_JlSi '•■■'■/ Willi In llllfj mm "■■1 SIB] I -sun #W Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from LYRASIS Members and Sloan Foundation http://www.archive.org/details/homemissionaryap77amer APRIL 50 Cents £l Year Entered at the Postoffice at New York, ; M. Y., as Second-class [Mail] Matter. PRESBYTERIAN HISTORICAL SOCIET CONTENTS FOR APRIL, 1903. FRIENDS WHO HAVE A THOUGHT Kingdom Building, Geo. R. Leavitt Not a Sect, J. K. McLean . Everlastingness of our Work, E. N. Packard On the Frontier Line, L. H. Hallock . The Bible and Nebraska Schools, H. C. Herring One Work, Geo. C. Adams . Statehood for Oklahoma, J. H. Parker City Church Extension, Edw. Lincoln Smith From the Life of a Worker, J. D. Kingsbury Congregationalism in Colorado, James B. Gregg Patriotism or Compassion, A. A. Berle The Sailor, Alexander McKenzie Religious Work at St. Louis Fair, Cornelius H. Patton EDITOR'S OUTLOOK The New Home Missionary — Departments — Is it Read ?— Nebraska Investments — To Contributors — To the Workers — A Utah Protest. INVESTMENTS IN NEBRASKA, Harmon Bross OUR COUNTRY'S YOUNG PEOPLE A Trumpet Call — Potency of Prayer— Important Reinforcement at Horn* — Open Mind- edness— Strike Now, by J. Willis Baer— Who Will Go: Who Should Go? by Washington Choate— Words of Cheer— Christian Vigor in Alaska — Notes by the Way— Paragraphs from New Articles and Books. ALONG THE BATTLE LINE .... The Right Sort of Appeal— A Decision Day — Among the Cattle Ranges — Reclaim- ing a Desert — Work Among the Children — Our Arctic Work — A Musical Sugges- tion—Nine Days' Wonder— Self-Support in Fifteen Years — Kindly Reminder to Eastern Pastors— Public Spirited— Good Returns — Ministry to the Sick — A Frontier Town — A Watchful Church — Ethics and Congregationalism. WOMAN'S PART ....... One Woman, Mrs H. S. Broad ...... The Motive That Prevails, Mrs. Washington Choate Rugs or Crazy-Quilts, Mrs. Lydia T. Bailey .... Love's Labor Not Lost, William P. Hardy OPEN PARLIAMENT Closer Supervision of the Weak Churches, Dan F. Bradley— A Tentative Proposi- tion, A. J. Bailey— Shall We Enter ?— The Call of Texas— A Suggestion. THE VIEW POINT OF OUR NEIGHBORS APPOINTMENTS AND RECEIPTS 1 2 3 3 4 4 5 6 6 7 8 9 10 12 23 29 34 34 34 35 36 37 39 4* Congregational Home Missionary Society Newell Dwight Hillis, D.D., President Joseph B. Clark, D.D. Washington Choate, D.D. Editorial Secretary Corresponding Secretary Don O. Shelton, Associate Secretary William B. Howland, Treasurer Executive Committee Edwin H. Baker, Chairman Charles L. Beckwith, Recording Secretary Joseph Wm. Rice Watson L. Phillips, D.D. Rev. William H. Holman George P. Stockwell Edward P. Lyon William H. Wanamaker Thomas C. MacMillan Frank L. Goodspeed, D.D. Edward N. Packard, D.D. Reuben A. Beard, D.D. N. McGee Waters, D.D. LEGACIES. — The following form may be osed in making legacies: I bequeath to my executors the sum of dollars, in trust, to pay over the same in months after my decease, to any person who, when the same is payable, shall act as Treasurer of the Congregational Home Missionary Society, formed in the City of New York, in the year eighteen hundred and twenty-six, to be applied to the charitable use and purposes of said Society, and under its direction. HONORARY LIFE MEMBERS.— The payment of Fifty Dollars at one time constitutes an Honorary Life Member. Edw. P. Ingersoll, D.D. Rev. John De Peu THE HOME MISSIONARY ADVERTISER You Need ThisBook If you intend to buy a piano. A book — not a catalogu e— that gives you all the inform- ation possess- ed by experts. It makes the selection of a piano easy. If read carefully, it will make you a judge of tone, action, workmanship, and finish; will tell you how to know good from bad. It describes the materials used; gives pictures of all the different parts, and tells now they Should be made and put together. It is the only book of its kind ever publish- ed. It contains 116 large pages and is named "The Book of Complete Information about Pianos,' to buy a piano. Write for it. A Wing style— 45 other styles to select from We send it free to any one wishing THE WING PIANO Save from $100 to $200, We make the WING PIANO and sell it our- selves. It goes direct from our factory to your home. We do not employ any agent J or salesmen. When you buy the WING PIANO you pay the actual cost of construction and our small wholesale profit. This profit is small because we sell thousand s of pianos yearly. Most retail stores sell no more than twelve to twenty pianos yearly, and must charge from $100 to $200 profit on each. They can't help it. C^nf r\*y TVSal We Pay Freight. No Money in Advance. We will send any OC1JI Ull 1 1 1<1I. WING PIANO to any part of the United States on trial. Wepay freight in advance and do not ask for any advance payment or deposit. If the piano is not satisfactory after twenty days' trial in your home, we take it back entirely at our expense. You pay us nothing unless you keep the piano. There is absolutely no risk or expense to you. Old instruments taken in exchange. P«ic»7 TVf rm-f I1K7 Davmpnic Instrumental Attachment. A special feature Ed&y ITlUIlLIliy fctyiltCHLfc. of the WING PIANO : It imitates perfectly the tones of the mandolin, guitar, harp, zither, and banjo. Music written for these instru- ments, with and without the piano accompaniment, can be played just as perfectly by a single player on a piano as though rendered by an entire orchestra. The original instru- mental attachment has been patented by us, and it cannot be had in any other piano, al. though there are several imitations of it. IN 35 YEARS OVER 33,000 PIANOS 'WIlNirj 01?nAM^ are just as carefully made as WING PIANOS. They have VVlliVJ V/l\.vJ/Al^l«»7 a sweet, powerful, lasting tone, easy action, very handsome appearance, need no tuning. Wing Organs are sold direct from the factory, sent on trial ; are sold on easy monthly papments. For catalogue and prices write to WING & SON,™™™*"*- «*-****-** THE HOME MISSIONARY ADVERTISER LE.AVENING THE NATION The Story of American Home Missions By Dr. J. B. CLARK Secretary of the Congregational Home Missionary Society Full I2mo, illustrated, net, $1.25. (Postage JO cents) For some time there has been felt among all church workers a need of a careful history of American home missionary work. Dr. J. B. Clark's book is carefully written with the assistance of the Secretaries of the Boards of other denominations and will make a standard history of home missionary work. THE STORY OF THE, CHURCHES The object of this series is to furnish brief histories of the several denominations written by the lead- ing historians of each sect. The books will average only about forty thousand words, and are calculated to interest the average church member, as well as the student of church history. The Baptists By HENRY C. VEDDER, D.D. Professor of Church History in Crozer Theological Seminary Small I2mo, with frontispiece, net, $1.00 (Postage 8 cents) Dr. Vedder is an authority on American Church History and a specialist in the history of the Baptists. The Presbyterians By CHARLES L, THOMPSON, D.D. Secretary of the Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church Small !2mo, zaith frontispiece, net, $1.00 (Postage 8 cents) No position in a denomination brings a man more closely in touch with the present work and history of a Church than the Secretaryship of the Board of Home Missions. God and Music By Rev. JOHN HARRINGTON EDWARDS I2mo, cloth, net, $1.25 (Postage 10 cents) A study of the relations between God and Music. Present=Day Evangelism By Dr. J. WILBUR CHAPMAN Secretary of the Evangelical Committee of the Presbyterian Church I2mo, cloth, net, 60 cents. (Postage 6 cents) A handbook on the basis of which the work in an individual church, or in a community, may be successfully organized. &he BAKER 4 TAYLOR CO., 33=37 East 17th St., N. Y. Hll THF HH FOUR-TRACK NEWS® AN ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE OF TRAVEL AND EDUCATION Published bjr ' Gt-'orgeH.Daniets.Cenera) Pafiscngpr Agent NEW YORK CENTRAL *r HUDSON RIVER R.R. Sold by newsdealers. Send five cents for a sample copy, or fifty cents for one year to George H. Daniels, General PassengerAgent, Grand Central Station, New York. Rudolph Lenz Printer 62-65 Bible House New York Everything for Office or Library Use BURNTON & CO. 86 Fourth Avenue NEW YORK 33482 THE HOME MISSIONARY vol. lxxvii APRIL, 1903 NO. 1 FRIENDS WHO HAVE A THOUGHT BREVITY— VARIETY— VIVACITY Kingdom Building IN coming to Wisconsin it has blessed me to have my concep- tion of Home Missions made definite. What do I mean? I will try to tell in a few words. 1. I have come to know the field. Tt has taken time and study as I had not realized; arc! travel and untiring attendance at meetings of the churches, and visits to mission stations, and reading of missionary literature, with a continual self reminder that the Mi- pire State of Wisconsin is only a f 1 ag- ment of the wide field. The founda- tion of interest in Home Missions is in knowing the field. Every minister should know the Home Mission field. I see it now. And every layman. Why not? 2. In some way I have had a vision of the field. Knowledge and vision are two things. Vision is a spiritual fact. It is a sight of the Kingdom of God, and the nature of our work as kingdom building. All our Gospel work is kingdom building. Home missions is kingdom building em- phasized. Cecil Rhodes was an em- pire builder, Marcus Whitman was a kingdom builder. The difference is infinite. Kingdom building is c . an- gelization. In Beloit we have just experienced a Gospel revival, the most remarkable, perhaps, in the history of the college and the city. I have realized anew the vital reality of revival, if you please, the old-fashioned revival. It has v'- passed. It never will pass with an evangelizinp" church the renewed sense of the immeasur- able value of a true revival, this thought has come to me : This which we have seen is of the essential nature of our Home Mission work ; its cur- rent history. It is kingdom building by evangelization. This is the reason why we have" in our Home Mission records a continuous history of re- vivals. In no part of the wide field THE HOME MISSIONARY is the Master's work done more truly in the Master's own spirit. 3. I see, as once I did not, the prim- acy of our Home Mission work. Yes! of Home Mission work. We are to go into all tl.e world ; sacrifice and serve in every land. We accept the com ' ;sion ; but there is no dis- tinction worth making between home work nd foreign work. Home work is foreign work. Nowhere is there more heroic Christlike service than in Home Mission fields. Because I have found this more definite view, I pray and give, and in every way interest myself for Home Missions as for years with all my interest I did not. May God forgive me. Am I mis- taken in the conviction, that if minis- ters and laymen, in any general way, might obtain this definite view ; that knows the field, and seeks and realizes a z'ision of the field, it would be per- fectly easy to raise a million dollars a year for Congregational Home Mis- sions ? BELOIT, WIS. Not a Sect Our Congregational polity is the solvent of sects. We are not in the ordinary sense of the term even a de- nomination, we are the common meet- ing ground of denominations. We are the goal, the moving stake, the home field for the denominations, the ground on which at last they shall stack their differences. We are the only ground upon which this can be possible. Grand and glorious as are the his- tory and achievements of our sister denominations ours has in it what none other has. Our polity is the only one under heaven, or which even heaven can produce, ample enough, free enough, and fit enough to fur- nish a common ground for all the de- nominations. When all worshipping souls! of men are confederate in local churches, which shall be left free each one to choose its own articles of belief subject only to Christ, free to follow each its own preferred forms of wor- ship and ministration, meanwhile lov- ingly and freely yield like freedom to all other worshipping bodies near and far, yet with bonds of fellowship and co-operation drawn tight, close, strong and Christlike, what will be lacking for an ecclesiastical millenni- um? And how close upon its heels must tread the millennium universal ! Home missions ought, therefore, to mean to us gloriously more than to our brethren of any other communion. They mean to us all they mean to