1^ The Modern Ckitrck ^"^^^
Note 5. Results of Grading Pupils and Lessons. {1) The
bringing together pupils of approximately the same age and
capacity makes equal progress possible.
{2) An adjustment of the lesson material to the average
capacity of the class provides an important condition for
interesting the pupils in their work.
{3) Grading the pupils and lessons makes progress definite
and thus makes definite standards possible.
(4) The efficiency of the teacher can be increased by specializ-
ing on one grade. By working in one grade year after year
the teacher acquires a greater knowledge of the pupils, greater
familiarity with the subject, and corresponding proficiency in
handling it.
{5) Pupils can thus have the advantage during some periods
of their school work of contact with the best teachers.
{6) Provision can be made for spiritual growth at every
age of the pupil. There will be no need of waiting for a time
when he shall be prepared to enter upon a Christian life.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
{1) Cope: The Modern Sunday School in Principle and Practice, New
York and Chicago, 1907, pp. 61-73. {2) Report of the Twelfth International
Sunday School Convention, speech by M. C. Hazard, pp. 532-536. {3)
Mead: Modern Methods in Sunday School Work, New York, 1903, pp.
24-26. (4) Burton and Mathews : Principles and Ideals for the Sunday
School, Chicago, 1903, pp. 123-140. (5) Smith: The Sunday School of
To-day, New York and Chicago.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. What was the origin of the modern Sunday school?
2. What was the original purpose of the Sunday school?
3. What other purposes became prominent during the last century?
4. On what does the modern Sunday school place its chief emphasis?
5. How can we make up our minds as to whether the Sunday school is
important or not?
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. State briefly some of the more obvious differences between the day
school and the Sunday School.
2. Name the several stages that appear in the development of children
and youth.
Two Why Pupils and Lessons Should be Graded 13
3. What departments in the Sunday school correspond to these stages
of growth?
4. What place has been made in favor of uniform lessons?
5. How and when did graded lessons win recognition alongside of the
uniform lesson system?
6. State some of the reasons why graded lessons have won this recogni-
tion.
7. What are some of the advantages derived from grading pupils and
lessons?
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. Collect information about difficulties experienced with the uniform
lessons.
2. Look up the history of the Bible Study Union Lessons.
3. What is the greatest range of ages in any class in your school below
the adult department?
4. At what age are boys separated from girls? Why?
5. What classes are taught by men, and what ones b}^ women? Why?
6. Observe the plays and games of children of six to eight years of age,
and then children from twelve to fifteen. Write down for your own use,
and later tell your class what differences you have observed.
QUESTIONS FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
What can our Sunday school learn from the day schools?
The discussion of this question will include (a) what can be taken over,
and {b) what cannot be.
Write to Charles Scribner's Sons, 153 Fifth Ave., New York, for infor-
mation.
14 The Modern Church ^^^^•'^
Lesson 3. LESSON SYSTEMS OF THE PRESENT DAY.
Scripture Reading: Milk for Babes. Heb. ch. 5.
Note 1. Earlier Steps of Progress. The lesson systems
in use at the present time are the results of more than a century
of experiments. The curriculum in the " charity schools "
foimded by Raikes embraced elementary instruction in reading,
writing, arithmetic, and religion. The first radical change was
made when the secular branches were dropped and instruction
was confined to the Bible and the catechism. These were
not studied, but committed to memory. The catechisms
dated from the reformation period when each of the leading
Protestant bodies undertook to formulate its beliefs in a series
of questions and answers. They were written by theologians
from the adult point of view. How little they were suited
to children one may judge from the first question in the "Heidel-
berg Catechism," drawn up in 1562, and perhaps more widely
used than any other :
• Question. What is thine only comfort in life and death?
Answer. That I, with body and soul, both in life and in death, am not
mine own, but belong unto my faithful vSavior Jesus Christ, who with His
precious blood hath fully satisfied for all my sins, and redeemed me from all
the power of the devil; and so keepeth me, that, without the will of my
Father in heaven, not a hair can fall from my head ; yea, also, everything must
serve for my salvation. Therefore He also, by His Holy Spirit assureth me'
of everlasting life, and maketh me heartily willing and ready henceforth to
live unto Him.
This certainly was " solid food for fullgrown men," but
scarcely milk for babes.
The memorizing of Scripture was stimulated by rivalry and
prizes. In some cases it reached five hundred, or even seven
hundred, verses a week. When such cramming was found
to impair the mind, a limit was set at two hundred. With
all its defects this method had the merit of storing the mind
with a wealth of passages unsurpassed in religious and literary
value.
The second reform was the introduction of assigned lessons
in place of the haphazard selections made by each teacher.
Lessons based on Scripture narratives, or other passages, were
accompanied by explanations, questions, and answers. This
idea was started in Scotland in 1810, and in a somewhat modified
form was adopted in 1826 by the American Sunday School
Union in a series called the Uniform Limited Lessons, The
Three Lcssou Systems oj the Present Day 15
scheme aimed to cover the narrative portions of the Bible in
five years, and adapted its explanations to three grades of
pupils. It had the merit of at least attempting a systematic
study of the Bible.
The Uniform Limited Lessons did not win general acceptance.
Publishers, private and denominational, felt free to enter
the field and flood the market with other schemes. A multi-
tude of schools prepared their own lessons. Out of this chaos,
known as the " Babel " period, came finally a suggestion that
was destined to swing the whole Sunday school world into a
magnificent but rigid imiformity.
Note 2. The Uniform Lesson System. In 1867 Mr. B. F.
Jacobs of Chicago began agitating for a single lesson for the
whole school and for all schools. In spite of opposition it
won favor so rapidly that in 1872 the National Sunday School
Convention at Indianapolis appointed a committee to arrange
a system of lessons to cover the Bible in seven years, and all
schools were advised to adopt them. In three years the system
had spread over a large part of the world. Weekly, monthly,
and quarterly expositions have appeared since then in increasing
and almost incredible numbers. For a score of years this
idea dominated the Sunday school world.
That thexiniform lesson system has wrought far-reaching and
beneficent results is unquestionable. It was probably the
only thing that could bring order out of the previous con-
fusion. It has unified, extended, and strengthened the work
of the Sunday school. It has brought nearly all Protestant
bodies into a sympathetic co-operation previously unknown.
It has created a wide-spread and permanent interest in Bible
study. It has lent itself easily to the promotion of teachers'
meetings where the interest has centered on the next Sunday's
lesson. Superintendents have been given opportunities at
the close of the session to talk to the whole school about the
lesson. Travelers would find the same lesson wherever they
went. Speakers at Conventions have never wearied of drawing
inspiration from the fact that millions of people were studying
the same lesson at the same time. Lesson helps have been
printed in such enormous editions as to bring the price within
the reach of schools with the most limited means.
A fundamental and fatal defect in any system of uniform
lessons, however, is lack of adaptation to the various ages and
16 The Modern Church ^'''°"
capacities of those who constitute the Sunday school. Like
the medieval catechism, it assumes that the religious needs
of the child are the same as those of " grown ups." Further-
more, a system built on the plan of a uniform lesson cannot
be reformed. There is no middle ground between indefinite
continuance and total rejection. This painful alternative ex-
plains why the Sunday school world has been so slow in reach-
ing out after something better. An irrational system, com-
mended chiefly by its superficial advantages, possesses no
elements of permanent vitality. The whole trend of modem
thought is against it. So far from being the end of perfection
it is only a step in the path of progress.
Note 3. The Bible Study Union Lessons. The wide-
spread dissatisfaction with the uniform lessons led in 1890 -
1893 to the publication of several courses of " Inductive Les-
sons, " designed especially for the adult department, but
they were short-lived. The earhest system of so-called ' ' graded ' '
lessons is that begun in 1890 by the Bible Study Publishing
Company. In any strict sense of the term they were only
partly " graded, " but by their superiority to other lessons
then ciirrent they achieved a wide popularity. The earlier,
or Six Year Series, while retaining a certain measure of uni-
formity, were approximately adapted to the needs of each
department in the school. They divided the Bible into three
parts, the Old Testament, the Gospels, and the rest of the
New Testament, and gave a year's study to each part. The
children's courses were based on the stories and great truths
of the Bible; the young people's on BibHcal biography and
history; and the adult courses on Christian doctrines and
practical ethics. They are still extensively used, many schools
preferring them to the more acciu*ately graded systems now
appearing.
The later Completely Graded Series, begun in 1909, provides
courses scientifically constructed for every year between the
ages of four and twenty. Two years of appropriate work are-
assigned to the Kindergarten. The primary department
(ages 6-8) has three courses based on Biblical and other
stories topically arranged. They are designed to awaken feelings
of love and trust, and to crdtivate habits of obedience to
parents, to teachers, and to God. The unique and exceedingly
attractive feature of the next grades (9-12 years) is the
^^''«« Lesson Systems of the Present Day 17
Junior Bible. This contains the simpler versions of the
narratives to be studied, printed on folders given out to the
pupils each week to be bound in covers. At the end of four
years each pupil has a Junior Bible in four parts illustrated
with pictures which accompany the folders. The four inter-
mediate years (13-16) are provided with Biblical and extra-
Biblical lessons carefully adapted to the spontaneous interests
of the pupils. These are for the first year, " Heroes of the
Faith "; second year, " Christian Living"; third year, " Records
of the Faith " ; and fourth year, " The Life of Jesus."
The senior grades (17-20 years) include (a) a rapid survey
of the fundamental religious ideas in the Old Testament and
in the teachings of Christ; (6) a sketch of the history of the
Christian Church from the time of the Apostles to oiu* day;
{c) a missionary course which includes a comparative study
of the great religions of the world; and {d) the present course
on ** The Modem Church." Professor Kent's Historical f
Bible, a comprehensive cotirse in Biblical history, based on
the oldest Biblical sources and extending over six years, is
also used by senior, adult, and teacher-training classes.
Most of these senior courses are also admirably suited to
adult classes. As a whole the Bible Study Union Lessons are
conceded, even by those deeply interested in other systems,
to have done a practical pioneer work of inestimable value
in blazing a way toward better things.
Note 4. Graded Systems. Some years after the appear-
ance of the Bible Study Union Lessons the University of
Chicago Press began issuing a series of text-books known
as " Constructive Bible Studies for Sunday Schools. "J These
now include courses for all grades. The strong points are
(1) the modem treatment of the Bible, and (2) the treat-
ment of the yearly work in annual volumes. As yet httle
extra-Biblical material has been provided for classes below
the adult division.
Mention should be made of the graded system of the New
York Sunday School Commission issued in 1907, which is
largely used in Episcopal schools. It makes much use of the
Catechism, the Prayer Book, and Church History. Other
denominational graded systems are those of the EvangeHcal
Lutheran Church, the Friends, and the Unitarians.
The various independent and denominational series men-
18 The Modern Church ^ -^"^^m
tioned above, together with the important work done by the
ReHgious Education Association, leavened the Sunday schools
with ideas that could not be suppressed. Far sooner than
even the most sanguine friends of improved methods had
ventured to hope the seemingly impregnable walls of the
Uniform Lesson System began to crumble. In 1908 the
International Lesson Committee was instructed to prepare
graded lessons for schools that desired them. The result is
that International Graded Lessons are now provided, or in
course of preparation, for nearly every department. The
denominational publishing houses are pushing them, and
large space is given to the subject in Sunday school maga-
zines. It is probable that in a very few years the graded lesson
system will supersede the uniform lessons to such an extent
that the latter will linger only in backward churches.
In the Completely Graded Series of the Bible Study Union
Lessons, a serious effort has been made to conform the material
and the methods to the mental capacities, the spontaneous
interests, and the spiritual needs of the pupils at each stage
of their development; to aim at unity in results rather than
uniformity of methods ; to develop Christian character through
knowledge of religious truth from whatever source is best
adapted to promote that end; and to lay a solid foundation
for a course in normal training, so that the teaching force of
the Sunday school shall become self -perpetuating.
Furthermore, the Completely Graded Series, while con-
servative in respect to all things of vital importance for which
Christianity has stood in the past, is not unmindful of the
profound intellectual movements which are characteristic
of our age, and which are deeply affecting the attitude of
seriously minded persons toward religious problems. It tries
to meet questions of Biblical history and interpretation, of
Christian faith and experience, of church membership and
social service in a spirit conformable to modem views.
For these reasons it is winning a rapidly enlarging circle of
friends among those who wish to see religious questions treated
in accord with the best scientific thought of our time.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
(1) Pease: An Outline of a Bible School Curriculum, Chicago, 1904.
{2) " The Construction of a Graded Curriculum," Burton and Mathews:
Principles and Ideals for the Sunday School, Chicago, 1903, pp. 141-146.
(5) " Fitting a Bible School Curriculum to the Pupil," Haslett: The Fed-
^'"'^^ Lesson Systems of the Present Day 19
agogical Bible School, New York and Chicago, 1903, pp. 207-348. (4) "The
Selection of a Graded Sunday School Curriculum," Musselman : The
Sunday School Teacher's School, Philadelphia, 1909, pp. 91-105. (-5)
" The Story of the Lesson System," with descriptions of those best known.
Cope: Eiioliition of the Sunday School, Boston, 1911, pp. 101-127.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. What are the main departments in a modern Sunday school?
2. Why should pupils be graded?
3. On what basis should pupils be graded?
4. What reasons have been urged in favor of uniform lessons?
5. State some reasons why the lesson material should be carefully
graded.
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. What was the nature of the work done in the earlier periods of the
Sunday school?
2. Describe the so-called " Babel period."
3. What was the origin of the Uniform Lesson System?
4. What were some of its advantages?
5. What were its defects?
6. What are the prominent features of the " Completely Graded Series"?
7. What are the " Constructive Bible Studies"?
20 The Modern Church ^^"°»
8. Describe the International Graded System.
9. What principles are fundamental in a thoroughly graded Sunday
school curriculum?
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. On what kind of material are the lessons in your beginners', primary,
junior, and intermediate departments based?
2. Are any classes in your school studying any other than Biblical
lessons?
QUESTIONS FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
1, Why should a course of Sunday school study include other subjects
than the Bible?
2. Should subjects that grow out of the spirit and rehgious Hfe portrayed
in the Bible be properly called extra-Biblical?
Lesson 4. THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS.
Scripture Reading: Incompetent Teachers of the Law. 1 Tim. 1: 1-11.
Note 1. The Need of Trained Teachers in the Sunday
School. In every branch of education the need of trained
teachers has been recognized. In the time of Christ no people
attached so high a value to education as did the Jews. At
an early age the child began his training in the home, whence
at the age of six years he passed into the synagogue school.
This was caUed the " House of the Book," since the only text-
book was the roll of the Law. The instructors in these elemen-
tary schools, which were found in every village, were profes-
sional teachers variously styled scribes, rabbis, or doctors of
the Law (Lu. 5:17). They had been carefully fitted for their
work at the scribal colleges, or "Houses of Study." The
best training school for religious teachers that this world has
known was instituted when Jesus, the Master, chose twelve
disciples to be with Him to be fitted to carry on His work.
Paul warned Timothy against those in the Christian churches
who were " desiring to be teachers of the law, though they
^^^^ The Training of Teachers 21
understand neither what they say, nor whereof they con-
fidently affimi " (1 Tim. 1:7).
In the early Sunday schools nearly all the teachers were
paid (Note 2, Lesson 1). It was only after schools had so
increased in nirmber as to make the payment of the teachers
a great burden that devoted men and women began giving
gratuitous instruction. This practice soon became universal.
But even with unpaid teachers it has become a serious prob-
lem how to provide teachers for the schools, and the church
has had to meet the demand as best it could. Any church
member who could be persuaded to take a class was drawn
into the work. Men and women, even boys and girls, with-
out the smallest knowledge of the principles of teaching and
with little knowledge of the Bible have been entrusted with
the religious education of children and youth. None felt
the lack of equipment more keenly than many of these teachers
themselves, and they deserve all honor for the good work
they have done in very trying circumstances. For this army
of untrained teachers the Uniform Lesson System provided a
lavish supply of lesson helps for the next Sunday. But while
these helps provided crutches for the lame, they never helped
any one to walk alone. Since religious education is not only
the most important, but also the most difficult branch of
education, the Sunday schools should by right have the most
carefully trained and most efficient teachers.
Note 2. The Present Emphasis on Teacher Training.
The teachers' meeting in vogue until within a few years, and
stiU floiuishing where the uniform lesson is used, was not in
any proper sense a teacher training school. Its chief aim was
to assist the teachers to get ready for the next Sunday's lesson
with the least expenditure of personal effort. The leader
delivered a more or less illuminating discourse on the lesson,
from which the listeners carried away whatever they could.
During the latter half of the last century efforts were made
to arouse interest in a larger preparation of teachers for their
work. The Chautauqua Assembly was founded, institutes were
held, text-books w^ere written, classes were organized by pastors,
and lecture courses were given. The purpose was to make the
teachers better acquainted with the history, geography, litera-
ture, antiquities, manners, and customs of Bible times and Bible
ands. Naturally the emphasis was placed on matters relating to
22 The Modern Church
Lesson
this book, seeing that it had been made the sole text-book in the
Sunday school. Step by step the movement spread and the in-
terest deepened until 1903 when it culminated in the establish-
ment of a Department of Education in connection with the
International Sunday School Association. Teacher training
departments are now organized in nearly every State in the
Union, in all the provinces of Canada, in Hawaii, Mexico and the
West Indies. " This means that they have either appointed
teacher training superintendents, or teacher training committees
who supervise this department of work. It means also that the
courses of study used have been approved by the Committee on
Education, that the examinations are conducted in writing
without help, and that their graduates are required to make
a grade of at least seventy per cent." The quality of text-
books has steadily improved. Theological seminaries almost
without exception, and denominational colleges in an increas-
ing number, are giving courses in the principles and methods
of religious education and the laws of mental development.
Teachers' institutes, conducted by educational experts, are
taking the place of the old-fashioned inspirational Sunday
School Convention, and correspondence schools are reaching
hundreds of teachers and schools beyond the reach of insti-
tutes. The result of all this activity is that the number of
persons now enrolled in teacher training courses amounts to about
200,000, or one out of twelve in the whole number of teachers.
Note 3. What the Sunday School Teacher Needs to Be.
Before a course of study preparatory to Sunday school teach-
ing is undertaken the student should possess certain personal
qualifications :
(1) He should be of svifficient age to realize the responsi-
bilities attaching to the ofhce of a religious teacher and to
inspire confidence in those who are taught. To put in charge
of a class, boys or girls who themselves are sadly in need of
religious instruction, and whose sole idea of teaching is a
mechanical repetition of the questions in the lesson help, is
doing them and their pupils a grave injustice.
(2) He should have sufficient general education to be able
to use intelligently such means for special training as may
be put into his hands.
{3) It is highly desirable that the prospective teacher should
have some natural aptitude for teaching.
^owr X]i0 Training of Teachers 23
(4) Much is said in these days of Christians outside the
churches. But for a Sunday school teacher to remain outside
the chiu-ch disquahfies him for impressing on his pupils the
duty of a whole-hearted consecration to Jesus Christ as Saviour
and Lord, and for training them in efficient church member-
ship. Consistency requires that a religious teacher above
all others should not only point out the right way, but walk
in it.
(5) Mere church membership, however, does not suffice.
A Sunday school teacher should be one whose personality
testifies to a living religious faith and to uprightness in conduct.
The truth he teaches should be such an outstanding part of
his own life that his association with his pupils shall impress
them even more than his words. " What you are," says Emer-
son, *' speaks so loud I cannot hear what you say." The most
successful religious teacher, other things being equal, is he
who has most fully absorbed the spirit of his divine Master.
Note 4. What a Sunday School Teacher Needs to Know.
Assuming that the teacher has the requisite personal qualifi-
cations and a fair general education, he needs also a special
preparation for his work. This should embrace first, a knowl-
edge of the science and art of teaching, that is to say, (a) a
study of general educational principles and methods (pedagogy) ;
(6) an acquaintance with the leading facts relating to the
mental and especially spiritual groY^'th of children; (c) a study
of Siuiday school organization, managem.ent, and equip-
ment; and {d) information as to the special methods best
&,dapted to the department (kindergarten, primary, jtmior,
intermediate, senior, or adult) in which his work is to lie.
Secondly, the teacher's training should include a broad
acquaintance with the subjects to be taught, namely, (a)
introduction to the Bible as a whole, and to its several books;
(6) Biblical history, geography, and antiquities; (c) the dis-
tinctive literary features of the various books in the Bible;
(d) a brief summary of Christian doctrine; {e) an outline of
the history of the Christian church; and (J) a brief survey of
the relation of the chtu-ch to the social problems of the present
time.
Not all teachers are in position to pursue so extended a
cotu-se of study. Efforts have been made, accordingly, to
reduce the requirements so as not to be beyond the time and
24 The Modern Church ^^^<"»
ability of average teachers, and at the same time to set certain
standards that will universally entitle students to examina-
tion and graduation. At a conference of Sunday school and
denominational leaders in Philadelphia in 1908 the following
action was taken;
" It is the sense of this conference in defining the minimum requirements
for the Standardized Course for Teacher Training that such minimum
should include: (a) Fifty lesson periods, of which at least twenty should
be devoted to the study of the Bible and at least seven each to the study '
of the Pupil, the Teacher, and the Sunday school, {h) That two years'
time should be devoted to this course, and in no case should a diploma
be granted for its completion in less than one year, (c) That there should
be an advance course, including not less than one hundred lesson periods,
with a minimum of forty lesson periods devoted to the study of the Bible,
and of not less than ten each to the study of the Pupil, the Teacher,
the Sunday school, Church History, Missions or Kindred Themes, (d)
That three years' time should be devoted to this course, and in no case
should a diploma be granted for its completion in less than two years."
Students who pursue any of these subjects in regularly
enrolled classes and pass the examinations are entitled to
a certificate for any subject and a diploma for a whole course.
For information address your State Sunday School Associa-
tion Secretary, or the International Sunday School Asso-
ciation, 805 Hartford Building, Chicago, 111., or the Sunday
School Department of your denomination.
Note 5. How Teacher Training Can Be Provided. It
is at this point that the leadership of a competent pastor
becomes one of the chief factors in the efficiency of a Sunday
school. Happily the foremost theological seminaries are now
providing courses in religious education. These courses are
designed to prepare ministers to undertake the work of teacher
training as soon as they are given charge of churches. Not
only so, but many of the seminaries are ready to provide teach-
ers for classes that may be formed within reasonable distances.
Ministers who have not fitted themselves for this work should
seize the first opportunity to do so. Oftentimes the teachers
of several neighboring churches can combine in obtaining a
suitable instructor if none of the pastors feel equal to the
task. In almost every congregation some trained public
school teacher will be found who would gladly assume the
leadership of such a class. Information as to the most practi-
cable way of organizing classes and of selecting teachers and
text-books can always be obtained by correspondence with
P'^ The Training oj Teachers 25
State Sunday school secretaries. If a class cannot be formed,
individual teachers should be encouraged to take some course
and by private study, or the help of a correspondence school,
qualify themselves for better service. As to correspondence
study, inquire of your denominational Simday school depart-
ment.
An important help in promoting efficiency is a teachers'
library. It should include, if possible, one or two reliable
books on all the subjects mentioned in the preceding note,
as well as a recent dictionary of the Bible, and commentaries
on the Old and New Testaments.
Any church that appreciates the importance of religious
education, and of the Sunday school as the sole agency by
which the chiurch can promote it, will be on the outlook for
yotmg people who give promise of efficiency as teachers,
and will not only encourage them to prepare for this service
but will provide the amplest facilities for so doing. A thoroughly
organized Sunday school will thus in time train up its own
teachers from pupils who, having passed through all the grades,
are prepared and willing to enter a normal class. By and by
chtu"ches ma^^ see the wisdom of employing paid teachers, and
especially superintendents who are as scientifically trained for
their work as the pastor is for his, and are paid in the same
currency.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
{X) " The Evolution of the Teacher " in Cope's The 'Evolution of the
Sunday School, Boston, 1901, pp. 154-173. (2) Coe: The Training of
Teachers for Graded Schools, in Official Report of the Thirteenth Inter-
national Sunday School Convention, pp. 500-504. (3) The same report,
pp. 309-316, gives also a survey of the present state of teacher training
work. (4) Coe : The Core of Good Teaching, to be had from the publishers
of these lessons free on application.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. Mention the leading lesson systems in use at the present time.
2. Why have uniform lessons proved unsatisfactory?
3. What advantages are possessed by graded lessons?
4. What principles should imderlie a system of thoroughly graded
Sunday school lessons?
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. How did the Jews in the time of Christ provide for the religious
education of the young?
I
26 The Modern Church ^^^'^o"
2. What led to the employment of unpaid teachers in modern Sunday
schools?
). What has been the usual way of providing teachers?
4. Mention some of the steps of progress in teacher training.
5. What is the present condition of this work?
6. What personal qualifications should a Sunday school teacher possess?
7. What subjects should be included in a teacher training course?
8. Describe some attempts that have been made to standardize teacher
training.
9. What can a pastor do to promote teacher training?
10. How can any school provide itself with better teachers?
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. How does the superintendent of your school provide teachers as
they may be needed?
^'"^ New Types of Sunday School Work 27
2. What special provision is made for teacher training?
3. What is your State Sunday School Association, denominational or
interdenominational, doing to lift the standard of teaching?
4. What books for teachers does your Sunday school library contain?
QUESTIONS FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
1. How can you awaken in your church such a sense of the importance
of religious education as will lead to systematic and adequate provision
for teacher training?
2. Is special teacher training a practical proposition for busy laymen?
3. How far is it true that teachers are " born not made"?
Lesson 5. NEW TYPES OF SUNDAY SCHOOL
WORK.
Scripture Reading: " Behold, I make all things new." Rev. 21 : 1-8.
Note 1. Multiplicity of Interests in Modern Sunday-
Schools. There are multitudes who hold that things are
sacred because they are old, and dangerous because they are
new. Their ideal world is one where no one is bothered with
visions of better things, and where beliefs, customs, insti-
tutions remain as they are. They have their doubts about
** a new Heaven and a new earth," and are suspicious of a
wisdom that " makes all things new." To this class belonged
those who denounced the first Sunday schools as dangerous
to church and state (Note 2, Lesson 1). Since then they have
opposed every advance step taken by those who see that
the salvation of the Sunday school, as well as of the world,
lies in progress. Nevertheless, the Sunday schools have
marched on toward better and greater things. In comparison
with the schools of only half a century ago the interests and
activities of modem schools seem almost bewildering. The
Cradle Roll reaches out after the infant in arms. The Home
Department " offers the open Bible through the hand of the
living visitor to every home, man, woman, and child not
already connected with some department of the Sunday school.
It aims to take the gospel to every one in the parish." The
importance of the Simday school as an agency for promoting
missionary knowledge and zeal is being recognized more and
more every year. Since one ptupose of religious education
is to teach men to live efficient moral lives, and since this
28 The Modern Church ^^""^
demands a sound physical organism, the Sunday school
has long emphasized the need of temperance, and is now
beginning to give specific instruction respecting sexual moral-
ity and hygiene. Some up-to-date schools have some classes
for training in the duties and responsibilities of parenthood.
This department will and should have increasing attention
in the Sunday school of the futtire. Among boys and girls
we have class clubs with their social, athletic, and literary
activities. The Knights of King Arthur minister to the spirit
of fraternity and chivalry in the growing boy. Sunday
school orchestras furnish music, and Sunday school reading-
rooms give access to the popular literature of the day. Since
this institution is coming more and more to be recognized
as the church's chief agency for promoting religious education,
and since religion touches every department of human life,
it follows that its interests are gradually broadening out oyer
the whole field of human activity. In this lesson attention,
is called to only a few of these new types of Sunday school
work.
Note 2. Hand-Work. The introduction of hand-work into
Sunday schools is an innovation that has been practically
forced upon them by the example of the day schools. Wise
teachers see that it is not a passing fad, but that i! is based
on a fundamental law of human life. From earliest infancy
we learn by doing things. Knowledge to be of real value must
be acquired by the pupil himself and not merely be injected
by the teacher. The teacher's function is to stimulate the
desire for knowledge and to guide the pupil in the work of
acquiring it. The hand is a most important agency in de-
veloping the brain. It gives concrete expression to thought.
Furthermore, the effort to give visible or tangible form
to an idea tends to create a glowing interest in what might
otherwise prove dull and distasteful. A boy or girl who makes
a drawing of an Arab's tent will thereby get a more vivid idea
of Abraham's manner of life than by a mere reading of the
story. The construction of a map of Palestine will help to
localize events that otherwise would hang in the air. The
writing out of the main points in a narrative is one of the
best ways of fixing it in mind.
Forms of hand-work suitable to the Sunday school are:
tearing paper in crude representations of objects that will
^*^* New Types of Sunday School Work 29
help the child to recall a story that has been told, drawing
similar outlines on paper, coloring outline pictures, pasting
pictures, or constructing pictures on sand-tables; the modeling
of houses, tents, furniture, or other objects connected with
Oriental life and customs; drawing maps on paper, or mold-
ing them in sand, paper-pulp, clay or plasticine; note-books
made up of written materials original or copied; harmonies
of the life of Christ made by clipping the accounts from the
Gospels, pasting them in parallel columns and in chronolog-
ical order; the collecting and storing in a school museum of
curios, models, picttires, maps, and stereographs.
No doubt there are difficulties in the way of a general intro-
duction of hand- work into Sunday schools, but none that
is insuperable. Pupils have already become familiar with it
in the public schools. Teachers must learn how to use it.
It must not be made an end in itself, nor employed merely
as a happy device for keeping restless pupils quiet, but subor-
dinated to spiritual impressions. The expense, which should
cover merely the cost of the materials, need not be large.
Nor should it be regarded as usable in the lower grades only,
but as capable in the hands of wise leaders of being co-ordinated
with the work of every department in the school. Directions
are usually given in the helps for the graded lessons.
Note 3. Organized Classes for Adults. The first decade
of this century has witnessed great progress in the organiza-
tion of adult classes. This has been due to the recognized
need of enlisting men and women, as well as children and
youths, in the study of God's word. About sixty years ago
an English Quaker, Joseph Sturge by name, saw at the street
comers in Birmingham groups of men who were not reached
by the chiu-ches. The imptilse to do for them what Robert
Raikes had done for the children resulted in the starting of
an adult Sunday school. There are now in England over a
thousand such schools with more than a hundred thousand
members. For the most part they are independent of the
regular schools, and hold separate sessions for men and women.
In this country the adult classes have grown up in connection
with the ordinary Stmday schools. Unorganized Bible classes
have existed a long tune, but distinctively organized classes
are of comparatively recent date. The remarkable success
that has attended this movement is accredited largely to a
30 The Modern Church ^"^«»
definite distribution of responsibility and work. Each class
has at least five officers: teacher, president, vice-president,
secretary, and treasurer; and three committees, membership,
social, and devotional. The lower age limit is usually fixed
at sixteen years, since it helps to hold young people in the
Sunday school at a time when they are quite liable to drift
away. Certain special forms of organization adapted to the
needs of young men are known as Baraca classes. Philathea
classes are similar organizations among young women. Broth-
erhoods were first started in the Protestant Episcopal ch-urch
for daily united prayer and personal Christian service. With
a wider range of activities they are now found in large num-
bers among the Baptists, Congregationalists, Methodists,
and Presbyterians.
While organized adult Bible classes have as their main
purpose the cooperation of men and women in Bible study,
their activities go far beyond this. They help to develop
latent powers. They give each member some definite work
to do. In thus emphasizing personal responsibility they train
for efficient service. The burden of responsibility for the
success of the class is shifted from the leader to the individual
raembers. Social features are utilized not merely for having
a good time but for attracting people to the Bible and the
church. Mutual service of a very effective kind can be ren-
dered in helping young men and women out of work to find
employment. Let it be understood that this is a service in
which every member of the class considers it a privilege to
give all the aid he can. The class exists not for its own sake,
but for philanthropic work, social service, better citizen-
ship, purer politics, and good government, for anything and
everything in fact that tends to advance the interests of the
kingdom of God. Through the adult classes " The Sunday
school has thus developed from an institution for children
and youth until it has become the religious educational agency
of the church for all ages." The adult class, as already shown,
is proving itself an effective means of keeping the young people
in the Sunday school. It brings in people of mature age who
are best qualified to become leaders in the work of the church.
Where the class is thoroughly organized the evangelistic work
rests no longer on the shoulders of the pastor alone. The
class brings to his aid a large body of workers able to reach
and influence those who in many instances would shy off at
^'"^ New Types of Sunday School Work 31
the approach of a minister. Multitudes of men and women who
are thus brought into the Sunday school are also brought to a
saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Note 4. Training for Christian Service. From what has
been said in the preceding notes it will be seen that the prob-
lem before the Sunday school is one not so much of infor-
mation as of development. Mere information is of little value
unless it is made tributary to greater efficiency in one's life
work. From the kindergarten to the organized adult class
the Sunday school is now seeking for appropriate avenues
by which the natural impulses and acquired impressions of
the pupils may find expression in active work. That is the
meaning of hand- work, and the larger meaning of the adult
class. While the work in the class centers on the Bible, it
is only that its teachings may take form in Christian service.
This may be very simple, but if it is done not merely for the
class or the church, but for the Master, it will be sanctified
by a noble piurpose. The training thus acquired will affect
for the better all the activities of one's daily life, and it may
swing them into wholly new channels. Many a church or
social worker or missionary at home or abroad has received
his first impulse to self-consecration from the service laid
upon him by the Sunday school. Opportunities for service
are present everywhere. Ignorance, poverty, sickness, lack
of work, discouragement, invite sympathy and a helping hand.
The best way to assist the imfortunate, and at the same time
to enlarge their capacity for self-help presents a problem that
calls for the most serious thought and sympathetic effort.
Home visitation throughout one's own parish for the purpose
of getting people into the Sunday school or to attend the
church services may be as real missionary work as that done
in a foreign land. Organized adult classes are getting to work
as Christian citizens in investigating the saloon, the social
evil, the city or town government, the labor question, and simi-
lar problems that relate to the welfare of the community.
Throwing one's energies into promoting the social life of the
church may be as acceptable service for the kingdom of God
as an eloquent exhortation in the prayer meeting or a bril-
liant essay at a missionary concert. Martha, who was *' dis-
tressed about much serving," was trying in her way to honor
her Lord no less than Mary, "who sat at His feet and heard
32 The Modern Church ^"^^^
His word." In a score of ways the modem Sunday school
has become not only an invaluable agency in educating men
and women for Christian service, but in opening opportunities
for them to engage in it.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
(1) Hand-work in the Sunday School, by Milton S. Littlefield, Philadel"
phia, 1908. {2) " Manual Methods," ch. XII in Cope's Modern Sunday
School in Principle and Practice. {3) " The Adult Bible Class Movement,"
ch. XVII, ibid. (4) The Adult Department; Reports and Addresses in
Official Reports of the Twelfth and the Thirteenth International Sunday
School Conventions. (5) Adult Class Study, by Irving F. Wood, Boston,
1911.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. Why should Sunday schools be provided with trained teachers?
2 To what extent is the demand being met at the present time?
3. Mention some of the subjects that should be included in a teacher
training course.
4. How can a school provide itself with competent teachers?
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. Mention some of the types of work in which modern Sunday schools
have been called to engage.
2. Why is the work of the Sunday school not now confined to simple
Bible study as in former times?
3. Why has hand-work been introduced into several departments of
the school?
4. What forms of hand- work are suitable to the Sunday school?
5. What cautions need to be observed in connection with the employ-
ment of hand- work?
6. Describe briefly the origin and progress of the adult class movement
in England.
•5** Getting and Holding the Pupils 33
7. What is meant in this country by an organized adult class?
8. What are some of the benefits experienced in connection with organ-
ized adult classes?
9. How do modern Sunday schools promote efficiency in Christian
service?
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. Make a list of the various activities in which your own Sunday
school is regularly or occasionally engaged aside from Bible study.
2. What forms of hand-work, if any, are used in your school, and in
what grades?
3. Have you one or more organized adult classes in your school? If so,
men, women, or mixed? Name the offices and committees; describe the
various means by which interest is created and sustained; what additions
come to the church from the class, etc.
If you have not an organized adult class in your own school, ascertain
it there is not one in successful operation in some neighboring school
that can be made a subject of study and used as an object lesson for your
own class.
QUESTIONS FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
1. Is hand- work likely to promote spiritual impressions?
2. How can the social life of an adult class be made tributary to religious
interests?
3. Doesyourschoolholditsboysafter they are thirteen years old? Why?
Lesson 6. GETTING AND HOLDING THE PUPILS.
Scripture Reading: How Jesus Won Disciples. Mk. 1:16-20; Lu. 5:27,
28; Jo. 1 : 43-51.
Note 1. Having the Best Possible School. The problem of
getting and holding the pupils resolves itself first of all into the
problem of having a thoroughly good school. By this is meant
a school that does good work, that is able to arouse permanent
interest, and that meets wisely the religious ends for which
34 The Modern Cktirck ^^^^o**
it was organized. A glance at the preceding lessons will suggest
further answers to the question, What is a good Sunday school?
It is {!) one whose efforts are directed toward the develop-
ment of Christian character and training for Christian service
through the teaching of religious truth ; {2) one in which pupils
are graded; {S) one whose course of study is graded; (4) one
that has a constant supply of trained teachers; {5) one
that is conducted by an efficient superintendent who meets
the requirements of his position; {6) a school whose officers
and teachers are sufficiently progressive to value new methods
and adapt them to their own use; (7) one where punctuality,
order, quietness, and good discipline are maintained without
continuous and insistent demands; {8) one which does not
confound goodness with bigness; and {9) one that is permeated
by a spirit of genuine friendliness, of mutual helpfulness, of
S3mipathy in one another's trials, and of such homelike feeling
that attendance will be a real delight. Such a school needs
no strenuous efforts to boost it into popularity. It advertises
itself. Those who belong to it are proud of it, and eager to
commend it to their friends and acquaintances. Why should
a Sunday school not in some measure arouse the same enthusi-
astic loyalty as a high school, college, or university? A school
from which children and youth slip away as soon as they are
released from parental authority, and to which only a few
elderly persons go from a sheer sense of duty, may resort to
the most approved methods for recruiting its ranks, but the
character of the school will defeat them all. Some one has
said, ** Have a good meal ready when you ring the bell."
Failure here means failure everywhere.
Note 2. Getting the Pupils. A Sunday school that
courageously sets before itself high ideals and earnestly strives
to realize them is nevertheless justified in employing all legiti-
mate means for enlarging its membership. It may not need to
advertise itself, but it is its Christian duty to do so as long as
there is a vacant seat or a spare comer in the church building.
There are multitudes who, without some special effort in their
behalf, will not respond to the mere fact that a good school
exists in their neighborhood. They have not for years, perhaps
never, been interested in religious matters. They are indifferent
because they do not know their value. Life insurance in nimiber-
less cases has brought comfort and help in the hour of need,
•S»* Getting and Holding the Pupils 35
and yet only a small part of those who have insured would
ever have done so but for the tactful and persuasive appeals
of an agent. Jesus Himself did not wait for disciples to join
Him, but extended the personal call. People who are not reli-
giously inclined must have their interest kindled by those who
have experienced the uplifting and strengthening power of
Christ's gospel. The better the school, the more it is justified
in using all proper means to increase its membership.
A good end, however, does not justify the employment of
questionable means. The large boimties offered toward the
close of the Civil War for recruits stimulated in a multitude of
cases, not patriotism, but mere " bounty- jumping," that is,
desertion at the first opportunity after the bounty had been
received. The offering of prizes in the Sunday school operates
in much the same way. One who works merely for a prize
will stop when it is gained. Those who are brought in under
such a stimulus are not likely to become permanently interested.
Often the inducements are offered to the new pupil himself in
the form of free attendance at the stmimer picnic or a present
on the Christmas tree. When the occasion has passed, the
place that knew him for a few Srmdays knows him no more.
A somewhat frequent, but also questionable, means for getting
new scholars is starting contests between different sections,
departments, or classes of the school, the winning party being
banqueted by those who lose. Aside from the fact that many
would regard this as gambling, it introduces a spirit of rivalry
that not unfrequently operates injuriously. Furthermore,
any scheme that brings in a large number at once is lil<:ely to
make trouble. One may get down a lot of fruit by shaking the
tree, but for long keeping hand-picked fruit is best. The
crowds who were attracted by the mighty words and works
of Christ soon fell away; the disciples whom He called one by
one staid by Him, with one sad exception, to the end.
The best way to get people into the Sunday school is to go
after them and stick to them until they come. Who shall do
this? The pastor or the superintendent? Alas, their time is
limited, and they cannot be everywhere. By paid visitors?
Yes, if the right kind can be found. But, even so, there is
much that can and should be done by the members of the
school. They constitute the most effective recruiting agency.
In the doing of this work they also receive the spiritual stimulus
that always attends religious work done for others. Sometimes
36 The Modern Church ^^'"^
all that is needed to win a child or -a family is a pleasant smile
and a kind word. Sometimes protracted efforts may be needed,
but if only one child is won that is ample reward. Besides,
through the child a way is often found into the hearts of the
parents, when other avenues are closed.
The territory covered by a school ought to be thoroughly
canvassed, and if possible by several denominations cooperating.
It should be mapped out, and then subdivided into small
districts, each of which is to be assigned to one or more workers.
Their first duty will be to find out the religious affiliations of
the residents in their districts. The name, chiu-ch attended or
preferred, number of children in a family, and the ntunber in
Sunday school should be written on a card. When these are
gathered in and alphabetically arranged they will form a card-
catalogue which can easily be kept up to date by noting changes
as they are reported by visitors. All proper efforts should
then be made to get the children unconnected with any Sunday
school to begin attendance at once. Where a family is tmable
to provide the necessary clothing a little timely help will usually
be received with gratitude. Nor should the effort to win new
members be confined to the children alone. The adtdt classes
should be impressed with the duty of persuading their grown-
up neighbors to attend. Adults may be harder to win than
children, but they are worth the effort. Nothing of real worth
is accomplished without work. Every member of the school
should act on the conviction that the school is in business for the
kingdom of God not on Sunday only, but every day in the week.
The Home Department offers a fine field from which to
recruit the school. Many who thinlc they cannot find time to
attend the main school become so interested in the study of
the lesson at home that presently they are found in a class. It
has happened that " a Home Department lived six months
and then died. But there was no funeral, and there were no
motimers. All the members of this Home Department, thirty
in number, became members of the main school. They got a
taste, and they wanted more."
Note 3. Holding the Pupils. For the average school, as
usually conducted, a harder problem than getting pupils is
holding them. Unlike the day school, the Sunday school
cannot send a truant officer after the delinquents or punish
them for staying away. If they are held at all it must be by
•^** Getting and Holding t)ie Pupils 37
a moral attraction strong enough to counteract natural indo-
lence, the call of the street, Sunday newspapers, excursions,
and social gossip. The first step toward holding a pupil is to
get him so interested in the work of the school that he will want
to come. Where a school meets this test, there will be little
need of strenuous efforts to reclaim wanderers. Still, even in
a really good school, a teacher will not rely wholly on the class
work to hold the members, but will enHst the aid of the parents
and supplement this with personal visits especially in case of
sickness or trouble. It will be miuch easier to adapt the instruc-
tion to the exact needs of the pupil if the teacher knows his
home environment. If a boy stays away several Sundays and
no one tries to bring him back, it is not unnatujral for him to
conclude that his presence is not deemed very important.
Every new pupil should at once be given to understand that
he is expected not only to stay in the school but to be present
every Sunday. A school that promotes its pupils from grade to
grade and gives a diploma at the completion of the cotirse of
study should have it understood that regularity in attendance
is one of the conditions on which the diploma is awarded.
Where a school is not graded other means have to be devised
to stop leakage. Such are rewards or prizes and honor rolls,
posted in some conspicuous place where pupils can see their
own names. The Simday school secretary's weekly record
should show separately the attendance o males and females
in each grade. Then a curve can be constructed that will show
the hold of the Sunday school on each sex at every age. At a
certain Sunday school in connection with the annual Exhibit
of Pupils' Work, a secretary's annual report was exhibited which
included, among other things the following statistical charts:
Highest Enrolment during the Season 170
(Boys, 80 Girls, 90)
Average Attendance 71%
(Boys, 73%. Girls, 69%.)
Amount Given and Raised for Others, $303
Day Nursery . . , $129
Chinese Famine Sufferers . 48
Nanking University . . 71
Other Good Causes . . 55
The Modern Church "^^"°"
Percentage of Attendance by Grades, 1911-1912
GRADE PER CENT
IV 80
V 77
III 77
I. High School Boys 76
VIII. Girls 76
VII 75
I. High School Girls ....... 71
VI 70
Kindergarten 70
1 69
VIII. Boys 68
II 59
Among other things these charts help to show, {!) That
school holds its boys as well as its girls ; and {2) that the school
holds its pupils of adolescent age as well as the younger ones.
A further illustration of how pupils of this age can be held is
shown in the accompanying tables (pp. 39, 40) reproduced
by permission from The Child Welfare Exhibit in New York.
Teachers should also keep a record of individual attendance,
conduct, knowledge of the lesson, offering, and other matters
of interest to be reported quarterly to the parents. Every
absence should be noted and followed up not only by letters,
but by personal visits. Ordinarily teachers who are interested
in their classes will find time to do this; but when a teacher
cannot find time to do it, or needs assistance, there should be
a committee appointed by the superintendent ready to give all
needed help. Whenever a pupil drops out of the school he
should be reported to the superintendent at once that steps may
be taken promply to restore him. The longer he remains away
the harder it will be to bring him back. One who has been
absent for a considerable time will often have his interest
revived by a pressing invitation to be present at some special
service as Rally Day, Easter Sunday, the Christmas festival,
the annual picnic, or a Sunday school sociable.
A mechanical performance of these duties will have little
power to win back those who have strayed from the school.
Back of all visits, letters, and invitations there must be a spirit
of love and sympathy that will seek the straggler not merely
to fill a vacant seat in the school, but for his own sake. If a
teacher in some measure reaHzes the responsibility and privilege
of his position, will he not enter into the anxiety of the good
Six
Getting and Holding the Pupils
WANTED
A Department of Child Training
in Every Church
With a System of ilccounts thatShowS'
Interest on tiuestmcnl
Care and maintciiaiiec of Plant
Snlarici^ for \\W\< ] V.\<\or
vMlh Chifdrcn JOUici W'oiMvcr^
<>upplic>; rii\itin>i. *^blioncrv Tosla^c^c
tic
Etc
With Records that SfiowlheEfflciencv
of the Department
39
£_
qj(.'
i>oyi=
O . r I s
r.vv-.nl
IKVMI
r>oso.i
Ih.-Vlll
4
5
6
Flc
l.[vcl:\tion of "llttciidaiicc
to ci\rolhucnl for each
fl^c and scx'fhis
record will reveal the
hold of the school and
of each class
2. Relation of Dcp'i of Child 1iainiiv< to Chuivh
Troportion of Tiipils who advance to
confirmation or full mciutx^rship
Proportion of Pupil? who become teachers
clergymen or other Chuixh Workers
3. Relation to Co m m u n 1 1>'
]] record of each piipiVs life in the Sunday
Sctiool the Church, the Coniniunitv
Ladx of information on Hksc pouits on ihc
part of Churche? obstructs llns "Exhibit and
Handicaps the Sunday Schools..
40
The Modern Church
Lessor
The hold
of the Sunday School upon its
PUPILS
J\ School
that LOSES
its HOLD
EARLY
ulia, c'TAttmil'UT
S6 Bou.-y
I'll mi DrOmiri/ •■7iiidiu/''
- /^S Oi//.-=—
,
V
1
\
//
\\
/
\\
'y
1
\
\
^
I
1
\
-
\
\
\
\
4^s s •> 10 ii if if /'* IF A- 17 If I'ly |
J\ School
that RETAINS
its HOLD
throu^ the
TEENS
Notice the loss, between 14- and 19
IhstniuUwi af^-Htmaatr onu/i Ontiihiri/ctuMiaf,
^^
-/>----r -i-^--i-
:-:-b=p^:r :
_.__^£. = - \4-
>.
'
•'-':''■ ']-":'{ ' " '""' '^ "■'
MM M 1 M 1
How Does This School
RETAIN ITS HOLD?
1. A dcfinilc tunc lor gmdiLnl ion (L'>vcai^)
2. E wry cL\ss organized as in W\^\\ School
CCjassof I0ll.l9l2.ctc)
3.EwrvTGacheraSub.ra5tor [f^f-^^-^
4. Every gauipooesacfinitc Christian Service?
Xc/pmpooi:
yfsidfu/ sfuU-I/is.
5.,/In TlUnuui dissociation
•^** Getting and Holding the Pupils 41
shepherd, when one of his sheep has strayed from the flock,
** and go after that which is lost, until he find if ? And shotild
not the whole school share in the teacher's joy as he, like the
shepherd, exclaims, " Rejoice with me, for I have found my
sheep which was lost" (Lu. 15 :4-7)?
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
(1) " Recruiting and Retaining Pupils," ch. VIII in Cope's The Modern
Sunday School; a good form of quarterly Report Card is shown on p. 81,
by means of which " The home is reminded at least four times a year of
what the child is doing in the Sunday school." (2) Mead: Modern Methods
in Sunday School Work, pp. 127-182, contains three chapters on " Ways
of Securing Regular and Punctual Attendance and Perfect Records";
"Ways of Holding and Regaining Absent Scholars"; and "Ways of
Reaching and Securing New Scholars." These chapters are packed with
valuable suggestions and forms of letters, invitations, and other printed
material found helpful in successful schools. (3) Trailer The Sunday
School Teachers' School, Philadelphia, 1909, pp. 203-211. (4) Lawrance:
How to Conduct a Sunday School, pp. 119-128, New York, 1905.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. Indicate some of the broader interests of modern Sunday schools
as compared with earlier ones.
2. State some reasons why hand-work has found a large place in pro-
gressive schools.
3. What is an organized adult class?
4. In what ways has the organization of classes proved a benefit?
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. What is the primary and essential requisite in getting and holding
pupils in Sunday schools?
2. Mention some of the distinctive features of a thoroughly good school.
3. Why is a Sunday school in duty bound to use all proper means to
increase its membership?
4. Indicate some questionable means for enlarging the attendance^
42 The Modern Church ^«^o«
5. What is the best way to secure new scholars?
6. How can a Sunday school get acquainted with its field?
7. As compared with the day school, under what disadvantage does
the Sunday school rest in holding pupils?
8. What can a graded school do to promote regular attendance?
9. What measures can be adopted in an ungraded school to hold the
pupils?
10. What should be the attitude of the teacher and of the school toward
the lost and found?
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. How many members of your school have dropped out during the
past year?
2. What efforts have been made to reclaim those who have not moved
away?
3. How many new scholars has your school gained during the past year?
4. How many of the new scholars have dropped out?
5. What is the average length of the period through which the members
of your school remain connected with it?
QUESTIONS FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
How can your class, or school, get so strong a hold on its members that
they will regard an absence for a single session as a personal loss?
What benefit would follow from interdenominational cooperation in a
campaign for new pupils?
•Sw^ The Modern Pulpit 43
Lesson 7. THE MODERN PULPIT.
Scripture Reading: " They Went about Preaching the Word." Acts 8: 1-8.
Note 1. The Place of Preaching in the Christian Church.
Preaching as a part of public worsliip originated in the Jewish
synagogues a century or two before the Christian era. At
first it was merely an explanation of a passage of Scripture,
but in course of time it developed into the sermonic form
designed to inculcate morality and reHgion. The preaching of
John the Baptist was chiefly an announcement that the king-
dom of God was at hand (Mt. 3 :2-12). The character of
Jesus' ministry was threefold: "Jesus went about in all Galilee
teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the
kingdom, and healing all manner of disease " (Mt. 4:23).
He sent out the Twelve to preach to the lost sheep of the house
of Israel ( Mt. 10:6, 7). The message of the Christian church
to the world began with Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost
(Acts 2 : 1-8). After the death of Stephen " They that were
scattered abroad went about preaching the word " (Acts 8:4).
Philip preached Christ in Samaria and to the Ethiopian eunuch
(vss. 5, 35). From first to last the work of Paul was mainly
*' preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching the things
concerning the Lord Jesus" (Acts 9:20; 28:31). From the
Apostolic age to our own preaching has continued to be the
main work of the Christian minister, except during the middle
ages when religious ceremonies came to be considered vastly
more important. The Protestant reformation set aside purely
ritual worship and reinstated the minister in the pulpit as
his throne. Those who have been and are now most effective
in building up in the world the kingdom of God have been men
whose learning and eloquence have been dedicated to a fearless
proclamation of the saving truths of Christianity.
Note 2. The Permanency of Preaching in Public Worship.
There was a time not very long ago when the pulpit was practi-
cally the only source of information in the community. Life
was simple. The enormous complexity of modem conditions
was unknown. The chief end of life in this world was thought
to be preparation for the world to come. There were few books
and no newspapers. The family library consisted of a Bible,
a catechism, a hymn book, and for devotional reading a few
treatises like Bunyan's ** Pilgrim's Progress," and Baxter's
44 The Modern Church ^"^°"
" Call to the Unconverted," or " The Saints' Everlasting
Rest." The ** dominie" was the only learned man in the
community. All the people went to hear him because they had
nowhere else to go. But things have changed mightily since
then. The simple requirements then fulfilled by the pulpit are
now met by a hundred agencies. The best religious thought
is brought to every one's door. Thousands of religious news-
papers and magazines deal with every aspect of denominational
and general church life. Even the secular press deals with
religious matters of current interest, and prints in full the
seraions of distinguished preachers. In these circumstances
has not the pulpit had its day ? Is it not about to be super eded
by the printing-press ? Is it not more edifying to read quietly
and thoughtfully some masterpiece of religious literature than
to listen to an average sermon that, if it does not positively
irritate, leaves one listless and uninspired? There are multi-
tudes who feel this way.
Plausible as such arguments may seem, they are not convinc-
ing. The fact is that there never was a time when effective
preaching was in such demand as it is to-day. The people are
himgry for it. The churches are clamoring, not for mere scholars
and orators, but for real preachers who can bring some word
of God from their innermost souls to the hearts and con-
sciences of their hearers. Printed seiTQons, religious books
or essays, can never take the place of the living preacher. Real
preaching can never lose its power so long as souls remain re-
sponsive to the magic of the human voice, to lips that have
been touched by a live coal from God's altar, and that bring
messages that have been wrought out in the travail of the
speaker's own soul. A man who has caught the vision of
spiritual things, who has entered into personal " fellowship
with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ," and who from
that vantage ground is able to interpret men to themselves
and to unravel the tangled problems of life, will never be left
without hearers. He crosses no " dead line " at the meridian
of life. On the contrary his message grows richer and stronger
with the passing years.
Note 3. The Preacher's Mission. We expect many things
of the minister to-day that were not required in past times.
We expect him of course to " bear witness to the truth," and
to " contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all
•5^^« The Modern Pulpit 45
delivered unto the saints." The essential truths and historical
facts that constitute the foundations of Christianity remain the
same from age to age, but each age must interpret them anew
and incarnate them in its .own life. The preacher accordingly
must address himself to contemporary life. This is especially
needed in our time that is witnessing greater changes in every
realm of thought and action than have been experienced in a
hundred generations that preceded it. The whole frame-
work of society is being reconstructed. New problems are
arising on every hand. Moral questions are assimiing an ahnost
baffling complexity. We cannot expect a minister to become
an expert in philosophy, the natural sciences, science, economics,
and sociology. But we may expect him to recognize the fact that
religion is interw^oven with all human interests, and that it is his
mission not merely to preach dr^^ dogmas and to exhort people to
be good, but to make himself intelligently acquainted with the
intellectual and social movements of our time and to interpret
them to us from a moral standpoint. People do not want him
to preach geology, or astronomy, or hygiene, or politics or
economics, or sociology. What they want along these, or a
htindred similar, lines they can get much better from text-books
prepared by specialists. But they do want him to help them
understand these things in the light of morality and rehgion.
The preacher's mission is to interpret God and the world and
human life and duty in the terms of modem thinking.
Note 4. The Preacher's Sermon. Preaching is always a
religious address, but a religious address is not always preach-
ing. As popularly understood, a sermon is a religious discourse
based on a passage of Scripture. The passage so used is called
the text, and from it the preacher derives the theme which he
develops in his sermon. A sermon may be addressed to one or
the other of two classes — those who are followers of Christ or
those who are not. When addressed to the former class its
main purpose is by instruction in religious truth to promote
growth of the personal Christian life and more effective service
in the cause of Christ. When addressed to those who have not
entered on the Christian life, the main purpose of the sermon
is their conversion. Usually, however, the preacher addresses
both classes. Hence he tries to combine instruction and
exhortation so as to give his discoiu-se an immediate and practi-
cal value for all who hear him. A sermon, if you observe it
46 The Modern Church ^^'^^
carefully, never undertakes to handle more than one theme.
This was understood by the colored brother who, chafing under
such a restriction, claimed that he was not a preacher but only
an exhorter, because " The preacher," he said, "takes a text
and sticks to it, but the exhorter branches off." A well-con-
structed sermon is a unity, and it aims at a single result. In
the attainment of this aim it may use explanation of Scripture,
instruction in Christian doctrine, argument in defense of the
theme, praise or condemnation, together with illustrations
drawn from the whole range of human interests. But however
the sermon is developed, it should aim to drive home to the
mind and conscience the truth set forth in the theme or the
duty enforced by it. While a sermon, accordingly, may in-
struct, it must quicken the appreciation of moral and spiritual
things and move the will to right action.
Note 5. How to Listen to the Preacher. The assimiption
is that, as listeners, we do not come in a critical or hostile
mood. If that is the case, we are practically debarred from the
special kind of benefit which the sermon is designed to impart.
To receive help we must come with a sense of our spiritual
need and in a receptive attitude toward the preacher's utterances.
If it should happen that we are familiar with the instructional
part of the sermon, nevertheless we should realize that we do
need that spiritual quickening which it is designed to convey.
To this end taking notes of the discourse is often of real value,
especially to young persons. Note how the sermon uses the
text, how the theme is developed, but above all we should
observe how the moral and religious teachings are related to our
own lives.
Note 6. How to Help the Preacher. It would be doing
the thousands of earnest and devoted preachers of our time
a great injustice to hold them alone responsible for the lack of
interest in preaching on the part of certain elements in our
popidation. Aside from the adverse conditions, mentioned
above (Note 2), that prevail throughout the modem world,
we must not forget that effective preaching requires sympathetic
listening. The practical result depends as much on the latter
as on the former. In the parable of the sower (Mt. 13:3-9)
our Lord showed that the harvest depended as much on the
receptiveness of the soil as on the quality of the seed and the
skill of the sower. About Jesus Himself the people thronged
Seven
The Modern Pulpit - 47
from all directions and were astonished at His teaching, even
the temple officers affirming, " Never man so spake," yet only
a small nimiber became His permanent followers. Listening
to sermons has become with many churchgoers, even with
many professing Christians, rather a matter of sentimental
entertainment than of spiritual culture. The sermon is put
on the same level and judged in the same way as a lecture on
the nebular hypothesis or on Browning's poetry. It is esteemed
according to its power to create a momentary and wholly
impersonal interest. It is only natural for hearers of that kind
to drift from church to church. Like gypsies, they have no
fixed abode. To profit by preaching one must be not merely
an auditor but a participant. One must establish a common
interest with the preacher and the church, aiding in its work
and consulting its prosperity. Business and domestic cares
must be left outside. The words addressed to a church some
fifty years ago at the installation of a pastor are as pertinent
now as then: " I suggest that you pray for your minister
daily; guard his reputation carefully; hear him preach weekly;
listen to the word wakefully; treasure it up joyfully; practice
it faithfully; labor with him sympathetically both individually
and collectively; attend the prayer and conference meeting
constantly; support the Sunday school heartily; pay him
promptly ; give him a bit of meat and a ball of butter occasion-
ally; call on him frequently, but tarry briefly; greet him cordi-
ally, but not rudely; and may the God of all grace bless you
abimdantly, and add unto you daily such as shall be saved
eternally." Hearers of that type are a perpetual inspiration
to any preacher, and they rarely listen to a sermon from which
they cannot get some spiritual benefit.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
(1) Greer: The Preacher and His Place, New York, 1904, pp. 37-101.
(S) Abbott: The Christian Ministry, Boston and New York, 1905, pp.
35-165. (3) Faunce: The Educational Ideal of the Ministry, New York,
1908, pp. 1-38. (4) Gladden: The Christian Pastor and the Working Church,
New York, 1901, pp. 107-121. (5) Articles on " Preaching " in Bible
Dictionaries.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. Mention some of the distinctive features of a good Sunday school.
2. What methods are to be commended in getting new scholars?
3. How shall a Sunday school get acquainted with its territory?
48 The Modern Church ^"^^
4. Describe some ways by which scholars may be retained in the Sunday
school.
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. What place did preaching occupy in the ministry of Jesus and His
disciples?
2. What place has preaching held in the church since the Apostolic age]
3. Why must preaching continue to be a part of public worship?
4. What is the essential part of the preacher's mission?
5. What should be the preacher's attitude toward the intellectual and
social movements of our time?
6. What is the nature and purpose of a sermon?
7. In what frame of mind should we listen to sermons?
8. Show why the preacher is not always to blame for popular lack of
interest in preaching.
9. How can the hearer help to make the preacher's message effective?
^*sht Public Worship 49
SPECIAL SUBJECTS FOR STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. What proportion of your Sunday school is present at the preaching
service?
2. What seems to you to be the purpose of preaching as you Hsten to it?
3. Of how many of your pastor's sermons during the last month can you
state the text and subject?
4. In what ways have you tried to make your pastor's sermons helpful
to yourself and to others?
QUESTIONS FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
1. In view of prevailing conditions in the modern world what is the
preacher's task to-day?
2. Do you believe that the preacher in his sermons should not meddle
with politics?
3. How far should the preacher direct his attention to questions of civic
betterment?
Lesson 8. PUBLIC WORSHIP.
Scripture Reading: A Call to Worship. Ps. 96.
Note 1. The Meaning of Worship. Professor William
Adams Brown in his Essence of Christianity defines Christianity
as " The reHgion of divine sonship and human brotherhood
revealed and realized through Jesus Christ." The Deity whom
Jesus revealed is not merely our Creator and Sovereign, the
Supreme Being in the universe, but our loving Father in heaven
who cares for us, provides for our needs, and who has made
us for fellowship with Himself. " Behold what manner of love
the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the
sons of God" ; and such we are. If God is our Farther and we are
His children, then a realization on our part of this exalted dig-
nity should be our supreme privilege and duty. Worship is the
act in which we express and stimulate otrr realization of this
fellowship, and bring ourselves into such vital relation to the
Father that we obtain inspiration to know and to do His
will. Public worship is the act by which congregations at fixed
times and places seek to realize this fellowship and to obtain
this inspiration.
Note 2. Antecedents of Christian Worship. The religious
beliefs of the Hebrews expressed themselves in external worship.
The earlier forms were sacrifices, and offerings of food at sacred
50 The Modern Church ^^^^o"
feasts, similar no doubt to those of the nations around them.
But as the Hebrew conception of Jehovah gradually imfolded
into_ that of a supreme Deity whose distinguishing moral
attribute was righteousness, so worship also became more
organized and expressive of the reverence felt for Him. This
process culminated in the elaborate ritual of the Temple,
conducted by an aristocratic and powerful priestly class.
After the destruction of the Temple and the dispersion of the
chosen people a simpler and more spiritual form of worship
was developed in the synagogues that sprang up in every
community of devout Jews. With the rebuilding of the Temple
the national worship was again centralized at Jerusalem.
In the time of Jesus it was conducted with great pomp and
splendor. Nevertheless, the local synagogues remained as
places for the study of the divine law, for prayer, and for praise.
The early Christian worship, which was essentially devo-
tional, was modeled on that of the synagogue, and naturally
emphasized the work of the prophet rather than that of the
priest. Believers, filled with the Holy Spirit, " spake one to
another in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs " (Eph.
5 : 19, 20). In the correspondence between Pliny the younger
and the emperor Trajan, about a.d. 112, respecting the pun-
ishment of Christians, Pliny was forced to admit that he
could find nothing worse against them than that ** they were
accustomed to meet together on a set day, before dawn, and
sing responsive hymns to Christ as their God, and to pledge
themselves in a sacrament to abstain from every form of evil,
to commit no theft, rapine, or adtdtery, to falsify no word,
and betray no trust." A few centuries later, when Chris-
tianity became dominant throughout the empire, the heathen
temples were transformed into Christian chiu'ches, the minis-
ters of the word into a priestly hierarchy, the Pontifex
Maximus of the Roman state religion into a Christian *' pontiff,"
and the simple rite of the Lord's Supper into the mystery of
the "Mass." After the crusades there arose all over Eiu-ope
great cathedrals suitable only for a highly spectacular worship.
The synagogue idea was superseded by the Temple idea. The
Reformation was a reaction not only toward a purer faith but
a more spiritual worship. At the present time the church serv-
ices in the Protestant denominations conform in the main
to that of the synagogue, while those of the Roman Catholic
church revert to the Temple type.
^'s^' Public Worship 5l
Note 3. The Leading Forms of Christian Worship. In
Roman churches the celebration of the Mass is the central
and vital part of public worship, and other forms, so far as
they are used at all, are grouped around it. The Mass is the
Lord's Supper transformed into " a sacrifice which the priest
offers for the living and the dead, and in which the atoning
sacrifice of Christ on the cross is daily repeated." Protestant-
ism rejects this doctrine and restores to Christian worship
the fundamental ideas that prevailed in Apostolic times. The
pastor of an evangelical church is the director of its pubHc
worship. The strong reaction against prescribed forms has
often carried churches of this type to the other extreme of
exalting the sermon into the chief place, and of treating the
other hallowed parts of the service as " mere preliminaries "
that ma\^ wilhout serious loss be banished altogether. Under
such circumstances it is perfectly natural to speak of the con-
gregation as an " audience." It is hardly necessar^^ to add that
one extreme is about as bad as the other.
The Sunday worship as usually conducted in non-Episcopal
churches of this country, and in dissenting churches of England,
consists of singing, prayer, Scripture reading, preaching, and
benediction. The prayers are offered by the minister, who also
preaches the sermon and pronounces the benediction. Some-
times the Lord's Prayer and the Apostles' Creed are made
parts of the service and repeated in unison. Where there are
two readings from the Scriptures, one is usually responsive.
