The Great Christian Endeavor Convention
By C. M. S.
THE twenty-sixth international convention of the Christian Endeavor Society was held in Los Angeles, Cal., July 9-14. This is without question one of the greatest annual conventions that is held in any part of the world. The arrangements of the convention are methodic in all their details, and none can help admiring the way in which the convention is conducted, or the spirit of enthusiasm and zeal that is manifested both in the leadership and in the rank and file of the delegation. To conduct a convention with some ten thousand actual delegates and have no confusion, no interference of section with section, and no failure of promised speakers to be on hand to carry out their part, is a task of no small magnitude. Of much that was said and much that was done only the highest commendation could be given. The membership of the organization stands as a unit for the suppression of the liquor traffic, and for the suppression of the white slave evil; its influence is cast against the cigarette plague; it urges its members to cleanliness of life in home, in society, in official positions in municipality, State, and nation. There is no question that the membership of the society is made up of the cream of the young people of the world, and many of them are honest and earnest. They see the great evils that are threatening the body politic and are eating out the heart of society, and they and their leaders have an intense desire to remedy these conditions. The desire is laudable, and the determination to work for a better condition of things is commendable. It is always laudable to8choose that which is better rather than that which is worse. It is always better to work for the remedying of evil conditions than to sit inert and sanction the conditions by one's very inactivity. But the mournful part of it all is that the remedy which it is proposed that these young and enthusiastic Endeavorers shall apply to the conditions is a remedy that can never heal that sickness nor mollify those sores. The only remedy for those conditions is the gospel, and that must be applied to individual hearts and lives. But the leaders in this movement are relying upon the ballot-box and the legislature to make of this present existence a veritable heaven on earth. We cannot help looking forward to the sad disappointment in store for these estimable young people when the remedies fail and the sad consummation comes. If the zeal and enthusiasm and effort put forth in this direction were put forth in real evangelical undertakings, a mighty work would be accomplished. But the bringing in of the millennium through the ballot-box and the legislature is an ignis fatuus that is destined to lead thousands into the swamps of ruin and despair. One of the first speakers at this convention was the Rev. Charles M. Sheldon, whose theme was "The Old Gospel at Work in a New World;" but he yoked up the state with the church in accomplishing the mission of the gospel in the world, and taught the people to look for great and good things from the federation of the churches. Pres. Ira Landrith, of Belmont College, Nashville, Tenn., in discussing the topic, "Christianity's Solution of Civic Conditions," declared that the golden rule, the decalogue, and the sermon on the mount are adequate solutions of the civic problems of the day, and must all be written into the planks of all political parties. He urged all Christian men and women to get into politics, and declared that the problems of our civic life are nearing solution; that a political pessimist in these days is most unpardonable. He said, "This age is trying to be honest and upright and clean," and declared it useless for any one to tell him that this world is growing worse. In referring to the relation between the preacher and politics, he said: "The man of all men who shall tell me what is right is my pastor; and if he does not, he is a common coward, that is all. When the church gets as active as it ought to be, it will of itself solve all these civic problems. If virtue will only unite, it will succeed. The church of Jesus Christ holds not only the balance of power, but it holds the power in this republic." From this it will be seen that it is the idea of this eminent educator that the politics of the country are to be directed by the ministers, and that through a federation of the churches legislators will be compelled to pass the laws which the church demands. When the golden rule, the decalogue, and the sermon on the mount are all incorporated into the platforms of all the political parties, we shall have a mingling of the sacred and the profane in the professed service of God that will put to shame any attempt of that kind which past history records. There will then be the form of godliness, but the only power displayed will be the power of the civil arm, the club of the policeman. Another speaker, B. M. Gambier, voiced the prevailing sentiment of one of the Christian Citizenship meetings in these words: "I am tremendously interested in our Christianity expressing itself in our Christian citizenship. The time has come, I believe, when men should go into politics just the same as they go into the pulpit." There can be no other understanding of such sentiments than that it is expected that the church is to dominate politics and the state. To do that, there must be a union of the two, and such a union as will put the church over the state and make the state the instrument and the servant of the church. When that condition is realized, we shall have the dark ages over again, the church writing her decrees, the state enforcing them