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 The Answer of the Church to 
 the Call of the Times 
 
 Convention Address 
 
 The Church Facing Its Task 
 
 Convention Sermon 
 
 Evangelism 
 
 Forward Movement Address 
 
 AMERICAN CHRISTIAN CONVENTION 
 
 CONNEAUT, OHIO, 1919’ 
 
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The Answer of the Church to the Call of the Times 
 
 Quadrennial Message of the President, Rev. F. G. Coffin, D. D., 
 to The American Christian Convention at Conneaut, 
 
 Ohio, April 29, 1919 
 
 Never has our Church come together under circumstances duplicating the 
 present. The time is auspicious. Our future is filled with both promise and 
 portent. Nationally, we have just passed through a Gethsemane of sorrow, a 
 Calvary of sacrificial blood and a tempest of war. The oppressing sense of all 
 this, with its elements of contest and confusion, is still upon us. Let us pray 
 that the feeling may not be too pervasive for the highest spiritual concentra¬ 
 tion. 
 
 Nothing can destroy the notion of the far-reaching significance of the days 
 through which we are traveling, nor of the responsibility upon any representa¬ 
 tive religious gathering meeting in them. A failure to understand the bigness 
 of the hour or to underinterpret our relation to it will be nothing short of 
 criminal. If we make the deeds of this Convention measure up to such a 
 conception, our Church will be vastly bettered whether such impressions are 
 warranted or not. If we deliberately fall below the demands which we believe 
 the hour imposes, the Church will be worse by such failure. 
 
 All the periods of human history are significant, but some of them mark 
 summits of worthy achievement. History is mostly a gentle undulation of 
 attainments which break the monotony of time and humanity. Occasionally, a 
 period stands out in a bold silhouette of distinguished opportunity of service. 
 The present impresses us in this way. 
 
 Our time is vibrant with strange sensations and noisy with new 1 vocabu¬ 
 laries. Ideals of freedom and democracy are being promoted in every corner 
 of the earth. Not all who are talking such things understand them. There 
 are agitators so diminutive and unready that they are no better fitted with 
 these new world ideals than was David in the armor of Saul. They are also 
 showing themselves to be about as expert in their use as was he. We must 
 be patient. The radicalism of liberty is not an argument against it; it shows 
 only that many have not yet learned to wear liberty and democracy with grace. 
 There have always been a few points at which liberty shades into license and 
 irresponsibility. Intellectual liberty stands thus. It has left no truth, however 
 venerated, to pass unchallenged. Yet its purpose is not always vicious—its 
 understanding is faulty. Sometimes these challenges are but the demand of 
 a sentinel comrade for a true countersign of the age. 
 
 There are new and tantalizing questions which go with our age; yet, not- 
 withstanding this, in a range of vision which takes in the centuries, it will 
 belong to the high-peaks of history. It is a period of social sympathy; its 
 admitted ideal is the welfare of the world in the heart of each man. It encour¬ 
 ages a vision of world unity with none of the obligations which such a state 
 implies removed. What an array of natural forces are subject to conscrip¬ 
 tion for the use of the Kingdom in our day! The improvement of transporta¬ 
 tion, the broadening methods of .^communication, the enlargement of a uni¬ 
 versal postal service and the profusion of printing—all enlarge the oppor¬ 
 tunity of the church and place more efficient forces at her command. Every 
 
 3 
 
woild achievement toward a more complete inter-relation is an added asset to 
 the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. It is doubtful if the Church could ever turn 
 apostate to her sacred faith and trust with greater guilt than in the hour in 
 which we meet. If, having put our hand to the plow, we now turn back, we 
 are unfit for the Kingdom of God. 
 
 We are met here under God to complete a mission which He has outlined. 
 We are met in the day to which we have that mission. It must be worked out 
 now. To-morrow will be too late. A divine urgency is upon us. Another 
 war will not come out of a clash of ideals of government. This has now 
 become firmly established. Democracy is to be the order, politically, of the 
 future. So complete a settlement of world ideals in matters of religion cannot 
 yet be affirmed. The Church is in her travail and no man can know what she 
 vdll bring forth. We must feel the present purpose of God in the world and 
 undertake its accomplishment in this Convention or we will have met in vain. 
 
 There are two aspects to our present task with which we will concern 
 ourselves in our thinking this evening, for we should have part in the structure 
 of both: First, the present world demands upon all Christendom; and, second, 
 the specific tasks of this particular Convention. 
 
 What are the general requirements without? Some one will point out 
 that there are the demands for reconstruction. What is reconstruction? We 
 are needing some definitions badly. In the broad expanse of new responsibili¬ 
 ties we are in danger of becoming lost in a wilderness of words. Whaat must 
 be reconstructed, and how? What of the Church must be used after this 
 world holocaust? What, if anything, must be “scrapped?” What are the new 
 things demanded for God’s structure? Let us outline. A new economic order 
 is imperative. We are in the period of crusades—crusades industrial, economic, 
 social, moral, and religious. They do not intersect, nor even parallel. We 
 would better say that the crusade is one and it is Christian. 
 
 The conversion of commercial ideals is demanded. It is right that busi¬ 
 ness illegitimacy shall be defined and recognized. It is fair that every man 
 shall have his rightful share of what he produces and no more. The Christian 
 task is still undone until we have a democracy in industry. It is the Church’s 
 business to supplant our competitive system with a co-operative one which 
 shall include every human factor in industry. There is due a new social order 
 of international and interracial extent. It ought to be accepted and practiced 
 as well as quoted that “God hath made of one blood all nations of men to 
 dwell together on all the face of the earth.” 
 
 We Americans have forgotten most of the courtesies of host which we 
 owe to those who come into our national home from foreign shores. The 
 fault has not been with our theories, for we have been altogether orthodox on 
 the philosophies of fraternity. That’s the curse of us. We have used our 
 theories to beautify our language instead of to regulate our lives. The men 
 of all nations who have fought together in the trenches for democracy must 
 be full brothers under the democracy which they have jointly won. The last 
 lines of democracy—the homes of the nations which have joined in a common 
 defense—must not now be separated from a common brotherhood. No longer 
 can we hurl such epithets as “dago,” “sheeney,” “wop,” and other terms equally - 
 unfair, discriminating, and obnoxious. America must even learn how to be fair 
 to Japan—a thing which no unbiased student will affirm has been our practice 
 in the last few years. We should revise our patriotism until the human race 
 
 4 
 
is the unit; not standing for the “new nationalism” as outlined some few years 
 ago by President Roosevelt, but for the new internationalism which was out¬ 
 lined in the long ago by the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 For all of this, a new sense of world responsibility must animate every 
 department of the church—from the Primary Department of the Sunday- 
 school to the lecture room of the university. Its applications must be impressed. 
 In it there should be a reaching out of Protestantism for intercourse with its 
 own kind throughout the whole world. Indeed, would we not better say, a 
 reaching out for all Christians; for Christianity will not have completely suc¬ 
 ceeded until a right Catholicism is brought in and a wrong Catholicism either 
 corrected or expunged. 
 
 This reconstruction further demands a sacrificial feeling of sympathy. 
 That which could come to the world through sacrifice alone can be retained and 
 developed only by the same method. It must permeate the world and the 
 Church. Christians must serve men, not for the purpose of getting them into 
 their particular church, but for the same motives which prompted the service 
 of Christ. “Social Service” is but a term for an all-sided service to humanity 
 such as Jesus taught. The claims of city, country, nation, and world rush to 
 these convention doors. Upon us is put the test of Christ, who said that “Inas¬ 
 much as ye did it unto the least of these, ye did it unto me;” and wherein 
 “ye did it not unto the least of these my brethren, ye did it not unto me.” Like 
 Christ, a true Christian 
 
 “Sees his neighbor in suffering man though at the farthest pole.” 
 
 For tasks of this sort, the followers of Christ cannot choose the easiest 
 way nor walk in paths unmarked by sacrifice. The task is to be done and if 
 the path be hard to travel, it will be found to be marked by the dragging cross 
 of Him who finally fainted beneath it up the Via Dolorosa. The Christian 
 Without a job in this day is without an ambition; for as Col. Kearney one time 
 said to a belated regiment, “You may drop in anywhere; there is good fighting 
 all along the line.” Christ’s church must be a ministering church. Because it 
 loves Him, it must “feed His lambs,” as Peter was commissioned to do in tes¬ 
 timony of the love which he professed to bear for the Savior. 
 
 Again, reconstruction means a new spiritual emphasis. The earth is pock¬ 
 marked with three million graves. They were made, not from ignorance but 
 because of a deficient morality. We never knew better than now that achieve¬ 
 ments are dangerous if they be not moral. Learning is desirable only when 
 possessed of a Christian soul. Science may invent either an anesthetic for the 
 relief of pain or a poisonous gas to diabolically suffocate life. Morals determine 
 for what purpose the achievements of science shall be used. Where moral 
 purpose is inadequate, it will be better for the invention to wane. 
 
 Our Government has recognized this fact of the necessity of morals in 
 nation building. It has sought to establish a rule of temperance by whicl 
 sobriety will prevail and the menace to society be removed. It has set about 
 the extermination of the social evil by a great educational program; first, to 
 make men fit to fight, but subsequently continuing it to make them fit to per¬ 
 form their duties after fighting. In its moral program, the nation was first 
 interested in democracy; it is now interested in posterity and realizes that 
 safe provisions can be made for the future only by a moral order in human 
 practice. 
 