others — souls saved to Christ, beacon lights of hope and help set up on the dark highways of men's sins and sor- rows. But with us these things mean even more. Everv new church of the Pilgrim type means a new way mark on the trail of the millennium : a new potency for the day when, eccle- siastically speaking, there shall be nei- ther Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free; but where Christ is all and in all. BERKELEY, CAL. The Everlastingness of Our Work Everybody knows the story of the man who sat a long while by the bank of a river without moving and ex- plained that he was waiting for the river to run by. Some people and some churches seem to be in the same mood as to our missionary work. They are waiting for the day to come when these endless calls for sympathy, prayers and money will let up; when the black brother will have his rights, and his school and church, the Indian have amalgamated or died out, the THE HOME MISSIONARY "West" will have become filled up and strong enough to take care of it- self, and Ethiopia cease to stretch out her hands unto> God and America. But that will never be. The river will never get by. Our Lord has laid down the programme which will see no change. "This gospel of the king- dom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations and then shall the end come." Everlasting gospel, everlastingly preached until the world shall have really heard and had the fair opportunity to respond. Then cometh the end of the dispensa- tion. And the argument from the facts is plain. What we call the "West" will be filling up for a cen- tury and its demands will be without intermission. Meanwhile conditions will be constantly changing in the older part of the country through the growth of the cities and the decay of the villages and the incursion of the foreigner. Massachusetts has as much Home Missionary work to-day as it had a half century ago and it will be the same a half century hence. The little church, East or West, will be helped to its feet, clothed and fed for a while, then go alone and help others, then grow feeble and need the hand stretched out again. Across the sea, in our own posses- sions or elsewhere, it is just the same. The everlasting gospel must be ever- lastingly preached, translated, exhib- ited in consecrated lives, till the end comes. The day when it would be wise or safe for the foreign mission- ary to abandon the churches and the work in Africa or India or China to the care of the native Christians has not begun to dawn as yet. Our first duty, then, is to accept the tremendous fact and not faint nor fail nor become discouraged. We must not grow impatient and demand new things just to arouse a transient interest and lift us over a hard spot. What is there new in our work? Nothing! What is there new in rais- ing children? Nothing! And yet the grace and Providence of God are always new, like an April morn- ing with the returning birds. Deep- en the springs of spiritual life. Broaden the view of the king- dom of God. Get nearer to Him who called the world his field and whoi said that the laborers were few, the day short and the reward great. Hear Him saying: "Till the End!" SYRACUSE, N On the Frontier Line There is always a frontier to Ameri- can civilization. Always the need of heroism on the frontier line. Stories of early days in New England, their privations, hardships and self-denials, are full of romance and arouse the thrill of ancestral pride if one of the Pilgrim settlers was a begetter of our family in some past generation. But while the glamour is greater, the hero- ism was no more then and there than here and now in this Western world of wide horizons and broad prairies. From this height of privilege in favored Minneapolis, I lift my pen to plead for the stalwart men and no- ble women who are ministering to those who fell forests and work mines, living in C3 ps and roughing it in- sistently through storm and stress, to carve a Christian future from these rich and rolling acres. I have this moment in hand a letter from a man in Northern Minnesota, who walked 17 miles on railroad ties to hold meetings at a lumber camp, with Bible and hymn-book stra t ,jed upon his back, and there between two rows of bunks, with not a single piece of furniture save a box stove, a pile of wood and a grindstone, preached the sweet Gospel to hearts that warmed toward the Master and his messenger, even at 40 below zero in the Minneso- ta woods. A twelve-mile walk the next day to attend a funeral — and thus the missionary self-denial is worthy of a Paul or an Eliot or a Paton. Self-denial is not confined to past THE HOME MISSIONARY ages, or foreign fields. Heroes still live in America, and still "endure hardness as good soldiers of the cr< iss." And when the seat of Empire shall be located without dispute in this Mis- sissippi Valley, when an unrivalled Christian civilization shall have been enthroned in these "Seats of the Mighty," not a little of the deserved honor will be due to these hardy home missionaries who are quite as brave and enduring as the fortune seekers whom they toil to save. All honor to the Gospel pioneer on the fighting line .of our Home Missionary out- posts ! MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. The Bible and Nebraska Schools The Supreme Court of Nebraska has recently been wrestling with the question of the Bible in our public schools. The facts in the case are briefly these : In a certain district of the State an infidel had long been pro- testing against the reading of the Bible in the school attended by his children. The matter finally reached the court of last resort, and a decision was ren- dered which seemed to say that any reading of the Bible in the schools is a sectarian act, and, therefore, in violation of the letter and spirit of the laws under which the public school system exists. Lovers of the Bible secured a re-hearing, and a new opin- ion (not written by the same judge, it may be remarked), explained that the former decision only intended to say that if the Bible is read under such circumstances or in such way as to favor the special views of any re- ligious sect, its reading is not permis- sible. Whether it is thus read must in each case be left to the judgment of the school board, subject, of course, to judicial review. This leaves the matter about where it always has been, and indeed, where it alwavs oue;ht to be. No argument is needed to prove that a system of schools sup- ported by general taxation, must not be used to propagate the views of any religious sect large or small. On the other hand, it ought not to require argument to prove the right and duty of a State to choose between religion and irreligion and to admit to its schools what it deems the greatest text book on religion, using it along the broadest lines, in order that as few as possible may feel aggrieved and as many .is possible receive benefit. If this ideal is to be carried out in a positive and constructive way it must be through the growth, the earnest- ness, the wisdom of our Protestant churches. For in the last resort the question will always be settled by public opinion, local and general. To create and maintain such opinion of the right and wholesome type is one missionarv work. OMAHA, NEB. One Work We are a long way from head- quarters, but the emphasis on the one- ness of the work is great ;~ the prob- lems here are almost the same as they were in Missouri, the only difference being of greater ability to handle them ourselves. We sometimes think we have started on a new line, or found a new topic, and just as we have gotten interested in it we find it is just what our brethren in the East are discussing, and their thought and ours are the same. Steam and electricity have made it easier to have one coun- try now than it was to have one state fifty years ago. These agencies, with the improved work of the press, have made a more homogeneous popula- tion in the nation now than was found in some States half a century ago. The fear is groundless that because the world is pouring its children of all races into every part of this land, there must be danger of division. THE HOME MISSIONARY There is no chance for such distinc- tions as Norman and Saxon kept up in old England ; no class can perma- nently keep aloof from every other class in America. Even the effort to make a favored class fails, because they who talk and write fine theories on these subjects are childless, or nearly so, while the great laboring class still have large families, who get the benefit of the common schools, and grow up American. So our missionary work in every part takes on much the same type, varied only by differences in climate, or kinds of labor, or the fact that those we deal with have not yet become as thorough- ly incorporated in the national life as they soon will be. The same Gos- pel, preached to all these differing kinds of people, is the greatest agency in making them one. SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. Statehood for Oklahoma May I say a few words on this sub- ject which is commanding the atten- tion of the nation ? I know nothing of the fitness of Arizona and New Mexi- co for statehood at the present time, only as I read, therefore present no argument for the Omnibus Bill, but I do know Oklahoma. Am an '8o,er, having lived here over thirteen years. Allow me to state in the fewest num- ber of words possible the reasons why Oklahoma should be granted state- hood now. i st. The people of Oklahoma want statehood. Some want Oklahoma a State by herself, of which number I am one. Some would have Indian Territory annexed, nation by nation, as the tribal relations of the Indians are adjusted and property becomes taxable, and both become one State. Others would have both Territories admitted now as one State. All want statehood in some form or other. 2nd. Our population of over a half- million give us a right to statehood. 3rd. The homogeneousness of our population emphasizes the demand for statehood. Over ninety per cent, are American born. 4th. The character of the inhabi- tants commends Oklahoma for state- hood. In general intelligence and moral calibre Oklahoma will grade ahead of any southwestern State and shoulder to shoulder with Kansas. 5th. In material growth and pros- pect no portion of our country excels her. More railroad building was done in Oklahoma during 1902 than in any State, and promises to be as much this year. Every village and , city is growing, and new ones are be- ing started. Manufactories are multi- plying. Cereals, vegetables, fruit and cotton are bringing their* millions into our coffers. 