By Elocution, Also One of my greatest interests this month has been the watching of two Polish-Jewish girls of eighteen or twenty years, develop. The first step was when they were ready to come to our church for their lessons. Then they joined the elocution class we hold each Saturday night. Two weeks ago our teacher asked us all to prepare a talk on the war. I helped the girls and it was one of the most delicate situations I ever had a chance to handle. I found them very pronouncedly socialistic and pacifistic, and still harboring the hatred they felt for treatment they had received in Russia, because Jews. I suggested speech after speech which they promptly rejected, but at last we really did work out some beautiful ones, in which they told of the blessings America brings and the reason why we ought to wish to save and pass on these blessings. And to my delight by the time they saw what a fine effect their speeches would have, one of them said, "Oh, I want to put another sentence on the end of mine "it was the only sentence she wrote of it all—"I want to say 'My best wishes for liberty and democracy. "" And the other one promptly said, "And I will put one on the end of mine too. I will say, 'I hope Germany also will become a Democracy.'" Their little speeches took very well, and that made them happier than ever, and the next time they came for their lessons, they must needs talk about the war, and two more patriotic advocates one would not wish to see. They are teaching me to read Yiddish characters in the newspapers too, with a zeal that knows no bounds, and certainly isn't proportioned to the progress I am making in that literature. I have been giving them some verses from the Old Testament to read, and the fact that they wondered how I got hold of them gave me a chance to tell them how closely their Scriptures and ours are related, and we had a very interesting time one night comparing methods of Bible reading. Incident sent by Miss Bertha W. Clark, who has charge of the work of teaching English to foreigners in New York City, under the Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society. Bulgarians in Toledo are Learning to be American Citizens. The Leaven of Loyalty. As you know all foreigners were called to take part in the celebration of the Fourth of July. I am the one responsible for the participation of the Bulgarians in this city. The War Educational Committee had me attend all of their meetings discussing and instructing about preparations. I called a number of meetings for my people and organized our division and line for the parade. At first the people were disinterested. The socialistic element has been quite active trying to discourage our men, but in spite of all odds we had a very good turn out and well organized and drilled men, of over 160, that marched under the Stars and Stripes on that day. But the most interesting part were the meetings to which hundreds came and took part with quite a bit of enthusiasm. One evening I called all the business men and other leaders to a meeting. They responded to the last one and at the mass meetings hundreds came out. On the very first meeting I suggested that we shall need some money to meet some of the expenses in connection with the parade preparations. Some $40 came in a very few minutes. At these meetings I urged that we organize an educational society for instruction, literary work and good influence. Everyone realized the need of such society and pledged to help. The Church Must Help Rev. P. D. VASSILEFF, Toledo, Ohio. The Armenians began to come to the United States, not from purely economic and commercial motives, but fundamentally to escape the oppression and injustice of the unspeakable Turk. They came like the Pilgrim Fathers, seeking a land of liberty, where they might find shelter and home and enjoy security of life and property. Will You Touch Him? Rev. MIHRAN T. KALAIDJIAN, If the alien is to be saved for God and man, he must be touched. The church, the pastor, and the church member must come in touch with him. Not by proxy (as it has been well put), but by proximity; not by purse, but in person. This was the way of Jesus, and no better way has been discovered. There is no such thing as salvation by wholesale. Society is uplifted only by uplifting the individual, and no individual can rise far except as another individual comes into immediate touch with him. Rev. M. G. PAPAZIAN, Shall They Rise, Or We Sink? No greater work can be done by a philanthropic or religious. society than to stretch out the helping hand to the men and women who come here to this country to become citizens, and the parents of citizens, and therefore to do their part in making up for weal or for woe the future of our land. If we do not take care of them, if we do not try to uplift them, then as sure as fate our own children will pay the penalty. If we do not see that the immigrant and the children of the immigrant are raised up, most assuredly the result will be that our children and our children's children are pulled down. Either they will rise or we shall sink. Will Your Church Assimilate? THEODORE ROOSEVELT. The church and the schoolhouse which shaped New England character are just as good for every immigrant from every land across the