 5 
 
In this field, what marvelous opportunities open to the Church! What 
 service is demanded in evangelism and Christian education! Nowhere has 
 there been established a high moral order without a secure Christian founda¬ 
 tion. “In him was life and that life was the light of men.” The practices of 
 the body are the expressions of the spirit. The change of those practices 
 comes from the regeneration of the soul. The demand for the spiritual empha¬ 
 sis of the Church arises from more quarters than ever before in the history of 
 Christianity. Her educational program must be both more inclusive and more 
 unselfish. Heretofore, there has been in it a strong element of personal ex¬ 
 ploitation. Its purpose was to serve the Church. In the new interpretation, it 
 will serve the Church and the Kingdom of Christ more, but that service will be 
 directed in behalf of humanity. 
 
 The whole program of reconstruction may be described as a fight for a 
 better world. Such a victory will be realized only by the enlistment of 
 spiritual forces. For this there is need of the restatement of the Church’s 
 purpose in the terms of humanity rather than in those of denominationalism. 
 This does not mean a church with less mission than heretofore, or with less 
 loyalty to Jesus Christ, but with more. 
 
 Democracy, now the world’s word and finally to become its order, must 
 have a Church. What does that democracy demand? Or, if its demands are 
 unwise, what should be given unto it? The first postulate of democracy is the 
 solidarity of society. Whatever divides people, invalidates democracy. Divi¬ 
 sion spells disintegration with different letters. Whatever else the new order 
 will demand, there is no question about its demands of unity in the Church. 
 The common democratic! aims of humanity must find a duplicate in the spirit¬ 
 ual institutions which include that same humanity. Rigid denominationalism is 
 not constructive in the broadest sense. Most denominations did not start out 
 with that purpose in mind. Their founding was usually a protest against an 
 existing order. Their purpose was separation. They meant cleavage. Their 
 program was opposition. The perpetuation of their distinctive features could 
 have but one result; namely, widening the breaches between them and those 
 from whom they came. 
 
 In the war, we have learned the unwisdom of divided commands. The 
 Allies early discovered that no success could come unless there was a com¬ 
 manding generalissimo with all of the national units mobilized into one great 
 army. We are needing the same wisdom out on the spiritual front of the world. 
 A divided Church has in part defeated itself by the fact of its own division. 
 The Church is to be a leader in the daw day, but it will never be able to| lead 
 the world into brotherhood until within itself can be set a perfect example 
 of brotherhood. 
 
 The logic of events demands the closest unity possible. Whether our task 
 is approached from the angle of community service or world service—whether 
 it be ministering to the bodies or to the souls of men—union is imperative. 
 That this impression is becoming universal is evident from the indubitable, 
 get-together tendencies of the modern church. Divisive non-essentials are being 
 everywhere soft-pedaled and unities stressed. The great interests of the 
 Kingdom of Christ make inexorable demand for the impact of a united Chris¬ 
 tendom. 
 
 It is not that our Christian tasks cannot be so well done by non-co-opera¬ 
 tion—the awful alternative is that they cannot be done at all. Even in the 
 
 6 
 
femail community dooryard of our church, the work awaiting us can be suc¬ 
 cessfully performed only by co-operation. We dare not attempt the program 
 made necessary by our times without a unification of our forces. It ought to 
 be impossible to longer get the consent of our consciences to violate both the 
 highest loyalty to humanity and the simplest teachings of our Christianity. 
 The world call has imposed a task for which the Church of Jesus Christ is 
 wholly inadequate except by union of its forces. One cannot mention a gen¬ 
 uinely Christian activity which will not, other things being equal, be success¬ 
 ful proportionate to the degree of unity which promotes it. 
 
 The times require the mobilization of all with all. The independent denom¬ 
 ination is an insolent denomination. The slogan of our day is not indepen¬ 
 dence but interdependence; every one a bit and all the bits together. The 
 purely regimental standards of the Church are of far less consequence than 
 her Kingdom standard. Our Church problems have already gone beyond the 
 adequacy of mere comity. The ultimate must be union. The spirit which 
 is leading in our day will not stop short of that. A real crisis is on in the 
 American Church. Will we have the courage to go all the way? Can we, the 
 Church of Jesus Christ in America, unhindered by the prejudices derived 
 from generations of sectarianism, follow the heart and prayer of Christ to 
 the end? These are not times for thrusting the petty and insignificant to 
 the fore. Big issues and big days demand big churches and big men. If we 
 insist on pressing the traditions of denominationalism upon our present-day 
 life, we will have to render account to a severe and unforgiving generation. 
 The world will not be willing to accredit the Church as an institution com¬ 
 porting with the times unless she can convert herself into a united force. 
 Without this, she will by decree of a humanity-loving world be consigned to 
 the junk heap of history. The age which we are trying to impress scorns our 
 histories, our dogmas, and our distinctions, but it measures well and values 
 high our common service to humanity. 
 
 We are not assuming that any one will question the things which have just 
 been said. We are only fearful that they will not be practiced. Unity can 
 come only where fraternity prevails. It is not primarily a matter of method 
 —it is a matter of spirit. Given the spirit of a loving and generous fraternity, 
 the plans for expressing it will be comparatively easy. There must be the 
 warmth of a genuine fellowship of individual Christians and individual 
 denominations in which there is no tendency to narrowness, prejudice, or self- 
 seeking. Before any program of large application can hope of success, its 
 condition must be created in human hearts. 
 
 Church unity, like world unity, will be founded on democracy. The Bible 
 must be the Magna Charta of Church government. Christ must be supreme 
 in authority. He has been said “to be the world’s first democrat.” Democracy 
 implies the freedom of personal faith. Only autocracy demands another plan. 
 With this must go the free exercise of conscience, reason, and expression. 
 
 “All honor the men who are willing to sink 
 Half their present repute for the freedom to think; 
 
 And when they have thought, be the cause strong or weak, 
 
 Will sink th’ other half for the freedom to speak.” 
 
 But we shall be especially concerned with the second aspect of our even¬ 
 ing’s study, for we are anxious to know and' ambitious to perform the specific 
 
 7 
 
tasks which belong to our own Church at this crisai time. The task which 
 belongs to the whole Church belongs equally to us. Though we are a sepai-ate 
 body, we are not here to dissociate ourselves from the general body. Instead, 
 we are here to more deeply involve ourselves in it. If this Convention, by any 
 word or act, should say to the world that the Christian Church seeks a cloistered 
 seclusion, or will tolerate an invasion of our part of the general responsibility, 
 we would better never have met. 
 
 In this new time, every organization should place itself under rigid inter¬ 
 rogation as to whether it is actually meeting the world’s needs. It should 
 also have the courage to so re-adjust its program and reconstruct itself as to 
 be able to give an affirmitive answer to the question. We would better do much 
 questioning ourselves for, whether we desire it or not, the world has estab¬ 
 lished its new inquisition with a “fire that tries every man’s work of what 
 sort it is.” There can be no evasion of this inquiry nor the presentation of 
 acceptable excuses for failure. The only credential recognized by the twen¬ 
 tieth century is service rendered. 
 
 I am having such faith in you, my brethren, and in the generosity of 
 your interpretations that I feel free to say frankly what is in my heart. I 
 love my Church and would make no reference to any of her shortcomings with 
 other than a purpose to correct. To outline our part in this new day we must 
 again resort to definitions concerning our genius and mission. We have 
 indulged much discussion as to whether we are a denomination, an organibation, 
 or just folks. After all the discussion, the question is still purely one of 
 individual interpretation. Our beginnings throw little light upon the subject 
 for they are quite meaningless as to what we are to-day. We have changed 
 from the fathers in very many ways. Our beginning was like that of other 
 denominations—mostly a negation against existing practices. All of the cor¬ 
 related movements which mark our life to-day were far from the thought of 
 the original founders. It is not a criticism against us, it is but evidence of the 
 fact that men cannot set the bounds of God’s movements. 
 
 Some would have us cling wholly to the ways of the fathers. If wp do, 
 we will by that very process depart from them. It was their glory that they 
 departed from the ways of their fathers. In a changing world there must be 
 either a changing or an obsolete Church. Former things are passing away; 
 all things must become new. The Church must undergo her regeneration as 
 well as man. She must adapt all that she is and purposes to the needs of the 
 time in which she operates. She must “act, act in the living present, heart 
 within and God o’erhead.” I declare to you that if the Christian Church 
 does not move into this promised land of the new day, God will be grieved 
 with this generation as well as with that one of the long ago. Have we not 
 now come to the place longed for by Louise Tarkington? 
 
 “I wish there were some wonderful place 
 Called the land of Beginning Again; 
 
 Where all our mistakes and all heart aches 
 And all our poor selfish grief 
 
 Could be dropped like a shabby old coat at the door 
 And never put on again.” 
 
 The Christian Church fathers were not mere navigators—they were ex¬ 
 plorers. They chartered new lines, laid new paths, and discovered ways 
 
 8 
 
 \ 
 
hitherto unknown. They were not echoes out of the past, but voices crying in 
 the wilderness, “Make straight the way of the Lord.” We will not set our 
 course except relatively by the past. The present and the future must dictate 
 the nature of our activities. Not long ago I was with a party which started 
 across the lake to an important Chautauqua assemblage on the other side. 
 The pilot, occupied with visiting, looked only backward toward the point from 
 which we had started. He soon discovered that we were out of our course and 
 not moving toward the event for which we had started. The point of destina¬ 
 tion is always a more reliable landmark for the direction of our course than 
 the past can be. 
 