6th. Our educational and religious institutions should be an unanswerable argument for Oklahoma's witnesses for statehood. A University, an Agri- cultural College, two Normal Schools, well housed and well equipped, with Christian men at the head of all, good high schools in our larger ' ; es, and an excellent common school system tell the story of the public interest in education. Our Congregational Col- lege, the pioneer, and two academies, a Baptist College in its first year, a Methodist University under North and South Church in process of erection, Presbyterian and Quaker academies speak the beginning of an essential Christian education. These schools with over a thousand church organi- zations, many of them housed, ought to be an irresistible plea for Christian statesmen for our admission into the sisterhood of States. Our grand old Home Missionary Society, with those of the other branches of Christ's Church, has had a shaping hand in this preparatory civic work which only eternity can reveal. A State without schools and churches has no place in our Union. KINGFISHER, OKLA. THE HOME MISSIONARY City Church Extension The greatest of all our missionary problems to-day is the problem of City Evangelization. More of our people are constantly found in cities. The cities are our financial centers, our political strongholds and our hot- beds of crime. The people, men, women and children, are here. To establish the personal, home, corporate and municipal life of these throngs upon the Christ foundation is the problem of the hour. Unless Christ be put in control and Christian principles dominate the thought and activity in these great and growing centers, woe betide us. The problem in the cities of any single State is too great for one su- perintendent. The task is to shift the responsibility upon each city for the evangelization of its own people, arous- ing interest, perfecting organizations and securing support for a work which shall not only accomplish what is needed within the municipality but also bring that work into co-operation with the work of the nation. In every city, the down town church is needed but a large central church in the heart of a city, and nothing else, all the forces of the denomination central- ized in the building up of a single in- stitution, is a grave mistake. It is fatal to the Christian nurture demand- ed by the times. The problem which is thrust upon us by non-religious homes and non-religious public schools will never be met through the centraliza- tion policy. The colonization idea is the correct one. Churches should be organized in neighborhoods that are populous and not supplied with such privileges, so that a Sunday-school, attractive and well equipped and scientifically man- aged, may be within walking distance of every home. The large central church means large expense for street- car fares, much time wasted in Sun- day travel, the disintegration, or rather, the non-formation of the neighborhood spirit. It means, also, many children who will never reach the denomination center left entirely out of touch with religious influences. The churches of a denomination in a growing city, or, if they are too few, then those of the county should or- ganize themselves into a Church Ex- tension Society, supporting without missionary aid their own superintend- ent, or scout, who would co-operate with the National Home Missionary officers, but be responsible to the local churches, and whose work would be one of the strongest ties binding those churches together 'and the means of cultivating a strong loyalty to the de- nomination and to the Kingdom. Along such work of planting and de- veloping Sunday-schools and churches to strong, independent life and vigor- ous influence in the city community, the most thoroughly trained men from our universities and seminaries may find the place of largest influence in the country to-day. SEATTLE, WASHINGTON From the Life of a Worker I am just returned from a north- ward trip, and am now off again. I had to house up three days for repairs. Up in that country houses have no plaster, no under pinning, no cellar. They are built of wood and paper. The house is a wood tent. Water freezes in your room. Often fifteen below zero. You get plenty of bed cover, but the cold comes up. It is a nice problem to keep warm. Well, take a flannel night shirt, over it a flannel wrapper. Then take your steamer rug, wind it about you, then put on your crochet slippers with lamb's wool soles, draw your night cap over your head, and lie down to pleasant dreams, with the coat of four- teen coyottes spread over you as an added comfort. We had our dedication at Council, a terminal city, the present gateway of "Seven Devils." Large congrega- THE HOME MISSIONARY tions, three preaching services and communion. Ours the only church. It would have done you good. More good things are in store. I was at Huntington last week. Am to be there next Sabbath. Do you finally realize that these two points are gateways to an opening realm in Eastern Oregon? At Malheur City, in the mountains, there is no church. Mining camp. Stamp mills going in. Population ready to fill up all the gulches. Satan with singing girls and bowls of punch there already. Never fear about Sa- tan. He will have the work all ready for us. Twenty people have signified that they want a church. It will be Congregational. This is a sample. Eastern Oregon is alive with the picks of prospectors, the dumps of ore, the falling stamps and the output of gold. I am organ- izing for work. We must have $2,- 000 for that Eastern Oregon field. I shall tell you more. There is a future history. There is to be enlarged Con- gregationalism there. A church has probably already been organized at Summit in Buffalo Hump. We shall fill the mountains. We shall unite the Seven Devils in the South with Coeur d'Alenes in the North as the churches increase. SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH The Opportunity of Congrega- tionalism in Colorado There are many reasons why Colo- rado ought to be a strongly Congre- gational State, the Massachusetts of the vast country west of the Missis- sippi. Apart from the Mexicans in the southern part of the State, the foreign population is very small. The enthusiasm for education is ardent. Colorado spends more money on her public schools per capita than any other State in the Union except Massachusetts. The electric atmos- phere of these high altitudes makes still more alert and active-minded, men and women already intelligent, open-hearted, enterprising in temper, to (whom the untrammelled and pro- gressive spirit of the Congregational Church is peculiarly congenial. Colo- rado College, with its high standards of culture, its influential president, its strong corps of professors, its large student-body and its general attract- iveness, makes powerfully for Con- gregational interests in the Common- wealth. Let me bear witness to what I have myself seen of the way in which the Home Missionary Society has strengthened and extended Congrega- tionalism in Colorado since I began my ministry in Colorado Springs twenty-one years ago. January 1st, 1882, there were twenty-seven churches in the State. January 1st, 1903, there were eighty-eight. The total Congregational membership has increased from 1,081 to 7,599, more than sevenfold, twice as fast ' as the population. The Sabbath School membership from 2,265 to 9,585, over fourfold. The home expenditures have a little more than doubled ; the benevolent contributions, (observe this item, for it is significant) have in- creased from $1,755 to $12,582 more than sevenfold. The largest increase has been in benevolences. Only four churches receiving aid from the Home Missionary Society in 1882 are re- ceiving aid from it to-day — Leadville, Coal Creek, Trinidad and Buena Vista. All four of these are mining towns, two, coal, the other two gold and silver. A little over one-third of our churches have not yet come to self-support. That churches aided by the Society sometimes give back to its treasury far more than they receive may be il- lustrated from the history of the First Church of Colorado Springs. This church was aided for four years to the total of $1,650. In the twenty- five years since, it has contributed to 8 THE HOME MISSIONARY home missions upwards of $7,300, or much more than fourfold what it had received from that Society, while its total henevolences in that period amounted to over $31,000. I draw this illustration from my own church, because the figures are more fully at my command ; but there are other churches in the State which are splendid illustrations of the wise investment of home missionary money, notably Plymouth Church in Denver, which in the twelve years of Dr. Bayley's pastorate has assumed self-support, become able to pay its minister a salary of $4,000, and has in- creased its membership from about sixty to about six hundred, the largest of our denomination in the State. Colorado College, when I came to Colo- rado Springs, had sixty-eight students and one building ; now it has nearly six hundred students and eleven buildings and is one of the foremost colleges in the West. Congregation- alism is a powerful force in Colorado to-day, but it could be made a far more powerful force if our scanty appropri- ation of $12,000 from the Society could be increased to $24,000. At the meeting of our State Committee in February, we recommended appro- priations for thirty-three churches ; but our superintendent put before us a list of forty-four other places where new work ought to be started. Colo- rado is an empire, territorially a good deal larger than England, Scotland and Wales. To go by rail from our church at Julesburg in the northeast corner of the State to our church in Cortez in the southwest corner in- volves a journey longer than from Boston, Mass., to Cleveland, Ohio. It is a State of immense resources, nine- tenths of which have still to be de- veloped. For the most part it is still a frontier State. This State is worth Congregationalizing, but it will need generous help from the East for years yet to do it. Ultimately, as I have shown above, Colorado will abundant- ly repay all the home missionary monev that is invested within her bor- ders. Our Home Mission fields pay better dividends than our mines. Of this I am sure, that, if wealthy Con- gregationalists in the East would put as much money into our Home Mis- sionary churches as they sink in our mines they would get larger returns for their money. Therefore, brethren, open your purses to Colorado's needs ! But remember that "he who gives quickly, gives twice." The more gen- erously the State is helped now, the sooner it will come to self-support and "To this our longing soul aspires With ardent hope and strong desires." COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO Patriotism or Compassion So much has been written about the patriotic aspect of home missionary enterprise that it seems worth while to call to mind that the patriotic mo- tive, worthy as it is, and impelling to great and wonderful sacrifices for the uplifting and evangelization of the home land, is not the ultimate nor even the abiding motive in home mission work. There is probably no land in Christendom, where such a motive as the patriotic one has so secure a foun- dation in the religious life and exter- nal history of the nation as among us. Yet even with us it is not and cannot be the ultimate nor the most powerful one. In the first number of the Nciv Home Missionary it is speedily need- ful that this should be brought clearly before the mind. The motive which moved Christ was that he saw the multitude as sheep without a shepherd and was on this account moved with compassion for them. And this constitutes the great appeal, that the mighty multitudes in this land are without the shepherding of Christ — without the hope and the inspiration, without the comfort and the sustaining strength, with none of the sweet and gracious consolations THE HOME MISSIONARY and utterly without the mighty assur- ances with which the Gospel of Christ abounds. We shall make good citi- zens of this land when we make disci- ples of Jesus Christ, and it is becom- ing more and more true that citizen- ship is a citzenship in humanity rather than in any land, however favored or wonderful in its genius, institutions or resources. We must seek to make disciples of Christ in fact, in spirit, in habits, in devotion and attention to the life and the love which the spirit of Jesus imparts. The Home Missionary Society is not in the first instance a patriotic institution. It is first and foremost an instrument for telling the good tidings of the Gospel. It is a means for shepherding the multitudes that wander about shepherdless. All that comes to the land in the course of its labors in patriotic devotion and ' sincere and honest service, comes as the result of this, the first and prior aim. The Home Missionary Society is a religious organization and its great ends to be secured are religious ends. Its methods are religious methods and its governing motives and controlling enthusiasms must be religious. Let us never forget this. Let us never lower the standard of the Gospel to any merely national height, not even if that national height be American. Commodore Phillip used to boast that the only flag which surmounted at the mast-head the Union Jack was the prayer signal of the Gospel of Christ. Let us not reverse this order in our thought, our hope or our en- thusiasm. Christ for America is a better rallying cry than America for Christ. The one lies in thought-link- age with the universal rule and the ul- timate triumph of Christ in the whole world as Saviour and Lord ; the other sounds too much of an annexed prov- ince to the dominion of a temporal sovereign. The ultimate motive is the compas- sionate love of Jesus Christ for shep- herdless souls, the saving of those who cannot save themselves, the finding of the lost, the upholding of the weak, the restoration of the erring. The gaze of Christ is fixed on the souls of men rather than on their relations of citizenship, education or social form. It is Love alone that never faileth. Whether there be patriotism or educa- tion or social regeneration or better