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Notable Events of the Nineteenth Century by Various

V >> Various >> Notable Events of the Nineteenth Century




From the same spirit of Christian brotherhood which took shape in the
Evangelical Alliance, came at later dates other movements which are
yet in their infancy. One of these is the Reunion Conference which
meets annually at Grindelwald in Switzerland. Its object is to find a
basis for organic union of the Protestant Episcopal Church with
Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Methodists and other evangelical
denominations. The meetings have been hitherto remarkably harmonious,
and suggestions of mutual concessions have been made which have been
favorably considered. A less ambitious, and therefore more hopeful
movement of like spirit, is that of the Municipal or Civic Church.
Its aim is the organization of a federative council of the churches of
a city, or of sections of a city, for united effort in social reform,
benevolent enterprise and Christian government. It proposes to
substitute local co-operation for the existing union on denominational
lines, or to add the one to the other. It would unite the Methodist,
Baptist, Congregational and other churches in a city, or district, in
a movement to restrict the increase of saloons, to insist on the
enforcement of laws against immorality and to promote the moral and
spiritual welfare of the community. The united voice of the Christians
of a city uttered by a council, in which all are represented, would
unquestionably exercise an influence more potent than is now exerted
by separate action. To these movements must be added another which has
been launched under the name of the Brotherhood of Christian Unity.
This is a fraternity of members of churches and members of no church,
who yet accept Christ as their leader and obey the two cardinal
precepts of Christianity--love to God and love to man. Its object is
to promote brotherly feeling among Christians and a sense of
comradeship among men of different creeds. All these movements are an
indication of the spirit of the time. As one of the leaders has said,
their aim is not so much to remove the fences which divide the
denominations, as to lower them sufficiently to enable those who are
within them to shake hands over them. In no previous century since the
disintegrating tendency began to manifest itself, has this spirit of
brotherly recognition of essential unity been so general, or has taken
a shape so hopeful of practical beneficence.


ORGANIZED ACTIVITIES.

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.


HUMANITARIAN WORK.

Kindred in spirit, but differing essentially in operation, is the
institution, peculiarly a product of nineteenth century religion,
which we know as the Social or College Settlement. Though it does not
claim a distinctively religious character, its principles are so
thoroughly identical with Christianity, that no survey of the
religious life of the century would be complete without a recognition
of it. It is the spirit that brought the Founder of Christianity to
the earth, to live a lowly life among men, which inspires the Social
Settlement. It is generally an unostentatious house in some crowded
neighborhood, where the people are poor and life is hard. In the house
are a number of college-bred men, or women, who come in relays and
live there for a week or a month or longer. They do no missionary
work, do not preach, or denounce, or instruct their neighbors, but
they live among them a cleanly, helpful, friendly life, welcoming them
cordially as visitors, advising them if advice is sought, rendering
help in difficulties and being neighborly in the best sense of the
word. There are concerts in the house, exhibitions of pictures,
children's parties and amusements of various kinds to which all the
neighbors are welcome. Charity is no part of the Settlement's
programme. It does not give, but it extends a brotherly hand, and in a
spirit of friendship and equality seeks to do a brother's part in
brightening lowly lives. Hundreds of such institutions are in
operation on both sides the Atlantic. To the credit of this century be
it said that it has seen in these institutions the Parable of the Good
Samaritan made a living fact in intelligent organization.

Tending directly toward the same object, is the religious enterprise
now commonly known as the Institutional Church. It is a distinct gain
to the church if the people in its vicinity discover that it is
anxious to help them to a better and happier life in this world, as
well as guiding them to happiness in the next. The Divine Founder of
Christianity never ignored the fact that men have bodies which need
saving, as well as souls, and some of His followers are following His
example. Their churches do not stand closed and silent from Sunday to
Sunday, but are open every day and evening, busy with some form of
practical helpfulness. Temperance societies, coal clubs, sewing
meetings, dime savings banks, gymnasiums, boys' clubs, and a host of
helpful associations tending to the betterment of life, find their
home under the roof of the church, and the pastor and his helpers are
finding out the social and economical needs of the people by actual
contact with them and devising means to supply them. The critics say
this is not the business of the church, but they are not found among
the people who derive benefit from this form of thoughtful interest in
their welfare.


THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.

Of all the products of this prolific nineteenth century, the one most
extensive and most profitable to the church still remains to be
mentioned. Though this century did not see the birth of the Sunday
School, it has witnessed its wonderful development. In June, 1784,
Robert Raikes published his famous letter outlining his plan for the
religious instruction of children on the Lord's Day, and before the
close of the year, John Wesley wrote that he found Sunday Schools
springing up wherever he went, and added with prophetic insight:
"Perhaps God may have a deeper end therein than men are aware of. Who
knows but some of these schools may become nurseries for Christians?"
Within five years, a quarter of a million children were gathered into
the Sunday Schools. So much had already been done before the beginning
of the century. But even then men did not realize whereunto the
movement was destined to grow. Probably no enterprise has really
exerted a deeper and stronger influence on the religious life of the
time. Children have entered the schools, passed through their grades,
have become teachers in their turn, and their descendants have
followed in their footsteps, until now we can scarcely bring ourselves
to believe that a little more than a hundred years ago the Sunday
School was unknown. The organization of Sunday School Unions, the
introduction of the International Lesson System, and the City, State
and National Conventions are all the developments of this century. The
thought that a million and a half of Sunday School teachers are now
engaged in every clime, Sunday by Sunday, in teaching the children and
young people the truths of Christianity is enough to fill the mind of
the Christian with thankfulness and hope.


PULPIT AND PRESS.

It would be beyond the scope of an article of this character to
attempt to recall the names of the eminent preachers of the century.
It has been singularly rich in men of eloquence, depth of thought and
high culture. A few, however, are distinguished among the noble army
by the phenomenal character of their work. Of these probably no name
is so widely known as that of Rev. T. DeWitt Talmage, D.D. One of the
most remarkable phenomena of the religious world in this century, is
the fact that every week one preacher should address an audience
numbered by millions. The fact is unprecedented. Of all classes of
readers, the number of those who read sermons is considered the
smallest, yet this century has produced a preacher whose sermons
command a public larger than that of a fascinating novelist. For
thirty years the newspapers have been publishing Dr. Talmage's sermons
in every city of his own land, in every English-speaking land and in
many foreign lands where they are translated for publication. It is a
significant fact, which should gratify every Christian, that the man
whose words reach regularly and surely the largest audience in the
world should be a preacher of the Gospel.

To no man in any walk of life, whether politician, editor or author,
has the opportunity of impressing his thoughts on his generation that
Dr. Talmage enjoys been given in such fulness. Next in extent of
influence, and with a like faculty of reaching immense and widely
scattered masses of people, was the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon, a
preacher of singularly homely power, Calvinistic in theology,
epigrammatic in style, and with an earnest evangelical spirit which
had a powerful influence on both hearers and readers. His sermons,
like those of Dr. Talmage, were read in every land and were
instrumental in conversions wherever they went. Strongly resembling
Mr. Spurgeon in his strong evangelicalism, as well as in homely
eloquence, is Mr. D.L. Moody. During this century probably no man has
addressed so large a number of people. In this country and in England
such audiences have thronged the buildings in which he preached as no
other orator has ever addressed on religious subjects, and the
influence of his words is demonstrated by the thousands who through
his appeals have been led to Christ.

We are nearing the end of the century. Looking back over the events in
the religious world which have marked its history, one characteristic
is prominent above all others. It is the operation of the force to
which an eminent writer has given the name of "spiritual dynamics."
The world does not need a dogma, or a creed, so much as it needs
power. It needs power to live right, to do right, to love God and man,
to pity the fallen, to relieve the needy, the power of being good, of
leading a spiritual life. This power it finds in Christ and the whole
tendency of the religious life of the century is to get back to him.
Conduct rather than creed, love rather than theology, have been the
watchwords of the church. The spirit of Christ, His teachings, His
character, His example, are the centre of attraction which holds His
church together and endues it with the power which shall yet subdue
the world.

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