 We have laid much emphasis upon the apostolic church. From it we 
 should never depart in our faith, in its kind of power, in its purpose, in its 
 loyalty to God, and in its desire for the welfare of humanity. Our motives 
 for existence must remain identical with that first church. The methods of 
 accomplishing that purpose are an invention of the age. The ultimate object 
 and motive of the Church is from God. The method will be determined by the 
 men and the age to be reached. As a rural lad, I used to trap rabbits in the 
 winters and gophers in the summers. I used a different method for each. I 
 might have found a more agreeable way could the decision have been left 
 entirely to me. I decided only that I would catch the game—the rabbit decided 
 how I would catch him and the gopher determined the method by which he 
 would be caught. It is so with catching men for the Kingdom of Christ. Paul 
 understood this well, for he became all things to all men in order that he 
 might win some. Some people 1 get frightened at new methods like the horse 
 at the automobile. He does not know that in the end the auto is his best 
 friend. There are others as wild in their philosophy as Ishbebenob who believed 
 in his weapon only because it was new and strange. 
 
 The Christian Church has usually made its principles its chief talking 
 point. We can claim but little credit for our principles; they were handed to 
 this generation ready-made;-or, at best, we found them. Our achievements 
 are the only things for which we are entitled to much credit. It required no 
 strain or effort to come to our church position in theory. It was a simple 
 evolution of the open-minded. Any number of folks are individually arriving 
 at our basis without ever knowing we have had it. The world will earlier or 
 later arrive at our principles with an easy independence of us. Neither the 
 discovering nor the holding of our church principles can be credited aa a 
 particular achievement. It is the practice of them that is worth while. 
 Precious as they are to us, our mission in connection with them may be more 
 of an infusion of our church genius into a world than an inclusion of the 
 world into our Church. The miser holds what comes to him, the captain of 
 industry improves upon it and gives out so that others receive the benefit from 
 his investment. May the Christian Church emulate the latter. 
 
 We may dilate upon the ideality of our position, but we must face the stern 
 fact that nothing but our doings will get the ear of the world and the approval 
 of Christ. People of the best principles ought to be people of the best prac¬ 
 tices. “By their fruits shall ye know them.” This will be the logic of the 
 world. Our times are merciless. They cast the much prized credentials of 
 men into the world’s wastebasket and then shout, “We care not for your antece¬ 
 dents, what can you do?” No religionist can long interest the world in his de¬ 
 tached theories, however good they may be. They will already be sympathetic 
 
 9 
 
toward his good practices. It is only the language of a real life which a world 
 understands and only the doctrine of deeds to which it gives universal approval. 
 The man of the hour is the man of deeds. So is the institution of the hour. 
 Theories are to our age but spiders’ webs, meant to catch only flies. Philoso¬ 
 phies are the play-grounds of minds detached from life. Beliefs are often little 
 more than an index of temperament. The world will not seriously examine 
 our creed except our creed of purpose and practice. We have been measuring 
 ourselves by our ideals. All others are measuring us by our practices. It is 
 deeds in the test of time which like that of eternity divides the sheep from the 
 goats. 
 
 If the New Era movement succeeds and the Forward Movement fails, the 
 people will hail the Church of that movement as the Church for this new era. 
 If the Centenary Movement succeeds and our Forward Movement fails, the 
 Church which fosters it will be the Church of the new century. If our For¬ 
 ward Movement goes to success, numbers will be willing to go forward with real 
 men who are doing real things. They will not follow pictures of either word 
 or brush. A German thinker has announced, “The history of the world is the 
 judgment of the world.” May I paraphrase to say that the record of the 
 achievements of the Christian Church is the judgment of the Christian 
 Church? No Church will stand because of its divine origin nor because it has 
 the word of inspiration in it. Israel had both of these and yet she failed. She 
 could not obey God; she could not be faithful; she could not include a whole 
 world in her sympathies nor serve it with her program. We are set in this 
 day to be a light unto the world. It! may be easier to boast of our principles 
 but it will not serve the purpose. 
 
 A gentleman, not long ago, equipped his summer cottage with electric wir¬ 
 ing and fixtures. The electric light company was tardy in installing the 
 service. For the ringing of his doorbell, he had connected a battery. His bell 
 rang so loudly that he thought there must be considerable power in the bat¬ 
 tery. A bright idea struck him—why not connect up the battery to his electric 
 light system until the company should install his service. This he did but no 
 light came. He thought perhaps he had crossed wires in some way and invited 
 an electrician friend in to solve his puzzle. After the electrician saw what he 
 had done, he said, “Do you not know, my good friend, that it takes much more 
 power to make a light than it does to make a noise?” 
 
 There are some specific duties which belong to the function of this Con¬ 
 vention. Some of them if not done now, we will never again have a chance 
 to do. It is the duty of this Convention first to make a useable, worth-while 
 organization. We must not obscure our vision of duty by a desire for bigness. 
 There is a merit of quality surpassing that of size. We may sometimes lament 
 our paucity, but as Spurgeon said to the young man who bemoaned the small 
 size of his congregation, “It will be as large as you will want to account for 
 in the Day of Judgment.” We do need to stand for things which are big in 
 their nature- -for real things. Better by far to accomplish one real thing than 
 to dissipate our energies through an extended field of a hundred useless ideals. 
 The other day a sham battle took place in one of the parks of my city. It had 
 all the semblance of battle except that there was no enemy and the cartridges 
 were blank. After it was over, the khakied participants strutted away amid 
 the anplause of the multitude. We have done something of thac same sort. 
 We have put in a lot of time like Don Quixote fighting windmills, sometimes 
 
 10 
 
with a following of Sancho Panzas who are thinking we are doing real things. 
 We have trumped up dangers that did not exist. We have found designs that 
 never were. We have built numerous emplacements which have been used 
 only for sham battles. This is not so serious if it be the entertainment of a 
 day; but, my brethren, it is tragic when amid all this mere play, the great 
 throbbing needs of the day have not gotten to us. We may have turned them 
 aside because their vocabulary does not suit some or because the thirty-eighth 
 item of the program is not stated as they would have stated it. These are 
 days for real things when words either spoken or written should not be wasted 
 on insignificant matters. 
 
 A second purpose of this Convention is to effect a greater unity of spirit, 
 plan, and purpose among our own people. Success in the Christian Church 
 awaits a more perfect cohesion. We have been too scattered and too diverse. 
 Paul tells us that “the whole body must be fitly joined together and compacted.” 
 The Forward Movement program means a united opportunity from which there 
 need be no dissent. It is the first of its kind and magnitude. Into it should 
 be put a united impact of the whole Church. 
 
 Brethren, for the sake of this more perfect unity, let our hearts come close 
 together and embrace in these holy days of fellowship. Let us carry away 
 from this Convention an abiding memory of the holy spell of Christian love. 
 Some men cannot differ in opinions without differing in fellowship. Let it not 
 be so with us. Let us here tarry in this heavenly place in Christ Jesus until 
 each heart touched by divine love is melted into a unity with all others of its 
 kind that no after strain may break. A little French girl wrote of the rela¬ 
 tion of America and France: “There is a river in France so narrow that you 
 can talk across it. Birds can fly over with one sweep of their wings. Great 
 armies are on either bank, but they are as far apart as the stars in the sky, as 
 right and wrong. There is a great ocean. It is so wide that sea gulls cannot 
 fly across it without rest. Upon either shore there are great nations; they are 
 so close that their hearts touch.” In this Convention, however widely our 
 opinions may wander, let not our hearts cease to touch each other. 
 
 I conceive the third function of this Convention to be the devising of plans 
 that will make for permanency! We have lived too ephemerally. We have 
 been opportunists. The time has come to initiate programs for the church, 
 the conferences, and The American Christian Convention of longer duration. 
 In no case ought the minimum of consideration to be less than a quarter of a 
 century. Our plans have been too brief, our pastorates too short. As some 
 one has said, there are walking pastors as well as walking delegates. We must 
 not be intermittent altar boys, merely holding the fringe of an ecclesiastical 
 skirt from dragging in the dust. We must be in the game, doing the great 
 things which are imperishable, and laying plans which will make their doing 
 more effective in the years to come. 
 
 Permanent plans will be plans of efficiency. It is not an efficient program 
 if we use only a part of our man power or other resources. Nor can we be 
 efficient if we are using only a part of the God power available for man. Let 
 us entertain no delusions that our problem is purely one of methods or of 
 organization. It is primarily one of willingness, consecration and man devel¬ 
 opment. We must indulge the long perspective. We must develop our re¬ 
 sources—human and divine. We must utilize our assets—physical, monetary, 
 mental, and spiritual. Sometimes I think we are like the Aborigines who lived 
 
 11 
 
in the midst of great resources, yet used them not. If my humble opinion is 
 worth crediting, pure neglect, lack of conservation, and unwillingness have 
 penalized the Christian Church far more than limited ability. 
 
 By this Convention, we should also be helped into a full vision of God’s 
 purpose in us. We have talked much about vision, but it is still an over¬ 
 worked word and underworked fact. We must be able to see with God what 
 he w T ants us to do. We must read the divine purpose into the ever moving 
 human events. For all this it is necessary to live in tune with the Infinite, to 
 enter into a relationship with Christ until that which we call our vision is His 
 revelation. Visions are not absent from prayer; they are not separated from 
 spiritual wrestling. They are neither easy to get nor to keep. 
 