Aside from these the ser\dce of praise is the only other part of
the worship in which the congregation takes an audible part.
The prayers are the free utterance of the preacher who voices
in them the adoration, thanksgiving, confession, and needs of
the people. The sermon may be written or extempore as the
preacher chooses. Either method has its advantages as well as
disadvantages.
Between these two forms of worship, and partaking in some
respects of the nature of both, are the Hturgical services of the
Episcopal, Lutheran, German and Dutch Reformed, and
Moravian churches. A liturgy is a prescribed form of worship
in which the clergyman is not permitted to make any changes.
There is usually a sermon, but many devout adherents of these
churches attach less importance to it than to the ritual. If
forced to choose between attending one or the other they would
unhesitatingly take the latter.
52 The Modern Church Lesson
Note 4. Comparative Advantages of Liturgical and Non-
liturgical Worship. It is argued by some that in the Lord's
Prayer Jesus not only taught the duty of social prayer but
inctilcated the use of fixed forms. However this may be, it
is undeniable that the early church incorporated this prayer
in public as well as private worship. It was natural also that,
just as Jesus aided His disciples in their devotional utterances
by a prescribed form, so the gifted and inspired teachers of
the church should feel it a duty to assist simple and ignorant
people by adding other forms which by constant repetition
would become fixed in the memory. From the increasing
mass of prayers the best were presently selected and written
down for use in the regular chruch services. To these were
added brief creeds, chants. Scripture readings for each Sunday
in the year, and other forms suitable to pubHc worship, and
thus in process of time liturgies grew up which finally excluded
free utterance except in the sermon. By and by they were
so extended and elaborated as to exclude the sermon also.
This concentration of worship upon ritual was not altogether
bad as long as the language of the ritual remained the language
of the common people. The litiugies in their simplicity,
beauty, tenderness and reverence served a noble purpose not
only as vehicles of genuine religious feeling, but as embodying
the essential doctrines of the Christian religion. From them
the larger portions of the litiu-gies now in use throughout the
Christian world have been derived.
In favor of liturgies, as now employed in Protestant churches,
it is urged that the officiating minister or priest does not monopo-
lize the service, but that the people are given a share; that
they bring to the worshiper the choicest and sublimest words
of devotion that have come to us from the saints of past ages;
that they unite the people of all times in the use of a common
form ; that this form imparts dignity and propriety to worship ;
that as worship is an act in which the whole congregation
participates, so the form employed should be common to all;
that there is no better reason why the prayers should be ex-
temporaneous than the hymns; that familiarity with prayers,
as with hymns, enhances their spiritual value; and that con-
stant repetition fixes in mind the fundamental and saving
truths of Christianity. The objections usually lu-ged against
liturgies are that they are so inflexible as to shut off all time-
liness in prayer ; that when a sudden occasion seems to demand
^'«*« Public Worship 53
special mention, the occasion will have passed before an
authorized form can be prepared ; that the gift of free utterance
in prayer, springing warm and sympathetic from the minister's
heart, is suppressed and eventually extinguished; that a con-
stant repetition of stereotyped forms tends to a merely mechani-
cal utterance.
These reasons, together with the feeling that every form of
liturgical worship savors of popery, led the Puritan churches
of England and America into a powerful reaction against
prescribed forms. In the early New England churches for a
long time even a public reading of Scripture was not tolerated,
and was brought back in the face of much opposition. Aside
from the hymns the simple service was entirely extemporaneous,
except that the sermon might be written. From this barrenness
the churches have for some time been recovering by the intro-
duction of responsive Scripture readings, imited repetition of
the Lord's Prayer and some simple creed such as the Apostles',
and the chanting of a Gloria. All these changes aim at giving
the congregation a larger part in the service. The chief objec-
tions to extempore public prayer have been that the officiating
minister may have no gift for it, and that in some instances it
may become not only defective but undignified and extravagant.
The ideal of public worship is regarded by many thoughtful
minds to-day as a judicious blending of fixed ritual with some
degree of spontaneity. " A system which should tmite the
propriety and dignity of venerable forms with the flexibility
and adaptation to occasions of free prayer would be superior
to any existing methods." Such a system has not yet been
devised, but many non-Episcopal churches are using orders of
service which approach to some extent the ideal.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
(1) Articles on " Worship," in Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious
Knowledge, and in Hastings' Dictionary of The Bible, Vol. IV, and other
references under the same word in the smaller edition. (2) Article on
" Liturgy " in Encyclopedia Britannica. (3) For the liturgy of the Prot-
estant Episcopal Church in the United States, see The Book of Common
Prayer. (4) On " The Enrichment of Worship" see Gladden: The Christian
Pastor and the Working Church, New York, 1901, pp. 150-156.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. What place has preaching held in the Christian church?
2. Why must the preacher adapt his message to his time?
54 The Modern Chttrch ^"^°"
3. Why must preaching remain a permanent institution in the Christian
church?
4. How can hearers assist preachers?
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. What is meant by pubhc worship?
2. Describe briefly the two forms of- pubhc worship in use in Old Testa-
ment times.
3. How have these forms been perpetuated in Christian worship?
4. What is the central idea in Roman Catholic public worship?
5. In what direction have many Protestant churches erred in their
religious services?
6. Describe the form of worship commonly employed in non-Episcopal
Protestant churches in this country.
7. What form of worship is common in churches of the Episcopal type:
8. How did liturgical worship grow up in the Christian church?
9. State some of the advantages and disadvantages of liturgical worship.
Nine }{ow to Make public Worship Effective 55
(
10. vState some of the advantages and disadvantages of non-liturgical
worship.
11, What form would seem to be better than either?
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. What form of public worship is employed in your own church?
2. Describe, as far as you can, the worship in some church of another
denomination in your neighborhood.
3. Describe the worship in a Roman Catholic church.
QUESTIONS FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
1. What effect upon the people may we reasonably expect from each
part of the common worship as it is practised in our churches?
2. How would you regard a proposition to formulate a uniform ritual
for all the churches in your denomination?
3. How can our Protestant congregations be given a larger active share
in the public worship?
Lesson 9. HOW TO MAKE PUBLIC WORSHIP
EFFECTIVE.
Scripture Reading: Worshiping in Spirit and Truth. Jo. 4 : 1-26.
Note 1. Jesus' Definition of True Worship. The woman
of Samaria with whom Jesus entered into conversation at
Jacob's well is commonly supposed to have brought up the
standing debate between Samaritans and Jews as to the legiti-
mate place of worship in order to evade an unpleasant probing
into her own life by this unknown Master of the human heart.
May it not have been that the woman was really dissatisfied
with her past Hfe, and that she secretly longed for deliverance
from it ? She may have found no help in the worship on Mount
Gerizim, " this mountain," and may have wondered if, after
all, the true and really helpful worship was not at the temple
in Jerusalem. In Jesus she perhaps saw a prophet who might
aid her in discovering the place of acceptable worship. In
reply, then, to an apparently sincere inquiry Jesus told her
that true worship is confined to no fixed form or place, but
that in its essential nature it is spiritual, since " God is a
56 ■ The Modern Church Lesson
Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and
truth." Neither Jews nor Samaritans had a monopoly of
sacred places or ritualistic symbols. On the contrary, wherever
sincere worshipers seek communion with God, He is found,
and such places are holy ground. Since true fellowship between
the htmian spirit and the divine is direct and immediate,
outward forms are not necessary in private worship, though
even here they may be helpful. In public worship, on the
contrary, it is clearly expedient that some forms should be
observed.
Note 2. Various Forms of Public Worship. If the aim of
public worship is to stimulate our realization of fellowship
with the Father and to obtain inspiration to know and to do
His will (Note 1, Lesson 8), it should be the duty of churches
to discover and cultivate those forms which are most perfectly
suited to realize this ideal.
The many forms of Christian worship may be divided into
two great classes, liturgical and non-liturgical. To the former
class belong the Greek and Roman Catholic churches, and the
Episcopal, Lutheran and Moravian Protestant churches.
To the latter class belong those Protestant bodies which do
not make use of established formulas for prayer and devotion.
A service which includes only such set forms as a doxology or
the Lord's Prayer cannot in any strict sense of the word be
called liturgical. Nor can the term be applied to a ser\dce
merely because its different parts follow one another in some
customary order. A non-liturgical worship is one that does
not employ a liturgy in the well-known and established sense
of that term. Such worship is that in common use among the
Baptists, Congregationalists, Disciples, Methodists, Presby-
terians, and numerous other smaller denominations.
A third form, radically different from any of those just
mentioned, is that in vogue among the Friends or Quakers.
Their belief in the direct guidance of the Holy Spirit has led
them to abandon all forms or orders of service. In their public
worship no one speaks, or prays, or sings until conscious of an
inward prompting from the Holy Spirit. It happens sometimes
that the entire service passes in complete silence. It must
not be supposed, however, that during this silence the minds
of the worshipers are idle or wandering. On the contrary the
hour is filled with communion with God, prayer, meditation
^^■«« How to Make Public Worship Effective 57
on some Scripture text, or close examination of one's own life
and conduct with confession of sin, and prayer for pardon.
The whole service thus realizes a very high ideal of purely
spiritual worship.
Among liturgical forms of worship in this country the most
dramatic and spectacular is that of the Roman Catholic church.
The sacrificial ritual of the Mass is the heart and center of
every service. It is conducted in Latin by priests attired in
robes sometimes gorgeous. It is made impressive by solemn
processions, sweet incense, intoned services, chants, and
artistic music. Everything is designed to appeal primarily
to the senses, and through them to the religious feelings.
Doubtless there are many who truly worship God through
their attendance at the Mass. That such forms of worship,
moreover, have extraordinary power to attract the masses is
shown by the successive congregations that crowd the churches
from early Sunday morning until noon. But their weakness
lies in their emphasis on external forms rather than on the
inward spiritual life. The mere symbol soon tends to hide
the thing symbolized. It is so much easier to sum up religion
in the doing of certain religious acts rather than in being
religious in life and character, that the former never fails to
win a ready popular response.
That set forms of worship when associated with purer types
of Christian doctrine are not incompatible with the attainment
and cultivation of a high degree of spiritual life is seen in the
character and work of Protestant liturgical churches. No
higher Christian scholarship, no higher ideals of personal and
church life, no more consistent enthusiasm are found anywhere
than among the Episcopalians. A form of worship that has
satisfied the spiritual aspirations and stimulated the Christian
activities of men like Frederick Denison Maurice, Frederick
W. Robertson, Samuel Wilberforce, Canon Liddon, Phillips
Brooks, and a host of others, less conspicuous but not less
devoted than they, should be accounted a priceless heritage
from the past. No body of Christians has been more conse-
crated to the work of missions than the Moravians, whose
forms of worship are largely liturgical.
There are multitudes, however, who chafe under the restraint
of fixed forms. They love freedom and spontaneity in public
worship. They feel that in fellowship between the heavenly
Father and His children there should be the largest room for
-)(
58 The Modern Church Lesson
expression of personal feelings, joys, sorrows, hopes, and needs.
They admit that while such extempore utterances fall far short
of the beautiful and stately periods that have been hallowed
by long use in the world's great liturgies, nevertheless their
very freshness and individuality give them an acceptance like
that which an earthly father would accord to his child's un-
studied petitions rather than to the most polished requests
read from a book. For this reason they seek forms of worship
that will give, what seems to them, a more direct approach to
the heavenly Father than can be realized through stereotyped
forms. It is needless to say that under this free worship there
have been examples of genuine spiritual power as great as
have been witnessed an3rwhere in the Christian church. Such
were John Knox, John Wesley, George Whitefield, Jonathan
Edwards, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Henry Ward Beecher,
D wight L. Moody — to mention only a few out of a multitude.
We see, therefore, that the effectiveness of public worship
in the promotion of a genuine spiritual life does not wholly
depend on the form employed. True worship can be realized
under any form. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that the
history of the church, alike in Old Testament and in Christian
times, has shown that an excessive emphasis on outward
ceremonies is not favorable to the cultivation of a spiritual
worship. The unsparing denunciations of the Hebrew prophets
and of Jesus Himself showed how the most assiduous attention
to ritual could coexist with an entire absence of spiritual life.
The same has been witnessed repeatedly since then in the
great churches of Christendom. On the other hand, such
modem religious movements as the Wesleyan revival and the
great evangelistic campaigns conducted by Moody have shown
conclusively that no form of public worship is so effective in
stirring the masses of the people as one untrammeled by fixed
formulas. There can be no question that free worship has
largely contributed to the growth and strength of the great
Protestant denominations that have welcomed it.
* Note 3. How to Benefit by Public Worship. Let us under-
stand, first of all, that the aim of public worship is to minister
to religious needs and not to furnish entertainment. Those
who go chiefly to admire the artistic performance of the choir
or a literary essay from the pulpit usually miss the essential
things for which the service stands.
Nine
How to Make Public Worship Elective 59
To benefit by public worship we should feel our need of that
instruction, inspiration, comfort, or strength which the service
is designed to supply. If there is no conscious need there
must be at least a willingness to receive benefits. The worshiper
must be in a receptive attitude of mind and heart. Children
and youth need especially the guidance that comes through a
larger knowledge of rcHgious truth and of moral obligations.
As we grow older the burdens of life become heavier, its prob-
lems more perplexing, sometimes its temptations grow stronger,
its doubts more insistent. Sorrows and misfortunes may
darken our way. In all such experiences we need the uplifting
and encouraging assurance that we are not fighting the battle
alone, that God is with us, a very present help in trouble. If
prosperity and happiness brighten our days we need to be
reminded of the divine source from which they come and the
unselfish purposes for which they are to be used. Just to the
extent to which we become conscious of these needs, we shall
be prepared to benefit by the services of the church.
In preparing for this service we lay aside our everyday
garments and put on our Sunday suit which is usually the best
we have. This should not be an expression of personal pride
or vanity, but of sincere reverence for the occasion and the
place. But if it is worth while making this special preparation
in respect to one's outward appearance, is it not much more
befitting to make adequate inward preparation also. A little
devotional reading, a little serious meditation, or a careful
study of the Sunday school lesson will surely give one a keener
appreciation of the value of the service than an hour spent
over the Sunday newspaper or in idle gossip.
A reverent bowing of the head and a silent prayer after one
has taken one's seat in the Lord's house always tends to bring
one into sympathy with the rest of the service and to awaken
interest.
We are to remember that all the exercises, even those in
which the worshiper takes no audible part, are designed to
quicken religious feeHngs and to deepen impressions. There-
fore we should not only join in the responsive readings and
congregational h^nnns, but also give close attention to every-
thing that is said and done. We should not only listen to the
minister's prayer, but also enter into the spirit of his petitions
so as to pray with him. The anthem should not be regarded
9^ a mere display of vocal talent but as a call to join the choir
60 The Modern Church Lesson
in praising God. Even the inarticulate music of the organ
may become a quieting and restful or rousing and stimulating
aid to devotion. To follow the minister's Scripture reading
with a Bible in hand is helpful in fixing attention to it. The
sermon, of course, will be heard not in a critical spirit, but
with a settled desire to receive from it all the instruction and
inspiration to higher living that it can give.
One who comes to the church service with a sense of spiritual
need and with due inward preparation, and who participates
in the exercises in the manner here indicated cannot fail to
make any form of worship effective in uplifting and strengthen-
ing his religious life, and to derive some help from any pulpit
message however limited the power of the messenger.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
(1) Gladden: The Christian Pastor and the Working Church, pp. 134-156.
(2) Abbott: The Christian Ministry, Boston and New York, 1905, pp.
176-197.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. What Hebrew forms of worship are perpetuated in Christian worship?
2. What are the three leading forms of Christian worship?
3. State some of the advantages of a liturgy.
4. What advantages accompany free forms of worship?
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. How did Jesus define true worship?
2. What churches employ liturgical worship?
3. What denominations prefer a free worship?
4. Describe the form of worship used in a Friends* meeting.
6. How is the worship in a Roman Catholic church conducted?
Nine
How to Make Public Worship Elective 61
6. Under what conditions may a liturgical form of worship become
effective in promoting a truly spiritual life?
7. State a few of the reasons why some churches prefer a non-liturgical
service.
8. In general, what peril has attended the use of rituals?
9. What forms of worship are most effective in evangelistic work?
10. What personal preparation is needed in order to benefit by any
form of worship?
11. To receive the greatest benefit from public worship how should we
participate in it?
SUBJECTS FOR FURTHER STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. How is the service of song in your church conducted?
2. Can you suggest some ways in which the worship in your church can
be made more effective?
3. Can you suggest some ways by which the worshipers may make it
more effective to themselves?
4. Mention some of the hymns in your church hymn book which you
consider most helpful; also Psalms; also printed prayers.
QUESTIONS FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
1. How can the musical part of public worship be brought to its highest
efficacy?
2. Can the ordinary man learn to enjoy common worship?
3. How can we prevent habit from taking off the edge of devotional
feeling?
62 The Modern Church ^^^^°«
Lesson 10. THE PRAYER OR CONFERENCE MEETING.
Scripture Reading: Jesus' Presence Promised and Realized.
Mt. 18: 19, 20; Acts 1 : 1—2:4.
Note 1. Why a Prayer Meeting at All? The Christian
church began in a prayer and conference meeting. After
Jesus' ascension His followers met daily in an " upper cham-
ber," and ** with one accord continued steadfastly in prayer,
with the women." In answer to their prayers came the out-
pouring of the Holy Spirit which marked the birth of the
Christian church. This was the church's first distinct con-
sciousness of the thenceforth uninterrupted spiritual presence
of the risen Christ, which was summed up in the w^ords, *' Lo,
I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." The
thousands converted in connection with this epoch-making
event were forerunners of the spiritual harvests that have been
gathered since then in every age and every place where Christ's
followers have assembled for united and steadfast prayer in
His name. Revivals, as a rule, are bom in prayer meetings.
That Jesus expected His followers to pray not only in secret
(Mt. 6:6) but socially is clearly implied in the Lord's Prayer
which is addressed to " Our Father," and in which every per-
sonal petition expresses a collective need — " give W5," " forgive
W5," " bring us not." It is the consciousness of common needs
that leads to prayer in common; and the consciousness of
unity creates a sense of increased power. A stick of wood
bums better in a bundle than alone.
Obviously the prayer meeting is primarily for prayer, praise,
and consecration. As such it is attractive chiefly to those
who know the value and feel the need of prayer. The prayer
meeting is the place where the life of the church should freely
express itself. When this is vigorous, the prayer meetings
are well attended, and there is a consciousness of power. When
the spiritual life of the church lags, the prayer meeting is
usually the first to show it.
Note 2. Different Types of Devotional Meetings. In
churches that maintain devotional meetings at all, there
are usually two every week — the church meeting and the
young people's meeting. The aims and methods are in both
cases essentially the same, and in both cases the meetings
assume one or another of the following types or a blending of
them:
Ten
The Prayer or Conference Meeting 63
{1) The Prayer Meeting Properly so Called. In the early-
New England churches this was the only form of devotional
service known. The minister read and expounded at some
length a passage of Scripttire, one or more h>TQns were simg,
and two or three prayers were offered usually by persons called
on by the leader. Meetings of this kind are still in vogue in
some churches. That they have frequently been of real spirit-
ual help cannot be doubted. But as a rule they have tended
to become formal and monotonous. A great improvement on
them, and realizing more fully the idea of a meeting for prayer,
are those devotional services where the prayers are the free
utterances of conscious need and where a considerable ntmiber
take a part. Such seasons of luiited prayer are more frequently
witnessed in " neighborhood," or " cottage meetings " than
in the church service. When pervaded by a sense of real
communion with God they are unquestionably helpful in
maintaining the life of the church at a high level.
(2) The Conference Meeting. The real prayer meeting,
as just described, has been supplanted in many American
churches by one in which prayer is not so prominent. It is
still called the prayer meeting or, in recognition of the change
which has come over it, the prayer and conference meeting.
The gathering in the upper chamber in Jerusalem became a
true conference as well as a prayer meeting where Peter pro-
posed that another Apostle should be elected in place of Judas.
That was a matter of vital moment to all who were present and
that needed prayer for divine guidance. Unquestionably there
are many things relating to plans, methods, and problems of
church work and life that are themselves matters of spiritual
life and therefore worthy of attention in a church meeting.
A discussion of such matters after they have been considered by
a competent committee will help to create an intelligent interest
in them and facilitate their being put into operation. Further-
more, the spiritual life itself needs to be studied and not
merely exercised on the same level week after week. Discus-
sion of this kind, instead of the aimless talk that too often
wastes time, is an indication of a healthy spiritual life.
(3) The Experience Meeting. The following description
of an excellent meeting of this kind appeared some years ago
in The Independent. " The writer was present this week at
a prayer meeting in a country church, and the pastor announced
that the meeting would be ' an experience meeting,' and a
64 The Modern Church ^"^°«
number of persons * related their experiences.' Some told how
they were awakened and brought to know and accept Christ,
while others told of remarkable epochs in their Christian lives.
Some told of backsliding and being restored; and others again
of how they were led up into highe ^places ^and closer walk
with God ; and some of how they were brought into consecration,
and so forth. The meeting was interesting and suggestive.
We thought that such meetings might be profitable if oftener
held. Our fathers used to dwell too much on their * frames and
feelings.' We think the tendency to-day is too much away
from the culture of the inner life; that there is not enough per-
sonal and direct dealing with the Holy Ghost."
Experience meetings are still regularly held in some churches.
Among Baptists it is known as the '* covenant meeting."
It usually takes the place of the prayer meeting which im-
mediately precedes the observance of the Lord's Supper.
Those present, sometimes called upon in order, tell of their
experiences and progress in the Christian life, their trials and
temptations, defeats and victories, and express a desire ** to
renew their covenant with God and the church." Among the
Methodists the class meeting originally served much the same
end, but its function has been largely transferred to the prayer
meeting. There are reasons, however, why experience meetings
have fallen into disuse, and why there is a tendency to dispense
with them even where they have long been a part of the estab-
lished order. It is so much easier to speak of religious matters
in general than to give a truthful account of one's own inward
condition; the most sacred experiences are precisely those
which the most devout are least inclined to relate, even if
they were able to put them into suitable words. There is a
feeling that introspection tends to develop unhealthy frames
of mind. Persons without any deep rehgious life, who are
immersed in business or domestic cares, or in pleasure, are
strongly tempted to make claims that to those that know
them best seem inconsistent with their daily hves. They are
not intentionally insincere. They merely repeat well-worn
phrases that seem to be expected, and they shrink from throwing
a coolness over the meeting by a truthful story of backslidings.
While the experience meeting, therefore, may be made very
helpful in the nurture of the inner life, it is manifestly beset
by perils that can be avoided only by the utmost care and
watchfulness.
^^ The Prayer or Conference Meeting 65
Note 3. How to Have a Good Prayer Meeting. The
difficulty of keeping the prayer meeting from degenerating
into a perfunctory monotony has occasioned more anxiety to
earnest pastors than the Sunday service which is practically
in their own hands. In despair of realizing satisfactory results
from the prayer meeting some have abandoned it in favor of
a weekly lecture. But no lectures can in the long run supply
the spiritual needs of the church as does the prayer and con-
ference meeting. The thing needed by a dead prayer meeting
is not a fimeral, but a resurrection. In it, even though imse^i
and unfelt, stands the ever-living and omnipotent Christ
with the pledge, " Where two or three are gathered together
in my name, there am I in the midst of them." The quickening
power comes not from more talk one to another, but from
more heart-to-heart talk with Him. The readiness of many
chtirches to fall into a pleasant interchange of religious talk
instead of aspiring to a real commiunion with Christ is a sign
of spiritual decadence. A good prayer meeting, accordingly,
will not suppress free conferences, or discourage modest and
sincere testimonies, but it will subordinate these to the supreme
purpose of the meeting — the cultivation through prayer of a
sense of personal nearness to God and of dependence on Him.
Prayer, however, can express itself in various ways. Most
hymnals contain a fairly large collection of songs that carry
on the spirit of adoration, thanksgiving, and supplication as
truly as direct prayer. No book in the world is so rich in
devotional material as the Bible. A few verses read by the
leader, or in unison, not only add variety, but bring into the
meeting oftentimes a real sense of the divine presence.
The quality of a prayer meeting depends largely on the skill
and tact of the leader. It needs as much careful preparation
as the Sunday service. What can be expected when the leader
comes with scanty preparation and the people with none at
aU? When no subject has been announced, no Scripture lesson
carefully studied, no prayers premeditated, no hymns selected,
no serious thought given to anything by anybody, no one has
a right to look for a good meeting. It is sheer folly to expect
something out of nothing. As there are exceptions to all rules,
so in an unpremeditated meeting there may be enough thought-
ful people to save it from utter waste, but that is not to be
relied on. The leader, whether he is the pastor or a layman
(and a layman now and then makes a happy change), will
66 The Modern Church ^"^«»
outline very briefly a subject that has been announced long
enough beforehand so that every one will have had time to
think of something to pray for or to speak of in unison with
the subject. This outline will often be quite helpful if presented
in the form of questions that suggest thought. Whatever the
theme, the leader will try to bring it into close and sym-
pathetic touch with the daily lives of the people. A good
prayer meeting will carry their weaknesses, perplexities, trials,
sorrows, and joys into a divine atmosphere of hope and
trust. It will train those who have " a gift for continuance "
to be brief and concise; it will open the mouths of the dumb;
it will cultivate a spirit of true Christian humihty, and suppress
any tendencies toward ostentatious display; it will stimulate
specific prayer for an undevout husband, wife, or neighbor,
for an unconverted member of a Sunday school class, a sick
friend, or a family in distress, and it will weed out the vague,
indefinite prayers that sound well, but accompHsh nothing,
since they aim at nothing in particular; and, finally, it will
create not only a sense of closeness to God, but a feeling of
real Christian brotherhood. Its influence reaches out into aU
the activities of the church, its quickening power touches the
entire membership and its Hght goes out into all the surround-
ing community. It helps to lift, strengthen, encourage, and
consecrate every life that comes imder its magic spell.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
{1) Cowan: New Life in the Old Prayer Meeting, New York and Chicago,
1906. 0^) Haller: The Redemption of the Prayer Meeting, Cincinnati, 1911.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. What kind of worship did Jesus approve?
2. What form of pubhc worship seems to realize most perfectly Jesus'
idea of true worship?
3. Mention some characteristics of effective pubhc worship.
4. How can the service of song be saved from becoming a mere musical
performance and be made a help to worship?
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. State some reasons why the prayer meeting should be regarded as
necessary to the hfe of the church.
Ten
The Prayer or Conference Meeting 67
2. How does the prayer meeting differ from the Sunday school and the
preaching service?
3. How is a real prayer meeting ordinarily conducted!
4. How does a conference meeting as a rule compare in spiritual value
with a meeting for prayer?
5. Mention some good features of a genuine experience meeting.
6. What are some perils to which' experience nieetings are exposed?
7. Why is a weekly lecture not a satisfactory substitute for a prayer
meeting?
8. Describe some features of a good prayer meeting.
9. In what respects does the loading of a prayer meeting demand careful
preparation?
10. What will a good prayer meeting do for the people?
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. How many prayer meetings are held weekly in your church?
2. What proportion of those who attend the young people's meeting
attend also the church meeting?
68 The Modern Church Lesson
3. To which of the three types mentioned in Note 2 do the meetings in
your church chiefly inchne?
4. What quaHfications should a good leader of prayer meetings possess?
QUESTIONS FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
1. If the prayer meetings in your church are not entirely satisfactory,
what means would you suggest for their permanent improvement?
2. What benefits do you know to have come from the prayer meetings
of your church?
Lqsson 11. GETTING PEOPLE TO CHURCH: A Survey
of General Conditions and Problems.
Scripture Reading: Longing for the Temple Worship. Ps. 87.
Note 1. The Drift from the Church. The Pilgrims and
Puritans who founded the New England colonies were influenced
by religious motives. Naturally the ministers, who were the
interpreters of God's word and will, were the most influential
men in the community. Even after the original close alliance
between church and state had broken dov,n, religion continued
to dominate intellectual interests and social customs. The
young people grew up in stem moral surroundings. Every-
body went to church on Sunday, partly because they had been
trained to do so, partly becatise it v. as the center of the social
life in the parish which was- identical \^ith the town, and partly
because there was no other place to \^hich the people could go.
We must recognize the fact, however, that such a church-going
type of community was exceptional even under the simple
community conditions that had prevailed in Christendom up
to that time. - We must also recognize the fact that the revolu-
tionary changes that have taken place in social conditions
since then (see Lesson 7, Note 2) have shifted many functions
from the church to other agencies, and have produced indif-
ference in large sections of the population and real hatred
in others. This does not mean that the people in general
have become irreligious. Thousands of men who never go
inside the churches belong to fraternal organizations that
incorporate fundamental Christian ideas. It means that
religion no longer manifests itself wholly through organized
Christianity. The result is that the churches have not the
congregations or the influence to which their message entitles
^""''^ Getting People to Church 69
them. With a considerable portion of the middle class non-
churchgoing has become an established habit. Those of the
rich or professional classes who attend worship are mostly
elderly persons trained in a former generation. Among laborers
and the poor the number of churchgoers, especially in the
great industrial centers, is alarmingly small. The great majority
of them pass by the open church door with no more thought
of entering than of breaking into a private house. That they
are as responsive to moral and religious appeals as any class
is seen in the fact that in other places many of the wage-earners
attend the Protestant churches. The Catholic chiu-ch in this
coimtry is commonly credited with having a tenacious hold
on its congregations, but the fact cannot be disguised that it
is losing men in portentous nimibers. Before we can begin
getting the people back into the churches, we must know what
has taken them away. The reasons assigned are at first sight
bewildering in number and variety. But dismissing those
which are obviously flippant and insincere, we can divide the
remainder into two classes, those due to conditions, real or
imaginary, within the church, and those due to causes outside.
Note 2. Causes within the Church. The most frequently
urged are the following:
(j?) Attachment to worn-out methods that, because they
were good for our grandfathers, are supposed to be good enough
for us, even though they are proving themselves to be com-
parative failures. Here and there a church tries to seek out
methods adapted to the changing social order, but too many
churches cling to antiquated ways.
{2) A distrust of new interpretations and larger truths.
Multitudes of church people still insist on taking the early
narratives in Genesis as Hteral history and claiming that
Christianity stands or falls with the story of Jonah and the
fish.
(3) An assumption that Christian doctrines are infallible,
and that modem objections to them must never be considered
in the pulpit, as it would tend to weaken faith in the doctrines
themselves.
(4) An excessive emphasis on insuring felicity in the next
world rather than right living in this world.
(5) Lack of strong convictions among professed Christians.
The average church member it is said has just enough faith
70 The Modern Church ^"^°«
to keep him from complete doubt, but not enough to inspire
resolute Christian service.
{6) Hence a general feeling that the average church member
is no better than the average respectable member of society
outside of the church.
(7) Rented pews, claimed even by many church people to
be " one of the best means ever discovered of keeping the
outcast and outsider away from the church." The most
desirable attendants have too often .been those who could pay
for the highest priced pews.
(8) A misunderstanding on the part of the church of the
great social movements of our time. This is attributed to
the fact that the church has almost always ranged itself along-
side of those whose interests have demanded that things shall
remain as they are, rather than by the side of those who have
demanded the righting of social wrongs. Naturally the church
has lost its hold on those who are doing the world's hardest
work, bearing its heaviest burdens, and getting the smallest
reward for their toil. The church's lack of interest in the
passionate efforts of these toilers to establish social justice
has led millions of them to stand aloof from the church with
indifference, or suspicion, or hatred. But see Lessons 40 to 52.
Note 3. Causes outside the Church. Aside from the
spiritual inertia which in every age keeps men from accepting
the supreme good which the church offers, there are certain
conditions widely prevalent in our time that help to explain
the present drift from the church.
(!) A misunderstanding of the nature and aims of Chris-
tianity. Many who think they are opposing Christianity are
merely opposing some bogy of their own invention. There
are those, for example, who denounce Christianity and ecclesi-
astical tyranny as if they were the same thing.
(2) A misunderstanding of the nature and aims of the
church. A good many people think the churches are only
social clubs for those who are religiously incHned; others,
that they are ecclesiastical organizations that spend their
energies in perpetuating their own existence rather than in
promoting human welfare.
(3) A suspicion that the churches do not truly represent
the teachings of Jesus Christ.
(4) A wide-spread disbelief in the Christian faith. Oppo-
^^^» Getting People to Church 71
nents of the faith have freely used the platform and the printing-
press to spread anti-Christian teachings. The sense of sin
has largely disappeared. The question of a life hereafter
arouses in many no deep interest.
(5) Aside from Sunday newspapers, excursions, and amuse-
ments, Sunday is about the only day in the week for looking
over the wealth of attractive literature inviting attention
in inexpensive books and splendidly illustrated magazines.
{6) In the cities the tenement houses have created a floating
population that have neither permanent family homes nor
church homes. In the country with many people one of the
chief inducements to get out to church used to be the social
chat that followed the service. The telephone now enables
those socially inclined to dispense with the chtirch.
(7) The trend of scientific thought in every department
of knowledge is opposed to dogmatic authority. Hence many
scientists stand outside of the churches that still insist on
submission to authority, and oppose free investigation into the
foundations of traditional beliefs.
{8) The pressure of modem life. There are thousands
who use up all their strength in the struggle for food, clothing,
and shelter. Sunday is their only day for rest and recreation,
and they prefer using it for that purpose rather than in church-
going.
{9) The pressure of business competition, it is urged by
many, is so sharp and unscrupulous as to force them away
from the moral standards set by the churches, with the natural
result that they soon drift away from the churches also.
{10) An influx of vast multitudes of foreigners whose
ideas of Sabbath-keeping are wholly different from those
received from our Puritan ancestors.
{11) The new gospels of social redemption preached in a
variety of forms by socialists, communists, and anarchists.
While this gospel as proclaimed by its most conscientious
adherents, rests on some of the fundamental principles of
Christianity to such an extent that many socialists are in the
churches, and that there is a Christian socialist movement,
nevertheless it is for the most part hostile to the churches.
Note 4. How to Turn the Drift toward the Church. A
detailed answer to this question would involve a discussion
of all the conditions noted above, Only a few general sugges-
72 The Modern Church ^^"o»
tions can be offered. So far as the churches are responsible
for the alienation between themselves and the non-chtirch-
goers it is their first duty to remove the conditions that produced
it. The church must adjust its preaching and its methods
to the tremendous changes that have taken place in human
thought and in the social order during the past half century.
Commonsense shows that when certain methods have proved
inadequate they should be abandoned. A rut in religious work
is no more sacred than in a roadway. An encouraging fact is
that in a fast increasing number ministers of all denominations
are girding themselves and their churches to meet the impending
crisis by a social service that will remove misunderstandings,
allay suspicions, and show that the churches with all their
faults are still followers of the Carpenter of Nazareth, whom
the common people heard gladly. The people must be made to
see that the Christian church, even on the lower plane of
social progress, has done more for the alleviation of human
sufferings, for the supplanting of social wrongs by human
rights, and for spreading broadcast through the earth the
spirit of democracy as against despotism and tyranny than all
other agencies combined. It will be no easy task to turn the
tide. The churches, however, will have this initial advantage,
that the great majority of the people, in spite of their indif-
ference to ecclesiastical Christianity, honor and reverence
Jesus Christ as their Friend and Leader. Getting the people
back to the churches means in a large measure the reversal
of the conditions that have taken them away. Over many of
these conditions, intellectual, industrial, economic conditions
peculiar to our age, the church has no direct control. But
so far as popular prejudices rest on conditions within the
church's control she must remove the stumbling-blocks. The
first step toward bringing back those who have drifted away
because of misunderstandings is to make them see that the
church is the most powerful instrument whose aid they can
enlist in the attainment of the highest social ends. They
must be convinced, not by preaching merely, but by practical
demonstrations, that the religion of Christ can do more for them
than any non-Christian program of life whatever. Friendly
cooperation on the lower plane of the material life must be
made the entering wedge toward sympathetic cooperation on
the higher plane of the spiritual Hfe. An atheistical community
is on the swift road to destruction.
Eleven
People to Church 73
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
{1) Gray: N on- Church-Going; Its Reasons and its Remedies, New York,
1911. {2) Crocker: The Church of To-day, Boston, 1906. (5) Stelzle:
Christianity s Storm Centre, New York and Chicago, 1907. (4) Mathews:
The Church and the Chayiging Order, New York, 1907. (5) Gladden: The
Young Men and the Churches, Boston, 1885.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. Why should the churches sustain prayer meetings?
2. Mention the most coijimon types of devotional meetings.
3. What constitutes a good prayer meeting?
4. What benefits accrue from good prayer meetings?
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. What is the attitude towards the churches of the majority of the
people outside?
2. What is the obvious effect on most of the churches?
3. What is the resulting peril to the church?
4. How has the conservatism of the churches affected the people?
5. Mention some other causes that have increased popular indifference
toward the churches.
6. What has been the attitude of the churches as a whole toward the
social movements of our times?
7. Mention some points wherein the churches have been misunderstood
and that have turned the people away from them.
74 The Modern Church ■ ^^"''^
8. How has the scientific progress of our time affected many people in
relation to the churches?
9. How have industrial, economic, and social conditions affected church-
going?
10. State in general how all these conditions bear on the problem of
winning the people back to the churches.
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. What proportion of the people in your neighborhood, aside from
Cathohcs, do you think attend church more or less regularly?
2. What other reasons for their not going to church, aside from those
mentioned in the lesson, have you discovered?
3. To what extent, so far as you can see, is your church trying to prove
that Christianity means not only individual salvation in the next world,
but social salvation in this?
QUESTIONS FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
1. How shall we answer those who tell us that the usefulness of the
church is at an end?
2. Why are there generally more women than men at church?
Lesson 12. GETTING PEOPLE TO CHURCH: Local
Conditions and Problems.
Scripture Reading: Personal Work in Winning Men. Jo. 1:43-51.
Note 1. Need of Wisdom and Grit. Toward the solution
of the problem presented in the preceding lesson each local
church must make what contribution it can along the lines
there suggested. The drift from the church that has been
caused by adverse conditions inherent in modem civilization
covers the entire Christian world, and it cannot be counteracted
at once or by local remedies alone. And yet the problem is
local as well as general. Each church must study its own.
field. It must discover remedies and set itself to apply them
'^■^'^"^ Getting People to Church 75
with grace and wisdom. An up-to-date business man who
sees that he is losing trade is not content to sit still and let the
drift go on. Even though it may cause a hard wrench to get
out of his well-worn rut, he knows it is his only salvation. He
gets out and ** hustles." He studies the methods that have
increased trade elsewhere, and, so far as they seem applicable
to his own conditions, he is swift to try them Success may
not come at once, but he keeps on trying until by patience
and pluck and toil he " wins out." What the ordinary church
needs is a little more of the wisdom and grit of the ordinary
business man. Shall it evermore be said that " the sons of
this world are for their own generation wiser than the sons
of light"? There are legitimate means for increasing attend-
ance that every church can adopt and adapt. They may
not be equally successful in every place. But a vigorous trial
of new methods, even if it does nothing more, will keep the
chtirch alive and stirring, and that is better than dying of
inertia. A church that is really awake to its opportunities,
however, is not likely to lack at least a fair congregation.
Note 2. Cautions to be Observed. When a church is
suddenly stirred to the need of activity in reaching non-church-
goers, unless wise counsels prevail, serious mistakes are likely
to be made. Methods that are easy, that promise quick results,
and that involve little personal consecration are often chosen
in preference to those that operate slowly and cost consci-
entious effort. A common temptation is to bait the hook
with spectacular methods, flaring advertisements, sensational
themes, comments on the latest startling crime or social scandal,
stereopticon views, or other similar devices that attract only
so far as they appeal to a morbid hankering after entertainment.
As -places for mere diversion the churches can never compete
with moving picture shows or theaters. When people get
an idea that the churches are in a rather attenuated form of
the show-business, they will go where they get the real thing.
The churches would do better to leave sensational methods
to the Salvation Army that knows how to use them to excellent
advantage. The people the churches are after are not to be
caught by methods that they suspect are only dodges to lure
them inside of the sanctuary.
Another frequent temptation is to resort to excessive organi-
zation. The discovery is made that only a small fraction of
76 The Modern Chtirch ^"^^^
the power latent in the church is really employed. Forthwith
there is a sudden enthusiasm for getting all the people to work.
Committees of all sorts are appointed; territories are mapped
out for district visitation ; the sick and the poor are to be looked
up and given relief; absentees are to be required to give an
account of themselves; strangers are to be drawn in and wel-
comed; and scores of other things are thought of that should
be done. Everybody is given something to do. Nobody
will deny that a church in which every one is engaged at some
appropriate task has reached the ideal of efficiency. People
are called into the kingdom of God for service, and not for
spiritual ease and idleness. Churches should try to realize
the fact that the Master gives *' to every one his work." Effi-
ciency, however, is a plant of slow growth. Organizations
that, like Jonah's gourd, spring up in a night are likely to
share a similar fate. When the organization is perfected, the
people sit down to admire it and see it work. They think they
have discovered the secret of perpetual motion, a machine
that creates its own power. But the whole thing slumps.
Each individual shirks his responsibility behind the organization
which is expected to do the work. Better far one small group
of live workers than a score of committees that appear only
for decorative purposes on the back of the Sunday calendar.
A thorough and efficient organization is one that, like a living
plant or animal, develops its organic parts one by one, and
only as fast as they are needed.
Note 3. Beginning with the Church. It was shown in
the preceding lesson that the present drift from the churches
is due in some instances to causes over which the churches
exercise control. So far as this is the case, it is manifestly the
duty of the churches, in trying to reverse the drift, to work
from the center outwards, " beginning at Jerusalem."
In work of this kind the pastor must be the inspiring leader.
In most cases it is better that he should be an average, faithful
servant of his Lord than a shining genius. In the long run a
conscientious plodder will bring about more lasting results.
Those whom he attracts are attached, not to him, but to Christ
and the church, and they stay when he goes. But where a
pastor leads, the people must follow. No general wins a victory
without the loyal support of his army.
Consult with the pastor about making the pubHc worship
^^^'^'« Getting People to Church 77
as attractive and efficient as possible without resorting to
clap-trap. Make the spiritual feast not only inviting but
rich and nourishing, so that hungry souls shall not go away sad
and disappointed as from a table full of splendid but empty dishes.
Revitalize the prayer meeting. It is here that the church
gets inspiration and strength for service. Bring the insiders
into the prayer meeting before making concerted efforts to
bring outsiders into the chiu-ch. From a live, stimulating prayer
meeting the people will go to these outsiders with more courage
and confidence, because they feel in their own hearts that they
are carrying a message that the world needs.
Train the children in the Simday school to attend the church
service. While it is true that the church receives by far the
larger part of its communicants from the Sunday school, it
is also lamentably true that by far the larger number of the
children who pass through the Sunday school are never after-
wards found in the churches. It has been too generally im-
agined that when children disappear from the Sunday school
they reappear in the church. The fact is that when the habit
of church attendance has not been established in connection
with the school, it is seldom established aftenvards.
Give the people something to do. If possible make every
member of the church or congregation responsible for some
specific duty. Few things are so helpful in establishing habits
of regular attendance as the consciousness that one is needed
somewhere in the church organization. This is especially
important in the case of young men upon whom responsibility
for some form of Christian service should be placed very early
in their career in the church.
The organized adult class may be made a strong factor in
increasing church attendance. Every member of the class
touches elbows with some man whom the minister never
meets, and who would in many cases scarcely relish a call
from him. With the layman he is willing to talk on all subjects,
even religion. This is the man whom he can invite to the class
again and again. Of course it is never wise to persecute a man
with attentions, but if a class makes up its mind that it wants
such a man it can usually get him by tact and perseverance,
first into the class and then into the church.
Note 4. Pastoral Work in Winning Church Attendants.
The minister of an average church must be a pastor as well
78 The Modern Church ^^^^°«
as a preacher. " The Christian minister," said Chalmers,
** is a man of no rank because he is a man of all ranks; and
although he should have an education which might qualify
him for holding converse with princes and peers, it is his pecu-
liar glory to be a frequent visitant of the poor man's humble
cottage, and to pray by the poor man's dying bed." It is an
old saying that " a house-going minister makes a church-going
people." The friendly and sympathetic relations established
in the home win attentive and interested listeners in the pew.
The pastor can do much by instituting a campaign for
families. In the ancient world the family was the smallest
social unit. The individual counted for little except as a member
of a family or clan. The head of the family was held responsible
for the conduct of all its members. Hence the extraordinary
authority which was conceded to him. On the other hand
all the members of the family shared in the punishment of
his guilt (cf. Josh. ch. 7). Our age has gone to the opposite
extreme of excessive individualism. The family as a social
unit is overshadowed by the importance attached to the in-
dividual. The minister should therefore magnify the family
in his preaching. In his visitations his appeal to the father
should be based 'not only on personal obligations but on re-
sponsibility to society as the head of a social group. Every
community needs Christian homes as well as Christian churches.
At public worship the family idea should be still further empha-
sized by having the family sit together instead of being scattered
through the congregation as is sometimes the case.
Note 5. Systematic Church Visitation. This is usually
assigned to committees who are charged with the duty of
looking after the residents in a certain district. It is doubtful,
however, if this is the best way. The visitors, going singly or
by two and two as did Jesus' disciples, may be received with
formal courtesy, but most people rather resent official visits
of this kind. When they suspect that an invitation to attend
church is not a spontaneous expression of personal interest,
but the fulfilment of an appointed task, even if cheerfully
undertaken, they will care as little for it as for an official
greeting from a " welcome committee."
A better way is for the pastor, first of all, to analyze the
community in which the church is situated, and then his
membership. From the latter he should select small groups,
^«'«^^^ Getting People to Church 79
each composed of persons of nearly the same social standing,
mental equipment, or industrial position. Each group should
be charged with the duty of winning by friendly attentions
and sympathy certain non-churchgoers of its own class whom
the pastor points out. This scheme of parish visitation is
based on real community of interests rather than accidental
contiguity of residence. It prevents the irritations that are
almost sure to arise when social congruities are not observed.
Within the church social distinctions are properly laid aside,
but outside people must be taken as the church finds them.
The rich are often proud, and in many instances would resent
as an impertinence a church visit from a wage-earner. The
poor are sensitive, and only the rarest tact on the part of a
rich church visitor can prevent a feeling that they are being
patronized. All work of this kind, whether done by a committee
or a group, should be performed as quietly and unobtrusively
as possible. A good hunter does not scare away his game by
blowing a trumpet.
The value of the neighborhood prayer meeting cannot be
overestimated as an agency for increasing church attendance.
This subject will be more fully considered in the next lesson.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
{1) Dr. Gladden in The Christian Pastor and the Working Church (pp.
172-203) has an admirable chapter on " The Pastor as Friend," in which
he discusses every phase of pastoral church visitation.
REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. What is the present attitude of the majority of non- churchgoers
toward organized Christianity?
2. Mention some causes for this attitude that appear within the churches
themselves.
3. Mention some of the causes outside of the churches that have tended
to decrease attendance.
4. How can the popular attitude toward the churches be changed?
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. How, as a rule, must local churches meet their own problems of non-
attendance on public worship?
2. What questionable methods are frequently adopted in order to get
people to church?
80 The Modern Church ^^^^^"
3. What is the usual result of a spasmodic attempt to get all the church
members at work gathering in strangers?
4. How fast should organization for this purpose proceed?
5. What kind of minister makes the best leader in the work of reaching
non-church goers ?
6. Mention some of its own agencies that the church can utilize in increas-
ing attendance on the Sunday services.
7. How can the minister help in bringing in strangers?
8. How can the family idea be m.ade fruitful in results?
9. What disadvantages pertain to committee work in recruiting for the
church services?
10. Describe briefly the group method.
Thirteen fhe Everyday Growth in Church Membership 81
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. Attendance at our church on an ordinary Sunday as compared with
the membership.
Date of count
Count made by
MORNING SERVICE.
Males Present. Number of Male Members on Church Record.
Females Present. Number of Female Members on Church Record.
Total Present. Total Members on Church Record.
Of those Present are Young Men Estimated to be
(16-30 Years of Age.)
Of those Present are Young Women Estimated to be
(16-30 Years of Age.)
EVENING SERVICE.
Total Number Present.
Young Men Present.
Young Women Present.
2. How many of the churches in your town are growing : ?
How many are standing still ? How many are losing ?
3. Is the population of your town increasing? standing still? diminishing?
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION.
1. Does your Sunday school train its pupils to regular church attendance?
If not, how can it do so?
2. Can you suggest any wholesome method by which non-churchgoers
in your neighborhood can be persuaded to change their ways?
Lesson 13. THE EVERYDAY GROWTH IN CHURCH
MEMBERSHIP.
Scripture Reading: Daily Additions to the Church. Acts 2: 44-47.
Note 1. Ministering to the Unchurched. Both ministers
and churches are tempted at times to restrict their work to
the people directly connected with their own congregations.
The minister speaks of the church as " my parish," and the
church claims him as " our minister." The implication is
that his time and strength belong to them, as those of an em-
82 The Modern Church ^^^^on
ployee to his employer. Calls outside of ' ' my parish , ' ' answered
by "our minister," are looked on as so much gratuitous
service bestowed as one gives alms to a supplicant. This
certainly was not Jesus' thought of His own mission. To the
Syrophoenician woman imploring His aid He said: "I was
not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Mt.
15:24). He was Israel's Messiah, but so deeply was He
"moved with compassion" over the multitudes "distressed
and scattered, as sheep not having a shepherd " that He could
speak of His mission as being virtually to them alone (Mt
9 : 36) . This mission of the ' ' lost sheep ' ' He committed to
His followers: "As thou didst send me into the world, even
so sent I them into the world" (Jo. 17:17). Churches that
seek chiefly their own spiritual comfort are neglectful of one
of the main reasons for their existence. The church is the
supreme, if not the sole, agency through which the outside
world is to experience the saving and lifting power of the
gospel of Jesus Christ. In reaching out after the heathen
on the other side of the earth it should not overlook the heathen
at its own doors. The minister's field is the community in
which he lives, and his church is the plow by which he culti-
vates that field. The minister is supported by the church,
not as its servant, but as the servant of Christ to do His work.
As the finger belongs not to the hand only but to the whole
body, so the minister belongs not only to the church that
pays his salary but to the whole community of which that
church forms a part. Minister and church working together
are responsible for the evangelization of the surrounding
neighborhood.
Note 2. Evangelistic Preaching. The pulpit ministry
should be broad enough to touch all classes. Some ministers
make the mistake of preaching almost exclusively to the people
already in the chin-ch. Others as persistently hammer at the
sinners who are probably sitting at home reading the Sunday
papers. While it is true that the greater part of any ordinary
congregation consists of church members, there will nearly
always be present some who have not made a personal decision
for Christ. If a real sermon is " a discoiu-se designed and
adapted to lead men to obey Christ," then every sermon
should contain some exposition of religious truth or direct
appeal fitted to quicken the sense of duty in this respect. It
Thirteen jhe Everyday Growth in Church Membership 83
should minister to those who have accepted the word of sal-
vation and to those who have not. There are of course times
when the law must be emphasized more than the gospel, or
vice versa; but there is probably no time when either should
be wholly ignored.
Should ministers " draw the net " after every service?
There are preachers of such evangelistic type that a call for
decisive action seems appropriate after almost every sermon.
But such men are exceptional, and they rarely stay long in
one place. There are churches also where the tide of spiritual
life runs so high and so steadily that it may be said of them as
of the Apostolic church, that " the Lord added to them day
by day those that were being saved" (Acts 2 :47). But
these also are exceptions. The ordinary minister serving the
ordinary chiirch would only injure his cause by constant public
appeals that awaken no response. On the other hand it may be
an equally great error never to make such an appeal lest it be
in vain. Some boy or girl, too timid to tell the minister or
the church of a hidden desire to confess a Christian life, may
have been waiting for months for an opportiuiity to do so by
lifting the hand or rising for a moment. Wise " fishers of men "
will have an almost instinctive sense of spiritual conditions
that encourage appeals for public response. A standing invi-
tation from the minister to all who want to converse with him
on matters of personal reHgion at some fixed hour will often
bring those who would not take a first step in public. Under
all circumstances the way should be wide open through the
Sunday school.
Note 3. Carrying the Church into the Community. Many
feel that if the people outside will not come to the chiu-ch
the church must go to them. This can be done in various ways.
Street preaching is sometimes urged. Groups of people are
thus reached, it is said, who otherwise would never hear the
gospel. Others, however, question the expediency of such a
measure. To them it seems a tacit admission that between
the chiu-ch and those whom it tries to reach in this way there
are practically impassable barriers. They are poor and they
live in neighborhoods that have been otherwise abandoned
by the churches. " What these poor people need above every-
thing else is friendship — the kind of friendship which the church,
in the ideal of its Founder, undertakes to provide. It is not
84 The Modern Church -^"^^^
truth, it is not even gospel truth, ever so pathetically uttered,
it is love that is the fulfilling of the law. What these people
want is love, and such social relations with their Christian
neighbors as shall allow the expression of this love. . . . The
church which stands near to a neighborhood where numbers
of such people Hve has a great opportunity. Its work cannot
be done by sending bands of its young people about to stand
on the comers of the streets and speak and sing to those who
are passing, but rather by sending its best and its bravest out
two by two into the streets and the highways, the attics and
the cellars, to constrain them to come into its own sanctuary,
and by providing such a welcome for them that when they
do come in they shall feel themselves to be among friends."
— Gladden.
The gospel can also be carried into the community by mission
churches, mission schools, rescue missions, and similar devices.
Work of this kind should not be left to the minister, but should
as far as possible be undertaken and carried on by the church
members. Such measures, however, seldom bring an increase
of members to the churches that maintain the missions, though
they unquestionably do much good in other directions. Where
the idea of a " mission "is emphasized it tends to raise still
higher the barrier between the rich and the poor. Better begin
a work of that kind with an emphasis on the purpose of its
eventually growing into a church where all classes may feel at
home.
A very effective way of carrying the church to the non-
churchgoers is by the neighborhood prayer meeting. A few
Christian families living near one another unite in a circle
for Scripture reading, song, and prayer. Other neighbors are
invited in. They catch the friendly Christian spirit of the
meeting and by tact and sympathetic appeal are often led to
take a stand for Christ. Many a revival has begun in these
informal prayer circles, where heart touches heart, and where
the Saviour's presence is clearly felt.
Note 4. Personal Work in Winning Souls. There is no
more effective way of increasing the membership of a church
than by individual work. Hand-picked fniit is the best.
In all the years since Paul went out to plant churches in the
Grseco-Roman world, no essential improvement has been
devised on the method employed by Him. To the elders of
Thiriem jj^^ Everyday Growth in Church Membership 85
the chiirch at Ephesus whom he summoned to Miletus for a
final interview he recalled the outstanding features of his
ministry among them. It was by " teaching you publicly,
and from house to house," and the substance of his testimony
was " both to Jews and to Greeks repentance toward God,
and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ " (Acts 20 : 20, 21).
This ministry was backed up by a pure, humble, self-denying
life that irresistibly attracted seekers after truth. The same
is true to-day. A godly life is the best recommendation of
the gospel. Moral perfection is not necessary. Faults of one
kind or another every one has. But when a business man says,
" I like to hear Mr. A talk in the prayer meeting, because
I've had dealings with him for twenty years"; when a wage-
earner says, " I know that my employer is a Christian, because
I've worked for him"; when boys or girls in a Sunday school
say, " There's no sham about our teacher," — if such Chris-
tians would add to their other virtues a zeal for winning souls
they could do more than eloquent sermons, long prayers, or
fervid exhortations. The churches here and there that are
really remarkable only because they are what all churches
should be, owe their spiritual power to the large number of
faithful souls who are working by word and example in winning
others to the Christian life. When Lyman Beecher was pastor
of Park Street church in Boston he gave this as the secret of
his ministerial success: " I preach on Sunday, but I have
four hundred and fifty members who take up my message on
Monday and preach it wherever they go."
Note 5. Increase from the Sunday school. In winning
members for any church the most fruitful field is its own Sunday
school. The latter should be regarded as a natural passageway
into the former. Teachers shoiild never lose sight of the fact
that the aim of the school is not merely to teach a little Biblical
History, but to develop Christian character and lead the
pupils into fellowship with the church. The pupils should be
taught to think of themselves as followers of Christ and to
think of service in the church as a privilege to be eagerly antici-
pated. Many teachers shrink from jjrobing into the religious
life of their pupils. This attitude of caution is exceedingly
wholesome. It is a great mistake to attempt to break down
the instinctive reticence of young people in religious matters.
On the other hand most yoimg people long for an older friend
86 The Modern Church -^"^o"
in whom they may confide their deepest problems and aspira-
tions.
" I wish you would talk to me!" said a young girl of whom
Miss Slattery tells.
" About what," I asked.
" Well," she said, hesitatingly, " about being a Christian — I
just long to have some one talk to me about prayer, and — " she
said the word with great effort — " about Christ. Once I called
on my Sunday school teacher to ask her if she would, but she
was not at home."
Surely it is of paramount importance that the Sunday school
teacher should always be "at home, " in every sense of the
word, when such an eager, trembling hand as that of this young
girl comes knocking at her door. Each teacher should seek
to build up such an intimate friendship between himself and
each of his pupils, that confidential talks regarding the most
sacred and serious questions of life shall be easy and natural;
and when he has built up such a friendship, should not hesitate
to take the initiative in leading up to such conversations when
appropriate opportunities present themselves.
Some Sunday schools set apart one day in the year as
" Decision Day." It may be badly handled and lead only to
disappointment; but when managed tactfully, and with due
preparation, it has in many cases proved invaluable in helping
the young people to assimie the full duties and responsibilities
of Christian discipleship and church membership. In some
churches, certain weeks in the spring of each year, perhaps in
the Lenten season, are regarded as a " Decision Season." The
following suggestions may be made regarding the proper method
of conducting this type of special religious appeal.
{!) The lower grades in the Sunday school, that is, the
Primary and Beginners' Departments, should not participate
in the service. These pupils would not understand its meaning.
{2) As regards the older pupils, prepare their minds for the
service several weeks in advance. Lead them to look forward
to it eagerly as a kind of Rally Day in the Christian hfe; a
day of good cheer and sunshine and enthusiasm. {3) Invari-
ably assume that the attitude of rebellion against God is some-
thing abnormal. Take for granted that all the pupils, unless
indeed there be some unfortunate exceptions, are already
conscious disciples of Jesus. (4) It follows from the above
that any method or device which could possibly cause embarrass-
Thirteen fhe Everyday Growth in Church Membership 87
ment to any one should be utterly tabooed. It is little short
of criminal to say, " All Christians stand up." As a rule, among
those who remain seated at such a time, are some of the most
sincere and Christlike pupils in the school. And even if some
of them, on the other hand, have really been drifting in the
wrong direction, or have consciously set themselves in an atti-
tude of defiance toward God and their own best ideals, the
surest way to drive them still further in the wrong direction
is to single them out in this embarrassing way.
In some churches the pastor conducts a class of young people
for the express purpose of teaching them more fully what it
means to be a Christian and a church member. Essentially
the same purpose underlies the so-called " confirmation classes,"
as conducted by several Christian bodies. All of these efforts
are tacit recognitions of the fact that it is in the early teens
that the most important religious awakenings of life are likely
to occur, and that these years therefore should be years of
spiritual harvest for the Christian worker. Any efforts in this
direction, however hesitatingly they may be made, are better
than no efforts at all. The church that most carefully guards
its children, and gives to its adolescent boys and girls the m.ost
tender religious nurture, makes the surest provision for future
strength and prosperity.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
{1) Gladden: The Christian Pastor and the Working Church, New York,
1901, ch. XI on " Parish Evangelization." {2) Trumbull: Individual
Work for Individuals, New York, 1901. (5) Goodell: Pastoral and Personal
Evangelism, New York and Chicago, 1907.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. Mention some unwise methods that are sometimes employed to got
people to church.
2. What measures can a local church adopt to promote church attend-
ance?
3. How may the pastor do much in increasing the congregation?
4. What is the most effective way to get people to church?
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. How are ministers and churches tempted to limit their fields of
service?
2. How should ministers and churches define their responsibility?
88 The Modern Church ^^"°«
3. What course should be pursued in respect to public invitations to
begin the Christian life?
4. How can the church be carried into the surrounding community?
5. What is the best way of winning people to Christ?
6. What kind of life is needed on the part of those who undertake
personal work for souls?
7. What is the secret of the spiritual power manifested by some churches J
8. Why should extraordinary attention be given to the Sunday school
as a source of additions for the church?
9. Mention some ways by which the young people in the Sunday school
can be helped to begin the Christian life.
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. How many persons were confirmed in or added to your church last
year otherwise than by letter from other churches?
2. What has been the average annual addition of such members during
the last ten years?
3. From what sources has the church derived its increase?
4. If you are a member of the church, have you made any personal
efforts to win others to Christ?
5. If not, why not?
QUESTIONS FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
1. What responsibility rests on the lay members of a church for its
everyday growth in membership?
2. Is our Sunday school doing its part to increase the church?
The Modern Church
Lesson 14. MODERN EVANGELISM.
Scripture Reading: Philip the EvangeHst Preaching in Samaria.
Acts 8: 4-13.
Note 1. Evangelists and Evangelism. Evangel means
" good news." An evangelist is one who proclaims good news.
The term is seldom or never used in this wide sense. Its
specific meaning is one who proclaims the good news of the
kingdom of God and salvation through Jesus Christ. In this
sense, however, every preacher is an evangelist. In modem
popular usage the difference between a pastor-preacher and an
evangelist is that the former is more or less permanently
settled in charge of usually one church, and ministers to all its
ordinary needs; whereas the latter moves at short intervals
from church to church, or from city to city, and devotes himself
to the work of promoting those extraordinary religious awaken-
ings known as revivals. Evangelism is a word that covers all
special efforts by which the chiu-ches seek to win men to Chris-
tian life and service, as distinguished from their regular ministry
through the Sunday worship, the Simday school, the weekly
prayer or conference meeting, and other duly appointed agencies.
Note 2. Evangelists in the Early Church. The New Testa-
ment speaks of evangelists in three places. Acts 21:8 mentions
" Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven " and whose
work is specifically noted in Acts, ch. 8. That the office of an
evangelist was distinct from that of the other offices through
which provision was made for the spiritual edification of the
church seems clear from Eph. 4:11, where Paul enumerates at
least the chief of these: "And he [Christ] gave some to be
apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and
some, pastors and teachers." In 2 Tim. 4:5 Paul exhorts
Timothy to "do the work of an evangelist," which appears to
be something different from the preaching of the word mentioned
in verse 2.
90 The Modern Church ^^'"'''
A study of these passages suggests {!) that evangehsts were
regarded as holding a lower rank than apostles and prophets.
Philip could not impart the Holy Spirit to those who were
converted under his preaching in Samaria. An apostle or
prophet could do the work of an evangelist, but an evangeHst
could not do the work of an apostle or prophet. {2) That
evangelists were usually traveling preachers, rather than
pastors having the oversight of single churches; and hence (S)
that their work consisted mainly in " paving the way for the
more systematic work of the pastors and teachers who watched
over and trained the churches when founded."
Note 3. The Older Type of Modern Evangelism. Those
who are at all acquainted with religious movements during
recent centuries need not be reminded of the large place occu-
pied by those mighty rehgious awakenings which, beginning
with Wycliffe in the fourteenth centtiry, continued imder
Huss in the fifteenth, -under Luther, Calvin, Knox, and a host
of kindred minds in the sixteenth, imder the Wesleys, White-
field, Jonathan Edwards, and others in the eighteenth, and
under Finney and Moody in the nineteenth. The reahty and
power of these signal outpourings of the Spirit of God cannot
be questioned. Under the preaching of consecrated men of
God chiu-ches were bom again and whole nations were stirred.
Near the close of the sixteenth century all Scotland was visited
by an extraordinary revival. " So mightily were men affected,
that the whole General Assembly, four himdred ministers and
elders, while renewing their solemn league and covenant, with
sighs and groans and tears, were swayed by the Spirit, as the
leaves of the forest by ' the rushing mighty wind ' of the driv-
ing tempest." So, too, in 1638, at the signing of the covenant,
Livingston, one of the leading preachers of the time, testifies,
" I have seen more than a thousand persons, all at once lifting
up their hands, and the tears falling down their eyes " as they
vowed to be the Lord's. Similar results have been witnessed
along all the succeeding centimes.
We must not fail to note that while these awakenings are
in most cases linked with great names in the history of the
church, yet they were in a very true sense spontaneous. The
people were ready for the message, and when this came it met
an instantaneous response. Notice, for example, that wave of
spiritual awakening which after a season of widespread bank-
Fourteen Modcm Evangelism 91
ruptcy began in New York City in 1858, and spread from city
to city, from to^vn to to^^^l imtil within the space of a single
year it brought into the churches nearly half a million of mem-
bers from aU classes in the commimity.
Note 4. The New Evangelism. In the latter part of the
last century these spontaneous awakenings seemed to be ar-
rested by new social conditions. The civilized world was
feeling the workings of new industrial, political, and reHgious
movements that everywhere were breaking away from the old
order. To bring back the receding tide of spiritual life a new
type of preachers appeared, called " evangelists." They went
froiu^urch to .church, from city to city, devoting themselves
to the exclusive work of converting men from sin to a profession
of faith in Christ. Many of these men by their unquestionable
personal consecration and by long exercise of a peculiar gift
developed extraordinary power in evoking a response to their
message. Some of them have, or stiU are, conducting cam-
paigns that have brought blessings to great multitudes. Often
thousands could not gain admission to the largest halls and
theatres. Newspaper and billboard advertising are freely em-
ployed. Sometimes all the stores and offices of an entire city
are asked to close for two or three hours in the middle of the
day, and the request whenever made has been granted.
It is only fair to say that in some instances, notwithstanding
the most elaborate preparations, the results, have been alto-
gether disappointing, not only in lack of converts, but in their
depressing effect upon normal religious work. That many
positive evils go with professional revival work even under the
most favorable conditions, is so weh known that many churches,
entertaining grave doubts of its value, refuse to join in it.
Note 5. Continuous Evangelism. The w^riter remembers
with gratitude the church with which he imited in his boyhood.