housing, or whatever else, these shall pass away. But Love never faileth and the love for the souls of America's millions will cause all hearts to hasten to bring Christ to them as Shepherd and Lord. JJH^. CHICAGO, ILLINOIS The Sailor It is a pleasant surprise to have a large Congregational Society take any notice of the sailor. We have indeed one denominational society which is entirely devoted to his interests, but only a scanty recognition can be ob- tained for it ; in the publications of the denomination it is ignored. It is not even counted by those who< make up the list of our societies. When a protest against this neglect is occa- sionally made, the only answer is that the Sailors' Society is not "National." Now a national society is one whose work is through the nation, which would rule out the American Board, or it is one through which churches of the nation work, and that describes, or should describe, the Sailors' So- ciety, whose seat is naturally on the seaboard. If the churches of the country do not work through this agency they have no Congregational Society for sailors, and one should be organized immediately, for all the land depends upon the sailor, and should be mindful of him. Civilization is largely dependent upon him. For- eign missions would be difficult with- out his aid. Indeed, more than any other he is the indispensable man. He is a man ; with the powers and needs of a man. His peculiarity is that his work is upon the sea where IO THE HOME MISSIONARY he is cut off from home and church and school and nearly all we value. So far as possible, he should be fur- nished with that which will min- ister to his comfort and safety. He is at times in port, and al- most always in a foreign port. I [e should have friends wherever he goes and a home; should have coun- sel and protection ; should have the hand and word of Christian men and women. He is more than willing to be received as a man. The Congre- gational Society for Seamen, the only one we have save a few that are local, is ready to do a national work for these men of all nations who are most likely to be found where there are ships. Under what form of mission- ary activity this should be classed it is not easy to say, for it is both Home and Foreign — it is Christian and Na- tional. The man whom it helps goes over the world as the witness of Chris- tianity. ^Cuf. ,<A^/ CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS Religious Work at the St. Louis World's Fair The scope of the World's Fair, to be held in the city of St. Louis in 1904, celebrating the centennial of the Louisiana Purchase, is hardly real- ized by the country at large. With a larger site than the one available for the Columbian Exposition at Chica- go, a larger fund of money, a larger horizon of national life, a larger par- ticipation on the part of foreign na- tions, and a larger experience based upon the Chicago fair, there is every reason to expect that the St. Louis Exposition will be the greatest of_its kind in the history of the world. It is being projected on the mo'st magnificent scale, covering every de- partment of human endeavor and in- terest. It is thought that the readers of "The Home Missionary" will be in- terested in knowing something of plan of the churches for religious work in connection with this great national event. In the first place, it is absolutely settled that the gates of the exposition are to be closed on the Sabbath. For the credit of the directors of the ex- position, and the members of the Na- tional Commission, it should be said that it never has been the intention to have the Fair open on the Sabbath. Certain organizations have given out through the press the impression that this recognition of the Sab- bath has been gained only af- ter a bitter struggle, in which the St. Louis directors were arraigned against the forces of religion. I am in a position to state that such is not the case. The closing of the exposi- tion on the Sabbath, however, serves to emphasize the fact that all sorts of. gambling and immoral exhibitions and questionable allurements will be wide open in the section of the city adjoin- ing the Fair, while the saloons, thea- tres and dives in the heart of the city will expect to do a flourishing busi- ness. Already our city has become the mecca of sundry agents of the devil, and unless the churches can combine for an effective religious campaign, and for the safe-guarding of the morals of the young men and women who will come here by hun- dreds of thousands from the farms of the Southwest, and from our villages and all over the country, the prob- ability is that more harm than good will be done by the exposition. The churches are thoroughly aroused to the gravity of the situation, and the greatness of their opportunity. Each denomination is planning to bring its strongest preachers to St. Louis dur- ing the World's Fair period, so< that our pulpits will be manned not only by an effective pastorate, but by dis- tinguished divines from other parts of the land. But more important than this is the union movement of the churches represented in the Evangeli- cal Alliance for the carrying on of a general campaign during the entire six months of the exposition. At a luncheon held recently In' the leading <THE HOME MISSIONARY ii pastors and laymen of the various de- nominations, Rev. Campbell Morgan, D.D., was present and received the unanimous invitation of the confer- ence to take full charge of the relig- ious campaign contemplated. Dr. Morgan was deeply impressed by the enthusiasm and the religious earnest- ness of the gathering, and while he has not formally given his answer, it is understood that his mind is made up to accept. He is to attend a larger conference early in April for the pur- pose of giving formal answer to the invitation ; and, it is understood, in order to outline his plan of campaign. He has already suggested three con- ditions under which he may accept the call of the churches of St. Louis. i. There must be in hand before the Fair a sum of money not less than $50,000. 2. All evangelical churches must heartily unite in the movement under his leadership. 3. He must have an absolutely free hand in inviting whomsoever he pleases to assist him in the work. All of these conditions have been accepted by the churches in a large mass meeting held shortly after Dr. Morgan's departure. The Finance Committee is already at work seek- ing to raise the necessary fund. While it is impossible to speak of any plan in detail, it may be proper to mention that Dr. Morgan hopes :o establish one central place for serv- ices, possibly in a temporary audi- torium erected for the purpose, or in our large music hall, where preach- ing will be conducted every evening" for six months. For this work he hopes to obtain the assistance of the great English evangelist, Gipsy Smith, in whom he has unbounded confidence. Branch services will probably be con- ducted in various parts of the city in great tents or halls convenient for the purpose. The exact scope and method of the campaign can only be developed un- der Dr. Morgan's personal superin- tendence. He will probably come to the city three months before the Fair and preach in every church connected with the campaign. We all believe him to be a leader strong in every quality needed at this juncture. When the proper time comes the Congrega- tionalists of St. Louis will endeavor to notify every Congregational church in the country of the religious serv- ices to be conducted here during the Fair and of the special opportunities in connection with our own organiza- tions. ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI ^T^HE value of this department wilt, be apparent to every careful reader. The Editor desires to main- tain it at the level indicated, and to make it even better if possible. Contributions are solicited from pastors and laymen, from church leaders and missionary superintendents, and from young men interested in the Christian civilization of America. Brevity is essential ; variety will be sought in the distribution of themes ; and vivacity is always in order. Contributions will be gratefully accepted, and will be used so far as they are pertinent to- the aims of the magazine. EDITOR'S OUTLOOK FRANK— URGENT The New Home Missionary IN the judgment of wise and ardent friends of the Society, the time has come when its organ of communication should be made a worthier expression of its aim and work. Missionary annals are impor- tant. The churches demand and have a right to know what is being done in return for the money and prayers invested. But missionary annals are not the whole of Home Missions to- day. The Home Missionary horizon has marvelously expanded since 1826, until there is scarcely a problem of re- ligious progress engaging the thought of intelligent Americans, that has not its home missionary aspect. Church planting, which is the direct function of the Society, has' come to include every moral and social question for which churches stand, every civic and national interest in which Christian people have a stake. Christian Edu- cation, Temperance, Law, Order, Moral Living and enlightened Patriot- ism are to-day home missionary prob- lems. This truth was not so apparent seventy-five years ago as it has now become. Time has clearly proved that the spring of American civilization is the Church of Christ, and the Society that plants churches, enters into the life of the people in a way that no other organization, whether social, political, or economic, can ever enter. It is this larger aspect of the work that calls for a new emphasis and demands a stronger expression in the monthly issues of the Society. It is possible that a new name may be required to give it voice, but certainly a new ban- ner and battle cry are the need of the hour, and what can be more inclusive and illuminating than "Christian Civilization for Our Country." Departments In seeking to strike this higher note, there must be room for all, and the table set before our friends in this number is surely long enough to ac- commodate all. If not it shall be lengthened. Our "Friends who have a Thought" will find here an invitation to every bright man in the country who has a helpful idea to give it brief and pointed expression. "Brevity, Variety, Vivacity" must be the motto of such a department ; especially brevity, for the average man will read ten pages of brief, crisp articles who could not be persuaded to read one article of ten pages. You know how this is : when you want readers or hearers you come to the point quick and stop. The "Open Parliament" is free to all for the discussion of questions and methods germane to home missionary progress and should be of peculiar value to those who have been put in trust by the churches of their mission- ary work. "Fair and Friendly" should be the spirit of such a department. The "Editor's Outlook" will seek to gather up and give voice to the salient THE HOME MISSIONARY ij points of the work as they develop from month to month. Thirty days never pass that do not require some cry from the watchman you have set upon the wall. "Frank and Urgent" should be the editorial motto. "Wo- man's Part" will appear to hundreds of patriotic women East and West who have success to record, sug- gestion to utter, motive to en- force, or question to discuss. "The Young People's Movement" is a new but rapidly opening interest into which Associate Secretary Shelton will throw the enthusiasm which has always distinguished his labors for the youth of the land. ^'Along the Battle-Line" is a call to every home missionary pastor to contribute th'e best he has for informing, enlightening and inspiring the churches with the story of his work. Thus laboring together, a message may go forth from these rooms every month in the year to command the attention and reward the interest of our Congregational Churches. Its success will depend upon the hearty and continuous co- operation of many friends. We have such friends. Their good will has been often proved. Here is a splendid opportunity for proving it once more, and in ways that should be fruitful of great advantage to the cause that we cherish and to the country we love. Is It Read? The question is often asked. Doubt- less in these days of plethora when printing presses fairly ooze with at- tractive monthlies, a certain fraction of our missionary publications is ne- glected and left unread. This is in- evitable, but it