.;>.„ v.. / i: jii.> I 1. J ji\.. 1 |; il y !%■ !■ V if r ;^; J: -'g 179 2. Fellowship Message from the South. FroJ. J. R. Hoicerton, D.D 182 3. New General Secretary Introduced 189 XII. Address of W. H. Eoberts, D.D., LL.D 190 XIII. Kemarks. Ira Landrith, D.D., LL.D 204 XIV. Purpose and Power. W. E. Wray Boyle, D.D. 212 1. Discussion. The Practical Ministries op the Brotherhood, S. Edward Young, D.D.,pre*iding, 220 2. Outline of Address by Edgar P. Hill, D.D, . . 230 XV. Address. Wm. McEibben, D.D., LL.D 252 Personal Work, Fred. C. Goodman 262 XVI. Personal V/ork. Howard Agneiv Johnson, D.D 263 XVII. Evangelistic Work.. Bev. E. F. Eallenbeclc. 272 XVIII. Farewell Session. Dr. William H. Black, presiding 287 XIX. Service. Governor Coe I. Crawford 290 XX. The Challenge of the Big World to the Men of the Church. Wm. T. Ellis 301 XXI. The Book of Acts. Edgar Whital-er Work, D.D 321 XXII. Brotherhood Convention Business 336 Annual Report op thk Council 337 XXIII, The Constitution 347 XXIV. The Next Convention 351 Convention Committees 351 XXV. Financial Session 353 XXVT. Eeport of the Committee on Nominations , . 358 Report op thb Committee on Resolutions .... 363 XXVII. Officers of the Council 369 Evangelistic Work 371 XXVIII. Second Financial Session 372 altaltsis op thk members of the convention by Occupation 374 The Presbyterian Brotherhood OPENING EXERCISES The meeting was called to order by the Vice President, Mr. Charles S. Holt, of Chicago, and after singing '' Onward, Christian Soldiers,'' and ^^The Morning Light is Breaking," with Mr. W. A. Evans as leader and Miss Rebecca Snyder at the organ, prayer was offered by Rev. Robert Watson, Ph.D., pastor of the Church of the Covenant, Cincinnati. GAVEL INCIDENT At this point President Chas. W. Dabney, of the University of Cincinnati, representing the Presbyterian Brotherhood of Cincinnati, pre- sented to the presiding officer a gavel in the name of Norwood Chapter, Number 1, with the following remarks: Mr. President : — The Norwood Chapter of the Presbyterian Brotherhood Union of Cincinnati has requested me to present you this symbol of your office, as 5 b THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD president of this great convocation of tlae men of the Presbyterian churches of America. This convention, Mr. President, is not an ecclesiastical body, it represents no single or- ganization exclusively and has no executive or administrative authority over anyone. It is merely a conference of Presbyterian men for the purpose of considering the interests of all our churches and the practical methods of using consecrated men to advance them. Though organized under the auspices of one of the great Presbyterian bodies, the representatives of every church holding our Eeformed faith are welcomed here with equal privileges. We are extremely proud that among these delegates are representatives of many of the ecclesiastical organizations in America holding this faith. From north, south, east, and west; from Canada, Mexico, and many foreign lands, we come to praise God for his blessings to our churches and to consecrate ourselves anew to his service. With a beautiful purpose, the Norwood Chap- ter has sought to symbolize in this little instru- ment this fact of the union in this conference of many families of the Presbyterian faith. The material for this gavel has, therefore, been taken from different parts of the Lord's vine- yard here represented. The Old Presbyterian Church has contributed to it a piece of wood from the house built by the sainted Lyman Beecher, on Walnut Hills, in Cincinnati. CINCINNATI CONVENTION 7 The Cumberland Church, recently united with us, has contributed a piece of the historic ''old log house" in Dickson County, Tennessee, where, on February 4th, 1810, the organization of that church was begun by three ministers, Finis Ewing, Finis King, and Samuel McAdoo. It is interesting to recall that this church con- tinued a separate organization until it was re- united with the mother church on May 24th, 1906. The third piece of wood also has an interest- ing history. The Eev. Alexander Craighead, who had removed from southwestern Penn- sylvania to the valley of Virginia, was in- fluenced by Braddock's defeat to journey farther southward, as leader of a band of Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, who settled in Mecklenburg County, in North Carolina. He was the founder of Presbyterianism in the great Piedmont region of the South. Here, from 1757, Craighead was pastor of the Rocky River and the Sugar Creek churches, which have now grown into sixty Presbyterian organ- izations in that single county and thousands of others in that section. The county seat of Mecklenburg is Charlotte, which has well been called the Presbyterian Pittsburg of the South. Craighead instructed and inspired the patriots who started the Revolution in Mecklenburg and possibly wrote the first Declaration of American Independence. When he was buried in 1766 in the graveyard at Sugar Creek, one of the 8 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD poles, a sassafras stock, on which the coffin had been borne, was stuck in, as was the custom, at the head of the grave. Like Aaron's rod, it budded and grew into a tree, a living symbol of the church planted by this high priest of God in the wilderness of the South. One piece of wood in this gavel was taken from the trunk of that ancient tree at the head of Craighead's grave, which, like the church he planted, is still putting up shoots all over that field. And lastly, these three pieces of wood, one representing the Old Church, one the Cumber- land Church, and one the Southern Church, are united to a handle made from a portion of the hall in Indianapolis where this great national Presbyterian Brotherhood was organized. Please accept this gavel, then, Mr. President, as a sjanbol of this united Brotherhood of Presbyterian men of these diverse churches. And may we not pray the great Head of the church that, as he has led the people of these churches to unite in missionary boards, in edu- cational institutions and federations for church work, as he has also led our spiritual children in India and China to unite in single national churches, so, in his own good time, he will lead the Eeformed churches of our country to unite in one great American Presbyterian Church! Mr. Holt responded as follows : Dr. Dabney, and Friends of the Norwood Chapter: Since order is heaven's first law, it CINCINNATI CONVENTION 9 is altogether fitting that this symbol of order should find a conspicuous place in this gathering of Presbyterian men. I accept it with gratitude, not as an implement for quelling disturbance, or for imposing submission upon unwilling dis- putants, but as an emblem of that cosmic harmony — that ceaseless activity regulated by divine law — which is of the essence of true Presbyterianism, and which we trace in direct lineal descent from the time when the morning stars in orderly procession sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy. Our memories and imaginations have been stirred, I am sure, by the historical associations which you have so beautifully recalled to us. Beecher-wood, Dickson-wood, Craighead-wood, Tomlinson-wood — it needed only that it should come to us, as it does, stamped with the spirit of Nor-wood. In so far as it reminds us of differences and divisions, God grant that it may inspire us to be loyal to truth as we see it, as those men of old were loyal to the truth they saw. And as it also speaks to us of dividing lines faded or fast fading — as the mellowing hand of time shall soon obliterate the lines that separate these pieces of wood, so that it can scarcely be seen where one ends and the other begins — may it help to draw us into a spirit of united service, in a common brotherhood, for him who has loved us and died for us all. 10 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD Even before we enjoy the address of greet- ing, we are to be favored with a word from that apostle of the quiet spiritual life, Mr. S. D. Gordon, of Madison, New Jersey, on the topic, ** Putting First Things First.'' n PUTTING FIRST THINGS FIRST BY S. D. GORDON There are no first things. There is only one first thing, and that first thing is the last thing, and there is no middle — and that is Jesus himself. He was first in the crea- tion. He was first in the planning of the lives of us men down here. He was first at the cross, saving us men from our sins, and he is rightly first in every human life, in the life of the church, and in the life of this convention. And only as we put Jesus himself into his own first place, will things swing into true line. There are no first things for us men ; there is just one first, and the first is last, and the first and last make the middle and the whole, and that is Jesus of Bethlehem and Calvary, of the Resurrection, and of our own personal lives, and here in our convention. Making Jesus first and putting him first in- cludes four very important things — important and essential. It means this, first of all, that Jesus shall have control of our lives. I need not remind you men that to-day, as never before, there is a tendency in most lives to put other 11 12 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD things first and Jesus second. There is a tug in many a man's life, on the right and left, in the front and in the rear, to put business first and Jesus second. But only as we put Jesus first in our home life, in our social life, in our commercial relations and business walks, are we really true to him. Putting Jesus first means this — that he has full control in everything. If there come a tug be- tween two things, himself and something else, he takes precedence, no matter what falls out in that tug. It means a second important thing, namely this : That a man must have a daily quiet time alone with his Master, with the door shut and the Book open, and the knee bent, and the will bent, too. From the Book we learn who the Master is; we get a clear conception of who Jesus is. And a man is controlled by his conception of Jesus. I sometimes think there are as many Jesuses as there are men, because we have so many different conceptions of him. And further, in the quiet time we come to know himself, and so give him his rightful place. And then a more important thing even than the Book, in that quiet time, is to meet the Master face to face and breathe in his spirit. And to-day, in the fierce tug of life, no man, I believe, can keep close to Jesus, can keep pure and sweet, except as he meets Jesus face to face in that quiet time every day. That is the second CINCINNATI CONVENTION 13 thing in putting Jesus first, the daily quiet time with him over the Word. And then the third thing is this — and I think I will say it very softly, because the greatest things should be said softly, that they may steal their way into our innermost hearts. It is this : It means that a man will give himself in service for his fellows. Not simply his checks, not simply his gold, not simply his name, or pres- tige, or position ; but that he shall give himself. There is sore temptation to-day to serve by proxy. You can send checks and so get men to do the work for you; but just so far as we do that only, we weaken the spiritual life of the church. Jesus first means this : Every man giving himself in service among his fellow-men. And I wish if this convention might have any one keynote, it might be that we men give our- selves in service for Jesus among our fellows. There is no substitute in deed or word for a man's own self in Christian service. We must give ourselves ; our hands themselves must min- ister, and our eyes must see the need, and our ears must hear the cry of distress, and our own hearts must feel the sharp tug of the need, and sometimes weep and bleed because of the need. We must give our own personal service. The greatest temptation of the American church to-day is proxy service. You can run corpora- tions that way at election time, but you cannot run a church that way. If you do, it runs in only one direction, and that is into the ground. 14 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD Jesus first means a man^s own self in service, with his heart beating warm and true against the heart of the world in his efforts to serve Jesus. And then fourth comes this : Doing things by- prayer. Prayer is doing things. I can shut my- self in my room at the hotel here in Cincinnati, and in shutting the door shut out every outside thing, and I can reach the man in Tokio and change the atmosphere of his life, or that of a man in China, or Calcutta, or Madison, where my home is. Every man can. Prayer is doing things, and we have it in our power to change things by prayer. Giving Jesus his own place — the first and the last and the middle place — means this : That we will be true to him in our prayer life. That daily we will go off alone and change the things that need changing, here, and here, and here, around the world. As surely as Jesus died for the world, every man of us may carry that world in his arms. We can change things by prayer, and if we can — surely we will. And if these eight hundred Presbyterian men might go back home and do things in the secret place, around the world, there would be a new church in our own land; there would be a new life for the world; there would be the new life of Jesus coming into the world. And so we see these four things involved in putting Jesus in his own place of first in the church, in this convention, and in our lives. It means his mastery in our own personal lives; it means the daily quiet time with him for CINCINNATI CONVENTION 15 strength and for the fresh inbreathing of his own spirit ; it means that we give our own serv- ice among men ; and it means that we do things and change things for Jesus Christ in Japan, and in China, and in India, in South America, and in black Africa and everywhere else — that we change things. Let us put Jesus first, where he belongs, and last and middle, in the throbbing heart of this convention, and in all our lives. Let us do this for Jesus' sake, and for men's sake, too. ADDRESS OF WELCOME Mr. Holt. — After this powerful and beauti- ful message, which I am sure will ring in our ears, not alone throughout this convention, but for a long time to come, it is peculiarly fitting that we should hear the words of welcome and response, and I am going to discharge myself of one of my labors by making two introductions with one speech. The greeting will be offered by my very dear old friend (old in friendship, if not in years), Dr. Charles Frederick Goss, of the Avondale Church, and the response on behalf of the Broth- erhood will be delivered by Dr. John Clark Hill, whom not to know argues one 's self unknown. Dr. Goss. — Mr. Chairman, Delegates and Fel- low-Citizens : In discharging myself of the high responsibility with which I have been charged. 16 THE PEESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD I shall ring the changes npon the word *^ charged/' I say, then, that I myself am charged with human hospitality; that this atmosphere is charged with religious feeling; that this conven- tion is charged with moral responsibility. In the first place, the speaker is charged with human hospitality. Almost five hundred thou- sand people do their daily tasks around our Fountain Square. They are a hospitable people. There is a fine mingling of the West, and North, and South which makes warm hearts, and I bring you greetings from people who love to welcome strangers in their midst. I assure you that to be charged with such hospitality, to be the transmitter of the feelings that are generated in this grand total of ^Ye hundred thousand people, moves me in the coldest places of my heart. We are so made, we men, that hospitality has something of the divine in it. We are all of us in a way like that old patriarch Abraham, who stood in the door of his tent welcoming angels and men. It is a beautiful thing for a young man to stand upon the doorsill of his home and welcome there the friends who have come to greet his bride. It is more beautiful in the grandfather to stand upon the threshold of the old homestead and welcome back the children and grandchil- dren who come to eat his turkey on Thanksgiv* ing day. It is a beautiful thing, also, to voice upon the threshold of a great city the welcome CINCINNATI CONVENTION 17 of five hundred thousand people to people who have come from all quarters of our land to medi- tate upon the things that have to do with the spiritual kingdom of our God. We burst with emotions sometimes. We burst with merri- ment, we burst with zeal, we burst with enthu- siasm. I am bursting with welcome, and in one single shot I fire the load, and welcome you here to-night. In the second place, the atmosphere of this room is charged with religious emotion. The atmosphere which we breathe is made by God, this beautiful, holy atmosphere of daily life which encircles the world in which we live ; the atmosphere that is crimson with sunset glories, that is odorous with spring flowers and the scent of dying leaves, that is resonant with the songs of birds and the murmur of brooks, with the laughter of little children, with the throbbing roar of business industries, and ten thousand other sounds that make it palpitant with daily life. But God has also made us men creators, and we create an atmosphere — the atmosphere of home, of business, of politics, and the atmos- phere of religion. It is the atmosphere of a church, for example, that is the most important thing to everyone who enters it to worship God. It is our supreme business to-night to create an atmosphere in this room. There have been many atmospheres created in this hall — atmos- pheres of politics, of art, of science, and we have come here to-night to create an atmosphere of 18 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD religious feeling. We have come here from many distant parts of the country with our hearts charged and re-charged with that sense of relationship with God and responsibility to men which, if we communicate it to each other in this room, shall make it a place palpitating with religious emotion. And so in this place where the sounds of music have been often heard, where the greatest orators have discussed political themes, and where art and science have been meditated upon by ardent souls, we have come to bow before our God in prayer and con- secration, and to create an atmosphere of which it will do us good to draw in long, deep breaths. In the third place, we are charged with ethical responsibility. Upon our shoulders are laid moral obligations in regard to the kingdom of our God. It is a law of human life that privilege and opportunity engender responsibility, and I ask you if it is not a privilege to hear these songs, to listen to these speeches, to touch elbows with men consecrated to God, and whether that privilege does not engender responsibility! We are then a Christian Brotherhood, charged by the circumstances in which we are placed, charged by the methods which are used, and charged by the gifts which God has given us, with a solemn obligation to make the most of this occasion. I have been thinking, as I sat here to-night, how easy it would be to imagine that through this door and down this aisle there should come CINCINNATI CONVENTION 19 the figure of an old, gray-headed man, repeating as he came, the words he spoke to Timothy: *^I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long- suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to them- selves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. ' ' Gentlemen, we will fulfill our ministry just in proportion as we are willing to fill our hearts full, like that old man, Paul, with Christian graces, earnest duties, and kind- deeds ! I charge you to-night with the spirit of Christian brother- hood, and here upon this platform, at the very outset of this meeting, I articulate the deepest principles of this Brotherhood. I say first of all that true brotherhood is a universal brotherhood ; that it does not recognize class or creed or race; and no man is a true brother to his fellow-men who is not a brother to every one of God ^s children, be he black or white, red or yellow, rich or poor, high or low, bond or free. I say, in the second place, the true feeling of brotherhood is not an unproductive emotion of 20 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD the soul. It is a feeling that generates deeds ; it is a dynamic that compels action, that sends a man forth out of this convention and into the places of business to do men good, and to do it as our friend has so tenderly said and with so much truth — not by proxy, but with his own hands and his own heart. I had an illustration of this last Saturday morning, which brought this truth home to me as I never before felt it in my life. In a little New Jersey village, a few of us who loved her laid the body of my old mother, eighty-three years of age, to rest. We were far away from the conveniences of a great city, and when the time came to drop that casket into the ground, my brother-in-law and I, and two cousins of ours took that casket by the handles, and let it down ourselves into the ground. As those leather thongs slipped through my hands, and I saw that casket sink into the bosom of the earth, the thought that I had done *'with my own hands, '^ the last thing a man can do for his mother, filled me with an inexplicably sweet emotion. We hire doctors to cure the sick, nurses to care for our loved ones, undertakers to bury them, and bearers to follow them to the grave; but I dropped my mother — and I shall remember it to the day of my death — into the bosom of earth with my own hands ! It is not by proxy, it is with our own hands and hearts that we build up the kingdom of God, and the man who is not willing to do this him- CINCINNATI CONVENTION 21 self, is no true brother. That is no true brother who does not believe that what is good for the hive is good for the bee, and what is good for the bee is good for the hive; who is willing to do and to bear and to die, if need be, for his fellow-men. Pericles said upon his deathbed, ^'My great- est consolation is this, that I have never made an Athenian wear mourning. '^ But this is not enough for the Christian, who consoles his mind with the fact that he gives the ^^oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. '' This is no negative life, it is a positive life ! We have come down here from far distant places to meet together and think and plan and do! And it is an impressive fact that these men come from all over the coun- try to this central place, each to deposit, perhaps, a germ of thought that will work good for his brother. It is said that the land crabs of the East Indies come down from the mountains in solemn procession to the sea, in order to deposit the germs of future generations in those life- engendering waters, and that leaving them there to the tender mercies of the ocean, they crawl back again to the hills from whence they came. From all over the country, from the Mississippi, from the Eocky Mountains, from the border lands of Canada, and from Mexico, you men have marched down here to deposit your thoughts in the fertilizing waters of this convention. Per- haps some of these thoughts may bring forth 22 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD life without a further effort of your own. But God has so planned it that our thoughts must ordinarily, at least, be brooded over, and brought to life by our own hands! And I say to you, if you go back to your homes without iDrooding over these thoughts and bringing them to life yourselves and without taking- back with you new energy derived from others here expressed, your coming will have been in vain. You have come to preach an ideal brother- hood. Is it not a law that every great ideal be- comes a fact? Heaven is an ideal, become as real as earth. Your dream of a universal broth- erhood will be materialized if you determine that it shall ! Will you determine that it shall ? Will you speak and act, will you consecrate yourselves to this Christian Brotherhood! Will you do what you say I It is recorded that in the French Assembly, which preceded the Kevolution, the critics who laughed at Robespierre, as he strutted about the stage, were checked by Mirabeau, who shaking back his locks, cried out: ^'Do not laugh at that man; he means what he says ! ' ' Do you mean what you say! You have preached this Brotherhood — do you mean it! Then let us go back to our homes pledged and consecrated to the realization of our dreams. Once more I bring you the welcome of the Queen City of the West* CINCINNATI CONVENTION 23 RESPONSE TO ADDRESS OF WELCOME Rev. John Clark Hill^ D. D. — There is no mistaking the character of this welcome. We heartily thank you for it. The Assembly at Des Moines had no sooner given approval to our organization than the Cincinnati commissioners determined to get at work at once. Their enthusiasm became con- tagious. The men of our churches here forged ahead with sturdy Presbyterian loyalty and determination. The Brotherhood in this city set a pace that was adopted by a few other places but perhaps in but one or two have such emi- nently practical results been effected. This city has shown the possibilities of the Brotherhood movement in a most signal way. Dr. Goss illustrated the spirit that has domi- nated the direction of the movement here. We hope that this spirit of enthusiasm, brotherhood and serious purpose will be caught by every one of us, so that from this convention there will spread the fire of glowing zeal that will every- where stir embers into flame. We come here with our banners inscribed ^^The Men of America for the Man of Galilee,'' and you meet us with a message that emphasizes this by demonstrating the fact that the Presby- terian Brotherhood is charged with great, seri- ous, solemn responsibilities. We realize the fact that the men of our churches are awakening to 24 THE PRESBYTEEIAX BROTHERHOOD their responsibilities, that we men are charged with responsibilities as men. It is now jnst fourteen years since the first notable movement was made to organize men in the local churches for Christian service. It is twelve years since our General Assembly first took notice of the movement. The Assembly then said: ^'The men of our church, as a class, are falling to the rear of the great host of God in both service and benevolence. This occurs largely because they are not organized into asso- ciations as the women are. To evangelize men, to pray and labor for their salvation is the need of the hour second to no other call in the sphere of Christian work." This was the beginning of what we see to-day, a growing force that will, we verily believe, in- fuse all the men of our churches with new life. Our first convention was a gathering of some twelve hundred serious men from all over the land. They were not out for a holiday with yells and songs and frothy enthusiasm. They met to give form to what had been somewhat indefinite before. The activities of a year have not been notable in outward aggression, but there has been some very deep and purposeful thinking and planning, and we believe the men of our Brotherhood realize to-day, as they did not a year ago, that this movement must become more and more unified in purpose and method and that we must employ the means that other similar organizations have found not merely CINCINNATI CONVENTION 25 helpful, but absolute necessities for the exten- sion of the movement and its permanent effi- ciency. We assemble here with the conviction that this is a providential movement. It comes at a time when there is more need than ever in the history of our country for confessed Christian men to make religion the dominating force in their lives. This movement is awakening our men to see that Christ 's religion is something far more than attending public worship, making contributions, singing hymns and making prayers; that it in- cludes love manifested in active efforts to help men, to lift up the fallen, the oppressed, the rescuing of the unfortunate and the engaging in positive efforts to save human society from its innate tendency to corruption that means the utter destruction of purity, the extinction of the family and the debasement of humanity. The motto of this convention stands for all this. Our motto sounds a virile note. There has been in religious activities a marked tendency toward what some one has labeled, ^^The eternal feminine." As men we must sound a strong clear masculine note that will find a re- sonant response in the heart of every man who hears it. There is a marked and necessary difference between men and women in religion. We are only nowadays coming to see what this means. The women, God bless them, a generation and 26 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD more ago recognized this. They went to work as women for women. So eminently successful have they been that they have, in very deed, made the men ashamed of themselves. They have not taunted the men with being laggards and drones, but such we have been. Now we are repenting. We are beginning to see that life is not mere sentiment, but that the life of the Christian man must be veritable war. The platitudinous apostles of dreams of sweet- ness and beauty have obscured the masculine, the military aspect of our religion. Why, men and brothers, the life of the soldier, the disci- pline of the warrior, the arms and armor and ardor of the soldier furnished to the Master and his apostles figure for the most vivid illustra- tions and most fervid appeals. The Christ came not to send peace, but a sword ! Brothers, life for us is not a dream but war! Paul is con- stantly recurring to the military conception of the Christian as the ideal. The whole New Testament is a book for men. It is full of virile masculinity. Take even that much used but greatly abused and misused word, love. The modern concep- tion of it, to most minds, suggests mere senti- ment with a predominating feminine factor, but the Greek word is a much larger and more mas- culine thing. It is a word that rings with the virile note. What is it ! Love includes all there is in man, bound up in an effort to realize good for others. It is not a thing of mere emotion, CINCINNATI CONVENTION 27 but the determination of the will stimulated by the conclusions of the intellect. That^s love. That's the love displayed in the manliness of the Master, the Man of Galilee. We take him as our leader. We declare our adhesion to him. We enlist under his banner as soldiers, and, shoulder to shoulder, with hearts ablaze with determined zeal, we declare our purpose to win men to him. This is why we are here, to help each other do valiant service in the battle. Mr. Holt. — It would ill become anyone look- ing out over this magnificent and inspiring au- dience to sound anything like a note of a disap- pointment, yet we cannot help regretting, from the personal side, that our honored and distin- guished friend, John W. Foster, is laid aside by illness and is unable to be with us to deliver the message which he was to bring to this conven- tion. Telegrams received from Mrs. Foster say that he is confined to his bed by an illness which does not permit his taking the journey. Fortunately, the message was already pre- pared, out of the fruitage of his long service in church and state, and at his request it will be read to the convention by the Eev. Dr. Henry M. Curtis, pastor of the Mt. Auburn Church. in THE LAYMAN AND FOREIGN MISSIONS BY HON. JOHN W. FOSTER The organization of this Brotherhood is another evidence that the present is the era of the layman's activity in church work. This is the result in large measure of the unprecedented commercial development of the world. Steam and electricity have almost annihilated distance and race exclusion, and to-day all the nations of the earth are brought into intimate intercourse and have become interdependent upon each each other. In this changed condition of the world our country is bearing a prominent part. We are sending abroad more of the fruits of the soil which feed and clothe mankind than any other nation. The products of the factories of Cincinnati and the other centers of our indus- tries go in great quantities to the uttermost parts of the earth. This state of affairs has awakened intense individuality, and it is natural that it should be developd in the church activity as well as in business. But as steam and electricity have opened up the nations to commerce, they have likewise opened them to the free dissemination of intelli- 28 CINCINNATI CONVENTION 29 gence, and consequently to the spread of the gospel of Christ. It is neither natural, nor creditable to Christianity, that American prod- ucts and manufactures should reach all parts of the world to the benefit of mankind, and that the church should not be awake to the opportuni- ties which these changed conditions present to it. In view of these facts I have thought it well to ask the laymen banded together in this Brother- hood, and the Presbyterian laymen generally in our great church, what is their duty and their opportunity in the foreign mission work. I do not forget that when the Founder of the Christian Church gave the command to his dis- ciples to preach his gospel among all nations, he added — ^^ beginning at Jerusalem.'' But the lajTuen of the Presbyterian Church, I am proud to say, are patriotic Americans, and there is no danger that in their zeal for foreign missions they will lose interest in the great work of evan- gelizing our own country. It is because the transformation of the nations is now so complete, and the opportunities for the spread of the gospel in non-Christian lands is so great, that we feel it our duty to awaken the laymen of our church to renewed activity in this cause. Let us consider then in what way our laymen may most effectively aid the foreign missionary movement. Very few of us are so situated or fitted that we can give our own service as missionaries. Happily, that is not the most urgent need. Some 30 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD of US can respond to the movement lately organ- ized for sending commissions of laymen from the various denominations to visit and inspect the mission fields. Snch commissions are useful in two respects : first, the visits greatly encour- age the missionaries and their adherents ; and, second, it never fails to awaken a greater interest in missions on the part of those who make the visit. Two of the leading business men of Wash- ington City, one a Baptist and the other a Con- gregationalist, made a journey during the present year to Japan and China, and have re- turned home most enthusiastic respecting the mission work being carried on in those important countries. Their new zeal and their testimony are having a most salutary influence in stirring up in all the Protestant churches of the capital a larger and more intelligent interest in foreign missions. All the world knows of the recent tour of the globe of that noted Presbyterian elder, William J. Bryan. When in pagan lands he was careful to study the mission problem and to cheer the missionaries by personally visiting them and in- specting their work. On his return home he has rendered Christianity an invaluable service in his public commendation of the foreign mission- aries and their cause. Quite a number of other Presbyterian laymen are following his example to their own enjoyment and the good of missions. However, only one in a thousand may be able to do this; but there are two effective ways in CINCINNATI CONVENTION 31 which every lajman may aid the cause of foreign missions. Let us examine them. Notwithstanding the plain and repeated in- junction of Jesus Christ to his followers to go into all the world and preach his gospel to every creature, and that it is the first duty of every Christian church to obey this command, it is a sad fact that in almost all, if not all, Presb}^- terian churches are found professed followers of Christ who say: ^^I do not believe in foreign missions;^' or who are indifferent to this cause. What a great impetus would be given to foreign missions if the skeptical could be converted and the indifferent in our churches turned into ardent supporters of that cause ! This is the first service to which I would summon the la^onen of our church. It seems strange that any one who has accepted Christ as his Saviour can fail to desire that all mankind should enjoy the same blessing ; and yet it is well known that there is among nominally Christian people, not only with the masses, but among men of intelligence and influence, a dis- belief in the expediency of foreign missions which is greatly crippling the resources of the churches. Allow me to give one or two examples from my own experience. The after-dinner smoking room during the social season in Washington is not usually sup- posed to be the theater of very serious discus- sion ; but I am pleased to say that it occasionally furnishes something more inspiring than gossip 32 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD or unsavory anecdotes. Some time ago, when the complications arising out of the Boxer troubles in China were the theme of general con- sideration, I was sitting beside a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States while he smoked his cigar. Knowing I had been in China and other countries of the East, he asked me if I did not think it would be best to withdraw all of our missionaries from that region of the globe, as they seemed to be the main cause of the troubles which had involved our country and the other nations in serious embarrassments. This gentleman was a pew-holder in one of our churches and, I am sure, has a high estimate of the influence of Christianity on mankind. Not long afterwards I joined a circle of similar smokers, who had already entered upon a discus- sion to which I was invited to become a partici- pant. The chief person in the group was an American ambassador to a prominent European court, enjoying a leave of absence and familiar- izing himself with American sentiment. Another member of the circle was a well-known bishop. The ambassador said, ^^Here comes Mr. Foster, let's hear what he has to say about it.'* And he then propounded to me the questions, whether, from my observation in the East, I thought it worth while to maintain the missionary move- ment in those countries; was Christianity adapted to the Asiatic races; could they com- prehend and practice its precepts; and would they not be better off with the religions they now CINCINNATI CONVENTION 33 possess? The ambassador, who was maintain- ing the anti-missionary view of these questions, is a church communicant, and is recognized as one of the most able and enlightened of our pub- lic men. Thus were presented, by not hostile critics, two of the most important questions involved in the propagation of Christianity — first, the wis- dom or good policy, from a political or business standpoint, of the maintenance of foreign mis- sions; and, second, the adaptability of Chris- tianity to races and people of different or lower civilization than ours. It will not be possible in the time allotted to me to-night to enter at any length upon the dis- cussion of these questions, but you may be in- terested in some of the replies, very briefly noticed, which I made to the justice and the ambassador. I answered the justice that his conclusion was based upon a false premise, as the Christian mis- sionaries were not the main cause of the recent political disturbances in China. I did not deny that they came as uninvited and unwelcome guests, but it was not the practice of the propa- gators of a new religion to secure the consent of a people before they entered upon their work. Buddhism had endured many hardships and much persecution in India, China, Korea and Japan before it became an established religion. Mohammedanism had been carried by fire and sword through three continents. In few coun- S4t THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD tries of the world had Christianity effected a welcome entrance. Our British ancestors se- cured its blessings only after four hundred years of struggle and persecution. It is not to be denied that the introduction of Christianity into China has caused disturbances. There, as elsewhere, and in all ages, its influ- ence has been revolutionary. Its Founder de- clared that he '^came not to send peace, but a sword. ' ' Paul, the first and greatest of all mis- sionaries, when he declared the gospel was the * ^ power of God, ' ^ used the Greek word dunamis, which has been anglicized to designate the most powerful of all modern explosives, dynamite. The teaching of Christianity in China tended to the introduction of ideas hostile to the existing governmental and social order. But the testi- mony of the best observers is that the Chinese are not inclined to religious persecution, and that their antipathy to the missionaries is not so much on account of their religion as because they are foreigners, and their presence leads to the intro- duction of foreign methods. Nevertheless the propagation of Christianity has been attended by serious opposition and bloody riots. A careful examination of the history of China, however, will show that the missionaries were far from being the chief cause of the Boxer up- rising and the disturbances of the year 1900. History makes it plain that the principal object of securing intercourse with the East by the Christian nations has been the introduction and CINCINNATI CONVENTION 35 extension of commerce. On this account China has time and again suffered war and great humiliation at the hands of powerful European nations. The unwelcome traffic in opium, forced upon China by Great Britain in order to benefit British India, has spread its baleful effects throughout the whole land. The establishment of lines of steamships and the construction of railroads have thrown hundreds of thousands of Chinese laborers out of employment. The growing importation of American and British cotton fabrics has made idle looms and untilled cotton fields. American kerosene is destroying the husbandry of vegetable oils. And in an infinity of other ways is Western commerce affecting the domestic industries, and this with a people who are intensely conservative, wed- ded to ancient customs, and inveterate enemies of foreign trade. But the most potent cause of the Boxer move- ment was neither the missions nor commerce, but the political influences which were operating for the dismemberment of the empire. I re- viewed to the justice the results of the Chinese- Japanese War of 1894, the seizure by Germany of a large part of Shan-tung province, by Eussia of Port Arthur and the Liau-tung peninsula, by Great Britain of Wei-hai-wei, and by France of a large section of territory in southern China; I cited the agreements or treaties among those European powers as to what are termed ** spheres of influence'' in China, without con- 36 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD suiting the government of that country or taking its wishes or interests into account. The rulers of China understood full well that these and similar previous acts of the European governments had been the chief cause which had nerved their people to rise in their wrath and undertake the impossible task of the expul- sion of the foreigners. But I insisted that there were strong social and political considerations why the missionaries should remain in the country and be permitted to continue their work. They were not merely the preachers of a new religion. They were useful to the government and society in many ways. Everywhere they brought the benefits of educa- tion and medicine, established schools and hos- pitals, and awakened a thirst for western knowl- edge. Their claim to protection and their use- ful service to China had been recognized by im- perial edicts, but these could not, in the eyes of the people, change their character as odious for- eigners. In the effort to expel all foreigners from the country they suffered the same fate as the diplomat, the merchant, and the railroad builder. In the political relations of the nations of Europe and America with the East the mission- aries have occupied an important place. Much diversity of sentiment has been expressed by writers upon the effects of the labors of the Chris- tian missionaries in the Orient, but the better judgment of candid observers is in favor of their CINCINNATI CONVENTION 37 beneficial influence on the rulers and people, even aside from the religious consideration in- volved. Their useful service in connection with the diplomatic intercourse of the Western nations with the Far East has been especially conspicu- ous. It is not too much to say that up to the middle of the last century the governments of Europe and America were almost entirely de- pendent upon the missionaries for the direct conduct of their intercourse with Chinese officials. I may add here, parenthetically, an incident of my own recent experience which illustrates the influence of American missions and schools ux)on the Orient. In the peace conference lately in session at The Hague, French was the official language, but the delegates were allowed to use their own native tongue or other language, if they preferred so to do. At one of the sessions I was surprised to hear one of the delegates from Bulgaria, the attorney-general of his govern- ment, address the conference in English. Soon afterwards he sought me out and said that he wanted to make my acquaintance in order to ex- press to me his gratitude to my country. He then explained that he had received his educa- tion at Robert College ( an institution established at Constantinople by American Congregational- ists and Presbyterians), and that to President Washburn and his associates he owed a debt which he could never repay. He added that there now were more than one hundred of the 38 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD former students of Robert College who were holding prominent positions in the government of Bulgaria, and that his country owed its inde- pendence and enlightenment in large measure to that institution. The American Christian Col- lege at Beirut is very successfully filling a simi- lar mission, and its graduates are rapidly occu- pying the places of trust and honor in Egypt and Syria. If my companion in the smoking room, the justice, had been acquainted with these facts, and had informed himself more fully of the beneficent influence exercised by the mission- aries in education, the introduction of the sciences, in hospital and charity work, he might have revised his judgment as to the advisability of withdrawing our missionaries from the countries of the Orient. In fact, he admitted to me that I had presented the subject to him in a new light. Let us consider briefly the queries of my other companion of the smoking room, his Ex- cellency, the ambassador. They are questions quite commonly propounded in the discussion of the missionary movement in a miscellaneous company. They are frequently heard in com- mercial circles in the East, on the steamers as one crosses the Pacific, our naval officers on foreign stations raise them, it is not unusual to see them advanced in the secular press of our country, and the members of this Brotherhood have doubtless heard them uttered in their con- CINCINNATI CONVENTION 39 gregations. Is Christianity adapted to races and people of a different or lower civilization? Would it not be better to confine our efforts to the propagation of religion among our own peo- ple and give up the hopeless task of trying to convert the heathen? When the ambassador propounded to me these questions there at once came to my mind the famous declaration of the great apostolic missionary, which my companion, the bishop, could have quoted more accurately than I did that evening — his description of the Corinthian church, organized in part out of material as vile and debased as any found in heathen lands to-day. You recall the catalogue — fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, abusers of themselves with mankind, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, extortioners. These we know were washed, sanctified, and justified ''in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God," and with such material as these the foundations of the Christian Church were laid and from it have flowed the inestimable blessings of the civilization which we enjoy to- day. The gospel and the Spirit of the first cen- tury are the same and equally as effective in the twentieth century. It displays an imperfect knowledge of the East to conclude that the grade of civili- zation of the people of that region is so low or of such a type that it cannot grasp and prac- tice the spirit and principles of Christianity. 40 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD Take, for instance, the Chinese. Here is a race by far the most numerous under one govern- ment on the globe. It has a continuous history which dates beyond the days of ancient Greece and Rome. Its people represented a consoli- dated government, with a cultured civilization and a literature, in the time of the long extinct Egyptian and Assyrian Empires. It has wrought out a philosophy as nearly perfect as any produced without the aid of Chris- tianity. It has given to the world some of its most important discoveries and inventions — probably more than any other ]people. It is idle to say that such a race cannot com- prehend and practice the Christian religion. It is true that the race has not readily ac- cepted the gospel and its failure to do so has in great measure grown out of its antiquity, the possession of its exalted philosophy, and its high grade of civilization. But hundreds of thousands of Chinese have embraced Chris- tianity, and have shown by consistent and faith- ful lives that they have become new men in Jesus Christ. One of the good results of the Boxer outbreak was to show to the world that the Chinese Christians were true to their new faith. It was a heroic exhibition of devotion in the decision of thousands of converts to cast in their lot with the hated foreigners and stand by them through the terrible experiences of the siege of the legations at Peking. They could have secured immunity and safety by renounc- CINCINNATI CONVENTION 41 ing their faith, but they clung to it with the determination of martyrs, and the carping critics of Christianity must admit that but for the aid of the Chinese converts, the legations would have been destroyed and the ministers and foreign refugees massacred. It is the tes- timony of all writers on the disturbances of 1900 that the great mass of the Chinese converts remained faithful. In the long and bloody his- tory of Christian missions for nineteen hun- dred years rarely has such heroic devotion been shown. Thousands of natives in North China laid down their lives rather than apostatize. In the light of such facts, who will contend that Christianity is not adapted to the Mongolian races ? The progress of Christianity in the countries of the East has not been rapid, but it is wide- spread, and they are so leavened with the gos- pel that a favorable turn in political affairs might at any time give it a predominating in- fluence. It is known that the Emperor of China had become a reader of the Bible, and his liberal advisers were in some degree under the influence of the missionaries. If the coup d'etat of the Empress Dowager had not brought about his practical dethronement, Christianity might soon have become the popular religion of the people. Sir Eobert Hart, late Inspector- General of the Chinese Customs, a high authority on Chinese topics, states that inveterate hatred of foreigners which pervades all classes, em- 42 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD bracing one fourth of the human race, is a serious menace to the peace of the world, and that its best antidote would be the conversion of the nation to Christianity, a consummation possible, but in his judgment not probable, or of early realization. If Christianity is the best remedy for the ills which afflict China and threaten the other nations, and when we have such indubitable evidence that the Chinese are susceptible to its influence, is it not worth while for the American churches to persist in the mission work? *^But,'' asked the ambassador, *^are not the heathen better off with the religions they now possess?'' Hindooism and Buddhism, the pre- vailing cults of the East, embrace among their adherents more than half the earth's inhabit- ants. What these religions have accomplished for their people is most impressively under- stood by one who travels through India, Siam, China, Korea, and Japan, and is brought in contact with the degradation, immorality, su- perstition, ignorance, squalor, and misery there abounding. There is much in the teaching of both which appeals to the higher impulses of humanity and which should have an elevating tendency, but in their present perversion and degeneracy they have utterly failed as religions to meet the needs of those myriads of people who have through them been brought into the blindest superstition and the grossest idolatry. No one CINCINNATI CONVENTION 43 who enjoys the blessings of Christian civiliza- tion, and informs himself of the state of so- ciety in the countries named, can for a moment doubt that the possession of Christianity would be a boon of inestimable value to their in- habitants. I have thus hurriedly and very imperfectly given some of the reasons which may be ad- vanced to combat the disbelief in missions which exists in many of our church congrega- tions. Until this disbelief is overcome, the Presbyterian Church will be hampered in its foreign mission work. This Brotherhood can do much in overcoming this indifference, and it is in the first of the two ways which I sug- gest, that our laymen can effectively aid this great cause. Let us now consider the second method by which every Presbyterian layman may effect- ively aid in the work of foreign missions. Since Christ died for man there never has been a day so auspicious for the missionary movement as the present. The past hundred years, and more especially the last fifty years, have been a time of preparation for the work of missions. A century ago the Bible was a sealed book to the great majority of the human race. To-day, by the industry and devotion of learned missionaries and scholars, the re- vealed will of God is being printed in almost every known language and dialect throughout the world, and printing presses not only in 44 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD New York, London, and Edinburgh, but in China, India, Syria and in other pagan lands, stand ready to supply every inhabitant of the earth with the Holy Scriptures. Thus far the work of the missionary has been to establish himself in his field and secure a willing ear in the countries where he is located. This work has been in great measure accom- plished. Not only is every heathen nation freely opened to the gospel, but in most lands there are native converts in abundance, of tried faithfulness and intellectual capacity, ready to engage in the work of Christian missions. One of the most successful missionaries, personally known to me to be judicious, in a recent letter from his field says that to-day, in China, glorious opportunities present themselves to the churches for the largest harvest ever gathered since truth was arrayed against idola- try and superstition. He states that trained helpers are the most efficient agencies for this work. They know the language as no foreigner after thirty years of study can know it. They are intimately acquainted with their own peo- ple. They can gain access to them as the for- eign missionary never can. They are invalu- able for the propagation of the work. One of these helpers can be supported one year on $75, who can reach more than 10,000 men and women. If the non-Christian lands are to be brought to Christ, the work must be done largely by native converts. CINCINNATI CONVENTION 45 The circulation of the Bible and the spread of the gospel in those lands has come to be in great measure a financial question. The prayers and sympathy of the Christian churches and a limited supply of missionaries are needed, but the great want of the mission movement to-day is money. The machinery is provided. The printing presses can supply the Bible in every tongue in unlimited quantities, and na- tive helpers are ready to carry the gospel of Christ to their dying fellow-men. After visit- ing the most important mission fields and from a personal knowledge of many of the members and somewhat of the methods of the mission boards of the Protestant churches in America, I speak with assurance when I say that few business and commercial enterprises are better or more economically managed than these mis- sion boards. This is especially true of the Presbyterian board. Their trusts are admin- istered prudently and at a very small percentage of cost. Because of the preparedness of the field and the effectiveness and experience of the boards, every dollar contributed now to foreign missions will be ten times more eifective than it would have been fifty years ago. Hence, the im- portant fact to be impressed upon the Christian churches is that, if the world is to be won for Christ, they must, out of the abundance which God is showering upon this country, give freely of their substance to carry on the Lord's work. 46 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD '^He hath not dealt so with any nation''; its storehouses and its barns are full to overflow- ing. In this time of our prosperity the ripening mission fields call us to bring our tithes into the treasuries of the foreign boards. In the congregations of the Presbyterian Church more of the wealth of this country is represented probably than in any one other denomination. If the Brotherhood and the laymen of our great church would exert them- selves to bring into the Foreign Board a due proportion of this abounding wealth, its re- sources could be easily doubled, and the con- version of the world to Christ would be greatly hastened. May the good Lord aid us each in our allotted sphere to do our full duty in re- sponse to the last great command of our Master to carry the gospel to every creature on this globe. Following the reading of this paper, it was moved and carried by rising vote, that a tele- gram of appreciation and sympathy be sent to Mr. Foster. Mr. Holt. — I am sure that everyone who has ever breathed the ozone of Colorado is tingling with pleasure as he anticipates the address we are now to listen to, on ' ' The Present-Day De- mand for Men in the Extension of the King- dom, " by a former Moderator of the General Assembly. IV THE PRESENT-DAY DEMAND FOR MEN IN THE EXTENSION OF THE KINGDOM BY EOBEKT F. COYLE, D.D. I would just like to give you first of all a little verse I wrote on the train coming here: '•'From California's shores of gold to Jersey's coast of sand; From Minnesota's lakes and hills, to Dixie's sunny land; From East and West, from North and South, in valley, plain, and glen, The call of God is sounding loud for stalwart Christian men. ' ' Christianity is a man^s religion and men should be its enthusiastic promoters. I mean men as a class. The qualities which men are sup- posed to admire, and which they do in their in- most hearts admire — strength, courage, virility, heroism — are the very qualities to which Chris- tianity appeals, and for whose exercise it for- ever calls. Since the day of Pentecost it has rallied to its standard men of peerless ability and commanding power. Nobody but the igno- rant, or the blindly prejudiced, can say, as some do say, that it attracts only the weak, that it has charms for women and children, but not, as a rule, for robust and mighty men. 47 48 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD See how it captivates, not only the stalwarts of the world, but allies itself to the strongest nations and gains its greatest triumphs among the strongest races. This has been true from the beginning. A^Tien the religion of the cross be- gan its career it did not turn to the East and enter upon its crusade among the old and decay- ing and worn-out civilizations. It turned to the West, to the vigorous Teuton, to the brave Briton, to the dashing and fiery Celt. Strong itself, Christianity has always had an affinity for the strong. In making its conquests away yonder in the early centuries, it flung itself upon the great cities, besieged the great centers and turned the weapons of its warfare upon the strongholds of social and intellectual power. So it has been from that day to this. Is it not most significant that the vigorous, virile, indomitable Anglo-Saxon race is the one above all others with which the Christian religion seems most at home? They go together, they work together, they overcome together, they are congenial, there is an affinity between them, and it is the affinity of strength. If Christianity were a weak thing, suited only to weak people, we would find it most prominent among the weak and inferior races. But the very opposite is true. Wliere people are strongest, where there is the most force, the most vigor of thought, the most will, the most push, there you find the most Christianity — a fact that will bear thinking about. CINCINNATI CONVENTION 49 It is necessary sometimes to say these things because there are men, and especially young men, who are entertaining the foolish notion that to be a Christian and line up with the Christian elements of society argues weakness and mediocrity in general. They