sea - the Pacific as truly as the Atlantic. From the time that Jesus took the penitent by the hand and lifted him up, or Andrew found Simon, till today, the love of God in Jesus Christ has been the triumphant motive of every disciple. The alien must find a welcome in the English church because the love of God compels the welcome. That the alien should be unwelcome in any church of Jesus Christ is abhorrent to the thought. JOEL S. IVES, Secretary and Treasurer of the Missionary Society of Connecticut. III. SERMONIC HINTS AND PRAYER MEETING TOPICS Working Over Against Your Own House Near tasks are usually the most urgent, and usually the most profitable in results. Many work at arm's length, but work at a disadvantage. The foreigner near us offers the largest opportunities for Christian service. Three agencies for reaching him must be employed together: the Home Missionary Society, the Special Mission, and the Individual Church; but the most effective agency for the evangelization of our migrant brethren is the local church, equipped with its present plant and workers, and adapting its methods to the needs of the field in which it is placed. Three Preliminary Considerations 1. Delegated effort, through an equipped mission and hired workers, is not going "straight up." It is indirect and roundabout. But personal participation in Christian service is the only method of really imparting the Christian spirit. 2. A mere romantic regard for the picturesque immigrant is evanescent; but neighborliness, which shares the house of worship and serves in mutual accord, becomes intensely real and human, grows heroic and beautiful, and leads to honor and love. 3. This work must not become a religious fad. It must be patient and persistent, putting up with many an annoyance, and grappling earnestly with one of the stubbornest and most perplexing problems that the evangelical churches ever faced. We Have the Plant Our elegant churches, closed a large part of the time, should be more continuously utilized. It is sinful folly to house mission work in barrack-like halls. A closed church is the easy victim of stagnation and dry-rot. If our church edifices have been created simply for our luxurious comfort, then they are not tools for the Kingdom. We Have the Workers Teaching and visiting the whole ministering grace of Christian friendship, which is the gist of this service-can be done only by the old American for the new American. We must break down artificial barriers. We must drop from our vocabulary all contemptible terms applied to foreigners. There is power enough and grace enough within us, if we will but behold the people of our immediate environment. We Have the Methods The problem is the evangelization of these people, the majority of whom have no true conception of the nature of the new life which is established through faith in Christ. The Apostolic message must be conveyed in the Apostolic manner, by personal contact, by personal service, by personal love. We must know one another and love one another; and when all is for Christ's sake, we have the method which is necessary for this new business. The New Work and the Old There is no need of crippling old activities. Every society in the church can be maintained, and the new work can also be done. Indeed, the old activities will renew their strength under the Experience of gracious reflex influences of the new endeavors. the past proves that the ministry of the church, through its accustomed channels, is deepened and enriched, rather than impoverished, by a new mission in the fuller realization of Christian brotherhood. REV. OZORA S. DAVIS, D. D., President Chicago Theological Seminary, Christian Americanization-Our National Ideals and Mission The greatness of a nation is not based upon its material resources, but upon its conception of moral and spiritual values in government. These moral and spiritual values depend largely upon the conception of deity held by the people. A nation never rises above its gods. The American nation was founded by men who were humble followers of a god who was essentially moral above all else. They carried their conceptions of Him into their government. It was a wise policy. We have proved the truth of Psalm 33:12. "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord." We should never forget that our colonization was markedly Christian. This fact may explain much of our success. I. We must not, as a people, forget that our God is the Lord. a. The Great Moral Governor of the Universe must constantly be in our consciousness. b. The revelation of that God is best seen in his Son. II. We must also never forget that as a people we are chosen for a great task in the world. a. In a peculiar way we are physically and historically equipped for world leadership. b. This leadership must be along the lines of our historical development (namely in moral and humanitarian paths). III. We must see to it that these very qualities are made promi nent in our school systems-immigration work and in all work which has as its object, the making of " Good Americans." Conclusion. The Church has a great field here, and she has the equipment as no other organization has it. REV. GEORGE F. FINNIE, Pastor of United Baptist Church, Lewiston, Maine. |