is not so widely true as some have supposed. When by any accident our magazine is belated in its monthly appearance many inquiries from disappointed friends testify to their interest in receiving it. When venturing, as we sometimes do, to make known the special needs of some church or missionary, the re- sponses from many quarters often ex- ceed the demand and compel us to check the supply. More significant still, again and again in the Society's history we have been gladdened by generous gifts or bequests from friends whose very names were unfamiliar. The only clue to their interest is found on the mailing list of the magazine, where their names have stood for ten, twenty or thirty years. In the light of these experiences our faith in the value of the Home Missionary has naturally grown. We believe that its cost has been covered many times by the gifts of its readers and what has been thus true in the past, will, we believe, be more signally true in the future, with a more worthy magazine and a wider circle of readers. Nebraska Investments Nebraska holds the place of honor in this number with an illustrated article. Dr. Harmon Bross, the writ- er, has been in continuous service of the Society as General Missionary and Superintendent since 1884. The length of this service is the clearest possible testimony as to its value and the sagacity with which it has been rendered. The office of missionary superintendent is one that demands continual exercise of fine tact and Christian common sense. During all these years Dr. Bross has enjoyed the full confidence of the churches of Ne- braska, as well as that of the officers of the Society. Missionary interests of the State have been developed with wisdom guided by caution, and few missionary fields have a better record of progress to show. Christian edu- cation has also been kept well to the front, and one cheering proof of this interest is seen in the fact that for some years the State of Nebraska shows the lowest percentage of illiter- acy of any Commonwealth of the Union. H THE HOME MISSIONARY To Contributors There are in all our churches bright men and women who think much and have much to say about home mission- ary problems, both direct and related. They often say it to themselves and in small circles of friends, and they often wonder that their thoughts have so little currency. Only wings are want- ing. Send that thought to the Home Missionary. It will then fly abroad and find its way into twenty thousand homes and quicken twenty thousand readers. Thought will beget thought. Sympathy will follow, and sympathy means united, aggressive action. Your good thought is a good seed, of no use while hidden in the garner, but of mighty power when hidden in the ground. To the Workers Not every quarterly report is mat- ter for publication, though of value to the secretary and the committee as a matter of business. But in every field there are incidents, experiences, re- sults, throwing much light on the meaning and value of home missions and of absorbing interest to intelli- gent readers of this magazine. Pas- tors need them for illustration. Givers need them for the quickening of interest. Doubters need them for the cure of unbelief. Children and youth need them for their educating power. Think on these things, fel- low workers at the front. You are on the battle-line. Every month you see and come to know things that would stir the hearts of your friends and supporters. Give your experience a shape worthy of publication and be sure they will not return to you void of fruit. A Utah Protest We are in receipt of the able pro- test of citizens of Utah "against the admission to the United States Sen- ate of Reed Smoot, apostle of the Mormon Church." The document is temperate in its tone, strong in testi- mony and argument, and satisfying to the reason of thoughtful American Christians. Disclaiming all malice to Mr. Smoot and the people he seeks to represent, waging no war against his religious belief as such, or denying him unquestioned freedom of thought and action within the law ; seeking to deprive him of no natural or political right he is fitted to exercise, the au- thors of this protest do solemnly deny to him the right either natural or po- litical to the high position of Senator of the United States, wherein "to \Vage war upon the home, the basic institution upon whose purity and per- petuity rests the very government itself." Their protest is based upon the ground that Mr. Smoot is one of a self perpetuating body of fifteen men, the ruling authorities of the Mor- mon Church, claiming divine right to control the conduct of those under them in all matters civic and religious, temporal and spiritual, and who "do so exercise the same as to inculcate and encourage a belief in polygamy and polygamous co-habitation." The document culimates in these vigorous words : "We submit that however formal and regular may be Apostle Smoot's credentials or his qualifications by way of citizenship, whatever his protestations of patriot- ism and loyalty, it is clear that the ob- ligations of any official oath which he may subscribe are, and of necessity must be, as threads of tow compared with the covenants which bind his in- terest, his will and affections, and which hold him forever in accord with and subject to the will of a defiant and law breaking apostolate." Among the nineteen signers of the document we are pleased to see the name of Dr. Clarence T. Brown, pas- tor of the First Church, Salt Lake City, and recently acting Superin- tendent of this Society in Utah. Here is more than a mere political issue, and every friend of his country has a large interest in its proper settlement. H. C. HERRING, D.D. HARMON BROSS, D.D. ESTERN in- vest m e nts have for many years supplied the most pop- ular and at- tractive open- ings for east- ern capital. And where eastern money has gone, the affection of the east has followed. In the very heart of the nation and at its territorial center lies the magnifi- cent State of Nebraska. For more than fifty years it has both furnished the typical home missionary plea and has been pointed out as one of the best products of home missionary endeavor. The present Congregational plant in Nebraska is all the result of home missionary investment. The 210 churches with 15,000 members, church property to the value of about $800,- 000; our Sunday Schools and En- deavor Societies, our Doane College, with its splendid history, and our four academies so happily placed for fu- ture usefulness, are part of the capi- tal and interest alike. If there are two or three of these churches that have not received home missionary grants, they are yet in a true sense the outgrowth of home missionary effort. In crossing the Missouri River to continue in this commonwealth the work so well begun in Iowa, the So- ciety chose a good region in which to make its early investments. Abiding results in church work are found in agricultural regions. If the wealth of a territory is in great forests, these will disappear; if in mines, they will be exhausted ; but a commonwealth which holds a vast area of rich, deep prairie soil in the corn belt, has the i6 THE HOME MISSIONARY basis of great and permanent pros- perity. This promise of material growth and prosperity which the early settler found here fifty years ago has been more than fulfilled. The com- monwealth whose fields yield 250,- 000,000 bushels of corn and 30.000,- 000 bushels of wheat in a single year with live stock interests netting $150,000,000; with wide fields of al- falfa and sugar beets, has the re- sources on which to subsist a dense population. Col. J. R. Buchanan, General Pas- senger Agent of the Elkhorn Road, in his address, January 21, 1903, be- fore the State Board of Agriculture, says of the enterprising population of the state : "We have created over 122,000 farms, covering over 30,000,- 000 acres, and have nearly 20,000,- 000 remaining for grazing and hay." Specifying the products of these lands for the year 1902, and summing up the total, he says: "I feel warranted in saying that it is actually $300,- coo.ooo or over. The three sugar beet plants of the state have a total capacity of 25,000,000 pounds per an- num, and the fruit and dairy interests have assumed large proportions." Commencing work in Nebraska less than fifty years ago, our people could easily see also that they were in the line of the larg- est development of Congregational in- terests. Iowa Congregationalists have spoken of Iowa for years as the Mas- sachusetts of the West. Nebraska lay next. Nebraska Congregationalism was happy also in having for its founders two such men as Rev. Reuben Gay- lord and Rev. Isaac E. Heaton. Both of these men had splendid training ifor the important work they were called to do. The former had for his bovhood pastor the Rev. Ralph Emerson, who after a pastorate of fourteen years at REV. ISAAC E. riEATON Norfolk, Connecticut, became Pro- fessor of Ecclesiastical History, and Pastoral Theology in Andover Sem- inary, and was the father of Prof. Jo- seph Emerson, of Beloit College. Converted in a widespread revival of religion at fifteen years of age, young ( iaylord soon chose the ministry for his life work, was prepared for col- lege at Norfolk Academy and gradu- ated at Yale. After nearly two years of teaching in Illinois College he re- turned to complete his theological studies at Yale Theological Seminary in 1838. He came at once to Iowa for pioneer work, antedating the arrival of the Iowa Band by five years. Soon after the passage of what is known as the Kansas-Nebraska bill, which threw open these two states to the battle between slavery and free- dom, and when many people felt that the preliminary skirmish on the con- tinent was to be fought here, Mr. Gaylord felt his blood tingle with pa- triotic fervor as well as religious en- thusiasm to have part in the contest. And so, as he had been among the very first to preach the Gospel this side of the Mississippi, he was the first to cross the Missouri for permanent work in this state. Rev. Isaac E. Heaton was born in the historic town of Franklin, Mass. He prepared for college at Wrentham Academy and graduated at Brown University. While studying theology with Dr. Ide, of Medway, he also found his thoughts and interest turn- ing to the great West. Married at Franklin, 1836, or- dained to the ministry in 1837, he started immediately for his home mis- sionarv field in southern Wisconsin, where, as a teacher and in home mis- sionary work for eighteen years, he served an apprenticeship that pre- pared him to be a master builder in this new region. As an illustration of Mr. Gaylord's patriotic spirit, Mr. E. J. Cartlidge, af- terwards secretary of the Burlington Land Company and deacon of the First church, Lincoln, wrote of an experi- ence, in the First church, Omaha, July i8 THE HOME MISSIONARY 4, 1863. "A small party consisting' of my family, and that of my sister ar- rived at Omaha on the 3d of July, and attended the Congregational Church the next day. We had driven out the rebels from Missouri, and I was out on a furlough, but it seemed to us the darkest time of the rebellion. It was a very solemn and interesting occasion. It was the day for the cele- bration of the Lord's Supper. There were no deacons left in the church to officiate at the communion service. All were away in the service of their country. This Sabbath was a day of great anxiety. It was known that a great battle was impending near Get- tysburg, and surmised that the same might be true at Vicksburg. I can well remember how our hearts were encouraged and our faith in God's providence and care for our nation strengthened by Mr. Gaylord's prayer and his timely words.'' The freedom of Kansas and Ne- braska and the freedom of the whole country from slavery form part of the returns for home missionary invest- ments in the West. When Mr. Heaton reached Fremont, Octo- ber 28, 1850, there was not a shingled roof in the whole town, although some fshanties h>a d been c o m - menced. The First Church, Omaha, was organized May 4, 1856, with nine members. The church at Fontanelle, now extinct, but out of which the Arlington church grew, was organized May 10, 1856, and the Fremont church dates its organization August 2, 1857, com- mencing with seven members. In that same month these two pastors, with delegates from the three churches met and organized the Gen- eral Association of Nebraska. Progress was