Effective influence to the same end has been set in motion,
incidentally, by an organization which was originated for a different
purpose. This is the Christian Endeavor Society, which is one of the
latest of the important religious movements of the century. It was
primarily designed to promote spiritual development among young
people. It had its birth in 1881 in a Congregational Church at
Portland, Me. Dr. Francis E. Clark, the pastor of the church, had a
number of young people around him who had recently made public
profession of faith in Christ and pledged themselves to His service.
Precisely what that implied, may not have been definitely understood
by any of them. As every pastor is aware, the period immediately
following such a profession is a critical time in the life of every
young convert. In the college or the office, or the store, the youth
comes in contact with people who have made no profession of the kind,
and he is apt to ask himself, and to be asked, in what way he differs
from them. The early enthusiasm of his new relation to the Church is
liable to decline, and he may become doubtful whether any radical
change has taken place in him. He does not realize that he is at the
beginning of a period of growth, a gradual process, which is to be
lifelong. Taking his conception of personal religion from the sermons
he has heard and the appeals that have been made to him, he has a
tendency to regard conversion as an experience complete and final, an
occult mysterious transformation, effected in a moment and concluded.
Disappointment is inevitable, and when non-Christian influences are
Strong, there is a probability of his drifting into indifference. Dr.
Clark was aware of this fact, as other pastors were, by sad
experience, and he sought means to remedy it. Some plan was needed
which would help the young convert and teach him how to apply his
religion to his daily life, to make it an active influence, instead of
a past experience. The plan Dr. Clark adopted was of an association of
young people in his Church, who should meet weekly for prayer and
mutual encouragement and helpfulness, with so much of an aggressive
quality as to exert an influence over young people outside its
membership. The plan succeeded. The religious force in the soul, so
liable to become latent, became active, and the young converts made
rapid progress. Dr. Clark explained his experiment to other pastors,
who tried it with like results. The remedy for a widespread defect was
found. It was adopted on all hands and by all evangelical
denominations. It spread from church to church, from town to town and
into foreign lands. Annual conventions of these Christian Endeavor
Societies were held, at which forty or fifty thousand young people,
representing societies in all sections of the country with an
aggregate membership of about two million souls, were present to
recount their experience and pledge themselves anew to the service.
The basis of their association was made so broad that Christians of
every denomination could heartily unite in its profession of faith.
Thus, in addition to the primary design, a basis of Christian
inter-denominational union was incidentally discovered, and the
Methodist and the Presbyterian, the Congregationalist and Episcopalian
found themselves united in a common bond for a common purpose. The
movement in these present years shows no signs of decrease, but is
still growing in numbers, power and influence, and promises to be one
of the most potent factors of religious life which springing up in
this century will go on to influence the next.
The idea of association and combination in religious life, of which
Christian Endeavor is the most extensive illustration, has been
embodied during the century in other forms. Springing directly from
the Christian Endeavor Society, are the Epworth League in the
Methodist Church, and the Baptist Young People's Union in the Baptist
communion. The two organizations are practically identical in
principle and purpose with the Christian Endeavor Society and differ
from it only in the absence of the inter-denominational character. The
heads of the Methodist Church apprehended danger to their young people
in their being members of a society not under direct Methodist control
and feared that they might eventually be lost to Methodism. The
Baptists, on the other hand, were not concerned on the question of
control, but feared that the association of their young people with
the young people of other churches might lead them to think lightly of
the peculiar rite which separates them from other denominations, and
to diminish its importance in their esteem. Both denominations
therefore organized societies of the same kind, to keep their young
people within the denominational fold.
Another organization which has attained large membership and has
become international, is that of the King's Daughters. As its name
indicates, it was primarily intended for women, though as it extended,
it added as an adjunct a membership for men as King's Sons. It also
was inter-denominational in character, and its objects were more
directly identified with the philanthropic side of the religious life
than were those of the societies previously mentioned. It originated
in a meeting of ten ladies, held in New York, in 1886, at which plans
were discussed for aiding the poor, the unfortunate and the distressed
in mind, body or soul. They were all Christian ladies who recognized
the duty of ministering in Christ's name to those who were in need and
so fulfilling His injunction of kindly service. The plan finally
adopted was to organize circles of ten members each, who should be
pledged to use their opportunities, as far as they were able, for
Christian ministration. Each member agreed to wear, as a badge of the
Order, a small silver Maltese Cross, bearing the initials, I.H.N.,
representing the motto, "In His Name." Every circle was to be left
free to apply the principle of service as it saw fit, or as special
circumstances might suggest, and all the circles to be under the
direction and limited control of a central council. The plan,
subsequently modified as experience suggested, was widely adopted. The
circles have worked in a variety of ways, visiting hospitals and
prisons, making garments for the poor, raising funds for the needy,
aiding the churches and rendering service in various ways in which
kindly Christian women are so effective.
Still another form of combination in Christian work has distinguished
this century. In 1844 George Williams, a London dry goods merchant
employing a large number of young men, made an effort to provide them
with a species of Christian club. His own experience as a young man
fresh from a country home, suddenly inducted into the temptations of
city life, suggested to him the kind of help such young men needed. A
Christian friend in a great city to help a new-comer, to find him
wholesome amusement in the evenings, and to put him on his guard
against the pitfalls that were set for his unwary feet, might, Mr.
Williams was convinced, save many a young man from ruin. To provide
them with such friends and to furnish a place of meeting for reading,
converse and amusement, was the problem the kindly Christian man
attempted to solve. Out of his effort grew the institution we know as
the Young Men's Christian Association, which has its mission in
nearly every large town in this country and in England. The young man
of this century can go into no considerable town without finding a
commodious hall, with well-equipped library and reading-room,
generally with a gymnasium attached, and with a host of young men
ready to make his acquaintance and surround him with Christian
influences. In many towns, the institution has developed from the
purely religious enterprise into a many-sided effort to give practical
educational training and to attract young men to it by the help it
renders them in secular pursuits. The institution as it now exists,
must be counted as one of the most beneficent in its far-reaching
influence that the century has produced.