It had been served for twenty-eight years by its first pastor,
and had grown to be the largest Protestant chiu-ch in a large
city. In each of those years it had enjoyed such " showers of
blessing " as would have been regarded by other churches as
glorious revivals, but which represented simply its normal
condition. There are many churches that do not encourage
spasmodic religious excitement, but that nevertheless have
constant accessions to their membership. Especially is this
the case in rituaHstic churches whose membership is recruited
92 The Modern Church ^"^°"
chiefly through catechetical instruction of the young. More
and more churches of all names are finding that revival methods
must be supplemented, if not superseded, by slow painstaking
instruction in. Christian ti~uth and training in Christian service ;
that a momentary emotional conversion under external pressure
is likely to lapse into a less impressionable state when the
emotion has spent its force; and that the most healthy and
satisfying condition of church growth is one like that of the
church in Jerusalem, when " the Lord added to them day by
day those that were saved."
The churches that increase by continuous evangelism are
invariably those that place the most emphasis on personal
evangelism. Individual work with individuals is the most
potent means of winning men into the kingdom. It was
Christ's own method. It was the way in which he won John,
Andrew, and Philip, and the way in which they in turn won
James, Peter, and Nathanael (Jo. 1 : 35-50). Personal evangel-
ism won Nicodemus, and the woman at the well (Jo. 3: 1-15;
4:5-26). The contact of mind with mind, the sympathetic
human touch, is always more effective than the eloquence that
sways the crowd for a moment.
Note 6. Where Churches Get Most of their Members.
One cannot safely say that the old-fashioned revival has ceased
to be effective. Great popular movements are still witnessed in
industrial, political and social life. The time will probably
never come when the human mind ceases to be responsive to
those obscure physical or mental forces which in all ages have
stirred communities and nations. But we may be sure that any
waves of religious emotions that may sweep over the country
in the future will differ widely from those of the past. Men are
coming to recognize the fact that imiting with a church under
the stimulus of an overpowering emotion, a sudden fear of hell
fire, or an unusual experience, as a vision or a dream, is not the
surest evidence of a genuine conversion. This must be looked
for in a deep, intelligent, and permanent sense of obligation to
God and to one's fellows that reveals itself in daily conduct, and
which is developed by instruction and training. Hence the
Sunday school will more than ever come to be recognized as
the training school of the church; not merely as a stepping-stone
to " conversion," or ** decision " day, but as a place for soul
culture, a place where the young grow up in the sunshine of
po^^i««n Modern Evangelism 93
divine love, and are established in those habits of right thinking
and acting which prepare them for church membership and train
them for self-expression in Christian service. The church of
the future will be the one that with the utmost zeal and intelli-
gence imparts a wise Christian nurture to its children. Pos-
sibly, though we are slow to see it, this awakening of the church
to the importance of the religious education of the young may
be the beginning of the greatest revival the church has ever
known.
While an increasing and wise emphasis is placed on the
Stmday school as a means for winning and training the yotmg
for lives of Christian faith and service, it cannot wholly take
the place of evangelism, which aims also to reach adult sinners,
and to impress adult indifference. If evangelism is wisely em-
ployed, it will continue to be in the future, as in the past, a
most valuable means for arousing the attention of the commu-
nity to the importance of obedience to Christ's commands and
to His claims on the personal life.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
{1) Coe : The Religion of a Mature Mind, pp. 255-290. {2) Dnimmond :
The New Evangelism, pp. 3-59. {3) Stelzle: Christianity's Storm Center,
pp. 192-227. (4) Gladden: The Christian Pastor, pp. 378^00. (5)
Strong: The Challenge of the City, pp. 24:1-27 Q. (6) Jefferson: Building a
Church. (7) Black: Building a Working Church.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. To what extent and in what sense should all preaching be evangelistic?
2. Mention some ways by which the influence of the church can be
brought to bear on the community.
3. What are the most effective ways of winning men to Christ?
4. TeE of some ways by which the Sunday school may become a fruitful
source of strength to the church.
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. How does an evangelist differ from a pastor?
2. What is meant by evangelism?
3. What seems to have been the work of evangelists in the early church?
94 The Modern Church Lesson
4. Mention some of the great revivals that have occurred during the
last few centuries.
5. Describe some of the effects attending them.
6. Mention some conspicuous features of the old-time revival.
7. What are some of the distinctive characteristics of the new evangel-
ism?
8. Mention some better ways of recruiting the membership of churches
than by revivals.
9. What churches are most likely to receive constant additions to their
membership?
10. What is the supreme duty of the church to-day in buiding up a
conquering church for the future?
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY WITH NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. Describe, so far as you are able, some revival work of which you have
had personal knowledge ; note especially how it began, the means by which
it was carried on, whether or not an evangelist was employed, the immediate
results in additions to the church, and the ulterior effects, such as the
staying quality of the new members, and the infiuenc'e on the general life
of the church.
2. What is the attitude of your own church toward revivals?
3. Among the churches with which you are acquainted, can you mention
one that enjoys a fairly steady accession to its membership? If so, what
are the means employed?
QUESTIONS FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
1. Why are we not seeing more old-fashioned revivals now?
2. Which is likely to be the more effective way of extending the kingdom
of God, through revivals or through the religious education of children?
P'f^''» Holding the Converts 95
Lesson 15. HOLDING THE CONVERTS.
Scripture Reading: Abiding in the Son and. in the Father.
1 John 2: 18-29.
Note 1. Why Churches Fail to Hold Their Converts.
While this problem confronts all churches in some degree, it is
particularly acute in those that rely chiefly on revival methods
for additions to the church membership. Indeed, among those
pastors who still favor revivalism the conviction prevails that
if only twenty-five per cent of the converts " hold out," special
campaigns for souls are weU w^orth while. Undeniably, the
winning of a single soul is worth all the effort it costs. But
the question is one related not merely to the one soul saved, but
to the ninety and nine who drift away into a state less susceptible
to impressions than before they were swept into the church
on a wave of religious excitement.
What are some of the causes that lead to this falling away?
In the first place, a church that is suffering from a low state of
spirituaHty, and that needs to be galvanized into a semblance
of life by a revivalist is in no condition to care for a sudden
inflow of converts. Nobody has been trained to«do that kind
of work. The older members are themselves lacking in those
experiences which will enable them to be of assistance to others
in developing a sturdy, steady, fruitful Christian life, and
so the newcomers are left to their own devices. Secondly,
conversions induced by emotional excitement are more likely
to prove evanescent than those based on intelligent and con-
scientious convictions. Their S3mibol is the seed " that fell
upon the rocky places, where they had not much earth: and
straightway they sprang up, because they had no deepness of
earth: and when the sun was risen, they were scorched; and
because they had no root they withered away " (Mat. 13: 5, 6).
Thirdly, the mistaken yet widely prevailing notion that church
membership means personal gain rather than service; that the
church is mainly " an ark of safety rather than an army of
occupation "; that the pastor is the only person in the church
from whom consecrated Christian work is to be expected.
The prevalence of such misconceptions tends to make the
church tie very weak. When it becomes merely nominal, it is
easily broken entirely.
Note 2. The Importance of the Problem. One of the most
serious obstacles in the way of holding the converts is the general
96 The Modern Church ^^'^^^
failure on the part of the churches to see that this problem is
really greater than that of getting them. Time, thought,
prayer, and money are expended in enlisting recruits for the
army that is to win the world for Christ, while little or no
thought or effort is spent in drilling them to become effective
soldiers. It sometimes seems as if the churches regarded their
work as practically ended, instead of only begun, when they
have entered a convert's name on the church register. A
striking illustration of this tendency is to be seen in any large
theological library. Books devoted to revival work, to elabo-
rate schemes for reaching the unchurched multitudes, to bring-
ing the children of the Simday school into church membership,
may be counted by the score, whereas diligent search may not
reveal a single volume, or perhaps not even a single chapter,
devoted to the specific task of holding the converts. That the
problem is one of vast importance every one is ready to admit.
In view, however, of the widespread reliance on emotional
rather than educational methods in wmning converts, many
thoughtful pastors have become well-nigh hopeless of devising
an effective remedy.
Note 3. Training the Church. A remedy to be effective
must be adapted to the conditions which it is designed to com-
bat. So long, for example, as the origin and spread of yellow
fever were not understood, efforts to check its progress were
ineffective because misdirected. Attention was called in Note
1, above, to some reasons why churches frequently fail to hold
their converts. Primarily they fail because they are in no
condition to care for converts. Every form of life if it is to
survive must have an environment congenial to its nature.
How many churches are prepared to nourish, stimulate, and
develop a newly begotten spiritual life? A revival -may kindle
a little spiritual warmth and ferA^or, but when the special effort
is ended, many a church gradually slips back into a dull, cold,
formal, half -dead state that nips like an arctic blast the budding
spiritual life and enthusiasm of converts.
Evidently the first and essential condition for the holding of
converts is the development of a warm, cheerful, and active
church life not merely during a brief revival, but as a normal
state. This can be accomplished only by slow and patient work
with the church itself. The pastor and those who really care
for its welfare must combine their efforts to kindle a general and
^'/'^^« Holding the Converts 97
genuine 'interest in religious or social work. A church trans-
formed from a self -centered, cheerless, formal organization into
an institution teeming with life, love, enthusiasm, actixity,
will not only do its own evangelistic work in the most effective
way, but will be in a spiritual state to welcome converts and
care for them as tenderly and thoughtfully as a babe is cared
for in a loving family. Where a church realizes its obligations
to the changing social order, and seeks in some measure to
meet these obligations, there will be no lack of work, of a more
ennobling and stimulating character than that which begins and
ends mth socials, suppers, entertainments, fairs, and similar
devices that too often absorb the energies of the chiu-ch.
Note 4. Training the New Members. Mtdtitudes of church
members become indifferent and useless, or drift away, because
they have nothing to do. No specific tasks have been assigned
to them with the expectation that they are to do them without
fail. A pastor who does a single stroke of work in a church
that he can get any one else to do is not doing the best thing for
the church. Unquestionably it is often easier to do a thing
oneself than to get another to do it, but the extra effort required
is precisely the kind of service that is needed to develop the
strength of the church. Many churches seem to expect of
their members only a little work in the Sunday school or speak-
ing in the prayer meeting — services for which only a small part
of the membership is qualified. An ideal working church is
one in which the burdens are carried not by the pastor alone,
assisted by a few members, but where so far as possible every one
does a part.
All training of new members should rest on a clear discrimina-
tion between the needs of children who as a result of nurture in
Christian homes and in Sunday schools naturally pass into the
larger family life of the church, and of adults w^ho are brought
in by conversion, in many instances as the result of evangelistic
work. In the former case the children are growing up in the
atmosphere of the church, they are accustomed to Bible study,
and are familiar with many of the ordinary forms of Christian
service. After having decided for Christ, and been received
into membership, they naturally continue along the same lines
of training, establishing habits that will grow stronger with
each passing year. The boys and girls instinctively gravitate
toward their proper places in the yoimg people's societies,
98 The Modern Church ^"^o«
clubs, or associations specially organized for training in church
work, and as they grow older find themselves placed in posi-
tions of responsibility on important committees. Under such
circumstances the problem of holding the new members in
loyal attachment to the church, while requiring close attention,
is by no means difficult.
The case is different when adults are converted and brought
into fellowship with the church, and especially so when the
conversion takes place as a result of the work of a revivalist,
and a sudden awakening of religious feeling. Here conversion
means an abrupt breaking up of the habits of mature life. Un-
less new habits are promptly established, the old quickly
reassert themselves. When the transient eniotion has passed
away, the former life comes back in full tide and the new con-
verts, instead of becoming valuable additions to the church
and useful workers in the kingdom of Christ, only help to swell
the number of those who, having a namie to live, are dead.
The only way to hold adult converts is by enlisting their interest
as quickly as possible in the work of the church, and by giving
them all possible assistance in forming habits that are essential
to the strength and permanency of the Christian life. They
must be made to see the duty and privilege of attending the
public worship and devotional meetings of the church, which, of
course, should be attractive, spiritually uplifting and socially
refreshing. They must be introduced at once into one of the
adult classes whose members will exercise a sympathetic watchful
care over them. There must be awakened in them a spirit of
prayer, a love for the Bible, a liking for the society of Christian
people, and an interest in Christian work by immediately giving
them something to do. Where this is done there will be less
difficulty in holding them, but to do this will tax the ingenuity,
patience, and grace of pastor and people. The task, though
difficult, is by no means impossible. What is needed is a sense
of personal, brotherly responsibility, tact, persistence, and lov-
ing human S3mipathy. There are few hearts that will not
respond to such influences. These are the ties that bind the
human family into a sweet concord and unity, and give God's
children a foretaste of heavenly relationships.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
(1) Washington Gladden in The Christian Pastor has a chapter (XII) on
the " Social Life of the Church " that bears in many ways on the problem
of holding the converts. Still more helpful is the chapter XIX on " En-
^'■^'^^« Holding the Converts 99
listing the Membership." {£) George W. Mead: Modern Methods in
Church Work, chapter V on " Personal Work," has good suggestions on
keeping the members interested and employed. (S) J. M. Hoppin: Pas-
toral Theology, has excellent advice on how a pastor may help young
converts, pp. 475-480.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. WHiat is the specific work of an evangelist?
2. Mention some points at which the new evangelism differs from the
old.
3. How can continuous evangelism be promoted?
4. What place is religious education likely to occupy in the church of
the future?
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. Suppose that a certain evangelist, if he were invited to conduct a
revival, would have one hundred conversions, only fifty of which would
" stick "; would you think it wise to invite him?
2. What are some of the chief reasons why churches do not hold their
converts?
3. What is the attitude of many churches to this problem?
4. What must be the condition of a church that successfully cares for
its converts?
5. How can a church be trained to hold new converts?
6. What is the effect on a church of a largely idle membership?
7. What is the best way of holding young converts?
100 The Modern Chtirch ^"^"'^
8. What different methods must be employed with adults?
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. What methods are used in your church for holding the converts?
2. To what extent are they successful?
3. What better or additional methods can you suggest?
QUESTIONS FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
1. Can churches reasonably be expected to hold all their converts?
2. How do the most successful churches that you know of hold their
converts?
Lesson 16. THE MEMBER WHO MOVES AWAY.
Scripture Reading: Jeremiah's Letter to the Exiles. Jer. 29: 1-7.
Note 1. Church Membership as Affected by Modern
Migratory Habits. Time was when a considerable portion of
the rural population of Europe was attached to the land almost
as firmly as the houses or trees. Even free families continued
to reside in the same abode or neighborhood for generations.
This is still a frequent occurrence outside the cities. In this
country the attraction of newly opened territories and the
increasing facilities for travel have made such fixedness of
abode comparatively rare. In the cities this passion for moving
has been stimulated by the inability of most families to own
houses, by the erection of innumerable apartment houses in
which families occupy a few rooms for a short time, and by the
ease with which removals take place. The result is such an
incessant shifting of the population that a permanent home
becomes an exception rather than the rule.
The churches are suffering greatly from this migratory habit.
Less harm would be done if a member or family moving away
would ask for a letter of dismission to the nearest church of like
faith and order in the new home, and present the letter promptly.
The fact is, however, that many are grossly negligent in this
respect. Not only do they fail to transfer their membership,
but they do not even inform the pastor that they are going to
•^■'^'^^" The Member Who Moves Away 101
move or where. Sorae times it is possible to trace them for a
time. Frequently the church loses track of them entirely.
After a few years their names are erased from the church Hst or
placed on a suspended roll. How serious this problem has
become may be judged from the following figures taken from
the year books of leading Protestant bodies in this coimtry for
1912:
Erased or placed
Denomination.
Total net membership.
Non-residents.
on suspended roll.
Baptist,
5,454,198
No report
102,203
Congregational,
738,761
111,376
25,791
Presbyterian,
1,380,058
No report
51,266
Non-resident members, except in rare instances, contribute
nothing to the support of the home church. They are usually
inactive in the places where they live, and this inactivity con-
tinues imtil, through another removal or through persistent
failure to communicate with the home church, their names are
dropped from the roll and they are lost to the denomination.
Note 2. Instruction of Resident Members. Instructions
regarding the non-resident problem should begin before the
members slip away to other fields. The importance to each
member and to the church of strict attention to the following
duties should be clearly presented at least once a year. Where
an annual roll caU is held this is an opportime time to emphasize
them:
{1) That a member moA'ing from one place to another within
the parish should promptly give the pastor, or the clerk of the
church, his new address. Failtire to do this causes the pastor
much loss of time in going to the old address, and in tracing the
member to his new" home. Furthermore, important communica-
tions from the chiurch are likely to go astray. A postal card
with the necessary information will save much time, trouble,
atid vexation.
{2) That a member moving to another commtmity should at
the earliest opporttmity send his new address to the pastor or
clerk of the home chtirch.
{S) That a member moving to a place where there is a church
of the same faith and order should lose no time transferring his
membership to it. If for sufficient reason he prefers to retain
his connection with the old church, he should understand that
removal does not cancel his 'obligation to contribute regularly
102 The Modern Church Lesson
to its support, and to communicate with it at least once a year.
(4) That a member moving to a place where there is no church
of the same faith and order should endeavor to find a temporary
home in some other church in the commtmity, and to make him-
self helpful in the common work of fmlhering the interests of
the kingdom of God.
If these duties were faithfully impressed on the members,
especially of city churches, while they are still tinder the direct
care of the home church, far less trouble would be experienced
in connection with the member who moves away. In small
churches in towns or villages the fact that a member is about to
leave the community is usually so well known that the pastor
has ample time to give personal directions on these points.
Note 3. What to do for Members Who are Moving Away.
A pastor who learns that a member of his church is about remov-
ing to another commtmity will naturally make an early call to
express regret at losing him and to inform himself in regard to
the religious conditions in the new home. If there is a church
of the same denomination in the vicinity, he will ascertain the
name of the pastor, and lu-ge the departing member to make
himself known to him as soon as possible after his arrival. A
letter of introduction will encourage him to do this. Even if
he is uncertain whether he will stay permanently, he should be
urged to apply for a letter of dismission, so that he may have a
church home while he remains. The transfer to another
church is easily made if he finds himself again obliged to move.
Immediately after the departing member has gone the
pastor should send his address to the pastor of the nearest
church of the same denomination, so that he may call and by a
friendly welcome facilitate the transfer of membership.
If there is no church of the same denomination in, or within
reach of, the new home, the removing member should be urged
not to make this an excuse for lapsing into a state of inactivity,
but to identify himself with some religious organization, and in
the meantime to keep up loyal relations with his home church,
as suggested in Note 1. In this case it is also well to send his
name and address to the denominational overseer of the district
in which he settles. A number of such names may presently
become the nucleus of a vigorous church.
•^c long as no charges have been preferred against a church
member he is regarded as in " good and regular standing " and
■^^■^■^^^« The Member Who Moves Away 103
entitled to a letter of dismission. This should be granted with-
out delay, but valid only for a definitely limited period, and
should be addressed to the church with which he proposes to
imite. Usually such a letter is sent directly to the person ap-
plying for it. Because sometimes there is a temptation to
retain it indefinitely, some churches prefer to send it to the
pastor of the new church.
"It is the custom in some churches to grant a letter that
states that the name will be retained unless word is received
that the letter has been used within the six months. Experience
shows that this is a bad custom, as many names are retained
that never should be. It tends also to make members negligent
in using letters, as they think their names will be retained in the
old church anyway." A better way is to have it distinctly
stated in the letter that the name is dropped as soon as the
letter of dismission has been granted.
Note 4. Keeping Up Communications with Non-Resident
Members. After all ordinary means have been exhausted to
induce absent members to unite with a church in their neighbor-
hood, it will be found that in a large number of cases these
efforts are vain. Year after year the churches carry such names
as non-residents. A study of the statistics of any denomination
will show a surprisingly large absentee membership. How to
keep in touch with them is not always an easy matter. In
fact, many churches make little or no effort to do so. This is
not right. So long as they remain members of the church it
owes certain duties to them, whether they are faithful to their
obligations or not.
Once a year those whose address is known should be written
to, for the purpose of ascertaining their spiritual welfare, of
soliciting aid for the support of the church and its benevolences,
and of urging them to unite with some local church. If this
is done two or three weeks before the annual roll call, answers
will often be received that will be of interest to the members at
home and that may, therefore, be read in public. The fact
that the absentees are remembered, and that the church is
interested in their welfare, may keep them from falling into a
state of entire inactivity.
Note 5. Members of Other Churches on One's Own Field.
So far only those members have been considered who have
104 The Modern Church Lesson
moved away from one's own church. What we desire and
expect other churches to do for them, we should be ready to do
for members of other churches who have moved into our own
neighborhood. A careful canvass will sometimes reveal a
surprisingly large number of persons who have not made them-
selves known to the church with which they are affiliated.
The pastor of a large and influential church in a wealthy suburb
of Boston discovered recently over fifty families living within
easy reach of his church who claimed membership in other
churches of the same faith. Only a few of them could be per-
suaded to transfer their membership. Most of them frankly
admitted that they wanted ** a rest from church work." Many
pastors could doubtless tell of similar discouraging experiences.
Three things can be done: have other tactful and friendly
church members call besides the pastor; offer to write to their
home church for letters of dismission; and, if this fails, get the
pastox of the other church to use his influence in having them
resume active membership.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
The literature relating to the non-resident member problem is for the
most part confined to pastor's manuals, church directories, church disci-
pline, and occasional articles in religious periodicals and newspapers.
Washington Gladden's Parish Problems has a paper entitled " Dropped
Stitches " that deals with the problem briefly. Other volumes on pastoral
duties occasionally devote a paragraph to the subject.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. What are some of the chief reasons why churches fail to hold their
converts?
2. Why is the holding of the converts deserving of more attention than
is usually given to it?
3. How should churches be trained to care for new members?
4. What kind of care is needed by young converts?
5. What different care is needed by adults?
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. What modern social conditions have largely created the non-resident
membership problem?
2. How do these conditions bring about a, serious loss of membership:
six'een j/^^ Member Who Moves Away 105
3. Why are non-resident members seldom of value to any church?
4. Mention four points on which resident members should be instructed.
5. What should be done with members moving into places where there are
churches of the same faith?
6. What should be done when there are no such churches?
7. What methods are usually followed in transferring members from one
church to another?
8. How should churches keep in touch with their non-resident members?
9. What should be done for members of other churches on one's ov/n
field?
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. How many resident members has your own church?
2. How many non-resident?
3. How do these figures compare with the averages in your own State?
4. How does your church keep in touch with its absentee members?
5. What means are used to keep the number of absentee members as
small as possible?
6. How many church members are there in your community not at
present actively affiHated with any church?
QUESTIONS FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
1. How c^n resident members be made Helpful in looking after absentees?
2. What is our church doing to get hold of absentee members who live
in our community?
106 The Modern Church ^«^°"
Lesson 17. WOMAN'S WORK IN THE CHURCH.
Scripture Reading: Paul's Faithful Female Coworkers.
Rom. 16: 1-4, 12; Phil. 4: 2, 3.
Note 1. Prominence of Women in the Early Church. The
teachings of Jesus, combined with His gracious conduct toward
women of every class, marked a practical revolution in the
estimate and treatment of women. From the first they were
accorded in the early church a position of equality, freedom, and
dignity, that meant a real emancipation. In Paul's letter to
the Galatians (3 : 28) he laid down the principle that in Christ
there can be no distinction between male and female. Women
were among his most devoted and efficient helpers in extending
the Gospel. They certainly shared equally with the men in
the extraordinary experiences of the Day of Pentecost (Acts
1: 14; 2: 1-4), and later in most of the spiritual gifts exercised
by the early church. When Paul ordered the Christian women
in Corinth to'" keep silence in the churches " (1 Cor. 14: 34),
this was clearly a temporary and local prohibition enforced for
the sake of protecting the good name of the Christian women
from even a suspicion of imm.odesty in a city notorious for its
" abysmal profligacy." Ever since Jesus raised the daughter
of Jairus with the tender command, " Maiden, arise," this word
has symbolized the resurrection of woman from social death
under the uplifting power of Christianity.
Note 2. Prominence of Women in the Modem Church.
The writer some years ago asked the pastor of an adjoining
Congregational church, " Who are your leading men? " ** The
leading men in my chiurch," was the reply, " are all women."
The answer, so far from being a mere witticism, accurately
reflects the condition in the majority of Protestant churches in
this coimtry to-day. The men may carry the greater part of
the financial burdens ; but so far as religious work is concerned,
it is no exaggeration to say that a great number of churches
would cease to exist but for the efforts of the faithful Christian
women who constitute by far the larger part of their member-
ship. It is a common occurrence to find two-thirds or three-
quarters of a congregation composed of women. Various large
religious organizations, especially for the promotion of home and
foreign missions, are conducted wholly by women. Every
church has its local women's societies engaged in reHgious and
philanthropic work of various kinds. It can be confidently
Seventeen Womau's Wofk tu the Ckurck 107
maintained that the Christian church owes more to-day for its
progress and strength to the self-denying labors, the consecrated
talents, and the imqtienchable zeal of its women than to any
other human agency. Thousands of them have gone as mis-
sionaries to all parts of the world. Thousands more are work-
ing at home as specially trained pastor's assistants, church
visitors, and deaconesses, or as assistants in children's aid
societies, rescue leagues, settlement work, and hundreds of
similar agencies that are moved by the spirit of Christ. Most
Sunday school teachers are women. They have answered joy-
fully and promptly the message, " The Teacher is here, and
calleth thee." Indeed, so great is the preponderance of women
in church affairs that extensive campaigns for men have been
fovmd necessary to restore, if possible, some semblance of
numerical equality and efficiency.
Note 3. Woman^s Work for Missions. From the inception
of the modem missionary movement Christian women have
been among its most active and liberal supporters. Not satis-
fied with contributing to the funds of the general missionary
societies of their several denominations, they have organized in
each of the leading Christian bodies independent national
societies. These societies and the amounts raised by them, as
reported in the year books for 1912, are as follows:
Woman's American Baptist Home Missionary Society $179,787.32
Woman's American Baptist Foreign Missionary Society 194,501.02
Woman's Baptist Foreign Missionary Societ}^ of the West . 128,199.72
Woman's Home Missionary Federation (Congregational) about 300,000.00
Woman's Board of Missions (Congregational) 192,458.94
Woman's Board of Missions of the Interior (Congregational) 125,369.98
Woman's Board of Missions for the Pacific (Congregational) 16,091.11
Woman's Home Missionary Society (Methodist Episcopal) 701,217,76
Woman's Foreign Missionary Society (Methodist Episcopal) 939,257.55
Woman's Board of Home Missions (Presbyterian) \ -q,, . „q „„
Woman's Board of Foreign Missions (Presbyterian) J oyb,48«.dy
These societies cooperate with the general boards or societies
of their respective churches and assume the support of a part of
the work which they carry on. They collect money through
branches, auxiliaries, mission circles, or guilds, in the local
churches. No church regards itself as effectively organized
imtil it has a Wom^an's Missionary Society of some kind, and
these societies are usually among the most active in the churches.
The work actually accomplished by them may be fairly gauged
108 The Modern Church ^^^son
by the fact that the Methodist Episcopal societies alone were
reported in 1912 as sustaining on the home and foreign fields
over 650 missionaries. The Baptist societies sustain on the
home field 173 missionaries, and on the foreign field 217 mission-
aries, 154 Bible women, and 648 schools.
A most interesting organization, more fully developed by the
Methodist Episcopal chiu-ch than any other, is that of deacon-
esses. The work done by them in this coimtry and Europe
(report of 1912) is as follows: Endowments and property clear
of debt, $4,837,412; licensed deaconesses, 1360; stations, 118;
calls of all kinds made, 561,715; nmnber of sick nursed in hospi-
tals and homes, 32,894; number of children taught in industrial
schools, 294,030; in Sunday schools, 150,074; — all carried on at
an expense for the fiscal year of $1,180,464.
Note 4. Woman's Work in a Local Church. A church
without a woman's society of some kind is like a ship with
part of its sails gone. In fact, there are many small churches
where the only organization outside of the officers of the church
is that composed of Christian women. Usually there are
several, such as a missionary society for the home and another
for the foreign field, or for both combined; a Woman's Aid
Society, designed to assist in meeting the current expenses of
the local church; a sewing circle, that seeks to help the poor;
and committees for attending to special departments of the
church work, such as music, flowers, sociables, etc. As the
membership increases the church work tends to become more
complex, until the organizations for men and women, for chil-
dren, youths, and adults, become so numerous as to demand
some sort of centralized control.
A remarkably complete and efficient correlation of women's
societies is that worked out in the Eliot Congregational Church,
Newton, Mass., of which, by permission, an accoimt is here
given. It is known as the Woman's Association. It aims to
enlist the active or sympathetic interest of every woman in the
church; the membership fee is made small Xtwenty-five cents)
so as not to be a burden to any one ; sewing and missionary meet-
ings are held on the same day of the week; knowledge of what
each department is doing is given by a report from each, read at
a united monthly business meeting; sympathy and sociability
are promoted by thus bringing together those who have various
interests at heart. Tuesday is Woman's Day. All who are
Sci^enieen Womau's Wovk iu the Church 109
able come at two o'clock and spend an hour in sewing, after
which a varied program is presented. The first Tuesday in
each month is given to the Business Meeting; the second, to
Home Mission; the third, to the Home Department; the fourth,
to Foreign Missions; and the occasional fifth, to a literary or
musical entertainment.
The officers of the association comprise a president, three
vice-presidents, a recording secretary, a corresponding secretary,
a treasurer, and an auditor.
The association is divided into four departments : {T) Foreign
Missions; {2) Home Missions, each with a chairman, assistant
chairman, secretary and treasurer; {3) Home, aiming " to help
the mothers of the church and congregation in the spiritual,
educational and practical duties of the home"; (4) Church
Work, composed of the following subcommittees: (a) Enter-
tainment, having charge of the monthly suppers, and other
entertainments; ih) Work, charged with purchasing materials,
preparing the sewing for the regular meetings, and having over-
sight of missionary boxes ; {c) Relief, expected to aid the pastor
in visiting and providing for the sick and needy; {d) Literary,
responsible for programs of general interest when such are
required; {e) Hospitality, assigned the duty of welcoming and
caring for strangers ; (/) Library, asked to secure, circulate, and
care for best and latest literature for the departments; (g)
Finance, " who shall present a list of yearly appropriations and
shall devise plans for securing pledges and memberships";
{h) House, charged with care of table linen and all kitchen
utensils.
This organization reported in 1912 two hundred and sixty
members. It is described with considerable fulness in order
that other churches, according to their needs and as may be
best suited to their conditions, may be helped by it to unify
the many organizations that sometimes tend to overlap or to
get into one another's way. Above all, it illustrates forcibly
the prominent and legitimate place that woman has won for
herself in local churches and the stimulus imparted by her
enthusiasm and devotion to all its activities.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
{1) Gladden: The Christian Pastor, pp. 289-312. (2) Mead: Modern
Methods in Church Work, pp. 200-206. {3) The Year Books of the leading
Protestant denominations furnish the completest and most illuminating
110 The Modern Church ^"""^
survey of the work done by the organized efforts of Christian women in
furthering the kingdom of God at home and abroad.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. How is church membership affected by the rapidly decreasing num-
ber of permanent homes?
2. In view of present migratory habits, what duties should be impressed
on church members?
3. What counsels should be given to those who are moving away?
4. What duties does a church owe toward its absent members?
5. What course should it pursue toward members of other churches on
its own field?
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. What was the position of woman in the early church?
2. How has Christianity affected woman's position in the modern
church?
3. How is magnitude of woman's work for Christian missions shown?
4. How are the vast sums contributed by women to home and foreign
missions obtained?
5. What are the women doing for the support of missionaries?
6. Describe the work of the deaconesses in the Methodist Episcopal
church.
7. What are some of the more common forms of activity shown by
women in local churches?
Eighteen Youfig People's Societies: History 111
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. How does the number of female members in your church compare
with the number of males? Procure the exact figures.
2. What is the relative attendance at the Sunday morning worship?
Answer by actually counting.
3. Name the several women's societie's in your church.
4. What did they contribute last year to home missions? What to
foreign?
5. What work are the women of your church doing in calling on stran-
gers? In visiting the sick? In helping the poor?
6. What would you regard as the outlook of your church if the women
were removed?
QUESTIONS FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
1. To what is the great preponderance of women in modem Protestant
churches due?
2. Would the establishment of an order of women (deaconesses, or sister-
hoods) devoted exclusively to the furtherance of religious, educational,
and philanthropic work, with an assured support for life, be expedient
in all Christian bodies?
Lesson 18. YOUNG PEOPLE'S SOCIETIES: HISTORY.
Scripture Reading: God's Spirit Poured Out on the Young as Well as
the Old. Joel 2: 28-32.
Note 1. The Waste of Youthful Energy in the Churches.
The enlistment of the young people of the churches in active
Christian service was one of the most important among the
many remarkable religious movements witnessed dvuing the
last quarter of the nineteenth century. No efforts had been
spared to win them to decision for Christ and to church
membership, but, when safely within the church, further efforts
for the development of their religious nature and for their
training in efficiency and usefulness seem to have been largely
neglected. The chiu*ches virtually said: " Now that you have
crossed the line between the chin-ch and the world, you must
depend on your own efforts for the cultivation and strengthen-
ing of your spiritual life. Join a class in the Simday school,
attend the Simday services and the prayer meetings, but, in
the latter, young persons should be seen rather than heard.
When you are older and have more experience, you will be
112 The Modern Church ■^^"om
welcome to a share in the active work of the church." This
was not said in so many words, but in many churches it inter-
preted the common attitude. As a consequence latent powers
remained undeveloped and capacity for useful Christian service
was lost to the churches. An Awakening sense of the magnitude
of the losses thus sustained, not only in the immediate Hfe of
the churches, but in their future strength, led to many varied
efforts in local churches to solve the problem of training yoimg
converts in vital piety and for intelligent usefulness. Most of
these efforts were defective in important particulars, and after
a time they ceased to exist, or were merged in one or another of
the larger movements to which the situation gave rise.
Note 2. The Christian Endeavor Movement. Christian
Endeavor has sometimes been caUed " the miracle of modem
times." Its world-wide growth in a little more than thirty
years, the good it has already accomplished, and its unlimited
possibilities of achievement along m,any lines of Christian service
fill one with wonder and hopefidness for the chiurch of the future.
The beginning of Christian missions in the early years of the
last century, and of Christian Endeavor in its closing years,
will be recorded among the outstanding events of Christian
progress during the most m.arvelous century in himian history.
The Christian Endeavor movement originated in the Willis-
ton Congregational Church of Portland, Maine. Rev. Francis
E. Clark, the pastor, had for several years conducted an earnest
work among the young people. A revival in the winter of
1880-1881 emphasized the need of a special organization to
care for the converts. The result was the formation of the
first Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor in the pas-
tor's study, the evening of February 2, 1881, when essentially
the present constitution and pledge were adopted, and the
present methods of work outlined.
The success of the young society so far exceeded the most
sanguine hopes of its organizers that Dr. Clark was induced the
following summer to give an account of it in The Congregational-
ist and in The Sunday-School Times. These articles attracted
wide attention, and immediately similar societies began to
multiply. In a little over a year six societies were recorded;
in two years, fifty-three with an enrolled membership of 2,630;
in three years, one hundred and fifty-one with 6,414 members;
and in five years, two hundred and fifty-three with 14,892
Eighteen Youfig People's Societies: History 113
members. From that time the movement went on with leaps
and boimds imtil in 1912 it had spread over the world and re-
ported over 75,000 societies with over 3,900,000 members in
more than eighty different denominations. So deep and wide-
spread was the enthusiasm created by it that at the fourteenth
annual convention in Boston, Mass., in 1895, the nimiber of
registered delegates reached the immense number of 56,435.
It has adapted itself to all denominations, nationalities and
races. While, on the one hand, intensely local in its loyalty to
the individual church of which it forms a part, it is, on the other
hand, in its spirit and aims as universal as Christianity itself.
It thus came to exercise a strong influence in behalf of Christian
unity.
Quite early it was felt that more effective work could be done
by separating the younger members into Junior Christian En-
deavor Societies. Junior societies are now everywhere recog-
nized as an indispensable part of the organization. The chil-
dren feel more freedom than in the presence of the seniors, and
are therefore more ready to respond to duties laid upon them.
The Intermediate Society is a later development, taking boys
and girls at high school age. The leader, an older endeavorer,
is a sort of big brother to guide and direct the society. But
responsibility is largely placed on the young people.
The Christian Endeavor headquarters are in Boston, Mass.
Note 3. The Ep worth League. The Christian Endeavor
movement from the first struck root in all evangelical denomina-
tions. Ever3rwhere it was welcomed as a happy solution of the
problem how to care for the young people in the churches.
From the first, also, the leaders had wisely seen that any
attempt to control the local societies from the headquarters of
the movement would be fatal to its success. Every society was
therefore taught to regard itself as amenable to no human
authority save that of its own church and pastor. During the
early years, when no one dreamed of the magnitude the move-
ment would assume, and while as yet the ntmiber of societies
was small, no effort was made anywhere to place the movement
imder denominational control. This lasted only until religious
leaders began to see that Christian Endeavor had come to stay,
and that it was destined to become a mighty agency in shaping
the lives of the young.
The first break with the interdenominational fellowship of
114 The Modern Church ^^^^^
Christian Endeavor was made by the Methodist Episcopal
church in the organization of its young people into an Epworth
League. This occuiTcd in Cleveland, Ohio, May 15, 1889. It
was officially recognized by the General Conference in 1892.
In a short time all the Methodist societies were transformed
into chapters of the League and the whole movement, so far
as related to the Methodist Episcopal church, was incorporated
with the church organization. It^ purpose, as stated in the
Yearj Book for 1912 " is twofold, — promoting intelligent and
vital piety among the young people of our church and congrega-
tions and training them for works of mercy and help. It has
been given a more militant expression as follows : To develop a
world-wide conquering church by winning, saving, and training
the yoimg people for JeSus Christ." The same Year Book
reports 14,075 Senior Chapters with 594,478 members, and
6,033 Junior Chapters with 244,414 members. The central
office of the Epworth League is at Chicago, 111.
Note 4. The Baptist Young People's Union. Essentially
the same reasons that led to the organization of the Epworth
League found expression in the starting of the Baptist Young
People's Union at Chicago, July 7, 1891. From the first, how-
ever, this movement met with much opposition. The freedom
of every local Baptist church from denominational control
permitted the young people in each chin-ch to determine for
themselves whether thc}^ would join the new society, or remain
loyal to the Christian Endeavor idea and the interdenomina-
tional fellowship to which it introduced them. While many
societies felt in duty bound to cast in their influence with their
own denominational society, a large nimiber preferred to remain
Christian Endeavorers. For this reason, notwithstanding the
fact that the Young People's Baptist Union has almost from the
outset admitted into its organization all Baptist Christian En-
deavor Societies without change of name or constitution, it has
never achieved the same denominational importance as the
Epworth League. Its local societies, however, have been of
great help to their respective churches, and, along with the
Baptist Christian Endeavor societies, have heartily supported
the wider interests of the denomination. The headquarters are
at Philadelphia, Pa.
Note 5. Other Young People's Societies. One of the earli-
est and simplest efforts to enlist young people in personal service
Eighteen Youiig People's Societies: History 115
was the Lend-a- Hand inspired by the practical ideahsm embod-
ied in Edward Everett Hale's story, Ten Times One is Ten.
It told how the short and noble life of Henry Wadsworth led
ten of his young friends to unite in cherishing his mottoes:
" Look up and not down; look forward and not back; look out
and not in; and lend a hand." They embody the three supreme
Christian graces — Faith, looking up; Hope, looking forward;
Love, seeking service; and service itself by lending a hand.
The story goes on to tell how in three years each of these ten
won ten more, so that there were a hundred, and then at the
end of each successive three years there would be a thousand,
ten thousand, and so on until in only twenty-seven years there
would be a thousand millions of people working under the im-
pulse of Faith, Hope, and Love. The first Lend-a-Hand Club,
formed in 1871, was quickly followed by others until in 1891 by
an entirely spontaneous growth the number had so increased as
to call for a central organization, the Lend-a-Hand Society,
through which the local clubs are enabled to cooperate in works
of mercy too large for any individual club to undertake. As
Dr. Hale was a Unitarian minister, the Unitarian churches are
naturally interested in this movement, though by no means
exclusively so since it is undenominational. The central office
is in Boston, Mass.
The Kings Daughters. These '* circles " were started in
1886 in New York City by Mrs. Margaret Bottome. They
are similar in piirpose, organization, and methods to the Lend-
a-Hand Clubs. They are usually, but not necessarily, connected
with some church. Even when this is the case, they frequently
irbclude persons of philanthropic and benevolent instincts who
are not church members. The international headquarters are
at New York City.
The first Luther League was organized in New York City in
1887. The movement spread rapidly, so that in 1895 the
Luther League of America was organized by 420 delegates relpre-
senting 20 States and as many young people's societies with
various names. The motto of the national society is, "Of
the Church, by the Church, for the Church." The fundamental
principles are federation, which is the governmental principle,
and cooperation, which is the economic principle. In harmony
with these principles membership is extended to Christian
Endeavor Societies, Luther Alliances, King's Daughters, King's
Sons and all kindred organizations connected with Lutheran
116 The Modern Church Lesson
churches or Lutheran institutions of learning. In 1908 and
1909 the League made its way into Japan, China, and India.
It provides an excellent scheme of Bible study for the young
people and aims to give them information regarding the faith
and practice of their church.
The Order of Knights of King Arthur attempts to instil noble
ideals in boys from twelve to seventeen years of age by appeal-
ing to the heroic instinct which is then predominant. The first
" Castle " was organized at Riverside, R. L, February 10, 1893,
by WilHam Byron Forbush, then pastor of the local Congrega-
tional church, and he is still Mage Merlin, or chief adviser, of
the order. From that time the movement has spread widely
among many denominations, so that at the present time (1913)
it reports about 2,600 Castles and nearly 50,000 members.
The knightly ideals of service, self-mastery, and self-sacrifice
are held up as the ideal of Christian manhood. " Although the
framework of the order is a monarchy, there is nothing dicta-
torial about its management. Each Castle is independent in its
plans and work." Direct all correspondence to Order of the
Knights of King Arthur, Oberlin, Ohio.
An order similar to the above, and known as the Queens of
Avilion was established some years later. It is designed to do
for girls and young women what the King Arthur idea does for
boys and young men. Its growth has not been so rapid, but
nevertheless it has accomplished much good. The headquarte^-s
are at Taylor and Third Avenue, Detroit, Mich.
Several other orders similar to the Knights of King Arthur,
and appealing to the same heroic instinct in youth, have ap-
peared in recent years. Such are the Knights of the Holy
Grail, and the Knights of Methodism. The former, founded by
Rev. Perry Edwards Powell, has now (1912) estalDlished itself
in twenty denominations, and every State in the Union and in
Canada, and embraces over seventy thousand members. It
uses the Boys' Scouts of America, gives it a Christian character,
and makes it churchly. The Grail works in close harmony with
the Jimior, Intermediate, and Senior departments in the Simday
school, and with the local Young Men's Christian Association.
It is not a secret society, but gives to the boys the confidential
meeting. For full information, address The Knights of the
Holy Grail, Indianapolis, Ind.
The Knights of Methodism tries to adapt the heroic principles
illustrated in the life of Daniel, to boys between nine and twenty
Eighteen Youfig People's Societies: History 117
years of age. The plan as worked out is described in the Metho-
dist Year Book for 1912. Its evident purpose is to retain all
organizations of this kind under the immediate control of the
church.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
{1) Gladden: The Christian Pastor, pp. 313-331. {2) Mead: Modern
Methods in Church Work, pp. 119-121. (5) Frederick W. Green: in Recent
Christian Progress, pp. 412^17. U) Methodist Year Book for 1912. (.5)
Wells: A Short History of the Christian Endeavor Movement. This sum-
marizes the history from the foundation in 1881 to the close of 1899 (price
5 cents). Recent progress is noted in brief annuals. (6) Forbush: The
Boy's Round Table, gives full information as to the constitution and work
of the Knights of King Arthur. (7) The Young Knight, for July and Au-
gust, 1912, gives all needed information concerning The Knights of the
Holy Grail.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. What is woman's position in the modem church?
2. What is your opinion of the value of woman's work in the church?
3. Give some facts respecting the work of the Methodist deaconesses.
4. What form does woman's work in local churches usually take?
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. What condition in the churches led to the modem yoimg people's
movements?
2. Describe the origin of the Christian Endeavor movement.
3. What has been its subsequent growth?
4. What provision was made for the younger members?
5. What fundamental principle permitted the Christian Endeavor
movement to become interdenominational?
118 The Modern Church ^^^^
6. Describe the origin and growth of the Epworth League.
7. What prevented a similar growth of the Baptist Young People's
Union?
8. How did the Lend-a-Hand Society originate:
9. What was the origin of the Order of the Knights of King Arthur?
10. Mention some other similar organizations that are doing a good
work.
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. How are the young people in your church organized?
2. What is their total membership?
3. What is the distinctive purpose of each organization?
4. How much did they contribute last year to external church interests?
QUESTION FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
Which is the more advantageous for a church, a denominational or an
interdenominational organization of its young people?
Lesson 19. YOUNG PEOPLE»S SOCIETIES: METHODS.
See Lesson 18.
Scripture Reading: Young People Exhorted to Pursue Wisdom.
Prov. 2: 1-9.
Note 1. Methods in General. The motive underlying the
formation of all young people's societies is to supply a part of
that religious education which is as necessary for the develop-
Nineteen Youfig PeopWs Societies: Methods 119
ment of efficient chuirch members as is secular education as a
basis for good citizenship. One of the most hopeful signs of
our times is the awakening of the churches to a recognition of
the fact that their futiu-e strength, not to say existence, de-
pends more than ever on Christian niuture of the yoting, and
that this nurture must be carried on in harmony with the
successive stages of their mental and spiritual development.
Many of the methods now in use fail in this respect. They
provide for the boy or girl from the point of view of adults
who in many cases have forgotten that they ever were boys or
girls. Happily, here also there is a beginning of better things.
We are coming to understand the difference between " saving "
the young, and " saving " those in mature life, and, as this
difference is seen, methods are devised better adapted to meet
the instincts that characterize each stage of the imfolding life.
It is seen that the best Christian training for boys and girls is
not attained by " testifying " in meeting respecting their sup-
posed religious experiences, but that far better and more lasting
results are reached by devices that appeal directly to their
spontaneous activities.
In all yoimg people's societies there was at first a strong
tendency to conduct their meeting after the manner of the
weekly church prayer meeting. An almost exclusive emphasis
was placed on " testimonies," in disregard of the fact that be-
ginners in the Christian life have not a large assortment of
experiences on which to base testimonies. The result was a
wearisome and depressing sameness. Now, on the contrary,
every young people's organization is being made more than ever
a training school for efficiency in church work. Earnest and
well-considered efforts are employed to make each local group,
whatever its name, not only an inspirational, but an educational
force. The prayer meeting themes, for example, while still in
some measure emphasizing the importance of " growing in
grace " and the value of self-examination, now lead the way
into a larger and more generous growth by presenting themes
related to the pressing social questions of our day. These
questions require a study of facts and conditions, they encour-
age intelligent discussion, and thus arouse a sustained interest.
There is a tremendous value in talking over religious matters
of all kinds, and especially such as the young people themselves
want discussed.
In organizations like the Knights of King Arthur an age is
120 The Modern Church ^^^^^^
quickly reached where the ritual ceases to appeal to the imagi-
nation, and the members drop out naturally. It is otherwise
in the older societies, such as the Christian Endeavor, the
Ep worth League, and the Baptist Yoting People's Union, where
the age limit is based on personal feeling rather than years.
In many of them so many of the older members have retained
an active membership that the societies have ceased in many
cases to be organizations of young people. Hence a desire has
been expressed in some quarters that all members should be
retired automatically on reaching a certain age, say thirty
years. One denomination tried such a plan some years ago,
but it worked so disastrously that it had to be abandoned.
Similar results have been experienced by others who have tried
to fix an age limit to membership. Moreover, in many country
churches the young people's societies would soon die out but
for the active support of the older, but by no means super-
annuated, members.
The relation of the young people's meeting to the other church
services has been a perplexing problem from the first. Objec-
tions to holding it on a week-day evening have been made on
the ground that many young persons are otherwise employed, .
and that if they can and do attend, they feel that this excuses
them from being present at the church prayer meeting. On
the other hand, if the young people's meeting is held at 6.30
Sunday evening, the complaint is sometimes made that " it
takes the starch out of the 7.30 service." In many cases this
is precisely what the 7.30 service needs. If it were more
flexible, it might be more attractive. In some instances where
pastors have imagined that the young people's meeting de-
creased attendance at the church service, they have been ad-
vised to have the former discontinued for a while, only to find
that the situation became still worse. Usually the tendency to
go home after the 6.30 service is most noticeable where, through
neglect of proper oversight from the pastor or the church,
the young people's organization has been suffered to drift into
independence of the church. The obvious remedy is to win
it back to such loyalty that the 6.30 service shall become a
source of strength to that which follows, as it actually is in the
vast majority of instances, notwithstanding the unfavorable
hour. But, even if some of the young people go home, the older
ones should remember that many of them have already attended
two or three services; that the young people's society is the
Nineteen Yoiiug Peoplc' s' SocicHes: Methods 121
training school of the church; that the feeblest effort at self-
expression has more value in developing efficiency than the most
eloquent superimposed expressions of the pastor; and that,
therefore, if a choice between the two services must be made, it
would be wiser to encourage attendance at the former than at
the latter.
Note 2. The Christian Endeavor Societies. The adminis-
trative center of Christian Endeavor is the United Society.
It consists of one trustee from each of the leading evangelical
denominations. It is simply an agency for printing the litera-
ture, for scattering information, and for answering the thousands
of letters of inquiry from all parts of the world. It levies no
taxes, asks for no contributions from the local societies, and
assumes no authority over them. All profits from its publica-
tions, books, and badges are used in extending the Christian
Endeavor idea over the world.
Among the principles adopted by the Fifteenth International
Christian Endeavor Convention, held in Washington, D. C, in
1896, were the following:
" First and foremost, personal devotion to our divine Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ.
" Second, the covenant obligations embodied in a prayer
meeting pledge, without which there can be no true society of
Christian Endeavor.
" Third, constant religious training for all kinds of service
involved in the various committees, which . . . are, equally
with the prayer meeting, essential to a society of Christian
Endeavor.
" Fourth, strenuous loyalty to the local church and denomina-
tion with which each local society is connected. . . .
" Fifth, we reaffirm our increasing confidence in the inter-
denominational spiritual fellowship, through which we hope,
not for organic unity, but to fulfil our Lord's prayer, * that they
all may be one.' . . .
" Sixth, Christian Endeavor stands always for Christian
citizenship. It is forever opposed to the saloon, the gambling-
den, the brothel, and every like iniquity. It stands for temper-
ance, for law, for order, for Sabbath keeping, for a pure, political
atmosphere; in a word, for righteousness. . . .
" Seventh, that all moneys gathered by the various societies
of Christian Endeavor for the cause of missions be always sent
122 The Modern Church ^«"o«
to the missionary boards of the special denomination to which
the particular society belongs. . . .
" Eighth, Christian Endeavor has for its ultimate aim a pur-
pose no less wide and lofty than the bringing of the world to
Christ."
The work of each local society centers in its own weekly
prayer meeting, whose topics are suggested by the United
Society. Aside from the word of testimony or prayer required
by a pledge from each member, there are numerous committees
to look out for new members, appoint leaders, arrange programs,
and to furnish practice in Christian activities and Christian
fellowship.
Note 3. In the Epworth League. The publications and
supplies of the League are now under the immediate control
and management of a central office. Its policy and work are
directed by a Board of Control composed of seventeen members.
The expenses of the central office are met by a '* disciplinary
collection " fixed by the Board of Control at five cents a member
for Senior Chapters, three cents for the Intermediate Chapters,
and two cents for the Junior Chapters.
The work of the League is (i) educational, to enable the young
people of the church to " attain symmetry and intensity of
Christian character and intelligent effectiveness in Christian
service. This educational work is conducted along the lines of
Bible study and mission study, and in holding institutes for
training League workers for leadership in every department;
as a result of these institutes, hundreds of young men have
given themselves to the ministry, and hundreds of other young
persons have gone to the mission fields or engaged in deaconess
work or other forms of special service." {2) Evangelistic.
" The primary object of the Junior League is to secure the con-
version of boys and girls, and to confirm them in an intelligent
Christian faith. Personal evangelism is constantly gaining
ground and receiving increased attention throughout the Senior
League."
Note 4. In the Baptist Young People's Union. The publi-
cations and supplies of the Union have been taken over by the
American Baptist Publication Society in Philadelphia, where
the headquarters of the organization are located. The inde-
pendency of the Baptist churches extends to their local societies,
each of which frames its own constitution, determines its own
Nineteen Young People's Societies: Methods 123
policy, and outlines its own work. The object of each local
Union, as expressed in a raodel constitution recommended by
the Baptist Young People's Union of America, " shaU be to
secure the increased spirituality of our Bap cist young people;
their stimulation in Christian sendee; their edification in Scrip-
ture knowledge; their instruction in Baptist doctrine and his-
tory, and their enlistment in aU missionary activity through
existing denominational organizations."
The work here also centers in the weekly devotional meeting.
Aside from " testifying," the work is distributed among six or
eight committees having in the main duties similar to those
assigned to corresponding Christian Endeavor committees.
Note 5. In the Lend-a-Hand Clubs. To belong to the
Central Society each club pays an annual due amounting to
ten cents for each member. With the amounts so contributed
the Central Society is in position to render prompt aid in many
cases where united rather than merely local action is needed.
Such, for example, is the Book Mission, which annually pur-
chases thousands of good books and sends them in small lots
to Southern schools. The members of the local clubs pledge
themselves to be, so far as they are able, truthful, unselfish,
cheerful, hopeful and helpful, and to use their influence always
for the right, never to use ^odgar and profane language, to show
respect for the old, to be kind to animals, to avoid tobacco and
stimulants, and to oppose ill treatment of the yoimg and unfor-
tunate. An essential rule is that each club, whatever literary
or other form of entertainment may occupy the greater part of
the time, shall at each meeting bring forward and act on some
plan for the benefit of some one outside its own membership.
Note 6. In the Knights of King Arthur. This order de-
pends largely on its impressive ritual, its secret passwords, and
other mystical and semi-military devices dear to the gang spirit
of the boy and designed to win and hold his attention. The
order is built up on seven ideas :
1. Merlin. As Merlin was the great magician at King
Arthur's court and his adviser, so each " Castle " has as its
Merlin the person of an older boys' club director. He is
seated beside the throne, is a member of all committees, and has
a peculiarly confidential relation to the leaders of the club.
2. Rotation of Office. To avoid jealousy and to give all the
boys experience in parliamentary procedure and leadership.
124 The Modern Church ^^"°«
3. Use of Heroic Names. Each boy on becoming a member
ass-uxnes the name of a hero, knightly or modem, as his own,
and in the Castle is known by no other. This has a profound
influence on character.
4. The Degree System. The three degrees of Page, Esquire,
and Knight can be won only by actual achievement, and the
last named only after having united with the church.
5. The Siege Perilous. Beside King Arthur's throne there
stood a vacant chair waiting to be filled by a peerless knight
who was to come. It was eventually filled by Sir Galahad.
For any achievement, physical, mental, or heroic, any mem-
ber may by unanimous suggestion be permitted for one evening
to fill the vacant seat, the Siege Perilous, on the other side of
the throne from Merlin's.
6. The Peerage. A graduated scale of tests applicable to
every kind of effort, and reasonable in severity, will, when met,
give those who try for them successive ranks of nobility.
7. Liturgy. This comprises all forms and ceremonies under
which the previously mentioned plans are conducted.
Note 7. The Knights of the Holy Grail. This order while
using in a subordinate degree the story of King Arthur, the
Round Table, and the Holy Grail, presents Christ, the Son of
God, as the pattern Knight. It is founded on the New Testa-
ment as the word of God, it teaches missions as the advance of
the army of God, it inculcates purity as the character of every
child of God, and, like the church itself, it centers in the Lord's
supper as the memorial feast of the children of God. The
Bible is the central teaching, the legend of the Holy Grail being
used only as a parable. It claims to be the only church club
that reaches young men over twenty. The yoimg men and
small boys do not mix, the former having their meetings in the
evenings and the latter in the afternoons. Hence more young
men join, making the Grail the young men's order of the church.
Church officials can attend at any meeting. While the
" Castles " are not found outside of chtirches and Young Men's
Christian Associations, the membership is open to all boys of
manliness whether they are church members or not. The im-
derlying purpose is the cultivation of Christian chivalry in the
young manhood of the world through any church denomination.
Note 8. Young People's Societies and the Church. That
the yoimg people's societies have generally been a great help in
Nineteen YouHg People's Societies: Methods 125
holding and developing the younger members, and of quicken-
ing the spiritual and social life of the churches is imquestionably
true. In many cases, however, they seem to have lost sight of
the common interests of the church and to have rested content
with a discharge of the obligations connected with themselves.
By establishing closer relations with the Sunday school, by
giving a heartier support to the Sunday evening service, and by
offering a more generous assistance to the pastor in such parish
work as he may indicate, many societies would greatly increase
their usefulness, and entirely do away with the feeling that they
are a hindrance rather than a help to the church.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
In addition to the references given in Lesson 18, note the following:
(1) Wells: Expert Christian Endeavor, a Textbook of Christian Endeavor
Methods and Principles; in the form of questions and answers it covers
long established as well as advanced methods in training young people for
Christian efficiency. (J^ Clark: Christian Endeavor hi Principle and
Practice.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. Mention the chief young people's societies now organized.
2. What growth had the Christian Endeavor movement reached in
1912?
3. What is the psychological principle on which the Order of the Knights
of King Arthur and similar organizations are founded?
4. What is the distinctive aim of the King's Daughters?
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. What is the general motive underlying the formation of all young
people's societies?
2. How are young people's societies becoming more useful to the
churches?
3. What is your opinion as to an age limit to membership;
4. How can the young people's meeting become an aid to the church
services?
126 The Modern Church ^«"««
5. What is the function of the United Society of Christian Endeavor?
6. Mention some of the principles on which the Christian Endeavor
movement rests.
7. Describe the central management of the Epworth League.
8. What are the aims and purposes of the local Leagues?
9. What objects are aimed at in the Young People's Baptist Unions?"
10. What methods are adopted in the Lend-a-Hand Clubs?
11. What means does the Order of the Knights of King Arthur use to
awaken enthusiasm?
12. What is the distinctive purpose of the Knights of the Holy Grail?
13. How may most young people's societies increase their usefulness?
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
_ 1. How many young people's societies are there in the churches in your
vicinity, and what are their names?
Twenty jk^ Pastor's PaHsh Work . 127
2. When are young people's societies helpful to a church?
3. When do they become a hindrance?
4. What personal benefits have you received from connection with a
young people's society?
QUESTION FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
What is the true mission of a young people's society cormected with a
church?
Lesson 20. THE PASTOR'S PARISH WORK.
Scripture Reading: Paul's Pastoral Work at Ephesus. Acts 20: 17-35.
Note 1. Importance of the Pastor's Parish Work. There
is frequently witnessed a tendency to overemphasize the im-
portance of the minister's work as a preacher in comparison
with his work as a pastor. When a chnrch is seeking for some
one to fill a vacancy in the pulpit, almost the first quality
sought is brilliancy in public utterance. The older and wiser
members of the church, while fully appreciating the value of good
preaching, know by long experience that this is only one part,
and sometimes the smaller part, of a faithful minister's work.
Many a man with shining pulpit abilities has failed wherever
he has gone because of equally marked deficiencies in his work
outside of the pulpit. On the contrary, many a one, altogether
inconspicuous as a preacher, has so exalted his ministry by his
parish work as to make it a source of lasting strength and bless-
ing in every church to which he has ministered. Churches, and
especially young people, so far as they have a voice in the choice
of a pastor, shoiild understand that a minister's qualifications
for his parish work demand fully as much consideration as the
impression he makes in the ptilpit when preaching as a ** candi-
date." To the entire community he should embody the spirit,
life, and ministry of Christ as this is reflected in the Hfe of the
church. The brilliant preacher wins admiration, the faithful
pastor wins affection. Affection always accomplishes more
than admiration.
Note 2. The Changed Character of Pastoral Work. Time
was, not long ago, when the minister's pastoral work consisted
mainly in systematic visitation among his parishioners for the
purpose of inquiring into their spiritual welfare and offering a
128 The Modern Church ^^'^^^
prayer, calling on the sick to administer religious comfort and
consolation, officiating at weddings and funerals, looking after
the needs of the poor and distressed and rendering such other
services as he might be in position to give. The " parson "
was pre-eminently the person who rendered religious services to
the commimity. The church machinery was of the simplest
kind and almost ran itself — Sunday school, the mission circle,
the sewing society, and the choir being the chief organizations.
The administrative duties of the pastoral office were reduced to
a minimum. His position invested him with marked dignity
and conceded authority. Even his dress set him apart from
common men and announced his calling.
Our age has changed much of this. It has made the pastoral
office much less professional and arbitrary and far more human
and natural. When the mission of the church was regarded as
saving souls for another world, the pa^stor's work among his
people was related wholly to the individual. Now, when the
mission of the church is regarded as saving men for this world
as preliminary to a future salvation, the pastor's work has
become largely socialized. Then religion was deemed to have
done its work when it had brought men and women into the
shelter of the church and had set before them spiritual bread
and the water of life. To-day the church is becoming aware
that religion means also providing healthful homes, a living
wage, and opportunities for physical and intellectual better-
ment. The preacher faces not merely questions of individual
repentance, faith, forgiveness, and holiness, but problems that
have to do with the reorganization of society on a juster basis
than the present one. Inevitably his work has taken on a
vastly larger scope and a different complexion. He is no longer
an ecclesiastic, but a man among men.
The causes that have brought about this change in the pastor's
work have also wrought a radical change in the activities of the
church. Instead of laying the whole burden of the church's
work and responsibility on the minister, the modem church
regards itself as a working body, organized into a multiplicity
of societies, male and female, yoting people and old people,
each having its own specific aim, and fulfilling its mission in its
own particular way. In many instances the minister has be-
come largely an administrator who is expected to keep the
complicated ecclesiastical machinery running. Under his wise
and inspiring leadership the people are to be trained to work.
Twenty jj,^ Pastov's Pavish Work
129
It is his duty to mtdtiply himself by raising up the largest
possible number of capable assistants who, moved by the im-
pulse he has given_ them, shall carry his ministry into all the
ramifications of society. He must show them that by doing for
others, bearing the burdens of others, identifying themselves
with the struggles and labors of others, they are in the highest
and noblest way serving themselves, receiving back in some
finer and imperishable form the things they seem to be sacrific-
ing at the call of Him who came, not to be served, but to be a
servant of all. By a clear recognition of these fundamental
changes which our age has wrought in the pastor's parish work,
and by a prompt and cheerful offering of themselves for such
service as the pastor may point out, the young people wiU be
able to render assistance of inestimable value to him, and of
lasting benefit to themselves and to the church.
Note 3. The Pastor's Personal Ministry. The transforma-
tion of the modem church into a working organization, and the
consequent burden of administration placed on the pastor, do
not release him from ctdtivating that personal acquaintance
with his people on which his ministry must largely depend for
its success. No pastor can know his people, so as to minister
most effectually to their needs, w^ho does not know them in
their homes. But the character of this visitation has greatly
changed. The formality and solemnity of the old style of
parish visitation, when the pastor was expected to address him-
self to the entire family, parents, children, and servants, indi-
vidually, on the exceeding importance of spiritual things, and to
close his visit with a prayer, has largely passed away. With
the frequent laying aside of the ecclesiastical garb, and the
professional air, the minister has become more humanized, and
his parochial work has correspondingly taken on a more social
and friendly tone. He calls on his people, not so much to con-
tinue his Sunday preaching, as to individualize them by seeing
them in the environment of their homes, to learn their peculiari-
ties and needs, and to draw closer the bonds of personal friend-
ship. " In these brief social calls the pastor may be able to let
the people see that he is interested in all that concerns them;
that he has been thinking about them, and stud^dng their
welfare; that he is rejoicing with them in their prosperity, or
bearing their burdens with them; that his deepest wish is to be
a trusted and useful friend. The pastoral call that conveys
130 The Modern Church ^"^°«
this impression to their minds is a thoroughly successful call,
even though there may have been no preaching or even praying
connected with it." i
The pastor who shows himself a sympathetic friend will soon
find himself a confidential counselor. He need not pry into
the inner life of his parishioners. But, on the other hand, there
is a multitude of people who are in perplexity or trouble, who
have become weary and discouraged, who haVe fallen into
religious doubt, or who beneath a smiling face carry sorrows that
eat like a worm at the heart. To open their hearts to some
trusted and wise friend would be an unspeakable relief to them.
Most likely in all their circle of acquaintances there is not one
who possesses the requisite qualifications. The pastor is the
very one who, by his wide experience of life, his knowledge of
human nature, his disinterestedness, his sympathy with the
weak and tempted, and his charity for those who have fallen,
is in position to receive as a sacred trust confidences freely offered.
Such confidences afford the wise winner of souls matchless
opportunities for giving not only wholesome counsel respecting
the matter in hand, but for leading the person who consults
him to acceptance of, or greater trust in, Christ as the truest
friend and the best helper in all perplexities, sorrows, and mis-
fortunes.
The more natural and brotherly relation which the pastor
sustains to his flock to-day makes such confidences more easy
than of old. Many persons who nurse their troubles alone
would find great comfort and strength in speaking of them to a
faithful minister. Young people, especially, are often beset by
doubts and temptations that might be wholly removed by a few
moments' franl^ conversation with their spiritual adviser. To
dissipate doubts, to comfort those in trouble, to assuage sorrow,
to strengthen the weak, to encourage the heavy laden, to revive
a drooping faith, this is the sweetest and holiest part of a pastor's
parish work.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
(i) Pratt: in Recent Christian Progress, pp. 350-355. (2) Ian Maclaren
(John Watson): The Cure of Souls, pp. 207-242. (5) Lyman: The Chris-
tian Pastor in the New Age. (/i) Gladden: The Christian Pastor and the
Working Church, pp. 172-203. {5) Dykes: The Christian Minister and his
Duties, pp. 300-306.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. What are some of the leading principles of Christian Endeavor?
2. What are the two main lines of work in the Ep worth League?
Twenty The PastoT s PaHsh Work 131
3. How does the Baptist Young People's Union do its work?
4. What moral and benevolent ends are sought in the Lend-a-Hand
Clubs?