think of it as all right for Sunday schools and for empty- headed youth and for mothers' meetings and for sentimental women and for preachers, but not for men — for MEN. There never was a greater mistake. I tell you it takes backbone, it takes moral force, it takes courage, it takes determination, it takes heroism, to be a Chris- tian. As Gypsy Smith says: ^^ Cotton wool won't do it, jellyfish won't do it, cowards won't do it; it will take a man to do it." When a merchant said one day, in reply to the personal appeal of a minister, ''I am not ma^i enough to be a Christian," he had the right conception of what it means to touch elbows with Jesus Christ and walk uphill and downhill with him. In thinking of the j)resent demand for men in the extension of the kingdom of God, let us ask ourselves first of all : What is meant by the extension of the king- dom? What does it involve? The answer is simple enough, and yet the significance of it is too often lost sight of. Maintaining the forms of religion, building churches, holding what are called services, keeping up ecclesiasticisms and gathering the people together in great conven- tions and filling the sky with the pyrotechnics of 50 THE PRESBYTEBIAN BROTHERHOOD brilliant speech and having a glorious hallelujah time — all that is not necessarily extending the kingdom. It may be only religious dissipation. It may be only the intoxication of the saints. It may be only a very subtle kind of selfish indul- gence. Extending the kingdom is not enjoying the stimulus of great eloquence, or the thrill of great music, or the applause of great crowds. It is not hand-clapping and bouquet-throwing, and a generous bestowal of compliments. As I understand it, extending the kingdom is tre- mendously serious business — business that calls for sacrifice, for consecration, for definite pur- pose, for the soldierly conviction and the sol- dierly march and the soldierly endurance and the soldierly courage. A few years ago a great host of young men and women were gathered for study and conference and prayer at North- field, that shrine of devotion, that rallying place of the followers of Christ, made forever famous by Dwight L. Moody. One day in the midst of their songs and supplications, borne to them on the wings of the lightning, there came this mes- sage from the other side of the world : * * Make Jesus King ; five hundred students, ' ' and it came from Kioto in Japan. I do not wonder that it set the Northfield Assembly on fire with enthusi- asm. ^^Make Jesus King*' — that is what it means to extend the kingdom. Nothing more, nothing less. There is no kingdom of God ex- cept where men bow down to him and lay their homage at his feet. There never was a time CINCINNATI CONVENTION 51 when this needed emphasizing more than to-day. Referring to Satan, Jesus said, ^^When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." That lie is the subtle and unceasing attack upon the crown rights of Jesus Christ. This is the one issue of the hour on the theological side of Chris- tianity. Already under the delusion of the lie lapses from this cardinal truth of the eternal kingship of Jesus are very common, and I pre- dict that within the next decade or two they will become alarming. Look at the modern religious cults which have become so conspicuous in the last few years, most prominent among which are Christian Science and Divine Science, both of them teach- ing that Jesus is only one of the sons of God. In one of the most popular books of Mrs. Eddyism, Christ is spoken of repeatedly as God 's other son, the clear implication being that he is the Son of God only in the same sense that we are sons of God. Instead of standing apart, unique, solitary, transcendent, as the Only Be- gotten of the Father, he is brought down and set in the same class with us. Let this teach- ing become common and the worship of our blessed Lord will soon pass away, for how can we worship a person whom we regard as being simply one of ourselves! These cults to which I have referred do, to be sure, apply the adjective divine to Christ again and again, but so they apply it in exactly the 52 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD same sense to man. Jesus is divine : so are you : so am I. Xow divinity is one thing; deity is an absolutely different thing, and in these days we cannot be too careful to make the distinction. As Dr. Campbell Morgan has said, into every- thing he makes God puts something of himself, not only into men, but into trees and flowers and birds and mountains and all the works of nature. There is divinity in every creature of his, from the lowest to the highest, but deity is an attribute of the eternal God alone, and by these new re- ligions this attribute is denied to Jesus Christ. As a logical consequence, they have little or no use for the cross. The atonement, if it is re- ferred to at all, is explained away. The blood of the covenant is counted an unholy thing, and the very heart of Calvary lost sight of. You will pardon me for this little touch of doctrine, but I am speaking to the King's men, and I am sure that this convention will be practi- cal, and our lives will be practical only in so far as we have right thoughts of him. If the Lord our God is to be with us, there must be the shout of the King in our midst, and there will be no shout of a King amongst us unless he is King in our convictions. ^^Make Jesus King,'' that is what we mean when we pray ^^Thy kingdom come," if we pray intelligently. And there can be no extension of the kingdom, no coming of the reign of God, where that is not done. What we want is that all ships shall sail for him, and all wheels turn for him, and all workers toil for CINCINNATI CONVENTION 53 him, and all pens write for him, and all law- makers legislate for him, and all tlie different branches of the church universal clasp hands in brotherly love about the cross and sing: *'A11 hail the power of Jesus' name, Let angels prostrate fall, Bring forth the royal diadem And crown him Lord of all. ' ' Extending the kingdom is enthroning the King. And for this work there has always been a demand for men. In the beginning Christ called men to his standard, put into their hands the great commission and sent them forth to preach and campaign and organize and carry forward the stupendous enterprise of evangelizing the world. The first Christian societies were socie- ties of men, and they were essentially mission- ary in their character. In apostolic times, in that immortal grapple with the Roman Em- pire, in those awful days when the followers of Jesus were stoned, sawed asunder, slain with the sword, when they wandered about in sheep- skins and goatskins, when they were smeared with pitch and set on fire in the gardens of Nero, in that period of indescribable suffering, when almost every step of Christian progress had to be taken through blood, and when neither age nor sex could awaken pity nor stay the carnival of death, men, intrepid, invincible, God-girded men, were everywhere in the front, and every- where stood like granite against the billows of pagan hate. From that day to this history 54 THE PKESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD records that there have always been men ready to answer the call of God and say, ' ' Here am I ; send me. ' ' It tells us that men of oak and men of granite and men of grace have never been wanting in the conflict of the cross. It tells us that the religion of the Crucified has never failed to awaken a response in the breasts of brave and dauntless men who "Put on the gospel armor, And watching unto prayer, Where duty called or danger, Were never wanting there. ' ' Shall we find them wanting to-day! I do not believe it. Certainly the demand for men in the work of the kingdom has never been so pressing, so im- perative, as now. Life has become fearfully strenuous. Competition is intense. The busi- ness world is fevered with earnestness. The wheels of trade fairly smoke because of the pace at which things are going. No laggard, no slug- gard, no coward, can climb from the valley to the hilltops to-day. With a thousand racers on the track, with all sorts of agitations in the air, with all manner of creeds and cliques and com- binations forcing the fight, with innumerable hands contending for the prizes of life, there is no chance for the weak and the willowy, no hope for those who dally and dawdle. The spirit of the age burns with ambition and determina- tion. Its cry is ^^Do things." It throbs and pulses with a passion for achievement. Men CINCINNATI CONVENTION 55 pile up fabulous fortunes and become enor- mously wealthy, not so much because they are inspired by love of money, but because they enjoy the thrill of accomplishment, of perform- ance, of carrying out great schemes and execut- ing great plans. Now, with such a temper, such a spirit every- where else, even a blind man can see the quali- ties that are needed in religion. If vim and vigor and virility; if masculine robustness and sinewy resolution and invincible force are in- dispensable on the stage of the world, how much more on the stage of Christianity ! It is the last place on earth for the flabby and soft and yield- ing ; the last place beneath the stars for the list- less and languid and lackadaisical. In this heated, swinging rushing life of ours, in this battle of the Titans that is shaking the very earth, in this tremendous grapple of antagonistic principles, in this unprecedented conflict be- tween light and darkness, between belief and unbelief, between slippery expediency and stead- fast righteousness, the kingdom needs men for its extension, more, if possible, than ever before. We repeat the prayer of the English poet, and make it our own own, when he says ' **Give us men, men from every rank, Men of thought and reading, men of light and leading, Full and fresh and frank, Our country's welfare speeding. Men of faith and not of faction, Men of lofty aim and action. Give us men, I say, give us men. 56 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD **Give us men, men, who, when the tempest gathers, Grasp the standard of their fathers In the thickest of the fight. Let the cowards cringe and falter. Men who strike for home and altar can defend the right. True to truth, though lorn and lonely, Tender as the brave are only. Give us men, I say again, give us men." Or, as one of our own poets puts it with equal pith and point and power : "Men whom the lust of office does not kill, Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy, ******** Men who have honor, men who will not lie, ******** Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog In public duty and in private thinking." Men of this stalwart type, with these marks of God upon them, are needed in politics. Our own iron-souled, oaklike Theodore Eoosevelt said recently : ^ ^ We shall never make our repub- lic what it should be until as a people we thor- oughly understand and put into practice the doc- trine that success is abhorrent if obtained by the sacrifice of the fundamental principles of morality. The successful man, whether in busi- ness or in politics, who has risen by conscience- less swindling of his neighbors, by deceit and chicanery, by unscrupulous boldness or unscru- pulous cunning, stands toward society as a dan- gerous wild beast. . . . Our standard of public and private conduct will never be raised to the proper level until we make the scoundrel who succeeds feel the weight of a hostile public CINOINNATI CONVENTION 57 opinion even more strongly than the scoundrel who fails." For such straight talk from the lips and heart of the first man of the nation let us thank God. If the kingdom is to push its way into the realm of citizenship, if it is to touch the ballot and touch the voter, and make elections clean and officials honest, and save us from the shame and the peril of political fraud, we shall have to have men of the principle, of the nerve, of the granite stuff, which Christianity alone can produce. If we are to be delivered from the rule of the bottle and the boodler and the boss, we shall have to have men with crucifixion ma- terial in them, who can walk up our political Calvaries and do their duty at the primaries and at the polls as representatives of the people. This republic of ours is founded, not upon privi- lege, or upon lineage, or upon bank accounts, or upon caste, or class, or blood, but upon manhood, and only by manhood can it be preserved and its glory perpetuated. If dollars are to be al- lowed to pave the way to exalted civil position, and the pocketbook is made the passport to political honor, and Dives is permitted to have his way in legislative halls, we shall very soon have to write Ichabod upon our banners and con- fess that representative government is a farce and a failure. And the only power that can save us from this alternative is the power of Christian manhood. The kingdom must go into politics, as a spirit, as an atmosphere, as a regu- 58 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD lating and restraining conscience. I see no other hope ; and if this is done, it will have to be done by the King's men. Equally pressing is the demand in the world of business. We are most of all a trading, a bargain-making, a commercial people. No other can compete with us in buying and selling and in market-place cleverness. Our agents go everywhere, and our wares and commodities are advertised around the world. And we are not over-scrupulous about our methods. To ^^get there '* is the main thing, and too often the only thing considered worth while. Across the sea we have the reputation of being clever rather than straight, tricky rather than true, keen rather than honest. If this judgment is harsh, there is certainly enough in the events of yes- terday and to-day to give it more warrant than is pleasant to think about. The word ^' graft'' is distinctly American ; it was born here, and we have reason to blush for the place of its nativity. How our magazines and our daily journals have been packed with accounts of frauds and steal- ings and peculations on a gigantic scale; how the president has been appointing commissions to investigate; how the courts have been un- earthing commercial crookedness, and what shocking revelations have already been made is familiar to every reader who keeps abreast of the times. It was the late United States Senator Hanna who said that our people are money-mad. Quick gains and fat dividends — CINCINNATI CONVENTION 59 give us these at any cost. Corner the market, water the stock, pocket the bribe, pinch the poor, squeeze the weak, filch from the green and gullible, take any road to the land of riches — only get there. And so here is another vast de- partment of our modern life into which the king- dom must be extended; otherwise we shall go upon the rocks; we shall transmit only wreck- age to the future ; and who, who is to push this extension if not the King 's men 1 Then close alongside is the realm of labor, a great yeasting, seething, frowning world in it- self. Every schoolboy knows how it mutters, how it threatens, and how its complaints grow louder and louder. In some of them there is jus- tice, in many of them there is the agitator 's wild unreason, but the significant thing is that they are there. The waves of discontent seem to roll higher every year. King Demos is on his feet ; he is strong there ; he stands erect, and I know of no power that can set him right and keep him right but the power of King Jesus. How far he has drifted away from the church, and from organized Christianity, needs no rehearsing here. We all see it. We all know it. Would to God we all tried to remedy it and win him back. He is sore at the church. His alienation has hardened into animosity. Where a little while ago he was simply inditf erent, to-day he is hos- tile. He has ceased to regard the church as his friend and thinks of it as his enemy. It is a serious matter, far more serious, I am con- 60 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD vinced, tlian either our statesmen or churchmen imagine. Here, then, is a demand for men to extend the kingdom, a demand more pressing than I have time to emphasize. This is what the Reverend Charles Stelzle calls ''a man's job" — to take the gospel to the men of the shop and the mill and the mine and the factory. I cannot imagine any- thing more manly, anything requiring more tact, more courage, more consecration, more brotherly sympathy, more of the spirit of Jesus Christ. The call is for men of big hearts and big brains and big views of social well-being, to have compassion upon the toiling masses, to feel their sorrows, their hardships, their soul- hunger, and go to them with the Bread of life. The men of our churches ought to do it. In this field there is work enough for all and more than enough. The laboring classes are not all wrong in their complaints and demands. Sometimes I think they are about nine tenths right. They see clearly enough that their industry is largely exploited to fill the pockets of greed. They are not blind to the fact that our present social system, from top to bottom, is built upon self- interest, and a system so founded and fostered can have nothing in common with the kingdom of God. They understand very thoroughly that the brotherhood of Jesus Christ cannot mix with the brotherhood of plunder and extortion. They are struggling for justice, struggling up CINCINNATI CONVENTION 61 out of their lowliness, up out of their valleys, sometimes no doubt by crooked paths, but they are struggling up, and if the tremendous pathos of their struggle elicits no sympathy from the church, it is because it has ceased to represent the compassion of the Son of God. If the storms that ever and anon break over our industrial Galilee, threatening the very exist- ence of our institutions, are to be calmed, the King's men in our own church and in all the churches must come into fraternal, helpful touch with the men who dig and delve and hammer and build and do the groundwork of our civilization. So the problem of the city. Here in these great centers all sorts of dangerous elements are at work. Here anarchy broods, and breeds and blusters. Here socialism fans the fires of discontent. Here settle and fester the dregs of European immigration. Here rum tramples upon law and laughs at constituted authority. Here crime reaps its greatest harvests, and here the criminal classes are mostly recruited. The cities rule the country, and if these cities are not made clean and honest by God-fearing men, the republic will never see its second centennial. And if the kingdom is to be extended into these nerve centers of the nation, if it is to set up a reign of righteousness, and compel the forces of darkness and evil to flee away, it must have the loyal and fearless and earnest service of the King's men. 62 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD Then there is the problem of the saloon, grow- ing in magnitude, its menace increasing every year. It is almost impossible to speak of it extravagantly. No need to describe the woe it produces, the misery it causes, the crime it be- gets. All that is a familiar story. Politicians, as a rule, dare not touch it. Statesmen pass it by. The senator or congressman who should venture to say a word against it in the National Congress would be laughed at by his colleagues as a man without prudence or political sense. The president in his message about a year ago said some strong things about the protection of Alaskan seals from poachers on the sea, but about the protection of American children and youth from the blight and bane of the liquor traffic he was silent. It seems strange, to some of us it seems unaccountable. The day will come in a more enlightened age when the people will look back upon our indifference to this evil with amazement. Thank God for the stand our brethren are taking in the South. The death knell of the open saloon is heard in Dixie. The music of a new abolition is sounding from the Ohio to the Gulf. Let us pray that the movement may find its way into the North and East and West until wherever our flag flies we shall have freedom from the bondage of rum. Surely the kingdom needs extending into this region. This giant should be laid in the dust, but it will never be done until we have more Davids at the sling, more of the King's men who are willing and CINCINNATI CONVENTION 63 eager to go up against this swaggering enemy of the living God. And what shall I say of the church and the church's incomparable enterprise of evangeliz- ing the world ? I wish I could speak here as the subject demands. If ever the tongue of eloquence is needed it is when we touch upon this theme. All other themes pale before it. The programs of statesmen, the schemes of finan- ciers, the discoveries of science, the achieve- ments of literature, are nothing compared with this. Think of every race and kindred and tribe and nation singing the songs of Zion and laying homage at the feet of Jesus Christ. Think of the whole earth marching to the music of Calvary. Think of the millions of all the continents and all the islands of the sea bringing their crowns and their insignia of royalty, and placing them upon the head that was crowned with thorns. Think of them sing- ing until their song breaks against the throne of God: "All hail the power of Jesus' name." Get a vision of it, broaden your view, push it out and out until you see the banner of the cross floating everywhere above every other banner, and it will thrill you. It will stir your blood if you have any love for Calvary in you at all. If our eyes saw, our hearts would burn, our pockets would open and our hands reach out in service. We do not, because we see not. If we had the 64 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD vision of Jesus we would stand on the platform of Jesus, and our love and our ministry and our efforts would go out to every creature. Believe me, young men; believe me, middle- aged men; believe me, old men, this work of zoning the earth with the light of the gospel, and spreading the principles of the cross from pole to pole, is no woman's matter only, no Sunday- school matter mainly, no sentimental side issue, but something that appeals to all that is knightly, and all that is heroic, and all that is manly in manly men. In this unparalleled work, in this enterprise that enlists the heart of the Son of God, and upon which all heaven looks with eager interest, there is need of the best brain and the best brawn of the land ; there is need of bullion, too, and a lot of it. Look at the nations and listen and you will hear God's clock striking the hour of advance. The voice that calls from the skies says, ^ ^ Men to the front, ^Ye that are men now serve him in this his glorious day. ' ' ' The doors are all open ; the fences are all down. Now is the time for occupation. Never since the day of Pentecost were there such opportunities for Christian men as to-day. Somebody has remarked, that if any- one were to suggest the sending of women to defend the nation's flag in the Philippines, or in Hawaii, or in Porto Kico, he would be hissed into silence and oblivion. But what of that other flag, crimson with the blood of Calvary, the s^onbol of eternal love ? Shall our sisters be sent CINCINNATI CONVENTION 65 to defend it in China and Japan and Africa while the men remain at home unconcerned and unashamed? Oh, that God would arouse our Christian men and awaken them to the fact that they are the King's men, and show them that they are called to push the frontiers of the king- dom and extend them out and out to the farther- most rim of the world. When that awakening comes the church at home will arise and shine and the glory of the Lord will rise upon her. V WEDNESDAY MORNING SONS OF GOD WITH POWER BY REV. W. H. WRAY BOYLE, D. D. Jesus, according to the testimony of the word, is ^*the Son of God with power.'' The word * * power ' ' is used no fewer than seventy-six times in the New Testament Scriptures with reference to the attribute of power in Christ 's character as ^^the firstborn among many brethren," or with reference to the possession of that power by the Christian, and everywhere the secret of its exer- cise is found in the relation of two great words to each other — communion and communication. There must be close communion with God be- fore there can be large communication to men. Meditation, deep-going, high-reaching medita- tion, is, in large measure, a lost art of modern religious life. Meditation is the staying of the mind on God, as the mathematician fixes his mind on a problem, as the astronomer fixes his mind on a star. When David said, * * I will hear what God the Lord will speak," he had made such allotment of his time as left parentheses for secret talks with God. When Elijah, and the 66 CINCINNATI CONVENTION 67 Baptist, and Jesus, and Paul went voluntarily into retreat, the silences were made vocal with divine voices. Singular visions inspired them to singular missions. They communed with God in *^the secret place of his presence,'' and then they communicated for God. The seats of meditation have been in all ages the seats of the mighty. Solitude, with God present, is always the mother country of the strong. Those who have done most for the world in the moral and spiritual movements of the ages have lived much apart from it. Wit- ness Moses, forty years in the desert in fellow- ship with God, and getting ready for masterful service in the next fifty. Witness young Daniel, governor of seventy provinces, taking time to open his windows to the fresh air of heaven in every day of life, and becoming strong enough to snap his finger in the face of kings. Witness John Milton, gazing raptly upon the canvases of sacred art in Italy for nineteen years before he gave to the world his immortal epic. Wit- ness Savonarola, kneeling at the altar in Flor- ence for hours, without the semblance of the movement of a muscle, and in a later day pro- claiming the spiritual emancipation from weak- ening idolatry of the church he loved. AVitness young Evans, of Wales, spending, like his Mas- ter, whole nights in prayer, and then stirring the whole world by the spirit of his fervent evangel- ism. It is in every instance ''The lesson of the trysquare," as the sainted Maltbie D. Babcock 68 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD used to say. AVe must stand at the junction of the two lines, the line reaching up and the line reaching out ; we must go up along the line of the perpendicular, prevailingly to God, if we would go out along the line of the horizontal, effec- tively, to men ; we must have power with God for men if we would have power with men for God ; we must cool our burning brows amid the tense- ness and tiredness of a matter-of-fact world, by opening up windows that look to eternity, but we must never let meditation become the reverie of a daydream. Jesus had a transfigured Her- mon and delightful company, but in the line of perspective lay Calvary and self-obliteration and salvation. We must reverently sing, '' Nothing in my hand I bring, Simply to thy cross I cling ; ' ' but our action becomes little better than the rap- ture of idolatry if we only ^ ^ cling ' ' there ; hands touching the sacred wood upon which there were nailed the ^* wounded hands'' of sacrificial love ought to be ministering hands. We must have bended knees, but, if the bended knees be obedi- ent knees, they are sure to become bended en- ergies. So, then, it would seem that the great question at the outset is the old question, ^'Have ye re- ceived the Holy Ghost since ye believed," and, if so, have ye proof of possession on its way to communication ? One day I walked through the Edinburgh In- CINCINNATI CONVENTION 69 firmary, and the doctor appointed to guide me half whispered, as we went: ^'Anaemic condi- tion," '' Creeping paralysis," '' Nervous dys- pepsia," ^'Locomotor ataxia;" and when I came out I said to my guide, ' ^ I have known a church with all those people in it. ' * It took six hundred members a whole year of fifty-two weeks to bring eleven souls to a confession of Christ : the prayer meeting was suffering from *^ creeping paralysis, ' ' and four fifths of the men seemed to be suifering from ''locomotor ataxia" of the soul. One day I saw a beautiful engine at an ex- position, but it was on a table, not on tracks. It was only three feet six inches long, and two feet high, and when I said, ''Wliat is this for!" the man in charge said, ''Simply on exhibition." And I have seen ministers like that — decent, re- spectable men, but with no saving lines upon which to operate, and, apparently, no power because they had put their old sermons on sin and the cross and conversion and the judgment day into the wastebasket, to make room for es- says on ethics and aesthetics, forgetting that the old affirmation is still the most up-to-date thing in the world, ' ' I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. " One day, at the foot of Pike's Peak, I came across a village suf- fering from water famine. Inquiring the cause, a workman ceased digging in the direction of a water pipe to say, "Frozen up at the point of communication with the main pipe." I knew 70 THE PBESBYTEBIAN BROTHERHOOD the trouble was not in the line of the perpendicu- lar. Like the crowding kindnesses of God, the water was pressing down over four thousand feet of pipe from the heart of the hills, like the invitation of Jesus, ^'If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. ' ' The block was in the line of the horizontal, from the source of supply outward, and I have seen churches suf- fering as that village suffered — frozen up, and, therefore, without the grace of communication. God forbid that I should glory in Presby- terianism, except as Presbyterianism has a dy- namic gospel with a redeeming cross magnetic in it, and a new Pentecost in every brotherhood for empowered men. We ring it out from Cincinnati to the nation, **sons of God with power,'' because we have something inalienable in possession — something more reliable than banks, more stable than the world's securities. ^^Sons of God with power," and with the fullness of it as realizable as God 's love, if we but keep the initial emphasis on three things : The Spirit and the individual, The Spirit and the altar. The Spirit and the witness. (a) The Spirit and the individual is a more important thing than the Spirit and the conven- tion, because the unit of moral measurement is the individual soul. A single silent cell in an CINCINNATI CONVENTION 71 electric battery is said to negative the power of the whole. Down across spiritual history we catch the assertion of the individual — the individual apart from the world and closeted with God. Listen to Moses, ^*Who am I that thou should 'st send me r ' to David, * ^ God, my heart is fixed ; ' ' to Isaiah ; ^ ^ Here am I : send me ; ' Ho Paul, ^ ' x\nd if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all ;'' to Jesus, **And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me;^* to Augustine, ^ ^ Teach me, Lord God, to bend the crooked to the straight, my will to thy will;'' to Luther, **I cannot do otherwise, so help me God ; " to Knox, *^Give me Scotland or I die;'' to AAHiitfield, ^'When I felt the hands of ordination upon me, I was on God's altar for time and eternity;" to Rutherford, *^I think of thee, my Jesus, until every stone in my dungeon cell glitters like a diamond ; " to Tholuck, ^ ' I have but one passion and it is he, the Christ;" to Earl Cairns, ''I belong to God;" to Daniel Webster, *'I must answer to God;" to Emerson, *^Arm me, God, with incessant affirmations ; " to Charles Wagner, '*I follow Christ, because I hear him speak a natural language, because I hear beating in his heart, the heart of all;" to Phillips Brooks, '^I would rather live during the next twenty years, than in any other twenty years of the world's history, there will be more power for God in it;" to Moody, **I will never be sorry that I 72 THE PKESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD had the privilege of preaching Christ during those early years, but I shall never cease to be sorry that I preached so many years without the power." And, as you listen, your own intensity will melt down all other individual convictions into a great confession like this : ''My heart is fixed, eternal God, And fixed on thee; Now my immortal choice is made, 'Tis Christ for me." It is simply consecration. It is the believer's definite act; an act not so much of the emotion as it is of a surrendered will. It is the quality of life brought into religion, which in business and profession we call absorption. It is the fine contagion of enthusiasm for being masterful in the things we undertake. It is a sense of dis- content which a true soul feels over the best of yesterday's achievements, because a new day is coming with its new chance. It is the reso- lute enthronement of God in everything that has to do with life, be it the life of the min- istering priest of God, or the life of the market place. It is not a formal wrapping of one's self in some mystic web of monastic seclusion or hazy aspiration, and then coming out into the open of the world to say in a spirit, which illy com- ports with the lowliness of the cross, *' Behold, now I am consecrated. ' ' In its truest definition it is life made heroic by touching Christ's, and CINCINNATI CONVENTION 73 then going out into the great world of crush and crisis where God and dying men are, to live a life, even amid the commonplace things, at once helpful and holy. It is a life made available for good in all the days through the lift of this strengthening consciousness, *'I am not my own, but bought with a price. ' ^ (b) The Spirit and the altar is, for the indi^ vidual or the community, the Spirit in interces- sion for power. For child or for grandsire it suggests a footstool and a throne, a footstool of confessed need and a throne of power. Pra^^er may be the stillness of the soul, or the struggle of the soul, or the shout of the soul with hallelu- jahs in it, but whatever the definition, it is, as Tennyson has it, ^ ' The hand of man upon the arm of God. ' ' I do not know what your idea of faith may be. It may be simply the look of a contrite soul to Christ crucified, or it may be intuition conquering circumstances, or it may be *'the sense of the Unseen, '^ but I like the definition of the old Puritan, who said, ''Faith to me is the certitude that I find in Jesus Christ whatever I need.'' For the home, or the church, or so- ciety beyond them, prayer is a prerequisite. One of the saddest testimonies ever borne by one man of another was this in my hearing, ' ' He let his hand slip out of God's.'' A minister who sinned against his high embassage later made this confession, ''My soul-life raveled at the point where I ceased to pray, because there were some things of which I could not speak to God." 74 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD A business man has this practice, as he described it, ^ ^ closing my office door, and getting into com- pany with God before turning to do business with men," and the church which does not ac- centuate the importance of the meeting for prayer is a church losing power. (c) The restored altar and the empowered witness come together just as surely as the upper-room prayer meeting preceded Pentecost and power. The word * ^witness'' in some form (testimony, testify, witnessing) occurs no fewer than twenty-four times in The Acts of the Apostles. In the enduement for power at the beginning the word has it that the Spirit de- scended in ^ tongues like as of fire,'' resting * ^ upon each of them, ' ' and the tongues at Pente- cost were witnessing tongues. There are two things about a witness — knowledge and testi- mony. He must positively know and then cour- ageously tell. The ancient Egyptians brought votive offerings to the pear tree, because the fruit of it was in the shape of man's heart, and its leaf in the shape of man's tongue; the one being the emblem of love, the other the emblem of love's expression. A patriot is a patriot, not because he sees to it that some one unfurls the flag on national holidays, but because he is the impersonation of his own motto, ^'My country first, my coat of mail and undivided heart. ' ' To be a Christian in an age like this, when the mighty surge of the world-spirit beats up to our feet like an invading sea, is not to lie with half CINCINNATI CONVENTION 75 purposeless will in ^'tlie kind arms of God" and talk sweetly about privilege; it is to get into a path of God's setting somewhere and communi- cate power. The witnessing church of the future will be the church with power. The question is not of great service. Glad service is even better than great service, if that cannot be great too. In this strenuous conflict of light with darkness and truth with error, and love with hate, the steadier motion and the unquenchable faith are only for him who as a ^^good soldier of Jesus Christ" fronts the battle, not for him who flees it. The question is not of ability; God will take care of that. The question is one of the sur- rendered life, of the gladly offered service. A soldier can be excused for almost anything other than sleeping in the ranks. ^^Sons of God with power, ' ' be sure of the leadership of the Captain, then ^ ^ forward march ' ' to victory ! Thy humility, Lord Jesus, Thy fullness, Lord Jesus, Thy serviceableness, Lord Jesus. Mr. Holt. — It is necessary to enter now upon the business of the day. Let us remember that even the routine work of the convention is the King's business. I see we are to have a pleas- ure that we did not anticipate. It had been thought until this morning that Mr. Hanna would not be able to be with us, but he is here. Let me tell you what he said. He meant to 76 THE PKESBYTEKIAN BROTHEEHOOD come, planned to come, but finally, under strong pressure, notified us that he could not come ; and now this morning he says he ^'just could not stay away." Me. Hanna. — I certainly thank you, gentle- men, for this very kind expression of your in- terest. I cannot tell you the great pleasure and blessing it is to me to be privileged to be with you here to-day. Me. Holt. — Illness and business cares have in- terfered with a few of our speakers and leaders, although some of our fears of disappointment have been relieved. But I am sure you will all sympathize with Dr. John Willis Baer — who was to lead this conference — in the situation in which he finds himself. Letters and telegrams in the last two weeks have made known to us that his oldest son, after apparently recovering from a low fever, has had a serious relapse, so that to-day, perhaps as we sit here, the lad is undergoing an operation, with promise, how- ever, of successful results, as a telegram yester- day indicates. I know our prayers and sym- pathy will be with Dr. Baer and his family, and our disappointment, of course, will not enter into consideration. "VVe are very fortunate in having as his substitute, Mr. Nolan R. Best, editor of the Interior, one of the great papers of the Presbyterian Church, to whom it is now my CINCINNATI CONVENTION 77 pleasure to turn over the conduct of this con- ference. Mk. Best. — Friends, I hope you understand that we are trying an experiment this morning — undertaking something that has never before been done in a great national Presbyterian meet- ing. We are going to have a conference, a ses- sion of the kind that we have been hearing about for a good many years as the ideal for an assem- bly or a convention. Men have complained that the ''floor" never gets a chance. Now we are going to find out whether the floor can use a chance when it gets it. In this conference there will be absolute freedom for every man in it. Some of you have complained, too, that matters of a practical nature are not given their right place in convention programs; that platform speakers are too theoretic. Now, we are going to have something practical this morning. No one will be allowed to make anything but a practical speech — and not very much of that. The thing we are after is a real, brotherly conference, bringing our various ideas together to see what they will mean in the development of other ideas. Yet, while this conference will be practical, you will notice that it is nevertheless funda- mental — about principles. We will get to methods to-morrow, but we want to know this morning what our principles are. Do not make the mistake of thinking that principles are 78 THE PEESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD idealistic; principles are practical. You cannot do anything in any line of work without know- ing why you are doing it and what your guiding ideas are. There will be many talks but only one real speech in this hour, and that by a man who was one of the first to conceive the Brotherhood idea ; a man who had faith enough in the idea to push it, and who has made a great study of the forms and principles of Brotherhood work, Eev. E. R. Bigger, Ph.D., of Massillon, Ohio, who will make the first address of this meeting. VI PRINCIPLES AND FOEMS OF BROTHER- HOOD ORGANIZATION by rev. r. r. bigger, ph. d. Mr. Chairman and Presbyterian Brothers : — I am glad that a large place has been given in this convention to practical conferences. Our churches are pretty thoroughly imbued with the Brotherhood spirit, the men are eager to take up the work, but the one question which is troubling many earnest minds is : what can we do and hoiv shall we do in order that the Brother- hood may be a real power as a national and a local force in reaching the hearts and lives of our fellow-men all around us. There are thou- sands of good men in our churches who hold no official position in the church, who want to do good, and who are simply hungry for ideas. They are thoroughly convinced that if we want men in our churches we must win them; if we want them to be interested in the temporal and eternal salvation of men we must interest them ; if we want our men to be useful, we must use them ; that if we would teach our men to practice the real, unselfish principles of brotherhood we must have a Brotherhood in the church, and not 79 80 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD compel our men to seek fraternity outside of the church. In other words thousands of our men believe that the church ought to be interested enough in men to authorize and sanction an order or fraternity within the church, and for this reason they hail with joy the Presbyterian Brotherhood. Believing all of this, they are now calling for the tools and instructions as to how to use them. The greatest work now before the church is to get the tools into the hands of the men, with clear instructions as to how to use them. ^^ Principles and Forms of Brotherhood Or- ganization.'' This subject comes under two heads : First, the Brotherhood in general ; second, the Brotherhood in the local church. Now as to the Brotherhood in general, I am thoroughly convinced that there ought to be some things in common with every Presbyterian Brotherhood in America. While it has been the policy of the movement from the beginning to avoid hard and fast rules, stereotyped forms of constitution, etc., there should be a common button for all, a common form of application for membership, a common membership card and a common form of expressing loyalty to the Presbyterian Church and the local Session. These things are necessary for our unity as a world-wide Brotherhood, to make mutual recog- nition easy, and to furnish a method of dismiss- ing members from one chapter of the Brother- hood to another. CINCINNATI CONVENTION 81 Now the common object which should be em- bodied in every local constitution may be ex- pressed in the following language : OBJECT The sole object of the Brotherhood is the spread of Christ's Kingdom among men by es- tablishing fraternal and social fellowship and denominational fealty; by the mutual improve- ment of its members spiritually, intellectually, and socially ; and by Bible study, personal serv- ice and assistance. If in addition to this, com- mon principles are desired, the following are brief and to the point : PRINCIPLES We accept Jesus Christ as our commander and leader. We declare our faith in the Word of God and our loyalty to the church, and the brotherhood of man. THE BUTTON Now for the purpose of mutual recognition and as a means of introduction, a common Pres- byterian Brotherhood button is very essential. These buttons should be worn to meetings of Presbytery, Synod and General Assembly; to religious conventions of all kinds, and to church, Sunday school and Brotherhood meetings. In fact they should be worn all the time, especially in traveling. How often would we discover friends and agreeable traveling companions on 82 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD the trolley ear, in railroad trains, in hotels and other places if this button were worn by all of our Presbyterian men. APPLICATION CARD I also believe a universal application card for membership in our Brotherhoods would be a good thing. We have found it a good thing be- cause it states in a measure what a church PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP Believing in the Fatherhood of God, the Saviourhood of Christ, and the Brotherhood of Man, and approving of ihe objects and principles of THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD, I hereby ask to be received into its membership, promis- ing that so long as I am a member thereof I will be loyal to the constitution. Name Address Applicant received — Bate ATTEST : Fresident. Secretary. brotherhood fundamentally stands for, and any man who signs such an application virtually declares in advance that he, too, stands for these fundamentals. Here is the form of CINCINNATI CONVENTION 83 application used in Chapter No. 1, of Massilion, Ohio. Yon will notice that by signing this card the candidate for membership virtually pledges his loyalty to the constitution, which is equivalent to signing the constitution. It is taken for granted that the constitution is very simple and that the applicant has had an opportunity to read it over. I have been asked frequently, ^ ' Do you have a form of initiation or reception! '^ I answer **Yes,'' and I believe that it should be made so impressive that a man will realize that he is joining something worth while. I now submit a form used by our own Brotherhood. It is understood that the application has been pre- sented by the chairman of the membership com- mittee and accepted by a vote of the Brother- hood. Form of Initiation or Reception into the Presbyterian Brotherhood The candidate having signed an application card for membership, and having been recom- mended by the membership committee, and hav- ing been received by a vote of the Brotherhood, shall be initiated into full membership, using the following FORM 1. The chaplain shall take his place at a desk or table on which rests the open Bible in the 84 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD center of the room. The members of the Brotherhood shall form a wide circle round about him. 2. While the chairman of the membership committee conducts the candidate to a point within the circle near to the chaplain, the mem- bers of the Brotherhood shall sing : "Onward, Christian soldiers, Marching as to war. With the cross of Jesus Going on before: Christ, the royal Master, Leads against the foe; Forward into battle See his banners go. Chorus : ''Onward, Christian soldiers, Marching as to war, With the cross of Jesus Going on before. ''Like a mighty army Moves the church of God; Brothers, we are treading Where the saints have trod; We are not divided, All one body we, One in hope and doctrine, One in charity. ' ' 3. The candidate shall give affirmative answer to the following questions propounded by the chaplain : (1) Do you believe in the Fatherhood of God, the Saviourhood of Christ, and the Brotherhood of man! (2) Do you believe in the objects and principles of this Brotherhood? CINCINNATI CONVENTION 85 (3) Do you promise that so long as you are a member of this Brotherhood you will be loyal to its constitution ? 4. The chairman of the membership com- mittee shall then conduct the candidate to a point in the circle which shall open to receive him. All join hands and kneel on the right knee and re- peat the Lord 's Prayer in concert. 5. All stand, hands still joined and raised, while singing: ''Blest be the tie that binds Our hearts in Christian love: The fellowship of kindred minds Is like to that above. ** Before our Father's throne We pour our ardent prayers; Our fears, our hopes, our aims are one, Our comforts and our cares. ''We share our mutual woes, Our mutual burdens bear, And often for each other flows The sympathizing tear." 6. The secretary of the Brotherhood shall then place the Brotherhood button on the left breast of the candidate and say: ^'May this emblem ever remind you of our Christian friend- ship and brotherly love, and may it proclaim to the world that we ^ glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.' '^ 7. Then the president of the Brotherhood shall say: ^^We, the members of this Brother- hood, welcome you into our fellowshiiD. May we be brothers indeed, bearing one another's 86 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD burdens, glorifying our Father here on earth, and finally join the church triumphant in heaven. ' ' Amen. MEMBERSHIP CARD After the member has been received he should be given a membership card signed by the presi- dent and secretary of the society. I consider this to be of great importance for several reasons. 1. A Presbyterian brother traveling and for any reason in need of friends can identify him- PEESBYTERIAN BROTHEEHOOD MEMBERSHIP CARD To Our Presbyterian Brothers Everywhere, Greeting : This is to certify that Mr is a member of Chapter No. 1, OF the Presbyterian Brotherhood, of Massillon, Ohio, and that he is commended to the courtesy, Christian fellowship, and brotherly kindness of our brothers every- where. President. Secretary. Date Note. — The inscribed name of the owner of this card is his signature. For identification, bearer will sign his name on the back of this card. self with this card. There might be circum- stances in which the button would not be suffi- CIXCIT^NATI CONVENTION 87 cient for this purpose. May I submit the ac- companying card as a sample? 2. A brother visiting where he is not known to Presbyterian men might use the card con- veniently as a means of introduction. 3. Our young men are flocking from the country churches into the cities, and get lost in the whirl of city life. But how easily could they find good companions and friends by simply producing their Brotherhood membership cards to some Presbyterian minister or Brotherhood man! Any country church in the land which can have a men's Bible class of five men and up- wards can have a Brotherhood, and use the mem- bership card as I have indicated in case any of the men move from the country to the city. There are many other ways of using the mem- bership card which will naturally suggest them- selves to you. Peeparation Before Organization Mr. Chairman, there is another form which I would like to submit here for the benefit of those churches represented here to-day which have not yet organized chapters of the Brotherhood, also for the benefit of chairman of Presbyterial and Synodical committees, for they are expected to assist in organizing chapters of the Brother- hood. It is of the greatest importance that thorough preparation should be made before at- tempting to organize. Many pastors have failed 88 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD to interest or organize their men, because no preparation had been made before attempting to organize. The following form is not entirely original with me. For many of the ideas herein contained I am indebted to Mr. Joseph W. Powell of Buffalo, N. Y., the organizer of the Wesley-Brotherhood. How TO Prepare to Organize a Brotherhood BY rev. R. R. bigger, PH. D. 1. Two or three weeks before you meet to organize, secure the services of a *' Brotherhood speaker, '* one who thoroughly understands Brotherhood work and who can be enthusiastic and instruct your men. Get cards, *' Wanted — 200 Men,'' printed, and prepare ^'lists'' of all men in and connected with your church as indi- cated below. 2. Having done this, ask all male members present to remain after morning service, and tell them that you are going to have Mr. come three weeks from to-morrow night (Mon- day) to tell about the *^ Brotherhood movement,'' and that you want all of the men of the commu- nity to hear about this movement, and you want all the men present to help work up a big audi- ence of men to hear Mr. . There and then constitute all of the men pres- ent into a '^Brotherhood Committee," appoint- ing as chairman of the committee a wide-awake pusher who is interested in a men's organiza- CINCINNATI CONVENTION 89 tion. (Better have an understanding with him beforehand. ) Appoint a secretary of the committee and have him take the names of all men present. Give cards, ^^ Wanted — 200 Men,'' to all of the com- mittee and have them get all men in and con- nected with the church to sign, not to join a Brotherhood, but simply to come and hear about it and to meet the Brotherhood speaker. 3. In order to interest men who have become cold and indifferent to the welfare of the church, also men whose families, but not themselves, are members of the church, it will be necessary for church officials and Christian men to sign at once to help the committee in their work. Get the men to sign in the following order from ^'lists'' already prepared. Keligiously observe this. Chairman of committee and all members of committee. Pastor and church officials. All male members of church over 15 years old. All men who have wives in the church. All men who have children in the Sunday school. All men who attend the preaching services. All men who look to your church as their church. All men who live in your parish who have no church connections. 4. Have meetings of the committee and have the secretary call the roll of committee so that the men may report progress and give cards, 90 THE PEESBYTERIAN BEOTHERHOOD which have been signed, to the chairman of the committee. Keep these cards, for you will need them. Give the upper part of the card to the man who signs as a memorandum of the meeting. 5. It would be well to have a banquet or light refreshments at this meeting and hear the Brotherhood speaker as an after-dinner speaker. If he understands his business he will show the possibilities of the Brotherhood and the men will be eager to organize. Proceed imme- diately to organize temporarily. (Have a good chairman and secretary in mind ready to nomi- nate.) Get the names of all men present who want to be charter members. Appoint com- mittee on nominations, also committee on consti- tution, and set the next meeting * ^ one week from to-night" to complete the work of organizing and to hear general discussion ^^for the good of the Brotherhood" and plan for future work. Don't fail to start a Brotherhood Bible class right away. 6. In all of this work let it be distinctly under- stood that the Brotherhood is to help men so- cially, intellectually, morally, and spiritually. To win men, interest them and use them in behalf of their fellow-men. Have your ^^Brotherhood speaker" engaged for three weeks hence, get out your cards right away, get your lists ready, get your ^* Brother- hood committee" together, divide up the CII^CINNATI COI^VENTION 91 work, and systematically reach the last man and get him to sign to come and hear the Brother- hood man and learn about the Brotherhood movement. Your men must, first of all, know about the work and catch the spirit of the move- ment. If after all of this they are not willing to organize, the sooner you know it the better; but if they are willing to have a Brotherhood, the sooner you proceed to organize the better. Strike the iron while it is hot. If these rules of preparation are thoroughly and systematically worked you can hardly fail to organize a good Brotherhood. It will require WANTED— 200 MEN To meet Synodical Eepresenta- tive of the Presbyterian Brotherhood, at the First Pres- byterian Church, Woodlawn Avenue, on Monday, May 6th, 1907 7.30 P. M. Please be one of the 200. Come, rain or shine, es- pecially if it rains. I am interested in an organization for the men of the Presbyterian Church and congregation, and will try to be present at the above place and time to meet Name Address Committee get signature, detach, and return to Eugene Frey, Chairman. 92 THE PEESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD hard work, but ^Hliere is no excellence without labor." The card, ''Wanted — 200 Men," was origi- nated by Mr. Joseph W. Powell, the Brotherhood organizer of Buffalo, N. Y. The card to be used in the above plan is shown here. And now with your men thoroughly aroused as to the importance of the Brotherhood, and thoroughly organized and fitted out with badges, application cards, membership cards, forms of iniation, manual, etc., the greatest of all ques- tions remains to be answered. That question is ''What shall we do and how shall we proceed to get the best results." Woe unto the pastor who organizes a Brotherhood without knowing what to do with it, who has no plans which his men can work out. Such a Brotherhood is doomed to failure. To answer this question would require hours. It means organization within the organi- zation. It means, first and greatest of all, the organization of the Brotherhood Bible Class. Bible study should be the very heart and life of every chapter of the Brotherhood. It means the organization of Brotherhood glee clubs, hotel visiting committees, mass meetings for men, shop meetings, mission study classes, etc. It means no less than "A Half a Hundred Things a Brotherhood Can Do, ' ' which I now submit, and upon which I have not time to comment. The eagerness with which the men of the Presbyterian Church have taken hold of the Brotherhood movement is proof positive that CINCINNATI CONVENTION 93 men are anxious to do something to help ad- vance the kingdom of God upon earth. But the questions which arise in the mind of many an anxious pastor and his men are : ' ' What can we do that is really worth while! How may we reach and help our fellow-men!" As a partial answer to these timely and practical questions may I submit ^'Half a Hundred Things a Brotherhood Can Do"! Not many Brotherhoods will be able to do all of these things all of the time, but everything mentioned in this list is being done by the various men's societies throughout the country. The majority of these things have been put into practice in the writer 's own local Brotherhood. From this list any Brotherhood may select enough work to keep all the men busy for the Master, and this is the secret of success. It will be noticed that the work is laid out for the committees, such as membership, Bible study, social, etc. Our blessed Lord said: ''If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them. ' ' By this rule alone can any church have a happy and prosperous Brotherhood. MEMBERSHIP 1. Get every man on your church roll to join the Brotherhood. Get the church surcharged with the spirit of brotherhood. 2. Get every man who, though not a member, is in some way connected with your church, to join the Brotherhood. 94 THE PKESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 3. Lay out in districts of about eight blocks each the territory of the congregation a mile in diameter, with the church as a center. Have Brotherhood men canvass these districts to get men who have no church home to join the Brotherhood. BIBLE STUDY AND EDUCATION 4. Organize Brotherhood weekly Bible classes to meet the same hour as Sunday school. 5. Get men who must work on Sunday to join home department of the Brotherhood Bible class. 6. Conduct night classes for men and boys who cannot go to school. 7. Maintain free reading room for men and boys. 8. Organize and drill the Junior Brotherhood in brigade work, parliamentary rules, etc. 9. Have a scholarship in one of our Presby- terian colleges for the benefit of young men of limited means. 10. Have a wide-awake Secretary of Good Literature whose duty it shall be to distribute leaflets and tracts and books on the subject of temperance, good citizenship, reform missions, Bible study, etc., to the men. 11. Organize mission study class for men. Study the negro, Indian, foreigner, etc. SERVICE AND MUSIC 12. Organize Brotherhood glee club or male choir. CINCINNATI CONVENTION 95 13. Have Brotherhood seat reserved for strangers in church. Have ushers wear badges on which is printed the word ''Brotherhood." 14. Have prayer meetings for men. 15. Have Sunday afternoon mass meetings for men only. 16. Have shop meetings for men. 17. Provide the monthly meetings with good music, bright talks, debates, refreshments, etc. 18. Let the men take charge of the mission Sunday schools under the care of the local church. 19. Have open air or tent meetings for men. 20. Have Brotherhood men take charge of Sunday evening church service occasionally ; and let the men give short addresses on some good, religious topic which will interest men. Extend a public invitation to men. Have Brotherhood male choir sing. 21. Help increase the attendance at the mid- week prayer meeting. Very important. Let Brotherhood men freely take part in prayer meetings. 22. Have charge of a mission for foreigners under the care of the local church. Very im- portant. The best way to solve the problem of the foreigner. SICK AND POOR 23. When sickness and death enter a brother's home, Brotherhood men should offer sympathy and assistance. 