 The last function of this Convention which I will mention should be to 
 help all to a consecration that will enable us to meet the full measure of the 
 saciifice demanded. May we turn from the easy way, for the easy way is not 
 the Lord’s way. May we here establish in our hearts and for our Church the 
 absolute commitment of ourselves to God and the doing of His will until we 
 shall share the feelings of Christ who said, “I came not to do my own will but 
 the will of him who sent me.” Let us cultivate that divine willingness within 
 us that we shall notj hold ourselves back and from our duties, nor grudge the 
 service of which our lives are capable. Said an old friend to a returning 
 Canadian soldier, “Oh, I see you have lost an arm.” But the northern patriot 
 drew himself to his full strength and with a glint of fire and determination in 
 his reply, said, “No, sir, I gave it.” Oh, Lord, make us willing in this the day of 
 Thy Power! 
 
 “The Church Facing Its Task” 
 
 Convention Sermon by Rev. E. A. Watkins, D. D. 
 
 Text—Matthew 6: 10: “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, in earth as 
 it is in Heaven.” 
 
 The Church has always had its face forward and toward the dawning of 
 every new day. The Kingdom of God, as her objective, has ever lured the 
 forces of righteousness, to face the seeming impossible, overcome obstacles 
 unsurmountable; accept the challenge of every new age, ' and follow the 
 gleam of a “New Heaven and New Earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” 
 The followers of the Man of Galilee have never turned aside from the great 
 moral issues of the world, nor have they turned their backs upon the big tasks’ 
 that have confronted them; but following the leadership of the Son of God, 
 through every crisis, they have accepted the principle of sacrifice, and that 
 “without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin,” gloried and 
 reveled in projects colossal, plunged gladly into moral enterprises which taxed 
 the resources of the soul; and long ago vindicated their claim to the moral 
 and spiritual leadership of the world. 
 
 But the Church faces a new situation. We are living in a new world. It 
 is not what it was four years ago. Out of this baptism of fire, out of thi; 
 
 12 
 
deluge of blood, out of this terriffic maelstrom of death, this tremendous sacri¬ 
 fice of life and treasure, has come a “New Heaven and New Earth.” The world 
 has changed. The world is changing its thought and emphasis. The Church 
 must change. A static, standstill Church in a changing worl dmeans collision 
 and disaster sooner or later. There are new problems and new conditions we 
 have never faced before. WE ARE IN A CRISIS. The next few years will 
 determine whether Democracy, Freedom, and Human Brotherhood are to be 
 realized, or whether they are to perish from the earth. The world can never 
 again be what it has been in the past. Thrones and empires, dynasties and 
 kingdoms are crumbling and crowns and scepters are destined for the junk 
 heap, and an awakening world of oppressed humanity has visions of democracy 
 and freedom, and in the glaring light of this new day, the Hosts of God and 
 the Harbingers of Freedom and brotherhood have marched in solid phalanx 
 against the enemies of humanity and Mt. Carmel, Gethsemane, and Calvary 
 are again in the possession of the Disciples of the Man of Galilee. The world 
 has been SHOCKED AND SHAKEN from center to circumference, and trem¬ 
 bles like an aspen leaf; every nerve, fibre, and tissue tingles with motion, and 
 
 like a giant, wounded and blinded and dazed, gropes 
 its way in the twilight of the new day, fo rsome- 
 thing solid upon which to stand, something per¬ 
 manent upon which to build. Staggering under the 
 heavy burden of the most cruel and heartless war 
 in all human history, bleeding, suffering, dying 
 humanity raises the question, “What is the matter 
 with the world?”—and the prophets of the new age 
 have spoken God’s message, and declare that “God’s 
 world has gone wrong.” This awful world-calamity 
 has fallen upon us in. judgment. Charles Jefferson 
 said the other day, “The world in 1914 fell into a 
 ditch because men in high places said, ‘We will not 
 have this man Jesus to rule over us* 'We prefer 
 Bismarck, Bernhari, and Nietzche. The laws of 
 Christ were flouted in the realm of industrial and 
 international conduct. It was a costly error. It 
 was a deadly blunder. God’s condemnation of it is 
 written across the earth and in letters of fire across the heavens. We have let 
 slip from our grasp some of the really big things of the Kingdom, frittered 
 away the priceless years in hopeless isolation, wasting time, resources, and 
 spiritual energy, in shameful controversies over secondary matters, and let 
 slip from our grasp the really Big Things of FATHERHOOD—BROTHER¬ 
 HOOD—MINISTRY—SACRIFICE—and Service. 
 
 The Church has not always been equal to the situation. It has to its 
 credit a long list of worthy achievements. But we are just awakening to the 
 fact of failure in the larger social and international relationships. Big indus¬ 
 trial corporations and the State itself did not regard the Christian law as bind¬ 
 ing upon them, until the crash came. When the crisis came, when the cords 
 ^hat bound the nations, snapped as a rope of straw, when the dogs of war were 
 let loose, and civilization was about to collapse, and nations drunk and insane 
 with the thought of destiny, threw off all moral restraints and considerations, 
 and repudiated all treaties and sacred compacts, as “scraps of paper”_the 
 
 13 
 
Christian forces were impotent and powerless to stay the onrushing tide of 
 war. There was no PROGRAM, no VOICE, no WORD to curb the mad¬ 
 dened passions of a war-crazed, deluded, and blood-thirsty race of people. 
 
 But I am wondering what we are going to do when the next crisis comes, 
 when the fate of civilization hangs in the balance again—and it will come, 
 unless we are ready to face the task of Christianizing all the relations of life, 
 individual, social, industrial, and international. As long as we repudiate the 
 solidarity of the race and human brotherhood, just that long must we face the 
 danger of another world-calamity, another world-tragedy. “Mankind is now in 
 possession of instruments by which it can extinguish the light of hope. Civiliza¬ 
 tion has the apparatus in its hand by which it can commit suicide.” The 
 heart-broken men and women of the world are crying, “What shall we do to 
 be saved?” The answer to-day is the answer which Simon Peter gave to Jeru¬ 
 salem 1900 years ago: “Repent, and believe in Jesus Christ. There is none 
 other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.” 
 Neither prophet nor sear dare ignore the possibility of another crisis, another 
 catastrophe, far more destrucitve and death-dealing than this one. SOME¬ 
 THING MUST BE DONE. If not, when that time comes, the Churches will be 
 as helpless, as they were in 1914. They will have something to say—some 
 program—or they will have nothing to say. 
 
 It is a big task, but the Church should be equal to the emergency. It is the 
 biggest task organized Christianity has ever faced; but it is the bigness of the 
 task that holds the challenge. We will profit by the past. I see the evidences 
 everywhere. Witness the great Forward Movements in the Churches. We are 
 to raise $500,000, as our partj of the program. It should have been a million. 
 Five hundred thousand dollars is not an adequate challenge to 115,000 people. 
 I suggest that we make it a million and appeal to the heroic spirit of sacrifice 
 among our people. Here is the acid test of discipleship. Will you hear me, 
 when I say that we will either overscribe this fund or there is no hope for us? 
 This is our Denominational Salvation. In the glaring light of this world- 
 blunder and in the illumination of the coming day, and under the inspiration 
 of big tasks faced and mastered, I believe we are living in the dawn of a New 
 Day, wherein “The kingdoms of this world are to become the kingdoms of our 
 Lord and his Christ.” 
 
 I. The Church Faces the Task of Leadership. 
 
 The Church must lead. Spiritual forces must lead. The Church must 
 march in the vanguard of human progress, or she will not march at all. She 
 must lead in the industrial world, if the problems there are ever solved. She must 
 lead in the political world, if peace and harmony are to prevail. She 
 must lead in the social world and do away with the plague spots and heal the 
 open sores of the world. She must lead in the campaign against war and must 
 conquer war or confess failure. The forces of righteousness must create such 
 a state of mind as to make war impossible. 
 
 The Church must lead. The world is asking for an army, armed with other 
 than machine guns, war-planes, and poisonous gases. The challenge is for a 
 “Moral equivalent of war.” Spiritual forces must take the lead in a world 
 crazed with the destructiveness of materialism. This is no time toi sit idly by 
 as a “Civilian,” when the call to arms is sounded. The fight is on, and there 
 is no time to complacently sit in the easy chair singing, “How tedious and taste¬ 
 less the hours,” when we ought to be in the thick of the fight singing, “Onward, 
 
 14 
 
Christian Soldiers, Marching as to War.” A crisis like this tests our fitness 
 and capacity for leadership, while a staggering world is groping in the dark¬ 
 ness of hatred and bloodshed and waiting for such a Moses to lead her out. The 
 test of an army is not in how it behaves on dress parade, but what it does on 
 the field of battle, IN THE CRISIS; not how it wears its weapons, but how it 
 uses them. The test of the Church is! not in what it believes, but in how it 
 U-S-E-S its faith, in time of stress and strain; not in its material equipment, 
 but in the way it uses it, when the ties that bind human brotherhood are about 
 to snap and break. WE ARE IN SUCH A CRISIS. The Church faces such 
 an hour and her task is to L-E-A-D, and say the word and perform the 
 service that will cheer the heart and strengthen the sinews of a suffering, sor¬ 
 rowing world. To act the priest and the levite and pass by and ignore the 
 claims of a bleeding and dying world, crying for help; to assume that civiliza¬ 
 tion is not hanging in the balance and democracy about to perish from the 
 earth; and to ignore the fact that the freedom for which our fathers fled to 
 these shores, and for which they died, and the very things for which Christ 
 died are challenged to a death-struggle—to ignore these in a self-centered, easy¬ 
 going complacency is to repudiate our claim to, and forever lose our right to 
 the moral leadership of the world. 
 