slow at first, for the rush of settlers in those earlier years was toward Kansas, where the heat of FREMONT CHURCH the battle seemed to be, and the Home Missionary Society with men and means followed the hosts battling for righteousness and freedom. At the end of the first decade there were only seven churches, eight ministers and 210 members. The foundations, how- ever, had been laid for church exten- sion and for christian education. With the close of the war in the spring of 1865, the attention of the country was directed toward the de- velopment of this western region and the union of East and West by a transcontinental railroad. Along the valley of the Platte, which had been the highway of wagon trains since the Whitman emigration to Oregon, the Union Pacific began laying its iron rails, and in 1869 the golden spike was driven, fastening these iron bands which united the Atlantic shore with the Pacific coast. The capital of the new state was removed to Lincoln, and population which thus far had been directed toward Kansas began to seek the prairies of Nebraska. Many soldiers, attracted by the repu- tation of the state and by the oppor- tunities afforded by the Homestead Act, came with their families to make their homes here. Then came the building of the Burlington road, the founding of Doane College, and the rapid multiplication of churches in the South Platte region. With the extension of the Elkhorn and Mis- souri Valley railroad (Northwestern line), in 1884-7. the present Superin- tendent was sent as General Mission- ary to northern Nebraska and a large group of churches in that part of the state was added to the list. The building of the Burlington into new territory in southwestern Ne- braska brought a flood tide of emi- gration into that region and through the efficient work of Rev. George E. Taylor, General Missionary for ten years in that part of the state, churches were organized, houses of worship and parsonages built. Dur- ing this period FranklLi Academy was founded at Franklin, Gates Col- lege, now Gates Academy, at Neligh, THE HOME MISSIONARY 19 Weeping Water Academy, at Weep- ing Water and Chadron for the north- west. President D. B. Perry, D.D., who has been for thirty years at the head of Doane College, commenced his work in Nebraska as pastor of two or three pioneer churches, and under the commission of the Home Mis- sionary Society in 1872. With the rapid development of ma- terial interests in the midst of the third decade the churches entered upon the era of church and parsonage building, and they now own 174 meet- for benevolent work outside of their own borders, $370,000. This latter sum has helped in planting churches and Sunday Schools on the frontier ; in church building ; in the evangeliza- tion of the despised races in our own country, and in preaching the Gospel across the seas. These benevolent of- ferings reach $47,210 in a single year. The churches now give to the A. B. C. F. M. one-third as much as the total yearly grant of the Home Missionary Society to the state. The grants to the Omaha First FIRST CHURCH, OMAHA Rev. H. C. Herring, Pastor ing-houses and 99 parsonages. With some few churches like those of Om- aha First and Fremont, the church now occupies its third house of wor- ship. From a money point of view, the Home Missionary Society has in- vested in the state $649,504 and the churches have already paid back ^77,- 757, or about 12 per cent, of the in- vestment. For the work of evangeli- zation in their own neighborhoods in the support of pastors, Sunday Schools, in houses of worship and parsonages, these churches have raised in round numbers $2,600,000, and church in its earlier years represented aid to many other points in the vicin- ity, for Air. Gaylord preached to the surrounding region and shepherded other little churches. But even on the basis of the total of these grants, ($6,150), it has been a splendid in- vestment. In a single year the gifts of this church for its home field reached $38,445, and its offering for work outside its own borders $17,036. The total raised for its own work, so far as reports are available, reaches the sum of $202,000, and for outside work $40,000. One member of this church, now passed on to the church 20 THE HOME MISSIONARY triumphant, by his superb leadership and gift of $12,000, made possible the splendid Y. M. C. A. building of that city, with its immense ministry of good. Besides large amounts in- vested in the Congregational churches of Omaha, the church sent out its gift to other churches in the state to aid FIRST CHURCH, LINCOLN them in securing houses of worship ; putting a roof on one building; fur- nishing windows for another ; and giving money to pay the last bills on others. One of the daughters of the First church, St. Mary's Avenue, had only two grants, aggregating $1,250, and in three years after reaching self- support, contributed $3,614 to benevo- lence in one year, $7,640 for its own work, and in three years had put back into the Home Missionary treas- ury more than the whole amount it had received. A good illustration of large returns received from a single grant of home missionary money is found in the his- tory of the First church, Lincoln. In the autumn of 1875 when the church had had nine years of exist- ence with little progress, affairs reached a crisis. There was a small building, a nominal membership of fifty-seven, many of these absent, with a debt of $2,000. A council was called to advise in regard to disband- ing. The church wished to secure the services of Rev. Lewis Gregorv, if means were available. After a pro- tracted session, the council advised the church to go forward, secure Mr. Gregory, and ask the Home Mission- ary Society for a grant of $500 for one year. This was the last grant for which the church asked. The debts were soon paid, and in 1886 its present commodious and attractive house of worship was built, making the value of its church property $50,000. Its contributions to home missions in a single year was more than the $500 grant. In the 21 years of Mr. Greg- ory's ministry 941 were received to membership, $110,656 raised for their own work, and $32,828 for benevo- lences. The church proved a foster mother to other churches in Lincoln, until now there are 8 Congregational churches in the city with a member- ship of 1.572, and church property valued at $75,000. Plymouth church, the eldest of these daughters com- mencing its life in the old tabernacle whose appearance is shown on this page, received aid only four years from the Society, and now has the church property shown here. It has raised for evangelization, in its own parish, $43,826, and for work outside its borders, $5,266. The Fremont church had aid amounting to $2,950, and its gifts to home mission work have amounted to PLYMOUTH CHURCH TABERNACLE $5,363, and to different benevolences, $17,795. while it has expended $89,- 830 for its own parish work. In the extension of work in North- western Nebraska, Chadron was made the center of operations. When the counties were organized by the legis- lature in 1885 the whole region was in THE HOME MISSIONARY 21 FIRST FOURTH OF JULY AT CHADRON the possession of the Sioux Indians and a few cattlemen. The first Fourth of July in Chadron when Red Cloud and five hundred of his braves were present to help the citizens to celebrate has the flavor of the begin- nings of things, as shown in the illus- trations. The present church and the Academy building indicate a decided contrast. When we began work in the cattle region of Northwestern Ne- braska there was a territory of 170 miles along the Burlington road where there was no organized Chris- tian work, no church building. Our house at Hyannis is the only one in that region, and the influence of that church extends for many miles around. But money returns and material possession are by no means the most important dividends. These are found in renewed lives, in men and women trained for Christian work, and in communities leavened with Gospel influences. Rev. Frank W. Bates, missionary under the A. B. C. F. M., in Gazaland, Africa. Rev. W. L. Curtis, and Miss Nellie Wain- wright in Japan, are children of our early home missionary pastors. Vis- iting a little home missionary church some years since, the writer found a bright, promising girl, persuaded- her to come to Doane College, where she graduated and has been for years the beloved and efficient preceptress of that institution. About a year after the organization of the Chadron church, a young man came to the town from Iowa and went into business. He soon united with the church, and after moving to Omaha, was superin- tendent of the Sunday School, and deacon in St. Marv's Avenue church. CHADRON ACADEMY 22 THE HOME MISSIONARY He is now serving his second term as state president of the Y. P. S. C. E. Another young man in the railroad service there was con- verted, united with the church, and after a few years of railroad service, in which promo- tion from place 'to place promised a brilliant career, was persuaded to accept the position of international Y. M. C. A. Secretary, and is doing a noble work among railroad men. Only a few days since he raised $8,000 for a Y. M. C. A. railroad building at Chadron, the SIOUX INDIANS IN NEBRASKA first of its kind in the state. As he talked to railroad men and business men about the project, the memory of the night when he gave his heart to Christ, made his spirit tender and his plea effective. Another young man went from there to Doane, and after graduating became one of the teachers in Kingfisher College, Okla. Three of our Academy principals and sev- eral teachers have come from our little home missionary churches. \ ine St., Lincoln, has one daughter in Turkey, and one helping to evangelize the In- dians at Fort Berthold. Two of our influential pastors in Chicago, a well- known professor in Leland Stanford University, several teachers in the A. M. A. schools in the South, have come from our home missionary churches. Home missionary investments have Sfood returns to show in Nebraska. OUR COUNTRY'S YOUNG PEOPLE POINTED — TIMELY — ILLUSTRATIVE rf»-^y\^o -z~&xs< A TRUMPET CALL ~SJ~OU vuho inherit the ivealth, the stored-up bless- ings of ages, Gathered by saints and apostles, by heroes nxiho suf- fered and labored, Won for us freedom and light, the soul-gladdening light of the Gospel, What is the issue to be ? What legacy, say, to your children Will you bequeath? What increment added? What ■ further example Yet of noble deeds, vuhat self-crucifixion in laying All that you have, that you are, at the feet of a curc'ified Saviour? * * -x- * * Sell not, despise not your birthright, your heritage, heirs of the ages. So farewell, and remember in field, in hall, or in class-room , You are training for deeds to be done in the might of the Saviour, Worthy the mighty past and the glory whereon you are builded. — PlLKINGTON, OF UGANDA. The Potency of Prayer SUPERNATURAL power is required for the evangeliza- tion of this land no less than for the evangelization of other lands. But where is the evidence that the Home Mission interests of the Church of Christ are calling forth anything like the same volume of im- portunate, believing prayer on the part of young people that is going forth in behalf of the cause of Christ in foreign lands ? Those acquainted with volunteers for the foreign field, know their confidence in and use of prayer. One of the most notable characteristics of the Student Volunteer conventions is the intense earnestness and evident believing prayerfulness of those as- sembled. We plead for an increase of intense, believing prayer by young people in behalf of the progress of the Kingdom of Christ in America. Our Home Mission workers in Cuba, in the South and Southwest, in Alas- ka, and in the North and Northwest, in their efforts to establish new churches and to win to Christian de- cision vast numbers who are persist- ently indifferent to the claims of Christ, need the hearty co-operation of our faith-filled prayers. Their task is gigantic. Only with the help of the Spirit of God, working in them both to will and do, can difficulties be conquered and harvests gathered. "The more dreary and hopeless the condition of the world looks," said Frederick Denison Maurice in his strdng way, 2+ THE HOME MISSIONARY "the more we are reminded how ut- terly weak and unfit we are to do any- thing for its renovation, the more confident we shall