96 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD 24. Establish a benefit fund to help a brother or his family in time of distress. 25. Help educate a poor boy, a cripple or an orphan. 26. Have a quartet to sing Sunday afternoons in hospital wards. Only those who have passed through the lonely hours of hospital illness can appreciate the sunshine and cheer which such singing will bring to the sick and suifering ones. GOOD CITIZENSHIP 27. Help good citizenship or temperance move- ments. 28. Under the auspices of the Brotherhood, have special programs relative to anniver- saries emphasizing patriotism, Flag Day, Fourth of July, Washington's Birthday, etc. 29. Circulate petitions under the direction of the National Eeform Bureau, of Washington, D. C, of which Dr. Wilbur F. Crafts is secre- tary. These petitions to be sent to your con- gressman and United States senator, in behalf of temperance and reform measures. Also pe- titions to your representatives in the State Legis- lature. The Brotherhood can become a great power along this line. 30. Make sensible scientific and systematic efforts to rescue men addicted to the drink habit* SOCIAL 31. Have Brotherhood socials, receptions, and banquets to foster good fellowship. CINCINNATI CONVENTION 97 32. Have Brotherhood annual picnic, excur- sion, or outing. 33. Have lecture course, including recitals, concerts, stereopticon entertainments, etc. 34. Let the men have charge of the banquet at the time of the annual congregational meeting, providing good music and hearing report irom all departments of church work. ADVERTISING 35. Have hotel visiting committee. 36. Have men provide for printing church bulletin. 37. Let the men have charge of printing local church paper. 38. Distribute invitations to bring men to the regular Sunday evening services of the church. 39. See that all interesting meetings of the Brotherhood are reported in your local daily papers. Then be sure to send marked copies of paper to the chairman of your synodical com- mittee. Also report to him the work, methods, etc., of your local Brotherhood, and he in turn will report to the National Corresponding Sec- retary. Also report to church papers. EMPLOYMENT 40. Have employment committee to help men into positions. 41. Help our deceased brothers' widows and orphans to get em]3loyment. 42. Elect fraternal delegates to the Trades and 98 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD Labor Assembly. And under the direction of Charles Stelzle, of onr Home Mission Board, try to bring about a better feeling between the labor- ing people and the church. 43. Maintain a free bed in a hospital for the use of workingmen. GENERAL 44. Assume the support of, or help support, a church deaconess ; or a city, home or foreign mis- sionary. 45. Help raise money for new church, pipe organ, improvements, etc. 46. Eesolve to speak to at least one man each day on religious matters. Personal work. 47. Be true brothers, seeking to protect each other's reputations, and to advance each other's interests. 48. Pray every day for the spread of Christ's kingdom among men. 49. Be loyal to your pastor, to your local church and to our great church at large. 50. Send a delegate from your local chapter to each presbyterial, synodical and national con- vention of the Brotherhood. Mr. Best. — We cannot have speeches this morning, and the chairman will be just as rigid as he dares to be in cutting you off. It will not be the cranks and the fellows who are talking foolishness, but the bright men that will be cut off. CINCINNATI CONVENTION 99 I will try a model speech myself. Last night Dr. Hill, of Springfield, Ohio, said that he de- sired more unity of organization and methods in the Brotherhood. Now, with all respect to Dr. Hill, I have seen the free, untrammeled work of the Brotherhoods in Cincinnati, Indianapolis, and Chicago developing along such varied lines, and their work has enriched the church so vastly, with such a variety of useful methods, that for my part I must speak for variety. There ! That is a model speech ; because I said my say; I was respectful to Dr. Hill, although I disagreed with him; I provoked discussion (watch Dr. Hill and you will see), and I said it all in thirty seconds. Now we will hear from Mr. Hill, of Oak Park. Mr. Elmer Hill, Oak Park, Illinois. — Breth- ren, Dr. Goss last night said: '^Privilege and opportunity engender responsibility.^' We ap- preciate the privilege, we grasp the opportunity, we assume the responsibility. We are not adventuring Argonauts sailing- uncharted seas in quest of the Golden Fleece, nor visionary mystics wandering barren wastes in search of a Holy Grail. We are here on the King's business — seeking and striving for those things which can be measured, weighed, en- joyed, and given to others for their enjoyment; the uplift of humanity and the extension of the kingdom in the hearts of men. To-day, as never before, God-serving men are getting together. 100 THE PRESBYTEKIAN BROTHERHOOD Jew and Gentile, Catholic and Protestant, re- gardless of creed or sect, are meeting upon the common ground of patriotism, to work for the common good. It is a widespread movement for good citizenship and civic righteousness; a movement for the construction of a machine by which decent citizens may utterly destroy those undesirable elements which so seriously affect our moral and civic affairs; a movement for domestic, economic, and civic decency. I am requested to tell of what the men of Oak Park, 111., have accomplished along that line. Learning that at our next general election our citizens would be given the opportunity of ex- pressing themselves on local option, our men^s club took the initiative in a movement that re- sulted in a federation of the men 's organizations of the churches of Oak Park, a federation for civic purity, for God and humanity. Here is a problem in higher mathematics. We have three thousand five hundred registered voters in Oak Park, and we have two thousand five hundred King's men in the federation. ^Vhat's the answer? The answer is this : If the saloon obtains a foothold in Oak Park, the presi- dent of the federation should be tarred and feathered. I am the president. Just before starting for Cincinnati, I called up the presidents of the federated clubs, and within forty-five minutes had arranged for a mass meeting in honor of James K. Shields, State Superintendent of the Anti-Saloon League CINCINNATI CONVENTION 101 of Illinois, the King^s man who last Tuesday carried seventeen counties in Illinois for local option, and chased the saloon out of one hun- dred and forty precincts. (Applause) What we have done you can do ! Federate the men of the churches of your towns, and drive the federated forces of ''Bottle, Boodle and Boss ^ ' into the depth of the deep, deep sea ! Get in line and march with your fellow-citizens who, responding to the call of duty, are coming up out of the shadow of the valley of indifference to the glorious heights of responsibility, to claim and enjoy the privileges which appertain to Christian American citizenship. Federate for Grod and humanity. Mk. Best. — Now we will take up the first item for discussion, ''What is the Brotherhood forT' What do you say! What is the Brotherhood for? Dr. John Clark Hill. — I think the very best thing, the thing that is going to cause the Brotherhood to grow along the line of perma- nent efficiency, is to follow out the line I sug- gested by those two words last night, and thor- oughly elaborated by Dr. Bigger. I believe in unity; I believe in the button, and I believe in talking it up, letting folks know that you are a Presbyterian ' ' brother. ' ' I believe in flexibility just as much as my Brother Best and all the rest. I believe in the report of the Council; I 102 THE PBESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD believe in having a secretary who will be a sort of center of the united operations of the Brother- hood. I believe that every man in all our churches should be a Brotherhood man, wearing the button, and I believe we have lost a year by not having these buttons ready by the bushel at the last convention. Mr. W. F. Wood. — The thing the Presbyte- rian Brotherhood should do is to take the labor- ing man by the hand and show some interest in him. That is one thing the Brotherhood should stand for. Kev. Geo. Knox, Lafayette, Indiana. — I want to make an Iowa speech. I was pastor of a Sioux City church twenty years ago, when we closed one hundred and twenty-five saloons. I have just been back there helping to dedicate a splendid $80,000 church, and one of the elders asked me to go with him on a little trip around the city. He took me to twenty-five places of business, showing me girls and young men and boys who had been brought to Jesus Christ through that church. He took me through the roundhouse, and I shook the hands of forty men. This church is blessed with many men who are trying to win men for Christ. In going the rounds we were stopped a half-dozen times by some young man who would say : ^ ' Mr. Cummings, there is a new man; we must get hold of him. ' ' This Mr. Cummings is an elder CINCIKNATI CONVENTION 103 in the church, and is doing a personal work all over that city. I came back thanking God that I had been privileged to have some small part in this work, even though it had been twenty years ago. The men there are carrying out the Brotherhood idea and standing for civic right- eousness in the city, thereby winning many souls for Jesus Christ. Ren Mulfokd, Cincinnati. — I just want to say one word in echo of that brother who spoke for the laboring man. For over a year out at Nor- wood on one Sunday night of each month we have had the service conducted by our Brother- hood. One night we had a service when five young men of Norwood factories, who had never risen to say a word for Christ, arose before that congregation, from which people were turned away. It was one of the grandest sights I had ever seen in my life. A hand stretched forth to labor is what this Brotherhood should stand for. Mk. Buegan, Idaho. — I am in favor of the plan for looking after the individual case. Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, Congrega- tionalist, and every other denomination, we find a great number of letters in trunks. There are more letters in the trunks in our villages than there are enrolled in the churches. So many seem to have the idea (this is es- pecially true in the West) that they are coming 104 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD west to make money, not to serve God. We have a large number of men of that kind, and we need some plan of organization whereby we can get hold of these men when they come, that we may be able to say to them : ^*Come out and be a man among us; show your colors and be true to them.'' Dr. E. B. Newcomb, Keokuk, Iowa. — I want to say a word as to the purpose of the Brother- hood. Last year, you remember, I said I would be glad to send a copy of a constitution to any- body who wanted it. As showing the interest in this, I had applications from all over the country, and I still have some copies I will be glad to give to anyone. The problem of preaching to the laboring man is one of our greatest questions in Keokuk. We took up the question, ^^If I were king in Keo- kuk, ' ' and I asked one of our members who rep- resented the laboring man to tell us what he would do as respecting the laboring man in Keo- kuk, if he were king. Well, he went back — ^he had not been in touch with the church — and said to the Federation of Labor: ^^We have been wrong about the attitude of the church toward us. I never had better treatment than I had when I talked to the Brotherhood of the Westminster Church. I guess they are pretty good stuff. ' ' As a result, he became interested in the work of Mr. Stelzle, and he and another laboring man were instru- CINCINNATI CONVENTION 105 mental in changing the date of the meeting of the Central Trade Labor Association from Sun- day morning to Friday night, so they might have a fraternal delegate from our Ministerial Asso- ciation. After they had done that, I took the matter up in the Ministerial Association, and they could not do anything else but appoint me fraternal delegate. In the meeting of the State Federation of Labor last summer, I do not know how anybody could have been more cordially treated by the committee of arrangements than I was. I was asked to speak at a banquet they held. Usually, a preacher takes his text from the Bible, but that night I was the only one who did not take his text from the Bible. After I had finished what I had to say, I suppose there were fifty men whom I did not know at all, who came to me and said they were glad to hear that kind of a speech. There is a way to preach to men outside of the church, and it is for us to find that way and show these men that there is a connection be- tween the Christian Church and the Brother- hood. Eev. De. E. Tkumbull Lee, Wilkinsburg, Pa. — I want to answer the first question ; but before I answer it, I want to say that I would indorse everything said by Dr. Bigger, except in regard to degrees. I want to say that you must go slow in a thing of that kind. In my church it would not go at all. 106 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD Dr. Bigger. — They are not degrees at all. If I had time to explain more fully, you would understand what I mean. Dr. Lee.— ^'What is the Brotherhood forT' I believe the answer to that question answers all the other questions that are here put down. The Brotherhood is for the function of witness-bear- ing. We may say there are twenty-five thou- sand members in these Brotherhoods. If every single man of the twenty-five thousand observes the Christian function of witness-bearing to the extent of bringing only one other man to Jesus Christ in a year, we will have twenty-five thou- sand men brought to Jesus Christ. And that is what the Brotherhood is for. (Applause) Mr. Best. — That is what we are after — spir- ituality — to get down to the spiritual heart of things and bring men to Christ, just as Dr. Lee has said. His talk ought to make a good many of us feel that we have not got into the spiritual heart of things in our Brotherhoods. Mr. J. C. Eckels, Decatur, Illinois. — How can we be witness-bearers for Jesus Christ! How can I be a witness-bearer for Jesus Christ? I am heartily in favor of the button. I have the great privilege of wearing the button of that as- sociation of traveling men called the * * Gideons. ' * I wear two buttons, and then when I go to my place of business at Decatur and take off my CINCINNATI CONVENTION 107 coat, I still wear a button, and every traveling man that comes there says: ^^ Brother, I'm glad to see you. ' ' One way we can witness for Jesus Christ is to wear this Brotherhood button. Dk. E. a. Bess. — I want to emphasize the idea of Dr. Lee, that we ought to have one thing up- permost in the Brotherhood, and that is the idea of witness-bearing and the idea of soul-winning. I believe we ought to be obliging, but still not make the Brotherhood an accommodation to every institution that comes along that wants to use it in a political way. We ought to get down to soul work in the local church, and the general principles of missions, foreign and home. Mr. Best. — We will go at this thing another way. We talked of personal workers' bands. Of course. Brotherhood work is all evangelistic in a way, but a department for the training of men for personal work or witness-bearing is a different thing from a Bible class. Mr. F. a. Tompkins^ Chicago, Illinois. — I believe thoroughly in the button and in the card, and especially in the card of identification, and I believe in going a step farther than was sug- gested by Dr. Bigger. Let me give you an illus- tration : Some years ago I was identified with Chris- tian Endeavor work in Chicago, and two young men from Germany who had been members of 108 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD the Evangelical Church there, came to Chicago. The German Society wrote to headquarters in Boston, Boston wrote to Chicago, Chicago turned it over to me, I turned it over to the Ger- man Society in Chicago, and their secretary landed these young men. If all of our men carried identification cards, there would be a chance for the Brotherhoods in the large towns and cities to get hold of them. Mr. Eoop. — I want to enforce that. I have been trying for three years to get Presbyte- rian pastors to send me notice of removals, send me word that certain men have come to our town. Mr. Geo. H. Fulcher, Oswego, Kansas. — ^I want to say, in answer to that first question, that the Brotherhood should be for the ^^brothering" of the boys and young men of the town. Dr. W. M. Hindman, Chillicothe, Ohio.— I want to say that we must have thorough Bible study, and we must have our men study the Bible if they are to accomplish any good work. Mr. W. 0. LaMonte, Chicago. — In answer to the second question, I am not sure that we will last long unless we train men to do personal work in getting men into the church. I think it is essential that we should give time and at- CINCINNATI CONVENTION 109 tention to training men to deal with the men they meet. A Delegate. — I would like to ask how yon get a man to come to Bible class. I have found the best way is by personal communication. I was very much impressed with what a workingman said who came to our Bible class. Some one asked him how he happened to be there. He said he had to come. When asked why, he said he received forty-three invitations, and had to come or die. Mr. Sexton, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. — There may be a great many men here just like I am. I am sent here by the Session of one of the large churches in Pittsburg. They sent me to see just what kind of an organization the Broth- erhood is. We have no Brotherhood in our church. We ought to have one ; I am convinced of that. But they expect me to say whether they shall organize one. I have not heard anyone say just how to start a local Brotherhood. I would like to hear some good ideas as to how a Broth- erhood is started. Rev. J. A. Dunkel, Saginaw, Michigan. — My church was a regular ' ^ icicle ' ' for a while. Men would come in and go out frozen. But since we have a Brotherhood we get letters from Pitts- burg and other cities, from big business men, saying, ^'We have a salesman that comes from 110 THE PEESBYTERIAN BROTHEKHOOD your church, aud he is the best we ever had. '^ We have a committee to corral strangers. Last Sunday two traveling men, one from Chicago and one from Columbus, came in, and as we were short of Sunday-school teachers, we had them teach, and when they went out they said they felt sure of their welcome, because we put them to work. Mr. Charles T. Thompson, Minneapolis. — I think I can answer the last question, ^'How to start a local Brotherhood?" I represent a church of two thousand and sixty members, with two thousand five hundred to three thousand Sunday-school scholars. The Session and pastor of the church realized that our men did not know enough about the work of the church. We called a meet- ing of the men for the purpose of social inter- course, and made the time six o'clock, so the men could come from their offices. About two hundred and fifty men responded to the invita- tion, and there, under the influence of the mo- ment, our Men's Union was formed. We have not accomplished all that we desire, but from that time a marked interest among our men has been awakened, and we believe we have started a really evangelistic work. To illustrate what we can do: At one meeting some one read a letter from a little town in the northern jDart of the state, saying they had no place in that town, except the saloons, where young people could CINCINNATI CONVENTION 111 meet in the evenings, and asking if we could not help them to raise money enough to build a little room adjoining the church, to cost about $500, where the young people might meet. One of our young men said : ' ' Now, that is something definite; now we can do something.'^ And at once the money was raised to put up that build- ing. That is simply an illustration of what can be done. Get the men together, talk to them, and there will be no trouble about finding work. Eev. Wilson Aull, Petoskey, Michigan. — What we need is some way to arouse indifferent men of the church who are perhaps in the church and not members of the Brotherhood. We want men who can do j)ersonal work, but we do not have them. Our best men will not go out to meet their fellows and ask them to come to church. We need men of this kind in our Brotherhood. I went to one of the members of my church and asked him why he did not come to church. He said : ^ ' I am sorry I cannot come, but I do not have very much time. I have a large business. ' ^ ^ ' Yes, ' ^ I said, ' ' the Bible says that the cares of this world, business and riches, choke the Word.'' ^'But you see I have bor- rowed money and am carrying a big stock, and am tied up." ''Yes," I said, ''the Bible says so." What we want is men who are willing to go out and work on men of this kind, the indiffer- 112 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD ent ones, and bring them in, so that they in turn may be personal workers. Dr. Egbert F. Coyle. — We have a Bible class with an enrollment of two hundred and sixty, and an average attendance of two hundred and fifty. In order to secure men we have a committee of seven whose business it is to communicate with men in person and through the post office, and we hope by another year to increase the attendance to three hundred every Sunday morning. We feel it can easily be done. The enthusiasm is growing, and we have a defi- nite work. We are supporting two missionaries in Brazil. We are federated with other unions in the city, and propose to work along practical lines as far as possible. Mr. Best. — Now let us sum up. We want men organized in all the churches, any way or every way. Get the men together and organize. Find out what you can best do for your own fellows. Do not make it a social club; be reli- gious outright, and not disguisedly religious. The main idea is to get men into the church and then keep them at work after you do get them in. The Brotherhood Bible class is one of the first things. The private prayer circle of interested men who are willing to meet and pray for the work, is probably the next. But you cannot have a Bible class until you get a teacher; you cannot do anything until you get a teacher. CIlSrCINNATI CONVENTION 113 Therefore do not begin too big, but begin in a small way and let the work grow. Make your own plan; work it for six months, and then tell the other Brotherhoods about it. Use social plans, but use them with the one idea in view of winning men to Jesus Christ. That is the Brotherhood idea. Just because our Brotherhoods are and are to be diverse in their plans, we must have a central clearing house, so that each may know what the other is doing, and compare notes. Do not stand off from the national organization ; do not wait until you have a big concern locally. If you have anything at all, send in your report to the Brotherhood Council and tell them what you are doing. That is what the Council is for, to keep us all in touch together. VII THE DEVOTIONAL LIFE OF THE BROTHERHOOD BY HON. HUGH H. HANNA. Before we open the discussion of the subject as presented by the program, I would like to su^Dplement the report of the Council, so modestly read by our vice president, Mr. Holt. I am very glad to take this opportunity to ex- press to the Brotherhood the deep sense of grati- tude I have to Mr. Holt for doing all my work this year. I learned some time since that a man who could not make a speech should never try, so I shall talk informally a few moments and then read a short paper, in order to make a record. As I came out here to-day I got into conversa- tion with a very attractive man, a member of the Brotherhood (and perhaps in this room now), and he talked very freely to me about what the Brotherhood should be. He said : ' ^ We Presby- terians are a fraternal lot of men, but we lack warmth. We do not get close to people, and they do not get close to us." In the main, I agree with him, but I do not think we lack warmth this morning, and especially as I stand 114 CINCINNATI CONVENTION 115 here and listen to that great song, ^^We're here on business for our King. ' ^ It is a perpetual in- spiration. Our part of the program this morning is the devotional side of the work. Let me say the Brotherhood must put ^ ^ Christ on the throne and man on the cross, '^ if we are to belong to the great Brotherhood. It must be '^ Christ on the throne and man on the cross, ^ ' or it will be ' ' Man on the throne and Christ on the cross. ' ' We are to stand together like men in a common cause. I am so tremendously, so profoundly impressed with the apathy among tlie men of our church in regard to the spiritual uplift, and I am just as profoundly impressed that the opportunity opened up to us last year in the beginning of this Brotherhood is the way to overcome this apathy. I intend in a very few words to tell you my own little story, which will make clear to you why I am so enthusiastic over the possi- bilities that are opened to the Brotherhood in the spiritual side of our work. There is nothing new to Presbyterian men in church work. The work has been going on so many years and has all been threshed over, and yet some things are new to business men. I was brought up in the church, but it does not seem to me that I have been in it more than about two years. Some things brought to my attention the necessity of putting ''Christ on the throne"; brought to my attention the absolute necessity for self-effacement. If a man is to be strong and 116 THE PRESBYTEKIAN BROTHERHOOD useful, he must put himself on the cross and Christ on the throne. This worked itself out in a very small, narrow sphere for me; it worked itself out in such a way that I realized prayer is the foundation we must lay for a life of spiritual virility for the saving of souls of men. If our purpose is not close communion with God, we are missing the idea of the Brotherhood. Presbyterian brothers must be ^^sons of the King.'' Before I heard about this Brotherhood (I was not a close student of church work until the last few years) I had come into that sense of con- viction that enabled me, with God's help, and in spite of the weakness of my soul, to put ^^ Christ on the throne and man on the cross." I awakened to the fact that the prayer meeting- was the backbone of the spiritual life of the church. I began to study the prayer meeting and found only about ten per cent of the mem- bers in attendance at the prayer meeting, and most of these were women — ^very few men. The elders of the church began to hold a little prayer meeting before service Sunday morning, to pray for the pastor and to pray that the hearts of the people might be opened to receive the message he should bring. It was not very long before we began trying to bring in the people already members of the church. I was one of them. We all realized that the man who has received the gift of the Holy Ghost in his heart is always hunting for somebody to give it CINCINNATI CONVENTION 117 to; the great blessing he has received is some- thing he wants to share with his neighbor. I remember the first door I went to. The people were members of the church, but how I did hope I would not find them at home. I never was a coward, so far as I know, in public work, but I did hope they would not be at home. They were at home, and I never received a warmer welcome in my life. These people did not at- tend the prayer meeting, but they were glad to see me. People who knew me knew I had never been in the habit of making such visits. Well, they came to prayer meeting. We must live closer to the Father. We must ** commit our ways unto him,'' as a church and as a people, and we must trust him always and **he shall bring it to pass." I have typewritten some other thoughts that I want to put in the record, and if you will per- mit me, I will read them. Why should our Brotherhood exist! What call is there for increased machinery in our church ! We already have the great boards. We already have numerous phases of effort to bring the people into our church and hold them there. Our membership is large, our support of the church and boards generous, our Sabbath schools are flourishing, our members attend the Sabbath morning service, our pastors labor un- ceasingly, the many activities of the church are zealously pushing forward, the Evangelistic Committee is doing a great work, the Christian 118 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD Endeavor Society is vigorous, the Bible classes are well attended, some of the faithful attend the mid-week prayer meeting — in short, these activ- ities are numerous and successful in their fields. Wliat is left for a Brotherhood to do? Is there any way by which the Brotherhood can en- large the usefulness of these activities! Yes! Most certainly it can and will. Cer- tainly every means should be sought to bring about efficient organized effort to accomplish great pressure for advance on these lines. Does this assurance satisfy! There are a large number of earnest men in our church who realize their failure to serve the Master, who would gladly respond to this organization's plans for greater work. But would they be satisfied ? Would they con- tinue their interest ? Would they faithfully give time to these causes'? Or will the demands of their practice or business compel them to neglect these activities and draw them back into the other affairs of life, in which they can better see the results for which they strive ! Suppose we turn on the search light and hon- estly look at the real fundamental things for which the church exists. Is a church only to exert a moral influence in its community? Or does it go further ? Isn't the church an organized instrument to forward the work that the Master delegated to his disciples? Doesn't this work mean pri- marily the saving of the souls of men? CINCINNATI CONVENTION 119 Now, let US turn on a more powerful search light, that lays bare everything and discloses conditions we are seldom willing to believe. It surely shows great and good purpose and desire to accept the Father's love. Wliat more does it disclose? Weakness, cowardice, neglect, apathy. Isn't the search light strong enough to disclose these things to all of us, however feeble our de- sire to see ! Of course, there are always splendid exceptions. With all of our activity, does not the search light disclose the lack of growth in spiritual life commensurate with all these aids to moral growth? Is there any better measure of the growth of spiritual life of a church than can be found in the analysis of its mid-week prayer meeting! Let us turn the search light upon the prayer meeting. Is there a strong growth in spiritual life there proportional with the growth of church membership? Whom do we find there! Are the new members of the church zealous in their attendance! Are they encouraged by the invitation to attend ! No; not one in ten of the members is there; and as a rule the men are sadly in the minority. Ordinarily, the search light finds very few men in regular attendance. Of course, there are splendid exceptions to this rule. We have many strong activities, but how many of them lead the man of the church to in- vite his neighbor to attend the prayer meeting! 120 THE PRESBYTEEIAN BROTHERHOOD How many are inviting men in or out of the church to aid in building up the spiritual in- terest in the prayer meeting ! And, in truth, the prayer meeting is the spiritual backbone of the church. If the men of the church realized the privilege of prayer, the possibilities would be im- measurable. Every man conscious of the great gift will always hasten to share it with his neighbor. The rock, the fundamental upon which all of the great work of the church rests, is the prayers of those who in consecration keep very close to the Father, seeking his light and guidance to bring all of his people into his kingdom. Every one of his activities in a praying church will be brought to full usefulness. The Brother- hood will re-enforce all effort; but to live, it must base all its hope upon the united prayer of the earnest men of the church. A prayer union of men in each church, though beginning very small in numbers in attendance, to meet every Sabbath morning to pray for the Father's blessing upon the pastor, that he may bring the Master's message of love and salvation to the people, and that the people in turn may re- ceive the Word in prayerful Christ spirit, can and should be the fundamental of the Brother- hood plan. A few men privately and prayer- fully inviting others to join them, one by one, is the beginning that is needed to bring about the great uplift of the church. CINCINNATI CONVENTION 121 All of the activities can be pressed forward by our organization, but the great rock of the Pres- byterian Brotherhood of America, its deepest concrete foundation, should be the prayer union through which must come the great enlargement of all other activities. First, let us adopt prayer as the fundamental of our organization. Second, let us request all churches to pray for our guidance in every Sabbath-morning service. Third, let us leave nothing undone to secure the organization of a prayer union in every one of our churches, within the next twelve months. This will be a very small and simple step. It needs no machinery. The members need only pledge themselves to regular and prayerful at- tendance, and to pray always also for the mid- week prayer meeting. As I have said, it is a very small step, but it is all important, and will lead up to all that is needed to make God's people realize that his will is the all-absorbing desire of life. Out of all this will come the understanding of what the Master meant when he said, '^Go ye.'' It will lead us to carry the great gift of his love to our neighbors throughout the world, for we will find the way and the means. No suggestion is made of any limitation upon the work of the Brotherhood. '^Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass." 122 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD In closing my remarks on this subject, I must say, as I did in the beginning, that we must put *^ Christ on the throne and man on the cross,'' if we are to rise to that self-effacement, that un- selfish service of the King, that unselfish, prayer- ful service to all about us. When we have done this we have laid the foundation on which will be built the spiritual uplift of the church. I am very happy to bring to your attention Mr. Gordon, of Madison, N. J., with whom we had much correspondence before we could persuade him to find the time to come to this convention. I beg of you, gentlemen, that you listen prayer- fullv to the few remarks Mr. Gordon will make. VIII POWER BY PRAYER BY S. D. GORDON Shall we bow just a moment in prayer before further sijeaking! Breathe now thy Holy Spirit upon us; teach us how to jDut thee on the throne. Help us to hear thy voice as we talk further this morning, for Jesus' sake. Amen. There is a sharp-toothed pain biting at the heart of God. It is all the time biting, and bit- ing hard. It concerns a family affair, a family disgrace ; and where a thing of that kind is con- cerned, one speaks of it very softlj^, especially if you are in the family and it is an old one. And this family is one of the oldest, and we are in the family. And so we say very softly that one of God's family of planets is a prodigal. And then more softly yet — ours is that prodigal planet. Then the softness of shame creeps in as we recall that we have given our consent to the prodigal part of the story. And then the softness of love comes into a man's voice as he calls to mind that God has in his great, wondrous love won some of us back home again. And then, if you are talking, your voice will ring out 12a 124 THE PRESBYTEKIAN BROTHERHOOD for sheer joy as you remember that we who are won may be the pathway back home for all the others. That is God 's plan. The pathway from man to God is always a human pathway. And the highest joy a man ever reaches or can reach is to be a pathway back to God's hearth fire for all whom he touches. That we may win the others back home, the Father has given us something that we call power. There is one inlet of power in life — just one inlet — the Holy Spirit. He is power. He is in everyone who opens his door to God. He is all the time standing with the toe of his boot at the crack of the door of a man's heart, waiting for the first half-chance to come in by the man's free consent. His presence within is the one vital thing. One inlet of power into a man's life — the Holy Spirit in, and in control. There are ^ve outlets of power. Five avenues going out of everyone of us, along which this marvelous Jesus-Spirit is going all the time, re- vealing himself. And that is power — Jesus re- vealing himself through us. The first outlet is the life — what we are. Just simply what we are. If we are true and clean and straight, the power of God is breathing out all the time. The second outlet is through the lips — ^what we say. It may be said poorly. A man's lips may stammer. But if his heart is on fire for Jesus his power breathes through the broken words uttered. CINCINNATI CONVENTION 125 The third outlet is through our service — what we do. It may be done poorly. Your best may not be the best; perhaps it rarely is. But if it be your best, it will be God-blessed and always bring a harvest, although far beyond your con- sciousness of what is being done. A man is al- ways least conscious of the power of his own life and service. I suppose we could not wear our hats if we were. The fourth outlet is through our money — what we do not keep. The fifth outlet is through our prayer — ^what we claim in Jesus, the Victor ^s, name. Not what we succeed in getting God to do; not persuad- ing God over to our side; but what we claim, in Jesus, the Victor 's, name, shall take place on earth. And without doubt, without question, the greatest of these five is the outlet through prayer. The power of a life touches just one spot, where the life is being lived, but that touch is tremendous. What is there to be compared with the power of a simple, pure, unselfish, Christlike life! I think of one, two, three lives, of three women who all unconsciously to them- selves have made my life, on the human side, what it has come to be. And you doubtless think of some one who has made your life what it has come to be. The power of a life nobody can tell, or count, or weigh. It touches just one spot, where it is being lived, but that touch is far beyond any measure or weighing of scales. 126 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD The power of the lips depends entirely on the life back of the lips. How we men who talk for God ought to remember that. I have heard a man talk in a very easy, smooth, almost glib way, and the words rolled from me as easily as they seemed to roll out of him. And I have heard a man talking with broken, jagged rhetoric, but my heart burned while he talked. I remember Charles Studd, of Cambridge, the famous crick- eter and wrangler. He always spoke in an in- tense, jagged way, and yet our hearts always burned while he talked. I remember a fellow in a New England University, a famous athlete, a very poor speaker, slow, hesitating, and almost stammering in his speech; and yet every time that fellow was to speak in any hall on the col- lege campus, the place was jammed with his fellow-students, who would listen for an hour as he talked in that slow, almost embarrassing way, because they knew that the fellow was just as straight on the river, or the gridiron, or the diamond, or in examinations, as he was in the prayer meeting, or anywhere else, and it was his life talking through his lips. The man is always more than the message. The man al- ways talks more than the words of his lips are saying. The power through the lips depends en- tirely on the life back of the lips. Power through service is always less than the power of a life. We will want to serve; wher- ever Jesus has touched a life you must spend and be spent, gladly and lovingly. And yet we CINCINNATI CONVENTION 127 do more by the lives we live than by the best service we ever give. We serve best, not in our service, but in our lives. Power through gold depends entirely on the motive back of the money. Begrudged money spoils the treasury. The Church of Christ has no need of money to-day; she is rich, in her own right, and in the individual right of her members; but she has great need of red-tinted money — money with the red tint of sacrifice upon it, red with the life of the man who gives it. You cannot tell the worth of money in Chris- tian service by its face value, but only by its sacrifice value. If we might only have more money red-tinted, there would be more done for Jesus around the world. But power through prayer — if you will please listen very softly with the inner ears of your hearts — power through prayer is as tremen- dous as the power of a life — to say no more just now, though more could be said. And — please underscore the and — it may touch not one spot merely, but anywhere in the whole round world where you choose to turn its power out and in. The greatest thing anybody can do is to pray. It is not the only thing, of course, but it is the first thing. Because if a man is to pray right he first must be right in his life, in his touch with Jesus. And if he be right and in touch with the Master there will be a burning passion for prayer; and then out of prayer will grow the giving and serving and doing and all the 128 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD rest. And when they grow out of prayer they are fairly fragrant with the presence of God, and pregnant with the very life of God him- self. The greatest people in the world to-day are the men who pray. I do not mean those who talk abont prayer simply, nor those who say they believe in prayer merely, nor those who can explain nicely and philosophically and clearly about prayer ; but I mean the men who take time to pray. They haven't time — nobody who is worth while has time for all that presses in to be done. Something must always be left out of a life that is worth while; something must be sacrificed. He is the keen man who knows what may best be sacrificed and left out. I sometimes think a man determines the power of his life by what he leaves out, more than by what he puts in. There are men everywhere, in this old Presbyterian Church, and in all the other churches of God, who are putting prayer first, and then grouping the other affairs of life around it as the center. They are the ones who are doing most for God and for men. May I put it in this further simple way? God will do, as a result of your praying and mine, what otherwise he would not do. Yes; I can make that stronger, and I must, because the Book does. God will do, as a result of the praying of the weakest man here, what otherwise he could not do. Some one knits his brows and says: ^'You are getting that rather strong. CINCINNATI CONVENTION 129 Could not do!" Well, you remember what Jesus said that Thursday night (John 15:16): ^ ' Ye did not choose me, but I chose you, and ap- pointed you, that ye should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide: that whatso- ever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you." Will you underscore that word ^ ' may " ? I think every other time it reads ^^He shall." But this time it is ^^He may." *^He shall" throws the matter over onto God — his purpose. ^^He mai/" throws it over onto us — our cooperation with God in his purpose. We must remember, and not forget that prayer has two sides to it; always two sides to that important transaction called prayer. First a God to give, and second, a man to receive. God does nothing by force; he never crowds a man. He never does a thing for a man without the man^s consent, and he always touches men through men, so that prayer is giving God a chance to work out his plan. It is giving to God an open door into the life of this world. God needs the cooperation of our prayers. Oh, for more men who will stay just where they have been put, in God's providence — no feverish fingering of door knobs leading up- stairs — ^who just simply stay where they are put, in God 's plan, and who will put their whole lives in touch with Jesus, and then, as he guides, pray, and ask, and insist, and persist. They are God 's best friends in helping win his prodigal world back to the home circle again. 130 THE PKESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD I asked some men from Pittsburg on the train yesterday coming across from that city, if they thought that prayer did things. Whether a man could go into his room here and shut the door and pray for somebody in Tokio, and if he did, would it do things in Tokio. It would help himself; it would have a subjective effect, of course; but would it change anything in Tokio? I wish I could take the time to ask you men if you really underneath have a conviction that it would. Because if we have such conviction there would be far more things done in Tokio, in Shanghai, in Calcutta, in Cairo, and around the world. A man may shut himself in his inner room, and by the spirit telegraphy we call prayer, in Jesus' name, change things where he may choose to. You men here are business men, largely. You like to do business transactions; that is your life. Prayer is conducting spiritual transac- tions for Jesus among men, and when we men of the Presbyterian Brotherhood get prayer on that basis, we will change things. We will change men and change problems, and change churches, and change the world, in the power of Jesus Christ. Shall we pray? If something else slips, if we have not so much time for polishing up the sermons, and doing some other things, shall we take time to pray? And if we will, some day — in the morning — we will wake up and be fairly swept off our feet to find what God has been CINCINNATI CONVENTION 131 doing through our prayer, although we knew it only in smallest part. OUTLINE OF A TALK BY THE REV. WILLIAM M. ANDERSON, D. D. No more important topic will engage the thoughts of this convention than *'The Devo- tional Life and Work of the Brotherhood.'* The work of the Brotherhood is, of course, con- ditioned upon its life. Only living things work. Dead things are quiet and dignified. The devotional life of the Brotherhood will de- pend upon the devotional life of each member of the Brotherhood, and it will rise no higher than the average life of its members. The de- votional life of a man is simply an expression of his spiritual life. The spiritual life has one supreme, unfailing test, and that is the prayer habit. A man's spirituality is determined by the fact and character of his secret prayer. Of course, there can be a formal manifestation of devotion that would seem to indicate spirit- uality, but it would be a deception, and capable of detection. Spiritual life is a real thing, it is something definite, it is an entity. It can be really known and really manifested. In fact, it is impossible to prevent its manifestation. One synonym for spirituality is godliness, another is holiness. These three words defiine what ought to be the soul life of every member of the Brotherhood. 132 THE PRESBYTEKIAN BROTHERHOOD Godliness is God-likeness. And as Jesus Christ is the manifestation of God, it means that the man should be like Jesus Christ, Christ 's man, a Christian. Holiness is the state of being holy, therefore obedience to a divine command. Holi- ness is truth in action, faith gone to work, love coined into deeds. Holiness is devotion breathing benediction upon human suffer- ing. It is God's love sent forth through the channels of human life. It is the supreme virtue in man, as it is the supreme excellence in God. Let us remember that spiritual life has one supreme test: the prayer habit. A man's spiritual life is determined by the fact and char- acter of his secret prayer. Men, the question is, do you pray? This brings us to consider fellowship with Christ which is the root, cause and condition of spiritual life. Our Lord said, *'If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.'' When we think of our many prayers and few conscious answers, we are called upon to ex- plain. Either we have not met the conditions, or God does not fulfill his promises. God's promises are always coupled with conditions, and if we fulfill the conditions he will fulfill the promises. We do not like to admit failure; we cannot accuse God of failing; therefore, we cheat our spiritual life by placing in all these promises a qualifying clause, which he did not CINCINNATI CONVENTION 133 use, ''If it be God's will." In this manner we undertake to maintain God's integrity and our own. We need to notice carefully the effects of fel- lowship. 1. Fellowship gives life, full, conscious life. ''And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." 2. Fellowship gives hope, that effective an- chor, the star that ever burns in the Christian sky. 3. Fellowship gives joy, the wine of Christian life. 4. Fellowship gives power in prayer, the high- est attainment. In intercession the individual and the church find and wield their power. Men usually look upon prayer as a means of maintaining spiritual life. Prayer must be re- garded in the light of Scripture and the Master's teachings as the church's greatest power. We must know and teach our fellows in the Brotherhood as well as all men the nature of fellowship with Christ. 1. Its root, principle or instrumental cause is faith, mentioned ninety-nine times in the Gospel of John. Faith is obedience in repose, obedience is faith in action. Faith and obedi- ence are the pathway of blessing. 2. Its life is love, mentioned fifty-six times in the Gospel of John. Jonathan Edwards said, 134 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD '^Love is the active working principle in all true faith. It is the very soul of faith, without which faith is dead. ' ^ Faith works, but always works by love. Augustine said, *^ Christ is not valued at all unless valued above all.'' 3. Its law is truth. ^^Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.'' 4. Its fruit is holiness, ^^ Without which no man shall see the Lord." Christ reveals the possibility of holiness. His life is the expres- sion of practical holiness. He has given the world a demonstration of true living. *^He went about doing good." These are the facts that make individual spiritual life. Men who believe these facts form a spiritual brotherhood. A brotherhood so be- lieving will work. IX WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON Mr. Holt. — Anything I could say to empha- size the importance of Bible study and Bible class work in the Brotherhood would be more than superfluous; and anything I could say on Brotherhood offices and opportunities in the presence of Andrew Stevenson, would not only be superfluous, but almost ridiculous. Mr. Stevenson will take charge of the conference and present one side of the educational oppor- tunities of the Brotherhood in Bible class work. Mr. Stevenson. — This afternoon we will try to confine ourselves to the one side of this sub- ject, which you will note from the program is ^*The Educational Offices and Opportunities of the Brotherhood.^' Much as we would like to have a great many addresses and a great many speeches on this subject, we have thought it would be well, in view of the great fund of in- formation that we know is here, to confine our- selves entirely to practical suggestions and in- formation respecting tried and successful methods of Bible study and Bible class work. So this afternoon, much as we would like ex- 135 136 THE PEESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD pressions on different lines, will you kindly remember that all we are seeking for are exposi- tions of methods of successful study in Bible classes. As opening the conference along this line, we will ask Dr. James E. Clarke, editor of the Cumberland Presbyterian, to make a few. re- marks. He will speak on this subject. BIBLE CLASSES^ BY JAS. E. CLARKE, D.D. The general theme for this hour is so wide in its scope that it is impossible to compass it as a whole. Consequently, in opening the dis- cussion, I confine myself to one question which seems to be the vital question, our aim being, of course, to enlist a larger number of men in the study of the Bible, for their own good and the moral welfare of the race. That question is, What character of Bible study will interest and help the average man of to-day? Let it be understood that it is the average man we are to think about, not the exceptional man. It is not the aged man with time and inclination for devotional reading, not the man of the rural districts who has leisure to dis- cuss unessential doctrinal distinctions, not even the young man, full of the enthusiasm of youth, stirred by the dreams and the ^'long, long thoughts" of boyhood and untroubled by the trying experiences which will fall to his lot a little later. Each of these classes needs Bible CINCINNATI CONVENTION 137 study, but none of them includes the average man. That average man is in office or shop or factory or mine and wrestling with might and main with the problems professional, com- mercial, industrial, and above all, the problems growing out of contact and conflict with his fellow-men in the hurry and hustle of modern life. This is the man we have in view. What kind of Bible study will interest and help him? It should be clearly understood that this average man is not a philosopher, that is, he is not a student of philosophy. Nor is he a student of history, nor of literature, nor of science. If he is a student of anything, that thing is life. Eeal life is what interests him; life, with its successes and failures, its trials and temptations, its joys and its sorrows, its questions of right and wrong. This last named element of life must not be overlooked. Life is full of questions of right and wrong and the average man is interested in those questions, particularly in their relation to that other ques- tion of success or failure. Whatever else that average man may read, he reads the newspapers. In them he finds the stories of success and fail- ure of all kinds and the opinions about the right and the wrong on many subjects. He is interested not only in the facts but in the rea- sons for them. He is continually asking himself questions about the facts and the reasons. These views of the average man are expressed not as a result of any theory as to what he is 138 THE PEESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD or OTiglit to be, but as a result of personal ex- perience and observation. Moreover, what I shall suggest about the kind of Bible study will not be based on any theory of theologian or pedagogue, but simply on personal experience with groups of men gathered for Bible study. If my conclusions concerning what the average man is interested in are correct, then it follows that the kind of Bible study in which he will be interested and by which he will be helped is that kind of Bible study which has to do with life. Tlie average man is not greatly in- terested in doctrine; he is very little concerned about theoretical ethics; he is not apt to grow enthusiastic over the abstract of any kind; he wants the concrete. Consequently, he is not likely to become interested in the doctrinal por- tions of Scripture. He has little interest in the past and no great concern about the future. He lives in the present and has his hands pretty full dealing with the daily problems which he cannot escape. Hence, neither history nor prophecy appeals to him very strongly, to say nothing of Mosaic laws and ceremonies. What then is left? Well, there is much left, and all of it may be comprehended under the one term, '^biblical biography.'^ Men will be- come interested in the lives of other men, even though they lived long ago, and the men of to- day cannot but be helped by a genuine stud}^ of the lives of those men whose life stories are told in sacred writ. The beautv of biblical CINCINNATI CONVENTION 139 biography is in the fact that it reveals not only the relations of the men of the Bible to other men of their day but also the relation of those men to their God. In no other book can the men of to-day find so much light upon the prob- lem of right and wrong in relation to the prob- lem of success or failure as in that Book of books which never leaves out of sight that most important relationship of life, the relation of man to his Maker. My thought is, then, that Bible study for men should deal chiefly with the men of the Bible. Of course, we shall touch upon history; of course, we shall discover doctrine ; we cannot avoid either; but the thing to aim at is the study of men. But, mark you, it is study that should be encouraged. This average man of ours does not have the studious habit; he does not like to study; yet I believe that the thing we should aim at is to bring him to study the men of the Bible. The very power of organiza- tion will help to build up so-called Bible classes, especially if those Bible classes are similar to clubs, with various social features which help to hold men together. Of course, too, it is a good thing to get such a group of men together and have some able speaker lecture to them on some Bible theme or Bible character. But what I plead for is the organization of classes of men who shall actually study the men of the Bible. They should be helped in that study. Indeed, it should be made very easy for them; but the 140 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD design should be to have men discover for themselves what kind of men those men of the Bible were and how they lived, and why they were what they were and lived as they did. Take, for instance, such an Old Testament char- acter as Joseph, or such a New Testament char- acter as Paul, and, by questions, suggestions, assignments of passages to be read, lead a class of men to discover for themselves the motives which influenced such men, their development and accomplishments, their influence and ex- ample, and, above all, the wonderful interweav- ing of these lives, actuated by their own motives and purposes, with the designs of the infinite Ruler of the universe. Or take the life of David and study it in connection with the Psalms which are ascribed to the sweet singer of Israel. Here are stories of success and failure, tales of greatness and of weakness, accounts of sins committed and confessed, which, to quote a phrase used by a layman at the Congregation- alist Council, will grip the modem man ^' right where he lives. * ' Or take, for instance, such a character as Daniel, a striking illustration of the truly reli- gious man — conscientious, even scrupulous, in his performance of religious duties ; courageous, heroic to the point of martyrdom, in adhering to his convictions; but every inch a man — a man who arose from obscurity, from being a butt of ridicule, and became the man of power among the Medes and Persians; a man who CINCINNATI CONVENTION 141 held his own through three dynasties in the midst of all the rottenness and intrigue of an oriental court. Men sometimes say that a man cannot be successful and be religious. Lead such men in a study of Daniel and let them learn that the very reason why he was such a tre- mendous success was just because he was so truly religious. The man upon whom God can depend is the man upon whom the world can depend, and the world is ever searching for the men it can depend upon. It is scarcely necessary to say that the Man above all men who should be studied is that man who was a Man above all men — the Man of Galilee. In my judgment, the life, the char- acter and the teachings of Jesus, the Christ is the most important, the most fruitful and the most interesting Bible theme which can be pre- sented to men. But permit me to emphasize my conviction that, whether we direct attention to the men of Old Testament or New, or to that Man among men, we should emphasize the human element. I believe that Jesus was divine, but the creeds of the church which declare in stoutest terms that he was ^^very God'' neglect not to emphasize the fact that he was 'Very man.'' I am ready to agree that prophets and apostles are not improperly called saints; but I insist that we recognize the truth that they were men. They were men, the kind of men that they were because God was in them, in- spiring them with lofty purpose, energizing 142 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD them with more than human power, directing them with infinite wisdom, crowning them with the highest and holiest success, the success of accomplishing a divinely appointed mission. And he — that Man of Galilee — was a man; a man touched with the feeling of our infirmities, tempted in all points like as we are, oppressed and afflicted, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. It is in these men and this Man that the men of to-day will be interested; it is to these men and this Man that their attention may wisely be directed. Becoming acquainted with these men of old, the men of to-day will come to learn that there can be no true success without true manliness and that there can be no true manliness with- out the vitalizing, energizing presence of the spirit of God. Coming to really know the Man of Galilee, men will come to realize the need of the redeeming, transforming life of the Son of God. Then the nation and the world will come to have what they most need — redeemed manhood. Mr. Stevenson. — To-day at noon Dr. Young- was telling about an experience he had in Ala- bama. At the conclusion of an evening service, he asked all those who desired to become Christians to rise, and practically all the congregation stood up. He hardly under- stood it, but the next day the secretary of the Y. M. C. A. said to him: ^*Now, Young, I just CINCINNATI CONVENTION 143 want to make this thing clear to you. Our people are very hospitable, and they did not want to hurt your feelings yesterday, so they thought it would only be common hospi- tality to stand up.'