 “Democracy all over the world is trying to find itself and express itself,” 
 like a blind Samson, it gropes its way for something permanent, something 
 that will endure. THE CHURCH MUST HELP. There can be no democracy 
 without Christ. Our preparation for making the world a safe home for man 
 must be spiritual. The Christian gospel has the central secret for saving the 
 world of the future. Nothing but Christianity, as Lord Bryce has said, can 
 secure the world’s peace. Democracy was born in the heart of the Son of 
 God. It is a recognition of the fundamental fact of the solidarity of the race, 
 the brotherhood of man, and the Kingdom of God. Christianity began as a 
 democracy of equal souls, a democracy of opportunity, freedom, liberty, and 
 equal rights to all, rich and poor, high and low. The Church must find her 
 soul if she is to lead. “This dreadful war has been a crusade for the future 
 of human freedom, a struggle for the Christian order of things,” and now if 
 the Christian forces fail to carry out Christ’s program of world redemption, 
 all is lost. But Christianity has saved civilization and held society together 
 more than once, when everything else was wild with riot and destruction, and 
 it alone has the potency to stay the mad rush of a frenzied world into death 
 and despair. Democracy is not safe, and is just as helpless without Christ, as 
 was the thief on the cross, or the lone traveler on Jericho’s road, infested with 
 thieves and robbers. Nations can never be safe from invasion and disturbance 
 as long as there remains a single national contingent without Christ. 
 
 The possibilities of the Christian gospel are by no means exhausted. Thus 
 far we have only touched the margin of its potency to redeem the world. Our 
 Christ is just as able to redeem the conditions that make the thief and the 
 outlaw, as he is of redeeming the soul of the worst man or woman of the 
 world. Who dare say that the saving, redeeming power of the gospel has been 
 exhausted in the redemption of a few individuals and that it has reached its 
 limit there? Are we to blaspheme the Son of God and the Holy Spirit by limit¬ 
 ing saving redeeming power to individuals only? We have not touched the hem 
 of the garment of possibility, as to Evangelism. There are yet vast and 
 uncultivated fields for service, that will yield to the evangelistic appeal, in the 
 
 15 
 
ledemption of social, industrial, and international relations. Do not misunder¬ 
 stand me, we can never get away from the new birth and personal redemption. 
 Society, too, must be Christianized and all its institutions. “The Modern Good 
 Samaritan does more than give relief to the injured Jew. He helps to clean 
 up the country from Jerusalem to Jericho and renders it safe for all future 
 travelers.” The real patriotic American, who grows eloquent in denunciation 
 of Raiserism in Potsdam and Berlin, will join the forces of righteousness for 
 the elimination of political gangsters, and the Christianizing of the community 
 life of the city. The program of the Kingdom includes the application of the 
 Golden Rule and the Sermon on the Mount to governments, international law, 
 industry, and business, as well as to individual members of society. 
 
 The obligation is ours, as never before, to Christianize the social forces, or 
 these without Christ will heathenize, paganize, and barbarize the world. 
 
 Sitting at the door of the Federal Building on Fountain Square in Cin¬ 
 cinnati, is an old blind man selling the Times Star and Post. One day I saw 
 him fumble his way to the curb and start to go across the street. The street 
 was congested with traffic and he would hesitate and then start to feel his way 
 through the mass of humanity, street cars, automobiles, and vehicles of every 
 kind, but finally gave it up in bewilderment and was appealingly standing on 
 the curb awaiting some one to help. A traffic policeman at the moment left 
 his post, where he had been directing the traffic, and came to the poor blind 
 man, took him by the arm, and safely guided his steps through the hurrying 
 crowd to a place of safety on the other side. The Church is that traffic police¬ 
 man. A blinded, bewildered world of humanity without Christ gropes its way 
 through the mists and confusion, seeking to find its way to safety and freedom 
 —bewildered and confused, she staggars forth and back again—when the 
 Church comes to the rescue, offers her services, and safely pilots a pilgrim 
 world to its haven of rest. 
 
 II. Again, The Church Faces the Task of Fellowship . 
 
 1. Fellowship in suffering. If the Church is to lead, it must enter into the 
 fellowship of the world’s suffering and sacrifice. The Church has received the 
 clarion call to enter into the sufferings of the world, as never before. I despair 
 of our taking any place of leadership, unless we share unselfishly, and with 
 glad hearts the sufferings, the heartaches, and the anguish of soul of this 
 present time. Christ summons His Church to this task. Let the ten millions 
 w r ho sleep yonder in Flanders, Belgium, and Poland and Serbia and Roumania 
 challenge us to this task. Let the millions of the flower of the world’s young 
 manhood, who submitted to the sufferings, privations, and torture of war, sum¬ 
 mon us to share the world’s unutterable anguish of soul. Believe me, Europe is 
 suffering—NOW. It is “Rachael weeping for her children, and would not be 
 comforted because they were not.” I would remind you while you sit here in 
 this Convention, in comfort and quiet, that there are thousands of the world’s 
 youth, stretched upon beds of pain and indescribable suffering, maimed and dis¬ 
 membered, deformed and crippled for life; martyrs to the cause of freedom 
 and democracy, who laid bare their bosoms to the ravisher’s sword, bayonet, 
 and shell—what for? Why all this unspeakable, indescribable anguish of 
 spirit and torture of body? That we might enjoy the freedom and liberty that 
 are ours. And then, add to this the unnamable condition of the civilian popu¬ 
 lation, of the war-ridden countries, homeless, driven out, starving, dying by 
 inches—old men and women—stooped, haggard, and emaciated—children, hands 
 
 16 
 
gone and bodies maimed. Oh, the broken fragments of the English language 
 are inadequate to describe it all, so: heart-rending and sad is this inhuman 
 spectacle. But must they suffer alone? Nay, millions of Christ’s redeemed 
 ones must say no, this cannot be. 
 
 Here is our task, and Christ summons us to enter the fellowship of the 
 ssufferitftg of this generation. This is the price of leadership. The twelve 
 frno&tftis before us will witness suffering unparalleled, on account of the world’s 
 ifeod famine. We must share in its suffering. It is our opportunity. The 
 World’s misery lies at the doors of the Church, as the lame man at the gate of 
 the temple. The suffering world is looking for Peter and John—the praying 
 people—for succor and help. The maimed and dying man on Jericho’s Road is 
 looking for some good Samaritan to come that way. Lazarus is still at the gate 
 of the rich man, bleeding and dying for sympathy and fellowship that saves. 
 Here is a task big enough to test our strength. Will we face it, or pass it by? 
 
 2. It follows that fellowship in sacrifice must be faced. Christ’s program 
 must lead up the rugged hills of sacrifice, generous, unselfish, and unstinted. 
 The Founder of the Christian religion carried the cross, and says to all who 
 are willing to listen: Carry the cross or there can be no discipleship; pay the 
 jp-rice of sacrifice or there can be no leadership. 
 
 After all, how little part we have had in real sacrifice. How little it has 
 ‘cost 1 GS. A great deal of it has been conscripted, at that. Sacrifice is voluntary, 
 if it is sacrifice at all. Christ never went to the cross, because He had to, 
 font because He wanted to—it was T-H-E Way, the only way to save and serve, 
 therefore he climbed its rugged steep gladly and in triumph. 
 
 Millions of men in Europe sacrificed everything for the sake of cherished 
 ideals and convictions of right. The Church cannot hope to enlist the same 
 measure of service, unless it appeals to similar motives. The way of sacrifice 
 leads to the heart of the world, but a sacrificeless church cannot lead in it. Our 
 task, yea, our opportunity is to sacrifice ourselves and our treasures, and if 
 we can see that, we can lead the world to the feet of Christ in this generation. 
 
 A little while ago I witnessed a ball game between Harvard and Yale. 
 Twenty thousand people anxiously waited for the result of the game. Seven 
 innings had been played and not a score, so evenly matched were the teams. 
 Then at last, I saw a big, strong, young athlete step to the plate. I saw, him 
 'get under that ball and strike, and lift it away yonder over the left field. That 
 audience cheered and cheered to the echo, the excitement was unbounded; the 
 player was nearing the third base, when with thundering tones, the umpire 
 called out, “F-O-U-L B-A-L-L,” and the disappointment was undescribable. 
 
 I wonder if we have not been entirely |oo easily satisfied. Have we played the 
 game fair? I wonder whether amid the plaudits of an admiring world when 
 we have played the game, but without-sacrifice, the “Umpire of the world” will 
 have called out “F-O-U-L B-A-L-L'it does not count. The game must be 
 
 played fair. Sacrifice, whole-hearted sacrifice is the acid test of true disciple¬ 
 ship. r 
 
 III. The Church Faces the Task of Unifying Its Forces. 
 
 This new world is opening its j eyes to the necessity of a larger spirit of 
 fellowship and co-operation. Froni altnost every quarter comes the challenge 
 to the churches, to give some convincing demonstration to the world, that they 
 are united, that they are one. A rebellious world, steeped in sin and viscious- 
 
 17 
 
ness, organized evil and human perversity, makes it imperative that the forces 
 of righteousness present a solid front with unbroken lines. 
 