be that the help which is done upon the earth He doeth it Himself." Paul speaks of the labor wrought by Epaphras through his agonizing prayers. Our Lord, both by His teaching and example, made clear the mighty power of interces- sion. "If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what- soever ye will and it shall be done unto you." To Peter he gave the strength- ening assurance: "Simon, Simon, I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not." He unmistakably taught, by word and example, the mighty power of prayer. He pointed out that man, unaided by the Spirit of God, is insufficient to turn men from darkness to light. By their earnest, constant prayerful- ness, in behalf of the work both at home and abroad, the young people in the churches may engage in. this noble, fruitful service, moving "an influence which is omnipotent." An Important Reinforcement at Home Mr. J. Campbell White, who has for nine years been the efficient repre- sentative of the International Com- mittee of the Young Men's Christian Association at Calcutta, India, has responded to the urgent call of the United Presbyterian Church, and will become Secretary of its Ways and Means Committee in this country. Mr. White's presence here will be of inestimable value to the great cause which he represents. In a recent let- ter, dated Calcutta, and sent to some of his friends in America, he savs : I submit without fear of being challenged the proposition that if in any secular under- taking men were to attempt so gigantic a task as the evangelization of the world with- out using means more proportionate to the magnitude and difficulty of the undertaking, they would become simply the laughing stock of all sensible people. I do not forget that we are dealing with matters which are spiritual ; but in no other matters in this world is there a closer or more necessary relation between cause and effect. The plain fact is, that the Church of Christ has sent out to the spiritual conquest of the world a force which is totally inadequate to the ac- complishment of the work, and unless the Church speediiy changes her attitude and methods of procedure, the great majority of the people who live in our generation will die without any knowledge of Christ. If every creature in our generation is to hear the Gospel, the churches at home must make an adequate effort to this end. That its resources are sufficient to the task, no intelligent student of the problem doubts. That its present methods of accomplishing the task are utterly inadequate, no sane in- vestigator can question. These burning words have a direct application to the mission enterprises of Congregational young people. The cause demands the most intelligent and most aggressive effort of which we are capable. Important Young People's Conference The young people of the Congre- gational churches will be afforded a rare opportunity at the annual meet- ing of the Congregational Home Mis- sionary Society, to be held at Provi- dence, Rhode Island, June 2 to< 4, in- clusive. It is expected that two whole sessions will be devoted especially to their interests. The speakers will be men of wide reputation. The programme will be of absorbing interest and of great value. It will be announced in detail in the May number of "The Elome Mis- sionary." It is hoped that at least 300 repre- sentative Congregational young peo- ple from all sections of the country will attend. Every Young People's Society is earnestly requested to send as delegates the chairman of the Mis- sionary Committee, and other repre- sentative members. Reduced trans- portation and hotel rates will be given. An unexcelled opportunity for the consideration and discussion of the most approved methods of work among young people will be afforded bv this Conference. THE HOME MISSIONARY 25 Open Mindedness The welfare of the cause of Christ among young people requires workers who are alert. The mind must be kept open to receive fresh ideas. There must be an unyielding deter- mination to replace old, ineffectual methods with new, effective ones. The Christian worker with an open mind will constantly seek the best means of bringing things to pass. He will never be content with resultless effort. To young people who refuse to possess a shut mind, to all who wish to make life and work count to the utmost, we heartily commend that un- surpassed paper, "The Christian En- deavor World." Every open-minded member of a young people's society who reads it regularly, with close at- tention, will be thoroughly abreast of the times. Its brightness, suggestive- ness, up-to-dateness, make it invalu- able. By the wise use of such a fresh, spirited periodical as this and by the careful reading of the best Congre- gational papers and mission maga- zines, every member of every Congre- gational young people's missionary committee, will be prepared to offer at least one good suggestion each month for the betterment of the local work. The possession of an open mind, the willingness to use new and tested methods, may well be earnestly coveted and persistently sought by all. Strike Now ! These are great days, and I believe that anyone who has anything to do with shaping Home Mission interests is building mightily for America. And the work is going to stand because Christ is in it. NEW YORK CITY Who Will Go ? Who Should Go? Three factors are in all missionary work — opportunity, men, money. In this home-land of ours, "never before were the fields so quick with promise or so white with harvest." City, country, the old East, the new West, the awakening South, the min- ing camp, the manufacturing village, not only present the opportunities but are ringing with urgent calls. There is money in Christian hands and God's Spirit can touch the hearts of His people and call it forth to do His work. But the man — the worker — where is he? Who will go? Who should go? 1. The man who sees in the win- ning of this nation for Christ the equipment of God's greatest and mightiest instrument for the winning of the world to Christ. America brought to Him for America's sake is a motive that might well stir to its depths any Christian heart which realizes the tremendous forces that are here developing. But America for the sake of the world touches a deeper chord and grips the soul of a consecrated life with a force that knows no comparison. In these recent years God has wrested us from our seclusion and separation from the great world life and forced us out into the wide arena of world interests and thrust us into a close and vital contact with every nation on earth. The late Rev. John Henry Barrows said : "The most strategic if not abso- lutely greatest work for Christ now going on in the world is not among the millions of China, India, Africa ; the most strategic battle is that silent, moral struggle carried on by a few 26 THE HOME MISSIONARY hundred Christian schools and a few thousand Christian churches in the heart of the Mississippi Valley. We are dwelling in what is ultimately to be the controlling and wealthiest na- tion under the sun." 2. The man who can take the po- sition of leadership of men, at that point on the great battlefield with sin where the forces of evil are boldest and most assertive, and where the contest is hand to hand with the powers that corrupt manhood, stain womanhood and blight and destroy childhood. At such points, whether in the city or the camp, the worker is necessarily missionary, because the forces which upbuild and those that break down human character are so unequal. To become the leader and inspirer of a little band of godly souls stand- ing for the things pure and honest and of good report in the midst of boastful, unblushing sin and shame challenges the highest heroism. I take a picture that lies befoire me sketched of such a leader: "J. has great possibilities. Sin is rampant. The Sabbath trodden under foot. The saloon, dance hall, gambling houses, all dominant. Fifteen hundred miners going to perdition. Our little brave church faces the devil with all his hosts. Our pastor is a hero." Here is another view of the same dark picture of a spot in our home land : "Wicked beyond all descrip- tion, all that is devilish and destructive to character and manhood is pro- nounced. The saloon, gambling hall and brothel flourishing and made at- tractive and inviting in every way. Thousands of dollars invested in these man traps. There is something al- luring and fascinating about them to the man, especially to the young man that is away from home, from friends, from helpful and moral environments. He comes here for work, finds a boarding place, goes out, looks for companionship, and in these dens he finds it." Leadership for those in whom the better impulses rule has stemmed the tide of evil in uncounted lives. 3. The man with heroic faith in the power of Christ to save to the ut- termost; the man with a courage that grows through combat ; the man with the vision to see in every human soul, however sunk in sin, the possibilities of a child of God ; the man strong in intellect, large in sympathy, broad in culture, deep in spiritual experi- ence, with high ideals, but practical in method ; the man who among men walks with God ; the man who, walk- ing with God, is yet man among men ; the man who is willing to stand at the danger point on the battle front. Such men are wanted at scores of points in our home land to-day. The Superintendents of this Society are searching for them, waiting for them, praying for them. The Congregational Home Mission- ary Society sends this message forth to the young people of our churches and especially to the student volun- teers, who are looking out over the field of service for the posts where they can make their lives tell best and most for the world's salvation. "Save America for the sake of the world. If America is lost, all is lost." NEW YORK CITY ""^ THE HOME MISSIONARY 27 CHRISTIAN VIGOR IN ALASKA Rev. D. W. Cram, pastor of t fa e Endeavor Congregational Church at Val- dez, Alaska, and the representa- tive of the Con- g r ie g a t i o n al Home Mission- ary Society, who has been in the East for several weeks, has just returned to his work. Mr. Cram spoke hopefully concerning the future prospects of the North. He said : Valdez is the most northerly port in America that is open all the year round. Valuable discoveries, both in gold and cop- per, have' been made nearby. There are copper mines about 150 miles away, and a railroad is soon to be built into these mines, so that the ore can be brought to the tide water. The recent discoveries of placer gold on the Nizini River and the head waters of the Tanana are causing hundreds THE REV. D. W. CRAM and thousands of young men to go to Val- dez at the present time. Every boat is loaded with freight and passengers. These new discoveries, with the building of the railroad, will make Valdez the most perma- nent point in the North. Christian work began in Valdez early in the year of '98, when the first prospectors landed there, hoping to gain an entrance into the in- terior. Two young men organized a Chris- tian Endeavor Society, and carried on in- stitutional church work. A reading room, open night and day, afforded a place where men could spend their spare time. Two years later, the Congregation- al Home Missionary Society sent Mr. Cram to the field. A church was or- ganized, and to the reading room was added a library. The work has been successful and commands the hearty support of the community. It is largely a practical work for young men. Mr. Cram says that there is urgent demand for more of such work in the North. There are many towns with fifty to' one hundred men where there is no Protestant church or mis- WORDS OF CHEER FROM MANY SOURCES Many encouraging responses were called forth by the fresh facts fur- nished all Congregational young peo- ple for use in the Home Mission meetings, held on February 22. Words of cheer and of hearty appreciation have come from all parts of America. An earnest worker at Laingsburg, Michi- gan, writes : 'As a rule, our missionary meetings are dull, but this one was indeed quite different. It was very helpful." The chairman of the Missionary Commit- tee of a New Hampshire society responds : "Our Society voted last evening to take a collection for the Home Missionary work at each meeting when that subject is pre- sented. Our meeting on February 22 was 3ne of the best we have ever held." From California comes this word of