^ We have now only twenty-five minutes left for this subject, so we will only have two-minute talks, but there will not be time for all of you to stand up. The first subject, on which Dr. S. Ed- ward Young will speak, is '^The Bible Class as the Basis for Local Brotherhood Organization.'' As pastor of the famous Second Presbyterian Church of Pittsburg, and a member of the Gen- eral Assembly's Committee which brought the Presbyterian Brotherhood into being, surely Dr. Young is well qualified to speak at this time. Dr. Young. — Every fact I know, every fact that has come to my attention, agrees with this statement: That the organization for men in the Presbyterian Church recognizes that the Bible class is the best basis every time, and that the organization of Presbyterian men in the local church, or any men's organization in the local church, which centers round any other idea, social or other, nine times out of ten dies. If there is anybody here who disputes that, I wish he would stand up. It is perfectly natural that this should be so. The Bible is the center of our religion, so far as a book is concerned, as knowl- edge is concerned. Men will not keep on coming to your organization unless they get something 144 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD out of it, and they will get something out of it only as the Bible is the center of the organiza- tion. Suppers, receptions, banquets, outings, and the rest are helpful as auxiliaries, but noth- ing can take the place of the main purpose of your men's organization. This is also an urgent reason because of the neglect of Bible study for young men. The average Sunday school does splendidly, but it leaves out the young men. Bible study that interests the men! What can surpass it! Mr. Stevenson. — For the next two minutes we will listen to Mr. Henry S. Osborne, who was the founder of the splendid work for young men in the Forty-first Street Presbyterian Church of Chicago, the outgrowth of which is the Young Men's Presbyterian Union of that city. Mr. Osborne is now the leader of the Young Men's Bible class of the Buena Memorial Church of Chicago. Mr. Osborne. — What we want is facts rather than theories. We had a Bible class in the Forty-first Street Church like the average Bible class. There was a great deal of social life, a great deal of yearning for spiritual living, but not very much of it. It was a subject of prayer with some of us, constant prayer, that God would awaken the spiritual life of the class. But it did not seem to come. By and by, one day Campbell Morgan came to that church, and the CINCINISrATI CONVENTION 145 result was that a little prayer meeting was started in Harry Carpenter's house — one of the members of the class — and we resolved that we would come every Saturday night and pray for certain members of the class who were not yet saved, and for the awakening of the spiritual life of the class. We also agreed that, whether there were many or few, we would be there and would not lose our courage. Then each of us thought of young men in the class and some out of the class, and we made lists. We each took a certain number whom we had specially in mind. We all of us had the whole list for a prayer list and working list, but each took a certain number, two or three. The prayer meetings continued, and before the year was over eleven of those men whom we were praying for were brought into the kingdom. The attendance at our prayer meetings varied, sometimes we had many, sometimes fewer; sometimes the light seemed to get very low. But there was one thing always in my mind. If there were few of us, it was all right. Never be worried or troubled about anything, men, if you believe in Jesus Christ and he is your Master. So when there were but few of us, we found sometimes we had the very best meetings. Dear friends, there was another prayer meet- ing that we had at that church. At ten o'clock every Sunday morning we gather to pray for the services of the day, and the whole church 146 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD has been greatly blessed. Then at the beginning of onr Bible class we always have a little prayer. Pray, pray, pray, and God will hear and bnild up the spiritual life of the Bible class and the church. Mr. Stevenson. — There will be two brief talks on the next sub-heading. The first will be by Mr. William A. Peterson, one of Chicago's foremost business men, the president of the Young Men 's Presbyterian Union of that city, and teacher of the Young Men's Bible class in the Edgewater Presbyterian Church. The second will be by Mr. Fred S. Goodman, the secretary of the In- ternational Committee of the Young Men's Christian Association in charge of Bible study work. Mr. Peterson. — As in commercial life to-day, we have to specialize to be of the greatest efficiency, just so in the religious life. Some of you have been called to the ministry — I have been called to the Bible class. We must know our limitations and our lines of usefulness. How to develop the study of the Bible ! With my young men I aim to get them to study the men who have been leaders; and if you are a leader you must have nothing to be excused in your life. Then again, in your preaching and teaching you want to be sure that you are put- ting the emphasis in the right place. If, after being in a class three to ^ve years, you are able CINCINNATI CONVENTION 147 to write Rollin's Ancient History or make a clay map of Palestine, but have not given yourself to Jesus, you have missed fire. The prime pur- pose of preaching is to win souls to Christ. Solomon says : ^ ^ He that winneth souls is wise. ' ' If you want your class to study the Bible, get them on fire for souls; then they will want the material for winning souls, and there is nothing like the word of God for this. If they win one or two they will want to win more. I think every human being can lead a soul to Christ. Find out how to do it privately, and then you can do it publicly. Have a consuming desire to bring others to Christ, like the tiger who has tasted human blood and is no longer content with any other diet. Mr. Goodman. — I come to 5^ou after ten thou- sand miles of travel in the last six weeks, and I have never seen men so keen as they are to-day. A week ago last Monday morning, I met seventy men at the noon hour in Topeka, Kansas, and that class has met twenty-five times in October. I have just two thoughts. The first is : Put things in their right order. The first thing is not attendance. We are in grave danger of thinking that the one thing is to get a crowd. It is not the main thing. Attendance is impor- tant, but big classes have this thing before them ; they are to be the feeders for smaller groups. The second thing is this: Meeting the actual needs of men — the needs of their everyday 148 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD lives. And you can be perfectly confident of one thing, that every man in your group feels every day the down-pulling of sin. You can be abso- lutely sure of that. We have no time to spend on the study of issues, but when men find you meet their needs, you have won them. A week ago last Monday morning there was a political convention in Cleveland, and across the street from the big meeting, where there were bands playing and lots of red fire, there was a men's Bible class with fifty-nine in attendance. These men have come to think they must have that class every week. When you meet the needs of men they will come without shadow of doubt. But the goal of the Bible class is not attendance, it is not the development of the men, primarily, but the reaching of the vast number of men outside who will not come to hear us, but who will come if they get what they need by coming. The time is rapidly jDassing when we can be content with absent treatment. The vast number outside will not come, but we can go where they are. Then let us go where they are. Mr. Stevenson. — I think some of us did not know when we came to the convention that Mr. Goodman is a Presbyterian. Both he and Mr. Gordon, who spoke this morning, are far better known for their activity along interdenomi- national lines than as the true blue Presbyterians which they surely are. We have great privileges CINCINNATI CONVENTION 149 and possibilities in this Brotherhood. Mr. Allan Sutherland, of Philadelphia, one of the best known authorities on work for young men we have in the country, will now speak on the sub- ject, ^'Auxiliary Features of Bible Class Work, Social, Literary, Athletic, etc.'' Mr. Suther- land's long connection with the Brotherhood of Andrew and Philip peculiarly qualifies him to speak on this subject. Mr. Sutheeland. — In our Bible class work great emphasis is laid, first, on the spiritual life, and then, taking the social life, we try to make every man feel at home. The minute we find a man we bring him into the Bible class and in- troduce him to the other men in the class. "We have a social committee who are continually de- veloping plans along social lines. For instance, we have had every month a social evening, meeting at the different homes of the members of the class. Then during the past year we have had an athletic field, where the young men have had their baseball and now their football games. We also urge every man in the class to come to the Wednesday evening prayer meeting, and at that time we manage it so that these men will be introduced to everybody in the church that we can come across. And so our aim is to tie a man down to our own church home ; work for the interests of our own church. We know that in a large city there are attractions which appeal to the man away from the church, and so we 150 THE PKESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD try to make that as strong' a point as possible in our work. We have found that we have men in our church to-day who were brought into the church through the Bible class, but more par- ticularly through the social efforts of the men in that class. They found they were *' hail-fel- low well met, ' ' and they wanted to come back to that class again, to enjoy the fellowship of the men. We are all banded together in one cause, and the field is broad and wide, and if we will only lay a little stress on the social side, and help men to help themselves, they will come out and declare themselves for Jesus Christ. Mr. Stevenson. — In the open discussion which now follows, be careful to see that every- thing you say comes from practical experience; do not give us theories — tell us what has taken place. Some people seem to think that plans for Bible classes successfully adopted in the large city churches are not feasible in the country churches. Not a great while ago some of us were invited to visit one of the churches in our Presbytery six miles from a railroad. We found a young men^s Bible class with an attendance of thirty-five, every one of whom had to drive from a half mile to six miles to be present. There was also a young ladies' class of thirty- nine, which was a surprise to us. The problems of the country church are practically the same CINCINNATI CONVENTION 151 as the city, only we have to work in a different way. The first three minutes will be confined to *^The Bible Class as the Basis for Local Brotherhood Organization/' Mr. F. E. Hig- gins, of Minnesota, better known as the sky pilot to the lumber jacks of the North, will be the first to speak. Mr. Higgins, of Minnesota. — I believe I was one of the few who stood in this audience this afternoon, indicating that I was brought into the church through the Bible class. From thir- teen to twenty I was a member of a Bible class in a Presbyterian church in northern Canada. At eighteen I was brought to the Lord Jesus ; two weeks later a dear friend of mine was con- verted, and we went after a third; then we or- ganized a prayer meeting, and in a few years nine of our young men were in the ministry. Thank God for the Bible class ! Go back to your different homes, and if you have a class of three or four boys, try to bring one of them to Christ. You have the greatest opportunity. You do not need to be preachers; if you have a class of boys you can convert the whole community, if these boys are brought to the Lord Jesus. A Delegate. — What is your experience as to a division in the Bible class between voung men and old men f 152 THE PBESBYTERIAN BROTHEKHOOD A Delegate. — I think there ought to be a Bible class for the young men up to about twenty or twenty-five, and another for older men. What I want to say is this : I observe that when a man begins to study the Bible he is very anxious to give his neighbor what he has found. In my church the Bible class, in order to show that we could do some definite work, asked permission to take charge of one evening service a month. I know of one instance where a judge, a splendid fellow, was brought to Christ through our Bible class, by hearing a speech on the theme, ^'Just as I Am.'' At the end of the service the judge walked up and said, ^^If I can come just as I am, I'll come." Mr. Stevenson. — We want to dwell on the feature of organized work for the Brotherhood. In Chicago, in the last five years, all the organi- zations that have been disbanded have been social, literary, or athletic clubs. So far as I know, there has never been an organized Bible class disbanded, clearly demonstrating to our satisfaction that the Bible class is the proper basis for men's work in the church. Mr. Barber, President of the Young Men's Bible Class, Third Church, Chicago. — Under the head of the spiritual life of the class, I think there is nothing that develops the spiritual life of the Bible class more than work outside of the church. Our class has been organized, I think. CINCINNATI CONVENTION 153 about thirty years, and for more than eighteen years we have been working in the Presbyterian Hospital in Chicago, and we also have men who take charge of the meeting every Thursday night, and I can safely say that we have nothing that brings the boys together so much as that work. It has done more than all the dinners and banquets we could have had, if we had them every night in the week. We have fifteen or twenty men going to the Presbyterian Hospital doing a work there that not only benefits the class and the church, but strengthens their own spiritual life. And where a class has an op- portunity for doing definite work, they will find they help themselves by helping others. Me. W. F. Morton. — What is the spiritual life of the church! How are we to get it? We are told in the twenty-second chapter of Revelation, and the third verse, *^And his servants shall serve him.'^ It means service, the spiritual life of the church. It is not like Pat, who met Mike, and said to him, ^^Mike, what is a socialist T' Said Mike: **I am surprised that a man like you should not know that. If I had a million, I would give you ^ve hundred thousand; if I had fourteen houses, I'd give you seven; that would be a socialist.'' ''Well," said Pat, **if you had two goats would you give me one ! " ' ' I would not, ' ' said Mike. ' ' I have two goats. ' ' The point is right here; Are you x^eady, am 154 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD I ready for that service that we are talking about? Have we the fire of God's Holy Spirit so that we can go ont and get hold of men and bring them to the Lord Jesus Christ ! If we are consecrated we will have no trouble in building up the Bible class. Dr. McClure, Detroit, Michigan. — The Pres- b}i:erian Brotherhood of Detroit found, as is a well-known fact, that many men who had been attending Sunday school all their lives did not know half the things that are in the Bible, and, realizing that if you want to learn anything you must begin at the beginning, we have come down to the absolute study of the Bible. We also have found great help in the series of pamphlets pre- pared by Eev. Dr. Barkley, and which one hun- dred and seven Presbyterian churches are studying at the same time. Nothing has ever taken the grip on the men that these pamphlets have. Mr. Stevenson. — The question of different lines of study in Bible classes is one on which we might well spend a half hour, if we had the time. Mr. Holt, our vice president, who is a teacher of the Young Men's Bible Class in the Second Church, of Chicago, has a very inter- esting outline that he has prepared himself, and I understand it has been used with great success among the men of the church. We also find quite a number of churches where they have CINCINNATI CONVENTION 155 prepared their own outlines, while the majority use the International Lessons. In conclusion, let me give you an all-inclusive motto which our class at the Forty-first Street Church, in Chicago, used for some years, and which was of great help to us. ^^The class is a Brotherhood for the cultivation of supreme love for God and companionship with him, and for unselfish self-denying love for each other and our fellow-men. This is accomplished, first, by 13rayer; second, by Bible study; third, by fellowship ; and fourth, by service. ^ ' Mr. Holt. — The between-times seem to fall to me. You have observed that in the discussion of this subject, the name of Dr. Dinsmore, of the Lafayette Avenue Church, Brooklyn, appears on the program, but he has not been called upon. He could not possibly be here, and the time has been so fully taken up that there has been no chance for explanation. We have, however, a representative from the same church, who brings us a beautiful and cheering message from one who is especially dear to the men of the Presbyterian Church. Eev. Mr. Anthony, as- sistant pastor of the Lafayette Avenue Church, brings a message from the venerable and be- loved Dr. Theodore L. Cuyler. Rev. Mk. Anthony. — Dr. Cuyler wanted to send a greeting to the Presbyterian Brother- hood. I went to see him Monday morning, but 156 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD he was unable to write out the message, as he was just recovering from an attack of indiges- tion. And before he gave the greeting he said this word: That he never wanted to live as he wants to live to-day. He never felt there was such an opportunity for live men to do work for the church. And that comes from a man eighty-six years of age. His message is this : '^Dr. Cuyler sends his love, and prays to God for an organization in the Presbyterian Church that aims at the development of the spiritual power of her men.'' (Kesolved, by rising vote, that the Committee on Correspondence be instructed to send a greet- ing to Dr. Cuyler from the Brotherhood.) Mr. Holt. — I am sure you will be glad to have a word of greeting from our beloved Mod- erator, Dr. Roberts, who has come on the plat- form within the last few minutes. Let us greet him standing. Dr. Roberts. — It is a great joy to me to see this second annual convention of the Brother- hood. With many other of the ministers of the Presbyterian Church, I longed for the establish- ment of a Brotherhood. We rejoice that the Brotherhood has become a living force. We have felt for years that the church needed just such an organization to round out the fullness CINCINNATI CONVENTION 157 of its power for the accomplishment of God's purposes in this land. It has been my privilege this fall to visit the Synods of onr chnrch from Texas to New Jer- sey, and everywhere I have found enthusiasm for the Brotherhood, for men 's work. I bring to you greetings from the Synods from as far south as Waxahachie, and as far east as Atlantic City, and say to you that they are look- ing to this convention to accomplish further work for men in our church, and to advance every Christian interest greatly during the next year. Just one further word as to the Assembly. It is my privilege to be a member of the Committee of Arrangements for the next General As- sembly. Under the plan of the Brotherhood, it will report to the General Assembly. It would aid the Committee of Arrangements greatly in connection with the next Assembly if you would empower an officer of the Brotherhood to request the Committee of Arrangements to endeavor to secure the appointment of a public meeting of the Brotherhood at the next Assembly. We need such a meeting; we need to give expression to the desire of the church and the desire of the Brotherhood to go forward hand in hand, winning men in this land for Jesus Christ. I thank you for this opportunity. Mr. Holt. — Now we come to the close of the first part of the conference upon *' Educational 158 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD Offices and Opportunities of the Brotherhood," and take up, under the same general head, ^^PresLyterian Faith and Activities,'' and it is a high privilege that the discussion will be led by one so competent to handle it, and one so well known in the church as President J. D. Mojffat, of Washington and Jeif erson College. PEESBYTERIAN FAITH AND ACTIVI- TIES BY PRESIDENT J. D. MOFFATT, D. D., LL. D. I like the combination expressed in this sub- ject — Faith and Activity. Faith that is sincere and founded on the truth will manifest itself in useful activity. Sometimes God in his provi- dence renders activity impossible, and faith must find its manifestation in waiting and patiently hoping for the salvation of God. But these in- stances are of rare occurrence ; ordinarily faith must find its expression in works. The reason of it is that the faith which distinguishes the Christian from those who are not Christians is a personal trust in Jesus as Lord and Master, whose commands must be obeyed, whose ex- ample must be followed; and there is no way in which we can exhibit our personal faith in Jesus Christ but by varied forms of activity. We must say with the Apostle James : ^ ^ I will show you my faith by my works ; do you show me your faith without your works, '^ — if you can. I like the adjective that is employed — *^ Pres- byterian. ' ' For I believe that the time has come 159 160 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD when we can be Presbyterians withont being of- fensively sectarian. Once that may have been impossible, when the various branches of the Christian Church were competing against each other ; but since that day is past, it is not at all likely ever to return, and we can give more and more attention to our distinctive practices and principles without reflecting upon the distinctive practices and principles of others who are en- gaged in the same great work. You might ask, in this connection, what are the distinctive prin- ciples of the Presbyterian faith, and I could not give you an answer that would be at all com- plete or satisfactory in the limited time we can allow to this subject. But I will venture to sum up my own conception of the Presbyterian faith, if it can be distinguished from any other kind of Christian faith. I do not do this for the bene- fit of my ministerial brethren; they spent three years in a theological seminary to obtain that knowledge. But I fear they have not been so careful to impart that knowledge to their church members as the seminary faculty was once care- ful to see to it that they learned the fundamental principles of Presbyterianism ; and, therefore, I may be permitted to say, in an elementary way, to the laymen present, that the fundamental fea- ture of the Presbyterian faith is the belief that God is working according to a plan, a plan of his own designing, intended to bring in a reign of righteousness in our world, in the execution of which he employs men. As was so admirably CINCINNATI CONVENTION 161 explained by Mr. Gordon this morning, we bring back the prodigal to God's hearth fire over a human pathway. We must, therefore, employ our means to the best of our ability, and have no right whatever to expect that the plan of God in bringing in the reign of righteousness will be executed without our activity. Earnest, faith- ful and persevering must be our use of all the means which God has placed at our disposal. But the question is asked, how can God carry out his plans and yet be dependent in any meas- ure upon human activity! Very early in my ministry I had that question answered for me by a Methodist bishop. I was beginning my min- istry in the city of Wheeling, and the Methodist Conference was held there, presided over by that prince of preachers and leaders in the church, Bishop Simpson. When he wished to exhort the young men who had just been ordained to the gospel ministry, and to persuade the older min- isters whose changes of location had been an- nounced in the Conference, to accept their as- signments in good spirit, he fell back on the good old Presbyterian doctrine of predestination for their comfort and encouragement. He said : '^Brethren, I once heard Charles Spurgeon preach, and I was fully satisfied that bis success in his ministry was due to the fact that he be- lieved that he was foreordained from all eternity to save souls that morning, and he went at it as if he were confident it was to be accomplished. And you young men, about to enter into these 162 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD new fields, you must go to them regarding them, not as the allotment of presiding elder or bishop, but as the allotment of Divine Provi- dence. Work in your fields as if you were ac- tually carrying out the plan of God; work with earnestness and fidelity and contentment, be- cause it is the plan of God. ' ' And then, still further to illustrate the rela- tionship between the human and divine, he told a little incident that had occurred in the home of a friend, between a mother and her little daugh- ter. The daughter wished to do an errand, but the door was closed. The mother told the daughter to go to the door and open it, and this she tried to do. She stood on her tiptoes, but could only barely touch the knob. Then the mother went to her rescue. She did not open the door, but she put her hand under the out- stretched arm, pressed it gently upward until the hand could grasp the knob and open the door. It was the mother that opened the door, but it was the child that opened the door, also. The mother would not open the door without the child's utmost effort, and the child could not open it without the mother 's help. We are workers together with God, and we need not bother ourselves very much about the problem of drawing a sharp line between what God does and what we are to do, if we are only faithful and earnest in the discharge of the work which God has foreordained shall be done by us. CINCINNATI CONVENTION 163 Brethren, if I did not believe that God is gov- erning this world according to plan, I should be tempted to make the suggestion to him that a good plan would be an improvement. If I did not believe he is able to carry out his purposes, how could I engage in his service with any con- fidence that I would accomplish something thereby? Looking back over the history of the world, and over the ages that evolutionary sci- ence describes as the preparation of the world for the abode of man, I can see there has been a constant adherence to plan; and as in times past God made use of the existing agencies to accomplish his work, so do I believe that he will make use of men and women who will be faithful in their activities, to carry into effect his high and holy plans in all the future ages. Let no man entertain for one moment the sup- position that there is no connection between Presbyterian faith and the highest development of activity. In my judgment, there is no church on the face of the earth to-day that ought to be characterized by such lives of confident and persevering activity, as the Presbyterian Church, just because it is the Presbyterian Church. We cannot take time to dwell upon the activi- ties of our church, for I have already consumed as much time as I am allowed. But with this in- troduction I will ask you to consider some of the forms in which the Brotherhood may contribute 164 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD to the advancement and well-being of our church at large. The first of these that I would mention is '^More system in securing contributions for the benevolent work of the church.'^ It is my be- lief that the Brotherhood in each church may do more toward establishing systematic and con- scientious giving to all the benevolences of our church, than has been accomplished in twenty- five years by all the resolutions that have been adopted by our General Assembly. Year after year we have commended to our churches and our people this conscientious and systematic giv- ing. Now the time has come when we must put it into operation, and I can easily see how the local Brotherhoods, by canvassing the congrega- tion and asking contributions from every man, may be able to report by the first of October of each year just how much money may be ex- pected from that particular church for all the benevolences of our church. If we can have this plan introduced into a church, that church will not only soon be giving more money, but with less etfort and more comfort. And as the plan is generally adopted, we shall cease to hear the cry, '^We are in great danger of a deficit at the end of the year. ' ' The thing to do is to see that these business methods, with which men are fa- miliar in secular enterprises, are applied in the great work of our church. Another form of promoting the well-being of our church, is to extend information as to what CINCINNATI CONVENTION 165 is taking place in the church, something of the doctrine and history of the Presbyterian Church. May we not have classes organized in our churches for the study of some of these ques- tions, so that our activity and faith may have their basis in genuine knowledge? I will not dwell on these suggestions ; I throw them out for vour consideration. We shall now have the pleasure of listening to Mr. J. E. McAfee, of the Board of Home Mis- sions, who will open the general discussion. Mr. McAfee. — I take it to be my function to be general, and shall presume therefore to be very general. The Presbyterian Church makes progress by putting its best foot forward, and then bring- ing the other foot up and then doing it again — and then doing it again. The best foot which any church can put for- ward is its Session. There are some churches laboring under the fond delusion that they can drag behind them a club-footed Session. Banish the thought ! Forget it ! Do not imagine such a thing ! It is absolutely impossible to drag along gracefully, or really get anywhere in any man- ner with an incapable Session. Suppose we quit fooling, go home and get men, good capable men, on our Sessions — be that sort if we are on church Sessions. What we need for the local church work and for the larger church work is an appreciation of 166 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD the principle of representation fundamental in Presbyterianism. The very best and most vig- orous elements of our church life must be put in a position of constitutional leadership. It is idle to seek to get over or around or above an inefficient and unrepresentative Session. The multiplication of unrelated and irresponsible organizations only ends in confusion. We may seem for the time to be moving, but unless re- sponsive and aggressive constitutional leader- ship can be attained and maintained, our ac- tivity issues in a whirring of wheels. We never get any real where by such fussiness. Some Sessions to-day do not really represent much of anything except a decadent theory and a per- sistent negligence on the part of the church rep- resented. If a renewed life and quickened ac- tivity in a church does not immediately reflect itself in the church's Session, the yeasty fer- ment will leave behind it only more or less sourness of odor and flavor. Some method by which a church, aroused to get up and go, shall be wisely and aggressively led on is the desideratum of the hour. And such a provision is most admirably made in our very constitution. Each church owes it to itself and all the eternal values for which it stands to get and keep a Session which really represents its best and most aggressive life. Next above the Session is the Presbytery. A good many of us here perhaps do not know CINCINNATI CONVENTION 167 mucli about Presbytery. I attended a large Presbytery not long ago where there were just eight laymen present, and I have attended some where there was not one officially present. I wrote not long since to a minister, asking him to bring an important matter before the laymen of his Presbytery. He replied that he would gladly anticipate doing so, if he had the slight- est, glimmering hope that any laymen would be on hand. Those who do not attend meetings of Presby- tery miss half their life. There is an endless variety. The increasing number who go about and actually accomplish to-day's pressing busi- ness of the kingdom are sure to attend, of course, and the other sort are, at least for one of a philosophic turn, interesting. The way some moderators are elected and do not moder- ate; the way business is set about and is turned into anything else but business ; the way standing committees justify their name and their office by standing to read interminable and stereotyped reports; in short, the way some Presbyteries are run is, to put the case suc- cinctly, interesting. Synod, the next above, is, you understand, Presbytery grown big — with modifications. And some Synods are equally interesting. But it is exceedingly cheap wit which is ex- pended in making light of, or throwing slight upon our church councils. A leader prominent in the church remarked to me the other day: 168 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD *^I tell you this General Assembly business seems to me to have become pretty much of a farce.'' Even if he thought that, there was a glaring indictment of himself in the confession. He has the sort of General Assembly he de- serves. It is quite the General Assembly we all deserve. We have the church Sessions we de- serve. We have the Presbyteries and Synods we deserve. It is not necessary that any capable church should have an incapable Session. It is not necessary that church courts should spend valuable time in profitless discussion. It is not necessary that elders and other lay mem- bers of the church should absent themselves from the higher church councils. It is not true that laymen are indifferent ; this gathering and the Brotherhood movement offer denial. It is not true that laymen have not time to de- vote to church business. They have all the time there is, and when that runs out they can make more. I have questioned a good many laymen at this point and the final plea is not a lack of time. What we need is not more organizations — yes, we do; we need ten thousand organizations in every church, if each one of them can do some- thing worth while and will do it. We do not need more prayer — yes, we do ; we need to learn from the apostle's suggestion to ^'pray without ceasing." We have not begun to learn that. We do not need more Bible study — yes, we do; some of us who may suppose we know the most CINCINNATI CONVENTION 169 about the Book perhaps know the least of what is actually in it. We do not need more spiritual power — yes, we do ; yes, we do ; we always shall ; we have not learned that Presbyterian manhood is pulsing with spiritual power to-day. We need to find that out and realize the immense forcefulness right at hand. What we need is plain, common, uncommon gumption. We need to quit fooling and fumbling and foozling. We need to quit crying: ^*Lo, here!" and ''Lo, there!" We need to realize that the kingdom of heaven is in our midst. We need to know what it is to be Presbyterian, and then work our knowledge for all there is in it. Here is a man who is a Presbyterian, not be- cause he was born that way — although he is proud of the fact that he had a Presbyterian father and a line of ancestors of the same faith stretching back to the time almost before time was — not because he delights to sally forth with his Presbyterian shillalah and crack the heads of Methodists and Congregationalists, Baptists and Episcopalians; but because he has a burn- ing conviction that Presbyterianism is the way to do the business of the kingdom of God. Dk. W. J. Darby, Evansville, Indiana. — A word in reference to the relations of the Broth- erhood to the future ministers of the Presby- terian Church — the young men of these Brother- hoods that are, and are to be, the boys twelve, fourteen, and sixteen years of age that are not 170 THE PRESBYTEKIAN BROTHERHOOD yet in these organizations. I was interested this morning in the fact being brought to light that a large proportion of this convention to-day is from the cities and larger towns. If yon were to ask a company of ministers to rise, that is, those who came from the cities and larger towns, it would be' like a meeting I saw over in Wil- liamsburg the other day, when out of an audi- ence of seven hundred, only twenty-five men arose in response to that question. Then the men were asked to rise who came from the country, from smaller towns and villages, and that whole body of seven hundred men arose. That is what we would have here to-day. Now, brethren of this Brotherhood, here as representatives of a mighty organization that stands for our Presbyterianism in the cities of this country, here is a problem for us, that we are obliged to depend to-day upon the churches at the crossroads and in the villages and small towns for our ministers. Who knows but that this Brotherhood has ^^come to the kingdom for such a time as this''? Look at the minutes of the General Assembly if you want to know how few men are entering the Presbyterian Church from New York, Philadelphia, and Cin- cinnati, and so on around the whole list. Find out where the candidates come from, and you see at once that we are dependent upon the country churches and the villages. My appeal here to-day is that these mighty Brotherhoods in our cities may generate such CINCINNATI CONVENTION 171 a spiritual life in their own midst, in their homes, at their home altars, at the altars of the congre- gation, at the altars of the Presbyteries, that we shall see these bright and educated young men of our cities coming out of these Brotherhoods, out of the activities of the Bible class, through college and seminary into the ministry. Some of them already have their college education. We could have hundreds, yes, many hundreds of young men in the ministry three, four, ^ve years from now, who already have their college train- ing and are now in the front ranks of Brother- hood work. I believed all through my boyhood that I was called. I always believed in calling, and now I am talking about effectual calling, the calling of the Divine Spirit. I look to this organization as one of three things — first, home and the home altar; second, the Sunday school, and then this Brotherhood — to deliver us from what Dr. Her- rick Johnson warned us twenty years ago was in danger of coming, a ministerial famine. Ac- cording to his prophecy, this is so; but God is at the head of his church, and God is in this Brotherhood, and I believe that out of this or- ganization, out of these activities that we are discussing here to-day, out of more prayer in the home, out of more prayer and spiritual power in the other organizations for young men, we shall have what we want, the ** effec- tual calling '' of men to preach the gospel of the kingdom. 172 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD Eev. E. Trumbull Lee, D. D., Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania. — Mr. Chairman : I want to speak for a moment or two upon system in gather- ing benevolent offerings, and I am not going to voice a theory, but one which is put into actual practice in the church of which I am pastor. It seems to me, and always has seemed to me, that it is a sin for us to leave the benevolent offerings to the chance collection of the Sabbath day that has been ap- pointed for benevolent offerings ; hence, I have introduced — as I believe all of us should who have the interests of the kingdom at heart — a system. I conceived the idea this last spring of uniting the Brotherhood with the Session of the church in establishing a system, and I thought perhaps you would like to hear about it. It is this: The appointment of a committee of five from the Session we had already, whose duty it was to look after the benevolent interests of the church, carrying out a system that had been mapped out by the pastor. I conceived the idea of uniting with this committee of five from the Session, twelve committees, of five men each, from the Brotherhood of the church. These twelve committees were made up as follows: One is called the committee for January, one the committee for February, and so on through the twelve months of the year. Now, my theory of church work is to give one man one thing to do and not two; because if I give a man only one CINCINNATI CONVENTION 173 thing to do, I am sure of getting that thing done, no matter how busy the man is. Hence, the duty of the January committee (or sub-committee) is to look after the interests of Foreign Missions, for that is the month set apart by the Assembly for Foreign Missions ; the committee for Febru- ary looks after the collection for the College Board, because that is the month set apart for that Board. Wliat does each sub-committee do ? Each com- mittee meets some evening before the third Sab- bath of the month, and addresses envelopes to all the heads of families and single men and women of the church. In our church of 1250 members, you can see this is quite an undertak- ing, but yet distributing it this way among the committee it is an undertaking that can abso- lutely be accomplished with undeviating accu- racy. These committees addressed envelopes, as I have indicated. Into these envelopes were put subscription blanks for the money required ; then with these blanks as many envelopes as there are members of the family, together with the litera- ture prepared by the Board of Foreign Mis- sions, or whatever board it may be. Besides that, there is a printed statement that goes with it from the Session committee, saying that next Sabbath is the Sabbath for the offering for this particular board, and that if the person ad- dressed is not able to be present on that Lord's day, to kindly bring the offering the next Sab- bath. 174 THE PRESBYTEKIAN BROTHERHOOD Thereby we secure two or three things. First, we secure a system, and system is a thing which every organization in the church ought to have. Second, we secure the interest of the laymen in the offerings of the church. And third, we secure increased offerings from year to year. Mr. Best. — I think this matter of systematic giving in all our churches is very important. I have no doubt whatever that the establishment of this method of taking subscriptions for the benevolences of the church on a regular sched- ule, just as subscriptions are taken for the cur- rent expenses of the church, is the very best. Some churches expedite matters by giving regu- larly to all the boards; that is, uniting the boards. In La Grange we divide the boards into three parts. We take one collection for Foreign Mis- sions, one for Home, and the third for the other boards, and the Session divides this as best it can, according to its knowledge of the needs of the boards in that particular year. This permits the percentage that each General Assembly has indicated as belonging to the different benevo- lent offerings of the church, and gives the two great missions of the church the advantage of standing out alone. Just as Dr. Lee has said, envelopes go into every house, and a special lot of literature goes with each letter; but we do not depend on any CINCINNATI CONVENTION 175 one Sunday that is chosen by the Session, but urge that any family which is not represented in the congregation on that day shall bring the en- velope later to the designated chairman of benevolences. Another thing I think we are doing, is to in- crease the attendance of men. Our pastor tells us when he will preach some special sermons, then the Session sends out letters to selected lists of men, a list gathered by the Brotherhood, urg- ing them to come to these series of sermons. Our pastor has been presenting Christian evidences, with marked increase in the attendance of men, because we sent letters saying, ^^If you have any doubts, here is an opportunity for hearing reasons for believing the Bible. ^' Dr. Moffat. — I would like to have Mr. Vogt speak a few minutes on the educational work of our church, for he knows something about that subject. Mr. Vogt. — I would like to know what the gentlemen here know about it. I would not be surprised if nobody knew a thing about it. How many have any idea whatever of the Study Course that we are taking up, issued by the Board of Foreign Missions, as well as the one is- sued by the Home Board? How many have a Mission Study Class in your church! Tell us whether it is a good thing or not. Wliy is it a good thing 1 176 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD Mr. F. W. Lewis, Saginaw, Michigan. — Our Christian Endeavor Society, at the conference held at Lake Geneva, organized itself into three Mission Study Classes, and for the last few weeks we have had the study of missions instead of our regular service. The attendance has been almost double, and the interest has been very ap- preciable. Mr. Vogt. — I would like to say, for the benefit of those who do not know, that the Foreign Mis- sions book is ^'The Uplift of China," by Dr. Arthur Smith, whom everyone knows as a very helpful writer. The book on Home Mis- sions is '^The Challenge of the City,'' by Dr. Josiah Strong, and this deals with the question of immigration. I wonder if we know that every day there are twenty-four car-loads started out of New York. This book, ^'The Challenge of the City," will tell you more about this question than anything I know of. If the Rev. Willis Gelston is in the house, I wish he would come to the platform. He is the new Secretary (Young People's Secretary) of the Board of Publication. Do not forget this Study Course on immigration. Mr. Gelston. — It is a pleasure to speak to this audience, especially as I want to give you some information that every Presbyterian should have. CINCINNATI CONVENTION 177 We are proud of our Presbyterian Church, be- cause it is far to the front with new methods, and methods that mean a great deal. We are proud of the Brotherhood movement, of the mission- ary la^nnen movement, because of Mr. Stelzle's movement, and now I hope we are going to be proud of a movement that is just started — the movement for the young people. We have not had any educational support for our young people up to the present time ; although they are the plastic class, although they are numerous, although they are the ones who will be the Pres- byterians of the future, we have not had Pres- byterian support for our young people as yet. Hence the General Assembly has realized the conditions for some time, and step by step plans have been made, so that there is now a depart- ment in our church for young people. This de- partment is only two months old. It has before it the whole question of what assistance we can give our young people in the way of instruction, to make them what they ought to be in order that the Presbyterian Church of the future shall be what we want it to be — more conse- crated, more capable, more enthusiastic than before. I believe the Brotherhood can help in this movement by giving the young people's socie- ties their sympathy, by tackling this question of instruction for young people. We surely ought to tackle it, and I hope we will find the solution in time. 178 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD Dr. Moffat. — I think there will be a little dif- ficulty in getting our Brotherhoods to engage in study classes. There are too many men that are busy — too busy to take up text-books. The young people ought to be encouraged to study missions, home and foreign, and the history of our church, for themslves; but I would suggest that every Brotherhood should secure a lecturer to address them (either the pastor or some one competent) on some of these problems connected with our church's progress — our church organ- ization, our church history, our church policy; not in a controversial spirit, but simply to make men acquainted with the organization and char- acteristics of the great Presbyterian Church. I have been called upon to address a few associa- tions on the subject of Presbyterianism, and I have been surprised to have men and women, leaders of the church, come to me afterward and say : ^ ^ Well, I am glad to know at last what the Presbyterian Church stands for.'' Now, let the Brotherhood find out what the Presbyterian Church stands for, and you will find we stand for something worth while. There is no cultivation of sectarianism in our making ourselves and others acquainted with the prin- ciples of our government. XI WEDNESDAY EVENING THE GREAT FELLOWSHIP MEETING On Wednesday evening more than three thou- sand ^ve hundred delegates and visitors at- tended the fellowship meeting. A chorus of about four hundred voices furnished appropri- ate music, under the leadership of Mr. Evans, with Miss Snyder at the organ. A chorus of male voices and a cornet solo by Mrs. A. B. Thomas were also greatly enjoyed. THE PRESIDING OFFICER 's GREETING Mr. Hargitt. — Brethren of the Convention, Ladies and Gentlemen : In this hall last evening, you were welcomed on behalf of the Christian people of our city. To-night it is my duty, on behalf of the local Executive Committee and the Union of the Presbyterian Brotherhood in Cin- cinnati, to extend to you a hearty welcome to this fellowship gathering. The local committee has endeavored to bring to this meeting — and from the appearance of this audience it has succeeded — the flower of Presbyterianism in Cincinnati and vicinity, in 179 180 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD order that they might meet and mingle in Chris- tian fellowship with the best representatives that the Presbyterian churches of the land ever sent to a national convention. I do not dispar- age any other national convention, because it is one of the cardinal articles of our faith that we all grow better year by year. During all this day the convention has been seriously considering questions of vital import to the Brotherhood: questions of principles and forms of organization, of its devotional life and of its educational offices and opportunities. But to-night we pause midway between the two great days of the convention, laying aside for the moment these practical and important questions^ in order that we may unite in fraternal inter- course. You know the printed page has to some extent done away with the influence of the spoken word ; that magazines and the press have to an extent crippled the influence of the orator. But, my friends, have you ever heard that any- thing has ever interfered with or weakened the power and influence of the grasp of the hand of one's fellows? Without personal contact and association we have no brotherhood cooperation, we have no Christian cooperation. Sympathy and cooperation breed energy and help to en- dow us with endurance, both of which are necessary for the accomplishment of great things. Dr. Landrith, at the convention at Indianapo- lis last year, said that the Christian men of this CINCINNATI CONVENTION 181 country could do wliat they would, if they would do what they could ; and this convention to-day, this magnificent audience to-night, illustrates the power and the truth of that statement. The courage and determination of a soldier are strengthened by the fact that his fellows are marching by his side, willing to meet every ob- stacle and danger with him. Do you not think the Christian worker, the Christian soldier, if you will, is influenced in the same way? There are in this audience to-night more than three thousand people. Do you not believe that your enthusiasm will be kindled, your resolution for future work will be strengthened, and your zeal for the kingdom will be increased by meeting and greeting your fellows here to-night! At the time of the meeting of the General As- sembly in Columbus this year, the Southern Presbyterians were holding their General As- sembly in the city of Birmingham, Alabama, and the Moderators of these two Assemblies ex- changed greetings at long range, by the medium of the telegraph. To-night we have present with us upon this platform both of these Moderators (Applause), and in addition, we have the last Moderator of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. (Applause) Is this not an achieve- ment of which the Brotherhood may well be proud? Is it not worth all that this convention may have cost in time, in etf ort, and in money, to bring upon this platform the Moderators of lihese Assemblies and have them extend fra- 182 THE PRESBYTEKIAN BROTHERHOOD ternal greetings to an audience composed of rep- resentatives from all sections of our country, and that, too, in a city situated upon the line which geographically divides the North from the South! This is an historical epoch in our church. Union may never come — though I know that we all feel more or less sure that it will come even- tually — but the brotherly love and influence of this meeting will radiate to the home of every one who bears the Presbyterian name. I desire to present to you the Professor of Philosophy in Washington and Lee Univer- sity, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, Prof. J. R. Howerton, D.D. A FELLOWSHIP MESSAGE FROM THE SOUTH (The audience greeted Professor Howerton standing. All spontaneously joined in singing, ^^ Blest Be the Tie that Binds.") Dr. Howerton. — Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen, and Brethren of this Convention: It is impossible for me in words to express my profound gratitude and appreciation at this re- ception, and especially as I recognize that it is because I stand here to-night representing the Southern Presbyterian Church, and because I know that this demonstration represents your feeling and brotherly love toward that church. And I am glad I can say to you that I CINCINNATI CONVENTION 183 represent every man in the Southern Church in conveying to you our most hearty fra- ternal greetings in your great work, and our prayers for its success. For whatever differ- ences of opinion may exist among us, and what- ever the providence of God may have in store for us in regard to union of any kind, there is no doubt but that we are one in wanting to win the men of this country for Christ, and through the men of this country to win the world for Christ. I could say no more and mean no more, Mr. Moderator, if I should spend the whole time you have given me, conveying words of fraternal greeting. You will permit me, however, to say something about this work. I thank God that I am able to stand before such an audience as this, before this great sea of faces, almost all of them here in front of me Christian men; and I do not think, Mr. Presi- dent, that any movement in the Christian world of the past century or of this century, is fraught with more important consequences to the king- dom of Christ than this organization of the men of our church. I do not think that one word too much has been said about the power and in- fluence of the work of the noble women in our church, but I do think that too little has been said about the power and influence of the men. I do not think it is possible to exaggerate the in- fluence of the Christian woman, whether in the home, in the sphere of wife and mother, or in 184 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD the larger spheres which our Christian civiliza- tion has opened np to her; but the power of men has not been emphasized as it ought to be. We must recognize the fact that as society is now constituted, men have far more power to do harm and more power to do good than women. They have more power to do harm. Who are the saloon keepers? The men. Who run the gambling dens? The men. Wlio are the se- ducers? The men. Wlio are the drunkards? The men. Who make bad laws and prevent the enforcement of good laws? The men. Who fill our jails and penitentiaries? The men. Now, it is true that there are some bad women who do these things, but in the main the answer to all these questions comes with damning reiteration — the men. But for the same reason that they have so much power to do harm, they have power to do good. Who are our preachers ? The men. AATio fill the offices? The men. Wlio make our laws and execute them? The men. Who conduct al- most all of the business of this country? The men. The presidents of our banks, the presi- dents of our great corporations, the presidents of our railroads, are men. They are teachers, professors in colleges, editors of newspapers, and to men are entrusted most of the influential positions. And so I say that if we want our country for Christ, we men must do a larger work among CINCINNATI CONVENTION 185 the men than we have ever done before in the history of the church. I thank God that the church has wakened to the fact that there is some other work for men of the church to do than simply to sit in their pews on Sunday morning and listen to the preaching of the gospel, and contribute — sometimes a very small proportion — of their income to the support of the church. I thank God that men have found something that can be done outside of the work of the elders and deacons of the Presbyterian Church; that there is personal work to do ; that there are in- dividual souls to be won by the individual work of men among men ; that laymen can teach Bible classes, can organize Sunday schools, can meet together for counsel, and in such a body as this can plan for the extension of the kingdom of Christ throughout the world. And that is not all. The church (and I use that word in the common acceptation of the term) the church is not the kingdom of Christ, and it never will be. The church is a means — God's means, to be sure — but nevertheless a means, of which the kingdom of Christ is the end. And when that kingdom comes, my friends, it will need farms and farmers; it will need railroads and railroad men; it will need manufacturers and bankers ; it will need men of professions ; it will need men of business. I be- lieve that when Jesus taught us to pray : ^ ' Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven/' he taught us to make a prayer 186 THE PEESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD for which we should expect an answer, and work for that answer. And I believe that Jesus should rule not only in heaven, but on earth, and that his will should be done on earth as it is in heaven. If this be true, then it is not only in the church and through the church that we must work, but through every influence of our lives. The man who thinks that by consecrating one day in seven to rest for God, he has earned the right to work for himself alone for the six other days in the week; the man who thinks that by consecrating the tenth of his income to Christ he has bought off the rest so that he can spend it upon selfish gratification; or the man who thinks that by doing a little dabbling in the religious work of the church he can thereby keep religion out of his business, and his politics and thus salve his conscience while he is engaged in these things, has not only misunderstood, but has perverted the difference between the sacred and the secu- lar. If you want the kingdom of Christ to come in this world, you must not put religion into your church life alone, but into your business life. And it seems to me that in just such an organization as this you can do a great work along this line. These great, big, sixteen-inch guns mounted on ecclesiastical platforms are admirable when they are trained right, and when they do hit the mark, do magnificent execution — ^they can sometimes even hit things that are out of sight; but they CINCINNATI CONVENTION 187 are limited in their angle of range. Now, we want an organization, an instrumentality that has a wider range. They tell us that we must keep politics out of the church and the church out of politics, and you would not expect a representative of the Southern Presbyterian Church to say anything but *^amen" to that. But if by that they mean that we must keep religion out of politics, and that Christian men must have nothing to do with politics, then I say *^No." You must take your religion into your politics, and as Christian men, aim at the time when every man who holds an office, from the alder- man in the city to the President of the United States, shall be a Christian man (Applause) and shall administer his office not only as a trust from the people, but as a trust from God. And you must carry your religion into your business, too, and apply the ethics of the gospel of Jesus Christ to those great problems that are meeting us to-day, and that are growing harder and wider with the development of our civilization. You must show to the world that the religion of Jesus Christ is a practical re- ligion; and the man who does not put the re- ligion of Jesus Christ into his business in his relations with his employees — whether he be the head of some great corporation, which is em- ploying union men, or whether he be a store- keeper employing clerks who work sixteen hours a day — I say, if he does not put the religion of 188 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD Jesus Christ into his business, then he has no message from Christ for his employees. It is no use for that man to teach a Bible class or attempt in any way to convey the message of salvation to the souls of men until he is a witness to the power and truth of the Gospel in his own life. Now, brethren, I do not know whether in the dreams of the future there is to be some great Jerusalem, where there shall be a marble palace, upon the throne of which shall sit Jesus in vis- ible presence as a great king; whether the tem- ple shall be built of gold and precious stones whose magnificence shall far excel that of an- cient times ; but I do believe that the day is com- ing when Jesus shall be enthroned in the indi- vidual hearts of men, and when there shall be none left to say to another, ^^Know thou the Lord I" but when all shall know him whom to know aright is life everlasting ; when peace shall reign from sea to sea, and Jesus Christ shall be King over all. Visionary? Yes. But, breth- ren, if Jesus had not seen that vision, if he had not seen the vision of the glory of the kingdom on that day of temptation in the wilderness, then you and I to-day would have been in heathen darkness. But that which has been done is an earnest that all visions of Jesus Christ shall be realized in this world. Now, I give this challenge to every man, to repeat to every man who has not thus far be- come interested or taken a part in your work. CINCINNATI CONVENTION 189 Shall your brethren go to war and shall ye sit here? Let no man sit down in the enjoyment of the protection and blessings of Christian civilization jnst as long as there is one spot in all this earth, from the darkness of Africa to this city of Cin- cinnati, where the name of Jesus is not ac- knowledged as King. Call upon every man to join your army, and Christ will lead us to con- quest. THE NEW GENERAL SECRETARY INTRODUCED Mr. Hargitt. — No doubt many of you were at the last General Assembly. Dr. Roberts was the Moderator of that Assembly, as you all know, and it is not invidious nor extravagant to say he was one of the best presiding officers the As- sembly ever had. He was particularly adept in the use of the gavel. When speeches were limited to three minutes, that meant three minutes. I know, because I attempted to make a three-minute speech. Now, Dr. Roberts, I am going to exercise one of the Christian virtues to-night. This audience is yours. I am not going to use this gavel; I would not if I could, because every man and woman here wants to hear all that Dr. Roberts has to say. XII ADDRESS by rev. w. h. roberts, d.d., ll.d. Mr. Chairman, Brethren of the Conven- tion, Ladies and Gentlemen: — It gives me great pleasure to stand here this evening and ex- tend fraternal greetings ; first, from the city of Philadelphia to the city of Cincinnati, from the *^City of Brotherly Love'* to the ^* Queen City of the Wesf We greet you, brethren of Cin~ cinnati, and the women of this fair city likewise, as those who in Christ are one with us in the hope of the dawn upon earth of that glad day when it shall know a sanctified and glorified humanity. Permit me also to tender to the convention the fraternal greetings of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, and not only of the General Assembly, but of all the membership of the church. Es- pecially do I extend these greetings to the be- loved moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States. I shall have something further to say in my address concerning another General Assembly, illustrating in its spirit of self-abne- 190 CINCINNATI CONVENTION 191 gation the highest of the Christian virtues — that of self-sacrifice in the name and for the sake of Jesus Christ. Dr. Landrith knows well to what I refer. We are to-day within one church, thank God. In speaking to a Brotherhood convention my remarks naturally have to do with the spirit of fraternity, in itself considered, as it is making itself manifest in our land, in particular in the Christian churches, and as it offers, as never before, an opportunity to men and women for Christian service. There is broadcast in our country to-day, under the influence of that guid- ing Holy Spirit who is supreme in this dispen- sation of the New Testament, a movement to which, in all its manifestations the word '^fra- ternity ' ' applies in a marked manner. You will find it present in business circles. Men are nowadays clearly realizing their brotherhood in the vocations in which they are engaged for the securing of their daily bread. There is a wide- spread effort after closer relationship between workers wherever found, whether it be in high or in low places, and as long as the movement in its development seeks the mutual benefit and up- lift of humanity, and puts underfoot all mere selfishness and is unstained by violence, we can- not but give it approval. It is brotherhood that is making itself manifest — that emotion of the human mind which brings men to a recognition of their obligations to their brethren in the flesh. 