5. On what does the Order of Knights of King Arthur depend for its
success?
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. How does the importance of the pastor's parish work compare with
that of preaching?
2. Until recent years what was the character of the pastor's parish work?
3. How has the modern social awakening affected this work?
4. How has it affected the organization of the church?
5. How has this development of a working church reacted on the minis-
ter's parish work?
6. Describe the old style of pastoral visitation.
7. How have modem conditions affected this part of a pastor's work?
8. What intimate relations does a pastor's work often involve?
9. How can such intimacies be turned to spiritual advantage?
132 The Modern Church ^"°"
10. What benefits may young people reap from friendly relations with
their pastor?
SUBJECTS FOR FURTHER STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. On which side of his work, the preaching or the parish administration,
does your own pastor seem to put the greater emphasis?
2. Which kind of pastoral visit do you value the more, the strictly pro-
fessional or the mainly social and friendly?
3. Which kind do you thinly is likely to prove the more valuable
religiously?
QUESTIONS FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
1. In view of Acts 6:2, is it right to put on a pastor the burden of the
parish administration?
2. Is there any provision in your church for getting every member at
work in some appropriate sphere of Christian activity? What would you
think of requiring every member to make an annual report as to the kinds
of Christian work he is doing? Should the pastor be authorized to call for
such reports?
Lesson 21. MAKING UP A CHURCH BUDGET.
Scripture Reading: Money Collected and Spent for Temple Repairs.
2 Chron. 34:8-13.
Note 1. The Church Budget. A budget is a statement of
probable revenues and expenditures for the ensuing year. A
church budget is a detailed statement prepared by the church
treasurer or finance committee of the several sums that can
reasonably be depended on to constitute the church's total
income, and of the items that may be expected to enter into
its total disbursemicnts. When the former exceeds the latter,
the outlook is joyful; when they approximately balance, the
situation is regarded as satisfactory; when the latter exceeds
the former to a marked extent it means a deficit which must be
met by a reduction of expenses or an increased income.
Note 2. Why a Budget is Necessary. The activities of
every church are usually classified under two heads, spiritual
and temporal — a religious side and a business side. The latter
exists for the sake of the former. No matter how small an or-
ganization may be, or how ideal its aims, it can seldom or never
Tweniy-one Making Up a ChuTck Budget 133
escape expenditures of some sort. Making provision for defray-
ing this cost should not in the case of a church be regarded as
secular business, but as a part of the Lord's work, altogether
necessary, dignified, and reUgious. A faithful treasurer and
collector whose voice is never heard except at the annual busi-
ness meeting, but who faithfully looks after the finances and
church accounts, is probably doing a religious work equal to
that of the member who warms the hearts of the hearers by his
fervor in the prayer meeting. Each is a member of the body of
Christ contributing according to his ability to the welfare of the
whole.
In a small church the business side may be a comparatively
simple affair. The treasurer, who is usually also the collector,
receives and disburses the funds, keeps the accoimts and reports
to the church once a year, or oftener if required. Its affairs go
on much in the same way year after year, revenues and expendi-
tures average up about the same, and a formal budget is dis-
pensed with. Extraordinary expenses are met by special
appeals. But this is not the best way even for a small church.
A large and successful city church, on the contrary, is a
wholly different matter. Its management is a distinctive busi-
ness that requires executive ability, financial aptitude, and
technical skill of a high order. Its income is derived from so
many sources, and its expenditures take on so many forms and
are so lil^ely to vary from year to year, that a careful adjustment
of disbursements to revenues must be made in order to keep it
on a sound basis. In churches of moderate means this is often
neglected, in the hope that any deficit at the end of the year will
be made up by a few of the richer members. This is a bad
policy. While it is true that the church is not, like a factory
or a store, a money-making enterprise, its business methods
should be none the less carefully considered. A budget sets
before a church a definite goal to be reached. It prevents the
making of appropriations for which there are no prospective
fimds. It helps the church to detect unwise and disproportion-
ate appropriations, and it oftentimes stimulates the members
to make larger offerings for objects that have not been provided
for as they deserve.
As a practical illustration of the benefit of a budget as an
essential factor in a sound financial policy the experience of a
church in Providence, R. I., may be cited. In 1911 the financial
methods were thoroughly reorganized, and a careful budget
134 The Modern Church ^'''''"
presented to the church alike for operating expenses and
benevolences. In the church Year Book for 1912-1913 the
finance committee reports, " A successful year. For the first
time in quite a number of years we are to close the financial year
without a deficit. . . . The budget system has resulted in
prompt payment of bills and considerable increase in the nimi-
ber of contributors." In fact, after paying out over $7,000 for
operating expenses there was left an unexpected balance of
$720.58. At the same time nearly $2,000 was raised for benevo-
lences. The committee adds: " Loose financial management
of the average church, restilting in deficits, keeps more men from
our churches than any other one cause."
Note 3. Some Tjrpical Budgets. As concrete examples of
church budgets a few are here tabulated for study and com-
parison. Some budgets go into minute details, some lump
together items that others separate, and some give in the
briefest way only the chief items of income and expense. To
avoid overloading the table with a multiplicity of items, and to
facilitate comparison, seven budgets have been chosen that
permit a grouping of similar details. They represent churches
of several denominations with memberships ranging from two
thousand down to a little over a hundred, and incomes from
nearly fifty thousand dollars to about fifteen hundred. The
names or locations are not given, but the following descriptions
will assist the student in imderstanding each situation more
intelligently.
I. The chief institutional church in one of the largest Eastern
cities. It is a great hive of religious activities, reaching out not
only for strangers near at hand, but enlisting workers from many
miles around. A comparatively small part of its income is
derived from invested funds, while the great bulk of it comes
from voluntary offerings. All the seats are free. Sunday
evenings every one of the three thousand sittings is taken a few
minutes after the doors are opened. Note that the funds for
home expenses and benevolences are not separated, and that
appropriations are made from the total receipts as needed.
The Sunday school appropriation is for two schools.
II. A metropolitan church enjoying a good-sized income.
Observe that a little more than one-half is derived from pew
rentals and plate offerings, while the large balance has to be
made up by voluntary subscriptions. This budget very point-
Twenty^e Making Up a Church Budget 135
edly emphasizes the financial obHgations resting on the congre-
gation.
III. A suburban Eastern church situated in a rich residential
community. The neighborhood has as yet been only Hghtly
touched by the erection of apartment houses, and the evils of a
floating population. The income is almost entirely derived
from pew rentals and plate offerings. A remarkable part of
this budget is its benevolences, which are nearly twice as large
as its operating expenses. The contributions to foreign, home,
and city missions amount to over $12,000, and .a local hospital
is cared for to the extent of $4,500.
IV. A suburban Western church surrotmded by a substantial
residential population. Here also subscriptions amounting to
about one-third of the operating expenses are called for.
V. An Eastern suburban church situated in a wealthy com-
munity where individual homes are being rapidly displaced by
high-class apartment houses and a drifting population. The
church feels the instability of a support derived from such a
source. A year ago it made up a budget based on the income
for the preceding year. Without any apparent reason a slimip
in the income followed, so that the present budget, after scaling
down expenses to the last limit, still faces a deficit of $1,575.
The church a few years ago shifted from rented to free pews.
This probably explains the deficit at least in part.
VI. An active average church in a small Pennsylvania mining
city. Under ** All other expenses " are included nearly $600
for the payment on a debt, and $1,350 for reduction of principal.
VII. This is a small church in a somewhat somnolent New
England village. Like the other Protestant churches in the
place, it has for a score of years held on the even tenor of its
way. It is typical of a great multitude of similar churches that
arnidst many discouragements and difficulties are exerting a
spiritually leavening influence on their surroundings. How the
$374 shortage is to be made up the treasurer does not know, but
trusts to Providence.
136
The Modern Church
Lesson
COMPARATIVE TABLE OF CHURCH BUDGETS
Estimated Receipts
/
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
Pew rentals
$14,300
13,300
3,200
14,200
$8,400
1,200
9,145
$11,300
200
800
190
550
$7,400
1,300
500
4.321
$6,600
1,000
1,575
$2,600
375
2,400
Weekly pledges
<620
165
Interest from invested funds . .
From all other sources
Additional income needed. . . .
200
185
374
Total estimated receipts. . . .
$45,000
$18,745
$13,040
$13,431
$9,175
$5,375
$1,544
Estitnated Ope>-ating Expenses
Pastor's salary, assistant pas-
tor, church visitors, and
pulpit supplies
Music
Sexton
Fuel and lights
Printing
Sunday school, or schools
All other expenses
Total estimated expenses . . .
$14,000
$7,800
$5,180
$4,250
$5,000
$1,820
6,500
4,150
3,500
3,000
1,000
125
1,500
1,000
720
1,000
200
875
1,300
750
800
140
1,300
710
230
225
300
110
(2) (750
500
1,750
650
10,950
3.210
1,280
3,836
1,075
2,900
$34,500
$18,745
$13,040
$13,431
$9,175
$5,375
$1,000
130
100
160
42
112
$1,544
Estimated Benevolences
$10,500
$23,000
$26,000
$7,000
$3,500
$400
$150
Total amounts needed ....
$45,000
$42,745
$39,040
$20,431
$12,675
$5,775
$1,694
Note 4. Some Deductions from the Preceding Budgets.
The most conspicuous feature in all these budgets is the empha-
sis placed on the preaching function of the church. This
includes not only the salaries of ministers and assistants, but
music and seventy-five to ninety per cent of the remaining
expenses. The finances of the church are organized around
the sermon as the building is around the vast auditoritmi that
stands empty all but a couple of hours in the week. Every-
thing else is subordinate to that. All this is a survival from
ages in which the public proclamation of religious truth was
regarded as virtually the sole duty of the church.
A second conspicuous feature is the insignificant place given
to the teaching function. Notwithstanding the fact that in
modem Protestant churches eighty-three per cent of the addi-
tions come directly from the Sunday school, this department,
where it is not left to shift for itself, receives only an insignificant
fraction of the funds. Its supplies, besides being stinted, are
often the cheapest in the market. Not only so, but, the major
Twenty-o7te Making Up a Church Bttdget 137
part of its contributions are diverted to outside enterprises
which, however worthy, are in many instances not nearly so
much in need of support as the school itself. No one denies
that the pupils should be trained to consider other interests
than their own, but not until the school itself has been provided
for in a degree somewhat commensurate with its importance.
The table shows that the seven churches there represented
estimated their operating expenses for pulpits and music alone
at $57,649 and the appropriations for the Sunday school at
$3,350, or respectively a little under ninety-five per cent and a
little over five per cent. Three of them gave nothing for the
support of the school.
There is a growing opinion that the Sunday school should
not pay directly for its o\\ti support, but into the church funds
from which liberal appropriations should be made for the
school expenses. The growing custom on the part of Stmday
schools of giving to missions and philanthropies is a distinct
educational advance.
Detailed estimates of benevolences cannot be given. If they
were available, they would show that while the churches are
awake to the importance of missions, their interest in social
reforms has only occasionally begun to reveal itself in the budg-
ets. The exceptions are the larger and wealthier city churches
whose great endowments enable them to engage in social and
philanthropic work on a somewhat extensive scale.
Other instructive showings are made by these budgets, but
limitations of space permit noticing only one more. The esti-
mated benevolences are $70,550, of which approximately $60,000
will be given for missions of all kinds all over the world. Nobody
who knows the value of this work, so far from begrudging a
cent of it, but wishes the amount were ten times as great.
But in none of these budgets is a single dollar specifically ap-
propriated to the solution of the boy problem which lies at the
door of every church, and is one of the most important that the
church faces, and which so far as any effort is made to solve it
is usually dependent on the scanty pennies of the boys them-
selves. Suppose only five per cent of the money now spent for
preaching and music were spent in devices for holding boys at
the age when they are most susceptible to religious influences,
and when they are also most likely to drift away; it would
require no prophet to foretell that a long step had been taken,
toward the solution of the boy problem,
138 The Modern Church -^"^o"
As the Master sits over against the church treasiiry to-day
watching the disposition of church funds, may He not have
occasion to say with sadness, " These ought ye to have done,
and not to leave the others undone " ?
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
Literature on the subject treated in this lesson is not easily obtained.
Little seems to have been written on it. The chief material is a study of
actual budgets.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
L How does a pastor's parish work compare in importance with his
pulpit work?
2. In what respect is a pastor's parish work different now from what it
used to be?
3. How does a pastor's parish work bring him very close to his people?
4. How can the young people of the parish benefit themselves by culti-
vating intimate relations with the pastor?
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. What is a church budget?
2. Should the administration of church business be regarded as religious
work?
3. Why are budgets commonly dispensed with in small churches? Is
this wise?
4. Why are they needed in large churches?
5. What is the most conspicuous feature on the expense side of every
church budget?
6. Judging by the usual budgets, what estimate is placed on the Sunday
school as compared with the preaching service?
Twenty-iwo Raising Church Funds 139
7. What do budgets suggest as to any appreciation by the churches of
responsibility for social and philanthropic reform?
8. What extraordinary neglect is revealed in all the budgets tabulated in
the lesson?
9. What other defective disproportionate use of funds would you suggest?
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. Does your church treasurer or finance committee present a budget
at the annual business meeting? If not, why not? If so, study it and
form your own opinion of it.
2. If none is presented, get the treasurer's report for last year's receipts
and expenditures and prepare a tentative budget for the next year, such as
you would have presented if you had been in his place.
3. How much does your church appropriate for the support of the
Sunday school?
4. How does this amount compare with that appropriated for preaching
and music?
5. How do the total expenses of the school compare with its contributions
to benevolences?
QUESTIONS FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
1. Should every church, large or small, be presented with a budget at
the beginning of each financial year?
2. Which item of expenditure in your church brings the largest results
per dollar?
3. Which item brings the smallest results per dollar?
4. Why are not churches more businesslike?
Lessson22. RAISING CHURCH FUNDS.
Scripture Reading: Riiles for Christian Giving. 1 Cor. 16: 2; 2 Cor. ch. 9.
Note 1. The Twofold Object of Church Funds. The first
financial duty of a church is to provide for its own running
expenses. The fixed charges include, as seen in the budgets
140 The Modern Church ^^''^^
presented in the previous lesson, the salaries of minister, organ-
ist, and janitor, pulpit supplies during summer vacation, fuel,
light, insurance, and incidentals. To these must be added, as
far as the church desires and can afford, many other items, such
as a choir, weekly calendars, Sunday school supplies where the
church pays for them, power, whether a boy, water, or elec-
tricity, to pump the organ, compensation for the services of the
treasurer and collector, and so forth. These expenses must be
met by the church before it can respond to outside calls.
The church that lives simply for itself, however, is as surely
doomed to moral and spiritual decay as the individual who
centers all his thought and efforts on himself. When the home
expenses have been met as liberally as the revenues of the church
allow, the further obligation arises of contributing to such re-
ligious and philanthropic enterprises as make for social better-
ment and the coming of God's kingdom. The sums contributed
to missions of all kinds, education, ministerial aid, hospitals,
relief of the poor, and a score of similar agencies are usually
designated by the collective term " Church Benevolences."
Note 2. Raising Church Funds by Taxation. In the early
colonial days when the churches of the established order formed
an integral part of the community the expense of maintaining
them was borne by a tax on the property holders in the town or
parish. This is still the case in European countries that retain
established churches. In those countries people who separate
themselves from the establishment are called " dissenters," and
support not only their own churches by voluntary offerings,
but are taxed for the support of churches in which they do not
believe.
The support of religious organizations by funds taken from
the general tax levy is contrary to the accepted policy of our
government whether National or State. All religious bodies are
thrown upon their own resources in sustaining and promoting
their distinctive beliefs. Aside from efforts on the part of
certain religionists to evade this prohibition by obtaining public
support for some of their sectarian institutions, the law receives
universal approbation, and has proved its wisdom in the in-
creased spirituality and devotion of the churches.
Note 3. Raising Church Funds by Rental of Pews. Until
recent years Protestant churches have commonly relied on pew
rents for an income, the most desirable pews being rented at
Twenty-two Raising Church Funds 141
the highest price. It is probable that this system is still re-
tained by a large majority of the churches, but modified in
some cases by making all the sittings free at the evening service.
The advantages of the system are that it provides a fairly stable
revenue, that this revenue can be adjusted to the financial
needs of the church by increasing or lowering the price of pews
or sittings, and that by a graduated scale of prices it adapts
itself to the abilities of the poor as well as the rich.
The objections to the system are that it sets people apart in
the church on the basis of worldly possessions, and thus tends to
drive away the laboring people who feel that with their meagre
wages they cannot afford to pay pew rent. Sometimes this
may be the case, but often it is a mere pretext for staying away
from the churches. Secondly, it throws on the minister the
responsibility of filling the pews so as to provide an income.
If the minister is a preacher of only moderate abilities, he is
sorely tempted to resort to sensations to attract auditors.
Thirdly, the churches themselves are tempted to engage in an
ignoble rivalry for preachers with shining pulpit gifts, and to
value their ministers chiefly by their ability as money getters
for the church treasury.
An ahnost obsolete form of this pew system survives in some
of the older portions of the country. In purchasing land and
building for a church edifice a century or so ago the necessary
funds were sometimes raised in whole or in part by selling the
pews outright to the members of the congregation, who trans-
mitted them to their heirs the same as any other real estate.
If the church happened to be situated in what has now become
the congested business section of a great city, the pews have
become worth from ten to fifteen thousand dollars each, owing
to the enormously increased value of the land, so that the owners
in order to retain them are willing to pay a big annual assessment
instead of the moderate tax levied at first.
Note 4. Raising Church Funds by Voluntary Contributions.
The evils attending the pew rental system have frequently
become so acute as to lead many churches to abandon it in
favor of free pews. In Roman Catholic churches the sittings
are free in the sense that the worshiper is free to sit where he
pleases. But before he exercises this liberty he must pass at
the entrance to each aisle a man seated at a table on which he is
expected to deposit at least the tariff fixed for that particular
142 The Modern Church ^"^°«
hour. This is lower for the early morning services attended
mostly by laborers and servants, and higher for the well-to-do
who come at the later and more fashionable hours. Such a
system is practicable only in churches ruled by an autocratic
hierarchy.
In Protestant churches that have substituted free pews for
rented, the change has been made in some such way as this:
First of all, the pewholders are asked to sign cards pledging
themselves to give in weekly or quarterly payments at least as
much as will aggregate for the year a sum equal to their previous
pew rents. Then every member of the church who has not
hired a sitting is urged to pledge, for the current expenses and
benevolences, weekly offerings however small. Quarterly pay-
ments are acceptable, if more convenient, as they are likely to
be in the case of non-residents. These cards should be returned
before the annual business meeting, so that the church can then
know how much it has of promised income on which to base
appropriations for the ensuing year.
To facilitate the presentation of the offerings, to serve as
constant reminders, to enable the giver to note omissions, and
to enable the treasurer to keep an account with each contributor,
sets of fifty-two envelopes for church expenses and fifty-two for
benevolences are provided, or a single " duplex envelope " with
two compartments. These are dated for each Sunday in the
year, numbered with the donor's number, and marked by him
with the amotmt inclosed. The system is simple and effective.
Almost always it serves to increase the annual income. It is
in accord with the Apostolic directions in 1 Cor. 16:2. Those
who have for years rented certain pews or sittings are usually
given the privilege of occupying the same, with the understand-
ing, of course, that if they come late and find strangers in their
accustomed places, they are to seat themselves where they can
without complaint. Members of the church and other regular
attendants will feel that, however small their offering, they are
entitled to a seat, since they are helping to sustain the worship.
A difficulty experienced in any method of raising church
funds is that of getting all the members to pay as they are able.
Sometimes those who are least able pay most according to their
means, while those who are most able give the least, or, in some
cases, nothing at all. To participate in the benefits of the
church without contributing to its support is the meanest kind
of petty graft.
Twenty-iwo Raising Church Funds 143
Tithing is a system of raising iimds for religious piirposes,
compulsory under the Old Testament, but volimtary under the
New. It consists in setting apart one-tenth of one's entire in-
come for religious and charitable purposes. It is earnestly
advocated by many Christians who themselves joyfully practice
it. The injustice of the system lies in the fact that the smaller
the income, the bigger becomes the practical value of the tenth.
A rich man may give a tenth or a half of his income and still
have enough left to enable his family to live in luxury, whereas
for a poor man to give a tenth may involve severe suffering.
Note 5. The Apportionment System for Benevolences.
Under the pew rental system the income from this source is
understood to be used to meet the current expenses of the
church. Contributions for missions and other outside objects
are taken at appointed times, preceded by a more or less urgent
appeal from the pastor. This method is quite uncertain as to
results. It may be a rainy Sunday, or the pastor may be
absent, or if present may content himself with a simple an-
nouncement and the result is a small collection. At the same
time the great missionary enterprises are constantly expanding,
calling for more men and more money. Oftentimes the mission-
ary societies, administered with the utmost foresight and wis-
dom, have found themselves facing large deficits at the end of
the fiscal year. Urgent appeals have been issued to the churches,
and possibly at the last moment the deficiency has been made
up, and then the strain is followed by a reaction. Sometimes
the deficiency is carried on, increasing in magnitude from year
to year imtil at length to avoid bankruptcy the denomination
by a desperate effort clears it away.
In place of this haphazard and nerve-racking method, most
of the larger denominations have now introduced the plan of
apportioning to each church, according to some fixed principles,
its just share of the common task. The results are almost al-
ways favorable. The churches having a definite task set
before them, and a whole year in which to accomplish it, are
stimulated to systematic effort. In some cases they fall short,
in others the assigned amount is exceeded. A fine illustration
of the latter is given in the case of a small Baptist church that
had been in the habit of giving $25 to foreign and $10 to home
missions each year. Quarterly collections for this purpose were
taken. Owing to illness the pastor was absent several months
144 The Modern Church -^^"^^
and the collections were omitted. At Christmas a strong
appeal was made, with the resiilt that $100 were given, all of
which was sent to the foreign missionary society. The next
year the apportionment system went into effect, and on the
basis of the last contribution the foreign mission society asked
for $102, the home mission society for $100, and other societies
in proportion, making a benevolent budget for the little church
of $260. To the astonishment of the church itself, the entire
amount has been raised, and it continues to raise its yearly
apportionment, which has now grown to about $360. Such a
case is exceptional, but it shows to some extent what most
churches might do by a hearty response to the apportionment
plan. The gradually increasing apportionment provides for a
gradual enlargement of the work to be done. As the plan
works almost automatically, a large portion of the previous
expense of collecting the money from the churches is saved
annually by the various societies.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
(1) Dr. Gladden in The Christian Pastor and the Working Church, pp.
206-209 discusses in a general way pew renting and free seats. (2) Cope:
The Modern Sunday-School in Principle and Practice, pp. 151-160, in dis-
cussing Sunday school finances, says many things equally applicable to
those of the church.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. What is a church budget?
2. Give some reasons why a church budget is necessary.
3. What place is always occupied by the pubhc worship?
4. What place is occupied by the Sunday school?
5. Mention some of the usually significant omissions.
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. What are the two main objects for which churches provide funds?
2. How were church expenses provided for in colonial days?
3. Why is such a method not available now?
4. What advantages are prresented by the pew rental system of raising
funds?
Twemy.iwo Raising Church Funds 145
5. What are its disadvantages?
6, Describe the advantages reaped by some churches from the unearned
increment in land values.
7. How do Roman Catholic churches raise funds under a system of free
pews?
8. How, under this system, do Protestant churches obtain an income?
9. What conditions led to the introduction of the apportionment system
in raising funds for church benevolences?
10. How, in general, has this plan operated!
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. How does your own church provide for its current expenses?
2. How, for its benevolences?
3. Study the subject of " Tithing " in the Old Testament. Consult
articles on " Tithes " in Bible Dictionaries.
4. Study the New Testament law of giving as formulated by Paul in the
Scripture references at the head of this lesson.
6. Are you honestly giving what you believe to be your duty in helping
to carry forward the work of the kingdom of God?
QUESTIONS FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
1. How can church members be trained to systematic and generous
giving?
2. How is a liberal endowment likely to affect a church?
3. Does the tithing system press equally on the rich and the poor?
4. When does one get the greatest pleasure out of giving?
146 The Modern Church ^"^o«
Part II. NEW MOVEMENTS AND METHODS
WITHIN THE CHURCH.
Lesson 23. THE BOY PROBLEM.
Scripture Reading: Strength the Characteristic of Young Men.
1 John 2: 12-17.
Note 1. Nature of the Boy Problem. Not long ago boys
were judged and treated wholly from the adult point of view.
If a boy shied a stone through a street lamp, for example, the
act was regarded as due to wanton wickedness. Of course,
breaking street lamps is not to be condoned in any circum-
stances. It entails expense and inconvenience to the commu-
nity. Judged by the adu^J: standard, it is very exasperating, and
the boy who does so is rated as a bad boy. Possibly, however,
the young lamp breaker may not be bad at heart. He merely
judges the act by a different standard. The task of a wise
teacher, therefore, is, not to try to flog him into being a good
boy, but to discover his point of view and to displace it by a
better one. This is the principle that underlies the whole
system of modem education. Childhood and youth are studied,
first, to discover the laws of their expanding life, and, secondly,
to bring educational methods into conformity with these laws.
Religious workers have been slow to take advantage of the
results of this study. They have earnestly desired to help the
young people under their care, but their micthods, designed for
grown-up people, have not been suited to the needs of the young.
Boys, especially, have often been driven away from religious
influences as incorrigibles because parents or teachers did not
understand their moral and mental nature, and did not know
how to approach them along the lines of least resistance.
The boy problem, as defined by Prof. George A. Coe, is that
" of helping the boy over from control by parental authority
(and teacher-authority) to socialized self-control. The whole
problem arises from the necessity that control should he trans-
ferred, Transfer cannot be prevented, ought not to be pre-
vented, but it ought to be guided." The boy problem as re-
lated to the churches is simply this: To keep religion within
the natural life of the hoy, and to keep it growing toward full,
manly devotion to the Christian life purpose. Hence the im-
portance of the boy's natural life — his play life; particularly
his gang life, which offers a peculiar opportunity for socializa-
tion. Boys like to have a man for gang leader.
Twenty-three xkc Boy Problem 147
Note 2. Psychological Elements in the Boy Problem. A
study of the life of children and youth between birth and ma-
turity shows that it may be divided into four stages: infancy,
childhood, boyhood and girlhood, and youth or adolescence.
The last of these begins about the twelfth year and extends to
adult age, reached by females at about twenty-one and by males
at about twenty-five. Until they approach adolescence, boys
and girls reveal few marked differences, but after that the lines
of distinctive physical and mental development diverge rapidly.
The boy who constitutes our problem may be placed be-
tween the ages of nine and eighteen. At the opening of this
period he begins to be conscious of his own individuality, he
feels more and more his importance, and reacts against external
authority. He becomes aggravatingly independent, chafes at
domestic control, and is filled with longings for a life of his own.
Not tmfrequently he arms himself with a gun, a big knife, and
a hatchet and sets out on a wild chase after the freedom and
joy of a barbarian life. He wants to be an Indian or anything
else that takes him away from the restraints of civilization.
This period extends from about nine to twelve.
This time of exaggerated self -consciousness yields presently
to a longing for comradeship. This leads to the organization
of groups or gangs. The gang becomes to the boy the embodi-
ment of social authority, and loyalty to its members is his ideal
of law and duty. This repetition of the racial tribal period
with its braves and chieftains, allowing for overlapping, lasts
usually from ten to fourteen years of age.
From about thirteen to fifteen the boy lives in the happy days
of romance and chivalry. He has a great admiration for the
bigger, stronger boy and yields him ready obedience. Concrete
examples of courage and knightly achievement appeal to his
imagination. The great heroes of history are his ideals. His
hopes for the future are bright and strong. He lives in his
imagination. He now repeats in a general way the feudal period.
In the high school age between fifteen and eighteen, the boy
emerges into the self-assertive stage, when reliance on his own
powers is gained through struggle. He finds that things worth
doing or having are not won by dreaming about them, or by
acquiescing in some one else's leadership. He must decide for
himself what is best to do, and exercise his own powers in reach-
ing results. His own personality is the center about which his
thoughts and ambitions revolve.
148 The Modern Church ^''"^^
Between eighteen and twenty-five, tiie college age, the youth
discovers that he cannot reahze his high purposes in life by
working alone. He is living in the midst of an organized social
order in which cooperation is the fundamental law. His allegi-
ance is transferred from himself to the state, and according to
its laws he must govern himself.
We see, then, that the whole period of adolescence is one of
rapid and revolutionary changes, of shifting aims and purposes,
of struggle for self-mastery, of high ideals, of longing for sympa-
thy, comradeship, and love, and of keen susceptibility to all
that is true, beautiful, and good. The boy's moral sense is so
evenly balanced that his life easily swings either toward or
away from religion. He needs intelligent guidance and sympa-
thetic encouragement, but to be effective this must be given,
not by nagging, or abstract argument, or by declaiming against
his sinfulness, but by personal example, and by devices that
appeal to his instinctive activities and rapidly shifting interests.
Note 3. The Critical Age. The period of adolescence, but
more especially the central years between thirteen and eighteen,
forms a critical part of a boy's life, when considered from a re-
ligious point of view. One of the best-known and most deplored
facts in Stmday school work is that so few boys remain in the
school after they reach the age of fifteen, just when they are
most susceptible to religious influences. Before that they are
held, indeed, but with a constantly increasing tendency to drift
away. A comparison of methods usually employed with the
mental and moral tendencies of boys at that age shows how
unsuited they are to win his attention. Authority is invoked,
but not the kind for which as yet he has developed respect;
Biblical history is taught, but only in rare instances are lessons
based on passages that appeal to his heroic or chivalrous in-
stincts; religious doctrines are inculcated, but he cares nothing
about them. The fact is that the subjects taught and the
methods employed in teaching them have all been derived from
an adult world which the boy has not yet entered, and which
he does not understand. The work of the Sunday school be-
comes increiasingly repugnant, and this combined with his
growing struggle to be master of himself presently brings him to
a point where he breaks with the school. This is the religious
crisis in the boy's life which in the great majority of instances
results disastrously, simply for lack of intelligent guidance.
Twenty-three jj^^ ^oy Problem 149
Whatever success has attended the old method has been won by
those whose love for boys and intuitive insight into their natiire
have enabled them instinctively to employ right methods.
Note 4. Attempted Solutions of the Boy Problem. Many
persons ignorant of the results of modem child study have
wondered at and expressed their disapproval of certain modem
methods introduced to hold the boys. These methods have
seemed to them both pitiably childish and hopelessly complex
in comparison with the old imiform lesson and the stimulating
prizes offered for the memorizing of Scripture. And yet these
very methods have in each case been patiently and carefully
worked out by students of boy life who in every device adopted
have had before their minds some distinctive impulse of the
boy.
Such an attempted solution is the Order of the Knights of
King Arthur, with its strong appeal to the heroic and chivalrous
spirit, to the love for comradeship, passwords, ritual and cere-
monies. Such, too, is the Order of the Knights of the Holy
Grail which combines with all these features the Boy Scout
Movement, and thus brings into play the boy's love of wood-
craft and animal life. The fact that the latter organization in a
short time has reached a membership of seventy thousand, and
is trebling the attendance of boys in church and Sunday school,
shows that it has struck a responsive chord. Such is the Big
Brother Movement which aims to save boys brought before
the juvenile courts by giving to each of them a big-hearted
guide and friend in the shape of a wide-awake business man who
has not forgotten that he was a boy once. Such are the boys'
clubs that are springing up in a multitude of churches, where the
exercises are not of the junior prayer meeting style, but embrace
games, outdoor sports, athletics, military drills, making col-
lections, wanderings and other things dear to the boy's heart.
Such, finally, are the boys' departments in the Young Men's
Christian Associations, where similar means of interesting and
winning boys are employed. A directory of social organizations
for boys is given in Forbush's book, The Boy Problem.
All solutions that deal with groups of boys seek to utilize the
gang spirit and to lead it along legitimate lines instead of letting
it run rampant into the development of hoodlums and toughs.
Most of them make a direct appeal to the boy's admiration for
heroic characters. All of them can and should point to Jesus as
150 The Modern Church ^^^^°^
the most heroic of men, the most chivalrous of knights, and the
most devoted servant of God and humanity.
That these attempted solutions of the boy problem have
reached the end of perfection no one will claim. Happily one
may say with confidence that they are steps in the right direc-
tion. It is the fate of pioneers to be underestimated, but they
blaze the path that others tread to fame and empire.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
(1) Forbush: The Boy Problem, 6th edition; The Boy's Round Table;
Church Work with Boys. All these volumes deal with the boy problem
from the point of view of one who has made a scientific study of boys and
who has had a large experience in dealing with them. (2) Foster: The
Boy and the Church. (3) Puffer: The Boy and his Gang. (4) " Boys'
Work," in Vol. V of Men and Religion Messages, gives the results of an
elaborate inquiry by a commission appointed expressly to investigate the
boy problem, and to answer the question, " What can the ordinary local
church, that has no special equipment, nor any special force of trained
teachers, do for the boys of its own community? "
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. Why should church expenses not be included in a general tax on the
community, the same as the cost of maintaining schools?
2. What objections are there to raising church funds by renting pews?
3. Describe the system of providing for church expenses by voluntary
offerings.
4. How does the apportionment system for benevolences work?
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. What principle underlies all modern systems of education?
2. What is the boy problem from a religious point of view?
3. What are the age limits of early, middle, and late adolescence?
4. Describe the barbarian period of the boy's life; the tribal period.
Twenty-three jhe Boy Problem 151
5. Describe the feudal period; the transition period to state allegiance;
the self-governing period.
6. What are some of the mental and moral traits of the boy-problem
period?
7. Why is the middle stage of adolescence a critical time in the boy's
life?
8. Why does the Sunday school cease to hold most boys after the age of
fifteen?
9. Mention some modem attempts to solve the boy problem.
10. What are the basic principles in these attempts?
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. How does the number of boys over ten years of age in your Sunday
school compare with the number of girls? Get the exact figures.
2. How does the number over sixteen compare with the number of girls
of the same age?
3. What special means have been adopted in your church to solve the
boy problem? If any, state the result.
4. Are there any other churches in your community that are trying to
solve this problem? If so, describe the means employed.
QUESTIONS FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
1. Why have the Junior societies in Christian Endeavor, the Epworth
League, the Baptist Young People's Union and similar organizations failed
to solve the boy problem?
2. Find out what you can about boys' " gangs " in your own community.
What do these gangs do? How old are the boys in them? What is the
attitude toward them on the part of parents, teachers, the police, the courts,
your Sunday school?
152 The Modern Church ^^«<^
Lesson 24. MODERN CHURCH BROTHERHOODS.
Scripture Reading: The First Christian Brotherhood. Acts 4:32-35.
Note 1. Modem Brotherhoods: What They Are. Recent
years have witnessed a remarkable movement to enlist the male
members of the church in response to the loud dem.and for
service in the cause of Christ. We are entering on one of the
most momentous social and economic revolutions in the history
of the human race, a crisis in which the interests of the kingdom
of God demand the work of men. If this kingdom is to have a
place in the coming social order, it will be only because the
Christian manhood of our time girds itself to grapple with a task
that demands the intensest zeal, the most heroic energy, and a
spirit of cooperation' that subordinates all minor interests to the
call of the Master. Old ideas of church membership as prepara-
tory chiefly for a heavenly kingdom are being displaced by the
idea of enlistment in an active warfare for the estabhshment of
God's kingdom here and now as the controlling factor in human
affairs.
As the name implies, " brotherhoods " are, composed of men
whose relation one to another is determined by their primary
relation to Jesus Christ. They are His brethren and therefore
brothers one to another. Every brotherhood, accordingly, is
rooted in a local church. Its membership may consist of two
or three who meet together " in His name." Their first task is
to win over other men in the church to increased efficiency in the
church itself; secondly, to unite them " for larger service in
the community, in the State, and in the world, and thus make
the church a public agency such as it never was before ";
thirdly, to bring the blessings of salvation into the lives of un-
converted men by leading them to Christ, into membership in
His church, and zeal in His service. Brotherhoods, in a word,
are organizations of Christian men, seeking to enlist men to do
men's work in bringing the world to Christ.
Note 2. Beginnings of the Brotherhood Movement. The
first concrete manifestation of the brotherhood idea in Protestant
churches took place in 1883, when twelve young men constitut-
ing a Bible class in St. James' Episcopal Church in Chicago,
were requested by the rector to take charge of a poor, miserable,
drttlnkien tramp, and were thereby led to see as never before the
futility of mere Bible study without labor with God and for
God and in God's name for the immediate establishment of His
Twenty.four Modem CkuTch Brotherhoods 153
kingdom. They had no notion of any organization. They
simply promised to pray each day, and each week to make an
earnest effort to bring some man under the influence of the Gos-
pel, just as Andrew brought Peter to Christ. The idea took
lodgment in other Episcopal churches, until at the present time
the Brotherhood of St. Andrew has chapters, as they are called,
in most of the leading parishes in the United States and in other
lands.
Five years later, 1888, the Brotherhood of Andrew and Philip
was organized for parish work in the Second Reformed Church
of Reading, Pa. It seeks to promote individual work, to be
especially helpful to the pastor, and to engage in every form of
Christian activity. Its two rules of prayer and service are
similar to those of the Brotherhood of St. Andrew. Unlike
this, however, it has spread rapidly through more than twenty
denominations. The society in the local church is a chapter,
the chapters elect a denominational council which directs the
denominational brotherhoods, and these coimcils again elect a
Federal Council. *' Any group or organization of men in any
congregation or mission of any evangelical church, accepting the
two rules of prayer and ser^vdce may, with the approval of the
minister, become a chapter of the brotherhood and be entitled to
representation in the Federal convention."
Note 2. Spread of the Brotherhood Idea. Conditions in-
side and outside the churches combined to show the need of
a greater masculine emphasis in religious work. The two brother-
hoods mentioned in the preceding note showed how this need
could be met. More and more rapidly brotherhoods of aU kinds,
with or without the two rules, and for the advancement of
every form of religious activity, sprang up in local churches.
Some denominations had hundreds of them before any attempt
was made to bring them into touch one with another! Then
the conviction gained ground that much more effective- work
could be done. The result was the organization of a large
number of denominational brotherhoods, the chief of which are
the following:
The Methodist Brotherhood was formed in 1908 by the con-
solidation of several previously organized church-wide brother-
hoods. Its official organ is Methodist Men.
The Men's League of the United Presbyterian church was
organized in 1906. Its official publication is the Men's Record.
154 The Modern Church -^"^'^'-
The Presbyterian Brotherhood was formally organized the
same year. Its official organ is The Presbyterian Brotherhood.
The Baptist Brotherhood was formed in 1908. It is well
organized but does not as yet (1913) publish any official peri-
odical.
The Congregational Brotherhood was also organized in 1908.
The official organ for a time was The Brotherhood Era, but in
1912 it was combined with The American Missionary.
Other denominational Brotherhoods are the National League
of Universalist "Laymen (1907), the Brotherhood of Disciples of
Christ (1908), the Lutheran Brotherhood (1909), the Otterbein
Brotherhood of the United Brethren in Christ (1909), the
National League of Unitarian Laymen (1909), and the Brother-
hood of the Southern Presbyterian Church (1908).
In Great Britain the brotherhood movement is kingdom-wide,
embraces all religious commimions, has identified with itself
some of the strongest men in Parliament, cooperates closely
with the British Labor Movement, and is viewed as " a great
masculine expression of the national life." Immense Sunday
afternoon meetings attended in the aggregate by himdreds of
thousands of men " embody the social consciousness of the time
and seek to give expression to the ideals of religion through ser-
vice of the common man."
Note 4. Leading Lines of Work. Merely to list the variety
and wide range of activities carried on by the local brotherhood
chapters would occupy ten to a dozen of these pages. For
convenience they may be roughly classified under five heads :
1. Bible Study and Prayer. The cultivation of a higher
degree of personal piety through a more intelligent acquaintance
with God's word and a more intimate fellowship with Himself.
This includes a faithful attendance at public worship, and at
prayer and conference meetings, as well as active work in the
Sunday school.
2. Evangelism. Especially of the kind that involves man-to-
man work, but including also the establishing and maintaining
of neighborhood prayer meetings, meetings in shops, stores,
mills, and factories, and promoting and assisting in general
evangelistic campaigns.
3. Social Service. A recognition of the higher claims of
citizenship as shown in the furtherance of civic righteousness, in
elevating the standards of commercial integrity, in promoting
Twenty -four Modcm ChuTch Brotkerkoods 155
personal purity, in aiding all agencies that aim at the suppres-
sion of the liquor traffic and the evils attending it, in protecting
the home, in abolishing child labor, in guarding against civic
corruption, and in assisting every cause that makes for social
betterment, and resisting every influence that works against it.
4. Work with Boys. Alen with a love for boys can do much
to hold them to religious ideals. A brotherhood can give the
boys protection, guidance, leadership, and comradeship. It
can help them organize a boys' club, a troop of Boy Scouts, a
castle of Knights of King Arthur, or of the Holy Grail. There
are scores of ways in which it can render them inestimable
service.
5. Missions. The acquiring of a greater knowledge of the
nature, extent, results, and needs of Christian missions, as a
basis for a greater consecration of time, strength and money for
their advancement in cities, throughout our own land, and the
world.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
{1) Patterson: Modern Church Brotherhoods. This is the latest and most
comprehensive survey of the brotherhood movement yet made. It gives a
full account of the various organizations and of the aims sought, and the
means employed. (.?) An extremely interesting and informing article on
the Brotherhood Movement in Great Britain, and its profound influence on
social conditions is reprinted from the Contemporary Review in LitteWs
Living Age, December 7, 1912, No. 3570. (3) Further information can be
gleaned from the various official organs of the denominational brotherhoods
mentioned in Note 3, above.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. What is meant by the boy problem as related to the churches?
2. What are some of the characteristics of the adolescent period in boys?
3. What is the critical age in boyhood?
4. Mention some of the devices that have been used in efforts to solve
the boy problem?
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. What social conditions have given rise to the brotherhood movement?
2. For what purposes are church brotherhoods formed?
3. Describe the origin of the first of the Protestant Brotherhoods.
156 The Modern Church -^"^^^
4. Describe the second of these Brotherhoods.
5. What gave rise to denominational brotherhoods?
6. Mention a few of the denominational brotherhoods.
7. What are the leading characteristics of the brotherhood movement in
Great Britain?
8. Mention the five main lines of Christian work pursued by church
brotherhoods.
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. Is there a men's organization in your church? If not, why not?
2. If there is a brotherhood chapter, how many members does it include?
3. How does this number compare with the male membership of the
church?
4. What are the chief lines along which your brotherhood works?
5. _ If there is_ no brotherhood, can you mention some specific lines of
religious or social work in which such an organization could profitably
engage?
6. Try to find out the actual results accomplished by some one chapter
of a brotherhood.
QUESTION FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
How can church brotherhoods assist in bringing about a better under-
standing between the churches and labor associations?
Twenty-five jhe Men' s Campaign for Men 157
Lesson 25. THE MEN'S CAMPAIGN FOR MEN.
Scripture Reading: Lay Preachers of the Word. Acts 8: 1-4.
Note 1. The Need of Men in Church Work. The Boston
Herald, commenting on the relatively small interest of men in
church affairs suggests that the average business man is equally
uninterested in many other subjects of vital public concern.
" Speaking broadly," says that paper, " how many men care
an3^hing about the tariff, except as it concerns their individual
business interests ? How many men care for the higher interests
of literary or dramatic art ? . . . The * tired business man ' rriay
not care for theology, but does he not care quite as much for it
as for political economy, or social science? It is a serious fact
that our absorption in commercial life has lessened the depth of
our intellectual life. If the church has failed in the matter of
virile thought, and strong, aggressive work for social righteous-
ness, it is because the strong men of the nation have not stood
back of it, and demanded of its leaders the type of work it was
created to perform." The wide-spread efforts now being made
to remedy this condition, to get clear-headed business men to
employ in the church the same energy, enterprise and self-denial
that they maintain so abundantly in secular affairs, is one of the
hopeful signs of our time.
Note 2. The Outreach of Brotherhoods after Men. Mani-
fold and diversified as the activities are in which church brother-
hoods engage, there is back of them ah the purpose of arousing
the dormant energies of Christian men, and to utilize them in
active service for God and humanity. As already stated
(Lesson 24, Note 1), the primary work of every local brother-
hood is not to bring men from the world into the church in
order that they may be " saved," but to save the men who are
already in the church for something that shall count in their
own lives and that shall distinguish them from moral men out-
side the chtirch. One of the frequent objections given by the
latter class for not becoming Christians is that they see no differ-
ence between the lives of church members and their own lives.
Too frequently there is no perceptible difference. If the
brotherhoods accomplish anything, they must first of all lift
professing Christian men to a plane of living where this objection
can no longer be urged. This is precisely what they are doing,
and as a result thousands of churches have experienced not only
158 The Modern Church ^"^^«
an access of spiritual power within the ranks, but of power for
conquest in the surrounding community.
Note 3. The Laymen's Missionary Movement. This is one
of the remarkable products of the men's campaign for men. It
means not merely enlarged gifts of money for missions, but en-
larged men, men with a vision of what the Gospel of Jesus Christ
signifies to the world, and of the tremendous responsibility that
rests on the church as the divinely appointed agency for carrying
this Gospel unto all the nations. Christian men are asked to
invest in this enterprise- not only their dollars, but their time,
their influence, and, where possible, their whole lives. The
response has been marvelous. It has given a new inspiration
to thousands of men who had been so immersed in secular busi-
ness as to lose sight of all religious obligations beyond a per-
functory attendance on the Sunday morning worship. It has
brought a great quickening into the spiritual hfe of the churches,
and to the men out on the firing line this enlistment of a great
relief force in the homeland has brought an unspeakable
renewal of hope and courage.
Note 4. The Men and Religion Forward Movement. The
Brotherhood Movement and the Missionary Laymen's Move-
ment were the forerunners and compeers of the biggest, sanest
and most effective attempt ever made within the Christian
church to put evangelism and social service on the same plat-
form. The Men and Religion Fonvard Movement was an
attempt throughout the whole extent of the United States and
Canada to realize " more religion for men, and more men for
reHgion." After a year or more of most laborious preparation
it culminated in a memorable campaign that swept the continent
from the Pacific to the Atlantic from September, 1911, to May,
1912. Its more conspicuous features were the following:
{1) Origin. The Men and Religion Movement originated in
the mind and heart of a young man, Harry W. Arnold, a member
of the International Committee of the Young Men's Christian
Association headquarters in New York. His calm persistency
finally overcame all objections and enlisted the enthusiastic
cooperation of the other members of the committee, and espe-
cially of Fred B. Smith the head of the Religious Work Depart-
ment. The proposal won a imanimous response from the leaders
of men's organizations in and around New York. In October,
1910, the plan was endorsed at Buffalo, by a convention of two
Twenty-five ji^^ ^^^^'^ Campaign for Men 159
hundred and sixty-two delegates representing nearly every
Protestant body in North America. A national committee of
ninety-seven was appointed, and local committees of one hun-
dred business and professional men in each of seventy-six great
cities in which it was planned to hold eight-day campaigns
radiating into over a thousand " auxilliary " smaller cities and
towns, each one of which had its own committtee pledged to
carry on the work.
{2) Absence of Sectarianism. All denominational differences
were set aside by those who joined in the movement. The
national brotherhoods promoting it were those of the Baptists,
CongregationaHsts, Disciples of Christ, EpiscopaHans (St.
Andrew), Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, United Breth-
ren, United Presbyterians, and the interdenomination brother-
hood of Andrew and Philip. With these stood the Gideons, an
organization of commercial travelers, the International Simday
School Association and the Yoimg Men's Christian Associations.
{3) The Team-work. Over thirty experts in the various lines
of work to be emphasized were selected, and carefully drilled.
After united work at Minneapolis and South Bend, Indiana,
they were divided into teams of seven, each team under a spe-
cially qualified leader, and sent out into the remaining seventy-
four great centers for eight-day campaigns.
(4) The Social Survey. Before the arrival of the team, the
committee of one hundred had done in each place a most impor-
tant preliminary work as a basis for the actual campaign.
Twelve hundred questions were sent out from headquarters to
be answered by the committee after an actual and minute
examxination of social conditions. Some of the subjects investi-
gated are " the attendance at Sunday schools, increase or de-
crease of church membership and reasons therefor, the growth
or decline of interest in all forms of religious activity; the num-
ber of saloons, dance-haUs, theatres, burlesque shows, and their
character ; arrests and convictions of men, women, and children,
for what causes, imder what conditions ; detailed, definite state-
ments as to water-supply, sewerage, taxation; condition of
bakeries and meat markets ; the sanitary condition of tenements,
factories, restaurants, hotels; an exhaustive inquiry concerning
public schools, playgroimds, libraries; the number of boys and
girls in shops, stores, factories; wages paid them, actual cost of
living under decent surroimdings." The result of each of these
social siirveys was sent to headquarters where trained workers
160 The Modern Church ^"^««
constructed from them a large number of charts or diagrams to
be used by the team during its campaign. These results were
also carefully studied by the team so that on its arrival each
member knew the social conditions of that community better
than its oldest inhabitant. In a multitude of instances unsus-
pected and alarming conditions were revealed. This array of
indisputable facts justified the placing of evangelism and social
betterment on the same platform, and showed Christian people
just where to apply their Christianity to the best effect.
(5) Objects Sought. While the Men and ReHgion Movement
was evangelistic in the largest sense of the word, yet it differed
from ordinary evangelistic movements in that it put so large an
emphasis on Christianity as the sanest and safest guide for
society as well as the individual. Its primary aim was to get
the power now latent in the millions of inactive men in Protes-
tant churches engaged in Christian work, and the most effective
way to do this was by setting before them precisely such social
tasks as men are best qualified to undertake.
In addition to this the campaign sought to win men to Bible
study by doubling the enrollment in Men's Bible Study classes ;
to continue the emphasis on the great missionary appeal at
home and in the non-Christian world; to win thousands of uin-
converted men and boys to Christ and the church ; and to stimu-
late and direct specialized work for and with boys in every
church on the continent.
Note 5. Results of the Men and Religion Movement.
This ambitious plan, whose very bigness seemed to constitute
its chief peril, was carried through successfully. The results
were of such nature that they cannot be tabulated, but in almost
every instance they were gratifying and in many instances
astonishing. A few out of the hundreds of interesting results
may be noted.
(1) Men are more responsive than was supposed. There is
little difficulty in arousing a Christian man's interest in church
work if he is given a man's job. The busiest kind of busy men
stood ready to take upon themselves heavy burdens, planning
with the same wisdom and working with the same energy as in
their private business.
(2) A marked increase, in many cases a doubling, of attend-
ance of men at Bible classes and public worship.
(5) In almost every case a more insistent demand for civic
Twenty-five jy Men's Campaign for Men 161
and personal righteousness. In Philadelphia, for example, two
hundred and fifty churches immediately after the departure of
the team organized for the promotion of higher standards in
mimicipal affairs. In a Southern city the hideous fact was
revealed that one of the city's leading church men owned a full
half of the houses rented for immoral purposes. Refusing to
reform his business, he was promptly expelled from the church.
" Of appalling significance is the uniformity with which the
social service investigations have led the churches straight up
to the social evil as the most hideous disease of the civil body."
(4) The Men and Religion Movement has developed " a
new method and a modem expression for the old force of re-
ligion."
Every possible precaution has been taken to prevent this
colossal effort from becoming a mere " spurt." To this end the
work is now thrown back on the churches, and especially the
brotherhoods, in the form of worthy and workable plans for
specialized efforts for men and boys. These plans extend over
five years from the time the campaign closed. The seven vol-
umes of commission reports constitute in themselves a perma-
nent call and inspiration to persistent service.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
(1) For literature on the Laymen's Missionary Movement write to the
headquarters, No. 1 Madison Avenue, New York City. (2) Men and
Religion Messages, seven volumes containing the reports of eight com-
missions on as many pressing issues before the churches. " Here in a
permanent literature is embodied a wealth of practical application for
every line of effort which the Movement emphasized." {3) Everybody's
Magazine for May, 1912, contains a well-written article on the Men and
Religion Movement entitled, " On the March with the New Crusaders."
(4) The Outlook for April 27, 1912, contains a review of the results of the.
Men and Religion Movement.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. Describe a modem church brotherhood.
2. What were the first two church brotherhoods in this country?
3. What are some of the leading church brotherhoods?
4. What are some of the leading lines of work in brotherhoods?
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. Mention some conditions that have weaned Christian men away from
active work in the chiirch.
162 The Modern Church ^"^o«
2. What are the church brotherhoods accompHshing in the campaign
for men?
3. What is the specific work of the Laymen's Missionary Movement?
4. How did the Men and ReHgion Movement originate?
5. How did it devel9p a spirit of denominational cooperation?
6. Describe the social survey.
7. What purpose did the social surveys serve?
8. What were some of the objects sought by the Men and Religion
Movement?
9. Mention some apparent results of the l^.len and Religion Movement.
10. What means have been used to make it a lasting influence?
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. To what extent has your church been influenced by the Laymen's
Missionary Movement?
Twenty-six What the City Problem Is 163
2. To what extent, by the Men and Rehgion Movement?
3. Mention some things the men in the churches in your community
might accompHsh if they should combine for social betterment.
4. To what extent are churches usually aware of the social conditions
that exist around them?
QUESTIONS FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
1. Are church methods to-day adapted to the kind of work that needs
to be done by the churches?
2. Is any evil thing in this community afraid of the churches?
Lesson 26. WHAT THE CITY PROBLEM IS.
Scripture Reading: The Vision of a Redeemed City. Rev. ch. 21.
Note 1. The Problem of the Modem City. In our modem
civilization one of the most startling features is the rapid growth
of great cities. At the beginning of the nineteenth century
there were only six cities in the United States with populations
of 8,000 or over. In 1910 there were 109 with populations of
50,000 or over, and 51 with 100,000 or more. The white settle-
ment at the mouth of the Chicago River was made in 1831. In
1871, forty years later, it had over 300,000 inhabitants, and in
1911, after another period of forty years, over 2,200,000.
During the decade between 1900 and 1910 the population of
New York City increased from 3,437,202 to 4,766,883, a gain of
1,329,681, or twice the entire popiilation in 1850. The growth
of city populations in recent years has increased in much higher
ratio than that of the coimtry at large. In 1800 the urban
population constituted less than four per cent of the whole; in
1900 it was thirty-three per cent. A similar disproportionate
growth is seen in all the chief cities of the world. The time is
not distant when the cities will contain more than a half of our
entire population. Several States have already exceeded this
amoimt.
Efforts to turn the tide back to the coimtry have so far
accomplished Httle or nothing. This movement is due to eco-
nomic and social laws whose operation cannot be reversed.
Where fourteen men were required fifty years ago to do farm
work only four are required now, owing to the introduction of
agricultural machinery. Since the four are able to supply the
164 The Modern Church ^"'^
demand for farm products as effectually as the fourteen, the
superfluous ten are forced into towns and cities. Furthermore,
the industrial revolution which has given rise to factories of all
kinds, great and small, has also led to a concentration of popu-
lation. Machinery which reduced the call for human labor in
farming has vastly increased the demand in manufacturing.
Finally, increased facilities for travel and transportation of
food have removed nearly all restrictions formerly imposed on
the growth of cities.
This massing of populations has on the one hand stimulated
all that is best, noblest and most magnificent in human achieve-
ment, and, on the other hand, it has been productive of evils so
many and various as to be almost incredible to persons who
have seen them with their own eyes. How to check the growth
of these evils, and to remedy them so far as they have already
appeared, constitute the stupendous task commonly known as
the problem of the city.
Note 2. Complexity of the Problem. Our modem great
cities hold vast aggregations of wealth. Commerce and the
industries make their home in the city. Here most of the vast
fortunes are accumulated, and here most of the wealth of the
coimtry is controlled. The almost unlimited power of riches,
whether for good or evil, is lodged in the city.
But side by side with incalculable wealth and luxury the city
presents an appalling mass of poverty and wretchedness.
Multitudes of families are packed into small, dark, filthy, un-
ventilated tenements, debilitated by lack of nourishing food and
adequate clothing, the prey of disease, driven to drink by
despair, and to pauperism and crime by drink. Practically
every city of any size has its slum district, and every slimi is a
gangrene on the civic life.
Such social inequalities inevitably breed deep discontent.
When a man out of work sees wife and children suffering for
lack of the merest necessities of life, while a few blocks away
another man squanders on a single banquet enough to keep a
score of families in comfort for a year, he is not likely to regard
it with resignation. This inequality in the distribution of the
products of labor is the soil in which anarchism, and every other
preachment of social violence strike root and flourish.
The great cities have become hotbeds of corruption and crime.
A great and rapidly growing community, whose citizens are for
Twenty-six What the City Problem Is 165
the most part so absorbed in their own concerns that they have
no time to give to pubHc affairs, offers every opporttinity to
selfish and tmscrupulous poHticians to form " rings " for black-
mailing every business from the big corporation to the push-
cart peddler, from bankers, manufacturers, and railroad presi-
dents down to gamblers, thieves, assassins, and prostitutes.
Crime of all kinds flourishes where criminals are protected
rather than prosecuted.
Most of the great European cities have fairly homogeneous
populations. The people are almost wholly of one race and
nationality, they speak the same language, and are used to the
same social and political ideals. The great American cities, on
the contrary, are conglomerates of races and nationalities from
every part of the world. A native is in m^any quarters almost a
foreigner. The great mass of those arriving in recent years
bring with them illiteracy and poverty. Naturally they remain
in the cities where they find colonies of their own people — foreign
cities transplanted to our own soil. They take up their abode
in the slums, which become more and more congested, and here
they begin the struggle for the bare necessaries of life.
Note 3. The Church and the City Problem. Many of the
evils that have grown up in the great cities are of such character
that they can be remedied only by concerted efforts on the part
of the citizens themselves, or by legislative action. Others
must be left to social reformers and organizations specially
designed to grapple with them. Those involving labor ques-
tions and the Americanization of workmen from other countries
are of profotmd interest to the trades-unions, who are doing more
for their solution than any other institution. There are many
remedial and philanthropic activities in which the church cannot
directly engage, but which it can inspire and stimulate. Any
institution or organization that makes directly or indirectly for
the physical, intellectual and moral well-being of the commu-
nity, and that promotes social justice and righteousness is an
agency for advancing the kingdom of God, and should receive
to this extent the support of the church.
We must not forget, however, that the church's primary
mission is the spiritual uplifting of humanity, and that in the
accomplishment of this mission the church stands alone. The
problems of social inequality, of poverty, of the slums, of
corruption, crime and vice, are in the final analysis moral prob-
166 The Modern Church ^^^^°«
lems, and their solution lies in the Gospel of Christ. This is
the only power that can permanently redeem the masses that
are drifting into materialism, degeneracy and anarchy, that can
bring the rich and the poor together, and that can displace
grasping greed by a spirit of universal brotherhood.
But to do this the church must adapt itself to present day
conditions. Its failure to reach the masses is due to the use of
traditional methods inherited from past ages. A church that
seeks to maintain itself as .a family church, a religious club for a
select class in the community, may serve some purposes, but
it is in no position to grapple with city problems. Such churches
usually retire with their members into more aristocratic neigh-
borhoods, or into the suburbs, as the former residences around
them become transformed into tenements or boarding houses.
Here and there, however, a -church, instead of moving away,
stays and courageously changes its methods to meet its new
environment. Then we have a socialized church. Happily
such churches, recognizing their opportunity and responsibility,
are multiplying rapidly. They are true missionary enterprises
manifesting the spirit of Christ and prosecuting His work with a
passionate love for the lost sheep wii"hout a shepherd.
Note 4. What One Church is Doing. On Second Avenue
in New York City, between Tenth and Eleventh Streets, is
situated the Second Avenue Baptist Church in what formerly
used to be the center of the old Knickerbocker aristocracy.
In the densest part of London there are 300 people to the acre.
In the ward in which this church is situated there are 900. It
is surrounded by a foreign population drawn from all parts of
the earth. There are in New York City more Italians than can
be found in any city in Italy; more Jews than in the whole of
Palestine; more Roman Catholics, real or nominal, than live in
any European city with only three exceptions. Here, we are
told by The Watchman, are thousands of Greeks, Russians,
Bulgarians and other nationalities who are yet under the domin-
ion of the Greek Catholic church. Natives of India, China,
Japan, and Africa abound. The amazing thing that strikes the
visitor is the fecundity of these alien peoples. In the block in
which the Second Avenue Church is situated there are over
2,000 children, not one of whom would be obliged to cross a
street to get to the church. Every Sunday when the season is
favorable sixteen or more services are conducted, about one-
Twenty-Six lyp^^^ ^/^^ City Problem Is 167
half of them in the open air. *' The electric signboard of the
church announces eleven services on Sunday in seven languages,
with the hour of service and the flag of the nation ot which the
service is held. From it eight Chinese, three Himgarians, three
Poles, two Greeks, and several Itahans have gone back and are
preaching the Gospel effectively to their own peoples in their
native lands." A¥ith this strictly evangehstic work the church
combines many forms of social service. These heroic efforts of
the pastor and his assistants are helping in the preservation not
only of American Christianity, but of our civilization and social
and political ideals.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
(1) Strong: The Challenge of the City, and The Twentieth Century City.
{2) Horton: The Burden of the City. (3) Stelzle: Christianity's Storm
Center. (4) Grose: Aliens or Americans. (6) Problems of American
Civilization, by several writers. (6) Steffens : The Shame of the Cities.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. What is the Brotherhood Movement doing in~the~campaign for men?
2. How does the Laymen's Missionary Movement assist in this work?
3. Mention some of the leading features of the Men and Religion Move-
ment.
4. What were some of its results?
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. Give some illustrations of the recent growth of great cities.
2. To what is this sweep of populations into the cities due?
3. What is the problem of the city?
4. What relation does the city hold toward wealth and poverty?
168 The Modern Church
5. Why does the city tend to breed social discontent?
6. How does the city become a center of corruption and crime?
7. How does immigration affect the city problem?
8. How is the church related to the general problem of civic betterment?
9. What is the distinctive work of the church in municipal reform?
10. What must the churches do to reach the unchurched masses?
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. What are some of the advantages of city life?
2. Is the growth of immense cities an advantage or a menace to the
country at large?
3. What are some of the difficulties in the way of turning people back to
the country?
4. How have city churches been benefited by adapting themselves to
socialized work?
5. In these days does a city church fulfil its mission by merely preaching
the Gospel to the people?
QUESTIONS FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
1. Why are so few churches disposed to engage in socialized work?
2. Why is the city problem more acute in this country than in Europe?
The Modern Church
Lesson 27. THE SOCIAL WORK OF THE CITY CHURCH.
Scripture Reading: Jesus Weeping over Jerusalem. Lu. 19: 41-44.
Note 1. The Redemption of the City. When the multitude
of the disciples rounded the slopes of Mount Olivet on their
way to the triumphal entry, they rejoiced as Jerusalem in its
glory burst upon their sight. They saw only its external
splendor. But when Jesus saw it, He wept over it, because
He looked deeper and beheld the moral conditions that were
hastening its doom. And yet the author of Revelation, in-
spired by Him who wept over the old Jerusalem, pictiured the
consummation of the kingdom of God in the world as a new
Jerusalem, a holy city coming down out of heaven from God.
The city of today is not the City of Destruction from which the
church flees as hopelessly lost. It is a vision and a task that
allures to strenuous effort. The chtirch that sees this vision
and engages in this task will not limit its efforts to saving men
for a future world, but will -seek to save them for this world as
well. It is in the cities that the churches face the social, in-
dustrial and economic problems of our time in their most acute
form, and it is here above all other places that all classes need
a better understanding, more good will, a deeper sense of
responsibility, and a clearer apprehension of duty. This
Christian philosophy of life the chvirches must teach.
Note 2. Social Work through Preaching. In nearly every
age since the Christian church was founded it has been forced
to adjust its thinking and methods of work to changing social
conditions. Just now we are in the midst of a world-wide
social movement which in magnitude and character is imparal-
leled in all the past history of the human race. The church,
natiirally conservative, has been slow to understand the trend
of things. Too often the pulpit, complaining of empty pews
and of the widespread alienation of the common people, con-
tinued droning out dry doctrines in which they were not inter-
ested. While society was changing profoundly, the church
169
170 The Modern Church ^««o«
was content to stand still. In a new world it was trying to get
along with methods and ideals devised for and adapted to a
world that was dying or dead.
Happily the church is awakening to the importance of adjust-
ing itself to its environment. This is especially noticeable in
the city churches, and in the transfer of emphasis from dogmatic
to practical preaching. Fundamental Christian truths are not
ignored, but they are made the basis of a new appeal. There
is less disposition to fight speculative heresies, and more earnest
effort to fight the concrete evils of intemperance, the saloon,
sexual vice, poverty, sweatshops, child labor, overcrowded and
insanitary tenements, corrupt politics, and a hundred similar
evils that grow luxuriantly in the hotbed of city life. More
and more the social note is sounded from the leading city pul-
pits. Human brotherhood, mutual helpfulness, co-operation
through profit sharing, the obligations and responsibilities . of
wealth, the promotion of public health, the general welfare and
public morals, the molding of industrial and business activities
in conformity with the will of God, and the spiritualizing of
men and women for effective Christian service — these are the
themes that are calling the churches back to leadership in the
work of redeeming the modern city.
Note 3. Social Work by Example. The rapid growth of
large cities has been followed by rapid shifting of populations.
Neighborhoods that a generation ago were occupied by well-
to-do American families have been abandoned by them and given
over to cheap boarding houses, small shops, saloons, quack
doctors, and fakirs of all kinds. Usually the churches move
with the membership. In some cases, however, they remain
as long as they can, and try as best they may to meet the new
opportunities that surround them. This can be done only by
emphasizing methods that make for social betterment, by show-
ing a profound interest in the welfare of the common people
who are not depreciated as belonging to " the lower classes,"
but appreciated as htunan beings to be saved to a higher man-
hood and unselfish service. Such churches are in a position
to show that the Christian church is the one institution in which
the old and the young, the rich and the poor, the wise and the
ignorant may meet together as children of the same heavenly
Father. Here they have a common v/orship and common
interests, Here is a place where all should practice mutual
Twenty-seven jhe Social Work of the City Church 171
helpfulness, where the wisdom of the wise may be used to
enlighten the ignorant, where the wealth of the rich becomes a
blessing to the poor, and where the strength of the strong helps
to ease the burdens of the weak. Here men may learn that the
ideal church is not a class institution, but a pure democracy
where social distinctions are leveled, and where equal privileges
are given to all and special privileges claimed by none. Such
churches are teaching by a noble example the possibility of a
social order in which class distinctions do not breed class ahena-
tions and antagonisms.
