AMALGAMATION IS IMPROBABLE

AMALGAMATION IS IMPROBABLE

The Christian Endeavor convention at Denver just closed was a notable meeting. Taken in connection with the convention of the Baptist Young the convention of the Baptist Young People's union at Atlanta, it shows that these adjuncts of the church are upon a firmer footing than ever and that they have become a power within the Christian church almost as great as the power of the church itself in society. The striking feature of the Endeavor convention, both novel and highly important, was a proposition advanced looking to the amalgamation of the three great bodies of young Christian workers - the Epworth league, the Christian Endeavor society and the Baptist Young People's union. These unions have expanded into societies of international scope and have become gigantic institutions for the propogation and development of the Christian religion. Each is organized along similar lines, is conducted in common form and has the same ultimate end in view. But in spite of this community of purpose and working methods, the first and third have grown to be distinctively denominational societies. Being organically a part of the church with which it co-operates each stands for certain doctrines and a policy which are quite as logical as a denominational church or Sunday school. It naturally follows therefore, that their amalgamation would be exceedingly difficult.

The Epworth league, the Christian Endeavor and the Baptist union are the great training schools, along with the Sunday schools, for the Methodist, the Congregational, Presbyterian, Baptist and other churches. Their constitutions, by-laws and working methods may be struck from a common origin, but their practical effect is distinctively denominational. They might work under a common name, theoretically existing for the same purpose, but as a matter of fact each works for a dua end - the elevation of the church; not the church in its broad meaning, but the denominational chuch of which it is the protege, and from the sectarian standpoint one end is as important and audable as the other. So that ultimately they work apart, for while Christianity stands upon common ground, secretarianism does not. And if amalgamation in their inceptive stages was not feasible, it is the more apparent that their organic union is now improbable, for the marvelous growth of the Epworth league and the Baptist union, the two strictly sectarian societies, has demonstrated that the denominational union has come to stay. - Saginaw News.