192 THE PBESBYTEBIAN BROTHERHOOD When we consider in this connection the Chris- tian churches, we find that the spirit of fraternity between them in all parts of the world has made enormous strides. Those of you who have watched carefully the ecclesiastical movements during the last few years have noticed that Chris- tians everj^where have been endeavoring to get closer together. Christian men know not only that fraternity which is based upon the natural ties which bind men one to another; but also that higher fraternity which finds its source in Christ Jesus, and in the fact that in him men are not only brethren in the flesh, but also in that spiritual unity of which the Heavenly Father is head. Without exception the Chris- tians of the world are realizing to-day as never before what the word ^^ fraternity'' means for them, as the household of faith. When we pass to thought of the Presbyterian churches, we find that the spirit of fraternity has influenced their relations in a marked manner. The presence of three moderators on this platform to-night is one evidence of this fact. Another proof is found in the coming meeting in the city of New York, on the third day of December next, of official delegates from four of the leading Presbyterian and Eeformed churches of our country, with the deliberate pur- pose of endeavoring to bring about cooperation between them in all Christian work. It is not a matter of theory with which we have to deal. To use the words of a great Pres- CINCINNATI CONVENTION 193 byterian, ^'We are confronted by a condi- tion, not a theory." The Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, the Presbyte- rian Church in the United States, the Eef ormed Church in America, commonly known as the *^ Dutch Church," and the United Presbyterian Church, by official action, have united to form a body to be known as '^The Council of the Re- formed Churches in America Holding the Pres- byterian System." The ^'Articles of Agree- ment" which provide for this council have as their purpose to give outward and vis- ible demonstration to the whole of this country of ours, that Presbyterians under the guidance of the Holy Spirit can work together, cooper- ating in every labor which God shall open to their enterprise. Think next of that larger fraternity, which includes all the evangelical and Protestant churches of this land. Last Friday afternoon in the city of New York it was my privilege to preside as chairman at the meeting of the Exec- utive Committee of the Inter-Church Confer- ence on Federation. The committee represented the thirty-two Christian denominations which united in framing, through delegates, a plan of federation in New York City, in November, 1905, a plan to be submitted for official action to the supreme governing or advisory bodies of each of the interested denominations. In the plan appears the provision that when two thirds of the bodies shall have adopted it by official action, 194 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD it will at once go into effect. At the meeting on last Friday there were placed before the Execu- tive Committee official communications, which showed that twenty-three out of the thirty-two denominations had adopted this plan of fed- eration. Not one American Christian church has as yet voted in the negative. It is believed that all will vote in the affirmative. But whether there be a negative vote or no, the fact stands out before this Brotherhood, before all Brotherhoods, before all the Christian churches, that visible form has been given to the unity of believers in Jesus Christ as their com- mon Saviour and their supreme Lord. Do you wonder that with many others, as I think upon this fact, I feel a gratitude toward God that cannot by any possibility be expressed in words! Can we do other than bow our heads in reverence before the church's great Head and thank him for the influences of the Holy Spirit by which he has brought all this about ? We are confronting therefore a condition of things full of hope; a condition affording an opj)ortunity to Christian workers such as they have never had before; and a condition which has largest possible encouragement from Al- mighty God. His blessing rests, we may be as- sured, upon every and any movement made any- where in this our common country for the bring- ing together of Christ's people. We need, as a result, to give ourselves to the situation with soberness and prayer, realizing that the time CINCINNATI CONVENTION 195 has come when the great majority of the evan- gelical Christians of the United States are of the firm conviction that while there may be twelve tribes there is only one Israel ; that the church, while diverse as the waves, is one as the sea. The unity of spirit and life is in the churches, and this means cooperation in work. For all these things we give reverent praise to the Holy Spirit. He it is who is controlling certain emotions and sentiments which are widely felt and realized for his own gracious purposes. He it is who has brought about the realization in our country among all Christians, but especially among all Presbyterians, as never before, of the things which are funda- mental to Christianity. There is a clear realization, for one thing, that the Bible is the Word of God. In all my cor- respondence and conversations with men of dif- ferent denominations, in all the visits I have paid to various portions of our common country, I liave found an unfailing loyalty to the author- ity and integrity of the Holy Scriptures as the only infallible rule of faith and con- duct. Christians are everywhere clinging with an undiminishing loyalty to the Word of God. There is further unmistakable unanimity on the part of the Christian masses in their views as to the person and work of Jesus Christ. No- where in the evangelical churches is there any question as to whom and what Jesus, the Son of 196 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD man and Son of God, was and is. Everywhere Christians bow with reverence before him ; lean upon him as their Saviour, and worship him as God. Loyalty to the Divine Christ permeates the Christian churches of this land as never before. This common belief in two great fundamentals of our religion — to what does it point ? It points to the fact that Christians realize that all their hopes for this life and the life which is to come center in Jesus Christ, revealed in the Word of God as the Way, the Truth, and the Life; that they realize his value unto them as Saviour; apprehend their unity in him as their living Head, and accept the Bible as his will concerning the things which they are to believe and do. It also explains the widespread acknowledgment of the one great purpose to which Christ sum- mons those who look to him as their Saviour and their Lord, the salvation of a lost world. Every- where you will find to-day the churches stirring with desire for the salvation of souls. There is no Christian denomination free from the influ- ence of the spirit of evangelism. That the Christian's chief work is the salva- tion of the lost is apprehended distinctly, not only in Presbyterian congregations, but also in congregations of Christians of every name. It is a great thing that this one purpose is sharply realized, for its source is in God, not in man. The relation of the plan of salvation to Al- mighty God may be illustrated as follows : CINCINNATI CONVENTION 197 A boy is playing with a rubber ball upon the deck of an ocean liner. He is warned by fellow- travelers that unless he is careful in his manipu- lations of the ball it will probably go overboard. Overboard the ball goes at last, and then the boy rushes to the captain of the steamer and asks that the vessel be stopped in order that he may recover his ball. The captain smiles at the lad, tells him to be quiet; that he will find another ball, but that he cannot stop the steamer for any such trivial matter. A few minutes pass. Sud- denly the cry rings out: '^Man overboard! Man overboard ! ' ^ Like a flash the signal rings from the bridge to the engine room, the great steamer slows her pace, swings around in a semicircle, comes to a stop, a lifeboat is lowered, and the man is rescued. The man that is overboard, that is about whom God is chiefly thinking. The man that is over- board, he is next to the heart of Christ. The man that is overboard, for him exception is made in the universal system of law and order. For the lost by sin, a child was born in Bethle- hem by miracle ; a cross was erected on the hill- top called Calvary, and on that cross God ran- somed with precious blood lost sinners. Do we realize as we ought what God has done for this our lost world in and through Jesus Christ, his Son 1 Do we emphasize as we ought in all our work as Christians the matchless appeal contained in those words clothed with all the inspiration of heaven: ''God so loved the 198 THE PKESBYTEEIAN BROTHERHOOD world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life''! More and more may we as Christians lay emphasis not on the selfish things which are as the boy's rubber ball, but upon the common purpose which unites all who bear the name of Jesus to labor with God in concerted effort for the redemption of this lost world ! As we think upon this common purpose may we realize, and this is my closing thought, that the great inspiration thereto is the love of Jesus Christ! The question is often asked whether there are going to be, in this present, great re- vivals of religion; whether movements like this Brotherhood will be attended with success. There is but one answer to this inquiry out of Holy Scripture and Christian history. It is this : All depends upon how devoted Christians are to the Lord whose name they bear; all depends upon our love for him who loved us and gave himself for us, and was and is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sin of the whole world. What victories of grace and power the devoted followers of Christ won in the early days of our religion! The annals of the primitive church are glorious with the triumphs of love for our Lord, both over the wickedness of sinners and the tendencies of his people to strife. In these latter days, not alone in mission fields have such triumphs been renewed. We have had in our CINCINNATI CONVENTION 199 own land a remarkable illustration of the power of Christ over human sentiment and human attachments. I take you to the city of St. Louis, where a short time past the committees on union of two Presbyterian denominations met, to consider the final agreements as to reunion between their churches. There upon one side sat the committee of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, upon the other the committee of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Previous to that final session there was prayer to God for his guidance and blessing, and oh, how my heart went out toward those Cumberland Presbyterians! They were con- sidering for the last time a question closely con- nected with the traditions, the sentiments, the history of a century. They were about to go, it is true, into the mother church; but still they were giving up their own beloved church. There were tears in their eyes, but within their hearts there was the love of Christ. If you ask who wrought that reunion there is but one answer. It was not man. It was Jesus Christ bringing his people to unity of thought and action for the salvation of souls and the more rapid ex- tension of his kingdom. It was the love of him which brought that reunion, which is the fore- runner of yet further reunions. Above this platform is exhibited the motto, ^'The men of America for the Man of Galilee." The Gali- laean — how great and abiding his victories have been! In the Roman Empire his disciples, up- 200 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD held by the love of him, endured persecution for three centuries, and at last conquered all op- position by moral power alone. But were the disciples the real conquerors! Far from it! Hear the name of the victor in the cry which rang from the lips of the last pagan emperor as he fell dying: ^^Thou hast conquered, Gali- Isean ! ' ' And that Galilaean, has he not, shall he not, conquer again and again? Shall he not, by his Spirit, develop in these days the spirit of self-sacrifice in his people, enabling them to give themselves as one man in this land and in other lands, to the salvation of souls, to the redemp- tion of earth, and to the bringing in of the uni- versal kingdom of our God I Oh ! as we think upon him, upon his cross and upon his crown, I ask you all here, men and women, to make his love the main object of your thoughts and the one controlling power in your lives! With the great Moravian, Zinzendorf, may we all bring ourselves, through the influence of the Holy Spirit, into that state of mind and heart in which we shall be able to say, and to act out the saying in our lives: *^I have but one passion; it is he!" Mr. Hargitt: — While the General Assembly has a fine presiding officer, the members of this convention appreciate that it also has a fine pre- siding officer, and it would not be fair to this audience if I did not present to it the Vice Presi- dent of the National Council, who is presiding at CINCINNATI CONVENTION 201 this convention. He lias a word to say, and we hope that he will add to that word a word of greeting. I now present Mr. Charles S. Holt, of Chicago. Mr. Holt. — So many times within the last twenty-four hours it has fallen to my lot to make my little, tinkling speeches between the roar and thunder and crash of magnificent eloquence that has preceded and followed, that I have long ago wished I could adopt the plan of Ralph Waldo Emerson's brother, who was a clerg}Tiian in Boston, and who once, finding himself in great peril during a storm at sea, in his extremity made a solemn vow that if the Lord would help him out of that scrape, he never would preach again, but try his best to make an honest living in some other way. But it would be a cold and unappreciative soul that could stand even for a moment in the focus of this superb welcome which Cincinnati has given to the Brotherhood, without offering an expression of gratitude from the great body of Presbyterian men who are your guests. Like our brother from the South, we could not ex- press in words our sense of appreciation of what you have done and are doing; and not only by your provision for us, but by your presence here to-night you emphasize your interest in all that concerns the Presbyterian Brotherhood. The whole history of the Brotherhood, to one who is familiar with it, must carry an over- 202 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD powering sense of the guiding and singular prov- idence of God. The timeliness of the move- ment, coming forward when it was most needed and when it was likely to be most welcomed ; the eagerness with which it was welcomed, first by the General Assembly, then by the men of the church, as their spirit showed itself in the memorable gathering at Indianapolis, and all the experiences of the year since, culminating in this mighty and magnificent convention in which we are now engaged — all these prove that we are not busy with a work of man, but a work of God. The continued and generous financial support, beginning long ago and extending down to the afternoon of this very day, show that men of business sagacity not only have consented to give their sympathy, but think it worth while to invest their money in the enterprise. Very significant, too, have been the fellow- ships that have grown out of the movement. I might sufficiently indicate what I mean by call- ing your attention to the number of men here who represent such bodies as the Young Men's Christian Association, and that noble association of traveling men known as the ^^ Gideons.'^ I might further point to the number here from what we, for the time being, call the ^* Southern Presbyterian Church." All these fellowships make us feel that God is behind this movement. But to my mind nothing has more clearly shown the stamp of God's favor upon our work than the number of strong men who have been CINCINNATI CONVENTION 203 willing to enlist themselves in it. I should not dare trust myself to tell here what I know of these loyal, unselfish men who constitute the Council, and who, in the midst of large affairs demanding their attention, have given their serv- ices without stint to the work of this Brother- hood, because they feel sure it is God's work and is worth while. To-night we have one of the most striking il- lustrations of this that could come to us. In the report read this morning, you may have ob- served the statement that in the judgment of the Council the work now demands the full time and energies of the best available man as General Secretary, and the hope was expressed that it might be possible soon to announce such an ap- pointment. The time has come earlier than was expected when the report was written, and to- night I have the unspeakable privilege of tell- ing you — and I cannot express the joy which comes to us in the fact^ — that a man whom you all know and recognize as a man of power, who might have had his pick of any position of honor and dignity and influence in the church, has thought it worth while to link his life with the Presbyterian Brotherhood of America. It is with happiness that I cannot put into words, that I am able to announce to you that the general secretaryship of the Brotherhood will be filled — and grandly filled — from this time forward by Dr. Ira Landrith. XIII EEMARKS BY DR. LANDRITH Because this proposal has not been made by a single man, but by the unanimous action of a council of men, and apparently approved by this great company of men, and because I am neither modest enough nor maidenly enough to say it, I cannot simper, ' ' This is so sudden. ' ' It is not sudden, but it was not sought, either ; and if there is any man here who wants this job, he can see me after this meeting. I shall not be misunderstood, I hope. In all this company there could be no man who appreciates more profoundly than I do this expression of your good will, the confidence of this council of pray- ing men who have been our leaders, and the mag- nificent opportunity afforded me for usefulness in the cause of Christ as that cause is repre- sented by the Presbyterianism of America. It is because of the tremendous responsibility, and of my own profound consciousness of it, that I shrink from the position which has been offered me. But if God-led men are led to approach a man, that man is a common coward if he flees from them and duty. 204 CINCINNATI CONVENTION 205 I wish I could make my voice heard in the heart of every Presbyterian man in this world, when I tell you what I have come to know of this company of devoted men, and of how long, how earnestly, and how prayerfully they have con- sidered this question. I would like to make you understand if I could, how they have made me feel that the very ground whereon I trod was holy ground. I am accustomed to councils of Christian ministers. I am a churchman, and as such have had somewhat to do with official ec- clesiasticism. I am not unacquainted with the sincere piety of devout clergymen; but it has been a most interesting and wholesome experi- ence to sit, as a Christian minister, in the pres- ence of the manifestly greater devotion and more genuine spirituality and piety of a com- pany of men, all of them men of affairs, who have been willing to leave large interests for any length of time, under any conditions of financial stress, in order that the Master's work might not be neglected in what was also its hour of great- est need. All this has helped me to answer the question that has come to my own heart many times within the last two or three days : ^ ' Do you feel called to this work?" Yes, I do, and because I do and because as a member of this Brother- hood I am bound to practice what it preaches, ** Christ on the throne and man on the cross," I am going to do the best I can, and God will take care of the results. 206 THE PRESBYTEEIAN BROTHERHOOD The hour is too late for an 'inaugural." I am not going to waste your time telling you about my personal limitations. They will speak for themselves eloquently enough. I shall not tell you either what I am going to do. You will have to spend enough time hereafter enumerating the things that I have failed to do. I have no as- surance to give you of what particular direction and what plans in detail this Brotherhood and its new general secretary will enter on. Only God knows, and with God's leadership we shall find out. There will of course be literature to prepare, and that will give us immediate care. There will be letters to write and there will be records to keep. There will be time for the hearing of suggestions that other people make and the probably less wise ones we will ourselves make. There will be necessity for listening to me on many occasions when you would rather not, but you have brought it on yourselves by making the blunder of opening the way. A friend of mine who knows me too well asked to-day: ^'What's the matter with you! Are you sick? You haven't said a word since this convention started. ' ' T have been told more than once by none-too- friendly friends that I came into this delightful church union for the purpose of ^'getting a job," — I got it; and to-night hard by a little college down in the Southland a woman 's tears are fall- ing, and a little girl is weeping, because I got it. In that college to-morrow morning, too, CINCINNATI CONVENTION 207 there will be anxiety and uncertainty and dis- tress, because teachers and students do not know yet what I know, that accepting this position does not mean the hurtful relinquishing of any other great interest. I shall not neglect the Presbyterian Brotherhood, but I will not de- stroy anything else I have ever tried to build up — and you will not expect me to do it, will you? I like this evening's meeting. I enjoyed hearing this Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, and this Mod- erator of the Presbyterian Church in the same United States of America. I am not unfamiliar either with some of the senti- ments they have been expressing. I have heard a little about union myself during these several years, and to-night I have listened to it with the comfortable feeling that there was no anti-unionist to molest and no un- friendly newspaper to make afraid. I am pro- foundly interested in the possibilities of this Brotherhood in relation to further church union ; and just here you will forgive me if I say that although we Cumberland Presbyterians came into the united church with the loyal allegiance we always owed to our church, and though we have no regret that conditions have been changed, there is still, when we get together, a feeling of '4iominess" which I do not want to get over and which you would not want us to get over; and now I shall feel better if every 208 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD ex-Cumberland Presbyterian here will stand up and let me look at him. Boys, boys — some of you are a good deal older than I am — ^but, boys, we have always stood together; will you not stand by me now! But it is not fair to you to go on like this. The Presbyterian Brotherhood, in my own judgment, is the most potential force just now on the face of things Presbyterian. There is no way of telling all it is going to do, but it is going to do this or it is not going to do anything, and he who is speaking to you is not going to try to do anything through it. It is going to promote spiritual devotion in the men of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, to the end that these men will go out eagerly seeking after the man who is lost and will arouse the great Presbyterian Church to do its whole duty. It will do that. The Brotherhood will not antagonize any present Presbyterian agencies, but it will help every Presbyterian cause that is worth while. It will spend very little time in the mere glorifi- cation of names and creeds ; but it will spend all necessary time in the glorification of Christ ^s name and in doing Christ 's service. In its daily ministrations to Christian men and to all other men, it will show that masculine vigor, that virile zeal, which mean success. Ring it out! God is in it ! God cannot fail, and as long as men sit, as you men have been willing to do, at the feet of God, men cannot fail. CINCINNATI CONVENTION 209 Me. Hargitt: — If the local committee needed any compensation for their services, they have been amply rewarded by the opportunity they have had to know and serve with Dr. Landrith. (Applause) They have not only appreciated his administrative abilities, but they have learned to love him. Mr. Holt. — Now, gentlemen, we have an interpolation which appeals to our sense of brotherhood as perhaps few things can do that come before this convention, and we will take up for five minutes the situation of the churches in San Francisco. Eev. John S. Thomas, of San Francisco, will address us on this subject. Eev. John S. Thomas. — Gentlemen of the Brotherhood: The subject that I am to speak on this morning is the problem of the city of San Francisco, and is certainly a problem pe- culiar to our land. In the first place, I want to call your attention to the fact that the revelations of the courts of San Francisco during the past few months have demonstrated that morally the city of San Fran- cisco has broken down more completely than any other city on record in Christendom. And that same city of San Francisco, during her fifty-seven years of history, has been neglected religiously to a larger extent than any other city of the land. Therefore, brethren, I insist that it is but Christian logic that there is a connection 210 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD between these two things. For if the Christian Church stands for anything, it is to provide moral caliber for her men and women, and the same institution that furnishes that quality has not been furnishing it to the city of San Fran- cisco to the degree it should have been furnished through her half century of history. To bear out this statement, let me give you another fact. Thirty years before the great disaster there were in the city of San Francisco, with its two hundred and forty thousand popula- tion, fifteen thousand members of Presbyterian churches. In 1906, with a population which had increased to five hundred thousand, there were still only fifteen thousand members of Presbyte- rian churches, merely going to prove the fact that religiously she had not been equipped with sufficient force to meet the religious demands made upon her. This is the sum of it. From 1849 to 1852 the city of San Francisco grew from a little Spanish-Indian village to a great city of fifty-three thousand. The men and women who came there from all over the world were godless, reckless people. Among them, it is true, was a handful of the better sort, but they were not able to combat successfully the opposing forces of evil. If that was the condition of the old city, what is going to become of the new? Five square miles of ashes; three hundred thousand people practically homeless ; every business of the city destroyed. That is the situation. It is now up CINCINNATI CONVENTION 211 to the Christians of America to determine whether the new city of San Francisco shall be pagan or Christian. That is the appeal I make to you. A\'lien you go back home, do not forget San Francisco needs help. It is a call for help, for the sake of the hundreds and thousands of souls that are going to perdition, to the Presby- terian Brotherhood of America. XIV THURSDAY MORNING Dr. W. H. Wray Boyle, who was given charge of the devotional hour in both days, with his subject on the second day, *^ Purpose and Power," announced the hymn, '^In the Cross of Christ I Glory. ' ' Mr. Evans led in other de- votional songs, the convention joining heartily in the chorus. Dr. Boyle led in a brief prayer, just as the sun broke through the morning clouds : ^ ' Christ of the illumined face, with the light of the knowledge of the glory of God shining in it, be thou anew for us all the great Sun of righteousness. Lift any lingering shadows of doubt or sin from our minds and hearts and flood us with thy divine grace, that we may be lights in the world, conspicuous Christians, spirit-filled, witnessing Christians to the honor of thy great name. Amen. ' ^ After a number of sentence prayers, the leader opened the Bible at three great passages. He said: The first passage is foimd in Matt. 28:18, 19: ^'All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore.'* We see in this the captain and the soldier, the 212 CINCINNATI CONVENTION 213 teacher and the disciple, the master and the man with a commission, and the great outstand- ing fact is this in a line — all power is of God, all agency is of man. The second passage is closely related. It is found in Mark 16: 20: **And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them.'' Let us put the emphasis where it belongs — '^ihe Lord working with them." There are many hard tasks in the Master's assignment, but no impossible ones when God and the worker keep together. It is a great thing to bring the calm resolution of a whole man to a divinely appointed enterprise, but there is one thing which always ought to come before * ^ getting down to business ; ' ' that is getting up with God. The third passage is a great petition from one of the greatest brotherhood prayers ever ut- tered, Eph. 3:19: ' ' That ye might be filled with all the fullness of God." It is your privilege and mine, in the measure in which heart and mind are opened to the divine suggestion and inspiration, to be ^^ filled with all the full- ness of God," just as a quart measure let down into the depths of the ocean is filled with all its fullness, though it does not hold the ocean. It holds a quart, and the word has it, '^All things are possible to him that believeth." Finely appropriate was the song, *' Grace Enough for Me," most impressively sung by 214- THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD Mr. Evans, the great company of men joining in the chorus: ''Grace, fathomless as the sea, Grace, flowing from Calvary, Grace for time and eternity, Grace enough for me. ' ' Dr. Boyle continued: After a dispute con- cerning the birthplace of Thorwaldsen, the sculptor, the matter was referred to the artist himself, and he said, ^'What matters it to the world or to me where I was born ; March the 8th, 1797, 1 began serious work at Eome. ' ' And what he wanted to make clear was this, that his real life began with a complete consecration to a real work. Christianity is imperial in its demands. It surveys a life in its powers and purposes and says, **I must be supreme, if anything.'' The offering of Calvary was not half an offering, and the confession of a true discipleship is al- ways something like this, '*I believe and I be- long." Devotion and duty must go hand in hand — the witness of the lip and the better witness of the life. The crest of John Calvin bears the picture of a human heart amid leaping flames and this legend, * ^ God, I burn for thee ; ' ' and its lesson is clear. In the line of evident duty, try; he who fails while earnestly attempting is yet a conqueror, he has himself at his best; in the line of devotion, pray ; prayer is the tropical zone of the soul with growths Godward; in the line of privilege, communicate ; God is ever ut- CINCINNATI CONVENTION 215 tering himself in love; in living, loving obedi- ence we ought to utter ourselves. On the pedestal of a statue erected in Brooklyn to the memory of a great general, these words are in- scribed: ^^ Everything with him was subordi- nated to duty. ' ' And when Jesus bared his brow beneath the heavens of divine approbation and said, ^*I must work the work of him that sent me,'' he had already subordinated everything to the supreme mission of world-saving. Guided by the impulse of absolute love in him, his action remains through marshaling centuries the epic of all philanthropy and the ideal of all redemptive work. Into the vocabulary of the Infinite, whose purposes took in a whole eternity, came this language of the finite at the door of a passing opportunity, ^^ While it is day." The crying need of the world at this hour is an empowered Christianity, whether the power be distributed through institutions or illustrated in individual life. Recently this question came to me : ^' If this nation perish by the dishonor of home ideals or by lack of integrity in business methods, will not the guilt lie at the door of the church?'* Startled at the question, I replied, ' ^ Why at the door of the church ! " Is it because the church has ceased to grapple seriously with the tasks and problems assigned to her? Is it because the hothouse of social demands is pro- ducing a race of weaklings who, like the children of Ephraim, ''turn back in the day of battle," instead of a race of heroes? Is it because the 216 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD professed ^^sons of God'' are not virile enough in their religious convictions to whip with the Master's whip of knotted cords the desecrator of the honor of the home and the betrayer of the honor of the market place! And with an enlightened conscience on the throne, we must, as men, not only front the seriousness of these questions, but by the grace of God, resolutely answer them. The world is not dying for want of a creed, that is a form of faith; it is dying for want of conduct, that is an operating faith. The most striking thing about that great picture, Quatre Bras, is that the front ranks of the English infantry are on their knees preparing to repel a fierce assault of French cavalry, and we may be very sure that the very front ranks of our Brotherhood all across the wide continent, doing and daring and enduring, will be men on their knees ; men who, in the expressive language of a master mechanic, are ** connected up with force at the power house;" impassioned men; men who believe intensely, with belief asserting itself in aggressive service. It is a great thing to do God's will, but there is a greater thing — the purpose to do it. With- out persistency of purpose and singleness of aim no great work has ever been accomplished. True greatness with which intrinsic manhood blossoms forth into the noblest individual existence, does not spring up and take shape in a single night. It is ever the result of long ac- cumulating circumstances from without, together CINCINNATI CONVENTION 217 with a steady pressing forward within the man. The esprit de corps of the Christian profession is loyalty to Christ, and the real knight of a faultless ideal and a fearless endeavor is Paul, and this because his whole being throbbed in consonance with his dynamic ^^do." Three times he uses it with an absoluteness of faith which laughs at difficulty and triumphs best in the face of opposition. How fine the evolution — '^Lord, what wilt thou have me to dof — readiness to serve. ^'This one thing I do" — resolution for service. ^^I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" — reliance in service. What a magnificent pat- tern for the Brotherhood man ! Discovering in the Christ an ideal Master, Paul 's lips are sancti- fied by this kingly confession, *^I am a servant of Jesus Christ." The cool logician before whom the Christians had trembled now became their defence, and over against the scathing analysis of the Grecian mind and its anti-Chris- tion polemic, he flung out the banner of the cross and declared its Christ to be a personality at once unique and alone in the universe. Calmly he declared himself willing to be accursed that so his brethren, his ^^ kinsmen according to the flesh," might be saved; as calmly he went down into the prison cell of Nero, because he knew that, when the iron gates of bondage closed be- hind him, the golden gates of glory would open before him, with a Master's ^'well done," for well-doing. Never once did he falter in his 218 THE PKESBYTERIAN BEOTHEKHOOD career of active usefulness until liis work was done. To place precious souls as jewels in the crown of his Saviour's eternal rejoicing was the commanding purpose of his life. * ' Sleeping, he dreamed of souls ; waking, he worked for them. ' ' Oh, that his mantle might descend upon us here this morning! Oh, that we might be bap- tized just now with the spirit of Paul 's earnest- ness; a spirit to consume the dross of a half- hearted religion and enable us before a very universe of opposing circumstances to say: "My heart is fixed, eternal God, And fixed on thee; Now my immortal choice is made — 'Tis Christ for me." Brothers, in him who is '^the tirstborn among many brethren," we indicate our readiness to serve, when, with hand clasped in hand and with heart beating over against heart, we rise from this hour of devotion saying, in a new way, ^ ' To me to live is Christ ; " in him by faith, with him in communion, like him in character, for him in service. One day I said to an English coast guard, *^Wliat would you do if you received a sealed letter within ten minutes, saying, ^Eeport at Sydney, Australia, in ^ve weeks!' *' He re- plied, ^^What should I do? Why, pocket my in- structions and act on the spot.'' Would God we had one hundred thousand men wearing the blue button with the white cross in that spirit! No man has ever said, ^'Lord, what wilt thou have me to do," waiting for the divine indica- CINCINNATI CONVENTION 219 tion of a mission, without rising in the strength of holy resolution to say, ^^This one thing I do.'^ Indifference never wrote great books, nor un- dertook heroic philanthropies, nor painted glow- ing pictures, nor breathed sublime music; all these things have been done in the spirit of whole-souled earnestness. There was a diamond on the point of the needle that pierced the Alps for the Mt. Cenis tunnel, and magnificent pur- pose, backed by the power of prayer, must open the way for magnificent work. ^^Take breath and pull hard'^ is an old-time motto. ^'Take breath' ' for a Brotherhood man, means a call for the higher help ; ' ' pull strong ' ' means mighty purpose to act along the line of prayer. There is more or less hypocrisy in our asking, when we say, '^Lord, have mercy upon this lost world, " if we are not actively engaged in helping to find it and save it. The Lord has had mercy, else why wounded, ministering hands nailed to a cross! If we honestly say, '^The men of America for the Man of Galilee,'' we must at least introduce the Man to the men. Eesolution is the holy boldness of a Christian man aggressively right ; reliance is faith linking itself to omnipotence and declaring ^ ^ I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." When Picton hesitated to carry out an order from Wellington, commanding him to stop the fire of a Spanish fort, he rode up to the ^^Iron Duke" and said, '^Give me a grip of your con- quering right hand and I will take it/' and in 220 THE PRESBYTEKIAN BROTHERHOOD the strength of borrowed inspiration, he did take it. Shall we not slip the hand of faith up into the mighty hand of Him who always leads to triumph and catch from His lips the strengthen- ing assurance, '^This is the victory that over- Cometh the world, even our faith/' "One little hour, and then the glorious crowning, The golden harpstrings and the victor's palm; One little hour, and then the hallelujah. Eternity's long, deep, thanksgiving psalm." Mr. Holt. — Now we enter upon the discussion of that which is without doubt the ultimate end and aim of all our discussions, ^'The Practical Ministries of the Brotherhood.*' We are for- tunate to have for the leader of that discussion Eev. S. Edward Young, D. D., of Pittsburg, who has been at the heart of the Brotherhood since its beginning. Dr. Young will now take charge. Rev. S. Edward Young. — We have very seri- ous business before us now. Gathered here are Presbyterian men to decide to do things. I think there is not a greater subject on the program than this: **The Practical Ministries of the Brotherhood.'' Our Brotherhood must ^^make good" now by doing the things whereunto it is sent, or it ought to die, and will die. In the course of this conference I may make a speech, probably a number of them; but I shall not make any speech now. Please take up the program and see if we cannot do something CINCINNATI CONVENTION 221 definite, with a clear idea of what we are trying to do, in the next hour and forty-five minutes. We shall try to have fifteen minutes left at the end of this time to gather up what we have missed and say something new. We will now have about thirty minutes on the subjects as announced, beginning with '^What Can the Brotherhood Do for the Church Prayer Meet- ing!" You understand that we will not follow these subjects in unvarying order, and of course we cannot give each thirty minutes. There will be no speech longer than two minutes. To have the attention of this company of delegated men for two minutes is a great opportunity. If we shall say there are ^ve hundred here, it is as if one man should listen to you all alone for one thousand minutes, and it is worth while to use these two minutes well. This is not a debate; it is just a suggestion meeting. Please tell us what you have tried and found a success. Dr. M. L. Haines, Indianapolis, Indiana, will speak. If Mr. Hanna were here he would object to Dr. Haines or any other man setting him forth as an example of what one man can do toward interesting church members in the prayer meeting, but he is a good example. Dr. Haines. — You know his spirit. We have increased our church prayer meeting more by the spirit of that man, and two or three others of that spirit, than we have by any methods we ever tried, and we have tried a good many. But 222 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD in the prayer meeting what he and two or three other men have said counts for twice as much as it would coming from the lips of the minister. A minister is handicapped in certain ways. He is paid to say such things, and if you can get laymen to say them they come with twice the power. When they stand up to say earnestly that the chief secret of the power and fruitful- ness of this our beloved church lies in the prayer life of the church, the people begin to feel it. He started in this matter some two years ago. At that time the Session and the Board of Deacons and a half dozen others took lists of the membership and began systematic personal visitations. They accomplished something — all that it cost and more. I believe, however, that the visit to the family in the evening, as some of our men, inspired by Mr. Hanna, have done and are doing to awaken interest in the prayer service of the church, will accomplish more than anything else. After all, it is the personal touch of men with men that accomplishes more than any amount of machinery. Mr. Allan Sutherland. — Four years ago we found that in our church prayer meeting men were conspicuous by their absence, so the Brotherhood called on the Session to find if they could secure permission to take charge of one Wednesday evening prayer meeting a month. We gained permission to do so, and we are still CINCINNATI CONVENTION 223 conducting one service every month, and at dif- ferent times we have had more men than women in our Wednesday evening service; men who never before heard their own voices in prayer are to-day on their feet whenever there is an opportunity. The man who conducts the prayer meeting must take his seat at eight-thirty, and from that on the meeting is conducted by the men from the floor. Mr. Lafferty, Braddock, Pa. — A prayer meeting committee in our Brotherhood which looks after the men who do not attend prayer meeting, visiting them specially, has been found very successful in our church. Ren Mulford. — I want to tell you what the Advertisers' Club, of Cincinnati, has done. We had been having our meetings on Wednesday evening, but some of the members asked that the night be changed, so the men might have a chance to go to prayer meeting, and we changed it to Tuesday night. Mr. Gunter, Norwood, Cincinnati. — At the first meeting of our Brotherhood we had men there who had never prayed in public. There were, I think, seven of these men who got up to lead in prayer in public for the first time in their lives. One of these men was here yes- terday, perhaps he is here to-day. Seventy- two years old. Now the voices of these men 224 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD are heard in our prayer meeting every Wednes- day evening. Mr. Snowden", Cincinnati. — Does this mean Sunday evening or Wednesday evening prayer meeting? Our Brotherhood one Sunday evening in a month takes charge of the service. We have special music, good singing, and the men of the church make little addresses. We are not good speakers, but do an}i;hing that brings the men out. What we want is to bring everyone into the work of the church, and if every man at some time is given that opportunity, he is going to work for the Master with renewed zeal. Mr. McKay, Auburn. — Our church is located among working people. Our men take certain streets and canvass them, going to the door and asking for the man of the house, and giving him a cordial invitation to come to the church services. Mr. Potter, St. Louis. — Our Brotherhood took up the prayer meeting question, and in order to keep up the interest the men pledged themselves to be there three nights out of four each month, and on an average of about two nights a month all the men are there. The pastor invites men to lead, and they come pre- pared to talk. We have men talking there that their own wives and mothers would not know if they heard them talking. CINCINNATI CONVENTION 225 De. Young. — How shall the men of the church reach the non-church-going men and bring them to church! Up in the Adirondacks one summer a horse strayed away. Every man tried to find the horse, but to no avail. Finally, a half-simple fellow declared he would try. In half an hour or so he came into the camp leading the horse. When asked how he found him, he said : ' ' Well, I just went and set down and thunk, now if I wuz a horse, what would I do 1 And I just went and done that, and I come right to where the horse wuz.^' That is horse sense. If you want to know how to reach the non-church-going man, think yourself into his place. If I were where he is, and had the same wife (or no wife), if I had been raised as he was, if I had the same objec- tions to the church, what would be the first thing that would reach me! How could a man get hold of me ? Dr. Biggee. — I would like to present a plan that we have used in our own church. That is to divide the town up into districts. We have forty-five. Give each man a district and make him responsible for it, and have him keep account of it in a little book. Here is my district; I know each and every man in it, and all about it. District your city; place the men in it and make them responsible, and you will reach the non-church goer. Then 226 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD keep everlastingly at it until they have to come or die. Mr. Glasgow, Olney, 111. — We have a card in our church on the top of which are given the hours of the different services, the Sunday school, prayer meeting, and preaching service. Then at the bottom it reads : ' ^ The members of the Brotherhood cordially invite you and all your friends to attend the services of the church. ^Come thou with us and we will do thee good.' A Sabbath well remembered lives through all the week.'' Then the members of the Brotherhood see to it that these cards are put in public places, in hotels, restaurants, barber shops, so that when men see them they will pick them up. As our little town is the center of twenty-five or thirty miles of country, a great many traveling men spend Sabbath there. They see these cards and come to our church, and then we have a man at the door to find out their names and invite them to come again. Mr. Atwood, Chicago. — I have had consider- able experience with men in Y. M. C. A. work, and I tell you you cannot get men by proxy. You can put that down in your book. If you want to reach men you must get them by per- sonal contact; go after them and go after them and go after them and go after them, and go after them again. And when you have gone CINCINNATI CONVENTION 227 after them five times, go after them the sixth time, or go after them until you get them. If you camiot get them by persuasion, get some one to go with you that has a little stronger hold on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will bring them that time. Dr. Young. — We will now go to '*The Man's Eesponsibility for the Family Altar." Every man who grew up in a Christian home, or who came under the influence of the Christian home, stand up right now. [Practically every man stood up.] Now you see that if there are to be any Christian homes in our land twenty-five years from now, we must have Christian homes now. Mr. Fields, Harvey, 111. — I grew up in a Christian home; it was a Christian home not alone in profession, but in practice. When my father united with the church, that very night he brought his family round the family altar, and that family altar was sustained as long as my father lived, with the exception of one year. That one year we somehow drifted away from the Master, but at the end of the year my father said we must have the family altar again. It was again inaugurated and sustained as long as my father lived. When I was married, over forty years ago, my wife and I established a family altar, and, praise the Lord, it is burning to-day. Had I not had the influence of that altar 228 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD tlirown about me by my father in my childhood, I undoubtedly would never have had a family altar of my own. If there is anything we need on this earth, it is the help we receive at the family altar. If there is a brother here this morning who has not a family altar, for the sake of our Lord and Master go home and get down on your knees with your family round the altar, asking him to give you strength to keep it burn- ing as long as life shall last. Mr. Wright, Indiana.— I cannot remember when I did not hear my father pray. Some years ago when I was the pastor of a church in Kansas I canvassed the congregation to find how many family altars there were. There were forty-two, when there should have been two hun- dred and fifty. I want to impress upon you the great need we have of just this thing — ^the es- tablishment of the family altar. Dr. Young. — We must pass on now, and we will take up ^'Men Advancing Home and For- eign Missions." Rev. Ernest Hall, of Korea, will say a few words. Rev. Ernest Hall. — I am glad to tell you how much Jesus Christ is doing in Korea through his servants, and perhaps ask you at the close what you are going to do about it ? We have, in the first place, a Bible-studying church. At the time of the Korean New Year, which CINCINNATI CONVENTION 229 comes in our February, we get the men together at the loafing season of two weeks, for Bible study. Three, four, five, sometimes thirteen hundred men gather for Bible study. There are one hundred and ninety-two Bible classes in the heart of Korea, and to these classes come ten thousand people. We have a Bible-studying church; we have a praying church; we have family altars, and are bringing the children up in such a way that they do not know anything else than to have family altars. We also have a witness-bearing church. The Koreans do not know anything else than to witness for Christ. One of the questions we ask when anyone ap- plies for membership in the church is : * * Have you ever told the message of Jesus ' love to some one else!'' If they say they have, they will probably be kept on the waiting list, and if not, they must come again. At our men's Bible classes we have had them pledge themselves to weeks of service, going into the hinterland to tell the message of Jesus. We have natives there who have been preaching continually for nine and ten years. We have self-supporting churches. We are glad to help them to help themselves. They have started one hundred and thirty-nine churches during the last year. They have given this last year over $40,000 to the support of the Korean church. Last year we had two hundred and eight schools, and now we have three hun- dred and forty-four, and of this three hundred 230 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD and forty-four, three hundred and thirty-four are self-supporting. But we are up against this proposition. We cannot do the work with the force at hand, and we have sent to the Foreign Board to try to get twenty men and equipment. As you go back to your homes will you not lay this matter before your congregations I We must have twenty more men, and if anyone here wants to do some- thing for the foreign work, see me after this service. Dr. Young. — We go now to ^ * The Problem of the City and the Foreign-Speaking Popula- tion. '' I take great pleasure in introducing Rev. E. P. Hill, of McCormick Seminary, Arch- bishop of the Presbytery of Chicago. OUTLINE OF ADDRESS BY REV. EDGAR P. HILL, D. D. In the course of an address to the students of Yale Divinity School, Phillips Brooks once remarked that when he entered the Theological Seminary he was profoundly impressed by the religious enthusiasm of certain students. But as he met those same men week after week in the classroom, he discovered that they rarely had their lessons. *^In other words,'' said Bishop Brooks, **they failed to make connection be- tween the boiler and the engine." I take it we are gathered here to make connection between a boiler and an engine. CINCINNATI CONVENTION 231 The Christian men of the churches are trying to do something for the kingdom. Here is a great task before them — the transforming of the city with its selfishness, sorrow and sin into a new city in which God 's will shall be done. One of the greatest factors in city life is the presence of the foreigner. We do not grasp the serious- ness of the problem. During the past six years j5ve million have come from the other side of the water — enough to repopulate the state of Dela- ware fifteen times, and they are largely in our cities. One of the most alarming things that has hap- pened since the days of the war, happened in Chicago a month or so ago. Just before an election there assembled on the lake front a great mass of men; not there as free citizens, but lined up as so many Italians, so many Bo- hemians, so many Poles, to be delivered in great blocks at the polls the next week. If we have come to the time when great blocks of men can be delivered at the polls, the days of our democ- racy are gone and the days of feudalism have come. In Chicago we have come to the conclusion that this problem must be met as a foreign mis- sionary problem, and we must make the appeal to these people by means of ministry. You may put up a little building in the Bo- hemian quarter with a sign across the front reading, '^Bohemian Presbyterian Mission,'' and in the course of a few decades you may in- 232 THE PKESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD duce a few to cross the threshold. Out on the Pacific coast the men decided they would try to reach the cheap-lodging-house men, and in- stead of putting up a building with a spire on it, they made their appeal through a reading room, a building that cost $40,000 ; and by actual count they had over a thousand men there every day in the year. And all the time the men had been making friends with these other men and trying to lead them to Christ. Only a few days ago I had a letter from a man in Denver, who said : ^ ^ Ten years ago I entered Portland a tramp. I went into that reading room and a man came and talked to me, showed himself to be a friend and led me to Christ, and here I am in Denver, a preacher of the gospel. ' ' It is almost a tragedy to see men looking for some easy, impersonal way of carrying the gospel to their fellow-men. It cannot be done that way. It is a matter of personal ministry. Christian men must get hold of the individual foreigner and, becoming his friend, lead him to Christ. Mr. Stelzle, in an address not long ago, said he had been brought into the church by a Chris- tian woman coming in and sitting down beside his mother and sympathizing with her in her sorrow. In one of our large cities a poor girl came in at the rear door of a saloon sick and drunk. An officer took her to a refuge home, where she was cared for, and then the wife of the wealthiest CINCINNATI CONVENTION 233 man in that city took the girl, invited her to her home, told her of Christ, and in a few weeks it was my privilege to receive her into the mem- bership of the church. The work must be done by personal ministry. This is the solution of the problem in the city, and in the village as well; that we go to these men and take them by the hand and show them that we are brothers and lead them into the radiant presence of Christ. Dr. Young. — This subject is now turned over to you for further discussion, and I hope you will make good use of the time. Dr. Samuel McLanahan, New Jersey. — I want to put in a plea for the foreigner who can- not speak English or understand it. Many of them have come to America in the present cen- tury, and the great percentage of them are men between the ages of fourteen and forty-five. They are the men who are going to determine the politics of our American cities, and are going to determine the next presidential election very largely. I plead, not for America, but for these men. They feel that we Americans very largely look down on them, that we despise them, that we will not associate with them, and it is for us Christian men to give them the idea that we are their friends. How can we do it 1 One way is to find out that they are about us. In a little town in New Jersey there were three 234 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD to four hundred Poles and Hungarians, and the Protestant Americans did not know they were there until a meeting was called, and three hundred men came and organized a Protestant church. Over in Illinois, in a medium-sized town, it was found that there were four hun- dred Bulgarians in one building, and yet the people did not know they were there. If we cannot speak their tongue, we can give them literature, and many of them can read. Give them a chance to learn English, and let them learn to read for themselves the message of the New Testament. Mr. Eook, Olney, 111.