Note 4. Social Work through Active Philanthropy. City
churches that are awake to their opportunities and responsi-
bilities are organizing their activities in such manner as to
meet the special problems presented by their environment.
For example, the Dudley Street Baptist Church in Boston, that
a generation ago was a strong and rich family church, finds
itself now surrounded by a wholly different population. Som^e
of the neighboring streets harbor large numbers of the worst
criminals in the city. A recent census of certain of these streets
revealed over four hundred boys who had become a terror to
the commimity. To get them under any morally restraining
influence seemed well-nigh impossible, until the scheme w^as
devised of inviting them to a series of monthly entertainments
provided especially for their benefit, admission being by ticket.
At first they were shy, but presently filled the vestry of the
church, which they made hideous by their disorderly conduct.
Tactful and patient treatment after a while brought order into
this pandemonium. A very short pointed talk at the beginning
and close of each entertainment is all that is given in the way
of direct moral instruction. No general organization is at-
tempted except a common name, " The Dudley Street Boys,"
and a sign by which they recognize one another and their church
friends. Many of them, under the direction of the church,
have joined the Boy Scouts of America, and others have been
taken into the Lincoln Comrades, a large Sunday school class
for boys. So great is the improvement in the meetings and in
the neighborhood that one seeing them can hardly believe that
they are the same boys whose lawlessness only two years ago
made them a menace to the commimity. Work for girls is
developing along lines suited to them, such as classes in sewing,
cooking, and physical culture. The well-known Page Class for
172 The Modern Church ^^^^««
men, niimbering 423 members, is a most efficient agenc}^ for
social work. The twenty committees, such as athletic, educa-
tional, employment, forum, information, public welfare and
social service, have been appointed only as needed, and are
therefore alive and at work.
Another church nearer the heart of the city, whose surroimd-
ings have changed in a similar way, makes itself a social center.
The pastor in explaining the work said, *' There are a few people
so good that they find all the social enjoyment they want in
the prayer meeting, and a great many so bad that they find
their society in a saloon. But between these extremes there is
a great mass of people, who are not good enough to like the
prayer meeting and not bad enough to resort to the saloon. We
want to make the church a place where such persons can meet
for wholesome enjoyment, where young people of both sexes,
living in boarding houses, will have a better place to ciiltivate
acquaintance than the street or the theatre."
The social work of city churches is increasingly directed
toward the alleviation of bodily as well as spirittial needs. To
this end they are co-operating with municipal and voluntary
agencies in charity, correction, and social betterments. Be-
tween these agencies and the churches there is need of a better
understanding. There are innumerable opportunities for
mutual help. The civic agencies need the inspiring power of
religious as well as humanitarian motives; and the churches
certainly need to avail themselves of the social service made
possible by the resources and trained specialists employed by
the civic agencies. In almost every city there are organized
charities of one form or another to which pastors and church
visitors can direct special cases of need. There may be preju-
dices to be removed. Persons who through misfortune are
facing hunger, cold, and homelessness are often sensitive about
accepting lielp. They must be led to see that provision for
their needs is a duty which society owes to them. Many
ignorant people have a mortal fear of hospitals. Hundreds of
lives that would perish without help are saved by church mis-
sionaries whose sympathetic kindness inspires confidence and
dispels fears. Rescue missions for lost men and women are
sustained almost wholly by the churches or by church people.
The task that confronts the city church is not merely to
"save souls," but to save men and women whose lives have
been wrecked through drunkenness and vice, to find bread for
Tweniy-seven j^^ Social Wofk oj ike City ChuTck 173
the htingry, clothes for the naked, work for the idle, and homes
for families; to wipe out sliims, saloons, and brothels; to protect
the lives of men, women, and children from the industrial greed
which in return for merciless toil gives them poverty, rags,
ignorance, disease, and death. The social work of the city-
church, in short, is to make the city a place where it will be as
hard as possible to go wrong and as easy as possible to do right.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
{1) The Socialized Church, Addresses before the First National Confer-
ence of the Social Workers of Methodism. {2) The Redemption of the
City. (3) Lang: The Church and Its Social Mission. (4) Plantz: The
Church and the Social Problem. (5) Brown: The Social Message of the
Modern Pulpit. {6) Commons: Social Reform and the Church.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. What is meant by the problem of the city?
2. Why is the problem of the American city peculiarly difficult?
3. What should be the attitude of the churches toward civic reform?
4. How is the Second Avenue Baptist Church in New York City meeting
the problem presented by its present environment?
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. Why must the redemption of the cities rest upon the churches?
2. What has been the position of the churches toward the present social
awakening?
3. How does current preaching show that city churches are themselves
awakening to the importance of grappling with city problems?
4. How are many city churches affected by the rapid growth of the
cities in which they are situated?
5. How can such churches show the true spirit of Christianity?
174 The Modern Church ^"^''^
6. What social work are some churches doing?
7. How may churches co-operate with other agencies for the redemption
of the city?
8. What is the social work to be accomplished by city churches?
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. What is your church doing in the way of social service?
2. What other or further service of this kind do you think your church
might profitably undertake?
3. What opportunities are there for charitable work?
4. To what extent should churches engage directly in social reforms,
temperance, settling of labor troubles, and the like?
QUESTIONS FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
1. Why must the churches engage in the work of social evangelism?
2. What shall we think of the frequent assertion that the business of
the church is to preach the Gospel, not to engineer social reforms?
Lesson 28. A WEEK IN A CITY MISSION.
Scripture Reading: Ministry to Unfortunates. Mt. 25: 31-40.
Note 1. Social Wrecks. The great majority of chiirch
members come from the middle classes. They are self-support-
ing, respectable and valuable members of society. Many of
them are poor, but they are well above the poverty line. Those
who approach this line, or fall below it, are seldom found in the
churches. They gravitate toward the slums because of cheaper
rentals if for no other reason. Even here multitttdes of them,
notwithstanding a hard struggle for existence, are law-abiding,
temperate, and decent, the victims of misfortune rather than
vice. They are reached to some extent by church missions.
Still lower than these are the social degenerates, men and women
Twenty-eight
A Week in a City Mission
175
176 The Modern Church
Lesson
who through intemperance, vice, and crime have fallen about
as low as human beings can go. They come from almost every
class in society. Many of them are ragged, filthy, diseased,
and verminous so that some of the lowest lodging houses will
not retain them overnight until they have been forced into a
bath and their garments thoroughly disinfected. These are
the hobos, the hujnan wrecks, the social outcasts, friendless,
hopeless, helpless, whom the rescue missions seek to reach and
save.
Note 2. A Typical City Rescue Mission. To get a vivid
idea of the work done in missions of this kind, it will be better
to describe that done in a single conspic;uous instance, than to
undertake a description in general. Details may vary, but the
essential nature of the work is the same in all. The example
chosen for study is The Union Rescue Mission, 64A Dover
vStreet, in Boston, Mass.
This mission was fotmded in 1889. It is situated in one of
the red-light districts of the city, surrounded by cheap tene-
ments, pawnshops, low theatres, gorgeous saloons, houses of
ill repute, a region where ruin holds sway.
The mission is interdenominational. Its board of twenty-
four directors is chosen from the leading churches, and includes
some of the most prominent business and professional men of
the city. The president of the board is treasurer of a large
jewelry store in the heart of the city. He is a gifted and enthusi-
astic speaker, and for several years past has successfully led
the Saturday night meeting. The vice-president is one of
Boston's most prominent surgeons and physicians. Both of
them are charter members of the mission and actively identified
with aggressive Christian work. One of the directors is the
well-known editor of the Christian Endeavor World. All these
men give liberally of their time, money, and personal service.
The regular work of the mission is carried on in a store twenty
by seventy-five feet, by a superintendent, an assistant, a pianist,
and a janitor. Its central aim is " the rescue of lost men and
women, and the reconstruction of broken lives."
Note 3. An Evening Meeting at the Mission. It is a Sun-
day evening, not different from any other in the week, except that
the attendance is usually smaller because many of those more
or less regularly present are away at church services. While
yet a great way off, an illuminated sign tells the stranger that
Twenty-eight
A Week in a City Mission
177
178 The Modern Church ^''"^
he is approaching a " MISSION." Signs overhead on the
window give the further information that it is the "UNION
RESCUE MISSION," that " JESUS SAVES," and that " ALL
ARE WELCOME." You are at once attracted by the brilliant
light inside, and, on entering, are welcomed and handed a
hymn book by the well-dressed, able-bodied janitor, himself a
saved man, who sits at a small table recording the attendance.
You take a seat half-way up, where you can see and hear all
that goes on.
The ten minutes before the service is to begin gives you time
to study the gathering that already well fills the room. You
find yourself among clean, respectably dressed people, and you
wonder if you have not strayed into the wrong place. But
you are reassured as you glance toward the door and see ten
or fifteen men who look as if they are badly in need of salvation.
At the other end of the room is a low platform occupied by a
piano, and by those who will lead the meeting. Already you
see evidences of the informal spirit which pervades the place
in the freedom with which persons come and go as they please.
This continues throughout the evening.
Promptly at eight o'clock the leader enters from a little
office in the rear, and invites all present to join in singing the
hymns as they are given out. Every one responds heartily.
Then follows a brief talk on the power of Jesus to save from the
power of sin, and an appeal to trust Him for a full and immediate
salvation. Those who want to be prayed for, or who desire
prayer for others not present, are urged to make it known.
Three of the former and many of the latter respond to the ap-
peal. A man in one of the front seats kneels and offers a fervent
prayer, remembering especially the requests that have been
made. A passage of Scripture is read, a collection is taken,
and then the leader begins the main address of the evening.
This is followed by a call for personal testimonies. Men and
women respond in rapid succcession, with brief stories of their
own rescue from the degradation and infamy of sin, of their
joy in their new life, and their experience of the keeping power
of the Christ, to whom they have entrusted their lives.
Now the puzzle is solved why they are here. These men and
women are not ordinar}^ church people who have drifted into a
religious service. They are miracles of physical, moral, spirit-
ual, and social transformation wrought right here. With all
their heart they love the place where they were bom into a new
Twenty-eight ^ ^^^^ ^-^ ^ Q^fy MtSsioU 179
life, and saved for this world as well as the next. There is no
uncertainty about their testimony. They are as sure about
what Christ has done for them as they are that the sim rises
and sets. One man's testimony consisted of passage after
passage from the New Testament repeated as if he had the
book at his tongue's end. Some in telling of the reconstruction
of their wrecked life use the homely slang of the street, but
in sharp contrast with them one employs the language of early
refinement and culture.
As you hear these testimonies, you feel that you are face
to face with a spiritual power, such as one hears of but seldom
witnesses in the churches. Christianity here is not an easy-
going profession that often means little in life, but a tremendous
reality. These prodigals have lived among the swine, but now
they have come back to the Father's house; they were possessed
by a legion of devils, but now they sit clothed and in their
right mind. They know that no power but that of Christ could
have wrought the change, and they love nothing so much as
to tell others of what a mighty Saviour He is.
After the testimonies the leader invites those who want
to begin a new life to raise their hands. Several trembling
responses are made. The leader goes down among them and
leads them one by one, often staggering from intoxication,
to a bench in front, where he and other mission workers kneel
with them, put their arms arotmd them, pray for them and
get them to pra}^ for themselves. In nimiberless instances,
the prayer so uttered has been the beginning of a new and
blessed life.
The meeting closes about ten o'clock. The names of those
who have come forward are taken and their needs look into.
In many cases they are homeless and moneyless, hungry and
without work. A ticket for a meal and a night's lodging is
given them, sometimes also a New Testament. They are
requested to report the next morning at the mission, and so
the service ends. Such meetings, with slight variations, are held
every evening in the week. Saturday evening usually witnesses
the largest attendance. During the day cases that need
special help are looked up and assistance given. Courts and
jails and social plague spots are visited. These mission workers
are glad to go anywhere and do anything to save lost men
and women.
From Christmas until New Year free midnight suppers
180 The Modern Church ^^''°»
are given to men, and it is a strange and touching sight to see
the Mission filled at this hour.
Note 4. The Kind of Gospel Preached. The people to
whom a rescue mission ministers are not converted by a gospel
in kid gloves and lavender. Only the most forcible appeals,
put in language to which these people are accustomed, and
based on a blunt recognition of their actual condition, makes
any impression. The struggle between good and evil is to
them not only intensely real, but personal. To this class
the devil is not an abstract personification of universal evil,
a bugaboo created by ignorance and superstition. The mis-
sion workers do not hesitate to present him as a being who
has lured his victims into sin and who now has them by the
throat. Nor do they apologize for mentioning hell. Those
whom they address know what it is. They have already ex-
perienced its torments, and they know there is no future abyss
of evil deeper than that into which they have already fallen.
Hence there is no philosophical vagueness to the preaching.
It is the cld-fashioned Gospel of the devil's power on the one
hand and the almighty power of Christ on the other. Every
night witnesses what the workers call " a hand-to-hand fight
with the devil," and well-nigh miraculous victories in the name
of Christ. His saving power has been tested nightly for nearly
a quarter of a century, and today there are thousands of men
and women, lifted from the deepest mire of sin, who for years
have resisted all temptations, and who now stand as monuments
of His mercy and grace.
Note 5. Samples of Testimonies. "I am very glad to add
my testimony along with others to what the Lord Jesus Christ
has done for me. Three years ago Almighty God guided me
into the Dover Street Mission, after a Hfe of sin, drinking,
gambling, and blasphemy. When Air. Call gave the invitation,
I went up and asked God to help me to lead a better life. I
thank Almighty God and the Lord Jesus Christ that today all
these sins have dropped out of my life as though they had
never been there. I had tried in my own strength to lead a
better life, but it was no use. I fell time and time again. I
have no fears for myself today. For three years I have been a
follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, and my faith grows stronger
as the days and the weeks and the months go by."
" I was not blufiing or fooling when I went to Christ, for I
Tweiily-eiglit
A Week in a City Mission 181
needed Him badly, and after the devil had led me almost to
the gates of hell Jesus took me in and saved me."
'* The Gold Cm*e and all lands of cures could not touch me,
but when I came to Christ He got hold of the very part in my
heart that needed fixing up, and He has kept me ever since."
" Twelve years ago I was a down-and-out drunken woman,
but Jesus saved me the first time I asked Him, and He has
kept me every day since that time."
" It is now over ten years since I gave my heart to the Son
of God, and have never had a slip-up since. I believed I was
saved through prayer, and I am kept every day because I
keep in touch with JCvSus." '
" I heard a man say the other day that the day of miracles
was past, and I felt just like getting up and shouting, ' Wait a
minute there. Mister. You are giving the people a lot of hot
air, for I belong to a miracle gang myself.' I am not boasting,
friends, but when I think of what a dirty di'unkard I was till
Jesus set me right, I know there is a supernatural power, and
I feel it tonight all over me, and I thank Him for it."
" My wife tried to cure me by putting something into my
coffee, but it did no good imtil I gave my heart to Jesus, and
then I was saved and cured at the same time."
" The people down here say they hardly know me, I've
changed so. How could I help changing when the old devil
was taken out, and Jesus came in! Praise His dear name for-
•ever! How He does help and bless us when we trust Him,
doesn't He? . . . No one but myself and God knows the con-
dition I was in — deep in sin, a confirmed cigarette fiend, a
miserable, drunken, degraded female. But God in His infinite
mercy forgave my sin and made a woman of me. Oh, praise
the Lord! "
Such testimonies could be quoted by the thousand.
Note 6. Practical Results. In rescue mission work the
conversion experience, or the first start at the meeting, is only
the beginning of the new life. But the same is true every-
where. The mission must care for its converts, as well as the
churches. To let them drift is in either case to lose them. The
real struggle comes after the start has been rriade. Saving the
down-and-out means much more than preaching the Gospel to
them. Such men must be surrounded by good companion-
ship. They must be helped in finding jobs. They need
182 The Modern Church ^'''°"
sympathy in their weakness and patience with their stiimbUngs,
In short, persistent training is essential to permanent results.
But even where all possible help is extended, it cannot be
expected that every one who professes conversion will hold
out. It is imhappily true that many fall back sooner or later
into the old ways, just as converts do in the churches. What
percentage make good is hard to say. Most persons of this
class belong to the floating population. In the great majority
of cases it is impossible to keep track of them unless they them-
selves keep up communication with the mission. But even at
the lowest estimate, the number who are saved from becoming
a burden to the community and made useful members of society
is large enough to repay a hundredfold the cost of maintaining
the mission, to say nothing of the " joy in heaven over one
sinner that repenteth."
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
(1) The Union Rescue Mission publishes annual reports of its work.
While they are free, any one sending for them would do well to inclose
ten cents or a little contribution to the mission. Almost every city mis-
sion prints literature of some kind that will be found helpful and inspiring.
(.?) Hadley: Down in Water Street. (3) The World's Work, December,
1912; description of " The Inasmuch Mission " in Philadelphia.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. What kind of preaching will help to redeem a modern city?
2. What example of a better social order can the city churches present?
3. What is a socialized church?
4. What relation should the city church sustain toward other charitable
and reformatory agencies?
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. To what class of people do city rescue missions minister?
2. What are the usual surroundings of such missions?
3. Describe the organization of the Union Rescue Mission in Boston.
Twenty-eight ^ Week til a City Mission 183
4. How does it attract passers-by?
5. What is the character of the audiences?
6. Describe briefly the service at an ordinary evening meeting,
7. How is one Hkely to be impressed by the testimonies?
8. How does the mission render immediate help to the hungry and home-
less?
9. How does the preaching differ from that ordinarily heard in the
churches?
10. How do the results differ?.
11. What permanent good is derived from rescue mission work?
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. What was the attitude of Jesus toward social outcasts? (Lu. 7:39-50;
15:1; 19:10; Jo. 8:2-11.)
2. Why are such people often more responsive to the Gospel than those
who are outwardly righteous and respectable?
3. Are you or your church contributing anything in money or service
toward city mission work? If not, why not?
184 The Modern Church ^«^°«
4. How does the social value of a rescue mission compare with that of
an average church?
QUESTION FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
How can we answer those who say, " It is no use trying to deal with
certain portions of the community. They aire irredeemable. It is a
waste of time, energy, and money " ?
Lesson 29. REACHING THE IMMIGRANTS.
Scripture Reading: A Refuge for the Nations. Isa. 25: 4-8.
Note 1. The Incoming Aliens. Only those who have given
some attention to the number of foreigners arriving in the
United States have any conception of the magnitude of the
incoming tide, and the rapidity with which it has increased in
recent years. The number of foreigners who have arrived
during each of the periods here indicated were:
In the 60 years from 1821 to 1880, inclusive, 10,181,044
In the 20 years from 1881 to 1900, inclusive, 8,934,177
In the 10 years from 1901 to 1910, inclusive, 8,795,396
The maximum figure for a single year, 1,285,349, was reached
in 1907. The sum total of immigrants during the first ten
years of the present century, 1901-1910, exceeded by nearly
two and one-quarter millions the entire population of the six
New England States, according to the census of 1910. It was
very nearly twice as large as the combined population of
Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico,
North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming.
No migration known in history has equaled this. It wotdd be
wrong, however, to suppose that all these aliens remain a perma-
nent part of our poptilation. Some of them stay only a while,
and then return. The government has kept no account of the
departures. Possibly a quarter of them drift back to their
former homes.
Note 2. Whence the Aliens Come. The early immigrants
who came between 1776 and 1846 were mainly English, Scotch,
and Dutch, with a sprinkling of other nationalities. They were
closely akin to the colonists who had already settled the country
and built up the government. The first great wave of immi-
Twenty-nine Reaching tlw Immigrants 185
grants consisted mainly of Irish who sought refuge from the
terrible famines that followed the failure of the potato crops in
1845 and 1846. Close on the heels of this came a wave of
Germans who had been imsettled by the political disturbances of
1848. A third wave set in at the beginning of the sixties. This
consisted of Scandinavians froin Sweden, Norway, and Den-
mark. Twenty years later a fotirth wave began to flow in
from southeastern Europe. This has consisted mainly of
Slavic, Latin, and Jewish races.
The following statement compiled by the United States
Bureau of Immigration shows the varied character of this later
stream of immigrants, arriving during a single month (March,
1912), taken at random: African (black) 246; Armenian 397;
Bohemian, Moravian 807; Bulgarian, Servian, Montenegrin
2,293; Chinese 65; Dalmatian, Bosnian, Herzegovinian 639;
Dutch, Flemish 1,512; Enghsh 3,495; Finnish 360; French
1,443; German 6,092; Greek 5,428; Hebrew 5,860; Irish 1,619;
Italian 22,588; Japanese 236; Lithuanian 665; Magyar 2,892;
Mexican 2,429; PoHsh 9,813; Portuguese 943; Roumanian 1,441;
Russian 3,167; Ruthenian 3,292; Scandinavian 3,155; Scotch
1,253; Slovac 3,156; Spanish 595; Spanish American 77; Syrian
155; Turkish 108; Welsh 211; West Indian (except Cuban) 38;
other peoples 670; Total 91,185. The names of Slavic peoples
are printed in italics.
Note 3. Characteristics of the Aliens. The three eariier
waves of immigration came from northwestern Europe. The
Irish, though belonging to the Celtic race, had lived for a
thousand years under English rule and spoke the English
language. The Scandinavians and Germans belonged to the
same original stock as the English, with similar habits, institu-
tions, and traditions. Moreover, they were almost without
exception Protestants, with an exceedingly low percentage of
illiteracy. The report of the United States Commissioner for
education for 1909 gives this percentage at one-tenth of one
per cent, or only one person out of a thousand over fifteen years
of age unable to read and write. The significance of this number
is seen the more clearly w^hen compared with the fact that the
same report gives the number of native-bom illiterates in Massa-
chusetts at five in a thousand; in New York State, thirteen; and
in Pennsylvania, twenty-five. England sent nearly sixty illiter-
ates in a thousand and Ireland one himdred and seventy.
186 The Modern Church ^^«°«
This shows that prior to 1875, despite a large influx of foreigners,
the population of our country was relatively homogeneous, and
that a well-defined national character was in process of forma-
tion.
The peril from immigration began to be realized when, after
1875, the incoming tide shifted from northwestern to south-
eastern Europe, and from Anglo-Saxon, Celtic (Irish) , and alHed
races to the Slavic and Latin (or Iberic) races. All of these,
except a great multitude of Jews, are adherents of the Greek
and Roman Catholic churches. Oppressed for ages by despotic
governments, they do not know what free political institutions
mean. That instinctive love of law and order, and reverence
for social, moral, and patriotic ideals on which American insti-
tutions rest, they do not understand. Many are deplorably
ignorant. From the report quoted in the preceding note, we
learn that Hungary sends over 280 illiterates in a thousand,
Italy 380, Russia (mostly Jews and Poles) 627, Servia 860, and
Roumania 890. The illiteracy, the prejudices, the national and
social habits of these people, at such a vast remove from con-
ditions that prevail here, seem to make their assimilation a
serious problem. The number that came here in four years
(1905 to 1908) is twice as large as the estimated number of
Goths and Vandals who overwhelmed the Roman Empire, well-
nigh destroyed civilization and precipitated Europe into the
dark ages. The irruption of such a mass into our population
cannot fail to be attended by grave perils, and it is doubtful if
it can be assimilated without producing a deep and disturbing
impression on the American type and character.
Note 4. The Church and the Aliens. Many of the recent
arrivals may seem undesirable as material out of which to make
good American citizens, yet the situation is by no means hope-
less. Even the poorest and most ignorant of them are thrifty,
industrious and honesst, and have brought a vast productive
power into the industries of the nation. The adults may be
difficult to transform, especially in view of their disposition to
settle among their own people, and build up colonies removed
from contact with native Americans — colonies that retain their
mother tongue, their habits, their traditions, almost as tena-
ciously as in their European homes. In many cases they cannot
be reached by Americanizing influences, and must be left as
vmassimilated portions of the community. The hope for the
Twenty -nine Reochifig the Immigrants 187
futiire lies in the children. No one who has seen the pride and
enthusiasm with which the children in a city school, coming
sometimes from more than a score of nationalities, salute the
flag, the eagerness with which they absorb American ideas and
acquire American habits, and the lofty scorn with which they
treat the foreign speech and customs of their parents, can doubt
the quality of their future citizenship.
The foreigners need to be not only Americanized, but Chris-
tianized. They may become Americanized and be made ten-
fold worse than they were, or they may become models of social
and civic righteousness. It all depends on what class of natives
gets control of them. vSimple patriotism, to say nothing of
Christianity, demands that every American who has the welfare
of his cotintry at heart should exert himself to surround these
strangers with influences that shall make them a boon and not a
menace. Especially does this demand extend to the churches.
If the United States are to remain Christian, the Christians
themselves must see the responsibility that these incoming
millions lay upon them. Each one means an opportunity.
Few of them have any knowledge of our language. They are
often ^Yithout friends, and are compelled to accept any work
that offers them a bare hving. They are deeply grateful to
any one who holds out a helping hand. Churches that do this
have fotind them quite responsive to direct religious appeals.
In very many instances the newcomer leaves his formal religion
behind. Unless warm-hearted Protestants give him an oppor-
tunity to become acquainted with a genuine Christianity, he is
almost certain to drift into social or anti-Christian heresies that
make him a peril to the community.
That the churches are in some measure alive to their obliga-
tions is showTa by the direct work for. the immigrants done by
home mission societies of all the leading denominations. It is
of the utmost importance that the first impressions of America
shall be favorable. To this end some thirty or forty mission-
aries of different nationalities, representing these Christian bodies,
are constantly on hand at Ellis Island, New York City, to show
kindness to the strangers, to help them in perplexity and trouble,
and to protect them from the hordes of sharpers who lie in wait
to mislead, rob, and ruin them. Hundreds of thousands of
Bibles and New Testaments in scores of languages are given
away. In numberless cases this touch of practical Christianity,.
188 The' Modern Church ^^^^««
followed by a reading of the Gospels, has been the means of
winning whole families into Christian iife and service.
More needs to be done for the immigrants after they leave the
ports of entry. Almost every church, were it so disposed, could
find within easy reach these newcomers whose responsiveness
to kindness and sympathy would soon transform them into
valuable church members. Many churches that are now dwin-
dling would take on renewed life and strength if their members,
instead of contenting themselves with doling out an annual
pittance to missions in Asia or Africa, could be awakened to a
real missionary zeal in behalf of the foreigners at their own
doors. Some of the greatest Protestant churches in the country
today were on the point of being abandoned ten or twenty
years ago. But they have grovvm to their present strength by
revolutionizing their methods and addressing themselves to
the needy thousands in their own neighborhood. The Gospel
is still the power of God to salvation unto the Latins and Slays
as well as to the Anglo-Saxons and Teutons.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
{1) Grose: Aliens or Americans; The Incoming Millions. Both of these
volumes are sympathetic treatments of the immigrant problem from the
Christian point of view. {2) Steiner: On the Trail of the Immigrant; The
Immigrant Tide, Its Ebb and Flow. {3) Hall: Immigration and Its Effects
upon the United States; advocates restriction. (4) Mayo-Smith: Emi-
gration and Immigration. One of the most comprehensive and scholarly
works yet written on the subject. (5) Woods: Americans in Process.
(6) Riis : How the Other Half Lives.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. What kind of persons do the city rescue missions try to reach?
2. What are the usual surroundings of such missions?
3. What is the style of preaching adopted?
4. What do such missions accomplish?
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1, State in general the rate at which immigration has increased during
the last ninety years.
2. What four great waves of immigration have been received during
this time?
Twenty-nine Reaching the Immigrants 189
3. How many leading nationalities were represented among the arrivals
during a single month in 1912?
4. What was the general character of the immigrants who came between
1820 and 1880?
5. How was the character of our population affected by the first three
waves of immigrants?
6. What is the character of the majority of immigrants since 1880?
7. Mention some of the perils and some of the benefits arising from this
later immigration.
8. What portion of the immigrant tide is most quickly and permanently
Americanized?
9. What responsibility rests upon the churches respecting the immi-
grants?
10. What are the churches doing to Christianize them?
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. In view of the character of the later stream of immigrants, would it
be wise, or unwise, to restrict their coming? Give reasons for your opinion.
2. How is your church relating itself to the foreigners in its neighborhood?
3. Why is it usually easier to contribute money for the Christianizing
of people ten thousand miles away than to work for those at your own
door?
190 The Modern Church ^'""^
4. Have you personally ever done anything to help make an immigrant
a better American citizen?
5. State some reasons why we should not despair of our American insti-
tutions and Protestant Christianity in meeting the problem of immigration.
QUESTION FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
How can we help to keep America a Christian nation?
Lesson 30, THE PROBLEM OF THE COUNTRY CHURCH.
Scripture Reading: An Admonition to a Weak Church. Rev. 3: 1-6.
Note 1. The Case of the Country Churches. The prodigious
growi;h of modem cities has produced a mass of problems
(Lesson 26) that have attracted the attention of students and
philanthropists. In a general way it was known that rural
conditions also were changing and that the country churches
were facing conditions that threatened not only their welfare,
but their existence. But while every phase of the city problem
has received careful study, and has produced a voluminous
literature, the case of the country church has been greatly over-
looked, and its importance underestimated. We forget how
much the nation owes to them. A single country church in
Massachusetts has given to the nation fifty-six soldiers, twenty-
nine ministers and one hundred and sixty-eight teachers, to
say nothing of scores of men and women distinguished in pro-
fessional, industrial, and commercial life. More than half of
the prominent men in New York City, more than half of our
college professors, and seven-eighths of all our ministers come
from rural life. To suffer this steady stream of leaders into
national affairs to dry up would be an unspeakable calamity.
Note 2. Recent Rural Surveys. An accurate knowledge of
facts must precede an intelligent suggestion of remedies.
Though the literature bearing on the problem of the country
church is as yet comparatively small, it is rapidly increasing.
Many of the books or magazine articles deal with individual
attempts to solve the problem, or with conditions as they exist
in a single parish. Others are general discussions of principles
with few references to details. For the purpose of this lesson
and the next the most serviceable literatiure is the series of re-
^'"''■^y The Problem of the Country Church 191
ports of Rural Surveys conducted in Pennsylvania, Illinois,
Indiana, Missouri, Maryland, Kentucky, and Tennessee by
the Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church. The
first four furnish most of the facts made use of in these lessons.
The first covers fifty-three communities situated in eight coun-
ties in central Pennsylvania; the second, three coimties — Mar-
shall, Boone, and Daviess — situated respectively in northern,
centra], and southern Indiana; the third, fifty-four commimities
scattered throughout thirteen coimties in central Illinois; and
the fourth, three contiguous coimties — Knox, Adair, and Sulli-
van— in northeastern Missouri. The purpose imderlying aU
these surveys is a thorough, scientific, and absolutely impartial
study of economic, sociological, educational, and religious con-
ditions as they actually exist in wide and typical areas.
Note 3. Diminishing Rural Population. In 1900, the rural
population of the United States constituted sixty-three per cent
of the whole; in 1910, it had fallen to fifty-four per cent. Not-
withstanding the increase in population of the whole coimtry
during these ten years exceeded ten miUions, many of the rural
districts suffered actual losses. The three Indiana coimties
mentioned above show a decrease of 4,759, or nearly six per
cent of the whole. In the three Missouri counties it is 1,788,
or a Httle over three per cent. This means that while during
this time the towms have grown rapidly, their growth has not
counterbalanced the alarming decrease in the open country.
Note 4. Economic and Social Factors. Many of the farm-
ers in recent years have enjo3^ed great prosperity. The result
is that great numbers have moved into the adjacent towns and
villages in order to enjoy a better social environment for them-
selves, and better educational advantages for their children.
The farms are leased to tenants who occupy them for a short
time. These tenants take little interest in matters that concern
the welfare of the community and still less in the churches. In
the four districts reported in the Rural Surveys, 68 per cent of
the farms were operated by owners, and 32 by tenants. In the
Illinois commimities the number of tenants rose to 53 per cent,
while the owmers fell to 47. The increase of tenants is disastrous
to the churches.
Farming communities, to their own detriment, are often back-
ward in providing recreation in any form. The Indiana report
says: " Every one remarks about the steady decHne of all
192 The Modern Church ^^"^'^
social activities. In Daviess County in one community the
last dance was held seventeen years ago, the last church social
two years ago. The people have only one picnic a year. The
social and recreational life of another community is confined to
home talent and croquet. Another township finds that its
last picnic was twelve years ago. In another community it
was found that the Catholics had had one picnic a year, while
the Protestants averaged one in five years." In about one-half
of the Indiana communities, they have one or more gatherings
in which the entire population takes part, such as " Old Settlers'
Picnics," " Harvest Home Festivals," " Agricultural Fairs,"
and legal holiday celebrations. These help to promote that
spirit of co-operation, the lack of which is one of the chief
obstacles to the country church.
Another noticeable feature in many country districts is the
lack of leadership. In sixty-seven per cent of the Indiana
communities the people took an actual pride in thus keeping
life on a dead level. In the Pennsylvania communities this
lack of leadership " amounts to a disease." When any good
thing is proposed and approved by a company of farmers in
these churches, it is almost impossible to find a leader, because
every one thinks himself as good as his neighbor. " What one
man starts to do, another man at once forbids. It seems to be
the duty of some man in every parish to head off any man who
starts anything."
Note 5. Conditions in Country Churches. Few country
churches provide for other services than preaching and a
Sunday school. In the 232 Indiana churches only nine per
cent of those in the rural districts have more than one room,
and this is made to hold from six to nineteen Sunday school
classes. With such lack of accommodations the school cannot
feed the church membership as it should.
In Boone County only seventeen churches out of eighty-two
have resident pastors, fifty have non-resident pastors, and
fifteen have none. Nearly all country ministers live in towns
or villages. Some care for four or five churches, and some
churches have preaching only on Saturday evening or once a
month. As so many ministers live at a distance from the
communities in which they preach, they exert little influence
on the people whom they visit only for an hour a week or a
month. The sennons, too, are prepared for the town people,
^^*'''y The Problem of the Country Church 193
and seldom or never touch the interests of the farmers. Out of
231 Protestant chiu"ches in the three Indiana counties scarcely
one tries to minister to a rural congregation.
In these three coimties there are forty-one denominations
representing almost every conceivable phase of religious belief.
Half of these chiu'ches could easily be spared. They represent
chiefly denominational jealousy and strife. The 225 churches
enumerated in the Illinois survey represent twenty denomina-
tions. The ministers naturally try to serve their own denom-
inations and not the community at large. Notwithstanding
this overchurching, nearly one half of the population is im-
churched. They are people on whom the church has no influ-
ence, and who have no use for ministers. This feeling is often
justified by the preachers themselves, many of whom regard
preaching and attending weddings and funerals as their only
business.
In many country churches, religious activity is crowded into
three to six weeks of " special meetings." Other work is in
large measure set aside. Prayer meetings are held every after-
noon, the community is stirred, sinners are converted, and
backsliders reclaimed. Then the minister leaves to begin a
similar work in one of his three or four other churches. The
converts are not cared for, the prayer meetings are discontinued,
and soon the church is down at its former low level, waiting for
another revival.
A deplorable condition is the scarcity of young men. In the
173 churches in Marshall and Boone Coimties, 46 contain not
a single young man. A still larger number fail to interest more
than two or three. They bemoan the irreligiousness of the
young people while clinging to methods that repel and opposing
methods that attract them.
In view of these conditions, it is not surprising that in the 225
churches covered by the Illinois survey, 77 were growing, 45
standing still, 56 decreasing, and 47 abandoned; that in the
three Missouri counties with 180 Protestant chiurches, 21 are
wholly abandoned, while of the remaining 159, a large number
are used only occasionally; that of these 21 abandoned churches
19 are in the country and 2 in villages; or that in Marshall
County, Indiana, with its 91 churches, 32.2 per cent are grow-
ing, 20.5 per cent standing still, and 42.3 per cent losing groimd.
In the 168 Pennsylvania churches, 50 per cent are growing, 26
194 The Modern Church ^^"°"
per cent are stationary, and 24 are decreasing. This is the
best showing in the four siirveys.
From the facts here given it is obvious that the problem of the
country churches is not one that can be met by mere preaching
or new methods of church work. The deficiencies of the
churches are closely interwoven with the economic, social, and
educational defects of rural districts as a whole. The business
of farming, the modes of living, the social organization need to
be radically reconstructed; anew rural consciousness aroused.
The problem of the church is only a part of the still greater
problem of rebuilding rural life in harmony with the best
American ideals.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
{1) The Rural Surveys described in Note 2, above, may be obtained
from Rev. Warren H. Wilson, Ph.D., Superintendent, 156 Fifth Ave.,
New York City. That on Indiana is especially full and valuable and was
made in co-operation with the Interdenominational Council of the Churches
of that State. (,?) On " The Rural Problem and the Country Minister,"
see Atlantic Monthly, September, 1912. {3) A rather more optimistic
paper on " The Country Church " is found in Recent Christian Progress,
pp. 397-403. U) Butterfield: The Church and the Rural Problem. (5)
Ashenhurst: The Day of the Country Church. {6) Wilson: The Church of
the Open Country.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. To what extent have foreigners arrived in this country in recent
years?
2. What is the character of this immigration?
3. Why are they liable to be a menace to American institutions?
4. What can the churches do to Americanize and Christianize these
incoming millions?
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. Why is the saving and strengthening of the country churches of the
utmost importance?
2. What are the most reliable sources of information concerning them?
3. What is the primary cause of their weakness?
Thirty jji^ Problem of the Country Church 195
4. How are the churches affected by the substitution of tenants for
owners?
5. How are they affected by the lack of recreation?
6. How, by lack of leadership;
7. How are most country churches limited in respect to accommodations
for carrying on religious or social work?
8. To what extent are they provided with pastors and pastoral work?
9. How are country churches weakened by denominationalism?
10. Why is their revival work largely fruitless?
11. What is their attitude toward young people?
12. What are the general results of these conditions?
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. If your church is in or near the country, find out how many churches
there are in your county; how many denominations are represented; how
196 The Modern Church ^*««
many of the churches are in towns and villages; or in the open country;
how many members in each church; how the total membership compares
with the population; how many churches have ministers; how many
ministers serve more than one church; how many churches have been
growing during the last ten years, how many have been standing still,
and how many have lost ground. Ascertain, if possible, the reasons for
each of these conditions. It might be of great interest to have the class
co-operate in making such a local survey, and in adding any other informa-
tion that may be available respecting Sunday schools, accommodations,
etc.
2. If yours is a city church, gather as much of the above information as
you can concerning the churches in the neighborhood of the place where
you spent your last summer vacation.
3. How does your own observation of the condition of country churches
tally with those described in the lesson?
QUESTIONS FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
1. What are some of the chief reasons for the decrease in country popu-
lation?
2. What is your opinion of the wisdom of a few families starting a church
of their own denomination where existing churches are abundantly able
to care for the population?
3. How can churches be induced to combine?
Lesson 31. NEW LIFE IN COUNTRY CHURCHES.
Scripture Reading: The Mountains of Israel to be Blessed.
Ezek. 36:8-15.
Note 1. The Country Church a Vital Part of the Community.
One of the conspicuous features of American rttral life has been
its individualism. The pioneer expended his strength in con-
quering the wilderness, and in protecting himself, his family,
and his property. This life was lonely. He had to make his
way for himself. His religious interests were likewise limited.
As rural communities grew up, the same individualistic feelings
survived and passed into the churches. Most of these con-
sidered their duty done when they had provided an occasional
preaching service and taken up a collection. They simply
shared in an individualism which, however necessar}^ at first,
becomes a menace to progress, when progress depends on co-
operation. With all the churches for ages past they believed
and taught that this world is a wilderness of woe, that life is
but a pilgrimage, and that man's true home is the heavenly,
Thirty-one ]\j-^^ j^^j^ ^^ Country Cliurches 197
The difficulty with the whole countryside is that, while the rest
of the world has in recent years experienced a tremendous social
awakening, it remains asleep. Churches and communities
need to be aroused to the fact that their salvation depends on
co-operation in measures for the common welfare, and in move-
ments that make for the maintenance of American and Christian
ideals. The rural churches are so closeh^ related to the com-
munity in which they are planted that they rise or fall together.
Note 2. What Country Communities Need. The first step,
then, toward the solution of the rural problem is the awakening
of the community to the fact that it is a community with com-
mon interests, and not an aggregation of unrelated units, like
potatoes in a bag. Individualism is blind selfishness. A really
enlightened selfishness shows a person that his own highest
good cannot be attained except through the welfare of all. As
co-operation has become the watchword in all forms of business
and industry, so it must become the dominant note in every-
thing that pertains to farming and farming communities.
Such mutual effort is needed for the promotion of
(a) Better Farming. Agriculture is now becoming a scientific
pursuit instead of a blind following of traditional methods.
The latter policy has brought thousands of rural communities
to the brink of ruin. " The farmer's indifference to scientific
methods is his own worst enemy. So long as he does not work
for his own interests it is in vain to blame the cit}^ and the town
for their monopol}^ of public attention."
(b) Better Roads. Roads are essential in transferring farm
products to markets. Bad roads, as most country roads are,
greatly increase the cost of transportation in the wear and tear
on horses and vehicles. Portions of the year they are almost
impassable.
(c) Better Markets. The introduction of town and city mar-
kets by which farmers and consumers can be brought together
has proved in many places a great benefit in bringing better
prices to the former and in redticing the cost of living to the
latter. The gain from a universal adoption of this plan would
be moral as well as financial, since both classes w^otdd come to
know each other better and with increased mutual respect.
{d) Better Schools. Rural communities cannot be perma-
nently improved without improving the schools. Not only
better buildings are needed, but better methods, especially such
198 The Modern Church ^''"'"
as will help the children and yonth to see the dignity and at-
tractiveness of rural life under right conditions, and will train
them for, rather than away from, the farm. Country schools
need to be centralized and consolidated.
(e) Better Social Life. In m.ost cases the drifting of the young
people to towns and cities is due not so much to the hard work
as to the deadly barrenness of country life as usually lived.
Those who work hardest need the most recreation. Ordinarily
the country fumi.shes the least. Efforts vshould be made to
build up the social life, and to make occasions for frequent
meetings. The mere getting of people together for better ac-
quaintance has great valtie. While it may not be the business
of the churches to furnish am.usement, they should consider it
an important part of their mission to promote those that are
innocent and wholesome.
In furthering these enterprises the churches might well take
a leading part. They should make it their business to come to
an intelligent understanding of the conditions, needs, and possi-
bilities of their respective fields. Country people need concerts,
lectures, libraries, reading rooms, dramatic entertainments,
literary contests, competition in sports and games as much as, if
not more than, city people. Furthermore, every county should
have a hospital. The church is in a x^osition to inspire action
in all these directions. In many places the church building is
the only one capable of being made a center for gathering around
itself the social life of the community. The avenue by which
the rural churches are to pass into a new and larger life is the
reconstruction of the entire social order of the rural commimity.
Note 3. What the Country Churches Need, (a) Resident
Ministers. To say that five per cent of the churches in the
open country have settled pastors might be an extravagant
assertion. Yet without ministers who live on their fields, mingle
daily with their people, study their needs from every point of
view, and who are capable of tactful leadership, the country
church is helpless. A service of three hours a month from one
who lives in a town a dozen miles away is useless so far as solv-
ing the modem iniral problem is concerned. This supreme need
of the churches lays a corresponding duty on the ministers.
The older type may not be willing to make the sacrifices in-
volved. But if not, the churches and our theological schools
must see to it that young men are raised up and taught to see
Thirty-one ]\jg^ ]^{j^ ^^ Coufitry Churches 199
that the home field calls for sacrifices as heroic as any foreign
field, and that as effective work as can be done anywhere for
the kingdom of God today is among the country churches of
our own land. The idea that our weakest men are good enough
for the coimtry churches must be banished. They need men
with sense to see that theological remedies avail nothing for
economic diseases.
(6) Financial Consecration by Church Members. The task of
putting new life into coimtry chiu-ches needs not only consecra-
tion on the part of the ministers, but of the laymen as well.
Frequently churches able to support a pastor engage one for
** part time preaching " because it calls for the least sacrifice.
Under such a system the members have not been trained to
give. The Old Testament Jew gave a tenth of his income for
rehgious purposes. In Sullivan Coimty, Missouri, there are
370 families each of which spends annually an average of $771
on itself, $13.72 on schools, and $6 on roads, and contributes
$3.18, or about one-half of one per cent, to its church. Such
people must learn that the school and the church demand a more
generous use of private wealth. The average farmer is not to
be blamed or scolded for his closeness with money.' He must
be led to see that the conditions under which he has lived are
passing away, and that he must adjust himself to a new social
order, or perish.
Many other needs press heavily on the country churches, but
these stand at the head of the list.
Note 4. What Country Churches Are Learning through
Social Service. The suggestions made above are not untested
theories. They have been successfully tried out in scores of
instances. The remarkable work of Jean Frederic Oberlin, among
the poor and ignorant people of Ban-de-la-Roche, will long con-
tinue to be a lesson and an inspiration in reviving the temporal,
as well as spiritual prosperity of a decadent country district.
In some cases a remarkable transformation has been wrought
in two or three years. In many more cases the struggle has
been long and arduous, exhausting every ounce of tact, patience,
and grit of the leader before the final victory was won. But in
every case the new life for the church has been' won through
co-operation in some form of social service. Read, for example,
any one of these articles in the World's Work: " Ten Years in
a Country Church," December, 1910; ** How a Country Church
200 The Modern Church ^"o»
Found Itself," August, 1911; " Rural Churches that Do Their
Job," March, 1913, and see how surely and richly spiritual
results are reached by pastors and churches that seek to win
the confidence and affection of the people ]?y bettering and
building up their everyday life. From the ministers of country
churches that have experienced a blessed release from chronic
despondency " you do not hear sermons upon ' what these
people ought to do for this church ' ; their emphasis is upon
' what the church ought to do for these people.' They are
losing themselves in service to their communities," with the
invariable result that these communities respond to the leader-
ship of the church with a loyalty that extends as fully to the
spiritual as to the secular life.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
{1) In addition to the references giyen in Lesson 30, look up those in
the preceding note. {2) Religious Education for June, 1910, has a good
article on " Religious Education and Rural Communities "; the issue for
December, 1910, contains two suggestive papers, " Educational Service
of the Village Church," and " Education of Ministers for Country Par-
ishes "; three articles on "The Church and Religious Training in the
Rural Home," " The Church and Religious Training in the Rural Com-
munity," and " The Rural Church and Community Welfare " are found
in the issue for October, 1911. The last two are particularly valuable.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. How have rural churches been affected by changes in population?
2. What are some of the social factors that have led to a decline of the
country churches?
3. Mention some of the discouraging conditions that prevail in country
churches.
4. How must the problem of the country church be met?
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. How have rural communities and churches been affected by indi-
vidualism?
2. In opposition to this individualistic tendency, what is now the prime
need?
3. What are some of the economic needs of the country?
Thiriy-one ^^^ j^if^ {.y^ Coufitry ChuTches 201
4. What are some of the educational and social needs?
5. What attitude must the churches assume toward these needs?
6. Why do the country churches need resident ministers?
7. Why do they need a revival in giving?
8. What has been the experience of all country churches that have
tried to reach the community through social service?
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. Do you think the people in the country are more or less religious
than those in the city?
2. Should the country as well as the city have first-class schools?
3. Why is it necessary to preserve the social strength of country dis-
tricts?
4. Should a country church seek to provide a social life and recreation
simply for its own young people?
5. What is your church, if situated in the country, doing to serve the
community at large?
6. Is the church better fitted for social leadership than the grange?
QUESTION FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
Should pastors of rural churches receive special training for their work?
202 The Modern Church ^''^
Lesson 32. THE GOSPEL IN MINING AND LUMBER
CAMPS.
Scripture Reading: Mining and Lumbering in Ancient Times.
Job 28: 1-11; 1 Kings 5: 1-18.
Note 1. The Mining Camp. Thousands of men spend
their Hves in prospecting for the hidden treasures of the earth.
Sometimes a rich deposit of mineral ore is discovered by sheer
accident. It is said that a man up in the Lake Superior region
years ago was searching for a lost pig, and was directed to it by
its squealing. The pig had fallen into a hole, and its owner in
getting it out scraped awa}^ some loose earth and revealed
what proved to be one of the richest known deposits of copper
ore, that of the Calumet and Hecla mines. Usually, however,
the discovery comes as a lucky strike made by some hardy
prospector. It may be gold, silver, lead, iron, copper, zinc, or
coal. The news spreads rapidly, especially in the case of gold
or silver, and attracts adventurers from near and far. Tents,
shanties, cabins, stores, saloons, dance houses, gambling dens,
and brothels spring up like magic. Lawlessness, drunkenness,
profanity, crime, and vice flourish like vegetation in a tropical
forest. One frontier missionary tells of his experiences in one
of these camps, where every Sunday afternoon when he first
preached there he always had a bull and bear fight to contend
with around the corner. " I remember one time," he says,
** when the bull broke loose, and ran down the street where I
was preaching. I saw at a glance that I must close the meeting,
and so pronotmced the benediction; when I opened my eyes, not
a living soul was in sight except my wife."
To preach the Gospel in a mining camp requires consecration,
courage, tact, and hard work. It needs a kind of training not
usually given in theological seminaries. The man with an
ordinary conventional sermon would get no hearing. A minis-
terial garb wins no respect. And yet, rough, profane, and god-
less as the men may seem, none are quicker to discern and
respect genuine Christian manliness. A chapel consisting of a
room over a saloon with only a dry goods box for a pulpit, but
with a preacher who truly loves his fellowmen, has again and
again become a means of social and m.oral salvation of the
community, and the forerunner of a strong church.
Note 2. The Lumber Industry. To one unacquainted with
the facts it may be a surprise to learn that lumbering holds the
Thirty-two jj^g Gospel iH Mining and Lumber Camps 203
third place in the industries of the United States. The number
of wage earners, according to official statistics of 1909, numbered
695,015, the value of the products amounted to $1,156,128,747,
representing about 20,000,000,000 cubic feet of wood taken
from our forests.
A peculiar feature about the lumber industry is that it is
carried on away from civilization. A mining camp, if a vein is
rich and extensive, soon grows into a city. But a lumber camp
never does. As soon as the timber in its neighborhood has been
cut down, the camp is forced to move farther into the virgin
forest. The employment calls for men exclusively. These are
divided into three classes, the camp men who cut down the
timber and haul it to the nearest stream, the rivermen who on
the spring floods float it down to the sawmills, and the millmen
who saw it into lumber.
A " camp " consists of several log houses built to accommo-
date the superintendent, or boss, the various gangs employed
to cut and haul the logs, and the teams. The outside walls
of a bunk house are about six feet high with a gently sloping
roof. The cracks betw^een the logs are *' chinked " with moss
to keep out the cold. The floor is made of boards, if they can
be had, otherwise of small tree trunks split and hewn flat.
Along the walls inside " are bunks, one above another; two
huge stoves with great iron cylinders, one at each end, give
warmth; while in picturesque confusion, socks and red macki-
naws and shirts hang steaming by the dozens. There is a
cockloft where the men write their letters, and rude benches
where they sit and smoke and tell yams till bedtime." Log
sheds, made tight and warm as possible, are built for the horses.
These are known as " hovels."
Note 3. The Lumberjacks. The herding together of large
gangs of rough men away from home, and remote from all the
restraining influences of civilization almost inevitably tends
to bring out the worst elements in their characters. They are
not all dnuikards and blasphemers and gamblers, but when the
whole current sets that way, it is hard to resist it. Some do
resist it because they are decent and self-respecting men with
wives and children at home to whom the}' return when the
winter's work is over, bringing their -earnings in clean hands.
But by far the greater nimiber, thousands of them, with no
sense of the value of money, and with a hot craving for pleasure
204 The Modern Church ^"^'''^
after the hard toil in the woods, make for the nearest lumber
town for a debauch, the only pleasure known to them. Here
they encounter crowds of saloon keepers, gamblers, and caterers
to depraved passions who lie in wait to rob them, and from whose
clutches the best of them escape only with difficulty. Often
the earnings of a whole winter are lost in a night.
Note 4. The Preacher in the Lumber Camps. To lift these
men, often as big-hearted as they are brawny, out of the drunk-
enness, brawling, savagery, and abominations of the camps, and
to assist in rescuing them from the sharks to whom their lack of
self-control and passion for drink make them an easy prey, is
the task of the missionary who has the grace and grit to work
among them. The man who can help them is the one whose
infinite sympathy, untiring self-sacrifice, and absolute fearless-
ness win their confidence and respect. He may not be eager
to knock a man down. But there are occasions when he must
be as quick to fight as to pray. To snatch an innocent boy from
the lure of thieves and panderers before they have stripped him
of every cent is almost as perilous as to snatch a bone from a
hungry bulldog. For a preacher to silence an obstreperous
disturber of an ordinary church service by pulling him out of
the pew and flinging him into the street might break up the
meeting. But in a bunk house, after a momentary tumult of
jeering at the victim, the missionary quite unruffled will return
to ** the upturned cask which served him for a pulpit, readjusting
the blanket which was his altar cloth, raising his dog-eared
little hymn book to the smoky light overhead, and begin-
ning, feelingly: * Boys, let's sing number fifty-six: Jesus, lover
of my soul, let me to thy bosom fly. You know the ttme, boys,
everybody sing — While the nearer waters roll, and the tempest
still is high. All ready now!' " Nobody pays much attention
to a fight in a bunk house. The next morning, as likely as not,
the disturber will come around and apologize to the misvsionar}^
A man who, without losing his true dignit}^, or compromising
his Christian principles, can so adjust himself to the life of the
lumber camps as to win the love of the men and the respect
even of those whom he is forced to denounce and oppose,
finds an unbounded field for service and can almost every day
win a new star for his crown. From the nature of the case,
however, his work must be with individuals, or in fighting
wickedness in the lumber towns. The fact that the camp
Thiriy-iwo j-jig Cos pel ifi Mining and Lumber Camps 205
remains in one place only a short time makes the establishment
of churches impossible. The ** sky pilot," as the men face-
tiously call their preacher, must content himself with personal
results, with saving men for a better life here and hereafter.
In the lumber towns, even when they are transient, the case
is somewhat different. Here churches often spring up and
become means of blessing to the surrounding country.
Note 5. Making the Grade. The Rev. Francis Edmund
Higgins is a Presb^^terian who, without a church, but acting
under the Board of Home Missions, has done a unique work
among the lumberjacks in the remoter Minnesota camps. He
possesses in a remarkable degree the qualification described
above. A little book entitled " Higgins — A Man's Christian "
presents a series of thrilling sketches of his work. Nothing
except actual experience can give a more vivid idea of the nature
of missionary experiences in a lumber camp. Higgins's minis-
try has a gentle as well as a strenuous side.
" When Alex McKenzie lay dying in a hospital, the Pilot
sat with him as he sits with all dying lumberjacks. It was the
Pilot who told him that the end was near.
" ' Nearing the landing, Pilot?'
" ' Almost there, Alex.'
" * I've a heavy load, Pilot — a heavy load! '
** McKenzie was a four-horse teamster, used to hauling logs
from the woods to the landing.
*' ' Pilot,' he asked, presently, ' do you think I can make the
grade?'
'"With help, Alex.'
" McKenzie said nothing for a moment. Then he looked up.
* You mean,' said he, * that I need another team of leaders?'
" ' The Great Leader, Alex.'
" * Oh, I know what you mean,' said McKenzie. * You mean
that I need the help of Jesus Christ.'
" No need to tell what Higgins said then — ^what he repeated
about repentance and faith and the infinite love of God and the
power of Christ for salvation. Alex McKenzie had heard it
all before — long before, being Scottish born, and a Highlander —
and he had not utterly forgotten, prodigal though he was. It
was all recalled to him, now, by a man whose life and love and
uplifted heart were well known to him — his minister.
** * Pray for me,' said he, like a child.
206 The Modern Church ^«^o*»
'* McKenzie died that night. He had never said a word in
the long interval; but just before his last breath was drawn —
while the Pilot still held his hand and the Sister of Charity
numbered her beads near by — he whispered in the Pilot's ear:
" ' Tell the boys I made the grade! ' "
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
{1) Puddefoot: The Minute Man on the Frontier; see Chapter XX,
" The Minute Man in the Mining-Camp," and Chapter XXX, " Christian
Work in the Lumber Town." {2) Duncan: Higgins — A Man's Christian
(Harper & Brothers, 50 cents) is the best help on this lesson.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. What are some of the conspicuous needs in rural communities?
• 2. How can rural churches assist in meeting those needs?
3. What do the country churches need in order to experience a new life?
4. What are country churches learning through social service?
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. What is the general character of a new mining camp?
2. What kind of missionaries are needed in mining camps?
3. Describe the extent of the lumber industry in the United States.
4. In what important respect does a lumber camp differ from a mining
camp?
5. Describe briefly a lumber camp.
6. What is the chief demoralizing element in the life of the lumber
camps?
Thirty-two jj^^ Gospel ifi Mining and Ltmiher Camps 207
7. What moral perils beset lumbermen outside the camps?
8. Why are qualifications for successful work among lumbermen ex-
ceedingly rare?
9. Wherein does a successful worker among lumbermen find his reward?
10. Why is he unable to establish permanent churches?
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. The extent of the mining industry in the United States.
2. Why the mining industry attracts many adventurers.
3. What are the chief surviving timber regions of the United States?
4. To what extent is missionary work carried on in lumber camps at
the present time?
QUESTIONS FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
1. What are the prospects of missionary work being long needed in
lumber camps in view of the fact that the present rate of cutting is three
times the annual growth of forests in the United States?
2. Does the fact that we use lumber put us under any obligation to the
lumberjacks?
3. Did the missionary who ejected the disturber show a Christian spirit?
208 The Modern Church ^«^°«
Part III. THE CHURCH WORKING
THROUGH VARIOUS ORGANS AND'
AGENCIES.
Lesson 33. HOW A MODERN MISSIONARY SOCIETY
IS ADMINISTERED.
Scripture Reading: Administering Church Funds. Acts 5: 1-6.
Note 1. The Organization of Mission Societies. The final
authority behind every missionary society is the denomination
by which it is organized. Each society holds an annual or
triennial meeting of delegates elected either directly by the
churches, as in the case of the Baptists, but more commonly by
some intermediate body. This large meeting is known among
the Baptists of the Northern States as the Northern Baptist
Convention of which the American Baptist Foreign Mission
Society is a co-operating organization; among Congregational-
ists, as the meeting of the American Board of Commissioners
for Foreign Missions; among Episcopalians, as the General
Convention; among Methodists, as the General Conference;
and among the Presbyterians, as the General Assembly.
Each of these denominational meetings elects the officers of
its respective missionary society, and a board of managers,
ranging in nimiber from twenty-six to ninety or more. Several
of the societies have also a still larger body known as a general
committee or advisory council, with whom the board may
consult respecting important matters. Upon the board, which
in some cases includes the officers of the society, rests the active
administration of the society's affairs. In a general way the
conference, convention, or assembly may shape the policy of
the missionary society, and determine what fields shall be
entered, but the important matter of raising funds on the home
field, of bu^dng, holding, mortgaging or selling real estate, of
administering trust funds, and of apportioning money to the
several missions is relegated to its board of managers.
When the supervision of this work is committed more or less
to a single official, he is usually called the corresponding secre-
tary. He is the execvitive officer of the board, and holds by
far the most responsible position in the society. He conducts
the correspondence of the board with its missions, is expected
to keep a vigilant eye not only on each particular station, but
upon the entire field, and to inform the board respecting all
Thirty-three j\ Modem Missionary Society 209
matters of missionary interest. This officer is sometimes
elected by the same general body that elects the board, but
som.etimes he is appointed by the board itself. In the leading
mission societies, the duties devolving on the corresponding
secretary have now become so executive as to require their
division into a nimiber of departments, each of which is under
the oversight of a secretary with one or more assistants. . Next
to the corresponding secretary, the treasurer is the most
important officer of a missionary society. The oversight of the
finances is a distinct department, ranking with the home base
and the foreign base. The treasurer, therefore, reports to the
society, though of course he is constantly in close relations with
the board, of which he is usually an ex officio member.
Note 2. Administration on the Home Field. The first im-
perative and most difficult task that confronts a missionary
society is the raising of funds w^th which to carry on the work.
Every society could expand its work tenfold if it had the means
in hand. Sometimes a wave of enthusiasm will sweep over a
convention, and the board be instructed to launch out into
larger expenditures. Under the spell of an eloquent and pa-
thetic appeal it seems easy indeed to have one's home church
increase the annual contribution at least ten per cent. But
the people who have not been to the convention have not been
stirred and the promised addition fails to materialize. If the
board responds to such counsel, it is likely to be left with a
heavy deficit. Even when a budget no larger than that of the
preceding year is made, unforseen economic conditions may
reduce the society's income by a large simi. One of the gravest
problems faced by missionar^^ societies in the past has been the
imcertain and variable receipts with w^hich to meet fixed or
larger expenditures, and the possibility of being forced to make
heart-rending retrenchments.
The sources on which a missionary society depends for its
income are the contributions from the churches and Sunday
schools; gifts from individuals, legacies, and income from trust
funds; and last, but by no means least, the fimds raised by vari-
ous auxiliary societies, especially those carried on by the women
and the yoimg people. The amounts contributed by the
women's societies alone range from about one-fifth to one-half
of the entire annual receipts. As a matter of fact, they really
contribute much more, since they render important aid in rais-
210 The Modern Church ^'''''"
ing the contributions of the several chtirches, all of which go
directly into the treasuries of the societies.
Until within a few years the churches were left to give as
much or as little as they pleased, except so far as they were
stimulated by distressing appeals from the headquarters of the
society. Most of the churches took up an annual collection.
If it happened to be a rainy Sunday the collection might be
only a small fraction of the ordinary amount. To bring about a
better and surer response, all the leading denominations have
now adopted the apportionment syvStem (Lesson 22, Note 5),
which promises to place the financial operations of the societies
on a far firmer basis than before.
Note 3. Administering the Foreign Field. A missionary
society finds it almost as hard to decide where it can most
advantageously expend its f-ands, as how to raise them on the
home field. The open doors are so many, the cries for help are
so loud and insistent, that the means at hand, great as they may
seem in themselves, appear in comparison pitifully small.
Every mission board would gladly, if it were possible, make
each dollar in its treasury do the work of ten. In determining
where the need is greatest, the question arises, who are best
able to decide, the board in America or the missionaries on the
field? The answer to this question gives rise to two types of
administration .
The first is represented by the American Baptist Foreign
Mission Society in which the board of managers fixes the salary
of every missionary, and the amounts to be expended for
specific purposes at each station. This is not done, however,
without the fullest information obtainable from the missionaries
themselves. On each field they are organized into a volimtary
conference which meets once a year to consider matters of com-
mon interest and to advise the board of managers respecting
actual needs. When the conference is not in session, a reference
committee appointed by the conference attends to this work.
On each field one of the missionaries is appointed by the board
to act as treasurer. The higher educational institutions and
mission presses are cared for by the trustees. As an example
of this type of administration take the Rangoon station of
the Burma Mission. It contains thirty missionaries, and the
Society treasurer's report enimierates seventy-eight grants,
running from $16.72 to $5000, and aggregating $58,429.75.
Thirty-three ^ Modem Missionary Society 211
A second type at the other extreme is presented by the
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Of
its twenty missions, that at Foochow approaches nearest to
the expenses of the Rangoon Mission, being ^56,036. 92. It
has forty missionaries. Yet of the five specific appropriations
three are for expenses incurred in this country, such as grants
for missionaries and their families at home on furlough, |4, 173.60 ;
for missionaries' children in this cotmtry, $1,245.12; and for
procuring and forwarding supplies. $1,446.43. The remaining
two appropriations, aggregating $52,171.87, correspond to the
seventy-eight grants enumerated by the treasurer of the
Baptist Board. This lump sum seems to be granted by the
Board, as in every other case, after careful consideration of
detailed estimates for the mission. But being so granted, the
responsibility for its proper use rests on the missionaries them-
selves.
It should be added that the policy of the Baptist Society as
stated above is not rigidly foUowed in every case. In recent
years appropriations have been made in a lump sum to certain
missions, but only when the missionaries themselves have
expressed a preference for this form of administration.
Note 4. Relative Cost of Administration. A man was
asked for a contribution to foreign missions. He handed over
a dollar, and then another with the remark, " This is to pay
for carrying the other dollar to the heathen." This represents
a common but sttipid en-or respecting the administration of a
missionaiy society. In the first place, no society sends money
to the heathen; it sends the gospel. In the second place, to
do business costs money. A missionary society is no exception.
But in comparison with most business houses where the cost
is from twenty-five per cent upward, the cost of conducting the
business side of a missionary business is astonishingly small.
The operating expenses of the five leading Foreign Mission
Societies studied in the preceding notes are as follows: Pres-
b3rterian, 6.69 per cent of the total receipts; Methodist, 8.5
per cent nearly; Congregational, 8.8 per cent; Episcopal,
10.2 per cent; Baptist, 10.7 per cent. These figures, however,
are quite misleading since they are not based on -uniform
schedules. Compare, for exam.ple, the two societies that
show the lowest and the highest of these percentages. The
Presbyterian Society ow^ns its building and pays no rent. The
212 The Modern Church ^«^^°»
Baptist Society, on the contrary, includes in its cost of admin-
istration rent and janitor service amounting to $8,563. Fur-
thermore, when a Board turns over to a mission a gross simi,
the cost of administering it is transferred from the home base
to the foreign base, and does not, as in the case of the Baptist
Society, appear in the home cost of administration. Another
and important item in favor of the Presbyterian Societ^^ appears
in the fact that, while it pays larger salaries to a larger number
of officers, these salaries make no draft on the general treasury,
since they are met by private generosity. If the societies
could agree on a uniform schedule the " operating cost " would
probably not vary greatly.
Of two things the churches may be assured : first, that their
missionary funds are administered with the most scrupulous
economy consistent with efficiency; any statements to the
contrary may be dismissed as due to ignorance, stupidity, or
malice. Secondly, that the stupendous enterprise to the support
of which these funds are dedicated is moving on, in spite of the
inadequacy and imperfection of human means, with gigantic
strides that would have seemed unbelievable a few years ago.