 There has been born out of this world tragedy a profound desire for a 
 larger spirit of unity and good-will. It is said that disasters are great 
 levelers. All petty differences are forgotten in a great crises of flood, fire, or 
 cyclone. So this war, the greatest catastrophe of human history, is bringing 
 to the front the great common essentials of human life and causing us to strive 
 for only these. On yonder battle front, where “the bodies of men were hurled 
 across the sky line like hail, the Protestant, Jew, and Catholic alike, fraternized 
 with one another and ministered alike to the wounded and dying of all creeds. 
 And now, in these days of world-redemption and world-reconstruction, organ¬ 
 ized Christianity must either present a solid front in fellowship, in organiza¬ 
 tion, and in service, or stop. singing, “Like a mighty army, moves the Church 
 of God,” and take up the more fitting dirge, 
 
 “Divided into sections moves the Church of God, 
 
 Each the other fighting, like a gentile squad, 
 
 We are all divided, into factions we, 
 
 All content to cherish for the other charity.” 
 
 And we need not fold our arms and close our eyes, in blissful innocence, 
 but need to face the stubborn fact, that we have not always practiced what 
 we preached, but often denied our theory, our principles, in our practice and 
 cannot assume a “holier than thou” attitude to the question now, that we must 
 face the task or die. I despair of our fitness or capacity to march in the van¬ 
 guard, WHERE WE OUGHT TO MARCH, of world-redemption and world- 
 reconstruction, of spiritual leadership, unless we get into the movement toward 
 unity and integration that is everywhere manifest. 
 
 Standing directly in the pathway of the on-moving van of human progress, 
 with its everlasting going, is sectarianism, ecclesiasticism, and unarticulated 
 denominationalism. Why has not the Church held a larger grip on the people, 
 while there is more of the spirit of Christ in the world to-day than ever before? 
 Why the loss of contact with the common man of the street? Why the line 
 of cleavage between the church and the laboring man? Why did we have so 
 little voice in the conduct of the war? Why does not the Church, as the right¬ 
 ful leader of the spiritual forces of progress, have an articulate voice in the 
 councils of the nations? Labor is represented there. Industry is represented. 
 Capital is certainly represented. Why not the Church? The answer is writ 
 across the skies—denominationalism and sectism and petty divisions. 
 
 The spirit of the hour calls for the unification of forces. In the great 
 conflict against Autocracy and Militarism, the allied armies were wise enough 
 to see that all segregated and unrelated efforts meant defeat, and they wisely 
 organized into one great common force for righteousness and presented a solid 
 front to the hoards of Central Europe. If the Church would not suffer the 
 humiliation of defeat, she will be as wise. We are facing the most critical 
 period of history, and the Church must not face this task, like a crippled man 
 going to his work. The world rings with a new sense of international federa¬ 
 tion. We are making leagues that bind the nations, heart to heart, for the 
 end of the war and the enforcement of peace. They forget minor differences 
 i-n union for a great common cause. Now is the Churches’ opportunity. Here 
 at last is the hope and promise of a new order. Maimed and staggering human- 
 
 18 
 
ity may yet be saved. The dream of brotherhood may yet be realized. Will 
 the Churches rise to the occasion, or will they go on quibbling over orders and 
 vestments, minor differences and non-essentials? Now is the accepted time 
 and now is the day of salvation. Organized Christianity has once more a 
 splendid chance of vindicating its existance, of demonstrating the greatness 
 of its claim, of proving to the world, that in the great work of human redemp¬ 
 tion, it L-E-A-D-S. 
 
 Some one has said, “Unless the aftermath we anticipate, produces a 
 vital and growing cohesion in Christianity, its prospects are by no means reas¬ 
 suring.” Enough to know that the occasion is insurgent for the obliteration of 
 irrational boundaries, and that if the Church would teach the world how to 
 live in peace, she must first possess it within herself. As Dr. Cadman well says, 
 “One-half the denominational fellowship of America, aye, in the Protestant 
 world at large, could be merged to-morrow, without serious hurt and with 
 immense an daccumulating gain.” “It’s a tragic fact,” some one stated, when 
 he said, “If we had spent as much ammunition fighting the devil, as we 
 have spent fighting each other, the world would have been at the feet of Jesus 
 long ago.” 
 
 The returning soldier ought to very materially contribute to the solution 
 of this problem. These men will return drilled in the co-operative idea, dis¬ 
 ciplined in a large service at tremendous risk. They have been drilled to see 
 things in the large, schooled in mass formations and mass movements, taught 
 in the hard school of experience; what we should have learned long ago, that it 
 requires a solid body of co-operating units, moving as one man, to accomplish 
 great ends. They will be out of sympathy with little petish movements of small 
 squads; they had little patience with these before the war, but now after four 
 years in an army of millions, they will have an invincible distaste for, and 
 scorn of the small denominational squad idea. They will be in no temper of 
 mind to play a part in church work characterized by independent, unrelated 
 efforts to accomplish vague and uncertain ends. After playing in the greatest 
 game in the world, where the issues involved were tremendous, the world’s 
 peace and future safety, and the security and happiness of nations, denomi¬ 
 national distinctions and hair-splitting will look mighty little to this man of a 
 world-order. 
 
 IV. The Church Faces the Task of World Conquest. 
 
 There is a new world consciousness that has been born out of bloodshed 
 and sacrifice in this unusual world crisis. We have just opened our eyes to 
 the fact of a perceptable world-shrinkage, and that the development of modern 
 science and industry has made the world a great neighborhood'.-" Distance has 
 been eliminated, and Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia are at our very 
 door. Our neighbors are in speaking distance of us, and it behooves us that 
 we be on the best of terms. We speak as familiarly of Belgium and Armenia, 
 as our fathers would of those living across the street. We converse with the 
 yellow man and the black man on the opposite side of the earth, as easily as 
 we speak to our nearest neighbor. The noon-day events in Russia and Central 
 India are chronicled in our evening papers. When the Christian world refused 
 to take Christ to the non-Christian peoples of. the earth, God brought them and 
 laid them at our very door. . 
 
 This world-shrinkage has made necessary that the families of the earth 
 be welded into a common brotherhood. We have just discovered 1 that a world- 
 
 19 
 
neighborhood repudiating human brotherhood, is as unsafe for the peace and 
 happiness of the race, as was Baby Belgium and Innocent Serbia, with a Nation 
 Burglar and Murderer at her doors. We have just discovered that there is 
 no peace nor safety as long as any single contingent of the New World Order 
 is without Christ. John R. Mott sensed the situation before the war began. 
 At the Student Volunteer Convention at Kansas City in January, 1914, he 
 said, “The world has become a dangerous place, and nothing save the expansion 
 of Christianity in its purest form can make it a safe home for man.” Now, 
 we have learned to our sorrow that the organization of the world on the basis 
 of competition and fighting strength, means either, that one power, more am¬ 
 bitious and blood-thirsty than the rest, will dominate, or the world is involved 
 in a general conflict and destruction, and civilization and Christianity will go 
 down in a welter of blood and crime. No nation is exempt. The only alter¬ 
 native is to organize the common life on the basis of brotherhood. The problem 
 of the world’s peace is missionary. The modern Christian must develope the 
 international mind and study larger maps. The world will be safe for peace¬ 
 ful living only, when we change the motive, ambition, spirit, and dispositions 
 of men, when we make Christians of the individual citizen of the world, and 
 Christianize the social forces, national and international relations. 
 
 Had the disciples of the Son of God obeyed His last word, “Go ye” and 
 make Christians of all nations, democracy and brotherhood, in all probability, 
 would to-day prevail in all the world, and we would have been spared all this 
 deluge of blood, that has drenched European soil. Had the Christians of the 
 world simply tithed the cost of this world-blunder, in teaching the nations how 
 to live together in peace, this old earth of ours would not have been drenched 
 in blood and tears. Had we given our youth to Christian service in Europe 
 and Asia and the isles of the sea, with the same devotion and consecration, 
 that we gave them to the God of War, teaching the great principles of the 
 Kingdom of God and Human Brotherhood, we would have been spared the 
 grief and sadness incident to sending them to the slaughter pens of eastern 
 France. What a judgment upon our folly, our neglect, yes, our disobedience. 
 Visioned in all its horrible details stretched across the canvass, is the length¬ 
 ened photograph of God’s judgment upon a disobedient people. 
 
 Again, the returning soldier will come home a citizen of the world, with a 
 world-o\itlook and a world-view of things. He will have developed the inter¬ 
 national mind. Over a million of them will return with a world consciousness 
 and interested in world-programs. These men will help to control and influence 
 the Church and the Nation for the next twenty-five years. They have gone 
 from our colleges and universities, the very flower of the nation, and large 
 numbers of them have caught the vision of the Christ, on the battle-front, and 
 they will be interested in a program of world-conquest for Christ, as they have 
 so nobly fought and bled for a world-democracy. Their message will be for 
 humanity. Back from the struggle, shoulder to shoulder, in the trenches, across 
 “No Man’s Land,” with the Frenchman, Englishman, Italian, Canadian, Indian, 
 and South African they will come with a new conception of humanity. Gone 
 forever are the “dago,” “sheeny/’ and other uncomplimentary cognomens, for 
 these men have learned in the crucible of war, that beating beneath those 
 rough exteriors are hearts, sympathetic and noble, and willing to sacrifice and 
 
 20 
 
serve for the sake of liberty, freedom, and brotherhood. Back from a six 
 hundred-mile battle line, the longest ever known, amid the most varied 
 assembly of armies ever mustered, they will have had months or years of close 
 interdependent comradship, with men of a score of races. They will come 
 back with a keener sense of brotherhood, than when they left us. Hence the 
 task of winning the world for Christ in this generation, will claim and receive 
 a larger share of attention and support than it has ever had. World-conquest 
 for Christ will enlist a million advocates, where it had but thousands before. 
 Men who have gambled with death and faced hell and taken the supreme risk 
 for the Christianizing of International Relations, will be the natural allies 
 of the Church, which by its Foreign Mission Service is pledged to the conquest 
 of the world for justice, fraternity, and Christian Brotherhood. The Brother¬ 
 hood of man and the Kingdom of God are no longer a mere dream, but a 
 growing reality. 
 