— That is what the Brotherhood can do. We have a big colony of Syrians that our men are teaching English, and these men all belong to our Brotherhood. I want to say, too, that we must stop talking before these people and calling them ^*for- eigners. ' ^ Most of them come to us because they love liberty and want to be one of us. One of the elders of my church almost wrecked our work by saying to me, **Who are these for- eigners ? " I said, ^ ^ They are the men for whom Christ died, and we want them in this church for his sake.'' Mr. Kalispell, New Jersey. — I come from a town of twenty thousand, and of these, ten thou- sand are foreigners. The foreigner comes to our country because he thinks he will have a CINCINNATI CONVENTION 235 better opportunity to do for himself, and his soft spot is his child. He wants his child to be better than he is ; he wants his child to be a good American, and if you can reach the foreign cliild through the Sunday school, you have the parent. When you touch the child you touch the parent 's soft spot. Me. Gantz, Evansville, Ind. — I want to say that I was a foreigner some twenty-four years ago. I was homesick, and I discovered then that Jesus Christ comes into homesick hearts. Re- member, there is a period when the foreigner is always homesick; there comes a time when his heart is melting; then you can reach him, and you will always have him. That is the time, the opportunity. Every man that ever leaves his native land at some time or other longs to go back. Go to him then and bring him home, to his heavenly home. Dr. Bigger. — We will not be interested in the foreigner until we study the foreign question, and among the things you can do is to organize a mission study class among men. Our men are studying Dr. Strong's question of the twentieth century city. Dr. Young. — Now we will hear that great apostle of labor, Rev. Charles Stelzle. When the Presbyterian Church formed a Department of Labor, old, conservative, old-fashioned men 236 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD like myself were trembling. We felt that this was a delicate work, and would probably bring us into serious complications. But somehow or other Stelzle, without putting his foot in it, has done things. Rev. Chas. Stelzle. — ^I shall simply intro- duce the subject, then the discussion will be yours, and if you do not make good use of the time, I threaten to make a speech. Eeference was made to the fact that the great majority of our ministers come from the country or small towns. That is only too true. In one of our western cities, out of one hundred min- isters, only two were raised in the city. Ninety- eight came from country towns. And what is the result? Most of our city churches are con- ducted upon country-church programs. That is why our churches are losing out in the cities. The city church must be conducted by city men, in the city spirit, with a city program. And when you do that, your church in the city will win out. We all know about the great tidal wave of temperance that is sweeping over this country; but, gentlemen, what are you going to do for the masses of workingmen who are now shut out of the saloons, which formerly were the only social centers for workingmen ! It would be the great- est mistake of the temperance movement to adopt a merely negative policy — shutting up all the saloons and giving the workingman no CINCINNATI CONVENTION 237 other place to go. I would go to the far- thest limit with any man in fighting the saloons; but I would also set before you the importance of providing social centers for the workingmen. Some time ago I was invited to talk to a Pres- byterian Brotherhood in a rather small town. The audience was very small, it was a rainy night, and when I was introduced the chairman apologized for the smallness of the crowd. He said it was a bad night, that there was a meet- ing in another part of town, and a good many of the people were there. I said to this chairman: *^When I got off the train to-night, I did not know just where the church was, except that I had been told it was two blocks from the station. I walked over to a drug store and said to the man behind the counter, * Can you tell me where the Presbyterian Church is?' He said, ^I do not know,' and turning to the clerk, he said, ^Tell this gentleman where the Presbyterian Church is. ' The clerk said he was not sure, but he thought it was about three blocks up the street. I met a man on the sidewalk and asked him where the Presbyterian Church was, and he said, * Indeed, I do not know where it is.' I walked up the street about half a square and met a young woman coming along with a little boy about eight or ten years old, but she did not know where the church was. I walked on until I got across from the church, and a young man came running out of a store, whom I stopped 238 THE PRESBYTEKIAN BROTHERHOOD with the same question. lie said, *I am not sure, but I think that is it right across the street. ' ' ' I was in a town of not more than ten thousand people, the church was in the center of the town, it was a hundred years old, its steeple could have been seen from any part of town, and yet there were five people who did not know where it was. I think some of us take too many things for granted. I teach a class in Christian sociology in New York. One day I said, in speaking of advertising the church, ^^ Suppose you had never taken a bath in all your life, but, waking some morning, you concluded you needed a bath ; what kind of soap would you usef They all shouted, *^ Ivory!'' ^^Why would you use Ivory r' Well, they said, because there were so many advertisements of it in the newspapers and magazines. The ^'fifty-seven varieties" are advertised; Ivory Soap is advertised, and if I were to mention the Kock of Gibraltar, what would all think of? AVliy? Because for years these men have been creating an atmosphere, and when the time comes that you want soap, or pickles, or something else, there is just one kind that you think of. Now, then, why cannot the church be put on some basis like that? Put the same hard busi- ness sense into your church work that you put into your business. We will now have a general discussion, giv- ing each man two minutes. CINCINNATI CONVENTION 239 Mb. Edwards, Springfield, Ohio. — The reason we think of the * ^ fifty-seven varieties ' ^ when we want pickles is that that man is making us want something that he has in this line that we do not have to die to enjoy. If all these gentlemen will make it known to all that they come in con- tact with that Christianity is something that we can enjoy in this life and that yon do not have to die to get, then your work will be successful. I did not come here to say this, I came to say something else. Yesterday there was a sort of hint that there would not be any convention next year, because it is presidential election. There will be a convention next year, not because it is presidential election, but because it is the elec- tion of Jesus Christ. Mr. Higgins, the ^'Lumber- jack Evangelist," of Minnesota. — I want to talk for a moment on this subject. Some of you may know that for the last twelve years I have been preaching the gospel. Three years ago I gave up my church to give my entire time to this work among the laboring men, because I realized this was a vast field, but there was one phase of the work I did not know, and that was dealing with the foreign- ers, or the men we call ^' hoboes.'^ So I put on old clothes and went out into Dakota, where I worked along with these men, no one knowing I was a minister. From there I went to Arizona and Mexico, working with the same kind of men, but no one knew who I was. And when it came 240 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD Sunday all I did was to wash my face — ^I did not wear collar or tie, and, of course, wore overalls and blouse. I went to whatever church was in the towns we visited. Congregational or Methodist, or what ; but when we came to Port- land, Oregon, I went to the First Presbyterian Church to hear a man preach about the assassi- nation of McKinley. I was treated with every kindness. I was met at the door by the usher, and while I must confess he looked me over a little (I was wearing my overalls) he took me to one of the best seats in the house, and at the end of the service another man asked me who I was and where I came from. They introduced me to the pastor, and he said he hoped I would come again. I went out of that church saying: **Well, if I am a workingman, I must go to church, and this church is none too big for me. ' ' We have been reading in a monthly maga- zine about the young lady who has gone to one hundred and fifty churches. I wish she had gone in the right spirit. I do not think there is any church in the country but what wants the laboring man. Mr. Chas. T. Thompson, Minneapolis. — -* * The social centers for the people. ' ' I ask permission to speak on this subject, because it is one es- pecially near to my heart. I have been in this work since 1881, and one of the best men we ever had to help was this ** apostle of labor," Mr. Stelzle, as he is called. CINCINNATI CONVENTION 241 Westminster Church, Minneapolis, has two settlements, each with its teachers, its kinder- garten, its industrial schools; and we feel that it is the most blessed work we have ever been permitted to carry on in the service of our Lord and Master, thus assisting in the work of these great missions. But, as I say, to Mr. Stelzle is due in a very large degree the development of that work to its present splendid proportions. That is something the Brotherhood can take up. See if you cannot find some such centers. They need you, you need them. Here is your opportunity to elevate men, giving them some place where they can go for a social time. You will find a response. Mr. Stelzle. — Let us have a discussion of things that are of special importance to work- ingmen, such as shop meetings. There are men here who have had considerable experience in shop meetings. Mr. Davis, Chicago. — I would like to say a word about my experience seventeen years ago. I was working on a railroad in Arizona. As I remember it, we had one little church away over in the far side of the town, and the main centers were the saloons. There was no place for the men to go — except the most uninviting places — if they did not go to the saloons. The Santa Fe took up this question, they built a clubhouse for this division, and they took more men away 242 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD from the saloons, they saved more drinking on the line, than all the churches. A number of the churches then took up the matter of giving the laboring man some place to go for the social side of his life. He must have relaxation from his work. You cannot have a man go every Sunday morning and every Sunday evening to preaching and think he will stay a Christian. Until you provide for the social side of their lives, you will never get the workingmen. Mr. Eeno, Cincinnati. — Mr. Chairman and Brethren: I have had the blessed privilege of doing some shop-meeting work among foreign- ers — among the Hungarians — hundreds of whom are employed in the great factories of this city. I have been astonished at the attention we have received. My heart has been touched as I read the history of hundreds and hundreds of years in these faces, in these burning eyes, and I have come to the conclusion that if we are to reach these people we must give them native minis- ters, and we should support Presbyterian insti- tutions such as are located at Bloomfield and Dubuque. Give them ministers of their own nationality, reach them in the shops and in the congested districts through people who can speak their tongue. Mr. Barnett, Kentucky. — I have seen, in the L. & N. shops in Louisville, meetings attended by seven and eight hundred men. In the Ken- CINCINNATI CONVENTION 243 tucky Wagon shops the Y. M. C. A. have been holding meetings on certain days of the week. There we met the men on the platform of Chris- tian brotherhood. We had good music, reading of the Scripture, and some talking. A Catholic musician told me once that years ago the L. & N. employes were noted for their drinking; but after the shop meetings had been held a few years, there was a noticeable change, and this man gave all the credit to the shop meetings. Mr. Heineman, Cleveland. — I did not know I could talk at a shop meeting until I tried it. It was in a small town. We started a phonograph and the men gathered around until there were one hundred or one hundred and twenty-five at every meeting. After that we would have sing- ing, reading of the gospel and some straight gospel talks, and consequently when we an- nounced an evening meeting for men, they came. You can get the men if you go after them. Mr. a. C. Crosby, Chicago. — We had shop meetings in our shop in Chicago. I had the son of a Presbyterian minister working for me, and he had not been inside of a church for sixteen years. I had another young man who was never in a church except at funerals. These young- men who held these meetings came into the shop and talked good gospel sense, sung some songs, and these two young men requested me to have them come back again. The result of these meet- 244 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD ings was that where forty quarts of beer had been brought in there at the noon hour, we have three now, and the rest is milk. Rev. Anderson, Dayton, Ohio. — I have been engaged, otf and on, in shop work all my life. Recently I have done a good deal under the di- rection of the Y. M. C. A. The hardest thing is to get men to go. They can hardly get anyone but preachers, and they are after the preachers all the time to go at the noon hour and talk in the shops. But I want to say to you laymen, that if a few of the business men would go into the shops and give gospel talks at the noon hour, you would be doing a lot more than the preachers can do. I have just finished a series of meetings in the Davis Screw and Machine Shop, and while they came and gave me respectful attention, I was a preacher and the men knew it. One lay- man who would go there to talk would have more influence on these men than all the preachers in Dayton, because they think it is a preacher's business. But when a layman takes the time to come and talk to them about religion, they think it is worth while to pay attention ; it means more. You are hunting for work in your Brotherhood? Here is your chance. Mr. Stelzle. — To show you what can be done along this line, during sixty days of the past year the Department of Church and Labor en- tered four hundred shops, enlisted five hundred CINCINNATI CONVENTION 245 ministers, held one thousand meetings, dis- tributed fifty thousand Gospels, one hundred and fifty thousand pieces of Christian literature, and the men talked to nearly a quarter of a million workingmen. I am glad the brother from Dayton spoke ; but the preacher can do this work. Some people think a preacher does not know how to talk to men. Well, if he doesn % he had better quit his job ; that is what he is paid for. While it is true that the la^nman can do this work, the preacher can do it too, if he knows how to approach the men. I remember one preacher who came into a shop and said, '^Now, men, we have come down here for no other purpose than to do you good.'' That queered him at once. ^'You know," he said, ^^we are all workingmen, the only differ- ence being that you work with your hands while I work with my brains. ' ' That was the limit. I saw several fellows in that shop who were going to night school three nights a week, and I saw men there who were using their brains ten times as hard as that preacher. They turned away in disgust. Next day another preacher came down. He came up on the platform with a sort of swagger- ing way ; he did not say much, but the men were disgusted at his few words. He apologized for the fact that he was a preacher, and every true workingman despises a coward. He half apolo- gized for the Bible that he came to preach; he 246 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD lialf apologized for the ehurcli. The great mass of workingmen will listen to the gospel of Jesus Christ as attentively as the people in the churches, and they despise a man who apolo- gizes for that gospel. The preachers who came to these shop meetings declared unanimously that they had never been listened to with greater attention than in these shops at the noon hour. As a result of a campaign held in Chicago a year ago, out of one hundred and ten shops, seventy-five requested weekly meetings for the workingmen. Here is a work that the Brother- hoods of this country can do, and it seems to me it is one of the most important along the line of Christian work. A Delegate. — I would like to ask what we shall do when an objection is made to the cost of advertising? Mr. Stelzle. — Does it pay business men to advertise! Yes. All business men here will testify to the value of advertising. I would make good on it. Start a definite campaign of advertising, show that you can deliver the goods, and after you have demonstrated that, I think you can get sufficient money for advertising. But we have not time now to take up that sub- ject. A Delegate. — I was in Pittsburg last year, and everywhere I went I saw the advertisements CINCINNATI CONVENTION 247 of the Second Presbyterian Church. I saw them all over Pittsburg and Allegheny, saying that a particular sermon would be preached Sabbath night by Dr. Young; I went, and there were thousands of others who evidently had read the advertisements, too. And from the audience that night I believe it pays to advertise. Dk. Anderson, Nashville. — I would like to say a word on this subject of expense for advertis- ing. Wlien I came to my present charge one of the deacons came to me and informed me that for all reasonable advertising the Board of Dea- cons would be responsible. Since that time I have been zealously trying to push the matter by cards, handbills and in other ways. Up to that time I had been paying my own bills for ad- vertising, but they said '^It is our business; you do the work and we will pay the bills." Mr. Wilson. — I am chairman of the Brother- hood in the Ottawa Presbyterian Church, and I have been waiting for some one to tell me how to exchange members from one Brotherhood to another. There were some good ideas in what Dr. Bigger had to say along this line about cards of introduction. I want to say that there are some lessons we can learn from the old fraterni- ties. The men of this country ought to look after the question of the physical well-being of men. It means a great deal to a man to know that he has friends all over the country. If this move- 248 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD ment means anything, it means brotherly kind- ness ; then let us adopt the suggestions given by Dr. Bigger and take care of our fellow-men when they are sick and alone and away from home. Mr. Stelzle. — I want to say a word in conclu- sion. On this whole proposition of the working- man and the church, and the foreigner, and all the rest of it, I want to very heartily endorse what Dr. Hill said. It is a matter of personal contact, with all that that means. A man here asked me, ^'Suppose the church will not give me anything for advertising!'^ I heard some time ago that the word ^^ Session'' meant '* sitting on things." That may apply to some churches, and I believe it does ; but while that is true, I say that as a rule, if a man has the stuff in him and knows how to make good, he will get the money from the Session. Dr. Young. — As to this question of advertis- ing, you yourselves are the best advertisement for any church, and it does not cost much. You can talk about your prayer meeting and other services, and it costs nothing. You know P. T. Barnum's motto: ^* Advertise yourself on every occasion. ' ' A good soul once came to Mr. Barnum and asked: ^^Mr. Barnum, do you think you will go to heaven?" *^Well, I don't know," he said; **but I do know I have the best 6how of any man on earth." CINCINNATI CONVENTION 249 Now for what we have missed. We have missed a whole lot. If any man has any good thing to offer, let him give it now. A Delegate. — I have been listening to this discussion, and have four things to offer. First, get interested enough in your church to desire its usefulness increased. Second, get interested enough in men to desire their salvation. Third, begin work in some way. Fourth, have faith enough to keep at it in spite of all objections. Dr. Howerton. — I want to speak a minute on this subject of reaching the common people, and to say that the difficulty is not always in the preacher. For ten years I was pastor of one of the best churches in this country, a very wealthy church, a very aristocratic church, and a very good church in almost every respect. But that church was located right down in the heart of the city and had a big yard. We wanted one summer to have union meetings, not in the church, but out in the yard, and I brought the matter before the Session. This was their objection: ^'If we hold these meetings in the yard we will be bothered with all the loafers in town. ' ' Dr. Young. — The Brotherhood in the country church — how to make it go. Can anyone tell us in a half minute of one that has succeeded? A Delegate from Illinois. — In our small 250 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD churcli we have succeeded. We have monthly meetings and we have a flourishing Brother- hood. Dr. Young. — The Bible class, the normal class. Can anyone suggest how the Brother- hoods can arrange for normal classes? Mr. Gray, of the Sixth Church, Pittsburg. — There are forty-two Brotherhoods in the Pres- bytery of Pittsburg, nearly all of them with Bible classes ; the rest ought to have them. The trouble is that we cannot get competent laymen to teach Bible classes, and the ministers are too busy. In one of the Brotherhoods the minister was too busy to teach, but he said : ^^If you will come to my house I will put you in possession of the means whereby you can learn to teach a Bible class.'' So that Brotherhood decided to have a Bible class. It is absolutely necessary that we have Bible classes, and I believe the men ought to be instructed. Dr. Young. — I realize we have not ac- complished nearly as much as we would like this morning, but we have accomplished something. I have just one word in a general way. No one thing will work well everywhere. What works in my work, for instance, might not work in yours ; but we get some ideas here, and we can go home and work them out each in his own locality. CINCINNATI CONVENTION 251 When I was at the Sea of Galilee I asked a man to take a photograph of a fisherman just where Jesus stood when he said, '' Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." This fisherman had waded out clear up to his arm- pits and was moving his landing net around in the water. He did not stand on the bank and say, **A11 ye fishes in the Sea of Galilee who want to be caught, come up here and I will catch you." He went out with his net and caught them. I figure there are about four hundred thou- sand men in our Presbyterian churches, and all of tbem ought to be out after men, bringing them to Christ. What could they not do 1 XV THUESDAY AFTERNOON After the singing of hymn No. 17, ^'How Firm a Foundation/' the session was opened with prayer by Dr. Francis C. Monfort, of Cincinnati. Mr. Holt. — We shall first be favored with a word from Dr. McKibben, of Lane Seminary. Dk. McKibben. — I want, in the name of the faculty of Lane Seminary, to give to you a heart- felt welcome. Lane Seminary belongs to the Presbyterian Church, she lives for the Presbyte- rian Church, she loves the Presbyterian Church, and she wants the church to love and live in her, and we want this great tide that is bringing manliness into the church, and men to their duties, to sweep into this seminary ; for without manly men in the pulpit, the manly men will be driven out of the pews. We need you, and I think we have a claim upon you. From our alumni have gone Arthur J. Brown, the foreign missionary, and that prince of evan- gelists, J. Wilbur Chapman; also Howard Agnew Johnston and Edgar W. Work, who CINCINNATI CONVENTION 253 labor in metropolitan fields, so that we are send- ing missionaries the world around, doing the work of the Lord. I want to say a word about the constitution, that we want it changed so that the colleges and seminaries under the care of the Reformed churches shall have a Brotherhood, and be en- titled to be represented in this body, and carry this fire into every part of the earth. So that while you are training manly men for the pews, let us be training manly men for the pulpit. For they must withstand the evil together — the man in the pulpit and the man in the pew. Mr. Holt. — I am sure we all appreciate this word from Dr. McKibben, and also the extreme kindness and hospitality of our brethren at the seminary. We come to the discussion this afternoon of two topics which are so closely allied that they may almost be considered as one. It is a great disappointment that Mr. Converse, that prince of Christian merchants — ^who pours into Chris- tian service not only money, but time and personal effort, to a degree that I have not seen equaled among other men of large affairs — on account of business complications, especially the responsibility for a payroll of sixteen thou- sand men, is at the last moment unable to be with us. - In his stead, however, we are most fortunate in having the assistance of Mr. Fred S. Good- 254 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD man, International Secretary for Bible Work of the Young Men's Christian Association. I turn the conference over to Mr. Goodman, with the utmost confidence that much as we regret the absence of Mr. Converse, we shall not suffer by the change. Mr. Fred. S. Goodman. — No one here more deeplj^ regrets the absence of Mr. Converse than I. Were it not for the fact that the committee were in an emergency (and I do not believe a conscientious man has any business to refuse to help out in an emergency) I would not be on this platform. This convention will pass away like the morn- ing dew, except in so far as the indi^ddual men for themselves make use of these hours and act upon the impressions received; therefore, we will discuss points that will so deepen our con- victions as to result in changed habits, the forma- tion of new habits, and the carrying out of new resolutions. There is developing a new type of business known as * industrial engineering.'' Experts go into factories, and they go from the coal bins, to the engine, the machinery, and on up to the packing room and the office, and find where there is waste or loss of power. I saw the other day in the New York Sim an advertisement which contained these words: ** Obscure and latent earning power developed in men and things.'' I believe this a good text for this convention. CINCINNATI CONVENTION 255 Our church is full of it — obscure and latent power, earning power for Christ and the king- dom. Let us take up briefly three or four questions that connect this afternoon with the morning's discussion. THE PKACTICAL MINISTRIES OF THE BROTHERHOOD Why has the social nature a claim on this Brotherhood? ^ ^ Because it reaches to the spiritual side. ' ' *^Man is a social being.'' ^^He that hath friends must show himself friendly. ' ' Mr. Higgins. — Naturally, the things that degrade the spiritual nature are most likely to attack a man on his social side. ^ ^ God Almighty intended that we should have a social nature. ' ' ^*It is not good for man to be alone." ' ' He is more easily approached on that side. >> Mr. Goodman. — You will find a very pointed connection between this topic and Dr. John- ston 's topic which follows in the next hour. You cannot take most men by assault, they are rather taken by siege, and it usually takes planning to win their friendship. Delegate. — I should say this, I want a man 256 THE PEESBYTEKIAN BROTHERHOOD to be my friend; that is, I want to be a friend to him, whether he wants me to or not. Chris- tian men should try to make other men their friends, and then lead them to the Friend of friends. Mr. Goodman. — What functions have you had of a social character that were worth while? Delegate. — We have in our church in Balti- more a Men's Association that is social in its nature, although all the tendencies are spiritual. We meet, have a lecture, have a social hour. Then we divide up and go out and look for students. Baltimore is full of students, and our men go out and try to bring these students to our church. We have met with good success. Mr. Goodman. — How many have tried social functions looking toward the bringing of young men into the Bible class? Delegate. — In the First Presbyterian Church of Baltimore, we have tried the experi- ment of organizing a school for boys. The first meeting this season was held about ten days ago, and it was opened with an attendance of 276 boys. We give these boys help in finding em- ployment, we throw around them a moral and re- ligious influence, and in addition we win the CINCINNATI CONVENTION 257 parents through the gratitude they have for what we have done for their boys. Delegate. — The greatest happiness in all the world is when we make somebody else happy. My pastor came to me recently and wanted to know if there was any money in the treasury of the Brotherhood. He said a member of our church was in the hospital, and he wanted to send him some flowers. I told him to go ahead and get the flowers. He did, and when he took them to the hospital the wife was there, and their hearts were melted when the minister gave the man the flowers. There is nothing like mak- ing somebody else happy. Me. Goodman. — Of the forty-one men's or- ganizations that were disbanded in the Chicago Presbytery in the past five years, not one had had a Bible class. The men's club that is self- centered, devoted to social purposes only, is doomed ; but the social organization that has at its heart the study of the word of God is pre- paring for permanency. What is the chief object of social functions in the Brotherhood! Mr. LaMonte. — Fellowship. The Second Presbyterian Church of Chicago has recently taken an important step by establishing a ^'fel- lowship house" near the church, where young men can meet in a partly social way. Eleven or twelve Christian consecrated young men 258 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD lodge in that fellowship house and create an at- mosphere, and when the young men from the boarding houses of the neighborhood are in- duced to come there for social times, they are also invited to join the Bible classes, of which they have four. Mr. Goodman. — Can you work up a social at- mosphere by ordinary methods of advertising — letters, music, etc! Where does it come from? Where is its home? ' * In the sympathetic heart. ' ' Mr. Goodman. — What is the connection be- tween the social and the spiritual? Delegate. — ^We use the social in our church primarily for the purpose of bringing the whole Brotherhood into contact with the whole mem- bership of the church. Delegate. — Some of the large churches in Pittsburg appoint ten Brotherhood men who act as a receiving committee at the door. Not exactly as ushers, but to receive men at the door. Delegate. — The Brotherhood which I repre- sent meets socially three times a month at the homes of the members. This has led to bring- ing into the church during the past year a score of men who had never been in church work be- fore. It has led to the turning over of the Sun- CINCINNATI CONVENTION 259 day night service to the Brotherhood ; it has put into the work at that service men who have never done any work before, and in this way we get them into permanent work in the church. Me. Goodman. — Let us pass on to the next topic — visitation. The proposition is that some- thing ought to be done for the residents, to in- terest them in the church. Have any of you lay- men tried this! Several answered, ^'Yes.'^ *^ Did it work!" ^ ' It worked well. ' ' ' ' Did you get your man ! ' ' *^Yes." *^We tried the plan of sending one man after one man, and it worked." ^ ' Our men went two and two, and they notified the families of the church to remain at home that evening. Forty-four men went out, each couple making about four calls." Mr. Goodman. — I have known churches in the midst of industrial districts where the number of men at church would be less than a dozen, where by holding a men's meeting they had a church full of non-church-going men, because somebody came to their door and asked them, and they knew that man was not being paid for his work. One church arranges for a special men's meeting Sunday night, and the laymen canvass the neighborhood two days in advance. 260 THE PRESBYTEEIAN BROTHERHOOD Delegate. — I find that busy men and the best business men are willing to spend a whole day or evening, if need be, to call on other men, but do you think the polished, refined man appre- ciates this visit ? I do not think so. Mr. Goodman. — The average society man does not care to be reminded that he has been absent from church; but if the right man approaches him in the right way, I think he will receive the visit in the right spirit. Delegate. — A fine time to go is just before prayer meeting, because then you can say : * ^ If you cannot come to-night, we can at least pray with you." Mr. Goodman. — What can the Brotherhood do to promote rescue work? There are various kinds of missions, especially in the great cities. I know a town of fifteen thousand that has two or three missions. Work has been established by a Brotherhood like our own. What can we do to improve and extend this type of work for those who have fallen by the way, or are out of easy reach? Has anyone here tried such work? Delegate. — We have what we call ** neigh- borhood work" in the factory district. This is a department of our church, and it has a larger Sunday-school attendance than the church itself. CINCINNATI CONVENTION 261 A good many are foreigners. Some of the mem- bers of the Brotherhood work there all the time, others are called upon occasionally, but it has been taken up by the Brotherhood as a part of its work, and they are kept informed about it, brought into contact with it, and support it largely. Delegate. — The Second Presbyterian Church of Peoria has become interested in the Juvenile Court work, and has put a plant in the basement of our church for industrial work. We arranged for tools, and hired a man to instruct these boys for six months. Each man in the club becomes responsible for one of these boys, sees that he goes to Sunday school and church, and provides him with employment. Mr. Goodman. — Last summer, while in Lon- don, I went on Tottenham Court Eoad to Whit- field's Chapel. The work was wonderful in its scope, and as I came back to the office and thought of the power of the man who has res- cued the work from almost utter failure, I tried to discover the secret of it. I found a motto on the wall which gave the answer : ^ ^ No quest, no conquest." The American spirit is just that. To find the task that is difficult, the field that is hard, and tackle it. The biggest failure is to make no attempt. You had better fail than to keep still for fear you might make a failure. Here are great problems confronting us, the 262 THE PRESBYTEKIAN BROTHERHOOD chief of which is to reach the men who do not go to church. Let us remember this motto : ^ ' No quest, no conquest. *' (After the singing of **The Son of God Goes Forth to War/' Mr. Goodman continued.) PERSONAL WORK Mr. Goodman. — I think we will agree that there are two forms of evangelism. Paul says : ^ ^ I have taught you publicly, and from house to house." We have two methods of soul-win- ning — the discourse method, talking to a crowd ; and the conversational method, where one talks with another or with small groups. In the lat- ter method is included that great means of evan- gelism, the Bible class. You can have a Bible class in the home, the shop, the store, the fac- tory, on board a battleship, at the bottom of a coal mine, in the cab, or the roundhouse. Wlierever men congregate they can talk these things over with each other, led by some compe- tent Christian man. Personal work is one form of what I have called the conversational method. We have with us one of the great advocates of this type of work. I am glad Dr. Howard Agnew Johnston is here, because he stands out as the man who has put a lot of machinery at work. He will speak on the ** Personal Work" side. Then we will hear from Dr. Hallenbeck and discuss the two subjects together. XVI PERSONAL WORK BY EEV. HOWAED AGNEW JOHNSTON, D.D. Mr. Chairman, Men of the Convention: Do yon know that the average addition to the Chris- tian Church in America on confession of faith is only seven per cent per annum! That is to say, for every one hundred ministers of the church, officers, Sunday-school teachers and reg- ular members, there are just seven people won to Jesus Christ in a year. And when you have taken out the children that come up in the Sun- day school and in Christian homes, you have taken off three every year, and sometimes four ; so that the best showing you can make is tliis: For every one hundred ministers, Sunday-school teachers, officers, and regular members in our churches, there are just four people won to Jesus Christ out of the world in a year, in America. Something wrong. I want to give you just now, in this little time, two pictures of life. One is the story of a Presbyterian elder from whose lips I heard the story in this city twenty years ago. His name was William Reynolds. He lived in Peoria, Illinois, and was an elder in 263 264 THE PKESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD the Presbyterian Church. One day he was met by a friend who said, ^'How long have we known each other!" '^ About fifteen years." ^'You claim to be a Christian, I believe!" ^^Yes." ^'Do you really believe that if I am to be saved I must accept Jesus Christ as my Sav- iour?" '^Yes." ''Do you care whether I am saved ? " ' ' Why, certainly ! " ' ' I beg your par- don, I could not believe that. We have known each other fifteen years; we have often talked to each other; we have sat at the same table. You are a leading business man in this town. If you had ever told me of the importance of my accepting Christ, I would have listened with re- spect to you. If you had cared the least little bit, you surely would have said something in fif- teen years about Jesus Christ. ' ' And this elder confessed to that man that he had evaded many an opportunity that God had put in his way to talk to men for Jesus Christ. Have you ever done it? I have, I confess. We all have. I would hardly believe a man who said he had never shrunk from an opportunity to speak to a soul for Jesus Christ. Human nature is such a constant quality there. Then Mr. Reynolds said, ''What has hap- pened to stir you!" And this man told him a story of how, when he got on the train the day before in Chicago, a man came in right after him and sat down beside him and began a conversa- tion that led up to the question as to whether he was a Christian. This touched the heart of the CINCINNATI CONVENTION 265 man, and he asked this stranger his name. He said, ^'My name is D. L. Moody.'' This man told Mr. Eeynolds : ' ^ Here was a man, the one man in all the world who cared about my soul. He never saw me before, he never expected to see me again; but he did not wait for a better opportunity, he made the best of this chance." Mr. Eeynolds was very much touched by this, and he did not let his friend go until right there he induced him to give his heart to Jesus Christ. All this was forty years ago. Mr. Reynolds said he thought he had better go to Chicago and see this man Moody, and he did. He said: ^' There is something wrong about my Chris- tianity. I have been an elder in the church, and yet here is one of my neighbors who says I have known him for fifteen years, but have never said a word to him about Jesus Christ.'' Are there men whom you see day after day to whom you have never spoken about Jesus Christ! If so, you are not true witnesses for him. One of the greatest things our Saviour said was this: **When the Comforter is come . . . he shall testify of me: and ye also shall bear witness. ' ' And in The Acts, when he was speak- ing of the coming of the Spirit and of the fact that they should have power when the Spirit came upon them, he said : ^ * Ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the 266 THE PRESBYTERIAN" BROTHERHOOD earth/' Thus the Lord emphasized this fact, that his people must be witnesses for Jesus Christ. The thing he lays most stress on is that we must witness for him. You must bear me out that the church of Christ to-day is not a witnessing church, as it ought to be, and the field is large for work. We have been cowards in the face of the privilege of speaking to men for Jesus Christ, and we know it too well. Now we must reconstruct our methods. You may talk over a dozen plans for all kinds of things to do for men, but if you do not get down to where you can go to your per- sonal friend and speak to him and win him for Christ you will miss the personal element which must be in all really effective Chris- tian work. That is the spirit that goes into every sort of successful work. You will never solve the problem of the masses until you solve the individual problem. The only way to have a community of good men is to make men good. Men, if in this moment you can think of one man whose life you have been touching for weeks, or months, or years, to whom you have never spoken of Jesus Christ, I trust that before you go away to-day you will make a promise to your God that you will not let many days go by until you go and try to do that thing. There is no possible justification for a man being unwil- ling to try, though we know there are hundreds of men, officers in the church, members, whose CINCINNATI CONVENTION 267 names have been on the church roll for years, and who have gone weeks and months and years without ever saying a word to a soul to try to win that soul to Christ. I want to give you another picture of life. In 1904 a man came to me and said: *'I want to tell you my story. I am David Williams, of Youngstown, Ohio. A year ago my pastor gave me a little book written by a man named Trum- bull, entitled 'Individual Work For Individ- uals.' I read the book and thought it very in- teresting. I thought it was all right for Dr. Trumbull to be winning souls unto Christ, for he was a preacher and was paid to talk to people, but it never entered my mind that I ought to do it. The pastor announced that he would organize a class for studying how to do personal work, and that everybody that was interested in knowing more about doing personal work successfully was invited to come, so I thought I ought to go, and we had not gone very far along until I began to see that I ought to win men for Christ ; I began to feel a respon- sibility I had never felt before. I talked to my wife about it, especially about one man. I went to talk to him, and he rebuffed me. I went again and said: 'The last time you did not give me any good reason for not being a Christian. I want you to give a good reason. ' He said, ' I do not think there is any ; I have decided to be one. ' He asked about his three boys ; he called them in, and the three gave their hearts to Jesus Christ. ' ' 268 THE PEESBYTEKIAN BROTHERHOOD He told me how they organized a prayer circle, and he said : ' ^ I want to tell you that we have been to see eighteen people, and never failed once. But,'' he said, ^*what I wanted to ask you was this: I have had an idea that I might possibly be a leader in personal work myself. Do you think it would be pre- sumption in me to go and ask my pastor to let me go to some unlikely people and form a class to do personal workT' I said to him, '^Go and ask your pastor, and I think he will be glad." I heard nothing from him for a good while, and then I had a letter from the Y. M. C. A. secretary in Youngstown, saying: *^We have a man here, a Welshman, who came and began work among a class of people that we thought never could do personal work, and through the class twelve persons have been brought into the church. We asked him to take the leadership of the personal work in the Y. M. C. A., and we have never had such a year as the one just fin- ished." This man was a night watchman. He was born in Wales, his father dying when he was a boy, and he had to earn his own living. But because he was willing to try, and studied the subject and asked for God's help, and then had confidence to believe that God would help him, he started into this work and has become an ex- pert. And if God can use an humble night watchman and change his life in two years, what CINCINNATI CONVENTION 269 can he not do with every man in this audience to-day? I have had people come to me and say, *^I tried it once, but I made a failure of it.'' Im- agine a man, without any preparation, tr^dng to do some great thing ! If you think this is a small thing, you have misunderstood it entirely. It is a great thing to be used of God to help an unsaved soul into the kingdom, and you never can be successful until you realize the need of preparation. Then you must practice it. The lawyer may have studied law all his life, but if he has never practiced he will never become a lawyer. Doctors may have studied for years, but if they never practice, never go into a sick room, they will never become doctors. Hun- dreds of men have the theory, but the theory is laid on the shelf. We have come to the time when, if this Broth- erhood is going to work out anything for the up- building of the kingdom, men must consecrate themselves to the great divine task of being * laborers together with God" in winning indi- viduals to Jesus Christ. And the thing that ought to be done in every church is for the men of this Brotherhood to go home and see that there is organized in these churches classes for people who have already come to Jesus Christ, that they may come together and study methods of personal work, and then begin to practice it. Then comes this thing that Mr. Goodman has spoken of — following up the message with in- 270 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD dividual work. The Lord Jesus said that when you get everything ready and invite people, they would not come. He knew the human heart. He said you must go out, with compel- ling insistence, and give the message to men individually. May I close hy presenting a resolution? One of the things which impressed me was that while the report of the Executive Committee was most excellent and comprehensive, it did not cover one thing, and that was personal work for Jesus Christ. I think it ought to be there, and I would offer this resolution, to be referred to the com- mittee and to be made a part of the report if they shall see fit. * ^ That this convention urges upon the men of our church the organization of classes of pro- fessing Christians, for the study and practice of personal work for individual souls. Not only to win non-Christians to Jesus Christ, but also to strive for more thorough and loyal service on the part of church members. ' ' Carried. Mr. Goodman. — Just a word to help us ap- preciate what could be done by a campaign of personal evangelism. There are four hundred thousand men in our Presbyterian Church in America. Suppose only twenty-five per cent of these men would undertake to form the habit of personal evangelism, each one having one con- versation about Christ a week; and suppose nine tenths of the efforts should fail, we would CINCINNATI CONVENTION 271 nevertheless v^in five hundred and twenty thou- sand men in the next twelve months. Only one fourth of the men trying it ; nine tenths of the ef- forts failing, five hundred and twenty thousand souls led to Christ! We must now go to the other side of this ques- tion, and Dr. Hallenbeck will speak to us on '^Evangelistic Work by and for Men.'' XVII EVANGELISTIC WORK BY KEV. E. F. HALLENBECK. Gentlemen of the Brotherhood : I have been delighted with the spirit of this convention. From the first time I came into this room and read that magnificent slogan, *'The Men of America for the Man of Galilee,^' I have felt the grip of it. It has been noticeable in every address to which I have listened, and I shall miss my prophecy if the men of this gathering do not go back to their homes and spend them- selves as never before in the work of winning their fellows for Christ. It looks very much to me as though evangel- ism was to be the keynote of the work of this Brotherhood. And why should it not be so? Evangelism is the business of the church of Christ. There are other duties which she must not neglect ; there are other tasks which have a claim upon her time and strength ; but evangel- ism is the business of the church. These other things are secondary and supplemental. Jesus never amended the program which he outlined for those early disciples when he said : ^ ^ Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. ' ' The 272 CINCINNATI CONVENTION 273 great commission which he laid upon them has never been withdrawn. Then and now and unto the end of the age the church must ' ' go . . . into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. ' ' It is this evangelistic spirit for which I have been praying during the hours of the conven- tion. Evangelism is a builder of manhood — a master builder. It brings a whole gang of skilled workmen to its important task. When a man becomes fired with passion for his fel- lows, first of all there will be a cutting away of false timber in his life ; he will have no time to brood over fancied slights; the doubts he has harbored will take wings and fly away ; sin will show itself in a new light, he will loathe it, he will put his heel upon it, lest it hamper this work of salvation; all this because of this new element in his life. He will have a deeper sense of his need for Christ, and he will creep closer to that mighty heart because he cannot hope to get a soul to the cross alone. And by means of the sawing and cutting and ham- mering of these experts of manhood, he will be transformed from a narrow, useless church member into a happy, helpful servant of Christ. Let me tell you of a man in Albany with whom I came in contact. He was a member of my church, a pretty good sort of man as far as outward appearances go. He was a successful, upright business man, but he was hard and cold. 274 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD He had given God but half a chance with his life. I shall never forget one morning when this man came to my study and confessed that he had been neglecting the spiritual welfare of his men. He said to me: **God has made it plain that these men have been brought into my employ not simply that they may help me make money, but that I may help them win the unspeakable riches. ' ^ We talked about it for a little, then we knelt in prayer, and the walls of my study never heard a more touching petition than as this man of business, with tears flowing down his cheeks, voiced his new consecration to the Master. He was not less successful as a business man, but his whole life was changed. Before, he was after money; but now, above all ambition for gain, was the desire to win trophies for his Lord. He began to adjust things so that he could get close to his men. He talked with them personally, he went to their homes, and before a year had passed I received a dozen of them into the church. And that was not all. This man's life began to mellow, his face took on a new glow, his purse opened wider and wider, his hand was outstretched to every worthy cause, and a few years ago he went home in a blaze of glory. This evangelistic spirit had made him over into a nobleman of God. Some of us are drying up in our lives; we swallow up all the grace that comes our way and never think of passing it on. CINCINNATI CONVENTION 275 One reason for the weak, pulpy thing that sometimes passes for manhood in our churches, is the dying down of this zeal for souls. For 3"our own sake, I plead with you to-day, go back to the place where God has asked you to live, and make this the supreme thing in your life. This evangelistic spirit makes for a vigorous church. You cannot have a strong church with- out zeal for those who are lost. Of course this is true objectively, and here is one of the fasci- nations of Christian work. You never know what you are doing when you win a soul for Christ. Andrew saved a multiplication table when he brought his brother to Jesus. And it is true, my brethren, that men are wait- ing for us to come. I went into the office of a business man in the city of Binghamton some time ago and asked him to accept Christ as his Saviour. I was amazed at the promptness of his response. And when he had given me a grip of his hand and said, "I do accept him!" I looked up into his face and asked, ' ' Why did you not do it before!" I shall never forget his answer: **I have been waiting ten years for somebody to come. ' ' I believe there are men all around us to-day — they sit in our pews, they come within our reach in business and the social life, they live under the shadow of our homes — who are waiting for us to come ; they wonder why we do not speak to them about our Lord. This is true subjectively. The architecture of 276 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD the church may be chaste, the service may be ornate, the music may be splendid, the member- ship may be select, yet the church will be spir- itually weak if in her breast is not the throbbing of a great desire for the salvation of souls. This evangelistic spirit will help us to pay our debt to a lost world. Will any one of us doubt the existence of such an obligation? Hear the Apostle Paul as he says: *^I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise and to the unwise. ' ' Go back to Ezekiel and hear God as he speaks to the prophet and to us: ^^I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel : therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked. Thou shalt surely die ; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. ' ' We are standing upon the walls of Zion. We know the peril of our fellow-men, and the remedy is in our hands ; we must give the warn- in. Let us not hide behind some vague theory of divine favoritism ; these lost ones are the objects of his love as well as we, and God pity us if we fail to speak to them the message of Christ. Over in India during the famine a missionary family was sitting down to their evening meal. Strange sounds were heard outside, they investi- gated and found a big dog and a boy fighting for CINCINNATI CONVENTION 277 possession of a bone. It had been thrown out as refuse, but so desperate was the hunger of the boy that he would risk his life to get that bone. As they went back to the table, the nicely pre- pared supper had lost its savor. How could they sit down and comfortably enjoy their food while at their door people were starving for lack of it! Shall the church of Christ sit in selfish com- fort and enjoy the priceless privileges of re- demption, with no concern for the multitude who are dying at her doors for lack of the Bread of life ! We hear much in these days of the aliena- tion of the masses, and various explanations are given. The spread of materialism, the weakened sense of authority, by reason of the assaults upon the foundations of our faith, these are doubtless factors in the situation, but, gentlemen, there is another thing that we must take into ac- count. The world knows the purpose of the cliurch; it knows she is not here to spin theo- logical cobwebs, nor to build elaborate club- houses, nor to engage in the traffic of time. And when the world sees the church indifferent to the condition of the lost, unresponsive to the cry of the needy, it begins to sneer at her profession and turn away from her doors. Whatever else we need to bridge the gulf which exists between the church and the world, we need that Christly compassion that will spend itself in sacrificing, unselfish toil for those for whom the Saviour died. 278 THE PEESBYTEKIAN BEOTHERHOOD But there is another thing we must remember. Evangelism is loyalty to Jesus Christ. This is the work he has given to the church. Does she wear his name ? Then she is bound to manifest his spirit. Does she call him Master and Lord? Then she will do the things he says ; and in the message of Jesus to men there are two compre- hensive statements that were emphasized from the beginning to the end of his life. They are enforced by exhortation, by example, by precept, and by parable. The first: ^^The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.*' The second: ^*As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. ' ' And imless the church is doing this, she is traitor to the Lord, whose name she bears. I have said nothing about methods. You will have an opportunity to discuss these later on. I believe more than method we need motive; far more than plan we need power. And I am ask- ing God to-day that he may kindle upon the al- tars of our hearts, every man of us, a new pas- sion for the salvation of the lost. John Kobertson has told a story of one morn- ing in a village in his native land. By some strange coincidence every fire had gone out. It was before the days of matches, and the only way to rekindle the flame was to find some living coal. These Scotchmen went from house to house hoping to find some hearth on which was a living coal, but they found only ashes; every fire was out, until at last they came to a CINCINNATI CONVENTION 279 house away up on a hill. There the fire was burning, and one after another they climbed the hill and lighted their peat at the fire, and then going down the hill they sheltered the lighted peat, lest the wind should extinguish it, and soon the fires were burning again. My brethren, is the fire burning down in your hearts of to-day! Have the flames spent them- selves upon the altar of your church? God has plenty of fire on the hill, and the thing for us to do to-day is to climb that hill and lay hold upon the living coals until within our breasts shall be kindled this passion that will make us wil- ling to spend and be spent for the glory of our Lord and the salvation of the lost. May God hasten the day when the men of the church, with their brain and brawn, their vision and their grasp of things, their business sagacity and their indomitable pluck and push, shall con- secrate their all to this work for which Christ died. Mr. Goodman. — There are three or four ques- tions that ought to be taken up. First of all; how can the Brotherhood help to make the regu- lar services of the church of greater evangelis- tic power 1 Delegate. — *^In those days came John the Baptist . . . saying, Eepent ye: for the king- dom of heaven is at hand." The kingdom of heaven is at hand. How is it to be reached! By 280 THE PRESBYTEKIAN BROTHERHOOD putting it into somebody's hand who has not received it. And the kingdom of heaven is in your own hand. We do not have to wait until we pass beyond the grave to get it. That is what we want in our Brotherhood; we want to teach others that the kingdom of heaven is at hand; it is theirs for the asking. We purpose next Sunday night to have a meeting under the auspices of the Brotherhood, an *^echo" meet- ing of this convention, and turn it into an evan- gelistic meeting at the close. Delegate. — In our church in Ottawa, Illinois, the Sunday night service and practically all the services were ^'out of commission," so to speak. Two years ago we organized a Brotherhood, and these men went to work and they have filled that church. They have an active president and a dozen men around him, and thev get after the men. Delegate. — The best thing individual mem- bers can undertake is personal work, bringing men to Jesus Christ. Get them to come to the evening service, and when the pastor gives the invitation to come forward, try to get them to go. If the members would do that work, the re- sults would be wonderful. Mr. Goodman. — ^Let me summarize the an- swers to the question in the topic. First, by get- ting unevangelized men to come to the meetings. CINCINNATI CONVENTION 281 Second, by demanding preachers who have an evangelistic message. This Brotherhood can help to make that thing possible. There are men who, if they felt the laity were demanding a clean-cut, strong message of the evangelistic type, would become more evangelistic in their preaching. Third, by praying for the preacher. I know a church where every Sunday morning a body of men meets at 10.15 and prays for the preacher in his work that day. Fourth, by or- ganizing classes for training personal workers. You have heard the messages this afternoon. How many of you believe in your hearts these things which have been told us? If we do en- dorse what has been said, what hampers the practical working out of the program which has been outlined here! Delegate. — I believe it is because we have not the real love of humanity in our hearts. If we loved men as Jesus Christ loved us, we could go to men everywhere and talk to them about their salvation. Delegate. — "We let other things crowd it out. Delegate. — Is it not because we feel that there is great hardship in this task! We feel we will be rebuffed. This thing of personal work is a great question. I believe there is a tremendous opportunity for each one of us, and I have been surprised at the way men have responded. 