THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
evangelical principles. Our foundation is Jesus Christ, our Lord, in whose atonement alone we rely for salvation, and by whose power, and in whose name and to whose glory all our work is done.” On the other hand, it neither sought to make minute inquiry into the theological views of its members nor did it endeavor to found a new sect, but advocated close allegiance to the denominations with which its members were already affiliated. In 1887 the society was opened to men and boys, and within a decade it numbered some 400,000 members, its present membership being over 500,000. It is to be found in North and South America, Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Greece, Switzerland, Denmark, Turkey, India, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, and the West Indies; and it has extended its work to the sick and the prisoner, to the victim of calamity, and to the mission field, as well as to educational institutions of all sorts.
The purpose of the society is to influence “ first, the heart, next the home, then the Church, and after that the great outside.” The constitution provides for circles and chapters of circles with state secretaries, a general supervision being exercised by a central council, though the greatest latitude is allowed individual circles in aims and methods. The official organ is the weekly Silver Cross, published in New York City.
VII. Lend-a-Hand Clubs: An interdenominational society for the promotion of the Christian life of its members and the extension of the kingdom of God. Since the last quarter of the nineteenth century a large number of young people’s societies have grown up in churches of different communions, with a desire, on the part of those who formed them, to enter into the missionary and philanthropic work of the world. In many instances these societies are affiliated with one another, so that they keep up a mutual acquaintance by correspondence and by meetings through local organizations and at national congresses. As early as the year 1874 Miss Mary A. Lathbury, then directing the children’s department of The Christian Advocate, founded the Look-up Legion, based upon what are generally known among the societies as the “ four mottoes,”’
“Look up and not down, Look forward and not backward,
Look out and not in, Lend a hand.”
Such societies were formed generally among the older children of Sunday-schools, each with its own officers, under the direction, however, of some older person. The Look-up Legion spread so far that it was divided into several groups, and its membership extended to perhaps 100,000 persons. Each of the members wore a Maltese cross with a rising sun behind it.
The earliest society formed under the “ four mottoes ”’ was established by Miss Ella Russell in the city of New York in the year 1871. The boys who formed it were members of a mission-school in which she was a teacher. They took the name of the “ Harry Wadsworth Helpers” from the hero of E. E. Hale’s (q.v.) story of Ten Times One is Ten (Boston, 1870), in which the “four mottoes”’ first
appeared. Various other Harry Wadsworth Clubs, Ten-Times-One Clubs, Lend-a-Hand Clubs, Lookout Clubs, etc., exist in various parts of the world. The United Society of these clubs, at Boston, receives communications from Japan, from China, from the countries on the east of the Mediterranean, from various island groups of the Pacific, from South America, and from every part of the United States. All these societies, while they attempt to maintain mutual good-fellowship, and while members are pledged to help*‘each other in sympathy and Christian union, have at the same time some duty each in bringing in the kingdom of God. It is understood in their organization that the members must not live for themselves alone, but must bear each other’s burdens. The greater part of the clubs are formed among young people, although some clubs are in existence which were formed in 1871, in which the adult members are still personally interested. The Lend a Hand Record is a monthly journal, published in Boston, and forming the medium of communication between the members of the different societies. Epwarp Everetr Hast. VIII. Luther League of America: The young people’s society of the Lutheran Church in America, organized at Pittsburg, Pa., Oct. 30-31, 1895. It unites, in a common cause and for a common purpose, the Lutheran young people’s societies in the Lutheran Church, regardless of synodical affiliation or linguistic difference. They acknowledged, as the bond of their union, the Word of God as the only infallible rule of faith and practise, and the unaltered Augsburg Confession as the correct exponent of that Word. The founda- 1. Founda- tion upon which this organization is tion and built is that of the church itself, and Purpose. any society, no matter what its name, connected with a Lutheran congregation or institution of learning, is entitled to membership by conforming to and subscribing the constitution of the Luther League of America. It insists that each society cooperating with the League should be connected with either a Lutheran church or Lutheran institution of learning, and that its active members should be composed of communicants of the Lutheran Church, so that it embraces to-day, upon consistent grounds, Young People’s Associations, Luther Alliances, Christian Endeavor Societies, King’s Sons and King’s Daughters, Young Men’s and Young Women’s Societies, gilds, and kindred organizations. Wherever these societies exist in Lutheran churches, it is presumed, and rightly so, that they are established in the interest and for the upbuilding of the Lutheran Church. The purpose of these leagues is to encourage the formation of young people’s societies in the Lutheran congregations, to stimulate the various young people’s societies to greater Christian activity, and to foster the spirit of loyalty to the church. It develops clear Christian faith by encouraging Bible study and imparting a knowledge of the Lutheran Church, historical and doctrinal, and of its usages. It trains the church’s youth for active service; and it insists that care be exercised in the assignment of work. To the individual member of the league it proposes to quicken a clearer consciousness of