the history of great enterprises is apt to be when they seem to be,
and their projectors think they are, strongest. Take heed lest ye fall
in the hour of your strength. The most powerful mill stream drives the
wheel most vigorously at the moment before the flood sweeps the mill
to wildest destruction."

Just as plainly and unequivocally did he hold up before them the
purpose of their high calling:

"The mission of the church is to save the souls of men. That is its
true mission. It is the only mission of the church. That should be its
only thought. The moment any church admits a singer that does not sing
to save souls; the moment a church calls a pastor who does not preach
to save souls; the moment a church elects a deacon who does not work
to save souls; the moment a church gives a supper or an entertainment
of any kind not for the purpose of saving souls--it ceases in so much
to be a church and to fulfil the magnificent mission God gave it.
Every concert, every choir service, every preaching service, every
Lord's supper, every agency that is used in the church must have the
great mission plainly before its eye. We are here to save the souls of
dying sinners; we are here for no other purpose; and the mission of
the church being so clear, that is the only test of a real church."

The thousands of men and women Grace Church has saved and placed in
paths of righteousness and happiness, show that it has nobly stood
the test, that it has proved itself a church in the true sense of the
word.

CHAPTER XXII

HOW THE CHURCH WORKS

The Ladies' Aid Society. The Young Women's Association. The Young
Men's Association. The Ushers' Association. The Christian Endeavor
Societies. The Many Other Organizations. What They Do, and How They Do
It.

Now that the church was built, now that such power was in its hands,
how should it work?

"The church of Christ should be so conducted always as to save the
largest number of souls, and in the saving of souls the Institutional
church may be of great assistance," said Russell Conwell in an address
on "The Institutional Church." "It is of little matter what your
theories are or what mine are; God, in His providence, is moving His
church onward and moving it upward at the same time, adjusting it
to new situations, fitting it to new conditions and to advancing
civilization, requiring us to use the new instrumentalities he has
placed in our hands for the purpose of saving the grea