In answer to the prayers of the church God is revealing His
power in wondrous ways.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
For further information respecting the administration of missionary-
societies study the annual reports of the leading societies.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. What are some of the conditions under which the gospel is preached
in mining camps?
2. What are the prominent traits of the lumberjacks?
3. What qualifications are needed for preaching to these men?
4. What results may be expected from preaching in lumber camps?
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. From whom does a missionary society derive its authority?
2. Describe the constitution of a board of managers.
Thirty-three ^ Modem Missionary Society 213
3 What are the duties of a corresponding secretary?
4. Why has the providing of funds with which to carry on the work of
a society been one of its heaviest burdens?
5. What are the sources on which a missionary society depends for its
funds?
6. How is the administration of the home base being improved?
7. What type of administration for the foreign base is represented by
the Baptist Society?
8. What type is represented by the Congregational Board!
9. Why does the apparent cost of administration in the leading societies
vary greatly?
10. How does the operating cost of a missionary society compare with
that of most other business enterprises?
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. Where are the headquarters of yomt Foreign Mission Society?
2. How is its board of managers chosen?
3. How manysecretarics and assistant secretaries does it employ?
214 The Modern Church '^^"o"
4. What were the total receipts as given in the last report?
5. How much was sent direct to the foreign base?
6. What was the cost of administration?
QUESTIONS FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
1. Which is the better of the two types of administration described in
Note 3?
2. How would you answer one who objects to supporting foreign mis-
sions on the ground that " very little of the money ever gets to the
heathen " ?
Lesson 34. HOW CHURCHES ADVANCE WITH THE
FRONTIER.
Scripture Reading: Beginning from Jerusalem. Lu. 24: 44-53.
Note 1. Religious Character of the Early American Settlers.
After the discovery of America by Columbus three distinctive
lines of invasion seemed destined to determine the character
and institutions of the Western Continent. By right of dis-
covery and conquest the working out of this destiny belonged
to Spain. She entered by the southern gateway of Florida
and the parts along the Gulf of Mexico. Her missionaries
overran in a short time the territory now embraced in the
States of Florida, Alabama, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and
California. Their Indian converts numbered a hundred
thousand. North America was being handed over to Spain
to exploit for material wealth and political glory, and to the
Roman Catholic church for her own type of propagandism.
By a series of startling political movements this stupendous
scheme collapsed, and the destiny of America passed into the
hands of the French, who entered by the northern gateway of
the St. Lawrence. Their motives were the same, but their
methods were gentle and friendly as compared with those of
the Spaniards. By making friends of the Indians, instead of
oppressing them, they swiftly pushed their control over the
whole of Eastern and Central Canada, the whole of the Mis-
sissippi valley, and large parts of Vermont, New York, Texas
and Mexico:
In the meantime a third invasion was taking place along the
central Atlantic coast. The impelling motive of the Plymouth
Pilgrims was neither greed of gold nor empire nor church
Thirty-Jour //^^ CkuYches Advauce with the Frontier 215
control, but freedom to worship God according to the dictates
of the individual conscience. Wolfe's victory over Montcalm
at Quebec in 1759 ended one empire and created another; it
crushed the hope of Roman Catholic supremacy in North
America and paved the way for Protestantism. On the
foundations laid by the English their descendants have built
up our present Republican and Protestant institutions. With
the advance of population from the Atlantic seaboard to the
Pacific, the evangelization of the settlers has gone hand in
hand.
Note 2. The Beginning of Home Missions. The growth
toward the West and Northwest of settlements destitute of
the gospel led, as early as 1774, to an effort to send them preachers.
But this ceased with the breaking out of the war of the Revolu-
tion. After independence had been gained the call for preachers
became more insistent, and sporadic attemps to meet it were
made by the churches. The first organized effort was made
in 1798 when the Missionary Society of Connecticut was formed
" to Christianize the heathen of North America, and to support
and promote Christian knowledge in the new settlements
within the United States." A year later the Massachusetts
Society was formed for a similar purpose. Not one of the
numerous missionaries sent out by these societies worked for
the white population within the limits of the older States. A
few were appointed to preach to the remaining Indians. All
the rest followed the pioneers into the sparsely settled regions of
New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, and the still remoter
W^est, preaching wherever they found hearers, and -founding
churches wherever a handful of Christians could be assembled.
In 1802 the Presbyterian General Assembly, which already
manifested an interest in home missions, took the step toward
organized work by appointing a committee of seven " to collect
information relative to missions and missionaries, designate
the places where missionaries should be employed, to nominate
missionaries to the Assembly, and generally to transact under
the direction of the Assembly the missionary business." The
constant growth of the work forced the Assembly in 1816 to
transform this committee into a Board of Missions, " with
full power to transact all the business of the missionary cause,
only requiring the Board to report annually to the Assembly."
The same year, 1802, marked the organization by the Baptists
216
The Modern Church
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Thirty-four }Jq^ CJiUTches Advance with the Frontier 217
of " The Massachusetts Domestic Missionary Society." In
like manner other denominations, one after another, organized
for work on the home field, and endeavored as far as their
means permitted to push the organization of denominational
churches on the rapidly extending frontier. Since then the
history of each denomination has been largely a history of its
home mission work.
Note 3. The Advancing Frontier. The work of the home
mission societies moved westward as rapidly as the settlements
pushed ahead into the wilderness. The planting of Evangelical
churches was greatly facilitated by the character of the
early settlers. Especially was this true of the Northwest
Territory, which was taken under the direct control of the
National Government in 1787. This territory, which has
well been called the " Keystone of the American Common-
wealth," has not only by its wealth, manufactures, and com-
merce, but above aU by its men and women, exerted a powerful,
if not controlling, influence on our national destiny. The
rapid settlement of this territory gave a new birth to home
missions. It enabled the churches to realize as never before
the meaning and magnitude of the task that confronted them.
Happily, the progress of home missions was not arrested
when the missionaries reached the Mississippi River. Study
the map of the Territorial Expansion of the United States,
and note that at the beginning of the last century two-thirds
of their present area were under foreign control. Step by
step, however, this control was lost. First, Louisiana was
purchased from France in 1803; this included an area large
enough for a dozen imperial states. Secondly, the Oregon
region was acquired by exploration and actual settlement in
1811; Texas, with parts of New Mexico, Oklahoma, Colorado,
and Wyoming were annexed in 1845 as a result of the war with
Mexico; three years later Mexico ceded to the United States
all the rest of the country stretching to the Pacific Ocean, with
the exception of the Gadsden Purchase which was acquired in
1853. Each of these acquisitions meant a new frontier, and
paved the way for new missions and new churches.
To keep pace with this march of population taxed the strength
of the Eastern churches to the utmost, but the reward has been
exceeding great. Thousands of little frontier churches, aided
by the mission societies, are now towers of strength in great
218 The Modern Church ^^«o»
cities, sending back into the mission treasuries a hundred-
fold the aid they received. The heroic home missionaries
not only established churches, but in so doing planted the
Christian civilization that is the foundation of our national
strength and prosperity.
Note 4. The Methods Employed. The frontier towns were
never modeled after the pattern of a law-abiding, God-fearing
New England village. The men who pushed into the wilder-
ness were bold, rough, and barbarous. They were a law unto
themselves, and. this law was promptly enforced by pistol
or rifle. The towns quickly filled up with adventurers and
human driftwood. Saloons and dance halls flourished on
ever}^ side. Very often a saloon was the only place open to the
missionary. The story is told of one saloon keeper who,
having offered his premises to a preacher, stretched a large
piece of cotton across his bar with this notice : ** Divine service in
this place from ten a.m. to twelve tomorrow. No drinks served
during the service." At the conclusion the host began taking
up a collection, having first seized his revolver with an intima-
tion that no small coins would be acceptable. In the collection
were poker chips redeemable at the bar in gold.
Gradually the frontier towns settled down into orderly
communities. With the help of the home mission societies
small churches were built. Pastors, supported in part by the
societies, were called to minister to them, and to work in the out-
lying districts. In thinly settled regions colporteurs traveled
on horseback or with a wagon, distributing or selling religious
literature and holding meetings in schoolhouses, bams, or any
places available. Where a church could not be established
at once a Sunday school was gathered which commonly grew
into a church.
Along the railway lines chapel cars are now very helpful
in reaching the railroad men and the people in the small towns
and villages along the road.
Extraordinary as the progress has been in populating the
vast region indefinitely known as " the West," there still
remain innumerable places where primitive conditions prevail,
and where missionaries are exposed to all the hardships and
perils of frontier life. It does not follow, however, because
such work is diminishing, that the thirty or more home mission
societies in the country see an approaching end to their work.
Thirty-four }{q^ ChuTckes Advaucc with the Frontier 219
On the contrary, it is expanding rapidly from year to year.
Aside from the work done systematically and successfully among
the native Indians, the emancipation proclamation and the
close of the Ciial War placed on these societies the tremendous
task of pro\iding for the mental, moral, and spiritual uplifting
of the millions of negroes in the Southern States. Immense
simis have been expended in pro\'iding for their education,
and in fitting them for industrial efficiency.
With the incoming tide of foreign immigration the cr>4ng
need for home missions has shifted from the West to the East.
The older States that fifty years ago were depended on to
furnish the generous support to home missions have now them-
selves become mission fields that must be cultivated with all
the resources at the disposal of the churches if our American
institutions and ideals are to survive. The numerous foreign
colonies that are crowding into our cities and manufacturing
centers have opened up a new frontier into which the churches
must carry the gospel with as much enthusiasm, energy, and
self-sacrifice as were required in the expanding West.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
{1) Clark: Leavening the Nation. (2) Strong: Ozir Cotmtry. (5) Mor-
ris: At Our Own Doors. (4) Puddefoot: Minute Man on the Frontier,
(o) Annual Reports of the Denominational Home Mission Societies. (6)
Almost every Home Mission Society has published a more or less full
history of its own work, and issues one or more periodicals from which a
wealth of illustrative matter can be gleaned.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. To whom is the administration of a mission society usually com-
mitted?
2. How are the funds for carrying on the work provided?
3. What two types for administering the funds for the foreign field have
been adopted?
4. What are some of the figures given for the operating cost?
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. Why did the Spaniards and the French fail to hold their vast American
colonies?
2. What motives ruled the colonists from Northern Europe?
3. Describe the formation of the first Home Mission Society.
220 The Modern Church ^^"^'^
4. What other societies followed?
5. How did the opening of the Northwest Territory affect the advance
of missions?
6. How have the churches established on the frontier affected the national
welfare?
7. Describe some of the difficulties encountered by the missionaries on
the frontier.
8. What was the work of a colporteur?
9. What responsibility was placed on the Home Mission Societies by
the Civil War?
10. What has shifted the frontier of missions to the Eastern States?
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. What is your church doing in assisting to plant churches on the
frontier?
2. Have you a Home Mission organization in your church?
• 3. How did the opening up of the Northwest Territory promote the ad-
vance of American political and religious ideals? See Clarke: Leavening
the Nation, pp. 47-86.
QUESTIONS FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
1. How does the history of the Spaniards, the French and the English
in North America indicate a providential guidance?
2. Is it worth the while of a strong and promising young man to go to
some " jumping-off place " to start a church among a handful of rough
frontiersmen?
Thirty-Ave ChuYck Sckools " 221
Lesson 35. CHURCH SCHOOLS.
Scripture Reading: Importance of Religious Instruction.
Deut. 11:18-32.
Note 1. What We Mean by Church Schools. Until very
recently the term *' church schools " had a single weh under-
stood meaning, namely, academies and colleges founded by
religious denominations and maintained in close relation with
them. The term included also institutions that were not
strictly sectarian, but in which the atmosphere was as distinctly
reHgious as in those that were imder denominational control.
Within a short time the term has been appropriated as a
designation for the unified educational activities of a single
church. When the Smiday school, the young people's societies,
the various missionary and benevolent organizations, the men's
clubs, the boys' chibs, and the girls' clubs are co-ordinated,
and made component parts of a single organization imder the
control of a Director of ReHgious Education and a Board
chosen by the church, this organization has come to be called
the Church School. But when we remember that in this third
part of our course we are studying " The Chtirch Working
through Various Organs and Agencies " outside of the local
churches, it is evident that the term is here used in its older
and larger, rather than in the new and restricted, sense.
Note 2. Religious Education in the Earlier American
Colleges. The early settlers in the American colonies were
for the most part of a deeply religious character. NattiraUy
education partook of the same. So greatly were they impressed
by the importance of religious training that school books, from
the primer up, were saturated with religious instruction.
The most important man in the community was the parish
parson. To raise up an educated ministry for the churches
became a matter of primary concern. For this specific purpose
Harvard coUege was foimded in 1636. The same is true of Yale,
Brown, Princeton, Columbia, and in fact of nearly all the
higher institutions of learning founded before the middle of
the nineteenth century.
The same care for religious education was sho^\^l by the
early home missionaries. One of the first things to receive at-
tention after the establishment of churches on the frontier
was the foimding of Christian academies and colleges. Each
denomination felt that its welfare was boimd up with the
222 The Modern Church ^«"o«
existence in each new state or territory of one or more church
schools under its own control. The president almost invariably,
and the professors largely, were ministers who regarded them-
selves as charged with the religious as well as intellectual
welfare of the students. Chapel exercises were held at least
once, sometimes twice, a day, and attendance was compulsory.
Bible history, the Greek New Testament, and Christian doctrine
formed parts of the regular curriculum, and seniors seldom
escaped Paley's Evidences of Christianity and Btitler's Analogy.
While the colleges were profoundly religious, they were
seldom sectarian in spirit even when under sectarian control.
They had already learned to distinguish between denomina-
tional peculiarities and the vital elements of Christianity.
While the cultivation of Christian character was encouraged
by personal counsel, Bible study, attendance on public worship,
and revivals, there were few attemps at proselyting. On the
other hand, those who took a decided stand for Christian
Hving seldom failed to have their attention directed to the
ministry as a worthy and noble vocation.
Note 3. The Growth of Denominational Colleges. Accord-
ing to a statement in Religions Education for October, 1912,
there were in this country in 1910, 602 colleges and imiversities,
of which 374 reported as denominational, 90 as state, city, or
national, and 138 as independent. Of the last class at least
56 are by origin and history afhliated with some Christian
body. Out of the entire 602 colleges and universities 430
may therefore be designated as church schools. These 430
institutions reported in 1910 an aggregate of property and
endowments amounting to .1^;258,487,260. Of the 301,818
students connected with the 602 colleges and universities 162,-
062 were enrolled in the church schools. That the proportion
is so small is due to the rapid growth of the new state universi-
ties whose enrollment increased from 6,700 in 1870 to 101,285
in 1910.
These figures show the importance attached by the churches
to an education that is religious as well as intellectual and
physical. Many of these denominational colleges are small,
enrolling less than 200 students, and struggling to do sincere
work with meagre endo-wments and inadequate equipment.
But taken aU in aU the influence they have exerted upon our
national Hfe has been enormous. It is estimated that ninety
'^hirty.five Church Sckools ^23
per cent of the ministers, missionaries, and professional men
who today are conspicuous in public affairs have been trained
in the church schools. Until the rise of the state universities
these institutions were practically the only ones where a liberal
education could be obtained. What is needed now is not an
increase in denominational colleges, but a strengthening of
those that already exist, and that are proving their worth by
the excellency of the educational work they are doing.
Note 4. Student Self-Govemment in Religious Education.
One of the most marked changes in college life during the past
half century is the large measure of self-government accorded
to the students. They are no longer treated as boys that need
to be watched and directed by the faculty in all the details
of their lives. One of the chief values of college life to a yoimg
man is learning self-mastery. The old-time paternal attitude
on the part of the faculty is almost everywhere a thing of the
past. It is possible only where the number of students is com-
paratively small.
In no respect is this change more apparent than in the
sphere of religious education. The Bible may still be studied
as history or literature, but as a help in cultivating a devotional
and spiritual life its study has almost entirely passed into
the hands of the students themselves. The center of religious
life is no longer the chapel exercise but the Young Men's
or the Yoimg Women's Christian Association, which is often
housed in its own building, provided with a reading room
and rooms for Bible classes, led by students who have been
trained at summer schools. A weekly prayer meeting is also
cared for by student leaders. In many of the larger universi-
ties the oversight of the religious interests of the entire student
body is committed to a paid Y. M. C. A. secretary, who seeks
to establish personal relations with as many as possible. In
the smaller institutions the tendency is in the same direction
as far as their situations and means permit.
Note 5, The Future of Church Schools. The rapid multi-
pHcation of state -universities during the past thirty or forty
years, the large fimds at their disposal, the splendid equipments
furnished in every line of research, and the large number of stu-
dents whom they attract have aroused a fear that the smaller
denominational colleges have had their day and must go to
the waU. As large a proportion of the students in these
224 The Modern Church ^«^<"^
secular institutions as in the church schools come from Christian
families, and they are being attracted in constantly increasing
numbers. Some years ago it was shown that the University
of Michigan at Ann Arbor had more Presb>i:erian students
enrolled than Princeton or any other Presbyterian college
in the United States. Such facts seem at first sight to make
the outlook for the church schools doubtful.
But there is another side. The separation between church
and state has forced the state universities into the same relation
toward religion as the public schools. Christianity itself
can claim no assistance through taxation. *' The exclusion
of the use of the Bible and the forms of Christian worship,
the elimination of the religious sanctions from the foundations
of ethics, and the liberty accorded to teachers to express their
doubts concerning the fundamental doctrines taught in Christian
homes and churches, combine to constitute a form of non-
sectarianism quite at variance with that known in the earlier
state institutions. It is the fear that non-sectarian education
may go to this extreme length that has alarmed Christian
people and fostered the conviction that church denominations
should tighten rather than loosen their control over the colleges
they have founded and maintained."
Furthermore, the great number of small denominational
colleges have been of inestimable service to the communities
in which they have been planted. Few students go to them
from a distance. By far the larger number is dra-wTi from the
immediate vicinity. The tuition fees are in most cases con-
siderably less than half of what the larger colleges and imiver-
sities demand, and other expenses are correspondingly moderate.
Thousands of young persons have been, and are still, able to
take advantage of these conditions, and to acquire a liberal
education as a foundation for successful careers, who would
have had to forgo the advantages offered by the distant and
more costly universities.
Finally, each one of the church schools has behind it the
sacrifices, the affectionate loyalty, and the constant prayers
of a denomination that feels a large measure of responsibility
for its welfare. Though under denominational control, these
colleges have long ago solved the problem of making education
Christian without making it offensively sectarian. They
attract young people of all Protestant beliefs as well as Roman
Catholics and Jews. There probably never will be a time when
Thirty-five CkuTCh Sckools 225
the Christian world will not be organized in different groups.
So long as this is the case, and so long as church and state are
so separated that the latter in its educational institutions
cannot undertake direct religious instruction, so long the work
must be done by denominations, either in avowedly church
schools or by providing religious education in the state univer-
sities. While these institutions properly refuse to use state
funds for this purpose, the authorities usually stand ready
to co-operate in all legitimate ways for promoting the religious
interests of the students. Christian Associations are cordially
recognized. Denominational guilds are welcomed. Several
denominations have assigned pastors to the work of looking
after their own yoting people, lists of whom are gladly provided
by the imiversity authorities. In these and many other ways
the state imiversities are showing their appreciation of the
value of religious education.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
{1) Perry in Recent Christian Progress, pp. 433-439. {2) Moffatt in
Religious Education, April, 1910, on " The Debt of the Nation to the
Denominational College," pp. 46-51. {3) For statistics of colleges under
denominational oversight, see the respective denominational year books.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. How did the destinies of North America fall into the hands of Prot-
estants from Northern Europe?
2. What led to the beginning of home missions?
3. How did the territorial expansion of the United States pave the way
for home missions?
4. Describe some of the methods that characterize the home mission
advance.
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. In what sense is the term " church school" used in this lesson^
2. What purpose moved the New England Pilgrims to found colleges 1
3. What was the attitude of the home missionaries toward higher re-
ligious education?
226 The Modern Church ^^"^«
4. How were religious interests cared for in the early church schools?
5. What was the prevailing attitude of church schools toward sectarian
teachings?
6. How is the present importance of denominational colleges and uni-
versities shown?
7. Why has religious education in colleges and universities passed largely
into the hands of the students themselves?
8. What has led some persons to regard the future of church schools as
doubtful?
9. Why is it likely that the denominational college will remain a perma-
nent American institution?
10. How are state universities co-operating in providing religious
education?
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. What is meant by a non-sectarian, as distinguished from a denomina-
tional, college?
2. In what sense can Harvard, Yale, Brown, Columbia, Chicago, and
other similar universities be classed as non-sectarian?
3. What are the leading non-sectarian institutions of your own denomi-
nation?
4. To what extent does the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement
of Teaching discriminate against church schools?
5. To what extent has it influenced church schools to abandon ecclesi-
astical control?
QUESTION FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
Has the transfer of religious leadership from faculty to student been a
gain or a loss?
Thirty-Six xhe Religtous Press 227
Lesson 36. THE RELIGIOUS PRESS.
Scripture Reading: A Bringer of Good Tidings. Isa. 52:7-10.
Note 1. What We Mean by the Religious Press. The
first printed book was the Bible. From that day to this the
printing press has been used in the production of reHgious
literature more largely than in any other department of human
thought. In the widest sense aU this mass of books, pam-
phlets, and periodicals might be included under the term
"religious press." But, as in speaking of "the press," we
commonly mean only the newspapers or periodical literature
of a cormtry, so it seems best to limit the term "religious
press " to serial publications, whether weekly, monthly or
quarterly, whether popular or technical, that aim to minister
to the religious needs of individuals or churches.
Note 2. Religious Journalism in America. Early American
journalism was almost wholly political. The first newspaper
printed in the American colonies was Puhlick Occurrences,
issued in Boston, September 25, 1690, but immediately sup-
pressed by the government because it ventured to print a
smaU installment of domestic news. The first successful
newspaper was the 5o5/aw News- Letter, 1704, which lived through
many vicissitudes for a space of seventy-two years. More
than a century passed before a distinctively religious news-
paper appeared. The first venture in this line was the Bos-
ton Recorder, issued in 1816, and afterwards merged with The
Congregationalist. In 1819 the Baptists of Boston started
The Christian Watchman, which, after having incorporated
several other papers, and having experienced several modifica-
tions of name, survived as The Watchman until its union in
1913 with The Examiner of New York. The New York
Observer was started in 1820 by the Presbyterians; Zion's
Herald, about the same time in Boston by the Methodists;
and The Christian Register in 1821 by the Unitarians. In
less than ten years after the appearance of the Recorder one
himdred such newspapers had sprung into existence. Since
then the number has rapidly increased, so that now every
denomination has its more or less numerous periodicals devoted
to every phase of denominational interest. The entire number
published in this country in 1912 was 856, with circulations
ranging from 160 to 508,876,
228 The Modern Church ^"^^«
Besides these there is a small but influential body of un-
sectarian periodicals, such as The Christian Herald and The
Outlook, and stiU others that represent interdenominational
interests, such as The Christian Endeavor World, and the
Sunday-School Times. Christian Work, after absorbing The
Evangelist and quite recently the old New York Ohserver^
has really become an undenominational publication, though
nominally Presbi^erian.
Note 3. The Period of Prosperity. American religious
journalism reached its greatest development and power between
1840 and 1880. The rapid multipHcation of rival sects, the'
absorbing controversies respecting doctrines, rituals, and
ecclesiastical ^ polity, and the oracular authority accorded to
the editors, combined to give the reli.gious newspapers an
extraordinary circulation. Each sect, however insignificant,
felt that its existence depended on its having an '' organ " for
attack and defense. The larger Christian bodies were aggres-
sively denominational. Every editor regarded himself as a
watchman set on the walls of his particular Zion to guard
against heresies. Minor points of difference were so magnified
as to obscure essential points held in common. Naturally
the people became absorbed in discussions, each one eager to
see his own journalistic champion pulverize the adversary.
Moreover, foreign missions were still enveloped in a halo of
romance, and news from the distant fields was eagerly sought.
Those were the halcyon days when religious journalism exerted
an immense influence in public affairs, and when the leading
editors loomed up as giants in the land.
Note 4. The Present a Period of Decline. During the
past thirty years denominational periodicals have greatly
decreased in number, and many of those that survive have
a hard struggle to keep alive. Precisely when the decline
began it may be difficult to state, but some of the reasons
are easily discerned.
(1) A lessening popular interest in discussions of theological
doctrines and ecclesiastical practices.
(2) A new conception of the kingdom of God in its world-
wide relations, and a consequently waning interest in sectarian
controversies.
(3) The growth of a strong undenominational journalism
that emphasizes the larger aspects of the kingdom and points
Thiriy-six jIj^q Religious Press 229
of fundamental tinity rather than minor differences.
(4) The pubHcation of considerable reHgious news by the
secular press.
(5) The field formerly filled by the religious newspaper is
now occupied in part by specialized publications, on missions,
temperance, social reform, etc.
(6) ReHgious periodicals must pay their own way or cease
to exist. With the increasing cost of production many of the
weaker class became unprofitable and were merged with others.
(7) The exclusion of objectionable advertising in recent years
cut still further into the reduced income. This loss could
not be made good by better advertising, since the field of
the average religious newspaper in this respect is quite limited.
(8) But the most potent reason, perhaps, is " the modem
disposition to make no sharp distinction between things sacred
and things secular. The distinction between the modem
reHgious journal and the daily or weekly newspaper which
is edited by high-minded men and in accordance with the
standards of Christian ethics, is not always marked."
Note 5. The Abiding Functions of the Religious Press.
That many religious periodicals are disappearing or ha\4ng
a hard time is true also of the secular press, as well as of all
forms of church work. Religious enterprises of ah kinds are
facing economic and social conditions that make their work
increasingly difficult.
On the contrary, we may assure ourselves that the day of the
reHgious press, even in the narrower sense of denominational
journalism, has not passed. Some of the reasons are:
(1) Probably ninety-five per cent of the religious life of
the people is within the denominations, and the rest of it is
inspired hy them. In spite of much talk about church federa-
tions and church unity, and an increasing emphasis on truths
held in common, the great majority of Christians stiU find
a particular denomination the chief field for religious interest
and activity. Those of like faith and order are their own people
in a Httle closer sense than others. The denominational paper
keeps the individual in touch with denominational interests.
It must not, however, be narrowly partisan. It fails lament-
ably if it does not aim to inspire its readers with a sense of
responsibility respecting service to be rendered to the community
at large.
230 The Modern Church ^"^o«
(2) It is impossible to get from secular newspapers any
adequate idea of what goes on in the religious world. The
ordinary activities of the churches, or details of progress
on the home or foreign fields, do not constitute news of the
kind eagerly sought by secular journals. Church people
need periodicals that make a business of gathering religious
news, and treating it intelligently. The religious press meets
a specific demand, precisely as do trade journals and scientific
publications. The daily newspaper can no more fill the place
of The Congregationalist, The Churchman, The Christian Advo-
cate or any other representative denominational paper, than
that of the Horseshoer's Journal or The Scientific American.
Frequently a brief and bald news item in the morning paper
has a profound and far-reaching meaning that needs to be
interpreted. Every economic, political, and social problem
rests on some ethical principle that demands elucidation. There
are vital questions, like the appropriation of money for sec-
tarian purposes, that even the most independent dailies scarcely
dare mention for fear of alienating a considerable part of their
clientage. These conditions are permanent and can be met
only by an independent, fearless, and progressive press.
(3) The religious press preforms an important service by
passing discriminating judgments on current literature from the
religious point of view. " Probably more books are purchased
on the verdict of the religious journal than in any other way."
(4) The religious press stands next to the Christian pulpit
in holding up those high ideals which make for sweetness,
tenderness and consecration in character; in promoting a
sense of human brotherhood and universal peace; and in creat-
ing a passion for the realization of the kingdom of God in its
world-wide scope. An agency with such a mission cannot
perish from the earth.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
(1) Strong: " The Religious Press in America," in Recent Christian
Progress, pp. 447-450. (I) Merriam: " The Iniiuence of the Religious
Press on the Home and the School," in the Proceedings of the Religious
Education Association, 1904, pp. 442-445. This volume contains several
other discussions bearing on the subject of this lesson. (3) Willett:
Religious Education, October, 1910, pp. 355-359.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. Why did thQ Protestant pioneers make ea,rly provisions for collegiate
education?
Thirty-Six xhe ReUgwus Press 231
2. Why is religious education now left with the students themselves?
3. How has the demand for church schools been affected by State uni-
versities?
4. Why are church schools likely to hold a permanent place in American
life?
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. What kind of pubHcations are included under the term " religious
press " ?
2. What were the earliest American religious newspapers?
3. To what extent has the American religious press expanded since
then?
4. Mention some of the more prominent undenominational newspapers.
5 Describe briefly the period of prosperity.
6. Mention some reasons for the subsequent decline.
7. What is the outlook for the denominational press?
8. Why is the secular press unable to take the place of the religious?
9. State some other reasons why the religious press is to be a permanent
institution.
232 The Modern Church -^"^ow
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. How many religious periodicals are taken in your home?
2. Which do you regard as the more valuable — a denominational or an
undenominational publication?
3. To what extent are religious periodicals taken in your church?
4. What do you think would be the result if every family in your church
could be prevailed on to take one or more religious periodicals?
QUESTIONS FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
1, Are church people responsible for the inadequate attention given to
religious subjects in the secular press? Give reasons.
2. How many secular papers would you have to read in order to find
out the important news concerning your own denomination?
Lesson 37. YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN
ASSOCIATIONS.
Scripture Reading: Young Men Seeing Visions. Joel 2: 28-32.
Note 1. A Young Man with a Vision. In 1844 Sir George
Williams was only an unknown clerk in a big dry goods house
in London. He slept and prayed in an upper room in St.
Paul's Churchyard, and as he prayed there came to him a
vision of the neglected spiritual needs of young men engaged
in various business employments. On Jrnie 6, 1844, in that
upper room, he and another of the clerks planned the First
Yoimg Men's Christian Association. Five months later ten
other clerks from the same establishment united with these
two in organizing it. At first it was designed to minister
only to the needs of the soul, but soon it came to embrace those
of the body and mind as well. It spread rapidly into other
dry goods establishments, then into other trades, and soon
into the leading cities of England. December 9, 1851, the first
Association in America was organized in Montreal, and Decem-
ber 29, 1851, the first in the United States was formed in
Boston.
Note 2. The Association Defined. The Young Men's
Christian Association is a true child of the Christian church.
It might be caUed the church at work for the all-round welfare
of yoimg men. And yet though organized and sustained by
consecrated Christian young men, it. is wholly independent
Thirty-seven Youfig Meus Christian Associations 233
of ecclesiastical control. But it by no means follows that it
has not the interest of the churches deeply at heart. On the
contrary, the leaders are absolutely unanimous in holding that
the " main business of the Association is to win men to Jesus
Christ, relate them to His church, train them for His service,
and set them to work in and for the church."
The mem^bership is divided into active and associate. The
active voting membership is restricted to young men affiliated
with evangelical churches. Associate members are those who,
without regard to denominational affiliation, join the organ-
ization for the sake of its educational, athletic or social privileges.
Note 3. Organization and Growth. At first the associa-
tional tmit was the individual city membership. The rapid
multiplication of Associations in the United States and Canada
soon demanded county, state, and provincial organizations,
all unified in a central International Committee whose per-
manent home since 1866 has been in New York City. Every
three years an International (United States and Canada)
Convention is held in which each Association is accorded
direct representation. This Convention passes on all questions
of general interest, and its decisions are binding on the Associa-
tions. It elects the International Committee composed of
ninety members. This Committee acts as the agent of the
Convention in extending the number and increasing the effi-
ciency of the local Associations.
The International Committee super\^ises and directs the
world-wide activities of the American Associations. To this
end it employs in the home field a total force of over a hundred
executive, traveling, and office secretaries. Its secretaries
on the foreign field nimiber 132. These American represent-
atives in other lands of the movement " are charged with the
responsibility of establishing and developing model Associa-
tions in the seats of commerce, government and education
in the countries of which they have been sent." These cotintries
are Japan, Korea, China, Philippine Islands, India, Ceylon,
Turkey, Russia, Mexico, Cuba, Porto Rico, Brazil, Uruguay,
Argentina, and Chili.
The 2, 192 Associations in North America, according to the
World Almanac, 1913, have 563,479 members, and 3,633
general secretaries and other paid officials. They own and
occupy 756 buildings valued at $60,454,336. They have
234 The Modern Church ^"^^
67,417 young men as students in evening educational classes,
300,590 in their physical departments, and 103,599 in Bible
classes. For local, state, and international expenses they
expended in 1912, $11,302,547.
The International Committee is affiliated with the World's
Committee whose headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland.
This committee is composed of members who represent every
continent, and practically every civilized country in the world.
Note 4. The Work of the Associations. To give an ade-
quate idea of the work done by the Yotmg Men's Christian
Associations would require far more than the space allotted
to this lesson. The briefest mention of some of the more
important must suffice.
Each local Association has its familiar Bible classes, other
religious services, its boarding house and employment bureaus,
its educational classes, its athletic department, and its pro-
visions for social life — all mider the direction of a paid general
secretary, many of whom have received specialized training
at the Association College in Springfield, Mass., or at the
training school in Chicago. The educational courses in the
Associations range in number from half a dozen to two himdred,
and in character from ordinary high school studies to highly
specialized industries and professions. For instance, the
Boston Association offers eighteen law coiu-ses in its evening
schools, and is authorized to grant the degree of LL.B. The
industrial courses are planned to train men for more efficient
service in the vocations in which they are employed. Brockton
and Lynn are the chief centers in Massachusetts for the manu-
facture of shoes. In each of these places the local Association
organized a '* Shoe Makers' College," in which a man, confined
in the factory to a single one of the hundred operations in-
volved in the making of a shoe, may learn all the processes of
the industry and so fit himself for higher positions and better
pay. In the present system of extreme subdivision of labor,
such a knowledge is as rare as it is valuable. Business courses
are provided in great variety.
Attention has already been called (Lesson 35, Note 4) to
the transfer of religious instruction in nearly all the higher
educational institutions of the country from the faculties to
the Yotmg Men's Christian Associations. On the other
hand, thousands of college and university students are getting
Thirty-seven
Young Men's Christian Associations
235
236 The Modern Church ^«^««
invaluable preparation for their future work, and an inspi-
ration for social service never dreamed of, by conducting educa-
tional classes in labor unions, talking in shop meetings,
instructing American mechanics, doing deputation work in
rural communities and extension work in southern cotton mill
villages, and teaching foreigners English to make them better
workmen, civics to make them better Americans, and rights
and duties to make them better citizens.
Distinct and extensive departments of work are those
among the railroad men, in the Army and Navy, among the
colored people in the South, for boys, and for immigrants.
At EUis Island the foreigner is met by Association men who
speak twenty-four languages, who see to his getting, ashore,
change his money for him, find him an approved boarding
house, procure him work if he stays in New York, or buy his
ticket and put him on a train with food for his journey, and
a card to the Association secretary nearest to his destination.
But the work of the Association does not begin when the
stranger lands at an American port. At eleven of the chief
ports in Europe agents are on hand who win the confidence of
the emigrants by friendly services and by offers of still further
services on this side if they are willing to accept them.
Note 5. What One Association is Doing. Simply to give
an idea of the varied and extensive work that one Association
does, the following summary of the reports for 1911 in the
Boston Association is given. It includes all branches except
the Navy.
8,738 Different men and boys (815) connected with the Associa-
tion in 1911. Membership, December 31, 5,637.
21,237 Aggregate attendance of men and boys (5,038) at religious
services.
8,720 Aggregate attendance of men and women at Norumbega
Park meetings.
6,604 Aggregate attendance of men and boys (4,323) at Bible classes.
$2,492.63 Contributed to State, International and Foreign Work.
1,788 Different men and boys (673) connected with the Physical
Department.
56,253 Aggregate attendance at gymnasia.
37,561 Aggregate attendance at 2,154 class sessions in gymnasia.
1,634 Medical and physical examinations were made.
1,624 Aggregate participants in gymnasia team contests.
2,485 Individual men enrolled in the Association Institute.
205,978 Aggregate attendance at 11,894 class sessions covering 195
courses.
Thiriy-seven Youug Mens Christian Associations 237
$2,325 . 35 Received and deposited in Savings Department.
1J046 Men and boys furnished permanent and temporary employ- ■
ment, representing $416,000 in wages for year.
15,703 Persons attended socials and entertainments.
190 Visits made to the sick and injured.
865 Individuals were referred to rooms and boarding places.
21,081 Temporary beds furnished and paid for by men.
41,580 Meals and luncheons furnished and paid for by men.
368 Men enjoyed the benefits of the Outing Department, represent-
ing 764 weeks against 60S in 1910.
1,128 Immigrants met at the docks and rendered sorne service.
370 Non-English speaking men enrolled in 18 different classes
representing 4 nationalities.
1,359 Boys enjoyed the outings.
3,339 Boys attended the boys' entertainments, lectures, practical
talks, etc.
100 Members Boy Scouts of America. First troop in Boston.
112 Boys enjoyed the benefits of Camps Durrell, Becket, and
Sagamore.
1,181 Boys enrolled in clean sports, clean speech, and clean living
clubs.
5.612 High school boys addressed by prominent speakers.
This work of the Boston Association wdll doubtless be greatly
extended when it enters its new building, now almost com-
pleted.
Note 6. Religious Movements Within the Bounds of the
Associations. Three great religious movements have sprung
into life under the inspiration of the Yo-ung Men's Christian
Association. First, the Students' Volimteer Movement for
Foreign Missions, bom at Mt. Hermon, ]\Iass., in 1886; second,
the World's Student Christian Federation, foimded in Wadstena,
Sweden, in 1895; and third, the Men and Religion Movement
already described in Lesson 25. The second of these w^as a
direct result of the first world-tour of student centers by
J. R. Mott of New York. In view of these movements ** the
Yoimg Men's Christian Associations of America can no
longer be considered as a group of local institutions doing
definite things for a few thousand men who visit their buildings.
They have become a mighty, continent-mde, many-sided,
complex, yet pervasive and aggressive movement of the churches
of America, which should be counted on as a supporting friend
of all that makes for the physical, mental, social, and moral
advancement of all the man and boys of the continent."
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
{1) Hodder: Life of Sir George Williams. {2) Reports of the Inter-
national Committee. * (S) The Survey, January 18 and April 19, 1913.
238 The Modern Church ^*"^
(4) Outlook, July 13 and September 7, 1912. (5) Missionary Review,
November, 1912. {6) World Today, February and April, 1911. (7)
World's Work, June, 1913.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. When did religious journalism reach its greatest development in
America?
2. What causes promoted this growth?
3. What led to a subsequent decline?
4. Why must we consider the religious press a permanent institution?
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. Tell briefly how the Young Men's Christian Association originated.
2. How is it related to the churches?
3. What are the conditions of membership?
4. Describe the international organization.
5. Give some idea of the growth of the movement in North America.
6. How do the Associations meet educational demands?
7. How do they co-operate with college and university students?
8. What are some of the great departments of work?
Thirty-eight Yottfig Womeu's Christian Associations 239
9. How do the Associations assist foreigners coming to America?
10. What great religious movements have been started through the
American branch of the Young Men's Christian Association?
11. In consequence of these movements, what is the present scope of
its work?
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. What is the membership of your local Association?
2. What is its equipment?
3. What work is it doing?
4. How many young men have through its influence united with the
local churches during the past year?
5. Consider the Railroad, the Army and Navy, and the Boys' Depart-
ments as subjects for special study.
6. How much does it cost to belong to the Association nearest you?
QUESTIONS FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
1. To what would you attribute the growth of the Young Men's Christian
Association movement?
2. What would you consider its value as a factor in improving human
efficiency?
Lesson 38. YOUNG WOMEN'S CHRISTIAN
ASSOCIATIONS.
Scriptiire Reading: Showing Kindness to a Handmaiden and a Stranger.
Ruth 2: 1-16.
Note 1. How the Movement Started. Many years passed
before a movement was begtm in behalf of young women
designed to do for them what the Yotmg Men's Christian
Association did for those of the other sex. This delay was
not because no one recognized the need. As early as 1845,
the year after the founding of the Association for yoimg men,
George Williams called attention to the need of organized
240 The Modern Church ^^"^«
efforts in behalf of young women. But his appeal for a " Young
Ladies' Association," met no response. In 1856 Mrs. Lucretia
Boyd, a city missionary in Boston, suggested the organization
of a society of this character for young women, but her tentative
proposition slumbered ten more years before a successful effort
was made to realize it. The reason for this delay was the pro-
nounced opposition to the formation of another organization
to do work that the churches professed themselves abundantly
able to do. This feeling was perhaps inspired, in part at least,
by the old but still surviving prejudice against affording the
same opportunities to women as to men. Moreover, when
Williams made his appeal, there were comparatively few oc-
cupations open to women. Most of them remained at home
until they married and set up homes of their own.
By 1866 the need had become so convincing that action could
no longer be delayed. In March of that year, in Boston, at
the home of Mrs. Henry F. Durant, wife of the founder of
Wellesley College, the first Young Women's Christian Associa-
tion was organized, and began work at once. Its object, as
stated in its constitution, was to promote " the temporal,
moral and religious welfare of young women who are dependent
on their own exertions for support." Within a few weeks a
reading room was opened for recreational and religious purposes.
Active voting members must be identified with evangelical
churches, but any young woman of respectable character may
become an associate member. The present headquarters of
the Association, erected in 1884, have long ago ceased to be
adequate for the work that might be done.
Note 2. The Work of the Boston Association. As this
Association served for many years as a model for the hundreds
of similar organizations that sprang up over the country,
a closer study of its activities may be helpful. From the
outset it has striven to render assistance of the most practical
kind. In its first modest reading room it began helping yoimg
women (out of work) to find employment, and to direct those
without a home to respectable boarding places. But the need
of a large building imder the direct control of the Association,
in which yoimg women could find safe and comfortable ac-
commodations for longer or shorter periods, soon became so
pressing that the Warrenton Street Home was erected and
dedicated in 1874. Since then it has sheltered thousands of
Thirty-eight YouHg Womeu's Christian Associations 241
yoirng wage earners, and is still fulfilling its noble mission.
The number of applicants for work also became so great that
in 1876 a regular emplo3niient office was opened. So successful
has this become that, according to the report of 1913, nearly
5000 women were placed in positions during the preceding
year, a large number of them also received vocational counsel.
The cafe at the headquarters during the same time supplied
128,167 meals to transients besides sheltering 138 permanent
boarders. The Warrenton Street Home had 494 permanent
boarders and 1897 transients.
The gymnasium has large classes in regular gymnastic work.
During the three summer months the entire plant, including
rest room and shower baths are at the disposal of any girl
who may choose to use it for a merely nominal price.
The Training School for Domestic Service, begun in 1879,
and the School of Domestic Science, begun in 1888, are render-
ing invaluable service in preparing young women for efficiency
in household work and for teaching Domestic Science. For the
latter there is a wide demand.
The School for Stenography does not attempt to compete
with the Business CoUeges, but aims to fit girls at a small cost
and as quickly as possible to earn a living. A diligent student
after earning her diploma is fitted to secure and retain situa-
tions commanding good salaries.
One of the most useful and beautiful services is that rendered
by the Travelers' Aid department not only to incoming im-
migrants but to any bewildered stranger. It helps her to find
the place where she would go — not always an easy task. It
tries to advise her, house her, find work for her, and to protect
her from imsuspected harm. The agents of the Association,
known by a blue ribbon, meet incoming steamers, especially
from provincial ports, and receive from the stewardesses girls
or women needing special care, the former in specific instances
not permitting them to leave the boat except in charge of an
Association woman. Frequently requests come from a distance
to meet children or inexperienced travelers and to help them
on their way. Last year (1912) assistance in various ways
was rendered in 2,624 instances.
Note 3. Growth of the Associations. From the United
States the movement has extended into Canada, Great Britain,
nearly every European cotmtry, South Africa, Brazil, India,
242 The Modern Church ^"^o«
China, and Japan. A World's Young Women's Christian As-
sociation was organized in 1894 with headquarters in London.
A national organization embracing only our own coimtry
was formed in 1906, the object being " to unite in one body
the Yoting Women's Christian Associations of the United
States; to establish, develop and tmify such associations;
to advance the physical, social, intellectual, moral, and spiritual
interests of young women." This national organization
embraces at the present time 208 city associations, 660 student
associations, and 7 cotmtry associations., Special work is
carried on among immigrant women, colored people, Indians,
professional art students and nurses. A training school that
aims to provide competent secretaries and other executive
officers is located in New York City. Eleven Summer Confer-
ences are held in various parts of the country where volunteer
workers are trained in Bible study and association work.
Not aU of the Associations have united with the national
organization. Many of them still prefer to retain their
complete independence. The above figures, therafore, do not
accurately represent the total strength of the movement in this
country.
Note 4. Religious Work of the Associations. Every local
organization puts a large emphasis on caring for the spiritual
life of its members by Bible study, by religious meetings, and
by personal efforts in behalf of other young women to whom the
Association may be a help and stimulus. Special notice, how-
ever, should be taken of the work done by the national organ-
ization in connection with educational institutions. The
first students' Association was started in a co-educational
college in Illinois in 1872. The most rapid growth of this
department was at first in the Middle West, but since then
it has spread over the entire land. From the beginning of
the Student Volunteer movement a close alliance has existed
between it and the Yotmg Women's Christian Association.
This has resulted in the sending out of over a thousand young
women as missionaries in foreign fields, many of whom are
supported by the colleges in which they were students.
The so-called Extension Work is a comparatively recent
development. It carries the work of the Associations into
miUs and factories, where short noon meetings are held, and
where the young women are encouraged to form clubs or classes
Thirty -eight YouHg Wofueu's Christian Associations 243
for the cultivation of higher ideals than factory life supplies.
Efforts are also made to carry the Associations to country
girls by means of country organizations, and to the girls in
the smaller towns, both of which classes have been greatly
neglected.
As in the case of the Young Men's Christian organizations,
so here, multitudes whom the churches cannot reach come imder
the Christianizing influences of the Associations. The least
they do is to impress ideals that make for better living and
thinking. For many they do more. They open the way to the
beginning and development of a noble womanhood consecrated
to the service of Christ and his church.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
{1) A brief article in Recent Christian Progress, pp. 425-428. {2) For
Reports and other literature published by the Young Women's Christian
Association of America, send to headquarters, 125 East Twenty-Seventh
Street, New York City. {3) Annual Reports of the Boston Young Wo-
men's Christian Association, 40 Berkeley Street, corner Appleton. (4)
See also three excellent articles on the work of these Associations in Good
Housekeeping for September, 1909, April and May, 1913.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. What was the origin of the Young Men's Christian Association?
2. What is its aim?
3. Mention some of the departments of its work.
4. How has the scope of its work broadened out in recent years?
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. Why did the formation of a Young Women's Christian Association
lag so far behind the Association for men?
2. When and where was the first Young Women's Christian Association
organized?
3. Describe the growth of the Boston Association
4. What are some of the departments of its work?
244 The Modern Church ^'""^
5. Describe more particularly the Travelers' Aid department.
6. To what extent has this movement in behalf of self-supporting young
women grown?
7. What particular religious work is carried on by it?
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. Is there a Young Women's Christian Association in your neighbor-
hood?
2. If so, what is its membership and departments of work?
3. If not, why not? Do these reasons justify further inactivity?
4. Reasons why the Young Women's Christian Association of America
was not organized until 1906.
5. The work of the Association in India, China, and Japan.
6. How the more extensive entering of young women into industrial
and business life affected the demand for a Young Women's Christian
Association.
QUESTIONS FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
1. How can Young Women's Christian Associations aid Sunday schools
in providing better teachers?
2. In what ways can the local churches co-operate with the Young
Women's and Young Men's Christian Associations?
3. In your town, what is done to assist young women to find employ-
ment? What is done to protect young women who are traveling? Where
can a strange young woman find low-priced lodgings that are certain to
be free from evil influences?
Thirty-nine xhe Federation of Churches 245
Lesson 39. THE FEDERATION OF CHURCHES.
Scripture Reading: Jesus' Prayer for Christian Unity.
John 17: 20-25.
Note 1. Rise of Independent Christian Churches, and the
Reaction against Them. The Protestant Reformation in the
sixteenth centiiry broke up the external unity which had ex-
isted for many centuries. By making the Scriptures the final
court of appeal in all matters of faith and practice, and by
allowing a large measure of liberty in private interpretation of
the sacred writings, the reformers opened the way for the de-
velopment of an almost endless variety of opinions and for the
formation of so many different Christian bodies, that it seemed
as if Protestantism was suffering a hopeless disintegration.
During the last generation the Protestant world has experi-
enced a strong reaction in favor of imity. This is due in part
to a recognition of the following facts : first, that Christian di-
visions are contrary to the spirit of Him who prayed that his
followers "may all be one"; second, that distmion involves
waste of money and of men, and loss of influence in the world;
third, that the trend of the modem world is away from indi-
\^dualism toward co-operation and concentration; fourth, that
many of the issues which originated the present divisions are
now as obsolete as the Ptolemaic theory of the universe; and
fifth, that the right of the church to exist must be constantly
redemonstrated by its power to meet the conditions of the
present.
Note 2. The Present Tendency toward Closer Relations.
The new concern for imity has been manifested chiefly among
Protestant communions. Most of these hold what are com-
monly regarded as the ftmdamental doctrines of the gospel, such
as the true Godhead and manhood of Jesus Christ, the sinful
condition of man, Christ's atonement for sin, salvation b}^ faith
and not by works, and regeneration by the Holy Spirit. On
the other hand, the points wherein they differ are chiefly var3dng
interpretations of these doctrines, and matters of ritual and
church government. One trouble has been that churches have
not been able to agree on what things are essential.
Furthermore, unity and union are not synon^nnous. A full
unity is obviously not compatible with outward separation and
di\'ision. Church union implies the surrender by one or the
other of the uniting parties of its corporate identity. Accord-
246 The Modern Church ' Lesson
ingly, it is a consummation that seems as yet somewhat remote
except in the case of denominations so closely related that no
important differences remain. " In Scotland seven Presby-
terian bodies have been reduced to three. In England the
separate Presbyterian bodies became the Presbyterian Church of
England in 1876. In the United States the Cimiberland
Presbyterians have recently returned to the parent body. In
Canada the many Presbyterian bodies became in 1875 the
Presb3^erian Church of Canada. Since 1873 the six Canadian
Methodist churches have formed the Methodist Church of
Canada. In Australia and New Zealand the Methodist divi-
sions have achieved union since 1900. In Germany the Luther-
ans and the Reformed have been united " (Charles Sumner
Nash in *' Recent Christian Progress "). Within a few years
organic tmion has been consummated in this country between
Baptists and Free Baptists. We cannot wonder that whole
denominations are reluctant to lose their identity by merging
with some other denominations, when we remember that some-
times two or more local churches of the same denomination are
struggling to keep up a separate existence in a community when
by uniting they could do their work far more easily and effi-
ciently. But, notwithstanding the powerful hold of religious
conservatism and denominational sentiment and pride, the
movement for the consolidation of closely related church bodies
is constantly gaining strength.
Note 3. Federation of Protestant Churches. The way for
federation among Protestants has been gradually prepared by
an increasing realization of the fact that the Kingdom of God is
to be established in this world, that this world, therefore, is the
subject of redemption, and that the work of redemption rests
upon the church. But this redemption of society is too large
a task for any denomination to imdertake single-handed. If
achieved at all, it must be by imited effort. It is a work, more-
over, that requires no sacrifice of religious convictions. There
is nothing sectarian about the necessity of appl3dng Christian
principles to the acquisition and distribution of wealth; about
rational treatment of immigrants; about movements for the
suppression of social injustice, child-labor, overworking of
women, saloons, disease, poverty, vice and crime; nor about
efforts to promote arbitration instead of war in settling in-
dustrial as well as national disputes.
Thirty-nine j^i^ Federation of Churches ' 247
A beginning of church federation for the purpose of united
work along all such lines has already been made. In December,
1905, five hundred officially appointed delegates of thirty Prot-
estant denominations met in Carnegie Hall, New York City,
and recommended a Plan of Federation, w^hich has since then
been adopted by thirty-two denominations representing about
seventeen millions of church members. These include all the
largest bodies, such as Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians,
Congregationalists and Episcopalians. The last are unoffi-
cially represented. While refusing to recognize the vaHdity of
the ordination of Protestant ministers, they are nevertheless
foremost in promoting co-operation along lines that do not
trench on their sacerdotal claims. According to the Plan of
Federation the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in
America was organized in Philadelphia in December, 1908. The
object of this Council is: '' (1) To express the fellowship and
catholic imity of the Christian church. (2) To bring the
Christian bodies in America into imited service for Christ and
the world. (3) To encourage devotional fellowship and mutual
coimsel concerning the spiritual life and religious activities of
the Churches. (4) To secure a larger combined influence for the
Churches of Christ in aU matters affecting the moral and social
condition of the people, so as to promote the law of Christ in
every] relation in human life. (5) To assist in the organiza-
tion of local branches of the Federal Coimcil to promote its aims
in their communities."
The Council meets every four years, but may be called to-
gether oftener. The last meeting was held in Chicago, Decem-
ber 4-9, 1912. The Coimcil is the embodiment of an alliance
whereby the forces for good, whose power has been wasted by
disunion, may be marshalled in opposition to the forces of evil
that have seemed irresistible only because they were imited.
*' The practical character of the w^ork of the Coimcil is indi-
cated by two subjects on which it took action. One concerned
preparations for dealing wdth the inflow of immigrants that is
expected upon the opening of the Panama Canal ; the other con-
cerned the world-wide war upon one of the worst and most
disabling plagues kno^^vTi to man — the hookworm. Fifteen
or twenty years ago the effect of a wide-spread parasite upon the
human race, or the social consequences of the opening of a great
waterway, would hardly have been accepted by the churches as
coming within their sphere."
248 The Modern Church ^^"°«
Note 4. The Outlook for the Future. While the prospect
of organic union between the leading Protestant communions
seems as yet somewhat remote, much has been gained in recent
years. The churches are coming closer together, they are learn-
ing to regard themselves as separate wings of God's great army,
and they are training their guns on the common enemy instead
of firing into one another's lines. We see a larger emphasis on
the great truths held in common, and a rapidly diminishing
emphasis on unimportant differences. Naturally sectarian
controversies and jealousies are fading away. With a clearer
understanding of one another's position, with patience, charity
and prayer, we may hope that there will be such a realization
of the essential oneness of the Christian Churches of America in
Jesus Christ as will permit them to reap all the advantages of
organic union without experiencing its possible perils.
The greatest progress in the line of co-operation has been made
on the foreign mission fields. There the absm-dity of perpetuat-
ing divisions originally brought about in the homeland by con-
ditions that long ago ceased to exist has been keenly felt. Such
divisions are not only meaningless to the Orientals, but a
positive hindrance to the success of missions, and in some cases
an unpardonable waste of resources. In China, especially, the
native Christians are more outspoken in favor of tmion than the
missionaries. One missionary said recently: " If the Western
churches do not look out, the Eastern sheep will all be in one
fold." In the meantime union in educational and medical work
has already been undertaken in several places mth happy re-
sults. It would not be surprising if in the near future condi-
tions on the foreign fields should become a powerful factor in
breaking down denominational differences at home
Note 5. Signs of the Coming Dawn. (1) One of the most
important movements in the interests of reunion among Chris-
tains is the proposed World Conference for the consideration of
questions of Faith and Order.
This movement does not contemplate the immediate reunion
of the different Christian commimions, which would be
manifestly impossible. It proposes that as a first step on the
way towards ultimate imion a great Conference shall be held to
be participated in by representatives of all Christian com-
munions throughout the world which confess our Lord Jesus
Christ as God and Saviour.
Thirty-nine jj^^ Federation of Churches 249
It is proposed (a) that the Conference shall include representa-
tives of the whole Christian world, both Catholic and Prot-
estant; (6) that its purjDose shall be to consider frankly, but
ia the spirit of charity and love, those things which now separate
or seem to separate Christians one from another in the belief that
such consideration will result in showing that some of the differ-
ences are not so great as they had seemed to be, and in removing
others entirely; {c) that the Conference shall be only for mutual
study and discussion, with no power to legislate or to adopt
resolutions, so that no commimion can be compromised or com-
mitted by those who represent it at the Conference. That it
shall meet in the hope and with the prayer that such brotherly
conference may prove to be a first step on the way towards the
fulfillment of our Lord's own prayer — " That they all may be
one."
This movement was inaugurated by the Episcopal Church
at the General Convention held in 1910. Thirty-five of the
most imxportant rcHgious commiuiions have already officially
identified themselves with the movement by appointing com-
missions or committees to act for them and to co-operate in the
undertaking. Friendly assurances of interest have been re-
ceived from dignitaries of the Roman Catholic Church and of
the Eastern churches.
{2) The recent attempt in Russia to fix on an obscure Jew
the guilt of " ritual murder " for the obvious purpose of incit-
ing the ignorant multitudes to an attack on the race failed, not
so much for lack of evidence perhaps, because of the indignant
protest of the civilized would. This protest evoked from a
great secular newspaper in this cotmtry the following comment :
"When Protestant and Catholic clergymen, priests and pre-
lates unite in an appeal to a powerful government for justice to
Jews and in defense of the Jewish reHgion against an ancient
slander, the fact gives proof of the obliteration. of sectarian lines
and the decay of bigotry. This is the Christian spirit in its best
exempHfication. It shows that behind differences of creed and
ritual the churches are at one on the essential doctrine of himian
justice, and it reveals a tolerance which affords rare evidence of
the extinction of old animosities." To this every one who has
the welfare of humanity, the promotion of righteousness, and the
coming of the kingdom of God at heart will give unqualified
assent. While at the present time there are many who beHeve
that the differences between Catholics and Protestants are
250 The Modern Church ^««o«
irreconcilable, it seems possible that at some future day a
social crisis may arise, or a question of human justice similar to
the above, of such nature and magnitude as to bring these great
divisions together into a federation that may ultimately lead to
an even closer union.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
(1) Lorimer: Christianity in the Nineteenth Century, pp. 407-454. {2)
Fosdick: " Reuniting the Church," in North American Review, May, 1913.
(5) Abbott: " A Combination in ReHgion," in the Outlook, Dec. 21, 1912.
(4) "Christian Unity," in Atlantic Monthly, May, 1913. ip) "Toward
Christian Unity," in the Outlook, May 31, 1913. {6) See articles in Liter-
ary Digest, Dec. 14, 21, 28, 1912; Feb. 1, 15, 1913; March 29, 1913.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. How did the Young Woman's Christian Association originate?
2. Mention some lines of work done by the Boston Association.
3. Describe the growth of the organization.
4. How is it related to religious work among young women in college?
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. How did the present Protestant denominations arise?
2. Why is there at present a reaction against having so many denomina-
tions?
3. How do the doctrinal beliefs of Protestants favor closer relations?
4. Should not the inner unity of the spirit find its true expression in out-
ward union and fellowship?
Thiriy-nine ^he Federation of Churches 251
5. What avenue toward closer church relations is open to Protestants?
6. How have Protestant churches been prepared for federation?
7. Describe briefly the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in
America.
8. What is the outlook for church unity among Protestants?
9. How is this outlook being influenced by conditions on foreign mis-
sion fields?
10. Mention some signs of a growing disposition on the part of Chris-
tians of all names to come together.
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. What work in your own community are the churches doing in common?
2. What other work do you see that needs to be done, and that can be
accomplished most effectually by co-operation?
3. Are there weak churches in your community that might be better off
by imiting? If so, why don't they unite?
4. To what extent have Christian Endeavor Societies, Yotmg Men's
Christian Associations, Church Brotherhoods, and other interdenomi-
national organizations promoted a better understanding between the
churches?
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION.
1. Has the denomination with which you are affiliated any distinctive
mission to perform that could not equally well be performed if it should
252 The Modern Church
unite with some other closely related communion? In a word, why does
it maintain a separate existence?
2. If you have reasons for a separate existence, what would you be will-
ing to sacrifice for church unity?
3. To what extent is co-operation possible between the so-called evangeli-
cal churches and other denominations, such as the Unitarians?
The Modern Church
Lesson 40. HOW THE MODERN INDUSTRIAL
PROBLEM AROSE.
Scripture Reading: Social Crises Caused by Oppression of the Poor.
Amos 8: 4-10.
Note 1. A Typical Shoe Shop in 1850. One of the leading
industries in Massachusetts is the manufacture of boots and
shoes. A visitor to one of the towns or cities famous for the
extent of this industry is impressed by the number, and in some
cases the vast size of the factories. The employees range in
number from a hundred or more to several thousand. If his
guide should be one of the oldest inhabitants, the chances are
that he will point out here or there some little one-storied shop,
ten to fifteen feet square, where the founder of one of these
immense factories conducted his business about the middle of
the last century. He employed six or seven skilled shoemakers
and two or three apprentices, as many as the little room could
hold. Each one of the former class was competent to make a
boot or a shoe from start to finish . Every week the boss, who
was also the owner of the modest plant, drove to the nieghbor-
ing market with a load of cases filled with the finished products,
and brought back a load of raw material. All the work was
done by hand, or at best with the aid of one or two simple
machines run by foot power. The boss and his workmen were
social equals, who wrought elbow to elbow on terms of good
fellowship. Each knew all about the others' affairs. Each
was quick to sympathize in the joys or sorrows of his fellows.
The capital invested in the entire plant was so trifling that any
one of the workmen with a little ambition might easily aspire to
become the owner of a similar shop.
Note 2. A Typical Shoe Factory Today. Should the visitor
feel inclined to walk through the modem factory that by rapid
strides has evolved from this primitive shop, he will apply for
permission at a handsomely furnished suite of offices, where,
if visitors are admitted at all, an official will assign him to the
gtddance of a yoimg man who escorts him through the numerous
253
254 The Modern Church ^^^^"'^
departments, for the industry is most minutely divided and
subdivided. The two or three thousand employees are shoe-
makers no longer, but cutters, lasters, vampers, stitchers, heel-
ers, and other experts at one or another of the more than a
hundred distinct operations that enter into the making of a
modem shoe. Few, if any, of these employees could make an
entire shoe. Handwork has been almost entirely eliminated.
Thousands of complicated machines that work with a rapidity
and accuracy unapproachable by the human hand whirr and
buzz on every side, and to each one is attached a human ma-
chine that from morning till night, year in and year out, assists
the other machine in performing its minute detail in the com-
plex aggregate. Instead of the old comradeship, the employees
in every department are organized into a " Union " for self-
defense. Against whom? Not merely against the individual
owner of this plant, who in private life may be a very benevolent
person, but whom they seldom see, with whom only the depart-
ment bosses are acquainted, and who belongs to a wholly differ-
ent social class from themselves. It is as much against this
class as against its individual representative that the combi-
nation is formed. It is labor against capital, capital that is
clothed with almost imlimited power for oppression, and from
which concessions of right and justice are seldom won except at
the cost of industrial war or fear of it. When the factory is
owned by an impersonal corporation whose chief interest is to
enlarge dividends by keeping wages at the lowest point possible,
the position of the workinen tends to become still more difficult.
Note 3. How the Industrial Revolution was Brought
About. The preceding sketches of the primitive shoe shop and
the modem factory have been given at considerable length
because they illustrate the changes that have taken place in
almost every industry during the past century. Until 1767
practically all manufacturing was done by muscular power.
The word " manufacturing " still retained its etymological
meaning of " making by hand." A man's workmen were
spoken of as his " manufacturers." Processes were slow and
laborious, and so likewise was transportation. Roads were im-
speakably bad. Goods when finished could not be carried
beyond the nearest markets. The output was small because
the demand was limited.
When James Watt invented the steam engine in 1767 he
could not in his wildest dreams have foreseen that he was intro-
Porty Hq^ iiiQ Modern Industrial Problem Arose 255
ducing an agency that would revolutionize the industrial sys-
tem of the world and that would change the whole course of
modem civilization. Before that, man had been content to
depend on the pimy strength of his own arm, or to put a yoke
on an ox or a harness on a horse. The steam engine was one
of the greatest steps in harnessing up the inexhaustible powers
of nature as agents for doing his work. The significance of this
invention was not understood at first, and probably it is not
fully understood yet. But as soon as men came to see what a
tremendous power had been made available by the steam engine,
its application to industrial operations went on with increasing
swiftness, until now scarcely a line of production or manufacture
is independent of it.
This control of power stimulated at the same time the inven-
tion of a great variety of labor-saving machines. The immedi-
ate result has been an enormous increase in production. It is
estimated that in modem cotton mills one person produces as
much as three hundred and twenty did in 1769. All this in-
creased capacity for production would have been useless had
there not been a corresponding increase in facilities for distribu-
tion. Manufacturers will not make more than they can sell.
Almost as important as the invention of the steam engine has
been its appHcation to transportation by railways and steam-
ships. These have extended the range of consumption from
the manufacturer's immediate vicinity to the ends of the earth.
Other causes have contributed in. bringing about these revolu-
tionary changes but these are the chief.
Note 4. The Nature of the Industrial Problem. The social
and industrial conditions which the industrial revolution has
entailed are many and far-reaching. The problems to which
they give rise are complex and ominous. Some of the more
obvious of these conditions are the following :
{!) Enormous Increase of Wealth. The vast expansion of
industrial production has resulted in a corresponding increase
m material wealth.
{2) Disproportionate Distribution of Wealth, By far the
greater part of this wealth has passed into the possession of a
small fraction of the popidation. A few have accvimulated
fortunes ranging from five or ten millions to several hundred
millions. The great majority, on the contrary, have a hard
struggle for existence. Under the old system the far smaller
aggregate of wealth was more evenly distributed. Hence there
256 The Modern Church ^"^'"^
was a more general distribution of comforts, and poverty was
not so common nor extreme. Now with the vast increase in
wealth, there is a corresponding contrast between poverty and
wealth, with consequent discontent.
{3) The Rise of Hostile Social Classes, The past half century
has witnessed the building up in our coimtry of social classes
whose rank is often determined by money considerations.
Those who have no means, acquired or inherited, naturally fall
into the lower classes. A free American citizen who feels him-
self as worthy of respect as the next man resents social degrada-
tion merely because he works for a living. He sees others no
better than himself by birth or brains squandering fortunes on
luxuries, and refusing to notice him because he is only a *' hand "
in a mill or factory. The result is bitter class alienations and
hatreds.