282 THE PRESBYTEKIAN BROTHEKHOOD Mk. Goodman. — Many of us are kept back by a misconception of how the other man feels about it. Delegate. — Men do not feel like doing it be- cause they do not feel the obligation. The next great thing is to get the love of Jesus in your heart, and then you will not consider the ques- tion of whether you love men or not. I know it is not easy to love all men, but if we love Jesus, then we will do the work for Jesus' sake. A rebuff is nothing, a failure is nothing, as far as we are concerned ; but we must do the work that Jesus has called us to do, we must be faithful to his commands. Delegate. — A great many men do not talk about it because they do not think they know enough about it to talk. Delegate. — One reason that I have found that people hesitate to talk about religion is because they are conscious that religion is not manifest in their own lives, and they hate to talk about a thing they do not live. Mr. GooDMAi^. — ^You are back to the propo- sition itself. Jesus said Christian men must be witnesses ; a witness must know, and we do not know. We have not had a deep experience. The remedy, of course, is to get an experience. A practical question : How can a man who really CINCINNATI CONVENTION 283 wants to be faithful to the plan of Christ, how can he make that program a practical thing in his daily life? First of all, he must say: ^'I will accei3t loyally Christ's program for my life. It may cost me something, but I will take the place that Jesus Christ designed I should have as a Christian man. I will begin, by his help, to witness for him. I will give him and his gospel the first place, not the second place, in my life. ' ' Second, he must try to form the habit of con- versational evangelism, remembering that every- thing we do effectively we do because of habit, and long practice. Some years ago I talked with a body of men near Philadelphia, and we studied this question together. At the close of the conference, a number of the men took a simple covenant. Among them was a grandson of one of the presidents of Princeton, a college-bred man, a son of Christian parents, but who had not given attention to this form of Christian work. He said to me, '^I will try it the first chance I get.'' In a few months he wrote me of his experience. He was called on by a young man who wanted a position in his office. He engaged him. As he was about to leave at the close of the day, he thought of his covenant. He said to this man, ^^Have you ever known what it was to have fellowship with Jesus Christ I ' ' The man replied, ' * No ; I have not; my wife belongs to a church, but I do not know anything about it. ' ' After a few days this young man was called to another position. The 284 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD employer pressed the matter tactfully. He did not like to have him go away with the question unanswered. The young man finally, right in the office, gave his heart to Jesus Christ. And he said later, ' ^ Any time within the last six years I would have done the same thing if I had been asked to do so.'^ Third, pay the price of skill; you cannot get skill without paying the price. This means study; it means prayer, prayer for the young men you have on your heart ; it means etf ort ; it means concern for men, a real interest in men. Two years ago last Easter I spent the day in Nova Scotia. I had a talk with about seventy- five men about this subject. Among them was a white-haired banker, who seemed to be im- pressed. He took the personal-work covenant that morning, and at eleven o'clock that night he came to my room in his home and said: ^^I want you to help me. In our bank the assistant manager does not know Christ. I am going to speak to him to-morrow and I want your help in prayer. ' ' The matter was a real burden to him. Earlier in the day he had talked with the cook in his home and she had decided the question after a brief interview. Fourth, we must have fellowship with Christ. If a man is thoroughly consecrated to Christ, he knows Christ is with him. ^^Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. ' ' Some seven years ago I spent Sunday in Brattleboro, Vermont, at the home of a friend, a prominent CINCINNATI CONVENTION 285 man in the town and treasurer of the Moody Schools for twenty-five years. In the afternoon a business man made an evangelistic address, and a dozen or more men expressed a desire to know about the Christian life. I crossed the church to speak to one of these men, and when I finished, the church was almost empty. I saw my host in prayer with a man. When he came out he introduced me to this man and we had a few words together. As soon as the man was out of sight my host said : ^ ^ That man came out of state's prison yesterday after serving a sen- tence for one of the vilest sins in the category. He swore he would shoot on sight the man who put him there.'' I thought, as I walked away, **The worst citizen of Brattleboro brought to Christ by the first citizen." Two years later General Estey was called home. Always the thing that gave him his greatest joy was that he helped this criminal to know his Saviour, Jesus Christ. This was characteristic and should be normal with every Christian. While in Colorado some time ago, I prepared a little covenant that I want to read to you. Over fourteen hundred men have taken this covenant, men of all kinds, college presidents, bankers, students, artisans, clear across North America. It is called: A Workable Policy in Personal Evangelism, '' ^Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.' I believe that Jesus Christ's supreme desire is that all men in every land shall be won back to his Father. Experi- 286 THE PRESBYTEKIAN BROTHERHOOD ence shows that most men will only be won through individual effort. The purpose of Jesus in redeeming me included my becoming a personal witness for him. I will endeavor from this day to bring him in conversation to the attention of individuals as I have oppor- tunity. I will ask God to give me the opportu- nity." How many men believe this is a good thing and would like a copy of this cove- nant for your own use ! If you will give me your name and address, I will see that a copy is sent you. God bless you as you try to do the thing that God wants us to do for his own sake, for the sake of the Church of Christ, and for the sake of multitudes of lost men. Dr. Landrith. — Will you send me at Nash- ville any plans and suggestions you may have in regard to this work, anything that you have tried, or anything that will answer this question that comes to me so often: **What is the Brotherhood, anyway, and what can it do"? Write me as soon as you get home. After singing by the male quartette, the ses- sion was closed by prayer by Dr. Eussell, of St. Louis. XVIIJ THURSDAY EVENING FAEEWELL SESSIOIi Dr. William H. Black, Missouri Valley Col- lege, Marshall, Mo., presiding. Rev. Henry M. Curtis, D. D., of the Mt. Auburn Church, Cin- cinnati, read the 126th Psalm, and offered the opening prayer. President Black. — I shall not take the time of the Brotherhood for any remarks of my own, except such as I may ejaculate between speeches. I think that in the person of him who is to be the first speaker of the evening, it is well that we should recognize not only the man, but his office, and I will ask you, while I introduce Governor Coe I. Crawford, please to stand, thus recognizing the higher powers. Your Excellency, I have the pleasure to pre- sent to you a magnificent body of Christian men. And, Christian men, I have the privilege of pre- senting to you a Christian governor. Gov. Crawford. — Mr. Chairman, and Gentle- men of the Brotherhood: I assure you that I regard it as the highest possible honor to have 287 288 THE PKESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD the privilege of meeting you in this manner here to-night, and being greeted by you. I feel some- what diffident in presenting what I shall have to say, because I realize that I am addressing men who come here with hearts full of love and interest, and who, by their attendance at these meetings, have been carried to the loftiest heights, while I have not been able to be here through the entire convention, and my attention since yesterday morning has been given to things more worldly than those that have been under consideration here. We were consider- ing, over at Columbus, yesterday and to-day, the question of rendering **unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's,'* a conference upon the subject of taxation, rather than the higher, more elevating question of rendering **unto God the things that are God's." Further, I realize that from the standpoint of ability to discuss the questions of such deep import as I have been privileged to listen to, and as you have been listening to, from those who, by con- viction and consecration and absolute concen- tration of life to the work, have fitted them- selves to discuss these matters, I fall short. But, gentlemen of the Brotherhood, the real purpose after all is to extend the area of the work so that it will reach out farther and touch humanity closer than it has been doing hereto- fore, and it may be that a layman, who may say things that do not square exactly with theo- logical dogma, but who bases what he says upon CINCINNATI CONVENTION 289 his own observations, may after all bring some of these matters closer to the laymen in a prac- tical way than can always be done by those who live in the atmosphere of the college and the pulpit. XIX SERVICE BY GOVERNOR COE I. CRAWFORD Human intelligence is always struggling witli difficult problems. It has solved many. Some can never be solved. Human life always has been and always will be the most inexplicable thing in all the world. Whether seen at its best or at its worst, it is, nevertheless, an all-absorbing wonder. Whence came 11 Why am I here! Whither do I go? These questions puzzle alike the sage and the savage. They lead one into the domain of specu- lation and leave him there with his questions un- answered. God alone knows. He is the answer. But the fact remains that this old earth is the habitation of men who live and move and have their being. The stern fact remains that in the human heart there is good — there is evil also. Capacity for happiness, virtue, love, grace, truth, knowledge, kindness, trustworthiness, and service dwell in the same temple with capacity for pain, suffering, sorrow, remorse, jealousy, hatred, malice, cruelty, covetousness, vindictive- ness, and the whole evil brood. 290 CINCINNATI CONVENTION 291 I have little in sympathy with those who in abstract contemplation of the life that is to come, lose all interest in the life that is, and all regard for the present needs of their fellow-men. Everywhere about us, alongside of wealth, luxury, and plenty, dwell poverty, squalor, and wretchedness. Shouts of joy are mingled with cries of despair. The human life in this world is the thing that appeals to men. You cannot fill the churches nowadays to hear discussions of nice questions of theology and points of doctrine. You cannot reach the great masses of men and women by talking to them about the rewards and punishments in the next world. They can be reached upon the warm human side by sym- pathetic and practical help. ' ' Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. ' ' This is the test of present day Christianity. Brotherhood is a good name for this organiza- tion. The spirit of brotherhood is the spirit that will help men to lift each other to the higher levels of life. The desire to serve one's fellows by in some manner making life richer and hap- pier to them ; the desire to lend a helping hand to a brother man who is struggling under a heavy load ; the desire to put sunshine into other lives by kind deeds and sympathetic words; desire of this kind followed and practiced with enthusi- asm and good sense is Christian service per- formed with Christian spirit. Doing something 292 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD for a poor struggling fellow human being in need of a helping hand is more effective than a long prayer for the salvation of his soul. The Levite could pray but the Samaritan could serve, and his service was what saved a human life. The gentle spirit of ministry to his needs which impelled the bishop to give food and lodging to Jean Valjean, and to give him the silver candle- sticks after he had stolen the silver plate, made a Christlike man out of a hardened criminal. The loving service of a brother man put the leaven into the heart which redeemed the soul. If we can help men and women to look up, to climb up, to treat each other with Christian charity and justice in this life, their lives in the next world need not worry us. * ' Not what we have, but what we use, Not what we see, but what we choose, These are the things that mar or bless The sum of human happiness. "The things near by, not things afar; Not what we seem, but what we are — These are things that make or break, That give the heart its joy or ache. * * Not what seems fair, but what is true, Not what we dream, but good we do — These are the things that shine like gems, Like stars in fortune's diadem. **Not as we take, but as we give; Not as we pray, but as we live — These are the things that make for peace, Both now and after time shall cease. ' ' Our fight is for righteousness in this world — for Christian ideals, for clean life, public and CINCINNATI CONVENTION 293 private. A great field for work presents itself which does not come within the scope of work done by the institutional church, but which lies outside church activities. The spirit of Chris- tianity pervades an entire state and does its work in a thousand ways, without, as well as within the church. Organized movements for purer political life, organized methods in the distribution of charity, the establishment and maintenance of social settlements, the provid- ing for and maintenance of institutions for defectives — all these are pervaded by the Chris- tian spirit, and yet they proceed outside of and independent of the institutional church, which more than ever before confines itself to the conduct of public worship and the giving of religious instruction. The hope of this Brother- hood lies in the purpose of its members to ex- tend the horizon of its service into larger areas, and to make personal influence count for more than heretofore. What is wanted is intelligent, tactful and genuine helpfulness in service. A brother can- not be reached by telling him that you are pray- ing for his soul 's salvation and by quoting texts. He is very apt to be fearfully bored by what is said to him along this line, and to have some- thing in his heart akin to contempt for the one who obtrudes upon him for the purpose of say- ing it. If, however, you ask him to join with you in performing some really kind and helpful service to some other man who needs a heljoing 294 THE PKESBYTEKIAN BROTHERHOOD hand, you will touch his heart, enlist his sym- pathy, awaken his interest, secure his aid and win his confidence. The first absolutely neces- sary prerequisite for the great service which may be rendered by this organization is the maintenance of the highest standards in daily walk and conversation by each member. It is not the profession of a man, but it is the actual loyalty of a man to truth and right when put squarely to the test that convinces others and makes him a power among his fellow-men for good. A high sense of personal honor, sweetness of soul, the forgiving spirit, sympa- thetic interest in others, absolute cleanliness in life, a firm insistence upon one standard of honesty and morality for public, political, and corporate life and for private life, considerate regard for the rights of others, fidelity to trust, courage to stand firmly for a- righteous principle — these are some of the personal virtues abso- lutely necessary in the man who would undertake the noble work of helping other men to live upon higher levels in life and of enlisting them in the ranks of the Master. Brotherhood cannot exist if the lives of the members are selfish and self -centered ; because the very essence of brotherhood is the outflow- ing from the heart of each brother into the great stream of human life — which touches us on every side — of helpful thoughts, helpful words and helpful deeds. Salvation follows consecration, and consecration cannot exist without surrender CINCINNATI CONVENTION 295 of self to noble service. He who would save his life must first lose it, by surrendering himself to an earnest, honest purpose to help his fellow- men. This is the spirit which will win the world. The actual observance of the golden rule in conduct, the realization of the fact that here in this world the kingdom of heaven may be es- tablished in the hearts of men, the consecration of men to the work of establishing that kingdom here, by inspiring others to join in the doing of those things which are Christian, these are the things which make for righteousness, and ex- tend the kingdom. We live in a commercial age, and everywhere there is a mad rush and wild scramble for money. The eager chase for wealth too often so fully absorbs the thoughts and energies of men that it chokes out all higher sentiment. In the race for wealth and power, we too often find men of intellect and nerve who shock us by their low and brutal standards of morality, their utter lack of sympathy, their contempt for the weak, their sneers at all that is pure and sweet and unselfish, and their low estimates of man- kind ; men who have brains without heart, power without scruple, force without sympathy; men who believe that the end justifies the means, and that the only aim worth considering in life is to achieve what the world calls success, no mat- ter how ; who measure men entirely by what they are worth in dollars and cents, or by what they can accomplish without reference to principle 296 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD or conscience. Religion to them is a supersti- tion, God a myth, belief in immortality a mere dream. They believe only in a godless world in which might and not right is forever king. They are great stumbling-blocks which check the growth of the kingdom in the hearts of men, and interpose intense personal selfishness as a barrier. By means of great corporate power on the one hand, and the abnse of the power of or- ganized labor on the other, men of this type have outraged the golden rule, and brutally oppressed their fellow human beings. It is a sign of better things that in very recent years there has been an awakening of the public conscience, which now demands that men in high places, whether acting alone or with others through corporate organizations, men at the head of great labor unions, and men in places of trust, shall be held to the same degree of ac- countability that is required of individuals in the more private walks of life, and which de- mands a high standard of official conduct and of civic righteousness. A great brotherhood of Christian men taking a broad and comprehensive view of life, and keenly sensitive to the weakness and temptations which beset the path of thousands of their fel- low-men, can render an invaluable service to the cause of practical Christianity by working in unity for the purpose of stimulating and sus- taining in steady progress all these forward movements of the time. When men who belong CINCINNATI CONVENTION 297 to the church by an effort of this kind get out into the currents of life, and by active touch bring men to higher standards of living, they, by that much, bring the church nearer to the great mass of men, and add to its saving power. There is no boundary line which fixes a limit to the field within which a man may work for right things. It is a limitless field. It is an inviting and an inspiring field. The efforts being made to establish an international peace tribunal for the settlement by amicable arbitrament of dis- putes between nations, and the doctrine that the same regard for truth and justice and honesty should prevail in the dealing of one nation with another that is enforced between individuals, show how the teachings of the Master are mak- ing their way throughout the world. It is the spirit of Christ in the world tending toward a universal brotherhood. There is more Christianity in the world than the ultraconservative churchman is apt to think. This Brotherhood will undoubtedly break through the crust which unduly narrows the church activities, and it will give to the church itself a more correct measurement of what is in the hearts of the great body of non- church-going men. The question is everywhere asked, Why are the men absent from the pews and why do women so greatly predominate in the congregations! A part of the answer, of course, is that women are more faithful and pious than men ; but the other and more signifi- 298 THE PKESBYTEKIAN BROTHEKHOOD cant answer is that there is, for some reason, a lack of interest on the part of the average man in what is going on in the church. Occasionally he drops into a pew and hears a sermon, but he looks upon the group of wor- shipers as a set of peculiar people with whom he has nothing in common. There is, perhaps, a rigid atmosphere of Puritanism there that repels him; the sermon may follow a monoto- nous repetition of commonplace facts and ob- servations that do not touch him, and he passes out after it is over with no desire to return. Often the salary paid to the preacher is too low to enable a bright and progressive man to live and support his family and a dull and narrow man who would be a failure everywhere else is trying to fill the place of a minister. Again, the minister may be all that could be wished, but he is handicapped by the few men in the pews who insist that the sermon of to- day should keep within the same environment which limited religious thought and speech one hundred years ago. While fundamentals re- main the same, the conditions and environments surrounding men are constantly changing, and this fact should always be taken into account. Human affections, human impulses, human longings, and warm, pulsing human life, how- ever, continue to be very much the same, no matter where you find men — in great cities, upon the farm, in the village, upon western plains, in factory, office, shop or mine — they are CINCINNATI CONVENTION 299 common to all. All are brother-men and all should be joined in a brotherhood linked to- gether by a common Christian purpose to help each other to render that service for each and for all that will make the world a better and happier dwelling place. This, of course, is a generalization, but a specific organization like this, doing its part with a whole heart and in its own field con- tributes mightily toward the general result devoutly prayed for by all. I would emphasize the importance of getting into close touch with the best movements of each locality and enlist- ing the cooperation of the best men within and without the church for them.. One common pur- pose to serve will bring a better understanding and closer sympathy and these will give oppor- tunity for bringing men under the leadership of the Master. Dr. Black. — The good governor spoke to us out of the fullness of his heart upon things civic, and we are now to have our attention turned to things of world-wide interest, a question that is coming more and more persistently before Presbyterian men. The next address of the evening is to be given by one who is not to speak theoretically, but from his own practical ex- perience. He has made a trip around the world, and he has used iiis eyes. He is not a minister, looking with professional eye, but a business man, peering with critical attention into the 300 THE PKESBYTERIAN BKOTHERHOOD problem of world-wide evangelism. He was busy when he was making this journey around the world; busy with his eyes; busy with his mouth, making inquiry; and he has been busy since he got back, answering calls for his serv- ices in various parts of the country. His experience is not unlike a story a Metho- dist preacher told me of a cyclone in Kansas. A minister down that way, after the cyclone had spent its force, went out into the yard to see what was left, and was quite surprised to see an Irishman who, he remembered, had been living some five miles away, picking himself up in his yard. '^Whj,^^ he said, **Pat, how did you come heref *' Faith, the cyclone brought me." ^^Are you not hurt?" **No, indade, I am not hurt." *^Well, surely the Lord was with you." ^'Well, if he was, he was goin' some." Mr. Ellis has been ^^goin' some" since the time when he served on the committee which projected this Brotherhood, and he brings to us to-night a message that is the result of that busy period. Mr. William T. Ellis will speak on ''The Big World's Challenge to the Men of the Church." THE CHALLENGE OF THE BIG WOELD TO THE MEN OF THE CHUECH BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS The principle underlying the Brotherhood movement — that movement which has met with such extraordinary response on the part of the strong men of our time — is one of the deep cur- rents of contemporaneous life. It is man's best nature running close to the nature of God. It represents the brotherhood of man with man ; of man with superman ; of man with God. We are hearing a great deal about the stirrings of the political, social, and commercial conscience of America. This Brotherhood goes into the very foundation and springs of that movement, which are spiritual. No merely superficial interpreta- tion of the modern develoj)ment of American life will satisfy. Nor can we be convinced that a suf- ficient expression of this deep, animating spirit in our nation has been attained by mere political reform. We regard this phenomenon as only a reassertion of the eternally divine spirit in the human breast. The Brotherhood movement of the day in the Christian churches is a more adequate expression of this new spirit of the 301 302 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD times than is any particular reform in any great city. To me has been assigned the world-wide aspect of this deeper moving of the human spirit of our generation. On some accounts I should like to have been confined to a more limited theme. I should like to have talked about the Brother- hood's relation to social service; about its part in bringing religion to its rightful place in the common life of every day ; about its share in the solution of the industrial problems of our times ; of the Brotherhood and the political life of the nation; of our duty towards the present and pressing temperance question ; of such a practi- cal theme as the obligation of the lajnuen of the church toward the adequate support of their ministers ; of the modernization of the Christian Church and the danger of ossification in its forms; or of the normality of religion to the average man. THE GENIUS OF THE ORDER Yet as I name over these important themes, I am reminded that the Brotherhood must stand for the principle of all the men of the whole church actively concerned in all the work of the whole church. The day must pass when any department of a church's activity can be rele- gated as a profession to a few men. This is true of the individual congregation and of the de- nomination. A church run by boards or bishops is in danger of finding the latter, all uncon- CINCINNATI CONVENTION 303 sciously, becoming merely perfunctory, profes- sional and narrow, and liable to all the evils of unfitness, favoritism, sectionalism and self-inter- est. When the business of every board is made the business of the whole church, then we shall see the best results in both the church and in the world. It is to be repeated with emphasis, as was said last night by our new secretary, that the Brotherhood may not be made an appendix to any special cause or board in the church, else it soon will degenerate into a vermiform appen- dix, a thing to be cut out. I dare to mention this somewhat delicate, albeit vital matter, here, because this is a con- vention of men able to face and accept all their own responsibilities, asking that nobody solve their problems for them. The essential mascu- linity of the Brotherhood is its most glorious feature. This is an order of strong men. The feeble male folk, with ladylike virtues, whom evil report has pictured as having in the past represented religion, have not been found in the Brotherhood. This atmosphere is not congenial ; they do not find their ' ' affinities ' ' here. A GLOBE-CIKCLING TOUB The Brotherhood man is big and brave enough to front a whole world of living problems. That I have been called upon to bring to him some in- timation of the gravity of the world problem, is due to the fact that for somewhat more than a year past I have been playing the part of a scout 304 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD of the kingdom. Within twelve months, ending this summer, I have circumnavigated the globe, traveling more than thirty-five thousand miles. I have traveled in nineteen steamships, in launches, yachts, sampans, junks, houseboats, canoes ; I have ridden in railway trains without number, in jinrikishas by the hundred, in sedan chairs, and palanquins ; in vehicles innumerable and incomprehensible — carriages, caramatas, bashas, ekkas, tongas, droskies, Peking carts and wheelbarrows ; I have ridden on donkeys, horses, buffaloes, elephants and camels ; I have traveled many weary miles afoot. I have penetrated into raw heathendom. I have been feasted in Japan and mobbed in China. I have shivered in Manchuria and been prostrated by one hundred and fifty degrees of temperature in India. I have bitten the dust in North China — and been bitten by other things all over the Orient. I have talked with more than a thousand missionaries on their fields, with diplomats, consuls, globe-trotters, merchants, and all other classes of white men in the Orient ; with all kinds of natives who could be reached, with or without interpreter; and in remote interior places I have talked the sign lan- guage with persons to whom a white man Is a curiosity. Out of these multiform and crowded experi- ences I bring you ^'The Big World's Challenge to the Men of the Church To-day. '^ That challenge is that the enlightened men of CINCINNATI CONVENTION 305 Christendom should live a world-embracing life, rendering to the need of all men the service that is peculiarly within the power of Christian men. The proposition needs but to be stated to be ac- cepted ; that every man is bound to achieve the greatest personality within his power, and to ex- tend the effectiveness of his life as widely as pos- sible. Provincialism on the part of the men of America is an offense to the Man of Galilee. It is not only a civilized thing, and a manly thing, but it is also a divine thing, to have the whole world for one's field and interest. '*For God so loved the world. ' ' THE WOKLD ONE NEIGHBORHOOD It is possible to-day for a man to live his life so that he touches the uttermost bounds of humanity's welfare. I know a Presbyterian Brotherhood man who has projected his person- ality very largely into every one of the great countries of the far East. He himself does not even imagine, in his wildest flights of fancy, the service he is thereby rendering to a mass of hu- manity in its formative period. The business depression of recent days may or may not have affected him seriously. Certainly it must have engrossed a great deal of his attention. But while business here may go up or down, his work in the uttermost parts of the earth is having only success. Great as that man is in this coun- try, I am not sure but that his abiding great- ness will be found on the other side of the earth. 306 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD Joseph Cook once said, '^The nineteenth century has made the world one neighborhood; the twentieth century should make it one broth- erhood. '^ We are seeing the realization of that prophesy. We also perceive that if the neigh- borhood be not also a brotherhood, it is a menace instead of a blessing. Diverseness, dissimilarity, hostility, mean little when people are separated by the ocean ; they mean a great deal when they move into the same neighborhood. The new sense of world-brotherhood which we are witnessing to-day must evidently have a part in diminishing the unbrotherliness which has characterized a great deal of our commercial life at home. No sane man can realize his re- sponsibility to the uttermost fellow -man without feeling, in an increased degree, his responsibility to the nearest fellow-man. A larger conception of the interdependence of races, as of individ- uals, will redeem life from the curse and blight of smallness, sordidness and selfishness, of which we have lately had a lamentable exhibition in the business world. THE PRESIDENT'S PREACHMENT Two weeks ago to-day I was in conversation with the greatest preacher the twentieth cen- tury has produced, the preacher who has the unique distinction of seeing more of his preach- ments practiced than any other — President Theodore Eoosevelt. In discussion of a cer- tain foreign question, he said, **It is just CINCINNATI CONVENTION 307 a question of how far our people are willing to go in self-abnegation/' Taking that sen- tence out of its context, and applying it to the Brotherhood, I repeat that our growth and power, and success and fidelity to our high call- ing, are just a question of how far we are willing to go in self-abnegation. I hesitate to suggest the argument of self-in- terest as a reason for being concerned in the whole world, yet it remains true that the men who are alert to their missionary obligation, to use that term in its broadest sense, are up-to- date, or ahead of the times, politically. They know, what the bulk of our population is only be- ginning to realize, that the Far Eastern question is the big question of the near future. If we face it to-day, it will be less of a problem to- morrow. America and Europe are bound to care for the Orient. They cannot help themselves. A\naat the nature of that relationship is to be is the mat- ter of critical concern. It would appear to be the part of ordinary good judgment to create relationships of friendliness, good will, helpful- ness and honesty. Those nouns describe the attitude and mission of the cause represented by this meeting. If America can, without re- linquishing her rights and her own self-respect, show herself the true friend, counselor and guide of the Orient, helping the latter to achieve its highest possible destiny, she will have ac- complished a feat of statecraft which, viewed 308 THE PKESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD merely from the low standpoint of self-interest, will be beyond anything recorded in the annals of diplomacy. That is but another way of say- ing that if the whole nation lives up to the plane of its Christian missionaries, both the East and the West will have profound and lasting reason for gratitude. I speak of world welfare from the missionary standpoint because I believe that the only stand- point worthy of an enlightened man. As the editor of Tientsin's daily paper said to me, in praising the attitude and motive of the mission- aries: **It never seems to occur to the white men who are out here in business that they should be here for China's good. Only on that basis can they justify their presence here; yet I never once have heard such an idea even remotely suggested by any business man in the Orient. ' ' Mr. Ernest F. Hall, of Korea, truly says, **The Far Eastern question is primarily a moral ques- tion. Through its missionaries, America is the dominant moral factor of the Far East. So she is to-day a greater power in the Orient than Ja- pan, or any other nation. ' ' IT IS ''up to" the MEN When we come to look for a moment at this work of missions, we perceive at once that it is peculiarly man's work. Its very bigness puts it squarely up to those who are by aptitude and experience qualified to deal with the largest CINCINNATI CONVENTION 309 questions in the largest manner. The man who thinks that in his everyday business he has to wrestle with great issues, will find that in this missionary enterprise he is confronted by vastly greater. The ripest powers of the ripest minds have here a field which taxes them to the utmost. This is an aspect of missions which attracts rather than deters strong men. The boyhood spirit which made us want to ^'tackle a fellow our own size,'' still abides in the normal man. The largeness, difficulty and intricate relation- ships of the missionary business appeal to men. They are accustomed to difficulties in the life of the workaday world. They quickly respond to the opportunity to apply all the ingenuity, force- fulness, experience and breadth of mind which their commercial training has given them to this still larger proposition which now confronts the churches. Herein is a ground for complaint on the part of men — they have not always been trusted with the fullness, largeness and difficulties of mission- ary work. It has sometimes been felt by boards that the Christian public could stand only the hopeful side of the missionary situation. I be- lieve I speak for all men when I say that they want the facts, all the facts. They do not care to suffer any delusion; they desire to face things as they are. They are as devoted to the kingdom of heaven as any board secre- tary, and they, like him, will not be deterred by obstacles. 310 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD We have heard that the mission work of the church is to study, to pray and to give. This is not all; the entire administrative problem of foreign missions should reside in the body of the men of the churches. A complete sympathy and understanding between our churches and our splendid Board of Foreign Missions will lay the same responsibilities upon the hearts of all men which now rests upon the burdened hearts of a few. THE CRITICISM OF MISSIONS When the men of the Brotherhood enter into their inheritance, they will deal vigorously with the question of the criticism of missions — a vastly bigger question than we stay-at-homes realize, and one that goes down to the very foundations of missionary enterprise. They are willing to admit the worst that is true of mission- aries. They can understand the fact that some are incompetent, that some are missionaries as a means of livelihood, that some live in too fine houses, that some are too provincial and intol- erant ever to get the oriental standpoint, that some in China interfere with the civil processes of that nation, taking an undue advantage of their extra-territorial rights ; that some are un- able to conduct themselves either in the port cities or aboard ship with that wide and tolerant culture and sympathy which should everywhere mark the Christian ambassador. They are will- ing to admit this and deplore it ; and to remedy CINCINNATI CONVENTION 311 it. They would rather hurt the feelings of an incompetent missionary than to injure the cause of Christ. Their hard business sense makes them well aware that the church can better af- ford to pension an incompetent missionary at home than suffer him abroad. The standard of missionar^^ character and fitness must constantly continue to rise, as it has been rising. Here I must say, as unequivocally and force- fully as I can, that having admitted the most serious charges that can be truthfully brought against any members of the missionary com- munity, I must emphatically register my opinion that they nevertheless remain a remarkably wise, unselfish and efficient body of men. Too long we have invested the missionary with a halo; we have regarded him as a sort of com- pound of all the heroes in sacred history, with a dash of the Angel Gabriel added. Now, he is not that ; he is no more of a saint and a hero than tens of thousands of American Christians at home. He is simply an honest man, often of un- usual capability, who is devoting his life to a difficult form of human ministry, which is rightly considered noble and praiseworthy. Yet the personnel of missions as a whole commands the admiration of every fair-minded critic. THE GREATEST CRITICISM As one who has had to deal more thoroughly with missionary criticism than, perhaps, any other living man — ^for certainly I have heard 312 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD and investigated more criticisms of missions on the field than any other person — I want to say that the one far-reaching and unanswerable criticism of foreign missions is that the enter- prise is entirely inadequate. Brotherhood men want no self-dehision. They are not weaklings. They stand ready to face the bald actualities. They are not satisfied with a merely perfunctory missionary occupation. They are eager to do the job, and not merely to hold down a position. They cannot be content with any theory of evangelization which does not give to every non- Christian resident of the world a repeated, in- telligible and adequate presentation of the gos- pel of Jesus. It is not enough to be on a field, we must possess the field. So I say that if we mean to win the world for Jesus Christ — if we mean business, and are not merely enjoying a pleasant sensation of vicarious service — we must be about this task in far greater fashion than we have heretofore been. Let me say, in all freedom of speech, that we are not moving the heathen world as a whole. There is a measure of truth in the statement of some travelers that they have not been able to find evidences of Christian missions in heathen lands. The vast, inert mass of paganism has not been budged by the missionaries, despite their wonderful successes with parts. True, we have peppered the great pagan lands with mis- sion stations, and there is a shining company of native Christians to be reported, and an influence CINCINISrATI CONVENTION 313 wielded out of all proportion to the number of workers engaged. Nevertheless, we are only making a beginning. With the exception of two lands — Korea and the Philippines — there is no heathen nation that really seems thronging to- ward the doors of the kingdom of heaven, al- though in every nation there are people not a few who are finding the Jesus way the best way. As a reconnoisance in force the missionary en- terprise has been brilliant; but the main army has been a long time in coming up to the line of battle. WHAT OF COMPARATIVE RELIGIONS? Here I should pause long enough to deal with a wide-spread criticism of missions that threat- ens to cut the nerve of the whole enterprise. Many people in the churches have been carried away by the idea of comparative study of reli- gions. There is a deal of sophomoric talk about the respects in which Buddhism — which the speaker usually assumes to be the religion of India, although every beginner in mission study knows it is not — surpasses Christianity. ''Why should we send missionaries to these people, who have their own religions, which are quite good enough for them, if not altogether as good as ours!'^ such a one remarks, proud of his liberality. Now, I heartily believe in the fullest and most sympathetic recognition of all that is worthy in non-Christian religions. I want to read into 314 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD every blind groping toward the supernatural an instinctive reaching out after the infinite God whose self-revealings are beyond our un- derstanding. Even toward the most benighted member of our race, I want to display the charity which my religion enjoins; yet as an honest man, who has tried to judge the great oriental religions by the fruits he could dis- cover with his own senses, I desire to protest against a great deal of this deification of de- graded and degrading heathen superstition and practices. Grant the non-Christian religions the utmost that a truthful investigator in fairness can do — draw the veil of Christian charity (there is no such thing as heathen charity) over unspeakable expanses of vileness that bear the seal of religion — still it remains true, that, judged by their own fruits, these oriental creeds have been proved inadequate if not debasing. They lack the one essential which Christian- ity on the mission field has demonstrated its power to produce, which is a new life. Students of comparative religions may attempt to match the antiquity of Christianity ; they may attempt to equal its sacred books and philosophy; they may even attempt to parallel its peerless leader. Nevertheless, in the last and essential analysis they have not, and their most devoted adherent must admit that they have not, produced the new life in their adherents which is Christianity's supreme gift to the world. CINCINNATI CONVENTION 315 The argument that religions are racial is met by the fact that the best type of Christianity extant to-day on this earth, exists among the yellow men in the peninsula of Korea. Chris- tianity is not racial, else the new life that has been born in Korea would not be more radiant, more powerful, more Christlike than the Chris- tian life of America. HEATHENISM AEKAIGNED Permit me to indicate three particulars wherein the non-Christian religions have failed. First. These pagan faiths have produced inef- ficient people. The difference between the white man and the native in the East in *^ savvy" and ' ' can do, ' ' as the pidgin English has it, is mani- fest to every observer. I make no exception of even wonderful little Japan in saying that these oriental people, when contrasted with the great Christian nations, have proved inefficient. China 's problem to-day is acute, because she has not efficient men. Confucianism — that boasted Confucianism of the comparative religionists — has not produced enough men to man the posi- tions of public service that call for common patriotism. Because she has lived a self-cen- tered, sordid and provincial life, China is now without men in her extremity. It is for Chris- tianity to educate the Chinese who shall make the new China. Second. These non-Christian religions have not produced a helpful society. We measure the 316 THE PRESBYTEEIAN BROTHERHOOD success of civilization by its care of the unfor- tunate. Twentieth-century Christian civiliza- tion proves itself by a Brotherhood, such as this ; twentieth-century heathendom proves its nature by such unbrotherliness as you can scarcely im- agine. The East is cruel, bitterly, incredibly cruel. Up in the famine region of China I picked up by the wayside a boy of twenty years, with atrophied arms and legs, whose parents had cast him in the gutter to die. There he had lain for three days, no man heeding his pitiful wail. In all the country round about him there was no place where he could be cared for, except in the Christian hospital. I have seen a mob of thou- sands of Chinese gathered about the headless and grisly corpse of an executed criminal, and displaying high glee over the spectacle. I have seen a widow standing by the body of her dead husband, lying in the gutter, and the surround- ing men were simply amused at her vain efforts to carry the corpse herself. I have seen a man struggling for his life in the river within reach of hundreds of men, and not a hand stretched forth to help him. It is enough to say that all the eleemosynary institutions of the Orient are either Christian, or imitations of Christian in- stitutions. Third. These non-Christian religions have produced immoral minds, which have blossomed in practices so immoral as to be unreportable to an occidental audience. I have seen the Yoshi- waras in Tokio. I have been on Foochow road CINCINNATI CONVENTION 317 in Shanghai. I have visited the Llama Temple in Peking. I have had interpreted to me the Chinese reviling, which takes the place of pro- fanity. I have seen the Korean dance hall. In India's most sacred city, I have looked upon a temple whose carvings are so obscene as to be incomprehensible even to one whose education has been gained in the hurly-burly of modern city life. The principal object of worship in In- dia is unmentionable before a mixed American audience. The little children of missionaries in the Ori- ent, who naturally understand the language, have to hear speech so nauseous as to offend the ears of even a strong man. This is one of the trials of the missionary of which the Occident has no conception. My time is up, but I would say to you this: All the hope there is for the East lies in the pos- sibility that the West will give it of its best. The need of the East, its one great and all-compre- hending need, is the need of the gospel of Jesus Christ. One day in Lucknow I stood beside a Christian doctor, who treats sixty thousand patients a year. If you young physicians want to enlarge your practice, the East is the direction to go. On one side of him was a leper, and on the other a man with black smallpox ; in front, two or three who were recovering from the plague; all sorts of diseases were there. After he had prescribed for them all, he was called to come outside of 318 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD the house. There awaited an oriental mother, who had brought her only son, who had been stricken three honrs before with plague. The only course that held the slightest hope for her was to bring him to Christ's representative. I will never again, I hope, see in a human face such agony, such commingled hope and hopeless- ness, such faith, such love, such sorrow, as there was in the mute appeal of that mother 's face as she lifted her eyes to the Christian doctor. Straightway that Christian man reached forth his bare hand, and, like his Master, touched the poor, plague-stricken boy at the seat of his dis- ease, and bade the mother hope. In that mother you see personified the whole heathen world. It does not know how, or why, or what it really needs ; but its only hope is in the healing touch of Jesus Christ. Dr. Black. — Now, it is very fitting, indeed, that the last address on the program, the benediction, should be pronounced by a min- ister of the gospel. And did you notice the subject? ''The Book of Acts," by Dr. Edgar Work. Dr. Work. — Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen : I think myself highly favored to be allowed to stand before this audience this evening, and I beg that you will lend me your hearts and your ears a moment as we consider together, earnestly and with prayer in our CINCINNATI CONVENTION 319 hearts, this Book of Acts and the meaning of it all. There are certain adjectives that would come very readily to our lips, expressive of this con- vention. I should surely call it wonderful; I should characterize it as a remarkable assembly of Christian men, one of the most remarkable in Christian history, and yet I have a feeling that there is no adjective quite adequate to de- scribe it, as the fact of this convention is a prophecy of things that are to be. There are two or three things that have very deeply im- pressed me. First of all is the profound atten- tion of the men to the themes that have been presented here, and to the great theme of the gospel which was behind them all. I have been impressed also with the intense intention which has been evident in the whole course of this con- vention. It now remains to be seen, my brethren, whether the attention and intention of this con- vention shall be characterized by retention; whether we shall carry away impressions that will last, and which through the coming days will help in bringing souls into the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. I trust I may be helped in these closing mo- ments to tie the thought of this convention par- ticularly to the word of God, although that has been done already. Indeed, it seems to me that from beginning to end, every speaker has been speaking out of an atmosphere of God's word. I want to give my testimony to this as one of 320 THE PKESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD the sweetest impressions of this assembly of men upon platform and floor, that God's word has dominated ever^^thing. I count it one of the privileges of my life to have been here and heard men talking about the things of this blessed book. XXI THE BOOK OF ACTS BY KEV. EDGAR WHITAKER WORK, D. D. There is a book of the New Testament whose message I would bring to you anew as we come to the close of this wonderful convention. It is the Book of Acts, or, as it is commonly called. The Acts of the Apostles. I do not care to dwell upon the last word of the title. As you know very well, not all of the apostles appear in the book, while there are many others in the mov- ing scenes of the book who were not of the apostolic number. I do care, however, to dwell very emphat- ically upon the other important word of the title — Acts. It is certainly not without signifi- cance that the book that follows the Gospels immediately in the New Testament is entitled the ^^Acts^' of those who had come to believe on Jesus Christ. You remember what Luke says here in his preface, referring to the Gospel that he had already written: ^^The former treatise have I made, ... of all that Jesus began both to do and teach. '^ Now it is his purpose in this second book of his to tell the story of how the disciples of Jesus went on with the work 321 322 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD after the Lord's ascension — to tell what they did, their acts, because of having come to be- lieve on him. It is a sort of fifth Gospel, for yon recall how Renan has said that there are four written Gospels telling the story of the life of Jesus, and then there is a fifth Gospel which tells the story of the life of Jesus in the lives of those who believe on him. This is the real meaning of the Book of Acts, with marked emphasis upon the last word. It would have been ten thousand pities if those men and women who had known Jesus personally, who had been with him intimately in his walks and talks, in his miracles, in his great and tragic sufferings, had not been ready to do something for him. It would have been the most melan- choly fact recorded in history if there had been no Book of Acts following these glorious Gos- pels in which the Son of God walked in the flesh among men. We need waste no time upon such a supposi- tion, however, for the book is here, coming quickly in the wake of the thrilling and beauti- ful fourfold story of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. And somehow I have a feeling that this book is where it is that it may instruct us by the very place it holds, telling us that when we have once believed on Jesus Christ, we must be up and doing for him. If the book of acts of my life or yours were written, I wonder what sort of a volume it would make. The book of our beliefs, our privileges, our opportunities. CINCINNATI CONVENTION 323 our personal knowledge of Jesus — that book would be voluminous enough. But our book of acts for Christ — Oh, I am afraid that many of Christ's disciples would have a very thin volume to bear this title. And now I feel that we need to think of this as we close this convention of the Brotherhood. Surely it has been good to be here. For many of us it has been a real Mount of Transfigura- tion and we have seen more of the glory and exaltation of our Lord than ever before in our Christian life. Many of us indeed would like to stay here in this mountain and build taber- nacles and not go down to the workaday world again. But we know on the contrary that Christ is calling us and we must go and do his work the best we can. I am afraid, my brethren, more afraid, I think, than I have ever been in my whole ministrj^, to speak any mere word of my own. And there- fore I want to bring to you now as we go back to our churches and to our everyday labors some helps from this thrilling book of the New Testament. It is a thrilling book. It has about it the spell of a great and irresistible movement. It has in it a sort of contagious jubilation of ac- tion. The book of action! I would that I might be helped of God's spirit just now, as we go away from this memorable place, to communi- cate to the strong souls of God's servants here something of the spirit of this book. It is a 324 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD spirit of aggression, of activity. Its keynote is *^Go/' It is as if the great Captain were say- ing to ns, whensoever we read the Book of Acts: ** Forward, march!'' It is the stirring command of the battle hour, but not only this — it is the command which every worthy enter- prise, every institution, must hear. It is the great word of spiritual progress always and everywhere. There is nothing dilettante, noth- ing light or lily-fingered about this scripture. If you are ready for the thrill of heroic action, if you want your pulses to beat the rhythm of the strong movement of the kingdom of God, if you are eager to feel the agitation of the mighty enthusiasm that is born of the gospel of Christ, you will find all these here in this little book of twenty-eight chapters. I have a feeling that it would be well if we were to go home from the convention and sit down for some days with this book. For if the spirit of this book shall come to possess us, I know that we cannot be easy-going or indolent or self- complacent about this task which the Master is laying upon our hands and hearts. Now, if we want to catch the spirit of the Book of Acts, we must realize first of all that it begins with the Lord's ascension. Out there on the ** mount called Olivet" they were per- mitted to see the actual exaltation of Jesus, and they followed him with looks of amazed rapture in their faces. It is a notable fact that the real activity of Christ's disciples begins, CINCINNATI CONVENTION 325 not with the cross, not with the Resurrection, but with the Ascension. Recall what Paul says of the Ascension: ^^When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.'' This is the new starting point of the church. His disciples must always follow him out to Olivet to witness his ascension ; then they will be ready to go on with his work. I trust that this convention has brought to many of us a new feeling of the personal glory and exaltation of Jesus, a new realization of the transcendent and inspiring truth of the ascen- sion of Jesus Christ — that he has gone up on high in order to "fill all things" with his glory and power, in order to possess for himself an increasing and never ending kingdom, and in order to give at the same time his ascension gifts to men here in the earth who are to do his work. If this vision, the vision of the glorified and ascended Lord, victorious over death and sin, triumphant throughout all ages, if this vision shall but fill our minds anew, I know that we shall be ready, as the early disciples were, for our book of acts. And yet I think those first disciples must have had to pass a crisis at once in their spirit- ual history, and the crisis came right there in the upper room in Jerusalem after they had returned from the mount called Olivet. Sir Edward Creasy has written of the "Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World ' ' ; but it may be that the battle of the upper room in Jerusalem 326 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD was more important tlian all the others. It was indeed a momentous occasion. They were fac- ing their task — Christ's task. And they were facing the world. It is a most interesting scene, but it is also a scene of suspense. How easy it would have been for them to come back from the Ascension to fold their hands and fall to dreaming; to give themselves over to fine ecstasies and transports of thought; to sur- render to mere meditativeness, to masterly in- activity; to become, as Coleridge says in the ** Ancient Mariner/' like ''a painted ship upon a painted ocean," without stir or movement or action. On the contrary, the church was in the upper room preparing herself for action. One is carried back in memory to an earlier scene wherein the young shepherd lad is preparing for action, going down to the brook with his staff and his sling and his shepherd's bag, to gather up a handful of smooth stones, and then to go out to meet the giant. **He was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance." The early church was like the shepherd lad, a mere child, yet the church was there in the upper room preparing for the Book of Acts. I think I need not point out to you the fact that there is a crisis like that for us just now. Shall this convention end in a fine frenzy of feel- ing, in a masterly demonstration of interest, in the enthusiasm of rumor and reports, or shall it go on to write new pages in the book of the acts of those who love the Lord? Shall this CINCINNATI CONVENTION 327 upper room of our i^rivilege be a place of dreams aud promises, of spiritual dilettanteism, of pur- poses frozen into the fine, cold architecture of resolutions — this only I Or shall it be the birth- place of action, the open door into a new era of actual workmanship for Jesus Christ such as we have never known before I And even as we pray for the jubilation of ac- tion to come upon us, let us be careful to make note of the principles that must be kept at the front in all successful work for Christ. If our Lord were here to-night, as he assuredly is by his spirit, and we should ask him anxiously the question, ^'How, Lord, shall we go forward?" I doubt not he would mark out the same lines of progress that were marked out for his first disciples. And what are these lines? First, then — Let us not try to go forward with- out spiritual power. It is this that makes this little Book of Acts the impressive document that it is. This stir and movement, this ability which even feeble men seem to be getting hold of to do valiant and stalwart work for the gospel — all this is no surface power, no mere spell of method and organization. Oh, no, you cannot explain the Book of Acts by Gibbon's ^ ' Five Causes. ' ' There was a greater cause than anything else — the Holy Spirit of God. In reality it is the Book of the Acts of the Holy Spirit. There it is at the very beginning at the great Pentecost in the second chapter, when there came a sound from heaven as of ''a rush- 328 THE PRESBYTEBIAN BROTHERHOOD ing mighty wind. ' ' Think what the early church would have been without the day of Pentecost to constitute the preface to the history. Christ had told them to wait for this, as if he feared they might try to rush ahead without it. He knew that they could not do his work without spiritual power. No one ever can. You can make the wheels move in a mechanical way, but back of the wheels you must have the power. Wheels that are merely made to go are sure to come to a dead pause after while. It may be that Presbyterians do not backslide, but Presbyterians do slow up at times in a very lamentable way. All of Christ's disciples need power. Christ spoke of it at the beginning: **Ye shall receive power.