100 



CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR. 



CHURCH HISTORY. 



Since the outbreak of cholera in the Russian 

 dominions, there have been in the lieutenancy of 

 the Caucasus 125,000 cases of the disease and 

 65,000 deaths. In Sartaff there have been 31,000 

 cases and more than 11,000 deaths, and in St. 

 Petersburg 3,500 cases and 1,250 deaths, making 

 in these districts a total of over 160,000 cases 

 and 77,000 deaths. 



CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR, YOUNG PEG 

 PLE'S SOCIETIES OF. The eleventh Inter- 

 national Convention of the Young People's So- 

 cieties of Christian Endeavor met in the city of 

 New York, July 7. Between 20,000 and 30,000 

 delegates were present, so that the Madison 

 Square Garden the largest audience room in 

 America could not hold all at once the actual 

 members of the body. The Rev. Francis E. 

 Clark, founder of the original society, presided. 

 The secretary reported concerning the growth 

 and present condition of the societies : In 1881 

 there were 2 societies; in 1882, 7; In 1883, 56; 

 in 1884, 156; in 1885,253; in 1886, 850; in 1887, 

 2,314; in 1888, 4,879; in 1889, 7,672; in 1890, 

 11,013; in 1891, 16,274; in 1892,21,080; while 

 societies known to exist, but which had not been 

 recorded, would swell the total up to 22,000. 

 Thirty evangelical denominations were repre- 

 sented in these bodies, of which the Presbyte- 

 rians stood first, with 4,806 societies ; the Con- 

 gregationalists next, with 4,495 ; then the Bap- 

 tists, with 2,736 ; the Methodists, with 2,335 ; * the 

 Disciples of Christ, with 1,557 ; and other denom- 

 inations with smaller numbers. All the evan- 

 gelical denominations were showing increasing 

 friendliness to the societies, and the general 

 courts and various local assemblies of many 

 of them had formally approved of the organi- 

 zation. The largest number of societies in a 

 single State was in New York, 2,532 ; after which 

 followed Pennsylvania, with 1,829; Illinois, with 

 1,477; Ohio, with 1,363; Massachusetts, with 

 1,055 ; and Iowa, with 1,024. The greatest pro- 

 portionate increase in the number of societies 

 during the year had been made in Manitoba ; 

 the greatest absolute increase in Ontario. The 

 first organization of a junior society was made 

 in Tabor, Iowa, in 1884. There were now 2,574 

 of these bodies, of which 1,719 had been enrolled 

 during the past year. In other countries than 

 the United States there were : 1,377 societies in 

 Canada, 300 in England, 232 in Australia, 32 in 

 India, 20 in Turkey, 19 in Mexico, 12 in the 

 West Indies, 9 in Samoa, 9 in Africa, 9 in China, 

 6 in Japan, and others in Bermuda, Brazil, 

 Chili, Norway, Spain, and the Hawaiian Isl- 

 ands in all, 648 societies in foreign and mis- 

 sionary lands. The constitution of the organi- 

 zation had been translated, and was printed in 

 the German, Swedish, Norwegian, French, Da- 

 nish, Dutch, Spanish. Tamil, Chinese, and Japan- 

 ese languages. A tendency was remarked in the 

 societies to become active in the promotion of 

 missions. The Fulton pledge plan of giving 

 two cents per week individually was in extensive 

 operation ; and many members had signed a 

 pledge to give a proportionate part of their in- 

 come, not less than one tenth, to benevolent and 

 religious purposes. Many local unions of socie- 



* In addition to these the Methodist Protestants reported 

 422 societies. 



ties had been formed in the larger towns and 

 cities, and were doing practical work through 

 their missionary, executive, correspondence, look- 

 out, press, and visiting committees; as in Phila- 

 delphia, where 280 societies were thus united 

 and co-operating ; Chicago, 244 ; New York, 

 124 ; Cleveland, 96 ; Brooklyn, 95 ; St. Louis, 94 : 

 Minneapolis, 91 ; and Baltimore, 81. During the 

 year, 120,000 members of the societies had be- 

 come church members. The meetings of the 

 convention were continued through four days, 

 with discussions and conversations at the regu- 

 lar meetings and at overflow meetings of sub- 

 jects relating to religious life and work and the 

 welfare of the societies and their members. 

 President Merril E. Gates spoke on " The Secret 

 of Successful Endeavor"; President Francis E. 

 Clark, on the Christian Endeavor as " More than 

 a Society as a Providential Movement " ; the 

 Rev. Joseph Cook, on " Watchwords for the 

 Twentieth Century " ; the Rev. Dr. Russell H. 

 Conwell, on " The Christian Endeavor Society's 

 Place in Modern Religious Life " ; The Rev. Dr. 

 Josiah Strong, on " Christian Endeavor and 

 Home Missions " ; Mr. R. S. Murphy, on " Pro- 

 portionate Giving to God " ; the Rev. L. S. Bean, 

 on " Systematic Giving " ; the Rev. Dr. H. C. 

 Mabie,on "The Whole World for Christ"; Mr. 

 I. D. Sankey, on " The Advance of Christian En- 

 deavor in England " ; Mr. J. G. Woolley, on 

 " Temperance " ; the Rev. Dr. Barrows, of Chi- 

 cago, on " The Religious Possibilities of the 

 World's Fair " ; the Rev. S. P. Rose, on " Self or 

 Others ? ". Meetings were held for pastors, in be- 

 half of the junior societies, in behalf of the clos- 

 ing of the World's Fair on Sundays, and in the 

 interest of other special objects. A meeting to 

 consider the relation between the Christian En- 

 deavor and the Epworth League resulted in the 

 appointment of a committee of Methodist pas- 

 tors as a ' Christian Endeavor Advisory Board." 

 The platform of principles, carefully restated, 

 was adopted in accordance with the annual cus- 

 tom, not with any change of principles, but for 

 the sake of constantly repeating them, " that the 

 Christian world may understand the Christian 

 Endeavor movement." Among them is a reso- 

 lution asserting " strenuous loyalty to the local 

 church or denomination with which each society 

 is connected. . . . The Society of Christian 

 Endeavor is as loyal a denominational society as 

 any in existence, as well as a broad and frater- 

 nal interdenominational society." Another res- 

 olution reaffirms ' increasing confidence in the in- 

 terdenominational, spiritual fellowship, through 

 which we hope not for organic unity, but to ful- 

 fill our Lord's prayer, ' that they all may be 

 made one.' This fellowship already extends to 

 all evangelical denominations, and we should 

 greatly deplore any movement that would inter- 

 rupt or imperil it." 



CHURCH HISTORY, AMERICAN SOCI- 

 ETY OF. The fourth annual meeting of the 

 American Society of Church History was held in 

 Washington, D. C., beginning Dec. 29, 1891. The 

 secretary reported an enrollment of 132 active and 

 8 honorary members. The gain in membership 

 had been constant from the first, and the future 

 of the society was regarded as assured. An im- 

 portant enterprise had been started a year previ- 

 ously for preparing a series t>f denominational 