cheer : "The helps which you sent were greatly appreciated. You can count on the co-operation of our Society." In a Vermont letter is this suggestive ref- erence to the chairman of the Missionary Committee : "She is a live worker." A New York State society sends this mes- sage : "The more our Christian Endeavor Society is kept in touch with the missionary societies of the Congregational church, the better for both, I think. I shall be glad to do all I can to bring this about." A representative of a small Minnesota so- ciety writes : "We have pledged ourselves, to raise $10, if possible, for Home Missions, this year." In each of several letters it is stated that the Young People's Soci- ety has no^ missionary committee. In this particular, there is evidently an opportunity for prompt and effective action on the part of both officers and members. Every young people's so- ciety should use to' the fullest extent the privilege of being thoroughly abreast with the great mission move- ment of the Congregational churches. A strong, intelligent and aggressive committee will prove invaluable, and will repay for all the planning and ef- fort required to secure it. 28 THE HOME MISSIONARY NOTES BY THE WAY A new, illustrated leaflet on "Congrega- tional Missions in Cuba," is in course of preparation, and will be sent to the Chair- men of Missionary Committees and to all who are to lead young people's meetings on May 31st. The topic for that date is: "Missions in the Island World," Isaiah 42: 10-17; 60: 8, 9. Additional copies for distribution will be furnished, provided ap- plication is made at an early date. Address Don O. Shelton, 287 Fourth Avenue, New York City. Miss Belle M. Brain, whose books on "Missionary Fires" and "Missionary Pro- grammes," are known to many of our read- ers, contributes a suggestive article' to the March number of "The Missionary Review of the World," on "The Foreign Mission- ary Library ; How to get it and how to use it." Miss Brain writes interestingly on how to secure a library, the kinds of books to buy, and how to use the library. The ar- ticle closes with a suggestive list of fifty volumes on "Methods of Work," "Histories of Missions," "Biography," "Foreign Lands and People," "Narratives of Missionary Work," and "Missionary Fiction." A copy of this issue of "The Missionary Review" will prove a valuable acquisition to every Chairman of Young People's Missionary committee. It is published by the Funk & Wagnalls Co., New York, at 25 cents a copy. PARAGRAPHS FROM NEW ARTICLES AND BOOKS The obligation that lies on moral beings is not to adjust themselves to their environ- ment, but to adjust their environment to the higher ideal which they bring to it. — Dr. A. M. Fairbaim, "The Philosophy of The Christian Religion," page 74. There is, indeed, no factor of change or cause of progress known to history or hu- man experience equal in efficiency to the great personality — the man who embodies some creative and casual idea.- — Dr. A. M. Fairbaim, "The Philosophy of The Chris- tian Religion," page' 92. "The 'Unanimous Library' scheme de- vised by Mr. W. L. Amerman, of New York City, is an excellent one that could be used to advantage everywhere. The idea is for each society to buy a book (for ob- vious reasons it is best to select a small one), with the understanding that it is to be read by every member of the society. In order to make it 'unanimous,' some are in- duced to read it who would not otherwise do so. In pursuance of this plan a large number of Christian Endeavor societies in the New York City Union bought a little library of four small books and endeavored to get these read by all their members. The results were surprising. In one church where there were three societies (junior, intermediate, and senior), one book was read by four hundred and thirty-eight differ- ent persons within a given time." — Belle M. Brain, in "The Missionary Review of the World," March. When the fathers of New England and New York began their great fight against barbarism in the new settlements, a large choice of weapons was offered them. In nothing was their wisdom more manifest than in the selection they made. They chose The Church — not because they under- valued the printing of Bibles and tracts, or the building of meeting-houses, or the plant- ing of colleges and seminaries of learning; but because they held the church to be the spring of all other remedial agencies, with- out which all others would languish and die. To plant the organized Church of Christ in every new settlement as it gath- ered ; to build this up in the New Testa- ment way, by the ordained pastor and teacher and with the aid of divinely ap- pointed ordinances, — this was the wise choice of wise men ; not to sprinkle water broadcast over a thirsty land, but at wisely chosen points to open living fountains ; to set up Christianity, not in some fleeting form, but in its most permanent, reproduc- tive and divinest institution, and to leave it thus intrenched to become the regenerat- ing force of' society, — for more than a cen- tury this has been the working policy of Home Missions from which its friends have never deviated. — Dr. J. B. Clark, "Leavening the Nation," page 316. ALONG THE BATTLE LINE The Right Sort of Appeal Some pastors have a gift in mak- ing it — or rather is it a genuine in- terest in the matter which others do not feel? The following is one of the right sort. The people like this kind of appeal. They say, "Our minister is in earnest and means business." The pastor says, "A giv- ing church is a working church. A working church is a growing church. Therefore I must stir my church to Next Sabbkth is the Home Missionary- Sunday with us. For a month the an- nouncement has been regularly made. The offering is the annual offering for this work. The need for help is growing greater as the population of the country increases. The appeal of the Board for help should touch every heart. The ability of the church to send the home missionary into needy fields to preach the Gospel, organize congregations, and erect houses of worship, is made greater by every dollar given. Every person, whether Christian or not, ought to be glad to help in such a good cause. It is a blessing to the giver. Every man and woman, boy and girl should come with their offering to the Lord at the ser- vice Sunday morning. May I ask all the friends of the Congregational Church in Belview and the surrounding country to come and help to make the collection the' largest that has ever been given by this church. All of us are commended to lay by in store for God's cause as He has pros- pered us. It is a sin for any human being to rob the Lord's treasury. It is robbery .to live and consume for self that which He needs to preach the Gospel. In Colorado, Idaho and Utah there are towns of thou- sands of people where there is no preaching of the Gospel by any church in any lan- guage whatever. Our Mission Board is un- able to push the work into these fields. No money to send the workers and support them on the ground. Can any one be' ac- quainted with such facts, withhold their gifts, and then not feel guilty before God? Reader, this means you. It is the Lord's appeal and warning, not mine. Open your Bible at Matthew, 25th chapter, and read verses 14 to 30, inclusive. A Decision Day Rev. IT V. Rominger, of Dickin- son, No. Dakota, in a recently pub- lished article, has told the stirring story of revival in his church. The following illustrates the happy "fruits of such an experience. November 9th was observed as Decision Day in church and Sunday School. Three of our Sabbath School teachers were not members of the church, although they were Christians, and had been members of churches elsewhere. They were asked to make a decision to come into the church. They did so, and all in their classes fol- lowed their example'. Whole classes of boys and young ladies from fourteen years of age and upward stood up, confessed Christ and gave their names for recep- tion into the church. Parents who had never made a profession of religion were moved to follow the example of their chil- dren, and for their encouragement came with them into the fellowship of the church. Church letters that had been laid away for years were hunted up ; lapsed church mem- herships were restored, and on November 23d we had an ingathering of sixty-four — ■ fifty-nine on confession of faith and five by letter — the largest number I have ever re- ceived at any one time or place into church membership. The next Great Awakening will come through the Christian culture and early in- gathering of the children into the church. Formation is a grander work than reforma- tion. Protestantism has not rightly treated the children. It has generally treated them as heathen growing up outside' the church, and when they arrive at mature years they may perhaps be reformed and converted, whereas they should be trained and treated as Christians from the beginning _ This is perhaps the better, more Biblical and Christly way, and where it is generally adopted the church will have a new future and make more rapid strides in the evan- gelization of the world. 3Q THE HOME MISSIONARY Among the Cattle Ranges The following from Northern Wyoming describes a type of home missions that carries us back to the early days of the enterprise. Not a little of this type still survives in the grazing and treasure States. The conditions are peculiar, needing a rare kind of missionary, like the Sky Pilot, of Connor, and the minister at Black Rock. Pluck and patience, as well as faith and hope, are radical to success. Our conditions here are peculiar. Our country is almost entirely given up to cattle raising. Most of it is range country, with ranches in the valleys of the creeks. The country, therefore, is very sparsely settled. Children frequently go a distance of five or six miles to school. The Superintend- ent of one of our Sunday Schools lives six miles from the schoolhouse where the Sun- day School is held. Everybody rides horse- back. The people are almost all of Ameri- can birth or English speaking, and a,s a rule are very intelligent and read a great deal and are- very independent in thought and action. There is a breadth and depth and vigor to be found in these people that prom- ises well for any cause in which they be- come interested. And this is the time in which our church may gain a strong hold here. A dozen Sunday Schools and as many preaching points could be established here in a short time if we had the time or the necessary help. Reclaiming a Desert Such deserts are still to be found in the heart of Christian America. Home missionary effort has reclaimed many such, and nothing else will. In the face of so many difficulties we have made some progress. Colorado is set- tled by a class of people of almost every nationality and almost every religious be- lief, who seem to have come here to make money in the easiest possible way, since they have a natural antipathy for manual labor, and, incidentally, to get away from civilization. Many people came here twen- ty-five years ago and have never been out- side the county since they came. They care very little for the advantages of the outside world. We have met a number of young men, one of them twenty-five years old, who have never seen a railway train. One remark we often hear concerning re- ligious work is something as follows : "We don't need missionaries in here. We've got along many years without them, and when we want them we will send for them." There are many homes where they have no Bible, but few homes where you cannot find Robert Ingersoll's works. Many have said to me that Robert Ingersoll was the greatest man that ever lived. The chil- dren are brought up under this influence and taught in their earliest years to doubt the existence of God. We have been doing some earnest per- sonal work among the boys and girls, and some of them at the present time are "al- most persuaded." The Spirit is evidently working in their hearts, but they seem to be- afraid to take a definite stand for Christ because they have so little, if any, encour- agement at home. Our Summer work was very heavy. Since the ist of June we have travelled alto- gether between 3,500 and 4,000 miles, and made 376 calls. On two occasions we were on the road continually for three weeks, visiting the people, holding services, wherever possible and returning every Sat- urday to keep our Sunday appointment