 This unique world-crisis summons the churches to their real task, the evan¬ 
 gelization of the world, and that in this generation. The conditions are ripe 
 for world-conquest. One of God’s servants said, “When thy judgments are in 
 the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness,” and God’s judg¬ 
 ments are in the earth as never known before, and the people are ready to 
 learn righteousness. The world was never so sensitive to the evangelistic appeal 
 as now. Our Christ and a war-crazed world summon us to this task. It is a 
 big task, but it is the bigness of the task that challenges the Church. We 
 have become accustomed to large figures and world-maps and great continent¬ 
 wide movements, and what we have learned to do in the time of war, we are 
 Uallenged to continue in time of, peace. 
 
 There must be some outlet for all the surplus energy and tremendous re- 
 *" urces of the Church. We must never again make such small demands of 
 our people. They have capacity and are capable of great sacrifices, and are 
 equal to tremendous tasks. The Forward Movement challenges us, and its 
 program is big enough to call out our undeveloped resources and capabilities. 
 If we would really appeal to the strength of the Church of to-morrow, ask 
 for the performance of great tasks, involving great risk, and the Church will 
 respond. No great war can be fought in a province or a township; it takes 
 continents and empires. Give the Christian Church a big task and it will 
 triumph. Let us forget and overcome the tendency to ease and luxury, in our 
 generation, and summon the manhood and womanhood of our churches to tre¬ 
 mendous tasks, commensurate with our strength and Christ has a program 
 sufficiently big to call into play all the resources and reserve power at our 
 command. If we would be like God, if we would walk with God in the next 
 generation, we must walk with Him in God-like tasks. 
 
 Here is the charter of the Church. Here is her commission, yea, here is 
 her challenge for service. “Put on the whole armor of God” and face the 
 task of I, Leadership; II, Fellowship in Suffering and Sacrifice; III, Co-opera¬ 
 tion and Unity, and these all consecrated to the one supreme task of IV, Giving 
 Christ to the whole world. 
 
 21 
 
Evangelism 
 
 BY O. W. WHITELOCK, OF HUNTINGTON, INDIANA 
 
 Members of The American Christian Convention and Brethren — 
 
 The Committee on Program has assigned Rev. Alva Martin Kerr and 
 myself to speak to you upon one of the five points of the Forward Movement, 
 that of Evangelism, he speaking as a minister and I speaking to you from a 
 layman’s view-point. We must evangelize or we perish. These seem to be 
 strong and emphatic words. I do not mean, we would be blotted out at once, 
 but would gradually decrease. In the course of my remarks, I will give some 
 of my reasons. I make my statement that we may be admonished concerning 
 our danger, that we may be aroused now to the gravity of our situation. 
 
 As a Church we are making no substantial gains. Our numbers remain 
 almost the same year after year. The losses and gains are practically equal. 
 In some conferences there are slight gains, in others slight losses. Our 
 churches are mainly country or small village churches. The country churches 
 in all denominations are growing weaker. The country church problem has 
 not been solved, only in a degree, many rural congregations are dying and will 
 continue to die. Strong churches may be built up in some communities, while 
 in others they will gradually grow weaker and weaker until they cease to 
 exist. Some churches can be revived and saved. Many conditions and circum¬ 
 stances ?have to be met and overcome if the church is to be a “forward move¬ 
 ment” or “live wire” church. We have eighty per cent, of our churches in 
 country or in towns of less than 1,500 inhabitants. Our country church per¬ 
 centage is so great that the general church conditions in country districts 
 necessarily reduce our numbers rapidly. Entire churches, in practically every 
 conference, lose their identity, they have not even a “name to live.” There 
 conditions which cause disintegration and decay are not peculiar to our Church 
 alone, but are general among country churches. Our percentage of churches 
 subject to the conditions which carry the elements of dissolution makes the 
 effect upon the Christian Church alarming. Our treatment must be prompt 
 and heroic. 
 
 The situation is more alarming because our sustaining force is Being 
 depleted. Our ministers have been called into the service of our Government, 
 and our young men are not entering the ministry. There are fewer and fewer 
 preachers to rebuild “the walls of Jerusalem,” “they are broken down,” and 
 “the gates are being burned with fire.” Even the ranks of the laity have been 
 depleted from war causes. Not only have the country churches lost from war 
 causes, but are losing heavily by country and village people moving to the 
 cities to engage in city industries, others go there to rest, they retire. When 
 they once go away to the city they seldom return to the home place. Frequently 
 they do nothing at the old home church and nothing at the city church. They 
 do not join the city church, and when asked to contribute to the old home 
 church they say, “I don’t get out very often and don’t get much benefit, so you 
 ought not to expect much from me.” They are Brother “Tightwad” and 
 Sister “Crab Apple,” they live just beyond Silver Creek, and never get across 
 the creek. Who will preach the gospel of Jesus Christ? In the past most of 
 
 22 
 
our ministers came from the country churches, but the base of supply is 
 weakened. Who will vitalize the dying churches and breathe “the breath of 
 life” into the nostrils of expiring church members? 
 
 Those who remain. 
 
 But if they are constantly growing fewer how shall they rebuild the walls 
 of our Zion? They must become more efficient builders, also better husband¬ 
 men in the vineyard of our Lord. 
 
 This is our only hope. 
 
 We must cry mightily unto the Lord, neither rest day nor night, but go 
 forward to conquer and actually conquering the difficulties before us. 
 
 The laymen of our Church must be baptized anew with the spirit of evan¬ 
 gelism. We must be LAY PREACHERS and WITNESSES for Christ and 
 of Christ. Every church should have its organized Evangel Band, men and 
 women, two sections, one to work among the men and the other among the 
 women. This band should emphasize devotion, one of the other five points 
 of the “Forward Movement.” It must be much in prayer, each member must 
 be filled with a holy zeal and a passion to win souls and must be a living witness 
 for the Christ. DEVOTION by this band, must have a twofold meaning, not 
 only prevailing prayer and supplication, but an enthusiasm for the Kingdom of 
 God. Such a band under the leadership of the pastor can enthuse and vitalize 
 the whole Church. Such a band devoted to the task of carrying the gospel 
 message is equipped for service in the Master’s vineyard. It is ready for an 
 extended evangelistic campaign. It should be the leaven to the entire Church 
 and should organize the church for a systematic effort at soul-winning. The 
 effort may be along several different lines. A few suggestions may be helpful. 
 Talk up your church and your pastor or minister, adduce many arguments in 
 favor of your church and your preacher. Enthusiasm begets enthusiasm, like 
 begets like.” Get the “home fires” aglow. You must believe you will, pray 
 you will and YOU WILL. 
 
 Make a canvass of your church for those who will pray definitely for one 
 or more persons. Make a survey of your community and list the name of 
 every one who is not known to be a follower of Christ. Call a meeting of 
 those who have said they would pray definitely for others, announce the result 
 of the survey and make definite lists of names for prayers. Each one present 
 should make a definite prayer list for himself. All the names should appear 
 upon one or more of these prayer lists. Not only should prayers be offered 
 for the listed names, but each one should be invited to the church and Sunday- 
 school. If you would win a man you must first get him interested in some 
 way to hear the gospel trumpet. Get him interested by being interested your¬ 
 self in him. Adopt a WIN ONE campaign. Each one of your evangel band 
 to WIN ONE, and he in turn win another. In this way scores may be won into 
 Christ’s Kingdom and into the local church. Christ’s plan was for His disciples 
 to be His witnesses of Him and for Him. Be such a witness to those you 
 would win to Christ. John the Baptist said, “I saw and bare record that this 
 is the Son of God.” (St. John 1: 34) 
 
 “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, we speak that we do know and testify that 
 we have seen,” etc. (John 3: 11) Peter bore witness on the day of Pentecost. 
 Stephen testified and said, “Behold I see the heavens opened and the Son of 
 man standing on th right hand of God.” (Acts 7: 56) 
 
 23 
 
“But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you 
 and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in 
 Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.” (Acts 1: 8) May we 
 be much in prayer that the Holy Ghost may come upon us. 
 
 “Not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to 
 us who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. And he 
 commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was 
 ordained of God to be the judge of quick and dead. To him give all the prophets 
 witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remis¬ 
 sion of sins.” (Acts 10:41-43) 
 
 In order to be a witness for a cause in a civil court one must know some¬ 
 thing about the pending case. The witness must KNOW; it cannot be “maybe 
 so” or “I guess so” or “I heard some one say so;” there must not be any “hear 
 say,” but “KNOW whereof you speak.” 
 