{J}) Dissatisfaction with the Wage System. There is a growing
conviction among laborers that under the present system of
wages fixed by the market price of labor, they do not get an
equitable share of the profits.
{5) Monopolies. Employers, after experiencing the evils of
imlimited coanpetition, have found it to their advantage to
combine to reduce costs and to increase profits. Monopolies
are such combinations carried to a point where they are no longer
limited by competition in dictating prices to the consimier or
terms to their employees.
{6) Labor Organizations, or Trades Unions. As employers
combine to protect their own interests, so do the employees.
It is their only means of self -protection against the combined
power of capital.
(7) Industrial Wars. To secure the righting of alleged
wrongs, the laborers resort to strikes. Sometimes a thousand of
these more or less fierce industrial conflicts have been precipi-
tated in our own country in a single year, and they have re-
sulted in losses of millions of dollars to each party.
{8) Irresponsible Agitators. The deep dissatisfaction of the
laboring classes with the present industrial system has led them
in great ntmibers to give ready ear to professional agitators and
charlatans who advocate the use of violence and a complete
overturning of the present economic and social order.
These conditions, combined with a multitude of others, are
sufficiently grave to have led many thoughtful men to fear that
the civilized world is approaching the most momentous crisis
in the history of mankind. There are others who see with
Forty How the Modem Industrial Problem Arose 257
equal clearness the gravity of the crisis, and yet are hopeful of a
favorable outcome, because they see increasing signs of better
things. The only certainty is that our age is in the midst of a
momentous transition, and that nobody knows precisely whither
we are going or what the new order will be.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
{1) Ely: Outlifies of Economics, pp. 14-62. (2) Plantz; The Church
and the Social Problem, pp. 1-72. {3) Wells: Recent Economic Changes,
pp. 27-69.
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. Describe a typical shoeshop in 1850.
2. What were the relations of the workmen one to another and to the
boss?
3. How does a modern shoe factory differ from the old shoe shop:
4. Mention some of the chief changes that have taken place.
5. What was the industrial situation prior to 1767?
6. How was this situation affected by the invention of the steam engine?
7. How does the increase of wealth help to produce an industrial prob-
lem?
8. Why are the laboring classes deeply dissatisfied with the present
industrial system?
25S The Modern Church ^"^°"
9. How ha\ e laborers tried to protect themselves against the oppression
of capital?
10. How has the industrial problem been made unnecessarily acute?
11. What is the outlook for the future?
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. How large a proportion of the country's wealth is in the hands of a
few persons? References should be given; e.g.: See John Graham Brooks:
The Social Unrest, pp. 162-164; Carroll D. Wright: Practical Sociology,
pp. 312, 313; Josiah Strong: Social Year Book for 1904, PP- 70-73.
2. Can a man earn a milHon dollars?
3. How does the selfishness and extravagance of many rich people affect
those who are compelled to struggle for a bare existence?
QUESTION FOR DISCUSSION.
Is it true that the rich are constantly growing richer and the poor poorer?
Lesson 41. THE CHRISTIAN IDEAL OF SOCIETY.
Scripture Reading: A Primitive Christian Ideal. Acts 4:32-35.
Note 1. The Early Christian Ideal. The mission of Jesus
Christ culminated in his teachings respecting the fatherhood
of God and the brotherhood of man. But fatherhood and
brotherhood in their highest manifestations rest on love. Hence
the emphasis which Jesus laid on love as the supreme rule of
life. The Twelve, barring Judas, caught the spirit of the Master
in respect to material possessions, for they had a common purse
(Luke 12:6; 13:29). The same ideal of brotherliness mani-
fested itself in the early church at Jerusalem: ** The multitude
of them that believed were of one heart and soul; and not one
of them said that aught of the things which he possessed was
his own; but they had all things common " (Acts 4: 32). With
one tragic exception, the spirit of love banished selfishness and
Forty-one jj^^ Christian Ideal of Society 259
made each the servant of all. It was a practical attempt to
realize the Master's ideal — the apphcation of imiversal love to
the social relations of mankind. Very soon, however, the
church, instead of living and thriving on this law of love, drifted
away from it, and made it her mission to save men for a future
life. What was the use of trying to remedy social evils in a
world that was regarded as given up to the dominion of Satan,
a Idngdom of darkness, in which each " pilgrim " and " stranger"
could " tarry but a night "? The church, instead of trying to
solve the social problem, sought refuge from it in a celestial
world.
Note 2. The Social Problem Not Modem. The struggle
for social betterment goes back to the beginnings of social
organization. The direct cause of the ruin of the Greek cities
was the civil wars caused by the poor trying to despoil the rich,
and the rich resisting by every means within their power.
Rome tried to prevent sanguinary revolutions by subjecting
industry to the burden of feeding and amusing an idle and
turbulent population, and perished in the attempt. The
brotherhoods and guilds of the Middle Ages were organized to
protect social rights. The Reformation was a rising of the
people to throw off the yoke of papal despotism and to enjoy
a greater freedom in faith and Hfe. The spirit that rose against
the pope was sure to rise against the king. Cromwell's com-
monwealth in the next century was an effort to achieve in the
state the same freedom that had been won in the church.
This awakening of the spirit of himian liberty naturally led to
the proclamation of human equality as preached by Rousseau
and the encyclopedists. Certain truths were declared to be
self-evident. The American Declaration of Independence as-
sumed " that all men are created equal, that they are endowed
by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among
these, are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." The
violation of these rights by England was held to justify the
American Revolution. In France, a Httle later, it precipitated
the French Revolution. Still later, in our own coimtry, came
the Civil War for the maintenance of a ci\dlization founded on
industrial freedom rather than slavery. Every one of these
gigantic struggles was provoked by an assumed divine right on '
the part of a fev^ to oppress and enslave the masses, by an
ignoring of the divine law of love, and by a trampling on the
principle of himian brotherhood.
260 The Modern Church ^"«o«
Note 3. Some Proposed Solutions for the Social Problem.
The conditions which have occasioned this social unrest have
also led to the suggestion of schemes for their suppression.
Plato in his ** Republic " described an ideal commimity com-
posed of cultured, well-to-do, law-abiding, and self-governing
people. His scheme had no place for the poor, the weak, and
the ignorant that constitute so large a portion of the himian race.
Sir Thomas More's " Utopia," described an island, " the abode
of a happy society, which, in virtue of its wise organization and
legislation, is free from the harassing cares, inordinate desires,
and customary miseries of mankind." Many similar Utopian
schemes have been propounded, and in some cases put into
practical but short-lived operation.
Several theories of social reorganization are winning more
or less wide acceptance at the present time. The most popular
is socialism in various forms. Socialism recognizes primarily
the need of a strong central authority chosen and clothed with
power by the people themselves. This central authority, or
government, is expected so to control the chief industries and
activities of the people as to secure a better distribution of the
fruits of labor, and also a better production as a consequence of
improved living. To this end competition must give place to
co-operation, and the opportunities of life, as well as the rewards
of labor, must be equitably proportioned. When the power of
the sovereign state is employed in bringing about those results
we have state socialism; when this power is delegated to a
mimicipality, we have mtmicipal socialism. State socialism
will ordinarily limit itself to the control or ownership of in-
dustries or activities that concern all the people, such as post
offices, the census, coinage, and ultimately railroads, telegraphs,
coal mines, and many other interstate monopolies whose extor-
tions now cause general distress. Municipal socialism, when
given a free hand by State legislatures, sees practically no limits
to the local activities that may be taken over by the community
and administered for pubHc rather than private gain. While
as yet the great mass of socialists are more or less hostile to the
church, there are many earnest and intelligent Christians who
support socialism as the most promising method for getting the
will of Christ done, and who fail to see how Christians can accept
as the ultimate basis of industry and commerce anything short
of thorough and social control of the processes of production and
distribution.
Other movements that are commonly associated with the
Foriy.one jj^^ Christian Ideal of Society 261
term socialism are anarchism and communism. It would
greatly promote clearness of thought if these three were always
distinguished by their proper names. In popular use they are
often confused. Anarchists, in common with all sociaHsts, pro-
pose the conversion of the enormous gains of the few to the
benefit of all. But they differ from sociaHsts in their condemna-
tion of every form of government as a means of attaining this
end. Anarchism opposes any land of external rule. Its ideal
is absolute and unfettered individualism. In its best form it
claims to stand for a society in which order prevails through
the acquired goodness of the people rather than through law.
Anarchists point to the fact that in every civilized community
the majority of the people have already reached what they call
the anarchic stage where government and law are no longer
needed to enforce honesty, kindness, purity, helpfulness, and
scrupulous regard for one another's rights, and where external
restraint is needed only for the minority who have not yet
learned to restrain themselves. In its worst form anarchism
stands for a terroristic opposition to the entire present social
order. The quickest way to mend it, they say, is to end it.
The greatest evil connected with the anarchist movement is
that it seems to be controlled by extremists who see no way of
promoting their cause but by violence.
Communism proposes that all property shall be held as a
common trust, and that the profits of every one's labor shall be
devoted to the good of aU. In extreme cases it advocates
" absolute control by the community in all matters pertaining
to labor, religion, and social relations," even to the abolition of
the family. Charles Nordhoff described in 1875 seventy- two
commtmistic societies that had accumulated $12,000,000 of
property, an average of $2000 for every man, woman, and child.
This was done with less of painful toil, more comfort, bettei
insurance against want and demoralization, a higher and pleas-
anter life than in the outside world. This demand that all
wealth shall be held in common constitutes the essential differ-
ence between communists on the one hand and socialists and
anarchists on the other.
Among the remedies proposed for the social evils of our time
the single tax is the simplest and most concrete. Henry
George's ** Progress and Poverty " is the classic discussion of
this reform. In it he traces the want and suffering that ever\^-
where prevail among the working classes, and that show them-
selves more and more vStrongly as material progress goes on, to
262 The Modern Church ^"^o«
the fact that the land on which and from which all must live is
made the exclusive property of some. As the only possible
remedy for these evils he proposes to abolish all taxation except
upon land. He teaches that no taxes should be placed on im-
provements or on the products of labor, since such taxes tend
to discourage improvements and to restrict production. The
single tax reform attacks only the monopolization of land, but
does not directly attack the monopolization of industries by
capital. Socialism in all its forms attacks both.
A more equitable distribution of the fruits of labor is pro-
posed in various schemes of profit sharing. Wide attention has
been called to this method by the action of the Ford Motor
Company of Detroit in distributing among its employees ten
million dollars of its estimated earnings for 1914. While on
the one hand this act has been hailed as a sign of the approach-
ing millennium, it has also given rise to some searching ques-
tions. Is profit sharing in this case, or in any case, a mere
charity toward those who have not earned this increase, or is
it an act of justice in not withholding from those who receive it
what they have really earned? If the workman has earned a
share in the profits, why should his receiving it depend on the
good will of the employer? The present industrial imrest and
the rapid growth of socialism are due to the demand by the
working classes, not for charity, but for justice.
The Christian Ideal of Society. Religion has long been re-
garded as a thing largely apart from secular life. For centuries
the church has been trying to save men for a future life, and
in so doing she has overlooked the importance of saving them
for this life also, of saving them from selfishness and for service.
The objective aim of the church has been the individual and not
society. Why should time and strength be wasted in ameliorat-
ing present discomforts when it might so much better be em-
ployed in rescuing men, like brands from the burning, for
eternal felicity? Why try to improve a social system that may
end at any moment in a world judgment ? So far has this false
presentation of Christianity gone, this misuse of the hopes and
terrors of a future life, as to lead a French minister of education
and public worship to say with a good array of proofs, that
*' the further men are from religion, the nearer they are to
morality and good sense." The alienation of the working
people from the church is largely owing to her lack of interest
Forty-one j}^ Christian Ideal of Society 263
in the acute social problems to which the industrial conditions
of our time has given rise.
Happily the churches are rapidly coming to realize that
Christianity means social redemption for this world as well as
personal salvation in a world to come. True religion is not a
thing apart from the common life of men, but its most powerful
factor. The old heresy that " business is business," a cold-
blooded regard for profits, is being outgrown not only within
the church, but in the world outside. Everywhere men are
perceiving that sympathy, mercy, justice, faith, hope, love,
have a great deal to do with trade, commerce, industry, finance.
Instead of talking about religion and business, men are beginning
to talk about religion in business, and, if in business, then in
the entire social and industrial order. Every awakening of
the public conscience that leads to a recognition of new duties,
to a demand for better justice, to the practice of a larger brother-
hood, is a religious movement, whether it takes place with
the aid of the chiu-ch or without it. Christianity is essentially
social. It means living for others as well as for self. No man
can realize a complete personal redemption in an imredeemed
environment. We must help to save others if we would save
otirselves. We are here to serve rather than to be served.
Jesus is the ideal Saviour of men because He is the ideal Servant
of men. "I am in the midst of you as he that serveth," He
said. " Inasmuch as ye did it imto one of these my brethren,
even these least," the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the
stranger, the sick, the prisoner, " ye did it unto me."
The Christian ideal of society, accordingly, is a family, a
commimity, a nation, a humanity, in which love for the neigh-
bor goes hand in hand with self love, where every one sees his
own highest welfare realized through the welfare of his fellows,
where friendly co-operation displaces rivalry and strife, and
where individual regeneration is regeneration of social attitudes
— ^regeneration toward an ideal society. In such a society aU
will feel that they are members one of another, that service
rendered rather than received is the keynote of every life, and
that laws, institutions, customs, and organizations approximate
to the ideal only so far as they are pervaded by the spirit of
Jesus Christ. Tliis is the kingdom of God on earth for whose
coming we are told to pray.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
(1) Cross: The Essentials of Christianity. {2) Plantz: The Church and
the Social Problem. {3) Batten: The Social Task of Christianity, {4)
264 The Modern Church -^"^^^
Gladden: The Church and Modern Life. (5) Mathews: The Church and
the Changing Order. (6) Rauschenbusch: Christianity and the Social
Crisis. (7) On " Mr. Ford's Plan to Share Profits," see The World's
Work, April, 1914, {8) On Anarchism, Communism, and Socialism, see
Encyclopoedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. What is the nature of the modern industrial problem?
2. Mention some of the causes that have brought it about.
3. What are some of the outstanding results?
4. What is the outlook for the future?
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1, How did the early church in Jerusalem try to realize the Christian
ideal of society?
2. Mention some of the great struggles that have been precipitated by
intolerable social conditions.
3. What are some of the remedies advocated by socialism?
4. What are the leading doctrines of anarchism?
5. How does communism differ from 'socialism and anarchism?
6. Describe briefly the single-tax movement.
7. What is meant by profit sharing?
8. What is the real nature of the remedies proposc^d by these and similar
schemes of social reform?
Forty-two xiie ChuTck and Industrial Warfare 265
9. Why do these remedies not touch the real evil?
10. To what did Jesus trace the evils of society?
11. What remedy did He propose?
12. What was Christ's social ideal?
13. How would the realization of the Christian ideal affect presc
social conditions?
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. The social teachings of Jesus.
2. Reasons why the social problem is primarily ethical.
3. What the church can do to aid in solving the social problem.
QUESTION FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
Does a Christian social order mean perfection?
Lesson 42. THE CHURCH AND INDUSTRIAL WARFARE.
Scripture Reading: The Industrial Unrest in Egypt. Exodus 5: 1-6: 1.
Note 1. Have We an Industrial War? A few years ago
several officers in a prominent trades union were convicted and
sentenced to long terms of imprisonment for instigating the
destruction by dynamite of much private property which re-
sulted also in the killing of a large number of innocent persons.
Attempts were made to palliate these crimes on the ground that
the instigators regarded the conflict between labor and capital
as a state of war, and felt justified in using war measures
to attain their ends. The emphatic condemnation of these
266 The Modern Church ^^"°"
crimes by the labor unions throughout the country was gratify-
ing, because they showed that the masses of the laboring popu-
lation are law-abiding citizens, and that they do not recognize
the contest between labor and capital as necessitating war
measures. One could have wished that an equally emphatic
and unanimous condemnation had been passed on those minor
acts of violence that so often occur in connection with strikes,
such as the stoning of " scabs " and strikebreakers, and riotous
resistance to those whose duty it is to enforce the laws.
In opposition to the view that a state of industrial warfare
actually exists between employers and employees, it is urged
that these parties are not enemies, but allies in the production
of the world's goods, and that each is needful to the other.
The employers are in the market to purchase labor, just as
they purchase wool or cotton. At the Homestead strike the
government investigating committee drew from the vice-
president of the great steel works the frank admission, ** We
buy and sell men just as we do pig-iron and steel." On the
other hand, the laboring men have only their labor to sell.
To get the best prices and the best conditions under which to
work it is necessary for them to combine, and this necessity
justifies the formation of labor unions. These conditions, it is
claimed, make a state of industrial war imthinkable and absurd.
People who wish to buy or sell goods do not start by making
enemies of one another. A friendly attitude, even where the
thing to be bought or sold is a necessity to both parties, will
lead to more advantageous terms to all concerned than anger,
extortion, and violence. Therefore, whatever sporadic acts of
violence may occur under the influence of passion and excite-
ment, should not be regarded as symptoms of war between labor
and capital. The modem industrial movement must, there-
fore, be viewed as fundamentally a movement in the direction
of peace.
This argimient rests throughout on an rmsound basis. First
of all, any employer who is in the market to purchase labor as
he purchases wool, cotton, or other raw materials is engaged
in a fundamentally immoral business. Labor is not a mere
purchasable commodity. Labor is the laborer. It is human
life. " The central doctrine of the slave power was that the
laborer was mere merchandise. The central doctrine of the
money power is that labor is merely merchandise." Both
doctrines are absolutely destructive of liberty. In both cases
the laborer is a slave, because no power human or divine can
Forty-two ^he CkuYck and Industrial Warfare 267
separate labor from the laborer. If men are forced to sell their
labor, that is, themselves, at prices so low as barely to svistain
life, what material difference does it make whether they are
sold on the auction block or in a free labor market? The old-
time slave holder was at least interested in keeping his slaves
in good condition in order to get from them the utmost producing
power. The modem employer holds himself absolved by the
law of supply and demand from all care whether his workmen
live or die on the wages they receive. Can there be anything
less than industrial warfare as long as human life must sell itself
at forced sale in order to live?
But, furthermore, as Professor Francis G. Peabody of Har-
vard asks: " Is it not a strange form of peace movement which
begins by exaggerating the antagonisms of industry, and pro-
poses as its end a social revolution which shall entirely abolish
the capitalist class? " The fact that happy industrial partner-
ships actually exist here and there *' only brings more clearly
before us the real nature of the prevailing industrial warfare.
It is not an antagonism which is inherent in economic life. In
fact, it is at bottom not an antagonism at all. The industrial
conflict of the present day is simply the form assumed by that
profound sense of moral distrust which is stirring in the hearts
of the hand-worldng class, and expresses itself in a demand for
industrial justice." (Jesus Christ and the Social Question, pp.
271, 272.) It is precisely because all classes of socialists are
profoimdly convinced that the industrial injustice from which
laborers suffer is inseparably connected with the existence of a
capitalistic class that they demand its destruction, and why the
call is not so much for a gradual reformation as for a social
revolution.
A further evidence that the present industrial situation is
one of war and not peace is seen not merely in strikes on the
part of workmen and lockouts on the part of employers, but
in the violence that frequently shows itself in connection with
them. Stoning of " scabs," forcible resistance to police and
militia, and the dynamiting of property on the one hand, and the
employment of private armies of sluggers to do violence to the
strikers on the other hand, follow naturally when hostile in-
dustrial forces are drawn up in battle array. Both constitute
acts of lawlessness that disinterested parties condemn, but that
each side approves as justifiable war measures. It is to be
hoped that the present growing tendency to arbitrate differ-
ences between capital and labor will ultimately remove the
268 The Modern Church ^^^^«»
grounds for those differences which now result in industrial
warfare.
Note 2. Relation of the Church to the Industrial Warfare.
If the struggle between labor and capital were merely a greedy-
scramble for material goods, the church might well refuse to
interfere. She might say as Jesus did when asked to interpose
between two brothers who were quarreling over an inheritance :
'* Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you? " But
even in his refusal to take sides in the controversy, Jesus
showed that the trouble between these brothers was primarily
moral and not pecimiary. "And he said -unto them, Take
heed, and keep yourselves from covetousness : for a man's life
consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possess-
eth." (Luke 12: 15.) As Jesus approached the trouble between
the two brothers by working for the inward transformation of
the individual, so must the church hold before the world the
vision of an ideal society that is composed of regenerated,
tmselfish men.
The church must see that the industrial warfare is at heart a
struggle for justice, a cry for a rectification of the hideous in-
equalities that have almost imiversally prevailed in the distri-
bution of the profits from labor. A famous illustration is
Plugson of Undershot. " He enlisted his thousand men; said
to them, * Come, brothers, let us have a dash at Cotton! ' They
follow with cheerful shout ; they gain such a victory over Cotton
as the Earth has to admire and clap hands at. Plugson, buc-
caneerlike, says to them: * Noble spinners, this is the Htindred
Thousand we have gained, wherein I mean myself to dwell
and plant vineyards ; the Hundred Thousand is mine ; the three
and sixpence daily was yours : adieu, noble spinners ; drink my
health with this groat each, which I give you over and above! ' "
To preach elimination of covetousness to men who are toiling
for starvation wages, while Plugson occupies the most conspicu-
ous pew in the church, is a mockery that only hastens the im-
pending revolution. The churches must join the cry for justice.
Justice is a fimdamental principle in the gospel of Christ. So
long as the laboring masses were steeped in ignorance, and
assured that poverty is a divine dispensation, there was little
effort to escape from industrial slavery. Today these people
are eagerly reading and listening and thinking. They see their
rights as never before, and they are organizing to obtain them.
The day is coming, whether we like it or not, when a few bil-
Forty-two ji-iQ Chtirch and Indttsirial Warfare 269
lionaires at one end of the scale are not going to outweigh imtold
want and miseiy at the other. The question for the churches is
whether they will remain dumb while the forces are gathering
for a violent revolution, or by wise coimsels and abundant
sympathy point the way to a peaceful evolution.
In seconding the call of the oppressed for social justice the
churches must not fail to emphasize the fact that the present
industrial order, imperfect as it imquestionably is, is not wholly
evil. It is the product of countless ages of sti-uggle for better
ways and means of supplying human needs. As a whole, it is
not, as often asserted, " a scheme of destructiveness and social
piracy, but a vast and complex movement of social service.
In the main, the most rewarding forms of business are those
which are based on the discernment of real needs and the sup-
plying of real benefits." Capital and labor, employers and
employees, are alike engaged in a common service to mankind.
It is only when capital is engaged in carrying on business of a
character or in a way that does injury to the people, that it
becomes illegitimate and should be destroyed if it cannot be
reformed.
The churches can pour oil on the troubled waters by preach-
ing first, last, and above all the kingdom of God as a power of
justice and love that works its way out into all the storm-tossed
affairs of himian life. But even this is useless tmless individual
Christians see to it that their own lives are right, and that their
dealings with their fellowmen are actuated by that unselfish-
ness which makes injustice, oppression, hatred, and violence
impossible.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
(1) Peabody: Jesus Christ and the Social Problem, pp. 267-326. (2)
Plantz: The Church and the Social Problem, pp. 73-107. (5) Rauschen-
busch: Christianizing the Social Order, pp. 341-351; Churchill: The Inside
of the Cup.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. How did the first Christians try to realize their social ideal?
2. Mention some of the current schemes for social betterment.
3. What fundamental objection applies to them all?
4. What is the Christian ideal of society?
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. What seems to show that the struggle between capital and labor
partakes of the nature of war?
270 The Modern Church ^"^^"
2. What considerations are urged against this view?
3. What is the prevailing attitude of labor toward capital?
4. Why is the industrial contest moral rather than economic?
5. How did Jesus deal with a demand for social justice?
6. How should the churches interpret the industrial conflict?
7. Why are the laboring classes no longer content to remain social slaves?
8. What spreading misconception of the present social. order should the
churches try to correct?
9. What can the churches do to bring about more peaceful relations
between laborers and employers?
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. How did Jesus' parable of the laborers in the vineyard (Mt. 20: 1-16)
bear on the modern demand for an equal wage?
2. Why do so many of the laboring classes make a religion of socialism?
3. If you live in an industrial community where strikes are more or less
frequent, what attitude has your church taken toward them?
4. What are the relations of labor and capital in your neighborhood?
Foriy-three fhe Churck Qi^ the Welfare of Wage Earners 271
QUESTIONS FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
1. If a man joins in a strike for higher wages, is it right for another man
to take his job at the wages offered?
2. Does Eldon Parr in Churchill's " The Inside of the Cup " represent a
common or an exceptional type in our rich city churches?
Lesson 43. THE CHURCH AND THE WELFARE OF
WAGE EARNERS.
Scripture Reading: ObHgations Toward Wage Earners. Deut. 14: 14, 15.
Note 1. Why the Church Should be Interested m Wage
Earners. (1) Its Mission is to All Men. Comparatively few
men are bom into a condition that exempts them from labor.
To the great majority toil is the price of existence, to say noth-
ing of comfort. It has always been so, and so it will probably
continue indefinitely. " In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat
bread " was the Old Testament law; the law of the New Testa-
ment is to the same effect, " If any will not work, neither let
him eat." The mission of the chvirch is not to any particular
class, but to mankind,
(2) It should Serve Most where Most Needed. All men, rich
and poor, stand on the same plane before God, and need alike
the message of the Gospel. But the poor, who include the
great mass of toiling men and women, are especially subject
to conditions that demand help, sympathy, and encouragement.
The severest denunciations of the Old Testament prophets
were directed against those who oppressed the poor. Jesus
pronounced his heaviest woes on those who tithed mint, anise,
and cummin, and left undone the weightier matters of the law,
justice and mercy and faith. In every subsequent age of the
chtirch, so far as it has been loyal to the teachings of Christ, it
has been considerate toward the poor and a protector of the
oppressed. The church should have deep sympathy for the
laboring class. Its own Founder was a wage earner.
{3) For Its Own Sake. Religion cannot flotuish except on a
fair degree of physical comfort. Where the powers of body and
soul are exhausted in a sordid struggle for existence there is
no room for the appeals of religion. " Lives which are strained
and starved, lives which are passed in rank discomfort and imder
grinding poverty, without the possibiHty of the independence of
the individual or of the sacredness of the home, cannot be re-
272 The Modern Church ^"^««
ligious except in the most rudimentary sense of the word."
The church cannot hope to reach the laboring classes with the
Gospel of salvation in another world unless she does what she
can to promote among them some measure of physical comfort,
leisure for thought, and security in work in this world. Thorold
Rogers in his lectures on The Economic Interpretation of History
points out that every religious revival in England has happened
on the basis of comparative prosperity, and, on the contrary,
that the English church was never in so low a state as during
prevailing poverty and distress of the seventeenth and part of
the eighteenth centuries.
Note 2. What the Church Can Do to Promote the Welfare
of Wage Earners. (1) Payment of a Living Wage. The
churches can do much to quicken that sense of social justice
which shall give to every man willing to work not only an
opportunity, but wages sufficient for his support. This means
not merely enough for a single man to live in a cheap boarding
house, but enough for the father of an average family to provide
them a sanitary home, nourishing food, sufficient clothing,
schooling for the children under sixteen, and some savings
against sickness and old age. To this end the churches might
well exert themselves to procure legislation compelling employ-
ers to file for public inspection the scale of wages paid, as doctors
are required to file the statistics of public health, and a public
commission to adjust wages. Publicity tends to restrain evils
in industry as well as in politics.
(2) The Eight- Hour Day. While the eight-hour day for
labor has been won in many industries, the ten-hour day still
grips wage earners in large sections of the industrial world.
In some cases, as in the manufacture of steel, the operatives
work twelve hours a day and seven days in the week. The
attainment of a short-hour day in all industries would be a
positive gain not only for the workers themselves, but for the
employers as well. It has repeatedly been shown that high-
priced labor in America, with short hours, is really the cheapest
labor in the world, owing to the better health, greater energy,
and superior intelligence of the workers. Over and over again
it has been demonstrated, that while in some cases greater
leisure increases idleness and intemperance, in the long run it
leads to a better home life, more reading, greater interest in
public questions, and above all to a marked decrease in the use
of stimulants. For humanitarian as well as moral reasons the
Forty-three xhe CJiurch mid the Welfare of Wage Earners 273
ckiirches should join vigorously in the movement for a short-
hour day.
(3) The Right to Sunday Rest. Laborers need not only the
shorter day, but the weekly day of rest. A workingman was
told by his employer to do some imnecessary work on Stmday.
The man courteously refused, whereupon the master retorted,
** Did not our Lord say that the Sabbath was made for man? "
*' Yes, sir," was the shrewd reply, " you are right — the Sabbath
was made for man and is therefore not to be taken from men."
A large part of the w^ork done on the Lord's day, on the groimd
that it is necessary, could be omitted. The real reason too
often is greed for gain. Employers keep their workmen em-
ployed seven days in the week because they are not satisfied
with the profits made in six days. This is especially the case
with Sunday amusements such as theatres, baseball, and excur-
sions; fruit, tobacco, and most drug stores have as little excuse
for being kept open on Sunday as grocers or butchers. The
church in her fight against Sunday desecration is really perform-
ing one of her greatest services for the cause of labor. Those
who plead for the introduction of the Continental Sunday are
suspiciously silent respecting the fact that a large porportion of
the Simday slaves in Europe are crying out for deliverance.
Workingmen who have not been misled by demagogues and by
false social theories are themselves eager to co-operate with the
churches for Stmda^^ rest, or for one other day in seven where
the conditions of industry or service require continuous work.
(4) Protection of Women and Children. The introduction of
almost automatic machinery has so lightened the work of pro-
duction in many industries, especially wool and cotton, that
labor once requiring the strong muscles of men can now be
performed by women and young children. Practically all the
lighter operations in mills and factories have been turned over
to them at greatly reduced wages. The first result is that
women and children have become competitors instead of helpers
of men — in ntmiberless instances driving them out of employ-
ment. Many occupations are now almost entirely carried on
by women. But in taking the places of men, women and
children have become subject to the same industrial conditions,
especially long hours. Children of seven, six, or even five
years of age have been kept out of school, robbed of the joys of
childhood, and made physical wrecks for the rest of their lives.
Women have been subjected to strains that impair their health,
and that interfere with or vinfit them for those sacred race
274 The Modern Church ^^^^««
fvinctions which are infinitely more important than the produc-
tion of goods. Between the greed of employers and the neces-
sities of the poor, these conditions have so developed as to be-
come a grave peril to society. To some extent the evil has been
checked by legislation, but in many instances legislation has
been so shaped by interested parties as to legalize intolerable
abuses. The churches should not leave the checking of indus-
trial conditions that react disastrously on womanhood and
childhood to outside philanthropic agencies. They can render
no better social service than in protecting from exploitation
those on whose welfare the efficiency of coming generations
depends.
{5) Side with the Wage Earners against Oppression. The
substitution of mechanical power for man power, of machines
for muscles, resulted in the transfer of industries from the
home to great factories, and in a hundredfold increase of ma-
terial wealth. But the toiling men, women, and children who
were essential factors in the production of this increase, instead
of sharing in it, have seen it pass into the hands of a few who
have built up colossal fortunes, and who have used the tre-
mendous power thus acquired for still further oppression of
the laborers. Against this tyranny of capital all classes of
workmen have been forced to combine for self-protection.
Their demands for a recognized voice in the control and distri-
bution of the products of industry have been for the most part
bitterly opposed by the capitalistic class, whose prevailing
attitude was bluntly expressed by the president of a large rail-
road during the great coal strike of 1902. His exact words
were: " The rights and the interests of the laboring men will
be looked after and cared for, not by agitators, bu.t by the
Christian men to whom God in His infinite wisdom has given
the control of the property interests of the country." Against
such insolence, and arrogance, born of insatiable and success-
ful greed, it is the plain duty of the churches to take sides with
the labor. This does not necessitate an endorsement of all the
methods which labor employs to gain its points.
Note 3. The Churches Willing to Act if Shown How. A
comparison of the advantages, opportunities, and comforts
enjoyed by wage earners in Christian lands, especially in our
own country, with the poverty, ignorance, and oppression to
which they are exposed in heathen lands shows how great is
the debt they owe to the uplifting and humanizing influence of
Forty-three jj^^ ChiiYch Qfid the Welfare of Wage Earners 275
Christianity. The chiirches are often blamed for seeming in-
different to the welfare of industrial workers. In some cases
this may be true. The majority, however, recognize their
duty and are willing to take hold. The trouble is that they do
not know precisely what to do or how to do it. The industrial
revolution of our time has come so suddenly, in such magnitude,
and in such perplexing variety of forms, that the churches,
accustomed to traditional methods of work, have had no oppor-
tunity to adapt themselves to the new situation. Their failure
to deal competently with social problems is due chiefly to
ignorance and lack of trained leadership. The problem they
face is so tremendously big and so complicated that pastors
and churches, who have dealt only with individuals, stand in
many cases helpless and appalled before it. We may be sure,
however, that as the church has met successfully every crisis
in the past, so it will meet that of oirr time. Already the social
awakening within the churches has reached proportions un-
dreamed of a few years ago. The problem, too big for any
single church or denomination, has proved an imexpectedly
potent factor in forcing denominations into imited efforts. One
of the first actions of the Federal Council of the Churches of
Christ in America (see Lesson 39) was the unanimous adoption
of a ntnnber of specific principles for which it asserts the church
must stand. Among these were the following: " The gradual
and reasonable reduction of the hours of labor to the lowest
practicable point, and that degree of leisure for all which is a
condition of the highest human life.
" A release from employment one day in seven.
" A living wage as a minimum in every industry", and the
highest wage that each industry can afford."
Such action indicates not only a clear sense of obligation, but
a purpose on the part of the churches to meet this obligation
to the full extent of their wisdom and ability.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
{!) Rauschenbusch : Christianizing the Social Order, pp. 412-418. {2)
Plantz: The Church and the Social Problem, pp. 242-276. (5) On " What
is the Minimum Wage," " Women in Industry," and "The Eight-hour
Day," see The Stirvey, Oct. 19, 1912, pp. 74-76. (4) Stelzle: Messages to
Workingmen. (5) Thompson: The Churches and the Wage Earners.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. Why may modern industrial conflicts be described as war?
2. How does the church become involved in this conflict?
276 The Modern Church ^^"^"
3. What should the position of the church be in relation to it?
4. Why should the present industrial order be reformed rather than
destroyed?
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. On general principles, why should the church seek the welfare of wage
earners?
2. What special reasons should stimulate interest in them?
3. How is the welfare of the church dependent on the welfare of the
industrial classes?
4. How can the church assist in promoting the material wellbeing of
wage earners?
5. How can the church promote their better health and higher intelli-
6. What should the position of the church be toward Sunday employ-
ment?
7. Why should the churches be active in suppressing the sacrifice of
women and children to industrial greed?
8. Why have the churches appeared to be slow in grappling with the
industrial problem?
9. What shows that the churches are responding to their social duty?
Forty-four ji^^ CliuYch and Race Antagonisms 277
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. What is meant by the minimum wage?
2. Is the eight-hour day always possible or advisable?
3. What are the hours and wages of women employed in stores in your
neighborhood? In factories?
4. What laws has your State respecting child labor? Is there any child
labor in your community?
QUESTION FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
What can our church do to promote the welfare of wage earners?
Lesson 44. THE CHURCH AND RACE ANTAGONISMS.
Scripture Reading: Race Antagonism in the Early Church. Acts 6: 1-6.
Note 1. Modem Race Antagonisms. Race antagonisms
exist in all parts of the world. The mildest form is seen in the
jealousies which spring up between contiguous nations of the
same race and the same social and political standing. The
strongest are those which spring up where different races repre-
senting the extremes of social development are forced into close
contact. One of the most acute antagonisms in the modem
world is that between the white and the colored races in the
United States. Of the upwards of ten million Negroes in this
country about eighty -eight per cent Hve in the Southern States.
In some of these States the Negroes constitute considerably
more than half of the population. Most of them are engaged
in agriculture. In the industries they occupy the lowest posi-
tion. Trades imions do not admit them to fellowship. In the
Northern States one after another of the occupations that have
been filled by colored men are taken over by the whites, and no
new occupations are opened to them. It is becoming more and
more difficult for them to find lucrative employment. From
many communities in Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri, Negroes
are mthlessly excluded. In a message to the Florida State
Legislature a few years ago Governor Broward said: " It is
apparent to even casual observers that the relation between the
two races is becoming more strained and acute. The Negroes
today have less friendship for the white people than they have
ever had since the Civil War, and the white people have less
tolerance and sympathy for the Negro."
The Negroes are not the only race on accoimt of which we
have had trouble in this coimtry. The Indian problem has
278 The Modern Church ^^"°"
largely been settled by extermination and by segregation of
the survivors on reservations. For a generation or more the
people on the Pacific Coast have protested so vigorously against
the admission of the Chinese as to have procured stringent
national legislation adverse to them. The tremendous strides
made by the Japanese in civilization and military power have
given them more political consideration and social equality than
has been accorded to the Chinese, though even in their case
there is strong opposition to an imrestricted immigration of
laborers. The outcry against the admission of Hindus into
Vancouver and South Africa, and the inflamed passions against
the Jews in some nominally Christian countries in Europe,
and the cruelties inflicted upon them, show that race antago-
nisms are not confined to the United States.
Note 2. Reasons for Race Antagonisms. So long as the
different races did not overstep what Paul calls the divinely
appointed " bounds of their habitation " (Acts 17: 26), and had
ample room to expand within those bounds, no conflicts arose.
The growth of great empires in the ancient world brought the
races into a contact almost always productive of friction.
Modern commerce has still further vanquished the mountain
ranges, deserts, and oceans that seemed impassable barriers to
the ancients. The pressure of increasing populations and the
facilities of modern travel have promoted migrations to an ex-
tent unknown in former times. Nearly all the arable land in
the Temperate Zone is occupied. When the people of an over-
populated coimtry overflow into one less densely inhabited,
conflicts are bound to arise. Furthermore, the much higher
wages paid in advanced countries tempt many individuals of
the lower races to seek employment in them at least until they
have accumulated a sum that permits them to return home
with an amount that seems a fortune.
A potent reason for race antipathies is a difference in the
standards of living. The low standards to which Chinese
laborers, for instance, have been accustomed enables them to
live and accumulate property on wages that would impoverish
an American workman. The latter in sheer self-defense is
forced to protect himself against such competition. The same
is true in respect to the tide of immigration that during the last
quarter of a century has set in from Southeastern Europe. At
first the mining operations in this country were almost wholly
carried on by Germans, Irish and Welsh. These have now
Forty. four jj^q Churck and Race Antagonisms 279
been driven out by South Italians and Slavs among whom ilHter-
acy reaches in some cases the appalling figure of over eighty
per cent. So with many other employments.
The origin of most race antipathies is undoubtedly that un-
reasoning prejudice which seems to increase in the same degree
that people differ from one another in color, language, social
customs, modes of thought, and religion. When tnis race
prejudice is re-enforced by economic conflicts the antagonism
not seldom becomes acute enough to give rise to riots and
blood-shed.
Note 3. Difficulty of the Negro Problem. Much has been
done by philanthropy for the uplifting of the Negro race, and
miracles almost have been wrought by the race itself. But
enough remains to make the Negro problem the despair of the
country. How to allay the present race antagonism, how to
interpose barriers that will effectually preserve the pure blood of
both races without irritating social discriminations, how to do
justice to the Negro in the spirit of that brotherhood which is
going abroad among the nations as never before, this will tax
the wisdom of statesmen, philanthropists, reformers, and the
churches as no other problem with which our nation has to
deal. On the principle that desperate diseases require desper-
ate remedies, many of the best-informed students of the prob-
lem, North and South, are returning to the views forcibly and
solemnly expressed by Abraham Lincoln in the White House to
a delegation of colored men, that the only way to secure the
welfare and happiness of both races will be by a gradual trans-
portation of the Negroes to some territory, domestic or foreign,
acquired by government purchase and set apart for their
exclusive occupancy imder the guardianship of the United
States.
The Negro problem is essentially a Southern problem, and
the solution of it must ultimately come from the devoted efforts
of the Christian men and women of the South.
Note 4. Hampton and Tuskegee. Two schools in the South
are inseparably associated with the moral and industrial up-
Hfting of the Negro race. Many other schools have done not-
able work, but Hampton and Tuskegee have become household
words. During the Civil War thousands of Negro refugees
had flocked to Hampton, Va. Work in their behalf was under-
taken by the American Missionary Association. Hampton
Institute was an outgrowth of this work. Under its first prin-
280 The Modern Church ^"^°«
cipal, Gen. S. C. Armstrong, it became a great educational
enterprise in which thousands of Negro and Indian students
have been trained, and from which vigorous offshoots have
been planted in various parts of the South. The most impor-
tant of these is at Tuskegee, Ala.
Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute started in 1881
with thirty students in an old Negro church. An old shanty
near by was occupied as a recitation room. Booker T. Wash-
ington was the principal and Miss Olivia A. Davidson his
assistant. Both were graduates of Hampton. From these
humble beginnings the Institute has grown by leaps and bounds
until it possesses at the present time (1914) nearly $2,000,000
of productive ftmds, with an annual income of over $350,000,
and school property worth about $1,250,000. Many of its one
hundred buildings are of brick; nearly all have been designed
and constructed, even to the making of the brick, by the teach-
ers and students. In addition to the usual branches of a good
education, forty different industries are taught by 192 instructors
to 1618 students. It is now the largest and most important
training school in the world for the colored race. Its success
is due to the imbounded confidence and esteem which Booker
T. Washington has won by his high character and unselfish
devotion to the elevation of his race along economic and
Christian lines.
It is only fair to say, however, that, much as education may
do for the intellectual and economic uplifting of the Negroes,
it is doubtful if it can bring about anything but a superficial
race reconciliation. The antipathies between the whites and
the colored people in this country are not primarily due to
ignorance and poverty, but to racial barriers. When the former
are retnoved the latter will survive as insurmountable as ever.
There are those among the sincerest friends of the Negro who
doubt ** if education alone can possibly tend to the happiness
of any race so long as it only aids in a keener discernment of the
hopeless differences existing between that race and a dominant
race in the same country and in the same neighborhood."
Note 5. The Case of the Asiatics. The entire number of
Asiatic immigrants in this country is less than one himdred and
fifty thousand. The great majority have settled along the
Pacific Coast, chiefly in California. Among the reasons given
for the hostility manifested toward them are the following:
The enormous differences bet^^ een Asiatic and American civiH-
Forty-four j^he ChuTch and Race Antagonisms 281
zation ; the overcrowded condition of Oriental countries, which
forces the population to swarm into other lands ; their high mental
development caused by centuries of severe struggle against
adverse material conditions; their extraordinary skill in farming
developed by their long restriction to narrow Hmits; their un-
limited capacity for hard work through long hours, and their
" incredible ability for living on Httle food. When they come to
America, their industry and thrift are amazing; they underiive,
underbid, and outwork us. In open competition the white man
has no show." Other reasons are assigned, such as their lack
of interest in our poHtical life and institutions, and hence their
failure to make good citizens ; pure race prejudice, they being
yellow or brown, and we being white, a fact which it is alleged
carries with it such social and psychological differences as to
make any attempt to live together sure to be dangerous. The
Japanese in particular are objected to on the supposed grotmd of
untrustworthiness, immorality, a disposition to insist on race
equality with the whites, a vindictive nature, and a belHcose
tendency which may bring a Japanese naval and military attack
on California.
Many of these objections are due to mutual misunderstand-
ings, some spring from irrational prejudices, but the funda-
mental objection rests on the fear of an industrial competition
which native workmen are unable or unwilling to meet. Hence
most of the anti-Asiatic agitation has originated among the
laboring classes who see no way of checking a swamping in-
vasion of Oriental cheap labor except by putting up the bars
against those who might wish to come and by loading those
who are here with such restrictions as will make them wish to
get away. Many careful and unprejudiced students of the situa-
tion maintain, however, that the American treatment of Asiatic
immigrants has been needless, unjust, and unkind; misleading,
in that it implies an issue which is purely imaginary; humiliat-
ing to Japan, a proud and sensitive nation,; and disgraceful to
America, which professes to be a friendly nation; injurious, in
that it tends to create the very difficulties it fears ; shortsighted
from the standpoint of regard for our own commercial interests,
which depend on international good will ; and contrary to the
spirit of our treaties with China and Japan. We have de-
manded and received from them an open door for Americans,
and the same privileges that are accorded to citizens of the
" most favored nation," but we have refused to grant the same
privileges to their people among us. Unprejudiced investiga-
282 The Modern Church ^''^''''
tion has conclusively shown that many of the grounds of criti-
cism have been greatly exaggerated, and that there are ways of
treating the problem that are honorable, just, courteous, in
harmony with American ideals of fair play, and " more suited
to the new era of cosmopolitan life on which the world is enter-
ing." From no conceivable point of view can this country
afford to be controlled in its policies toward other nations by
lower principles than those of true friendship, equality, and
honor.
Note 6. What the Churches Can Do. {1) Recognize the
fact that the race question is largely economic, that the Negroes
need first of all an industrial education that will make the men
better farmers, blacksmiths, and carpenters, and the women
better housekeepers and mothers ; and that only as they become
industrially efficient will they become socially independent.
{2) Assist the Negro churches to obtain preachers who shall
work more for right living and less for emotional effects.
{3) Assist the Negro churches with financial as well as moral
help.
(4) Assist in providing for the Negroes in the North wider
opportunities for service, rational amusements, and better
housing than is afforded in the slums.
{5) Demand for Negroes who violate the law the same ptmish-
ments that the law provides for white men, administered by
proper officers and not by senseless mobs.
(^) Teach the white people that the doctrine of human
brotherhood includes the black man as well as the yellow man,
the brown man and the red man. Lay more responsibility on
the more enlightened white man and less on the ignorant black.
(7) Get acquainted with the best specimens of all races and
through this acquaintance look for inter-racial concord.
{8) Proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ as an inspiration
for lifting The White Man's Burden, for checking The Yellow
Peril, and for solving The Negro Question.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
(/) Commons: Races and Immigrants in America. {2) Steiner: On
the Trail of the Immigrant. (S) Haygood : Our Brother in Black, presents
the Southern view. (4) Hoffman : Race Traits and Tendencies, a scientific
treatment of the subject. (.5) The Negro Problem, presents the side of
the negroes by some of their ablest writers. (6") Pickett: The Negro
Problem; Abraham Lincoln^ s Solution; advocates segregation. (7) Wash-
ington (Booker T.): Future of the American Nei^ro. (8) For the most
Forty-four xhe ChuTck and Race Antagonisms 283
recent, comprehensive, and sane discussion of the Japanese immigration
question, see Gulick: The American Japanese Problem. (9) Meckhn:
Democracy and Race Friction.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. State some reasons why the churches should be interested in the wage-
earners.
2. State some things the churches can do to promote their welfare.
3. Why should the churches not be blamed for not doing more?
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. How is the American proscription of the negro shown?
2. What manifestations of other race antipathies are shown in this
country?
3. What are some of the causes that underlie race antagonisms?
4. What causes have led to the present social discrimination against the
Negro?
5. What are some of the difficult elements in the Negro problem?
6. Describe the work in behalf of the Negro done at Hampton and
Tuskegee.
7. What are some of the objections urged against Asiatic immigrants?
8. How are these objections answered?
284 The Modern Church
Lesson
9. What can the churches do toward the solution of the Negro problem
on its economic side?
10. What, on its religious and social side?
11. What can the church do toward allaying race antagonisms in general?
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. Conditions in modern civilization that tend to lessen race hostilities.
2. The general feeling in your community toward Negroes and Chinese.
3. Reasons for the popular antipathy toward the Jews.
QUESTIONS FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
1. The abolitionists were often asked if they wanted their sisters to
marry Negroes. The same question is asked today in the South of those
who propose social and political rights for the Negro. How would
you answer it?
2. Should we accord to Japanese and Chinese in this country the same
privileges that we demand for our citizens in Japan and China?
Lesson 45. THE CHURCH AND PUBLIC CHARITIES.
Scripture Reading: Paul and the Great Collection. 2 Cor., chs. 8, 9.
Note 1. The Great Collection for the Poor Saints in Jeru-
salem. Twenty years, more or less, had passed since the
primitive church in Jerusalem, in an enthusiasm born of a great
spiritual experience, had tried to embody the spirit of love in a
beautiful social ideal. A noble effort was made to abolish all
poverty, for " not one of them said that aught of the things
which he possessed was his own; but they had all things com-
mon." In the meantime sore trials had befallen them. The
violent persecution led by Saul of Tarsus had scattered most of
them. Those who remained were exposed to the limitations
always imposed on a hated sect by a fanatical population.
They were reduced to great straits. Saul, now Paul the Apostle,
was full of remorse for the misguided zeal to which in part
Forty-five j^he Churcli and Public Charities ' 285
this poverty was due. In a great collection taken up among
Gentile churches which he had founded, he saw an op-
portunity not only of undoing in some measure the harm he
had wrought, but also of making this free-will offering from the
Gentile converts a means of allaying the prejudices of the
Jewish Christians toward them. The carrying of this testi-
monial of his own love and of the sympathy of the Gentile
brethren to the afflicted mother-church in Jerusalem was per-
haps the crowning act of Paul's public ministry. It was an
exhibition, moreover, of that charity which in every subsequent
age has been a marked characteristic of the true Christian spirit.
Note 2c The Great Collection for the Poor Today. Eco-
nomic and social conditions in Imperial Rome were such as to
breed an immense number of paupers who subsisted on the
charity of the very rich or on the distributions of food by the
state. At the beginning of the Christian era the state provided
for 200,000 poor citizens, besides their wives, sisters, and
daughters. There were great crowds of poor who were excluded
from these bounties and lived by begging. Consideration for
the poor was, however, no part of the Roman character. Polyb-
ius tells us that " A Roman never gives any one anything
imgradgingly." Plautus, a popular poet, asks, " What is the
use of giving a beggar an3rthing? One loses what one gives
away, and only prolongs the miserable existence of the re-
ceiver." Virgil, in a beautiful passage describing the repose
and peace of a truly wise man, makes one of the conditions of
such inward peace his never giving way to a feeling of pity for
the poor. There were thousands of rich men in Rome, but not
one of them thought of erecting a home for the poor or a hospi-
tal for the sick.
In contrast with this selfishness that actually prided itself on
a lack of sympathy for the poor, the tenderness of the Christians
was from the first a matter of constant remark. The Emperor
Julian pointed to their charitable institutions as a standing
reproof to heathen selfishness. Every century has witnessed an
expansion of these benevolent enterprises, not always wise, and
often twisted away from^ their original spirit and purpose, but
always designed to relieve suffering, and to prepare the way for
a better age. Sometimes, like the monastic and mendicant
orders, they were taken under the protection of the church; at
other times, their promotors like the Waldenses, the Lollards,
and the Anabaptists, were condemned and persecuted. This
286 The Modern Church ^^^^^«
sense of responsibility for the poor has been inherited by the
modem church. There was never an age in the history of
mankind when money was poured out so lavishly as it is today
for the relief of poverty and wretchedness. More and more
the churches are coming to see that they cannot fulfil their
mission except as they combine active philanthropy with their
preaching. A church that does not care for its own poor, to say
nothing of those outside, forfeits the respect of the commimity.
The spirit of Christian charity has gone outside, of the
churches and now permeates the civilized world. Care for the
poor, the unfortunate, and for defectives has now been assumed
in large part by secular agencies. The vast expenditures for
these purposes, whether provided by voluntary contributions
or by public tax, imposes a heavy burden on the capable and
industrious. The fact that it is borne imgrudgingly is due
chiefly to Christian teaching respecting the duty of bearing one
another's burdens.
Note 3. The Evil of Indiscriminate Charity. The writer
recalls an incident in his student days when beggars and tramps
were not as plentiful as they have become in recent years. A
" Weary Willie " passing through the college campus was seen
by one of the students who threw a small coin to him through
an open window. The act attracted attention and presently
every window in the four-story building had a student in it
engaged in a similar act inspired more perhaps by a spirit of
fun than conscious benevolence. The tramp departed with a
lighter heart and heavier pocket than he had known for many a
day. The next day, however, when the students were assembled,
one of the faculty, instead of commending their generosity,
gave them such a lecture on the evils of indiscriminate charity
as no one who heard it was Hkely to forget.
The incident illustrates the radical change that has taken
place in the administration of charity within a century. Care-
ful observers have seen that poverty and distress instead of
being diminished by the systems of relief in vogue were rapidly
increasing. A study of Christian and secular charities during
the past two thousand years has shown beyond controversy
that indiscriminate charity instead of proving a remedy, or
even a palliation of social distress, has always aggravated it.
Nobody complains of the help rendered to the sick, blind, deaf,
feebleminded, or insane, or of assistance given to sufferers from
sudden misfortxmes such as fires, floods, or earthquakes. Pov-
Forty-five 7/^^ ChuYck and PuhUc Charities 287
erty stands in a different class from these. The great majority
of men are poor, very little removed from the poverty line.
Some make a brave struggle to remain independent by keeping
above it. Others give up and fall below into the dependent
class. These are the ones who are supported by charity. The
more they get the better they live, and the more confirmed they
become in their idleness. When the self-supporting poor see
paupers living better without work than they themselves can
live by their utmost exertions, thousands of them will choose
the life of the pauper. People who have fallen into this de-
graded condition find it an easy step to resorting to fraud in a
thousand forms, when relief is loosely administered. These
are the conditions that in many cases have made charity a
bane rather than a blessing.
Note 4. Poverty Increased by the Industrial Revolution.
The introduction of labor-saving machinery in almost every
department of industry whereby one operator, often a woman
or child, can do the work of from five to fifty men, has so af-
fected the demand for labor that large nimibers, able and eager
to work, can procure employment only a part of the time, if at
all. A recent English writer, speaking of conditions that pre-
vail among the laboring classes, says: " Unemployment, in-
stead of being as formerly a temporary or occasional phenome-
non which would disappear with the revival of trades, is now a
chronic evil. In the most prosperous years, on a given day,
there is not work enough for all who require it. Twenty-five
to thirty per cent of the town populations of the United King-
dom are living in poverty." Conditions are not so bad here as
there. But the alarming increase of destitution in nearly all
civilized lands shows that in the majorit}'- of cases it is due less
to individual weakness and depravity than to social conditions
over which the individual has no control.
Note 5. Relation of the Church to Charities. To define the
relation of the chiu"ch to public charities is not easy because,
while it is the duty of the church to minister to temporal as well
as to spiritual needs, the relief and prevention of poverty has
become a social problem of such magnitude and complexity as
to require distinctive organizations and special training. To
extend assistance to its own poor who are well known and who
have fallen into temporary distress is, of course, the manifest
duty and privilege of every local chiurch. Among the relations
288 The Modern Church ^''"^'^
the church ought to sustain toward the larger public charities
the following may be specified:
{!) The churches should learn that most cases of poverty
originate in social wrongs and social neglects; that these causes
must be carefully studied before adequate remedies can be
devised; that lavish expenditures for relief are worse than use-
less so long as the causes that produce poverty are allowed to
operate unchecked; and that the ultimate aim in all dealings
with the poverty problem, should be prevention rather than
cure.
{2) The churches should discoiu-age promiscuous benevo-
lence. Nothing presents so many temptations to untruthful-
ness, hypocrisy, and fraud, and so quickly drags people down
into the pauper class as dangling before them the possibility of
living on doles. Poverty is not merely an economic, but a
perilous moral evil. Even when it is primarily due to misfor-
ttme and tmemployment, it leads to weakness of character, loss
of self-respect, vice, and disease, and must be treated with a
view to increasing moral strength as well as resource and self-
reliance.
{3) The churches should understand that effective dealing
with poverty can be tmdertaken only by secular organizations
provided with sufficient funds, and eqtdpped with a sufficient
body of trained workers. Disorganization and ignorance are
as fatal in philanthropy as in business.
{Jf) The churches, therefore, should avoid starting charity
organizations of their own until they have done all in their
power to assist those already in operation. Help should be
given to secular organization, not only financially, but by a
cordial recognition of the good work being done by them and
by friendly co-operation. At the same time the churches must
understand that all charity work cannot be done by machinery.
Direct personal sympathy and generosity with money are still
important factors in the problem.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
(1) Peabody: Jestis Christ and the Social Question, pp. 226-266. (2)
Ely: Outlines of Economics, pp. 329-334. (3) Bosanquet: Rich and Poor^
pp. 10-74. (Ji) Brackett: Supervision and Education in Charity. (5)
Rogers: Charitable Relief. (6) Rogers: Circumstances or Character? (7)
Devine: The Practice of Charity. {8) The American Year Book for 1913,
pp. 457-462.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. How are race antagonisms shown in this country?
2. What gives rise to race antagonisms?
Foriy.five ^y ChuTck and Public Charities 289
3. Why is the immigration of Asiatics vigorously opposed in certain
parts of our country?
4. What can the churches do to mitigate these hostile feelings?
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. How did Paul's Gentile churches show their sympathy for the mother
church in Jerusalem?
2. What was the popular feeling toward the poor in heathen Rome?
3. How has the Christian spirit shown itself in subsequent ages?
4. How does the Christian spirit influence public charities today?
5. What are some of the perils that attend indiscriminate giving of
alms?
6. Why has the industrial revolution increased poverty?
7. Why is the poverty problem a difficult and dangerous one for the
churches to handle?
8. What should be the ultimate purpose of all charity work?
9. What forms of charity should the churches discourage?
290 The Modern Church ^^^^°«
10. What attitude should the churches take toward secular charity
organizations?
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. Can you form an estimate of the number of unemployed in your
neighborhood? Is it difficult or impossible for them to obtain work?
2. What is the number of persons in your town, ward or parish who are
assisted by public charities?
3. What organizations have you for ministering to the poor?
4. Is relief work done by persons specially educated for it, or by political
appointees?
5. How are the churches around you showing their interest in the poor?
QUESTIONS FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
1. Is hospital work the best form of public charity that can be under-
taken by churches?
2. How can church members best exert their personal influence in deal-
ing with the problem of poverty in your community ?
Lesson 46. RECENT PHASES OF THE LIQUOR
QUESTION.
Scripture Reading: Setting Traps for Men. Jeremiah 5:26--31.
Note 1. The Transfer of Emphasis. A generation ago much
emphasis was placed on the Bible argument against the abuse
of strong drink. The fact that the Bible in many instances
speaks approvingly of a moderate use of wine was explained on
the grotmd that the ancients had two kinds, one strong and
intoxicating, and the other sweet and harmless. Lengthy argu-
ments were advanced to prove that the wine made at Cana was
of the latter kind. Both of these positions have been abandoned
by modem Bibhcal scholars as incapable of proof, and as
jeopardizing rather than aiding the temperance cause. Intelli-
gent advocates of temperance freely admit the intoxicating
quaHty of all BibHcal wines, and groimd the modem total
abstinence movement on the necessities developed by wholly
different modem conditions.
The prevailing tendency at the present time is to place the
weightier emphasis on physiological and economic argimients.
A presentation of the results of scientific study of the effects of
alcohol, even in small quantities, are displacing the harrowing
stories of domestic tragedies that have formed the staple of
Forty-six Recent Pliases of the Liquor Question 291
Sunday-school instruction. The impassioned stereotyped plat-
form appeal is giving place to the larger question whether our
social structure, in addition to its many other problems, ought
to be made to carry the enormous burden of a traffic that
annually takes from the American people a sum about equal
to the total receipts of all the railways, and not only makes no
return of value, but leaves in its train a line of paupers and
criminals who cost the sober population of the coimtry $800,-
000,000 a year. From whatever point of view the drink traffic
is studied, it looms up as a stupendous economic and social evil.
Note 2. The Changing Attitude of the Medical Profession.
Not long ago, alcoholic stimulants were freely used in medical
practice on the theory that they imparted strength, warded off
perils, and promoted recovery. Today they have been wholly
discarded by a large number of the most reputable physicians,
and entirely banished from many hospitals. Where they are
retained they are used in greatly diminished quantities. Fur-
thermore, whereas medical men formerly regarded temperance
work with great indifference, now they are rapidly becoming
interested and taking an active part. This is no doubt due, in
part at least, to the accumulating proofs that alcohol, even in
minute doses, acts as a poison.
Note 3. The Increasing Menace of the Saloon. Not only
as a destroyer of character, homes, health and wealth, and as a
close ally of gambling and prostitution does the saloon threaten
the welfare of the commimity, but in many instances it becomes
a hotbed of crime. There is no form of business permitted or
legalized by the State that is so defiant of law as the Hquor
traffic, and naturally it attracts lawbreakers. Its pernicious
influence in poHtics makes decent government next to impossible.
The saloon is constantly spoken of as " the poor man's club,"
and beautiful pictures are drawn of its ministry to the social
instincts of its patrons. But, granting all that can be said in
its favor, the fact still remains that it is a demoralizing influence
wherever it is planted. This fact is abundantly proved by the
increasing restrictions by which the business is surroimded.
No legitimate business is so harassed by legal restraints and so
subjected to police surveillance. From large portions of the
coimtry the saloon has been entirely banished. Maine has had
a prohibition law since 1846. In the cities, where it is chiefly
evaded, there are no communities to be compared with what
may be seen in every city under license. Those who are
292 The Modern Church ^^^•^''«
familiar with conditions throughout the State know that the
children of Maine as a whole are free from the sights of saloons
and of drunkenness. Kansas, too, has shut up the saloon, with
the result that in 1913, of 105 counties in the State, 96 have no
inebriates, 87 no insane, 54 no feebleminded, 53 no inmates of
jails, and 38 no people on the poor farms. Prohibition may
not in every instance eradicate the evil, especially in the cities,
but *' Kansas with prohibition," says Governor Stubbs, ** has
more sobriety and less intemperance and its evil results than
any other State ever had. " Arkansas, while permitting licensed
saloons, has made the obtaining of a license practically impos-
sible. To open a saloon after January 1, 1914, " a petition to
the Coimty Judge must be signed by a majority of all the adult
citizens in the commimity, men and women, and the names of
the signers must be printed twice in some local paper. There
are many persons who might sign a petition for a saloon; but
to have their names published as having done so is a different
matter. The Masonic Grand Lodge of the State has declared
it a Masonic offense to sign a petition for a saloon, and many
churches have declared that such an act would lead to
expulsion."
Note 4. The Outspoken Purpose of Liquor Dealers. The
rapidly extending " dry " sections of the United States, by the
exclusion of saloons have aroused the promoters of the traffic
to nation-wide efforts and tmlimited expenditures to thwart
hostile legislation, to circumvent the law when they could not
prevent its enactment, and through the newspapers to create
public sentiment against prohibition. They even advocate
as high a license as the traffic will bear. The Bar, a prominent
liquor organ, speaking of the taxpayers, says: " A good high
Hcense to help pay their taxes will pacify their conscience;
nothing else will." The imderlying. purpose of the business has
changed from supplying a demand to creating it. This purpose
was stated with brutal frankness by an officer of the Ohio State
Liquor League who wrote:
" The success of our business is largely dependent upon the
creation of an appetite for drink. Men who drinl^ liquors, like
others, will die. The open field for the creation of this appetite
is among the boys. After men are grown, and their habits
formed, they rarely change. It will be needful, therefore, that
missionary work be done among the boys. I make the sugges-
Forty-six Receut Pliases oj the Liquor Question 293
tion that nickels expended in treats to boys now, will return in
dollars to your tills, after the appetites are formed."
Note also the remark of the president of the National Liquor
Dealers' Association: " I want to urge upon this Association
the necessity of closer organization to educate recruits for our
business." Had Satan been invited to address the Association,
he would have said the same.
Note 5. Increased Scientific Study of Intemperance. Here
again we see the superiority of prevention over cure. As with
diseases and poverty, efforts are directed to discovering their
causes, in order that by their removal the evils themselves may
be checked, so students are patiently investigating the social
conditions that promote intemperance. It has long been
noticed that saloons flourish most in districts inhabited by the
very poor. Poverty, insufficient nourishment, wretched homes,
drive people to the saloons, and to drown their misery in drink.
But poverty itself is directly connected with the industrial
problem. Moreover, it is fotmd where the twelve-hour day
prevails that it leaves the workmen exhausted in body and
mind, and incapable of finding enjoyment except in alcoholic
stimulants. Wherever the eight-hoiu- day has displaced the
longer day, intemperance has greatly decreased.
Note 6. Consolidating the Temperance Forces. As in the
chiirch the multiplication of sects has prevented united opposi-
tion to the common foe, so, in the fight against the liquor traffic
with its solid front, the most discouraging feature has been the
indisposition of the niimerous forces to co-operate one with
another. Each organization, big or little, has fought alone,
with the result of frequent defeats. The most promising sign of
progress witnessed for many a year was the twentieth anni-
versary of the Anti-Saloon League held in Columbus, Ohio,
November 10-13, 1913. Thirty-eight States were represented,
and nearly every temperance organization in the country sent
its delegates. All parties, races, organizations and religions
were united in the common cause. Over six thousand were
present from outside Ohio. The principles of the Anti-Saloon
League were unanimously endorsed by all the parties and organ-
izations represented. This was the first time in the history of
the temperance movement in this country that the extremes
had been brought together. The principle of national prohi-
bition was endorsed, and a committee of one thotisand appointed
to carry a petition to that effect to Washington, This action
294 The Modern Church ^"^««
did not mean that the various organizations are to abandon
their distinctive methods of work, but that they are imited by a
common spirit for a common end. It does mean that when the
time has come for a final assault on the entrenchments of the
liquor traffic the various divisions will engage as one great
army.
Note 7. The Work of the Church. As in the past, so now,
and till the victory is won, the churches must be leaders in the
temperance reform. Almost all modem movements and
organizations opposed to the liquor traffic, except the Washing-
tonian, have been inspired by the church. The Woman's
Christian Temperance Union, the Anti-Saloon League, and the
prohibition party are largely, if not wholly, composed of church
members. The Roman Catholic Total Abstinence Societies
are doing an important work, and are inspired by the example of
Pope Pius X who is himself a total abstainer^ and is reported
to be dispersing the contents of the famous wine cellars in the
Vatican. The great function of the churches in this work is to
assist in creating a public opinion that will not only demand the
most stringent legislation against the saloons, but will insist on
the enforcement of the law to the last letter. By their preach-
ing in favor of social righteousness and against social wrongs
they must overcome the indifference of the good people whose
inertia makes these wrongs possible.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
{!) Barker: The Saloon Problem and Social Reform. {2) Koren: Eco-
nomic A spects of the Liquor Problem; Calkins : Substitutes for the Saloon; both
of these volumes are results of investigations made for The Committee of
Fifty organized in 1893 " to secure a body of facts which may serve as a
basis for intelligent public and private opinion." (5) Warner: Social
Welfare and the Liquor Problem.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. What has been the persistent attitude of the church toward the poor?