*' It is the first im- portant lesson of the Book of Acts. There is the ^^ little Pentecost'' in the fourth chapter, when the place was shaken where they were assembled together. In the eighth chapter there is a Samaritan Pentecost. In the ninth chapter the personal Pentecost. In the tenth chapter the Gentile Pentecost. In the thirteenth chap- ter the missionary Pentecost. And so on. There are more than threescore instances of the manifestation of spiritual power in this little book. Oh, it is an unmistakable lesson. Christ 's ascension gift of spiritual power is like one of those wonderful boxes of oriental work- manship. You open it only to find another within, and so on. There is no patent device for success in the divine kingdom. There will CINCINNATI CONVENTION 329 be new ways and new methods; but there is only one secret. It came out in this early Book of Acts and it must come out in our book of acts. It is right then for me to urge you, my brethren, in these closing moments, to go for- ward in this way. Seek after spiritual power. Seek method and organization and system and discipline. But seek power for all your methods and machinery, else these very plans that you make will creak and groan drearily like the fans of a windmill. A very large plan will be a dismal failure without divine power behind it, whilst a very small plan may be elevated at once to the level of spiritual success because God is in it. You can even put spiritual power into your hand shake so that a man will say: ' ' Hush, I pray you ! What if this friend happens to be God." Nor do we have to seek very far to learn how spiritual power comes. It is another impressive lesson of this Book of Acts. I would like to show you if I had the time what a book of prayer it is, and how they were listening — **that small transfigured band whom the world could not tame'' — how they were listening in prayer and doubtless also in Bible reading for God's word to them. For this is what prayer is — it is listening to God, fully as much as speaking to him. I might say to you, did you begin this day by pausing to listen for some silent, at- tentive moments to God! Tennyson calls this 330 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD *Hlie silent life of prayer.'^ If you are going to live well and do your work well, you must not neglect to build up your life, back there in the silent places with God. There is noise everywhere in the modern world. A recent writer speaks of seven kinds of noises in the modern city. He might rather have spoken of seventy times seven. The quietest place a man can find nowadays is the quiet place with God, when he enters into his closet and shuts the door. It is a wonderful thing to be alone for a little while every day with God, upon one's knees or with some open page of the Bible. It has been left to one of the leading scientists of our day, Sir Oliver Lodge, to say to the world from the scientific standpoint, ^^The Christian's philosophy of prayer is as reasonable as any- thing we know in human life. ' ' The great poets are believers in prayer with scarcely an excep- tion. Take your Tennyson, for example, and run through his poems of life to see how often he avows his faith in prayer: ''No help but prayer — A breath that fleets beyond this iron world And touches him that made it." Or remember what King Arthur said to one of his knights: *'Pray for my soul. More things are wrought by prayer Than this world dreams of." But without scientists and poets and theo- logians to tell us to believe in prayer, God has CINCINNATI CONVENTION 331 given us the example of the first disciples here in the Book of Acts. That was the first Brother- hood meeting the church held there in the upper room — *' Peter, and James, and John, and An- drew, Philip and Thomas.'^ And they were continuing ^'with one accord in prayer/^ I rejoice that we have had much prayer in this convention. We have been following the apostolic example and it argues for power. Yes, these first Christian brethren of the Lord were listening to God. And I do not hesitate to say that we shall never come to a time when this is not needed. I am thinking just now of the wonderful results that would come if the stal- wart Christian men of this convention, men of light and leading in their communities and churches, were all strong in prayer and in the word. Let us make no mistake about this, brethren. We want to make this work of ours deep and far-reaching. We want to fill the work of these organizations with the blood-red energies of the gospel. We want to do down- right work for our Master. We are not ashamed of him, nor ashamed to be known as his work- ingmen. We are not sorry, but glad, to belong to the Guild of the Carpenter, with overall and blouse and cap, and compass and square and saw and plane. *^Get your tools ready, God will give you the work to do.'* We want, in other words, to do a little work, a little mend- ing, a little carpentering, a little real, genuine, worthy work for him who has never turned his 332 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD back ,upon us. Let us do a little work for the great Workman! Who is there here who is not ready for his book of acts? Go home and call the men together and organize your Brother- hood, your Guild of Christ, but do not neglect to have your prayer circle, too, and your Bible class. Build up the silent life of your men, the life of prayer and Bible study. You will get real efficiency thus: for you will have a back- ground of spiritual life. I had hoped to speak of some other impress- ive lessons coming out of this book. I may merely mention them. A third thing that is tremendously impress- ive here is the way the men of the early church did their work by individual effort, by personal consecration. It is a book of biographies, and biography is the most interesting kind of litera- ture. It is a wonderful character book, too. And one thing captivates us. Every disciple is busy. Even little Ehoda is opening the door for an apostle. Oh, we must have this power of individual usefulness, of individual sacrifice. When Nehemiah built the wall, he began at the sheep-gate and that was the place of sacrifice. A Christian member of the English Parliament was addressing a missionary society not long since, and he said a memorable thing. Said he : ^^You can't expect to win the world to Christ with your spare cash.'' There is a spirit of self-sacrifice, a willingness to give up to Christ, that is going to win great victories. It was so CINCINNATI CONVENTION 333 in The Acts of the Apostles and it will be so in our book of acts. If you are willing to hold yourself and some portion of your time and some portion of your money subject to Christ's call, then you will be in the way of victory. You remember what Paul wrote about some Chris- tians whom he knew: They ^' first gave their own selves. '^ There is one thing more. Let us go forward as men in the Book of Acts did with the mission- ary idea, with the passion for winning souls here and in the wide circles of the world. I have often thought that the thirteenth chapter of Acts is the greatest in the book. It is another meeting of the Brotherhood. It is in Antioch. Apparently there are but five men there. I read their names with a thrill in my heart, ** Barnabas, and Simeon, that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, . . . and Saul." To this meager meeting of the Chris- tian Brotherhood in Antioch there came a marvelous vision. It was a vision of the world, and of the cross of Christ lifted in the world for the salvation of men. And with the vision came a burden — the burden of precious souls. And even as they ministered to the Lord and fasted — I think this means that as they wor- shiped and prayed and meditated and studied about the work of Christ, just as we have been doing here — the power of God came upon them and the voice of the Holy Spirit said: ^* Sepa- rate me Barnabas and Saul for the work where- 334 THE PRESBYTEEIAN BROTHERHOOD unto I have called them/' This is the highest mountain peak in the Book of Acts, this sec- ond verse of the thirteenth chapter. I would that we might be lifted to that mountain peak even now at the end of this meeting of the Brotherhood. This word ^ * Brotherhood ' * will never mean as much as it ought to mean to us until we have gone up to this mountain peak of vision with Christ and have seen, himself pointing it out to us, the needs of the world for which he died. And we shall never be ready to enter the right way into our book of acts until we have realized that Brotherhood in Christ's way of interpreting it means a pas- sion of the heart for souls — souls for whom Christ died. Yes, my brethren, our great Captain is saying to us: **Go forward, '* and he is pointing out the way, the way of spiritual power, the way of prayer and Bible study, the way of individual service and personal conse- cration, the way of the passion for the winning of souls. And I trust that we are ready. Long ago in the city of Florence two artists lived together, both of them sculptors, Michel- angelo and Donatello. Donatello had com- pleted his great figure of St. George, and the people were admiring it as it stood in front of the Church of San Michele. But everybody wanted to know what the great Michelangelo thought. At length he came and looking at the splendid figure, every limb perfect, every line complete, the face lighted almost with human in- CINCINNATI CONVENTION 335 telligence, the brow uplifted and the form poised as if it would step forth into life, just as you may have seen it in its niche to-day in the Italian Gallery, looking still upon the statue, and slowly lifting his hand, he said : * ' Now, march 1 ^ ' It is our Lord's word to us! Mr. Holt. — We will fittingly close this con- vention by bowing in prayer with our General Secretary, Dr. Landrith, and then, after singing that hymn of triumph, '^All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name,'' the benediction will be pro- nounced by Eev. Joseph A. Vance, D.D., of Chi- cago. XXII WEDNESDAY MORNING BROTHERHOOD CONVENTION BUSINESS. Mr. Holt. — I am directed by the Council to announce that, at its request, Mr. Allan Suther- land, who so efficiently served as secretary of the last convention, will perform the same serv- ice this year. Let me say, in further explanation, that we will not draw the lines closely on the question of the right to vote. Should a very grave ques- tion arise, it might be necessary to ask only the regularly appointed delegates to vote, but un- less some such question does arise all will have a right to vote. Perhaps the first thing of importance is the appointment of committees. Mr. Sisson, of Chicago. — I move that the chair appoint the following committees : 1. A committee of fifteen on resolutions, to whom shall be referred all proposed resolu- tions and motions requiring reference to a com- mittee, except as the convention shall otherwise direct. 336 CINCINNATI CONVENTION 337 2. A committee of fifteen on nominations, to report candidates for election to the Council. 3. A committee of seven on correspondence, to whom shall be referred communications from outside bodies, and the preparation of letters and t-elegrams ordered to be sent in the name of the convention. Carried. Me. Holt. — The chair will announce the ap- pointment of committees at the close of the busi- ness session. I am further directed by the Council to read to the convention its report for the year ending November 12th, 1907. ANNUAL REPORT OF THE COUNCIL The Council chosen by the convention of 1906 was ^^commissioned with full power to adopt a constitution . . . with the understanding that changes in said constitution may be made at the next national convention.'' For this purpose a meeting of the Council was held in Chicago on December 14th, 1906, and was attended by four- teen members, ill-health and other unavoidable causes detaining several members who had ex- pected to be present, some of whom contributed valuable suggestions. After thorough deliberation and study of all the suggestions presented to it, the Council imanimously adopted a constitution, of which a copy is appended to this report; and after re- 338 THE PKESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD ceiving the approval of those members of the Council who were not present at the meeting, this constitution was published in the church papers and otherwise widely circulated. In May it further received the unanimous ap- proval of the General Assembly at its meeting in Columbus, Ohio. For this and for the very general commendation of the constitution by those who have examined it, the members of the Council are deeply grateful. Little comment is necessary upon the features of the constitution. The largest question that arose with reference to it was whether the Brotherhood ought to be a new and formal or- ganization, either duplicating or superseding those already in existence, or an elastic federa- tive agency to stimulate and guide all forms of organization of men for definite Christian serv- ice. The Council was led to a clear and unani- mous conviction that the latter is the true func- tion of the Brotherhood, and that its greatest usefulness will be as a center of enthusiasm and a clearing house of practical experience and suggestion. The unit of membership, therefore, in the National Brotherhood is the organization of men in the local church. The whole scheme is one of home rule and local self-government. The undivided allegiance of the individual mem- ber is to his own church. It is the desire of the Council to work to the largest possible extent through pastors and Ses- sions and through Presbyteries and Synods. It CINCINNATI CONVENTION 339 was voted that the chairmen of Synodical Com- mittees on the Brotherhood be members of the Advisory Committee of the Brotherhood for their respective states of residence. Loyalty to our church is secured by the pro- visions, in Article I, that the Brotherhood shall at all times be subject to the control of the Assembly, and in Article III, that no local or- ganization can become or continue a member of the National Brotherhood without the ap- proval of the church Session. At the same time no denominational restriction is placed upon the individual membership of the local organization. The door is also left open to receive into our membership local organizations in other churches of our faith and order which may voluntarily seek affiliation with us; but no authority is given to our own societies to put themselves under any species of outside control, so that from our side the vexed question of interdenominationalism cannot arise. The inner spirit of the Brotherhood may be found in Article II, which sets forth the object of the organization. It is believed that no one can thoughtfully study that article without be- ing impressed at once by the breadth of the definition and its unfaltering loyalty to the spirit of Jesus Christ. The emphasis of position is upon soul-winning, with which the list begins, and the extension of the kingdom, with which it closes. Between these lie spiritual development, prayer, Bible study, Christian service and fellow- 340 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD ship. In action the order must be governed by varying circumstances and local conditions ; but all forms of activity which fall within the defined limits are included. The Men's Bible Class ap- pears to be the best starting point in probably a majority of cases. Many societies will offer themselves for general assistance to the pastor ; others will seek the development of the evening preaching service and the weekly prayer meet- ing ; some may find it possible to engage in the promotion of civic righteousness without going unduly into politics. Lines of large usefulness lead to the reading room, the boarding house and the development of sociability along clean and Christian lines. The work of the Council is to gather up and pass along the experiences and suggestions that are worked out in the local societies. Their successes and failures, their problems and discouragements and happy solu- tions will all have a multiplied value when com- pared and digested by a central agency and transmitted to the places where they are spe- cially needed. The following officers were elected: Presi- dent, Hugh H. Hanna ; Vice President, Charles S. Holt ; Secretary, William R. Farrand ; Treas- urer, Charles T. Thompson. The president afterward appointed standing committees on Work of the Brotherhood, on Conventions, and on Finance, and the respective chairmen of these committees. President C. W. Dabney, James D. Husted and Frederick A. Wallis, CINCINNATI CONVENTION 341 thereby became members of the Executive Com- mittee. The Indianapolis convention by resolution expressed the conviction ^'that for the earlier period of the movement no salaries should be paid, at least for the first year, except for such clerical work as may be necessary in a central office of correspondence and information." Realizing the value of volunteer service, the Council nevertheless felt that no one of its mem- bers was in a position to carry on the executive work of the Brotherhood in connection with his other occupations ; yet desiring to carry out the spirit of the resolution they found it possible, through the generous courtesy of the Board of Home Missions, to secure the services of Mr. Von Ogden Vogt for a considerable part of his time in the capacity of corresponding secretary. Mr. Vogt entered upon his duties about Febru- ary 1st, and it would be impossible to over- state the value of his devoted and intelligent service rendered in the midst of great pressure of other duties. Not less important has been the volunteer service unselfishly rendered by Dr. Ira Landrith during the two months preceding the conven- tion in the capacity of convention secretary. The large plans and the minute details have alike received his wise and indispensable care. The Council acknowledges with deep grati- tude its obligation to Mr. Vogt and Dr. Landrith and to the Board of Home Missions, and recog- 342 THE PEESBYTERIAiSr BROTHERHOOD nizes the divine favor in the Providence which made it possible to secure such help in time of need. It is the nnanimons opinion of the Council that the welfare of the Brotherhood now re- quires the full time and strength of the best available man as general secretary. It is hoped that it may be possible soon to announce such an appointment. The year has been one of study and prepara- tion rather than of large actual accomplishment. The problems presented were new and it seemed important to deal with them wisely, even with some delay, rather than to risk serious mistakes in seeking for imniediately visible results. It was early determined that the second conven- tion should be planned with reference to full and free discussion of these problems and com- parison of experiences; and it is believed that the convention will furnish most valuable ma- terial for use in further prosecution of the work. Yet some very gratifying results have been ac- complished. A large amount of information and material has been gathered and made available for future study and use. Brotherhood litera- ture has been extensively circulated, including copies of the constitution, leaflets with suggested constitutions, hints about purposes and methods of organization, circulars to pastors and stated clerks of Presbyteries, a personal letter signed by the president with an appeal for coopera- tion sent to every pastor in the church, and cir- CINCINNATI CONVENTION 34o culars of news notes sent to the church papers ; together with a large quantity of individual correspondence. The number of societies enrolled is growing from day to day. At the latest report it is 455, with a membership of 25,017. The Synod of Pennsylvania leads with 84 societies, and 5,583 members. Illinois is next, with 63 and 3,933, followed by New York, 52 and 3,621 ; Ohio, 44 and 2,822; New Jersey, 37 and 2,033; and others in varying proportions, several Synods having one each. The average membershix) in the societies in the larger Synods ranges from 55 to 70; the single society in the Synod of Washington has 200 members. In addition to these, 212 societies have been reported which have not applied for affiliation with the Brotherhood. Enrollment has doubtless been hindered in many cases by imperfect understanding as to the policy of the movement, and especially by the unfounded apprehension that affiliation with the National Brotherhood would involve change in the name, features or methods of local so- cieties. These difficulties have been gradually met and can be very largely removed with the cooperation of pastors and of Presbyterial committees. The lines of activity reported are many and various. Almost half of the enrolled societies have Bible classes as one of the features. A large number of societies center chiefly around a 344 THE PKESBYTEKIAN BEOTHERHOOD montlily meeting, partly social and partly occu- pied with a special address. Only a few have classes for the study of missions or civic prob- lems. A still smaller number appear to have adopted as one of their definite objects, prayer and the cultivation of the devotional spirit, which is beyond doubt the most indispensable of all, and the one without which success in any other direction is not to be expected. It is important for our societies to realize that all methods of work are still to a large extent experimental, and to be prepared to modify and change them as experience may suggest, being careful only to preserve, amid all the diversities of operation, the same spirit — the Spirit of God and of our Brother, Jesus Christ. The wisest plan for the finances of the Broth- erhood has not yet been determined, but will be one of the first questions to be taken up by the Council after the convention. All expenses thus far have been met by voluntary contributions from a small number of persons, supplementing a balance of about $1,100 turned over to the Council by the treasurer of the Assembly's Com- mittee. After considering many suggestions the Coun- cil has adopted as the Brotherhood emblem a small button bearing a white cross placed diag- onally on a plain blue ground, being one of the historical forms of the cross of St. Andrew. This decision was reached with the cordial ap- proval of the authorities of the Men's Brother- CINCINNATI CONVENTION 345 hood of the Southern Presbyterian Church, and its adoption by that organization will establish it as an emblem common to the two armies of men enlisted in the Master 's service. It is a source of deepest regret that impaired health has disabled Honorable Hugh H. Hanna, the president of the Council, from active serv- ice during a large part of the year. His enthu- siastic interest in the work of the Brotherhood, especially on its spiritual and devotional side, his thought and labor in its behalf up to the full limit of physical strength, and his generous ma- terial assistance, entitle him to the gratitude of every member of the Brotherhood. It is ear- nestly hoped that his expected presence at the convention is an augury of new health and vigor for the future work of the Council. The members of the Council having been classified in accordance with the constitution, the terms of the following expire with this con- vention: Charles T. Thompson, John H. Con- verse, E. H. Perkins, W. E. Settle, E. M. Treat, James D. Husted, and John L. Severance. Additional vacancies exist through the resig- nation of Franklin W. Ganse, owing to his trans- fer of membership to the Congregational Church; of President A. E. Turner by reason of removal to another part of the country, and of Joseph T. Ailing and W. M. Ladd for business or personal reasons. The experience of the year has brought to the members of the Council an overpowering sense 34:6 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD of opportunity and responsibility. The readi- ness, and even eagerness, of Christian men for active service in connection with the church has not been equaled for at least a generation. It has been demonstrated that the enthusiasm shown at Indianapolis was not artificial or tran- sient, but had its roots in a deep and earnest purpose which has been widening throughout the ensuing year. Other denominations have been stirred by the same purpose and are following the lead which it has been our privilege to set for them. To develop this spirit and guide it in the lines of the largest and most permanent useful- ness is a responsibility which no body of men would dare undertake without the assurance, first of the unfailing leadership of the Spirit of God, and then of hearty cooperation in prayer and service from the great host of Presbyterian men who count it their highest honor to be work- ers together with God. By order of the Executive Committee. Charles S. Holt, Vice President, XXIII THE CONSTITUTION ABTICLE I The name of this organization shall be The Presbyterian Brotherhood of America. It shall be under the control of the General As- sembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, as provided for in the Form of Government of said church. article II The object of the organization shall be to pro- mote, assist and federate all forms of organized Christian activity of men in the churches, which have for their purpose the winning of men to Christ and the church, the promotion of spirit- ual development and the training in usefulness of men connected with the congregations through prayer, Bible study and Christian service, the strengthening of fellowship, and the extension of Christ's kingdom at home and abroad. ARTICLE III (a) Any organization of men connected with a church in America holding the Reformed faith may become a member of the Brotherhood by 347 348 THE PKESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD making written application for membership ac- companied by a certificate from the Session of the church with which it is connected that its purposes are in harmony with Article II. The membership of any organization shall be termi- nated at any time by written notice thereof to the Council, or by vote of the Session withdraw- ing its approval; or, for good cause shown, by a vote of the Council after reasonable notice and opportunity for hearing. Organizations com- posed of members from more than one church, or consisting of a group of other organizations, may be admitted to membership by special vote of the Council, and upon a basis to be determined by it. (b) The basis of representation at conven- tions of the Brotherhood shall be one delegate for each organization which is a member of the Brotherhood, irrespective of the number of its individual members ; and any organization hav- ing more than one hundred active members shall be entitled to one additional delegate for each one hundred members or fraction thereof (not less than twenty-five) in excess of the first one hundred. (c) The individual members of all organiza- tions which are members of the Brotherhood shall be entitled to wear the Brotherhood emblem. ARTICLE IV (a) The government of the Brotherhood CINCINNATI CONVENTION 349 shall be vested in a Council of twenty-one mem- bers, who shall be members of some organization belonging to the Brotherhood, of whom ten shall constitute a quormn. The Council chosen by the convention of 1906 shall divide its members into three classes of seven each, to hold office respec- tively one, two and three years, and each con- vention shall elect seven members for a term of three years. Vacancies occurring between con- ventions may be filled by the Council until the next convention. If the conventions shall be held at longer intervals than one year, the terms of office of the Council shall be correspondingly lengthened. The officers of the Council shall be president, vice president, secretary and treas- urer. These officers shall be elected by ballot at the first meeting of the Council after each con- vention. There shall also be an executive com- mittee consisting of the officers and chairmen of standing committees. A majority of the execu- tive committee shall constitute a quorum. The executive committee shall have such powers and perform such duties as shall be delegated to it by the Council. The Council shall meet at the call of the president at least twice a year. (b) It shall be the duty of the Council in every suitable way to promote the objects of the Brotherhood as stated in Article II; to aid and encourage the holding of local Presbyterial and Synodical conventions; to appoint fraternal delegates to bodies of similar scope and aim ; and to secure by voluntary subscription the funds 350 THE PBESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD necessary to carry on the work of the Brother- hood. AllTICLE V A convention shall be held annually at a time and place designated by the Council, unless otherwise ordered by the last preceding con- vention. The Council shall have charge of the arrangements for such convention, the selection of speakers and topics for discussion, subject to any instructions given by the last previous con- vention, and subject to the control of the conven- tion itself when organized. ARTICLE VI This Constitution may be amended by a two- thirds vote of any convention, provided such pro- posed amendment shall have been submitted to the secretary of the Council in writing not less than thirty days before the meeting of the con- vention. This report was received with great applause, and Mr. J. J. Parks, of St. Louis, moved *Hhat this report be adopted as read, and that the thanks of the convention be tendered to the Council for this report and for their most ex- cellent service during the past year.'' Carried. XXIV THE NEXT CONVENTION Mr. Holt. — I am further directed by the Council to offer the following recommendation : ^^ Resolved, That in the judgment of the Council it is not possible at this time to determine the wisest arrangement with reference to the time and place of holding the next national convention ; and that we recommend to the con- vention that the decision of that question be re- ferred to the Council with power to act. ' ' It seems that next November may be a most inopportune time for the holding of the next convention. Our recommendation is that the question be referred back to the Council with power to act. Dr. Bigger. — ^I move the recommendation of the Council be adopted by this convention. Carried. CONVENTION COMMITTEES The committees were announced as follows: Committee on Nominations. — Andrew Steven- son, Chicago, HI., chairman ; Andrew B. Martin, 351 352 THE PEESBYTEEIAN BROTHEKHOOD LL.D., Lebanon, Tenn.; Rev. R. W. Brokaw, D.D., Utica, N. Y. ; AVilliam C. Lilley, Pittsburg, Pa. ; E. N. Crane, Newark, N. J. ; E. W. John- son, Corsicana, Texas; H. R. Cobb, Red Wing, Minn. ; A. E. Mullikin, Baltimore, Md. ; Rev. S. C. Dickey, D.D., Indianapolis, Ind. ; S. P. Shat- tuck, Neenali, Wis.; Cornelins Collins, Hebron, Neb.; Prof. W. W. Boyd, Columbus, Ohio; Thomas Sloss, Cedar Rapids, Iowa ; W. T. Baird, Kirksville, Mo.; F. E. McClure, M.D., Detroit, Mich. Committee on Resolutions. — J. J. Parks, St. Louis, Mo., chairman; Paul C. Martin, Spring- field, Ohio; Rev. J. S. Lyons, D.D., Louisville, Ky. ; H. Knox Taylor, St. Paul, Minn. ; Robert Appleton, Passaic, N. J. ; J. M. Cowan, Decatur, 111. ; E. A. Rogers, Lockport, N. Y. ; Charles G. Dean, Memphis, Tenn.; Alex. Hardcastle, Jr., Baltimore, Md. ; Fred L. Burgan, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho; Rev. L. J. Coats, Fort Smith, Ark.; R. A. Kope, Kansas City, Mo. ; W. W. Crissinger, Austin, 111. ; Rev. E. B. Newcomb, D.D., Keokuk, Iowa ; R. D. Dripps, Philadelphia, Pa. Committee on Correspondence. — Rev. M. L. Haines, D.D., Indianapolis, Ind., chairman; E. H. Dutcher, East Orange, N. J. ; Elmer 0. Flip- pin, Ithaca, N. Y. ; Harry N. Clark, Columbus, 0.; J. D. Diffenbaugh, Monmouth, 111.; Harry Converse, Louisville, Ky. ; Burdette L. Hostet- ler, Erie, Pa. XXV WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON FINANCIAL SESSION Mr. Holt. — Now we come to an order not mentioned on the program, but which is of in- terest to the Council, and, we hope, to every member of the Brotherhood — ^the financial prob- lem. By the direction of the Council, this will be presented by the treasurer of the Brother- hood, who has also consented in a great emer- gency to serve as chairman of the Finance Com- mittee, Mr. Charles T. Thompson, of Minne- apolis. Mr. Thompson. — If there is one subject I would not rather speak upon than this, I do not know what it is. I have always kept out of financial work until the organization of the Pres- byterian Brotherhood, and ever since I have been in it over my head. Now, I want to make a business statement, in a businesslike way, to these men, and make it as briefly as possible. In the first place, we started this movement without a dollar in the treasury; but through the ef- forts of the Finance Committee and the General Assembly we raised enough to provide for the 353 354 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD expenses of that committee by personal solicita- tion, and the Council received from that com- mittee a balance of $1,100. That was a year ago. Since that time the expenses have been $3,700, every dollar of which was contributed person- ally by the members of the Council, the largest subscription being that of the honored president. Now we have to face this proposition : As you have learned from the report of the Council, up to this time we have had no expense for the general secretary, and the services of Mr. Von Ogden Vogt as corresponding secretary have been donated to us by the Home Missions Board. Dr. Landrith has given his services entirely without expense to the committee. In order to provide for the next two years — for we feel that we should provide for two years, inasmuch as there is some uncertainty as to whether it will be possible to have a convention one year from now — we have carefully prepared a budget, covering also the salary of the general secre- tary, which in its entirety amounts to $24,000, or $12,000 per year. Of that amount members of the Council have already subscribed $12,500, to be paid within two years. This leaves a bal- ance which we desire to have subscribed, in order to put us on a firm basis for the next two years, of $11,500. We think it will appeal to you as a fair proposition that the members of the Council have done about all they ought to be expected to do along this line, and that you ought to assist us, through your home churches, in raising this CmCINNATI CONVENTION 355 balance, which we would be glad to see raised as soon as possible. We have prepared subscription blanks which read as follows: *'I hereby agree to pay myself, or to raise, for the expenses of the General Council of the Presbyterian Brotherhood, during the two years beginning November 12, 1907, the sum of dollars, said sum to be paid to the treasurer of the Council, one half each year, as follows:'' Then follow the signature and address. These blanks will be passed through the audi- ence by the ushers. The bottom part of these blanks you can take home to show to your Brotherhood the subscription you have made. We will be very glad to have cash, but what we especially desire is to know that this movement has been put, for the next two years, on a firm financial basis, and during the two years we hope to devise — with your consent, and we hope the Committee on Eesolutions may have something to say about it — some plan by which the expense of conducting the Brotherhood may be provided for in some other manner; because, God forbid that this movement should ever take such form that a man must be a man of wealth in order to find a place upon the Brotherhood Council. I understand just as well as you do the present financial stringency in this country. I under- stand the embarrassment under which you are laboring. I understand the great demands made 356 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD Upon you in every direction. But I think the Council is fully justified in laying this matter before you, upon your hearts and consciences, asking you now to do your duty in carrying on this financial part of the work for the next two years. Mr. Peterson, of Chicago. — For the Young Men's Presbyterian Union of Chicago, I will pledge $500. Mr. Parks, of St. Louis. — St. Louis is not quite as large as Chicago, but we are getting there, and we will give $500 toward this expense. Mr. Holt. — ^I hope it is known to most of you that the St. Louis Brotherhood gave a most cor- dial invitation to us to hold the convention there this year, and had it not been that the only available hall was engaged for one of the con- vention dates, there would probably have been serious competition between Cincinnati and St. Louis for the privilege which we now enjoy. A Delegate. — May we have a few items of this expense? Mr. Thompson. — The advertising bill, the printing, and so on, for last year has amounted to $2,500, and we expect there will be a larger item than that this year. We will have a gen- CINCINNATI CONVENTION 357 eral office this year, and there will be the item of office rent and office and traveling expense. A Delegate, from Los Angeles. — Los Angeles is not as large as either Chicago or St. Louis, but we will give $500. Mk. Holt. — I have stopped my watch ; the next order of business will not come on as long as these five-hundred-dollar subscriptions are com- ing in. Numerous other subscriptions were quickly made. Mk. Thompson. — ^I have to report that you gave me, in cash and pledges, this afternoon, $3,517.78. I want to say, in this connection, that I told the president of the local organization that we did not expect him or his men to respond to any appeal we might make. They have raised $3,500 to give us this magnificent entertainment, and I think they have done their part toward the expense of the Brotherhood during the period which we are trying to cover. XXVI THUESDAY MORNING REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON NOMINATIONS Mr. Stevenson, chairman of the committee. — Your committee finds it their duty to recom- mend to you seven members to succeed those whose terms expire this year. According to the constitution, the terms of seven members of the Council expire this year, seven next year, etc., making it necessary to elect seven each year. Four have resigned, for good rea- sons, therefore there are eleven members to elect, and the committee recommends the follow-* ing to take the place of those whose terms ex- pire this year : John H. Converse, Philadelphia, Pa. ; James D. Husted, Denver, Col. ; Charles T. Thompson, Minneapolis, Minn., and John L. Severance, Cleveland, Ohio, to succeed them- selves, and A. C. Stewart, St. Louis, Mo.; Judge Wm. M. Lanning, Trenton, N. J., and Douglas M. Wylie, Baltimore, Md. For membership on the Council to fill vacan- cies occasioned by the resignation of Messrs. Ganse, of Boston ; Ailing, of Rochester ; Ladd, of 358 CINCINNATI CONVENTION 359 Portland, Ore., and Turner, of Waxahachie, Texas: G. E. Stone, Tacoma, Wash.; Edward D. Ibbotson, Utica, N. Y.; J. W. Axtell, Nashville, Tenn. ; E. W. Johnson, Corsicana, Texas. The report was adopted by unanimous vote. Dr. Haines, chairman of the Committee on Correspondence. — This committee has the fol- lowing to otf er : First, a letter from the Broth- erhood of St. Andrew, of Cincinnati. Cincinnati, Ohio, November 11, 1907. To The Presbyterian Brotherhood of America, Greeting : — At the annual meeting of the Cincinnati Local Assembly of the Brotherhood of St. Andrew, of the Episcopal Church, the following resolution was unanimously adopted: '^Resolved, That this Assembly extends to the national convention of the Presbyterian Brotherhood of America its fraternal greetings and expresses its sincere brotherly interest in the work in which it is en- gaged, and trusts that your convention may be successful and productive of great good and that you may be thereby inspired to still more active work in the spread of Christ's kingdom among men. ' ' Cincinnati Local Assembly of The Brotherhood of St. Andrew. John H. Martin, Secretary pro tern. 360 THE PRESBYTEKIAN BROTHERHOOD The committee has prepared the following in response, which they now present to yon : Music Hall, Cincinnati, November 13, 1907. To THE Cincinnati Local Assembly of the Brotherhood of St. Andrew of the Episco- pal Church : — Resolvedy That the men of the Presbyterian Brotherhood of America, assembled in second annual convention, receives with keen apprecia- tion the fraternal greetings and brotherly inter- est of its co-workers, the Cincinnati Local As- sembly of the Brotherhood of St. Andrew of the Episcopal Chnrch. The spiritual insight and eif ectiveness which we are gaining sends us forth anew to the great work of uplifting men in which you are also en- gaged, and the Presbyterian Brotherhood of America conveys to you its cordial greetings and thanks. It was decided to send a telegram of thanks to Hon. John "W. Foster, and the committee has sent this telegram : — Hon. John W. Foster, Washington, D. C. The Presbyterian Brotherhood thanks you for your valuable paper, and assures you of its sympathies and prayers for speedy re- covery. CINCINNATI CONVENTION 361 We have also received a message from our ** grand old man,'* Dr. Theodore L. Cuyler, and in response have sent the following telegram : Eev. Dr. Theodore L. Cuyler, 176 South Oxford Street, Brooklyn, N. Y. The Presbyterian Brotherhood rejoices to re- ceive your greetings, and assures you of love and prayers. The report was adopted. Mr. Holt. — In addition I think I should read this interesting communication, which came last night : Mingo Junction, Ohio, November 13, 1907. Dear Brethren : We, as foreign-speaking men, wish you a suc- cessful convention. We remain, Slavonic Presbyterian Men's Society. To this the following reply has been sent by telegraph : — November 14, 1907. The Presbyterian Brotherhood receives with gladness your message, and sends you greetings and best wishes. I will also read a telegram from Grinnell, Iowa. 362 THE PKESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD Eev. Frank Dyer lias been appointed the rep- resentative of the National Council of the Con- vention on Congregational Brotherhood to the Presbyterian Brotherhood, to carry greetings and get wisdom for onr work. J. H. T. Main. Mr. Dyer was here last night, but has been called home. The following letter was later sent Mr. Dyer by the Committee on Correspondence: Music Hall, Cincinnati, November 15, 1907. Eev. Frank Dyer, Grinnell, Iowa. My Dear Sir : We are in receipt of a telegram from Mr. J. H. T. Main, saying you were appointed to repre- sent the National Council on Congregational Brotherhood at the convention of our Presby- terian Brotherhood, and while we learn that you were present at the sessions of the convention, the officers of the Brotherhood did not have the opportunity they desired of expressing to you their pleasure at having you with us and their appreciation of the greeting you bring from the Congregational Brotherhood. It therefore be- comes my pleasant duty to convey to you these sentiments. We trust your visit was a pleasant and in- structive one, and that there may be the utmost cordiality and cooperation between the two or- CINCINNATI CONVENTION 363 ganizations for the advancement of the great common cause they represent. BEPOET OF THE COMMITTEE ON BESOLUTIONS Mk. J. J. Paeks, of St. Louis, Chairman. — Your committee begs to report the following : — Resolved (1), That the Presbyterian Brother- hood of America extends its congratulations to the church at large, and recognizes with great thanksgiving the evident leading of God in bringing to Christian men of our own and other churches a fuller recognition of the high claims of citizenship, and a closer association in hearty service in behalf of better standards of com- mercial integrity, civic righteousness and per- sonal purity. Especially do we recognize and commend their activity in promoting the cause of temperance, and in securing the enactment and enforcement of such legislation as helps to deliver communities from governmental corrup- tion and misrule, from the sorrow and shame of broken homes, from the financial loss and from the spiritual degradation and death which at- tend the liquor traffic. The men of our church are urged to use their power of prayer and personal service in aid of all fit agencies for securing a continuance and enlargement of their efficiency as Christian men, through all movements which make for commercial integrity, for civic honesty, for home and 364 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD social protection, for the destruction of the liquor traffic, and for personal purity in heart and life. Resolved (2), The Presbyterian Brotherhood of America regrets that the words ^ ^ In God We Trust'' have been omitted from the coins of the United States, and earnestly hopes that Congress will take prompt action to restore the inscrip- tion. Resolved (3), That, in order to promote interest in our movement, and to keep our con- gregations thoroughly posted as to its work and plans, we designate the first Sunday of Decem- ber in each year ** Brotherhood Day," said day to be observed as each local organization, its pastor, and Session may deem proper. Resolved (4), That in order to assist in the support of the general secretary 's office, and for the promotion of the general work of the Broth- erhood, an annual free-will offering be re- quested from each local men's organization federated with the Presbyterian Brotherhood of America. Resolved (5), That we approve of the card system of identification of members of the Broth- erhood, and recommend that the Executive Council prepare and furnish to all Brotherhoods who may desire them, a uniform identification card. Resolved (6), That whenever a member of the Brotherhood moves from one locality to another, the Brotherhood from which such member re- CINCINNATI CONVENTION 365 moves be requested to notify the Brotherhood, if any exists, and if not, then the pastor of the church, in the locality to which such member may have removed. Resolved (7), That a communication from Mrs. Wallace Radcliffe and others, of Washing- ton, D. C, asking that steps be taken for the organization of Junior Brotherhoods, be re- ferred to the national council for its considera- tion. Resolved (8), That we recommend that one of the applied energies of the Brotherhood be di- rected to the establishment of Bible institutes, these institutes to be located throughout the United States wherever in the judgment of the local Brotherhoods they can be maintained, for the purpose of giving the people of each com- munity an opportunity to secure a better and more comprehensive knowledge of the laws of God, as revealed in his Holy Word. That the ministry of the country be enlisted to assist in establishing and forwarding this movement by giving their talented help in lecture series and expositions, and that the Brotherhoods seek en- dowments to establish these institutes, thereby encouraging the study of the Bible by the adults of our churches. Resolved (9), That each affiliated organization be advised to take steps to secure a prayer union, beginning with three or more conse- crated, earnest men in each church, who shall pledge themselves to meet privately every Sun- 366 THE PRESBYTEKIAN BROTHERHOOD day moruing for ten minutes to pray that the pastor 's sermons of that day be a message from the Master, and that the people assembled shall receive the message with prayerful hearts. Each member of the prayer union should also, within the week, pray for the spiritual life of the mid-week prayer meeting. The invitation for additional members should pass from man to man, rather than by public announcement in the churches. The effort to secure prayer unions should be pressed unceasingly by our general secretary. Resolved (10), We feel that the cause of the Brotherhood, which is the cause of the Master, owes much to the tireless and ceaseless toil and devotion of these strong, consecrated men of this Council; that not only the success of this con- vention, in a large degree, is due to their efficient service, but that whatever may be accomplished in the future should be put down to their credit. We desire, therefore, on behalf of the constitu- ents of this Brotherhood convention, to express in our most earnest manner our thanks to the men of this Council for what they have done to make success possible. We would further ex- press our hearty appreciation of the splendid choice made by the Council in securing the serv- ices of Dr. Ira Landrith as secretary of this organization. Resolved (11), That we send fraternal greet- ings from the Presbyterian Brotherhood of America, now assembled in annual convention CINCINNATI CONVENTION 367 in Cincinnati, Ohio, to the international conven- tion of the Young Men's Christian Association, which will meet in Washington, D. C, Novem- ber 22-26, ^'for we are laborers together with God.'' Resolved (12), That this convention, now in session, express to the members of the local com- mittee its most hearty thanks for the royal man- ner in which we have been received and enter- tained during our stay in this Queen City. We believe that every member of this great body will return to his home feeling that the entertainment of the convention could not have been better done, and we will ever cherish a very cordial feeling for the warm-hearted, whole-souled men of the Brotherhood of Cincinnati. Resolved (13), That the thanks of the members of this convention be hereby expressed to the local press for the elaborate way in which they have reported the proceedings of this meeting. Resolved (14), That the Presbyterian Broth- erhood hereby expresses grateful recognition of the invitation to visit Lane Theological Semi- nary. We recall that there have been many evidences of God's favor shown to this ^* school of the prophets" in other days, by enabling the seminary to send forth from her walls men who were trained for noble service in the ministry. We pray that still richer blessings may descend upon Lane Seminary in the future, by enabling her to train men for the ministry in our beloved church who shall, in larger degree than ever 368 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD before, lead men to that liigher type of Christian life and service which has been suggested by so many speakers addressing this convention. The report was adopted. Mr. Holt. — ^We must express onr hearty ap- preciation of the splendid service rendered by this Eesolution Committee. Thirteen out of fifteen are present, and I want you to hold up your hands in appreciation of the way in which they have brought their business before us. Here followed the announcement that the headquarters of the Brotherhood from this time on would be in Chicago ; street number, etc., to be announced later. XXVII THURSDAY AFTERNOON OFFICERS OF THE COUNCIL Dr. Dabney. — I am instructed by the Council to announce the officers named for the coming- year, but I first want to say a word on my own responsibility. I believe that no event of this convention has caused so much delight as the presence here to-day upon the platform of our beloved president, Mr. Hanna. We knew how ill he had been at times, and he had written us that he could not come, so his arrival we felt to be a gift of God. He has told us since he came that he came because he *' could not stay away, ' ' and that, too, after having resolved that he could not leave his business. You appreciate his presence; but you cannot know how deeply we men of the Council have appreciated his presence, his word of counsel, and above every- thing, his prayers, during the past year. It has been a difficult year, and while Mr. Hanna has been physically able to have very little to do with the active work of the Council, being rather a looker-on, fostering and encouraging anything that was done, I want to say that God has blessed us greatly in giving us this leader, this active 369 370 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD leader, Mr. Holt. It was beautiful to see these two men working together, the one praying and working in a quiet way, the other doing the ac- tive work, but both working like brothers. Now we are deeply grateful to God that in his pur- pose he has shown us how to continue this beau- tiful relationship between these two men. Mr. Hanna says it will be impossible for him to con- tinue as president of the Council, on account of pressure of business, and also on account of his health, so he has insisted on resigning. Kealiz- ing the necessity of having for the head of the Council one who has physical strength to per- form its important duties, and at the same time of retaining in that place one who is familiar with the work of the Council, one who is deeply interested in that work, one who loves our church and has consecrated his energies to this work, we have chosen Mr. Charles S. Holt for president of the Council for the ensuing year. The office of chairman of the Council has been created, and the occupant of that chair is to be ex-officio a member of the Executive Com- mittee. Mr. Hugh H. Hanna has been chosen to fill this new office for the ensuing year. The following other officers have also been elected: Vice President, John L. Severance, Cleveland, Ohio. Treasurer, Chas. T. Thomp- son, Minneapolis, Minn. Secretary, Wm. R. Farrand, Detroit, Mich. CINCINNATI CONVENTION 371 Mr. Parks. — I have a resolution which has not been prepared by the committee. It came into my hands since we handed in our report, and it is presented at the request of Dr. Roberts, our Moderator. It is as follows : — EVANGELISTIC WORK Resolved, That this convention refers to the Council the question of assigning to the Presby- terian Brotherhood the conducting in particular churches of evangelistic campaigns to further the spiritual work, under the direction of pas- tors and Sessions, with the understanding that if the Council acts affirmatively, the approval of the General Assembly will be requested. Dr. Roberts. — I wish to say in connection with this resolution that it is the result of a confer- ence between myself and Mr. John H. Converse, and that the design is to give substantial and definite aim to the work of this great Brother- hood. The resolution was adopted. XXVIII THURSDAY EVENING A TELEGRAM OF SYMPATHY TO MONMOUTH COLLEGE Mr. Holt. — A matter of business has come before us which I am sure it will be your pleas- ure to take care of at this time. The papers an- nounce the destruction by fire of the principal buildings of Monmouth College, at Monmouth, Illinois, a United Presbyterian institution, and it has been properly suggested that this body of Presbyterian men, in which we have a delegate from Monmouth, express its inter- est and sympathy. With your permission I will read a telegram which has been pre- pared to send to the president of Monmouth College. *^The Presbyterian Brotherhood of America regrets your great loss, and assures you of its interest and sympathy.'' It was voted to send the above telegram. A SECOND FINANCIAL SESSION Mr. Holt. — Mr. Thompson, the treasurer, who gave you all such pleasure yesterday, has a further word to say. 372 CINCINNATI CONVENTION 373 Mr. Thompson.^ — I dislike exceedingly to bring before you the financial question again. The only speech I intend to make can be put into a logical syllogism as follows: ^' Every movement in business, in society, in religion, that is worth anything, needs financing.'' The Presbyterian Brotherhood is worth something — it is worth much. I think you will agree to that. Now the logical result is that the Presby- terian Brotherhood must be financed. You re- sponded nobly yesterday, but we want to appeal to you again. Stating it clearly, then, before we came to you the members of the Council had pledged $12,500 of the $24,000 needed to cover the expenses of the Brotherhood for two years. We did not come to you until we had pledged that amount ourselves. I presented this matter to you yesterday, and you responded generously to my appeal with $3,718.00 more, so that we have now in sight, in pledges and cash, chiefly in pledges, the sum of $16,200, and it is for me as chairman of the Finance Committee to raise the additional amount. I ask you who have not helped yet, to help us now. I do not wish to lay a burden on any member here; I do not wish to ask those who have pledged to pledge again, I merely ask those who have not pledged if they cannot do so now. The raising of this sum will be a very serious task. If you cannot pledge now, take cards home and send the pledge to me at your earliest convenience. 374 THE PRESBYTERIAN BROTHERHOOD I think I have made this proposition plain to yon, and I believe you will stand by me in this thing as you did yesterday. Additional subscriptions were then collected. Mr. Holt. — In this little time I want to give you the results of some very interesting compu- tations in regard to the attendance, which have just been handed me by Professor Mack. I do not believe you can guess the number of dele- gates in attendance at this convention, and the number will be a surprise, I know. At Indian- apolis we had a little over 1,200, but the attend- ance here is 1,468. A most interesting fact is the predominance of laymen. Only 308 are ministers. The range of occupations is very interesting and significant. ANALYSIS OF THE MEMBERS OF THE CONVENTION BY OCCUPATION Ministers 308 Bookkeepers 20 Merchants 93 Editors 19 Lawyers 77 Civil Service 18 Clerks 50 Y. M. C. A. Secretaries . . 15 Students 49 Secretaries 13 Manufacturers 47 Contractors 12 Insurance 36 Mechanics '13 Eailway Men 35 Druggists and Chemists, . 11 Salesmen 35 Advertisers H Physicians 28 College Presidents 11 Teachers 27 Stenographers 9 Traveling Salesmen .... 24 Managers 9 Farmers 23 Business Men 8 Bankers 22 Dentists 8 Printers 21 Civil Engineers 8 Eeal Estate 20 Publishers 8 CINCINNATI CONVENTION 375 Carpenters 8 Collectors 9 Agents 7 Draughtsmen 7 Painters 7 Electrical Engineers ... 7 Lumbermen 7 Machinists 7 Brokers 6 Undertakers 4 Finance 4 Assistant Pastors 3 Book Business 3 Blacksmiths 3 Charity Workers 3 Photographers 3 Laundrymen 3 Street Kailway Men ... 2 Inspectors 2 Superintendents 2 Eoofer 1 Nurseryman 1 Consulting Engineer ... 1 Mine Owner 1 Paymaster 1 General Agent 1 Hotel Man 1 Florist 1 Optician 1 Musician 1 Patrolman 1 Sexton 1 Boot and Shoe Man .... 1 Hardware Man 1 Total names registered 1432 Number from outside Cincinnati (approxi- mately) 900 Princeton Theoloqical Semina Libraries 1012 01235 4017