 A soul-winner must be a “John the Baptist” in experience, he must spirit¬ 
 ually havej seen the Christ, he may then bare record. 
 
 The reason many of us are so deficient as soul winners is we have not 
 truly SEEN the Christ and our witness is not received in men’s hearts. 
 
 A witness to be of much weight in court must not only know the things 
 about which he testifies, but he must also be a creditable witness, his reputa¬ 
 tion for truth and veracity must be good. So one testifying of Christ and for 
 His cause must be above reproach. He must be “as clean as a hound’s tooth.” 
 Church members may be “living epistles” read of men, by their faithfulness at 
 church services. 
 
 Don’t be “oncers” but “every timers.” By your faithfulness to the church 
 you become preachers of the gospel of Christ. You cannot promulgate or 
 preach the gospel of Christ unless you live that gospel. You must not be a 
 “slacker” nor a “quitter,” but a “loyal soldier in the army of the Lord.” 
 
 Fully equipped with the whole armor of God you may confidently expect 
 to win the battles of the Lord. As you talk to your neighbor about Christ and 
 His kingdom of love and service you may confidently expect that Christ’s 
 quickening spirit will touch his heart and men and women will be born into 
 His Kingdom, always remembering, however, “neither is he that planteth any¬ 
 thing, neither he that watereth; but God giveth the increase.” 
 
 The Sunday-school is the greatest field for evangelism, here is the greatest 
 opportunity for the Sunday-school teacher. It is not only the great study 
 room of the church, but also a great training room for the church. Those who 
 are not in the church are led toward her doors and taught the elementary and 
 foundation principles on which the Church is builded. It is well known that 
 a major part of those who become Church members come from the Sunday- 
 school into the Church. 
 
 Every layman should be, not only in the Sunday-school, but the Sunday- 
 school should be in him, moving him, arousing him,, and giving him a vision 
 of what he can do to get the other fellow who is not interested. The laymen 
 of the Church must be the teachers of the Sunday-school, they must be Chris¬ 
 tians, their souls must be on fire for Christ and His Kingdom. They are 
 teaching the fundamentals of the Kingdom, to do this properly, they must have 
 been at the altar of sacrifice, they must not be Brother “Tight Wad” nor 
 Sister “Crab Apple,” the incense from their offerings must have ascended 
 into heaven. 
 
 24 
 
Brothei 1 laymen, have we caught a vision of the crucified Christ and His 
 love for the world, of His sacrifice, His suffering, and His death for others? 
 Would God that all teachers in the Sunday-school might get the vision, that 
 they might see the hosts of children marching up the slopes of time, some of 
 them on slippery places, some on boggy ground, some on shifting sands, and 
 others looking into a yawning abyss. Yes, a vision of their duty to those about 
 them. May the vision be so clear and real that they will cry out, “Here am I, 
 Lord, send me.” 
 
 The teacher is the vitalizing power that warms and germinates the embry- 
 otic soul cells of the human mind, that they may begin to reach out after God. 
 
 The teacher may be a mighty power in the hands of God in helping souls 
 to decide for Jesus Christ and His Kingdom. By his prayers and words of 
 counsel, he can lead many a groping, wandering soul into the light of Jesus 
 Christ, and put his feet on the solid rock of ages, which is stronger than the 
 rock of Gibraltar and as enduring as eternity itself. A soul saved is greater 
 m the sight of God than the piling of millions of dollars in one’s own coffers 
 which must finally corrode and turn to dust. 
 
 The teacher can, by tact, prayer, and consecration become a socializing 
 influence in his class, for the spirit of God is a great leveling, equalizing power. 
 He can bring together the master and the servant, the lady and the maid, the 
 teacher and the pupils, the rich and the poor, the learned and the unlearned. 
 
 In the great melting pot of Christ’s love they may be all fused together 
 into the greatest democracy of the world, the Church of Jesus Christ. 
 
 Nothing but the love of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit can melt 
 into one great fellowship, the men of all classes and stations in life. Only 
 yesterday the allies shed “rivers of blood” for a world democracy and for a 
 Christianity that recognized the humblest rights of mankind. The laity of 
 the Christian Churchl should give the great heart beats of their lives to carry 
 the pulsating, harmonizing blood of Christ into the veins and arteries of the 
 souls of men that they may dwell together in the unity of equality and vital 
 fellowship, that their hearts may beat as one and that they may be one in the 
 spirit, as Christ and the Father are one. 
 
 Save the boys and girls in their teen age in the Sunday-school. Here is 
 the greatest opportunity to bring them under the saving power of Jesus Christ 
 and their acceptance of Him as the ruler of their lives. If they do not accept 
 Christ before they are out of their tens the problem of their salvation becomes 
 more difficult each year. The responsibility upon the teacher is very great 
 It is greater than most teachers realize. 
 
 , J he burden of the salvation of every pupil’s soul should be upon the teach¬ 
 er s heart, he ought to pray definitely and singly for each one of his class until 
 each one has definitely settled his proper relation to the Savior of the world. 
 
 ,^ e ou f ht to persona Uy talk with each member of his class who is outside 
 the ark of safety” and endeavor to bring him in, for the floods of the devil’s 
 intrigues will overwhelm and destroy many in the coming days, if they have 
 not cast anchor in the deep of God’s love, if they have not headed their bark 
 tor the haven of eternal safety and rest. 
 
 The teacher can win when others would fail. Sometimes even the pastor 
 does not have as much influence as the teacher. Sunday after Sunday he 
 can say something that will help them see the importance and necessity of 
 the Christian life. “Word upon word, precept upon precept, here a little and 
 
 25 
 
there a little,’* and you have paved the way for entrance Into the Kingdoni. 
 You will help make the opportunity, the Holy Spirit will do his part, and the 
 deciding moment of the soul is sure to come when by a word or an earnest 
 prayer he will accept the Christ and become His child. 
 
 Fellow teachers we can be of great service to the church if we will. But 
 we cannot win folks to the Kingdom until we have made them feel that we 
 sympathize with them and love them, and are deeply interested in their use¬ 
 fulness and success in life. Having done this, the way is open to reach their 
 hearts and life, and for the incoming of the sweeter spirit of the Christ. 
 
 With Church and Sunday-school going forward along the lines and with 
 the spirit I have outlined, the Church will most likely be receiving members 
 at almost every service and will be ready for a bountiful harvest. 
 
 The wise pastor, by the help of an evangelistic pastor, whom he has called 
 to his assistance in a two or three weeks’ evangelistic campaign will be able to 
 gather into the fold many of the “lost sheep” of that community. Such a 
 church will almost certainly have a ten per cent, net increase in membership 
 each year and will be a center of influence and good fellowship in that com¬ 
 munity. You notice I recommend the assistance by a fellow pastor. I believe 
 this is better than employing a professional evangelist whose greatest effort, 
 many times, is for himself and who is more intent on filling his own pocket 
 than building up the church. 
 
 My opening statement that “we must evangelize or we perish,” may seem 
 pessimistic, and it is in a measure. But I have tried to put the emphasis on 
 “WE MUST EVANGELIZE.” I repeat it, “We must evangelize,” and if we 
 are able to double our membership in the next ten years we must not only evan¬ 
 gelize in our present church parishes but we must be home missionaries and 
 evangelize new fields. I admit there are difficulties in the home mission field, 
 but they can be overcome and must be overcome if our Church is to make the 
 growth that she has the opportunity to make and which her broad principles 
 invite. Why do I say opportunity in face of the adverse conditions I have 
 already pointed out? 
 
 We have just passed through the greatest war of all history for a world 
 Democracy of Government. There is a spirit of the democracy of religion 
 permeating the heart of every returning soldier. The Y. M. C. A. hut, the 
 Red Cross Hospital, and other kindred humanitarian organizations emphasize 
 this as a fact. Herein is manifest that unity of spirit taught by the Christ. 
 Creeds, “isms,” and “ites,” have no place in the mind and heart of the world 
 to-day. The principles of Christian fellowship and brotherly love are mani¬ 
 fest everywhere. The victory for humanity and Christianity has been won, 
 church creeds, as such, are consigned to the discard, and men and women 
 everywhere are recognized for the Christian character they are showing in 
 their every-day walk of life. 
 
 After the War of the Revolution our forefathers clamored against auto¬ 
 cratic church government. As a result the Christian Church was born. The 
 revolution of 1776 covered only a small part of the world. The war against 
 autocracy has now revolutionized practically the whole world, the results upon 
 the church life and spirit will be as much greater after the war as this world 
 war was greater than the Revolution of ’76. The Christian Church was bom a 
 religious democracy. At the time of its birth a new democratic nation had 
 just been bom. We are now living in a bigger day. A democratic world is 
 
 26 
 
now being conceived, a few more days of expectancy and of travail and a 
 DEMOCRATIC WORLD WILL BE BORN. 
 
 I prophesy that there will also be bom a greater spirit of church democ¬ 
 racy than was ever known before and will be based upon the spirit of the 
 Christ as told in the simple Bible story. Our Church, the Christian Church, 
 should be an evangel to carry this spirit and herald it among all the people 
 both at home and abroad. 
 
 The hour of our future destiny is striking now. Men and brethren, do 
 we hear this alarm clock of the ages? 
 
 We must hear, we must marshall our forces of men and money. We must 
 not be slackers in country, village, or city. We must evangelize, or our oppor¬ 
 tunity will be given to another, and we shall perish because God has “weighed 
 us in the balance” and “have been found wanting.” 
 
 
 27 
 

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