upon the people, and the liberties of the people trampled in the dust. A question was asked: "How are we going to federate all these forces that are to transform these conditions?" The chairman replied: "It must be done; and if it must be done, it can be done. Heretofore we have lacked a definite program. We have generally failed to unify our forces because we have emphasized our differences. Now we are going to emphasize our agreements, the things upon which we can stand together. We are going to find a fighting platform of common agreement; and this department [Christian Citizenship] of Christian Endeavor stands for getting the forces together, emphasizing the spirit of union." The chairman then presented a list of aims which Christian Endeavorers are to have held before them from now on, and among these is "better Sabbath observance," by which was meant the securing and enforcing of Sunday laws. Mr. G. W. Benn, president of the Texas Christian Endeavor Union, declared that they had come to one of the great epochs in the history of their society, the epoch when they are to cease spasmodic efforts and work for definite objects. He said: "We must have some slogan if we are going to succeed in Christian Endeavor or in Christian Citizenship. This is our slogan: 'The enthronement of Jesus Christ and the supremacy of Jesus Christ, in all the affairs of men and nations.' We shall say: 'We demand these Christian reforms of this Christian nation, pronounced so by the supreme authority, and in the name of Jesus Christ these things shall and must be done.'" Such statements as the above are in perfect harmony with the aims and purposes and methods of the National Reform Association, and also with the policy and purpose of the great federation of churches. In fact some of the speakers at this convention were National Reformers, and had just come from participation in the World's Christian Citizenship Conference at Portland, Oregon. The Christian Endeavor Society is swinging very largely into the channel of what is termed Christian Citizenship, and one of the departments of the organization bears that title. It was not to be wondered at, therefore, that we should find them advocating the same principles, working for the same objects, and proposing to accomplish them by the same methods as do the National Reformers. By having their aims and methods adopted by such organizations as the Christian Endeavor Society and the Federal Council of the Churches, the National Reform Association is accomplishing more in a year than hitherto in a generation. It is not proposed to seek these ends through the ordinary avenues of gospel or evangelical endeavor. Said Rev. P. J. Rice: "The things that we are facing here are symptoms of the deeper disease. There is an undercurrent of a deep depravity." This is true as the Word of God long ago pointed out: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked," but the remedy that God applies is the gospel and the influence of the Holy Spirit on the individual heart. Not so this Christian Citizenship movement. The speaker last quoted said: "We shall have to know the situation and the great forces of corrupted, debased human nature. We shall have to know the black-heartedness that is back of much of this, and then we shall have to know also those gentle, persuasive avenues of operation that will not simply bring on the war, but that will get the work done. I think the time has come when, though we may plead for the great blessings of peace, some of us must dare to fight for the civic righteousness which we desire." How far such a program is from the program of Jesus, both in method and in direction to his followers, ought to be apparent to the youngest convert to the real truth of the gospel. Jesus Christ came to this world not to establish nations, not to establish governments, but753to set up the kingdom of God itself in the hearts of men; and then, when sin had run its course and set a sufficient object-lesson to all the universe, to wipe it out once for all so completely that never again, in all the ages to come, would there be any danger of a repetition of the tragedy of iniquity. But sin can never be eradicated from the hearts of men by some men daring to fight some other men, or by the placing of certain men in responsible places in the government and forcing others out. That is no remedy for sin. But Satan is blinding the eyes of the multitude who profess the name of Christ to such an extent that they have mistaken politics for the gospel and the ballot-box for the sanctuary. To those who know what is the real hope of this world, who know what God's program is for men and for the setting up of Christ's kingdom in the earth, it is a matter of astonishment that great religious organizations are being swept into that field of deception at such rapid rate. The program of the Endeavorers contemplates all kinds of moral reforms and civic regenerations by making religion a test of qualification for holding public office; and that is directly opposed both to the letter and the spirit of the Constitution of the United States. In that program comes the exaltation of the Sunday institution and its enforcement upon all. With such organizations as this, the Federal Council of the Churches, the National Reform Association, and the Lord's Day Alliance, working to that end, the wonder is that they have not long ere this accomplished their purpose and placed the liberties of the people once again under the thraldom of an ecclesiastical tyranny. It must be God is restraining these forces, that his people may have opportunity to finish the work he has committed to their trust.