2. Why should indiscriminate charity be condemned?
3. Explain how the industrial revolution has led to a great increase of
poverty during the last century.
4. Mention some of the relations the churches should sustain toward
public charities.
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. Why is less emphasis now placed on the Biblical argument for tem-
perance than formerly?
Forty-Six Recent Phases of the Liquor Question 295
2. Where is the emphasis now placed?
3. How has the attitude of medical men changed in respect to the use of
alcohol?
4. Why is the saloon a menace to its surrounding population?
5. What shows that this menace is clearly recognized i
6. To what extent has State prohibition succeeded in Maine and Kansas?
7. What shows that the liquor traffic thrives on the deliberate creation
of an appetite for intoxicants among the young?
8. What steps are taken for checking the liquor traffic?
9. What great weakness in the opposing forces has now been removed?
10. What is the chief duty of the churches in respect to the liquor
question?
296 The Modern Church • ^"^o«
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. What is the position of your community toward the Hquor traffic,
Ucense or no Hcense? If no license, how is the law enforced? If license,
how many saloons are there? What regulations and restrictions are im-
posed upon them? By whom are they chiefly patronized?
2. If a community votes in favor of license, which is the better for the
common welfare, high license or low? Note that the legislative committee
of the Allied Temperance Organizations of Massachusetts have introduced
a bill into the legislature (1914) reducing the fee for a first-class license from
" not less than one thousand dollars " to " not more than fifty dollars."
Compare this action with the position of the liquor dealers themselves as
stated in Note 4.
3. What is meant by local option, and what is its value in dealing with
the saloon?
QUESTION FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
What is the duty of each member of this class in respect to the liquor
question?
Lesson 47. JUVENILE LAWBREAKERS.
Scripture Reading: Elisha Mocked by Lads of Bethel. 2 Kings 2: 23-25.
Note 1. The Bad Boys and the Bears. Of course, it was
wrong for the gang in Bethel to rush out when they saw the
aged prophet toiHng up the hill and follow him hooting, ** Go
up, thou baldhead." It was not only disrespectful, but it was
a violation of Israel's law which said, " Thou shalt rise up be-
fore the hoary head, and honor the face of the old man, and thou
shalt fear thy God " (Lev. 19: 32). To violate this law was as
bad as robbing an orchard or getting money by lying. Then,
too, it was natural for Elisha to get angry and curse the hood-
lums. Not even a prophet likes being twitted for having lost
his hair. And so, because the boys did not fear God and honor
his prophet, we are told that two she-bears in the woods close by,
aroused by their cries and thinking perhaps they were come out
to rob them of their cubs, rushed out and " tare forty and two
of them."
This is one of the stories that in after years grew up about
Elisha. It was doubtless told to children to teach them not
to ridicule old people because of their infirmities. Its interest
for us lies in its illustrating how yoimg delinquents were dealt
with imtil quite recently. A century ago if a boy had taken a
horse and wagon for a drive, he would have been hung as the
law prescribed. The judge would not have stopped to inquire
whether the act was that of a professional horse-thief or a mere
Forty-seven Juvemle Lawbreakers 297
youthful prank. The boy's point of view would not have been
:onsidered. If Elisha could have had a few lessons from Judge
Ben B. Lindsey of the famous Juvenile Court in Denver, 'he
would probably in fifteen minutes have had the lads begging his
pardon, and escorting him in triumph into Bethel.
Note 2. Causes that Make for Youthful Delinquency. The
offenses for which children are brought into the courts are
usually of a trivial nature, often prompted by an unthinking
spirit of mischief or by conditions and training for which they
are not responsible. Few are bom criminals. Probably not
more than two per cent go wrong because of inborn incurable
instincts. The most frequent initial cause is the lack of a good
home and wise parental training. Many homes, especially in
the congested city slinns, are deplorably bad. Unemployment
sinks the parents into poverty, poverty drives to drink, and
drink aggravates the poverty. The children are turned into
the streets without proper food or clothing. Here they quickly
learn the vices inseparable from street life and vicious compan-
ions. Almost before they know it, offenses have been com-
mitted that bring them into court.
Not all, and perhaps not even the worst, of juvenile law-
breakers are bred in city slums. Any one. who reads even
casually the news columns of the daily papers must have been
struck by the youthfulness of many of the criminals. Some of
the most daring and desperate crimes are committed by boys
from sixteen to eighteen years of age. Sometimes out of a list
of forty or fifty brought in of a morning before a municipal
court not one will be over twenty years of age. The situation
becomes all the more perplexing when we learn that many
of them are the sons of respectable and hardworking parents.
Judge Thomas C. O' Sullivan of the Court of General Sessions
of New York City, assigns the following among the reasons why
so large a nimiber of mere youths go wrong :
" A lack of religious or moral instruction in the schools.
'* A disinclination on the part of the yoimg men to work,
partly because of their having been spoiled at home, and partly
because of their reahzation of- the inadequacy of the wages
they will get in the trades.
** Bad associations on the streets at night."
A boy who has received no religious instruction in his home
and none in the chirrch school, who leaves school without hav-
ing learned even the elements of a self-supporting trade, is
298 The Modern Church ^^^^o«
badly handicapped in his start in life. Never having been
trained to steady work, he finds it irksome. When he has once
learned that living by his wits at the expense of others is easier
than by steady employment at low pay, he has started on the
career of a vagabond, criminal and social parasite.
The demoralizing influence of city life is a large factor in
producing juvenile delinquency, which increases in direct
proportion to the density of the population. Parents cannot
easily keep track of their children, and the opportunities to
steal offered by the free exposure of goods and the stimulus of
vicious gangs present strong temptations to wrongdoing. Of
all the transgressors brought before the courts, less than two
per cent come from the open country, while of city boys between
the ages of ten and sixteen, twenty per cent become offenders.
Note 3. The Former Treatment of Juvenile Lawbreakers.
Until the beginning of the nineteenth century, no efforts were
made to discriminate between youthful offenders and mature
malefactors, or between insanity, crime, and mere delinquency.
A violation of the law was a crime, and was in every case assumed
to be due to a vicious disposition, and hence to be suppressed
by severe punishment. The obvious fact was that an offense
had been committed against society and society demanded
satisfaction. The reformation of the offender was a minor
consideration. If barbarous pimishments could deter him
from further depredations, well and good. If not, it was no
concern of society. Naturally prisons were overcrowded and
filthy, often sending out pestilential fevers on the surrounding
country. The treatment of prisoners was brutal. Young boys
and girls were herded with the most degraded criminals. Pun-
ishments were inhuman. A century ago two hundred and
twenty-two offenses were punished by death. They ranged
from treason and murder down to the stealing of a sheep. As
late as 1833 a boy of only nine years was sentenced to death,
though not executed, for stealing four cents' worth of paint
from a shop window. About the same time two boys were
kept in jail fifty-one days before trial and then sentenced to
seven years of transportation to a penal colony for stealing a
pair of shoes. Such cruelties, instead of deterring young
persons from crime, incited them to it. If they were to be
banished or himg for a trifling misdemeanor, they felt they might
as well engage in crimes that were worth while. The result
was that the coimtry and the cities were overnm with young
Forty-seven JuvemU Lawbreakers 299
desperadoes who in many instances terrorized large communi-
ties. The cruelty and stupidity with which punishments were
meted out to young children in precisely the same degree as to
the most depraved scoundrels is almost imbelievable. The
whole system of dealing with children rested on the supposition
that they were diminutive adults.
Note 4. The New Treatment of Juvenile Lawbreakers.
The revolutionary changes in the treatment of juvenile delin-
quents that have taken place during the past century rest
on a recognition of the following principles:
{1) That childhood in its essential characteristics differs
radically from adult life. A careful study of childhood and
adolescence, of the awakening physical, mental, and spiritual
powers, of the shifting instincts and impulses, shows the neces-
sity of a close adaptation of the treatment not only to the suc-
cessive stages of this development, but to the special conditions
and needs of each individual case.
{2) That the environment of the child in its home and out-
side is usually a larger factor in determining the bent of the
child toward good or evil than inherited impulses or self-will;
and that where salutary home influences are lacking, the re-
sponsibility of providing them rests on the commimity or the
State.
{3) That delinquency and crime are not identical. To treat
a juvenile offender in the same manner as a matiire and hard-
ened criminal is not only to commit an unpardonable sin against
the child itself, but to burden society with a wrecked life that
might easily have been saved and made useful.
(4) That the great mass of children who do wrong do so in
consequence of the misdirection of normal impulses. Experi-
ence shows that ninety per cent or more, whose lives would
have been irretrievably wrecked imder the old system, have
latent possibilities that if properly fostered can and will give
them honorable places in the social ranks.
{5) That any treatment which aims at punishment rather than
education and reform is foolish and useless. All treatment
should be made to fit the offender rather than the offense.
Note 5. Modem Remedial Measures. One of the first
steps taken after improving to some extent the prison buildings
was the segregation of young culprits in reformatories especially
established for their benefit. They were a great improvement
on the former prison, but the prison idea and the prison treat-
300 The Modern Church ^^^'^"^
ment were still there. Even when they came to be adminis-
tered on more himiane lines, experience proved that reform was
largely checked through habits formed by institutional life
and by the branding of the delinquents as criminals when they
tried to get back into society. No attempts to free these insti-
tutions from the evils inherent in them have succeeded. Even
when the name is changed to " school," " asylum," " farm," or
" republic," or when the big institution is broken up into smaller
houses, cottages, or homes, the number of those not redeemed
averages for the United States forty-four per cent.
The best results have been attained by placing normal offend-
ers singly in homes, " foster homes " as they are called, where
they enjoy a genuine home-life and receive the care and guidance
of husband and wife with opportunities for steady work and
education. Strict supervision of the ward or foster-child, by
an agent of the institution by which it was placed out is main-
tained. The agent has full power to transfer the child when he
thinks best.
A beautiful illustration of how sympathy and service can be
enlisted in saving young delinquents from criminal careers is
seen in the Big Brother Movement. In the Youths' Companion
of December 12, 1912, Jacob Riis gives an account of its origin.
Ernest K. Coulter, then clerk of the Juvenile Court in the city
of New York, was invited to address the Men's Club at the
Central Presbyterian Church. He told most impressively how
a little personal supervision was all that most boys needed to
keep them straight, even in the bad surroundings where they
lived. " Can nothing be done? " asked one of the forty men at
the tables. " If each of you here will be the friend of one boy,
and will show him that some one really cares about him, forty
boys will have their chance," was the reply. The idea caught
the minds and hearts of those business men, and in a few minutes
forty Big Brothers had enlisted in a movement that since then
has spread far and wide and has been the means of helping
thousands of boys, simply by the law of love, to become valuable
members of society.
The most important development in the legal method of
handling delinquents has been the establishment of juvenile
courts in which the children's cases are tried entirely apart
from those of adult prisoners. The judge exercises not only
judicial functions, but takes the place of a wise father who,
chiefly outside of the court, wins the confidence of the boy or
girl, and gives sympathy, advice, and encouragement. Of
Porty-seven JuvenUe Lawbreakers 301
these courts, the most widely known is that presided over by
Judge Lindsey at Denver. " He is State father to the children
and his record of redemption is the best in the world. ' '
A large proportion of the children brought into court for the
first time have been guilty only of a petty theft or mischievous
pranlc, or even so small an offense as playing baseball on the
street, which is no sign of a vicious nature. If properly treated,
warned, and placed on their good behavior, they w^ould never
be found there again. Instead of sending them to reform
schools, the judge has the option of placing them under the
supervision of probation officers who look after them as long as
may be necessary. More than half the children who are placed
under competent probation officers are never seen in court
again.
Finally, a great gain has been made by the State holding the
parents responsible for the upbringing of the child in all cases
where that is at all possible. The child's own home and its
own parents are its normal protectors and guides. Where
through poverty, vice, or incapacity the parental home becomes
a menace to the child's welfare, it is the duty and privilege of
the State to seek another where the child may grow up under
wholesome influences.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
{1) Travis: The Young Malefactor. {2) Russell and Rigby: The Mak-
ing of the Criminal. (5) Russell: Yotmg Gaol- Birds. (4) George and
Stowe: Citizens Made and Remade. (5) Hall: Adolescence, Vol. I, ch. 5
on " Juvenile Faults, Immoralities and Crimes." (6) Barrows: Children's
Courts in the United States. (7) Lindsey: " My Experience with Boys "
in Ladies' Home Journal, October, 1906, p. 37,
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. In arguments for temperance, where is the chief emphasis placed at
the present time?
2. What is the increasing impression respecting the saloon?
3. In view of the increasing " dry " area in the United States, to what
end are the liquor interests turning their energies?
4. What encouraging forward movement has recently been made by the
temperance forces?
5. What is still the main function of the churches respecting temperance?
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. What are some of the more frequent causes of juvenile delinquency?
302 The Modern Church ^"^«"
2. What causes operate where poverty is not the chief?
3. How does the city compare with the country as a breeder of dehn-
quents?
4. Describe the old way of handHng young offenders.
5. What was the effect of the old method on the offenders?
6. Mention some of the principles that have revolutionized the modern
treatment of juvenile lawbreakers.
7. What are the advantages and the disadvantages of reformatories?
8. What superior advantages result from the placing-out system?
9. How has the legal handling of dehnquents been improved?
10. What is meant by the probation system?
11. Where do modern methods now place the responsibility?
Forty-eight PHsoHS and PHsoners 303
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. In a leading city newspaper scan the news columns and court records
for a week and note what per cent of those arrested are under twenty years.
2. If you live in a city, find out from the policeman on your beat which
give him the more trouble, youths or adults, and the most frequent offenses.
3. What is done with a boy or girl in your neighborhood who may be
arrested for petty theft?
QUESTION FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
Suppose a member of your class should " borrow " a hundred dollars of
his employer's money without leave, and be sentenced to a year at a re-
formatory, how would you treat him while he is there and when he returns?
Lesson 48. PRISONS AND PRISONERS.
Scripture Reading: The Parable of the Unjust Steward. Mt. 18: 23-35.
Note 1. The Adult Criminal. So long as the administra-
tion of justice, or more often injustice, was based on the theory
that the child is a pigmy man, no legal distinction was made
between him and the adult. We now know that child life in
its essential features is radically different from adult life. A
child and an adult may each be guilty of setting fire to a house.
The one may have wanted merely to see a big bonfire ; the other,
if a normal individual, was probably actuated by a distinctly
criminal motive, such as a desire for revenge, plunder, or realiz-
ing a fire insurance. Obviously the treatment of the two must
differ as greatly as the motives. The child had no intention of
harming any one. The man deliberately violated laws estab-
hshed for the protection of propert}^ He has not only
committed a flagrant offense against society for which society
justly exacts punishment, but he has shown himself to be a
menace to the community, and to require appropriate treat-
ment. A crime, accordingly, may be defined, with Kant, as
" an act threatened by law with punishment." A criminal,
therefore, is one who wilfully commits the act, and who rightly
incurs the punishment.
Note 2. The Aim of Punishment. When a person strikes
another, the blow arouses anger and an impulse to strike a blow
in return that will inflict equal or greater pain. Retaliation, or
revenge, is a primary instinct in htmianity. Prehistoric man
was his own avenger. When society became more unified, the
304 The Modern Church ^"^''^
resentment was shared by the family and the tribe who more
and more took away from the injiired individual the right of
private revenge, and took upon themselves the punishment of
the offender according to customs that gradually hardened into
laws. The earliest of these laws was the lex talionis, or retri-
bution in kind (see Exod. 21 : 23-25). The same idea still sur-
vives among imcivilized peoples, who, in some cases, fail to
discriminate between accidental and intentional injuries. A
curious illustration is related in Parkyn's " Life in Abyssinia ":
" A boy who had climbed a tree happened to fall down right on
the head of his little comrade standing below. The comrade
died immediately, and the imlucky climber was in consequence
sentenced to be killed in the same way as he had killed the other
boy; that is, the dead boy's brother should climb the tree in his
turn and timible down on the other's head imtil he killed him."
This primitive desire for revenge is still the root from which
springs criminal law, which is primarily an expression of the
vindictive feeling of society toward the man who has inflicted
an injury upon it. When the legal process is too slow or un-
certain to satisfy popular craving for vengeance this is apt to
find expression in the form of lynching.
While the primary aim of judicial punishment from time im-
memorial has been retaliation, a higher conception of its pur-
pose is now gaining groimd among advanced penologists. The
spirit of revenge is explicitly condemned by Christ (Mt. 5:
38, 39), and it is no less wrong when exhibited by a commimity
than by an individual. It is not only un-Christian, but im-
successful. Instead of reforming the offender, it confirms him
in his evil ways. Reflection shows that the main purpose of
judicial punishment should be the protection of society against
a dangerous character, and that the pimishment should be of
such form as will most effectually do this. Four considerations
should converge in determining the form of punishment in each
case.
(1) Segregation. The most obvious and the oldest way of
meeting this requirement is by separating the criminal from
his f ellowmen in such manner that he will no longer be in position
to do harm, that is, by segregation. This takes two forms:
capital punishment, which makes the separation complete and
irrevocable; and imprisonment, which deprives the offender of
liberty, either temporarily or for life.
(2) Deterrence. The punishment must be of such nature as
will tend to deter others from similar criminal actions. Mere
Fort;^^eis}it Pnsofis and Prisoners 305
segregation, however, cannot be made an effective warning
irnless it is made to include real hardship ; that is, a deprivation
of everything but the plainest necessities of life.
(3) Reformation. Society, however, will not act wisely if it
merely shuts the prisoner in a cell until his sentence has expired.
Not only for the sake of the man himself, but for its own sake,
society should use the period of separation in such way as to
build up his character and assist him to become a useful mem-
ber of society. Reformation, then, should be the ultimate aim
of punitive discipline.
(4) Humanity. Finally, it should be remembered that the
criminal may not be wholly to blame for the actions which have
brought him under the penalty of the law. In many instances
he is born with a predisposition to ciime that has been strength-
ened by a vicious environment. Society, instead of helping
him to overcome inborn weaknesses and protecting him from
evil influences, tolerates conditions that stimulate the worst
that is in him, and make it next to impossible for him to rise
into a worthy manhood. In view of such facts, the least
society can do is to treat those who in many cases are the vic-
tims of its own neglect, with the utmost hi_imanity consistent
with a strict regard for requirements already laid down.
Note 3. Reformatory Methods. Any one acquainted with
the conditions into which prisoners were thrust only a century
ago will not need to be told that the first step to be taken for
the improvement of the prisoners was the improvement of the
prisons themselves. The inmates were often deprived of light
and air, forced to live in the midst of filth and disease, clothed
in rags, and fed on scanty and imwholesome food. In civilized
countries such conditions have largely ceased to exist. An
ideal modem prison is now a model of sanitation and arranged
with a view to promoting the best interests of the inmates;
but ideal prisons are still all too rare.
So far as a modern prison realizes modem ideals, it has ceased
to be a place for physical torture, and been made a reform school
where good habits, physical, mental, and moral, are taught.
Protracted idleness is always demorahzing. Therefore prison-
ers are required to work, not merely for their own good, but in
order to reimburse the State in some measure for the expense
of maintaining them. A large proportion of them have fallen
into evil ways because they knew no self-supporting trade.
All of them are, therefore, taught a trade, such as they may
306 The Modern Church -^"^°»
choose, or for which they seem best fitted, so that on re-entering
the world they will not be forced to beg or steal for a living.
How to keep the convicts at work without injury to free
labor is one of the most perplexing problems in the management
of prisons. A system which has widely prevailed was that of
hiring the labor of convicts to contractors who engaged to pay
for them a fixed price a day. The only inducement in employ-
ing convict labor rather than free was the hope of larger gain.
This could be reahzed in one of two ways, either by paying less
wages for the same output or the same wages as in the open
market for a larger output. In either case the contractor
would be able to imdersell his competitor who employed free
labor. This naturally raised an angry protest against convict
labor. Moreover, where the larger output was demanded this
was often realized at the cost of much suffering to the overtaxed
laborers. Fortunately, this system has largely passed away.
The convicts are encotLraged to maintain good behavior, not
only by reaping immediate advantages, but by a shortening of
the" time of their sentence. Every inducement is held out to
prisoners so to conduct themselves as to inspire confidence in
their desire to qualify for good citizenship. Putting the better
class of prisoners on their honor is frequently attended by
surprising results.
All possible care is taken that, when a sentence expires, the
prisoner is not merely thrust out into the world but prepared
to resimie his place in society. At the Elmira, N. Y., reforma-
tory every inmate is paid a wage for his daily work that, after
defraying the cost of his board and keep, will net him a small
sum when he is discharged. He does not leave imtil employ-
ment has been foimd for him and even then remains under
supervision imtil he has shown that it is safe to give him full
liberty.
In some cases the offender is not sent to prison at all, but, as
in the case of juveniles, put on probation under the care of a
probation officer who looks after him, advises him when in
trouble, or gives him assistance when in need. In this way
many men have been saved without the stigma of serving time
in jail.
Note 4. Determinate and Indeterminate Sentences. So
long as the main purpose of imprisonment was retribution,
the length of the sentence was in a rough way apportioned to the
degree of the crime. At the expiration of the sentence, the
Foriy-eight Prtsous and Prisoners 307
culprit was released, because the public sentiment for vengeance
was supposed to be satisfied. Whether the discipline had left
the man where he was, or made him tenfold more a danger to
society was not considered. It is very much as if a doctor
should send a smallpox patient to a hospital for ten days and
then turn him loose to spread the contagion through the com-
munity.
When, on the contrary, the emphasis is placed on reforma-
tion, and prisons are so conducted as to promote this end, it is
obvious that the prison takes on the character of a hospital for
moral infirmities, and that the patient committed to it should
remain until cured, whether it takes ten weeks or ten years.
At first obedience to the requirements for systematic physical
exercise, for study, for manual training, for neatness, order, and
respect for law may be yielded, not through love, but because
the offender realizes that if he is ever to regain his liberty he
must attain proficiency in these things. ** But in the doing
there comes in time a development of that indescribable thing
that we call character, and everything comes to be looked at
from a different and better point of view. He acquires the
power of concentrated and persistent effort, changes his aims
and ambitions, and becomes receptive to the more direct
moral influences of the institution." (Thirteenth Annual Re-
port, 1906, of the New York State Reformatory at Elmira.)
On the other hand, indisputable evidence shows that there is
in every city a confirmed criminal class, of whose reformation
the hope is so slight as to be practically negligible. London is
estimated to contain twenty thousand. A man who has served
anywhere from three or four to fifteen or twenty terms in prison,
and who leaves the prison each time with the full piirpose of
resuming his career of crime, is more dangerous to society than
a leper. And yet we segregate the leper for life, and turn the
confirmed criminal loose to prey on the public after each term
of confinement. Reason as well as mercy to society and to a
confirmed criminal himself dictate a complete loss of opportu-
nity to commit crime for the rest of his life, or imtil he has experi-
enced a well-nigh miraculous moral transformation.
Note 5. A Helping Hand from the Church. Prisons are so
largely secular institutions that, even when the ultimate aim is
moral reform, the churches come into slight direct contact with
them. The large State institutions employ chaplains who
conduct the reHgious services and look after the other reHgious
308 The Modern Church ^''*^<'»
interests of the inmates. Wherever possible, they give counsel
and encouragement. In the smaller county jails where no
chaplains are employed, the neighboring ministers usually take
turns in conducting the Srmday worship. It would also be well
if ministers in their public prayers for all sorts and conditions
of men would specifically remember the men and women behind
prison bars. In this way they would not only invoke divine
help for those who greatly need it, but also turn the thoughts of
the congregation toward those unfortunates whom the world is
likely to ignore and forget. This would tend, moreover, to
pave the way for extending sympathetic aid to those organiza-
tions, like the John Howard Homes and the Volunteer Prison
League founded for the purpose of sheltering, caring for, and
morally supporting discharged prisoners, while they are seeking
for opportunities to get back into industrial life. The man who
comes out of prison resolved to lead such a life as never to get
into the clutches of the law again, is worthy of all the sympathy
and aid the churches can extend to him. Even at the best he
is compelled to face discouragements, distrust, and hostility
enough to try to the utmost the good resolutions he has foimded.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
(i) Booth: After Priso7i, What? Mrs. Ballington Booth founded the
Volunteer Prison League in 1896. Further information respecting it can
be had by sending to 34 West 28th Street, New York City. {2) Boies.
The Science of Penology. {3) Reports of the National Prison Association.
See also The American Year Book for 1913, pp. 444-455. U) Bliss.
Encyclopaedia of Social Reforms, see articles Crime, Criminology, Penology,
Convict Labor, Elmira Reformatory, Prison Reform. (5) In World's
Work for April, 1914, see article on " A Prison that Makes Men Free."
{6) On the Convict Honor System, see Harper's Weekly, August 2, 1913;
Technical World Magazine, February, 1913; American Magazine, January,
1913; Outlook, December 20, 1913. (7) On Contract Labor Problem, see
The Survey, December 14 and 26, 1912; January 4 and 17, 1913.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. What are some of the causes that make for juvenile delinquency?
2. How were juvenile lawbreakers treated until recent times?
3. How does the modern treatment differ from the old?
4. What are some of the remedial measures used?
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. Mention some respects in which adult criminals differ from juvenile.
2. What are the two leading aims in punishing a criminal?
Foriy-eight Pusous and PHsoners 309
3. What four principles should control the methods of punishment?
4. What was the first step taken in improving the old methods?
5. What reformatory methods are now employed?
6. How are discharged prisoners assisted?
7. What is meant by a determinate sentence?
8. What is meant by an indeterminate sentence?
9. When and why is an indeterminate better than a determinate sen
tence?
10. What should be done with incorrigible criminals?
11. How can the churches give moral aid to prisoners before and aft
their discharge?
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. What is the condition of your local or county jail?
2. How are the prisoners treated?
3. What are the churches doing for their moral betterment?
310 The Modern Church ^"^°"
4 How the honor system works at the Oregon Penitentiary. See The
Outlook for July 27, 1912, pp. 716, 748.
QUESTION FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
Should the death penalty be abolished?
Lesson 49. ENEMIES OF THE FAMILY.
Scripture Reading:- Questions about Divorce. Mark 10: 1-12.
Note 1. The Family in Christian Lands. The word family
ranges in meaning from a single social unit composed of a
husband, his wife, and their children, through a gradually en-
larging series of meanings imtil finally it comes to include all
mankind, as when we speak of the human family. As used in
this lesson, the term will be restricted to its narrowest meaning,
the union by marriage of one man to one woman and the chil-
dren born of it. This is monogamous, as distinguished from
polygamous marriage.
Christianity sanctions only monogamous marriages. Any
evasion of this law in Christian lands is regarded as a crime
and is severely punished. In the United States, polygamous
marriage has been a disgraceful and law-defying institution
among the Mormons, or " Church of Jesus Christ of Latter
Day Saints." Whether it has been discontinued since Utah
was admitted to the Union is a disputed question. Outside of
Mormonism, the family stands in all civilized and Christian
lands for a monogamous imion.
Note 2. The Christian Ideal of the Family. Among the
Hebrews, as among the ancients in general, a wife was regarded
as the property of her husband. The Tenth Commandment
(Exod. 20: 17) classes her among his other possessions. The
dowry to be paid to a bride's parents made a daughter a valu-
able possession. A poor man was lucky if he could obtain a
single wife. A rich man might have as many as he could afford.
A similar freedom was enjoyed in respect to putting a wife
away. To check the evil results of impulsive action, the
Deuteronomic law required the husband to give his discarded
wife " a bill of divorcement " (Deut. 24: 1). Practically, how-
ever, the freedom of divorce was unlimited, so that in the time
of Christ a man might get rid of his wife for so trivial a matter as
burning his dinner.
Forty-nine Enemies oj the Family 311
Against this low idea of marriage Jesus asserted the divine
ideal of a union so close that husband and wife become " one
flesh," and that divorce in order to remarry is one of the most
heinous of crimes. The older records of Alark 10: 11, 12, and
Luke 16 : 18 report that he stated this general principle without
any reservations. According to the parallel record of Mt.
5 : 32 and 19 : 9, he conceded that unfaithfulness to the marriage
relation is a permissible groimd for divorce. If not original
with Jesus, this later version at least reflects the usage of the
early church. The Roman Catholic church takes its stand on
the unqualified ideal in Mark and Luke, and forbids divorce.
Protestant churches, for the most part, take their stand on the
qualified language in Matthew. The laws of organized society,
that conform to present conditions rather than ideals, go still
farther and take account of the fact that other causes destroy
marriage as effectually as unfaithfulness and death.
Note 3. Purpose and Importance of the Family. The es-
sential bond of union in the family is love. Other considera-
tions may exist, but where love does not reign supreme there
can be no true family life. The family then is not created by
mere mutual agreement, or by contract. It is something more
vital than a partnership which may be dissolved at the pleasure
of either party. The marriage ceremony does not create, but
merely gives public sanction to, a previous imion of hearts and
lives. This imion is the fountain from which flows the stream
of life. Through it the divine work of creation is continued
from generation to generation. Without it life would perish.
For this reason the family has existed from immemorial times
as the basal social organism. , Upon it are built the larger
units of the clan, the tribe, and the nation. Its customs are
expanded into the laws of the State. Whatever, therefore,
undermines the integrity and imity of the family, endangers to
the same extent the stability of the entire social structure.
The ruin of the family issues in the ruin of the State. The
Roman empire fell not so much because barbarian hordes swept
down upon it, as because its family life was rotten to the core.
The family and its development into the home constitute the
foundation not only of the State, but of religion, education,
industry, and social order.
Note 4. Enemies of the Family. {!) Facility in Obtaining
Divorce. During the twenty years ending with 1906, nearly
one million divorces were granted in the United States. In one
312 The Modem Church ^«^'^"
case a wife had caused her husband " great mental anguish "
by not taking him out to ride, and in another case a wife had
caused her husband similar " anguish " by neglecting to sew
the buttons on his shirt. But the significance of the above
statement lies in the fact that only three per cent of this million
divorces were granted for trivial reasons, while ninety-seven
per cent were due to adultery, desertion, cruelty, imprisonment
for crime, habitual drunkenness, and neglect to make suitable
provision for the needs of the family. Sixty per cent were
granted for the first two of these causes; that is, after husband
and wife were already separated and the home destroyed.
The ease with which divorces have been obtained in some
States of the Union has greatly increased the number of appH-
cants. A uniform divorce law in all the States would greatly
check this evil which in some instances has grown into a na-
tional scandal.
(2) Free Love. Prominent writers in England and on the
Continent, as well as propagandists of certain widely accepted
social theories, even go so far as to advocate the abolition of
the family and a return to the aboriginal imrestricted relation
between the sexes. The fact that many of these persons are
exceptionally intelligent and blameless in conduct makes their
influence the more pernicious.
(3) The Social Evil. This has long been recognized as one of
the most insidious and dangerous enemies of the family. Its
foul tentacles lay hold of men and women in all classes of society,
but especially the young, and drag them into depths of corrup-
tion that make them morally and physically imfit for married
life.
(4) Excessive Individualism. The doctrine that the individ-
uals who compose society are no more related than so many
grains of sand, leads to the further doctrine that all social rela-
tions are based on mutual agreements or contracts. This con-
clusion affects the family disastrously, since it denies that vital
relationship between husband and wife which constitutes them
the perfect human unit, each supplying that which the other
lacks.
(5) Adverse Economic Conditions among the Poor. Men who
do not receive wages that suffice to maintain a home and rear
and educate children marry freely nevertheless. Low wages,
however, force the wife and children to aid in supporting the
family, with the unhappy result that in numberless instances
they crowd out the men who have families to support.
Forty^nine Enemics of the Family 313
(6) Fashionable Life among the Rich. The rapid decrease of
offspring not only among the rich, but in the middle class, has
attracted wide attention. In long stretches of fashionable
homes the children will often average only one or two, instead
of the normal three or four, to a family. The pressure of social
engagemients diverts the wives from giving care to child nurture.
(7) Aversion of Landlords to Children. Landlords who refuse
to accept as tenants families with children should be classed
among the enemies of the family. Those heads of households
who have encountered such refusals will appreciate the shrewd-
ness of the woman who, before negotiating with a landlord of
that description, sent her six children to play in a neighboring
cemetery. On being asked if she had children she answered,
" Yes." " I do not rent to families with children." " But
mine are all in the graveyard." " Oh, that makes a difference,"
said the landlord, as, with a word of hypocritical condolence,
he made out a lease.
Note 5. What the Churches Can do to Protect the Family.
The churches should affirm the sacredness of marriage as a
divine institution, and not merely a civil contract, that may be
broken at the option of the contracting parties.
The churches should insist that legislation respecting mar-
.riage and divorce should approximate as nearly as conditions
will permit to the Christian ideal, or, at least, that nothing in
the law should tend to disparage this ideal. If a church believes
that better results are reached by a rigid refusal to sanction
divorce, it is, of course, free to act accordingly. At the same
time it must admit that it is the fimction of civil government to
legislate as demanded by existing conditions rather than try to
enforce ideal principles.
The churches can assist in agitating for uniform divorce
laws now in process of enactment by several States, and then,
as an obvious next step, uniform marriage laws.
The churches must try to arrest that apparent decay of family
life to which must be attributed the numerous divorces now
sought and granted rather than to laxity in the laws themselves.
" The problem in American famil}^ life is whether we are able
to build up the virtues upon which a new and higher type of
family may be founded, higher, that is, than the semi-patriarchal
type of family of our fathers, which is now passing away or is,
rather, already extinct."
The churches can co-operate with industrial organizations
314 The Modern Church ^"^o'^
in bringing about such economic changes as will enable every
competent workman to obtain a wage that will make marriage
and home life possible.
The churches can preach the dignity as well as the duty of
parenthood, and insist on the same standard of purity for men
as for women.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
{1) Devine: The Family and Social Work, pp. 59-112. (2) Whetham:
The Family and the Nation. (3) Bosanquet: The Family. (4) Chris-
tianity and Divorce, in Littell's Living Age, No. 3469, December 31, 1910.
(5) The Social Evil. The Immediate Remedies: The Outlook, February
8, 1913, p. 298.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. What should be the aim of punishments for criminal offenses?
2. What reformatory methods should be employed?
3. When should indeterminate sentences be imposed, and why?
4. How can the churches assist in reforming criminals?
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. What was the position of the wife in Old Testament times?
2. What did Jesus teach respecting marriage and divorce?
3. What is the main purpose of the family?
4. What gives to the family its unique importance:
5. Describe the extent and causes of divorce in this country.
6. How is the family affected by the social evil and individualism?
Forty-nine Emmtes of the Family 315
7. How is the family affected by adverse economic conditions?
8. What causes the decreasing birth rate among the well-to-do and the
rich?
9. In what respect are some landlords enemies of the family?
10. What should be the church's attitude toward divorce?
11. In what other ways can churches protect the family?
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. Are lax laws or decay of family life chiefly to blame for the prevalence
of divorce?
2. Are there cases around you where people give so much attention to
religion as to neglect their families?
3. What is the average number of children in the families i«i your church?
4. How would you answer those who maintain that not even the death
of a husband or wife gives the other liberty to marry?
QUESTION FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
Why should the welfare of the family be considered the ultimate aim of
all social work?
316 The Modern Church ^"*°«
Lesson 50. THE CHURCH AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
Scriptiire Reading : Religious Teaching Commanded. Deut. 6: 1-9, 20-25.
Note 1. Literary Study of the Bible not Religious. A pro-
fessor of English literatiire in one of the Western State imiver-
sities, in an address delivered recently, declared that " One of
the most monumental and perhaps irreparable mistakes ever
made by the American nation was when she excluded the Bible
from her public schools." Presumably most of those who
greeted this declaration with ** an outburst of applause "
imagined that the lecturer had in mind a religious study of the
Bible. Clearly, however, no such valuation was in his mind,
since his subject was, " The Bible as Literature." That there
might be no mistake on this point, he said further: " In attach-
ing so much importance to the study of the Bible, I do it not
so much on account of its ethical and religious teachings as
because of its being the greatest masterpiece in the literature of
all ages and tongues." On this ground it is often urged that
the Bible should be given a place alongside of other literature in
public schools and colleges. This plea might be valid if it
were merely an admirable piece of literature. But its im-
portance in this respect bears no comparison with the estima-
tion in which it is held as a source of ideals for building up a
moral and religious character. Those who regard the latter
as at least equally important with physical and mental training
deplore the wide disuse of the Bible which they regard as a most
important aid in the cultivation of the higher side of human
nature. They feel that a study of the Bible as literature is
practically worthless for this higher end.
Note 2. Laws of the United States Respecting Public
Schools ani the Bible. The population of the United States
according to the census of 1910 was 93,401,414. About one-
fourth of this number are of school age. Probably twenty
millions are enrolled as actually attending school. To say that
the American nation has committed the " monimiental mis-
take " of excluding the Bible from her public schools is to make a
reckless and misleading statement. The Constitution of the
United States declares that " Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof." Congress has no power to banish the Bible
from the public schools. These are subject to the control of
the separate States. Here, it is true, we find a few cases in
which State laws prevent the use of the Bible in the schools.
pif^y The Church and the Public Schools 317
These are California, Washington, Utah, Idaho, and Nevada.
Louisiana has a law against sectarian teaching that has been so
interpreted as to hinder the use of the Bible in its schools, and
so has Illinois. On the other hand, Maine, New Hampshire,
Vermont, Massachusetts, Maryland, Georgia, District of
Columbia, and Pennsylvania make the use of the Bible com-
pulsory. In all the New England States the Bible has been
read in the public schools ever since they were established more
than two hundred and fifty years ago. New York is also a
Bible-reading State, the custom being as old as the schools.
New York City has a law (Section 134) which prescribes a
reading of the Holy Scriptures without note or comment at
the opening of every school in the city. In 1898 the Supreme
Court of Alichigan rendered a decision favoring the readiag of
the Bible in the schools. Here also, the custom goes back to
the beginning of the public-school system. In all the remaining
States there are either no laws concerning the matter or laws
forbidding the exclusion of the Bible. What most of the States
explicitly forbid, however, is the teaching of sectarian doctrines.
Where Bible reading is optional with school boards or teachers
the custom varies from only a few schools in some States to
nearly all in others. Some State laws require the use of the
Lord's Prayer in connection with the Bible reading. This
custom is largely followed even when it is not compulsory.
Note 3. Reasons for Excluding Religious Teaching from
Public Schools. Two principles on which our government is
founded are those of complete separation between church and
State, and the education of all youth at public expense. Until
the early part of the nineteenth century the main purpose in
learning to read was in order to read the Bible and other re-
ligious books. This idea by general consent dominated the
public schools. But when religious bodies of various kinds
began to multiply, the teaching of religion was taken out, lest
schools maintained by the entire community should propagate
particular denominational beliefs. To tax Roman Catholics,
i.e., for the support of schools teaching Protestantism, or to
tax a Protestant for the maintenance of some other kind of
Protestantism than his own, was seen to be an injustice. In a
coimtry with nearly two hundred distinct religious bodies hold-
ing more or less conflicting beliefs and practices, the only possible
system of pubhc education was one entirely independent of
religious instruction. To teach the doctrines of any one de-
318 The Modern Church ^"^°«
nomination would be doing injustice to all the rest; to teach all
would be impossible. Those who regarded their own denomina-
tion as the sole door for entrance into heaven would jealously
guard their children from contamination by other sects. With
equal jealousy would those who regarded every form of religion
as superstition and tyramiy guard their children from religious
instruction of any kind. The only way to get religious teaching
into the public school would be for all the people to agree on one
particular kind, to forbid by law any other. This is a subject
to be decided by the individual States.
Note 4. Schools without Religious Instruction not Neces-
sarily " Godless." Even if the logic of separation between
church and state should be pushed so far as to banish the
Bible from the schools of every commimity where a majority
opposes its use, this would not leave the schools irreligious or
Godless. Ours is a Christian civilization built up on the
moral and reHgious teachings of the Bible. So long as it remains
Christian the moral standards of private conduct and of public
action will be those inculcated by this book. Teachers in
public schools, as well as preachers in pulpits, will recognize
these standards. Moral delinquency in either case is visited
not only by loss of influence, but also by loss of place. We
should not lose sight of the fact that the teachers in American
schools, a large majority of whom are women, are a conscien-
tious and consecrated body of public servants who thoroughly
recognize their responsibilities. Multitudes of them are de-
voted Christians, who so clearly and beautifully manifest the
spirit of true reUgion in their lives as to quicken a similar life
in their pupils. An unconscious absorption of moral and reli-
gious impressions is Hkely to be more fruitful and enduring than
a direct and formal presentation of religious doctrines. Any
teacher so disposed can make his or her school a profoundly
religious institution, where the emphasis is not on dogma, but
on conduct and character; where God is not reduced to a theo-
logical definition, but is realized as a living presence; and where
ethics is not a system of abstract precepts, but a cup of cold
water, a loving heart, and a perception of the great truths of
life reflected in all processes of nature and the activities of men
and children.
Note 5. Position of the Churches in Respect to the Public
Schools. {!) The churches cannot ask for the introduction of
formal reHgious instruction in schools supported by the State.
The suggestion that pastors and priests of different religions
^»y<y The Church and the Public Schools 319
come alternately to the schools to teach religion would not only
conflict with the principle of complete separation between
church and state, but would result in hopeless confusion to the
children.
{2) The churches have a right to insist that the schools shall
not be made centers for the propagation of anti-religious or anti-
Christian teaching. History and experience imite in proving
that any education which opposes, or even ignores, ethical and
religious elements is perilous not only to the individual, but to
the State.
{3) The churches may properly aid in creating a public senti-
ment that shall demand that supervisors and teachers be persons
whose character shall make the atmosphere of the schoolroom
helpful in quickening the moral and spiritual life of the child
and in reinforcing the direct teachings of the home and the
Simday school.
(4) The churches should as far as possible enlist the sympathy
and co-operation of the public school teachers in the work of the
Sunday schools. It may not always be possible to obtain their
services as teachers, but it will always be possible to establish
between them and the Sunday-school teachers a closer alliance
than usually exists. Any one acquainted with day-school
teachers knows that as a rule they sincerely desire the moral
and religious welfare of their pupils. Why should not the
teacher of a class of boys go to the day teacher of any particular
boy and in a few minutes find out more about his habits, pro-
pensities, ambitions, and environment than he reveals in a
whole year's Sunday behavior? Even if one teacher were a
Roman Catholic and the other a Protestant, the gain to each
would be great the moment they were convinced that they were
disinterestedly concerned in the moral and religious uplift of a
certain boy or girl.
(5) The churches should recognize the duty of raising their
own schools to a higher educational standard. This can be
done by the employment of trained teachers, who should be
properly paid for their work. As soon as this higher standard
has been attained, the public schools might through examina-
tions recognize the work done in the church schools. In this
respect North Dakota and Colorado have set an example that
might well be followed in all the States.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
(i) Huling: " The Resources of the School for Moral Training," in
Proceedings of the Religious Education Association^ 1904, pp. 269-275.
320 The Modern Church ^''^^^
(^) Home: " Religious Teaching in the Pubhc Schools," Ibid., pp. 276-
279. (5) Bishop: " Moral Effects of Bible Reading and the Lord's Prayer
in Public Schools," Ibid., pp. 280-284. (4) Starbuck: " How Far Can
the Foundations Be Laid in the Common Schools? " Ibid., 1905, pp. 245-
250. (5) Taylor: " Relation of the Sunday School to the Public School,"
in Official Report oj the Eleventh International Sunday-school Convention,
1905, pp. 185-189.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. What is the Christian ideal of the family?
2. To what is the importance of the family due?
3. Mention some of the chief enemies of the family.
4. What can the churches do to protect the family?
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. Why does the study of the Bible as literature not meet the need of
moral and religious training in the public schools?
2. To what extent has the Bible been excluded from the public schools
in this country?
3. To what extent has it been retained?
4. What kind of religious instruction is forbidden in public schools?
5. Why has religious instruction, once universal, been taken out of the
day schools in this country?
6. What fact makes our public schools centers of strong religious influ-
ence even if no formal teaching is imparted?
7. What direct influence on the public schools are the churches prohibited
from exerting?
Fifty-one World Peace 321
8. How can they indirectly promote moral and religious influences in
the schools?
9. How can the Sunday school co-operate with the day school in ad-
vancing the moral welfare of the pupils?
10. What can the churches do to promote a devotional use of the Bible
in the day schools?
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. Has your State any law respecting the use of the Bible in the public
schools? If so, what is it?
2. If the Bible is not excluded by State law, to what extent is it used in
the schools of your city or town?
3. Are the teachers generally identified with the churches?
4. Do the Christian people in your neighborhood show any interest in
the character of the public schools?
5. Why do the Roman Catholics establish parochial schools wherever
they are able?
QUESTION FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
Should the Bible be excluded from the public schools wherever a smaU
minority of the population insist on it?
Lesson 51. WORLD PEACE.
Scripture Reading: A Prophecy of World Peace. Isaiah 2: 2-4.
Note 1. The World-Wide Agitation for Peace. Winston
Churchill, first lord of the British admiralty, said recently that
when he thought of Europe to-day with ever^^ nation mingling
freely with every other nation, with every government professing
the utmost friendship for other States, with every sovereign
linked by relationship and interest with the heads of other
powers, with every foreign office uttering accents of supreme
correctitude, and yet the whole held and gripped in the thral-
dom of armaments on a scale unexampled since the beginning
of time, he could not help being reminded of the storv^ of the
Spanish prisoner w^ho was confined for twenty years in a dungeon
until one day he happened to push the door of his cell, which
322 The Modern Church ^"^^«
had all the time been unlocked, and walked out free into the
open air.
Thinking men everywhere are asking themselves how long
the great nations of the world will continue to strain every
resource in building up immense armaments in preparation for a
war in which no one of them ventures to engage. Everywhere
the people on whom the crushing weight of modem militarism
is being piled higher and higher are becoming increasingly
restive. Every day the frantic appeals to a narrow patriotism
are making less and less impression in comparison with the
demands of an enlightened self-interest. By and by the na-
tions will wake up to the fact that they have suffered them-
selves to be enslaved by a phantom power from which they
could have freed themselves any moment had they only had
the sense to push open the door that leads to liberty.
In the world-wide agitation now going on there are two sides :
(1) The militarists who stand for the old ideas of what consti-
tutes national greatness. These embrace some diplomatists,
the professional soldiers who make their living by war or by
preparation for it, the manufacturers of army and navy sup-
plies, and the builders of great fleets of dreadnaughts who are
amassing vast fortimes by openly or secretly working on the
mutual fears and jealousies of the nations, and so making busi-
ness for themselves. {2) Opposed to these are the pacifists,
who believe that the time has passed when a nation's real
greatness can be measured by supremacy in war, who see that
man's victories over nature count for vastly more than his
victories over his fellows, who hold that reason is a safer and
nobler guide than brutal force, and who regard the present
unparalleled scramble for bigger and ever bigger armaments as
** organized insanity."
Note 2. What the Militarists Say. In justification of war
it is said : (1) War has been a mighty force in advancing civiliza-
tion. This is true in some cases, but the conditions that led
to such wars have largely passed away. On the other hand,
war has far more frequently arrested or retarded progress by
destroying the material prosperity on which civilization rests.
{2) Wars, by wiping out weak and effete peoples, have in-
sured the survival of the fittest. But prolonged wars destroy
also the strongest and most virile young blood in the conquering
nation, leaving it to be perpetuated by those who are unfit for
military service.
my-one World Peace 323
{3) Militarists are conveniently silent about wars waged to
gratify lust, greed, or revenge, but eloquent about the nobility
and glory of wars waged in self-defense. A defensive war,
however, is impossible unless there be first an offensive war.
Men are in no danger of being murdered unless murderers are
at large.
(4) War is extolled as a means of securing justice between
nations and of settling national disputes. But by war, as by
duelling, questions of right or wrong are never settled, but only
which of the combatants is the stronger or more skillful. Fur-
thermore, it has been shown that between 1500 B.C. and 1860
A.D. more than eight thousand wars were waged largely for
the purpose of settling national disputes, but not one succeeded.
"WHiat likelihood is there that eight thousand wars will do so in
the future? Aggressive wars breed nothing but international
hatreds and undying passion for revenge.
{5) It is said that wars have always existed and always will,
because fighting is an inborn human instinct. The same might
have been said a century ago about slavery and the duel.
While himian nature may be unchangeable in its essential
features, it has a way of adapting itself to new conditions and
higher ideals. If it had not, men would still be cave-dwellers,
killing and eating one another.
{6) One of the standing justifications of war is that no other
institution so fosters those high virtues of courage, chivalry, and
manliness, the possession of which tends to national progress,
and the absence of which in peaceful nations leads to degeneracy
and decay. But, if so, then Germany should have reached the
pinnacle of national glory in the fourteenth century when her
six hundred and fifty petty principalities were engaged in con-
stant conflicts one with another. If, as Mr. Roosevelt declares,
that " by war alone can we acquire those virile qualities neces-
sary to win in the stern strife of actual life," then Mexico, after
three years of atrocious civil war, must be developing qualities
that will make her a formidable antagonist to the United States,
enervated by prolonged peace and sordid industry,
Note 3. What the Pacifists Say. {!) Every consideration
in favor of huge armaments, a cultivation of the war spirit,
and use of military force in the settlement of international dis-
putes is based on false reasoning, on appeals to obsolete condi-
tions, and on wilful blindness to those new relations and con-
ditions in which the nations of the world have been placed by
324 The Modern Church ^^^-^o"
modern developments in science, mechanics, industries, trans-
portation, finance, and religion. Owing to these revolutionary
changes, humanity is facing a new era in respect to which
deductions from the past are largely futile.
{2) It is becoming more and more clear that modem warfare
is at least equally unprofitable to both belligerents, and probably
more so to the victor. When the little groups of statesmen who
assimie a divine right to control the destiny of nations realize
that aggressive warfare means loss rather than gain, the motive
for aggression will have disappeared, and costly defensive
measures will no longer be needed.
{3) Modern industrialism works against national isolation
and for international solidarity. The nations are becoming so
vitally interdependent in respect of trade and finance that an
injury to one is an injury to all. The more highly civilized a
country is, that is, the more its trade and commerce and manu-
factures are developed, the more perilous war becomes.
(4) Modem warfare cannot be carried on without credit.
Each one of the great European nations can only with difficulty
meet its annual budget in times of peace. The enormous cost
of carrying on a modern war has to be met by loans. It is not
the kings or war-lords who decide whether Germany, Austria,
Italy, Russia, or France shall declare war against some other
nation. This question is decided by the financiers, the men
who hold the purse-strings. In 1911 Germany and France
seemed on the point of flying at each other's throats over the
Morocco question. Every revelation made since then has gone
to show that the restraining hand was that of finance. So
closely are modern nations bound together in that wonderful
system of credit which has spread over Europe and beyond
that even a threat of war is enough to start a financial panic.
(5) What is likely to develop into the most effective move-
ment in favor of universal peace is manifesting itself among
those who in the past have been the severest sufferers from war,
and have had the least to say about it. The general populace,
the peasantry, but especially the wage earners in the cities, are
refusing in rapidly-growing numbers to be driven to slaughter in
conflicts about which they care nothing and from which those
who precipitate them carefully stay away. When the common
people refuse to fight, war will cease.
Note 4. Agencies Actively Promoting World Peace. The
possibility of settling international disputes by arbitration was
Pifiy-one World Peace 325
first recognized in the Jay Treaty of 1794. Since then this
principle has won such wide recognition that over three hun-
dred and fifty disputes, many of them serious enough to bring
the disputants to the brink of war, have been settled happily
and permanently. In no case has the decision of the arbitra-
tors been rejected.
The Hague Conferences, held in 1899 and 1907, have been
participated in by nearly all the nations. They have resulted
in far-reaching agreements as to what is wise and practicable in
the substitution of justice for force. They have paved the way
for the institution of an International Court of Prize for decid-
ing controversies arising from alleged iUegal captures in time
of war. A Permanent Cotut of Arbitration has been instituted
from whose members litigants may choose those to whom they
will submit their case. With the machinery thus created, the
United States and Great Britain have amicably settled their
differences respecting the Newfoimdland fisheries. For a cen-
tury back this question has been a source of acute irritation,
and even threats of war. The proposal made to the last Hague
Conference for a permanent International Court of Arbitral
Justice, which shall sustain a relation to the several nations
similar to that of the United States Supreme Court to the States
of the Union, was accepted in principle but failed of institution
because the Conference could not agree on a method of selecting
the judges. It is now hoped that such a court will be erected
at the Hague before the assembling of the third Conference.
The miUions given by Andrew Carnegie, and another million
by Edwin Ginn, to promote world peace have furnished the
financial resources by which solid constructive work long needed
can be imdertaken. The trustees of the Carnegie Endowment
plan to devote its income to scientific research and to public
education for the raising up of a real world-opinion favorable
to peace. When this is accompHshed, the present colossal
armaments will tumble down of themselves.
In addition to the agencies just mentioned, an effective propa-
ganda is carried on by nirmerous peace societies, national and
international, by the Department of State in Washington, bv
newspapers, and by a powerful anti-militarist literature which
is compelling people to think. Editions of Norman AngeU's
" The Great Illusion " appeared simultaneously in London,
New York, Paris, Leipsic, Copenhagen, Madrid, Borga (Fin-
land), Leyden, Turin, Stockholm, and Tokio. Large numbers
326 The Modern Church ^''°''
of men and women in every coimtry in Europe have accepted
the views presented in this book.
Last, but not least, is the work done among the churches by
the Commission on Peace and Arbitration appointed by the
Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America. The
pulpits represent the Prince of Peace whose message faithfully
delivered blazes the path by which the nations can enter at
length into the blessings of imiversal peace.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
{1) Angell: The Great Illusion, A Study of the Relation of Military
Power in Nations to their Economic and Social Advantage. {2) Chitten-
den: War or Peace, A Present Duty and a Future Hope. (5) Novicow:
War and lis Alleged Benefits. (4) Butler: The International Mind, an
Argument for the Judicial Settlement of International Disputes. (<5)
Noyes: The Winepress. {6) Schvan: " Anglo-Saxon Co-operation and
Peace " in North American Review, December, 1913. (7) Knight: " The
Discomfiture of the Danes," in Everybody' s Magazine, March, 1914. {8)
For information about the Church Peace Union, founded by Andrew
Carnegie by a gift of one million dollars, write to 90 Bible House, New
York City. {9) Palmer: " The Last Shot," a novel picturing the horrors
that would inevitably result from a great modern war. A strong argument
for peace.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. What are some of the reasons why the complete exclusion of the
Bible from public schools has been advocated?
2. Should this take place, to what extent would the schools still remain
centers of moral and rehgious instruction?
3. To what extent, and in what way, can the churches promote moral
and religious influences in the public schools?
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. Describe the changing world-opinion respecting war.
2. What benefits are said to accrue to the human race from war?
3. How are wars said to benefit individual nations?
4. How is the spirit of war said to be related to human nature?
Fifty-one World Peace 327
5. How does the demonstrated effect of modern war on the belligerents
affect the question of peace?
6. How does the vast development of modern industries bear on the
continuance of wars?
7. How does credit act as a restraint on war?
8. How is the continuance of war going to be affected by the awakening
of the laboring classes?
9. To what extent has arbitration prevented wars during the last century;
10. Mention some of the results brought about by the Hague Confer-
ences.
11. Mention some other developments in connection with the peace
movement.
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. Are the constantly growing armaments of civilized nations leading
toward national bankruptcy?
2. The debts of the leading nations of Europe amount to between twenty-
five and thirty thousand millions of dollars, mostly incurred for military
expenditures. What prospect is there that they wiU ever be paid, seeing
that they are constantly growing?
3. The cost of a modern battleship has risen to fifteen millions of dollars
or more. Its annual upkeep costs a million of dollars. In twenty years,
if it lasts so long, it becomes so much junk. Give a few estimates of what
this expenditure would produce if devoted to constructive instead of
destructive work.
QUESTION FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
Why is the United States in a position to lead in the movement for
world peace?
328 The Modern Church ^^^^^"
Lesson 52. CHURCH MEMBERS AS VOTERS.
Scripture Reading: Opposing Corrupt Power. Mt. 14: 1-6.
Note 1. The Practical Outcome of Lessons 40-51. In this
course of Lessons on The Modem Church we advanced from a
study of the local, everyday activities of individual churches,
to a study of the movements and methods that have led the
churches to co-operate in solving problems presented by certain
social classes and conditions. In extending our survey we next
considered " the church working through various agencies "
outside of the church organizations and vitally related to them,
but designed to do work that no single church or even denomina-
tion can undertake. Finally, the lessons of this quarter have
brought to our attention the relation of the churches to those
vast social problems of not merely national, but world-wide
significance, that are creating a new social order, and marking
the beginning of a new era in human progress. These problerns
in one form or another involve direct or indirect political action.
In determining the nature of this action every voter, in virtue
of the franchise, becomes in some measure responsible. The
most effective way in which he can make his influence felt is
by the ballot. The manifest duty of every citizen, and espe-
cially of every Christian man, is to use the ballot, not in a blind
or partisan way, but with a clear imderstanding of the moral
issues that are involved in perhaps every political question.
Note 2. The Meaning of Democracy. When Abraham
Lincoln closed his immortal Gettysburg address with the
words, " that government of the people, by the people, and for
the people, shall not perish from the earth," he might with
greater brevity, but with less force, have said, *' that democracy
shall not perish from the earth." An ideal democracy is
" government of the people," that is, of free and equal citizens,
not subjects; it is government ** by the people," rather than by
any single person or combination of persons, who regard them-
selves as divinely called to rule the masses ; and it is government
*' for the people," that is, for their highest welfare, rather than
for the aggrandizement of a privileged few. A democratic
government, then, comprises all the individuals within any
given territory. The simplest form is that of the New England
town meeting. All the voters assemble and directly choose the
town officers, and enact such rules or laws as may be needed.
But when the town has grown into a great city, or a number of
towns into a State, and a number of States into a nation, the
pif^y-'''^o Church Members as Voters 329
people can no longer meet in a vast assembly for the adminis-
tration^of public affairs. Then the method of representation is
adopted in order to give them all a voice in the government . Cit y
councils, State legislatures, national congresses are composed of
men chosen for the express purpose of framing laws pertaining to
Hfe, liberty, property, order, crime, p)eace, and war. Other
departments of government, the executive and the judicial, are
composed of men chosen to enforce the laws, or to pass on their
constitutionality. A true democracy, accordingly, is a govern-
ment in which the voice of every citizen is heard directly or
indirectly in the decision of all questions that pertain to the
public welfare.
Note 3. What a Democracy Demands. Since a democratic
form of government is carried on by the voice of the people, the
primary requisite is that this voice shall have intelligent and
honest expression. Only an intelligent people is fit for self-
government. The people must be not only able, but willing to
inform themselves respecting the reasons for or against any
given measure or policy, so as to vote intelligently. Further-
more, the men who are elected to carry out the wishes of the
people must be honest men, honestly chosen. If bribery or
intimidation takes place at the polls, so that corrupt men are
elected for positions of public trust, then legislative halls will
be filled with men who can be depended on to pass laws that will
favor private interests at the expense of the people, the courts
will pervert justice, and the police will protect malefactors in-
stead of protecting society. Manifestly it is of the utmost
importance that the people take a direct personal interest in
the government, to see to it that only good men are chosen for
office, and tmfaithful men are rebuked and punished. Every
voter, therefore, is ultimately responsible for the kind of gov-
ernment, righteous or corrupt, 'that administers public affairs,
and a democracy above ever}^ other form of government has a
right to demand of every citizen the utmost fidelity in the
discharge of his political duties.
Note 4. Why Democratic Govermnent Fails. In the evo-
lution of human government a pure democracy such as Lincoln
described is the end rather than the beginning of the process.
The primitive form was always the rule of the one over the many.
It rested on might rather than right. The ruler was a law imto
himself. Hence all ancient governments were despotisms and
the people virtually slaves. The fight for freedom has been
330 The Modern Church ^«^°»
long and fierce, and the price paid in suffering and blood has
been ^appalling. The political fruits of these age-long conflicts
we enjoy today in the liberties inherited from our ancestors.
The most saddening phenomenon in our democratic govern-
ment is not the fact that thieves get into office and rob the peo-
ple. We do not expect righteousness from pickpockets and
burglars. The saddening wonder is that there are so many
men who so .little value their political privileges as to neglect
the simple and most fundamental duty of a citizen — the ballot.
If these men were the most ignorant, it would not be surprising,
but when they are most intelligent and well to do it seems
unaccountable. In Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massa-
chusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania and Delaware about thirty per cent of those
entitled to vote fail to do so. Even a presidential election fails
to call out more than sixty-five per cent of the voters in the
country at large. To this '* silent vote " is due in large measure
the ease with which corrupt politicians are able to work their
will and create conditions that become a scandal to the city,
State, or nation.
If the number of voters who fail to show up at the polls is
shamelessly large, the nu.mber who keep clear of the primaries
is far greater. Usually only a small per cent are present, and
these are sure to represent the worst elements in the community.
Yet here, more than at the polls, the real issues are decided.
Here the slates are made up, and candidates pledged to support
any iniquity are nominated. Here the political boss and the
ward heelers are as conspicuous by their presence and activity
as the " good " people are by their absence. Only in rare
instances do the patriots who go to the polls break away from
the dictation of the primary.
The excuses usually given for .this wicked neglect of political
duties are that men are so busy with their own affairs, that
they have no time for politics, or that politics is such a dirty
mess that they shrink from defiling themselves with it. They
are blind to the fact that politics become a filthy pool only
because a large part of the voters is too busy or too good to
keep in S3mipathetic touch with public affairs and to keep these
affairs from becoming the prey of grafters, spoilsmen, boodlers,
and thieves.
Note 5. What Church Members Can Do in the Matter.
Christian men above all others should take an active interest in
Fifty-iwo Church Members as Voters 331
politics, and hold themselves ready to render any public service
that may be laid upon them. They profess to stand for per-
sonal righteousness. To stand for civic righteousness is no less
a duty. When good men cease being good for nothing and
become good for something, government will become repre-
sentative of the better, if not the best, ideas of the commtmity.
A Christian man should keep a watchful eye on public affairs,
on public men, and on men who aspire to office. He should not
be a blind partisan assimiing that all poHtical virtues dwell in
his own party and all vices in the other. He should esteem his
duty to the State as important as any that he owes to the church.
He should be as regular at the polls as the minister is in his
pulpit. The ballot gives the ultimate and imperative expres-
sion to public opinion respecting every form of social wrong —
civic corruption, the exploitation of children in factories and
mines, the saloon with its attendant evil of prostitution, gam-
bling in all its forms, the unjust treatment of labor, imsanitary
tenements, schools, unjust treatment of immigrants, and the
perversion of public ownership to private gain.
Every Christian man has an opportunity to help in hastening
the complete coming of the kingdom of God. It may be only a
little that he can do, but every little tells. Every single leaf
helps to make the forest green. Besides, no man knows just
how much his effort may accompHsh. It was only a pebble
that David hurled at the Philistine giant, but it turned the
tide of victory for Israel. Instead of idly bemoaning the
degeneracy of the times, lend a hand and make them better.
*' Say not the days are evil — who's to blame?
And fold the hands and acquiesce — O shame!
Stand up, speak out bravely in God's name."
In conclusion, and as simiming up the principles that should
govern all Chiistian voters, the following suggestions are
submitted by Professor Coe :
{!) Whenever property interests are opposed to the welfare
of human beings, vote for humanity.
{2) Whenever any class of the populace seeks to control
legislation or administration, vote for the whole people.
{3) Vote against secrecy and for publicity in all matters,
whether pohtical or economic, that affect the general welfare.
(4) Vote steadily for the measures that raise the standard of
living, and against aU measures that have the effect of main-
taining low standards of living in any class of the populace.
332 The Modern Church ^«^^«
Vote for the extension and improvement of education; for
public provision for recreation, social fellowship, literary and
artistic culture. Vote for high standards in housing, hours and
conditions of labor, safety and sanitation, protection against
unemployment, sickness, and old-age poverty.
{5) Vote for the measures that locate responsibilities most
definitely.
(6) Vote for the measures that bring the ultimate responsi-
bility for good government close to the conscience of the voter.
Make the people assume as duties what they claim as rights.
ADDITIONAL READING REFERENCES.
(1) Taylor: " The Church and Civic Education," in Religious Educa-
tion, October, 1910, pp. 385-390. (2) Munger: On the Threshold, pp. 23-
25. (5) Nash: " The Adult Bible Class and Christian Citizenship," in
Official Report of Thirteenth International S.S. Convention, pp. 304-308. (4)
Tucker: " The Sacredness of Citizenship," in Proceeding of Third Con-
vention of the Religious Education Association, pp. 56-60.
REVIEW QUESTIONS.
1. What are some of the reasons urged for the continuance of wars?
What are some of the reasons urged against war?
3. How is the attitude of the laboring classes toward war likely to affect
its future?
4. Among the agencies now working for universal peace, which do you
consider the most promising?
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON.
1. What is meant by a democracy?
2. When is democratic government direct?
3. When does it become representative?
4. Why is intelligence needed in democratic citizenship?
5. Why is honesty needed?
Pifty-iwo Church Members as Voters 833
6. What has been the price paid for our poHtical liberties?
7. What class in the community values them least?
8. Why is attendance on the primaries vitally important?
9. How do the more favored classes excuse their neglect of civic duties?
10. Why should Christian men above all others be faithful in this respect?
11. Mention some ways in which they can promote civic righteousness?
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY AND NOTE-BOOK WORK.
1. What proportion of the voters in your town, city, or State fail to
appear at the polls?
2. Does ybur pastor ever admonish his church members respecting their
duties in this respect?
3. What is the attitude of the church people in your neighborhood
toward politics? Toward corrupt officials?
QUESTION FOR CLASS DISCUSSION.
Should a church member absent himself from the church prayer meeting
in order to attend a political caucus?
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