Christian Endeavor and Its Pledge
By Editor
A WRITER in the Christian Standard of some time since does not believe in the Christian Endeavor Society as now organized. His principal criticism is against the pledge, against which he presents to our mind some excellent arguments. He says that "the pledge is based on a mistaken conception of Christianity. It assumes that Christianity is a doing where in fact it is a being. This is a very common though none the less false conception of Christianity. Doing is merely the result of being, and is dependent entirely upon it." The pledge naturally leads the Endeavorer to trust in the pledge instead of Christ, and is thereby "a carnal bestowal of our trust." Inducing others to sign it "is a stooping to unworthy means." It "is entirely too narrow a conception of Christianity," and being so will demand additions and additions without end. In its use "the pledge is little better than a creed." And all this is true. We ask again, as we have before asked, "What more is needed for Christian work than the church founded by our Lord Jesus Christ, upon which he has bestowed every gift for the successful and complete carrying forward of his work?"