REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF NINETY-SEVEN OF THE MEN AND RELIGION FORWARD MOVEMENT. JAMES G. CANNON, Chairman. The Committee of Ninety-seven is not responsible to any organization but is simply a temporary committee appointed to represent a large number of societies for specific work and inasmuch as its duties are finished with the close of this Congress there seems no more fitting place, than here, to give our final report and ask to be discharged as a Committee, and as individuals to go forth in our respective organizations to do a vastly increased work along the line of this Movement and to be forever united in fraternal relations. The Committee comes to the end of the special campaign filled with a sense of gratitude to God for marked manifestations of divine guidance. There have been times when the obstacles in the way of successful completion of the work seemed so severe that the strongest of our members were led to doubt as to whether we could proceed or no, but these have again and again been overcome in ways so significant as to be accounted for only by superhuman wisdom. It is, therefore, desired to give marked emphasis to our deepest conviction that God has led this Movement, before passing to the details of work which must occupy most of the space allotted. Hotel Manhattan Meeting.-The first meeting of the Movement was held in the Hotel Manhattan, New York City, May 18, 1910. This was attended by 54 men representing denominational brotherhoods, men and boy's departments of the Sunday-school, and Young Men's Christian Associations. After a full day's discussion there was a unanimous vote that this campaign be undertaken and a Committee consisting of James G. Cannon, Chairman, New York, N. Y. Dr. Elmore Harris, Toronto, Ont. Frank Dyer, Chicago, Ill. Fayette L. Thompson, New York, N. Y. Hubert Carlton, Boston, Mass. P. C. Macfarlane, Kansas City, Mo. was appointed to nominate a larger permanent Committee and to call a delegate meeting if that were deemed advisable. Niagara Falls Meeting. The Committee met at Niagara Falls, August the 22nd, 1910, and decided to issue a call for a conference of delegates representing the various organizations to be held in Buffalo, Oct. 25-26. Buffalo Meeting.-This conference convened in Westminster Presbyterian Church in Buffalo upon the dates indicated. There being 274 men present representing 71 different cities. Two full days of most intense discussion were engaged in and at the close the conference voted unanimously to launch the Movement, and adopted what has been so largely known as the Buffalo Resolutions. "THE BUFFALO RESOLUTIONS" "Following are extracts from this important document: WHEREAS, We have been brought to the present hour by a succession of events many of which have been utterly unplanned and unstudied, and which have in their entirety impressed us as the simultaneous promptings of the Spirit of Almighty God, pushing out the discipleship of this generation into new and untried ways of Christian activity and usefulness; and, WHEREAS, The spiritual impressions of this present gathering have served to confirm these convictions of Spirit-leading, THEREFORE, RESOLVED, That as men of America, representing every section of this Continent, and practically every aspect of Evangelical Faith, assembled in Conference in Buffalo, we hereby record our solemn conviction that our divine Lord is calling the manhood of our days to a new and unusual consecration for service. pledge to Him, to each other, and to the Committee hereafter to be appointed, our whole-hearted and loyal cooperation; We RESOLVED: That we emphasize our belief in the Church of Jesus Christ as the one instrumentality appointed by Him for the salvation of the world, and that the organizations uniting in this movement are only agencies of the Church, through which it may carry on its ministry of service, and that we maintain the utmost regard for the convictions and methods of the churches and organizations cooperating; RESOLVED: That the object of this movement be defined as an effort to secure the personal acceptance of Jesus Christ by the individual manhood and boyhood of our times, and their permanent enlistment in the program of Jesus Christ as the world program of daily affairs; TO THIS END: I. To secure, on the part of the men and boys of this generation, personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour leading them to the conformity of their wills to the will of God; 2. To enroll men and boys in the systematic and daily study of the Holy Scriptures; 3. To continue and to increase the emphasis of the Christian religion as the one and only hope of the world, and to make the abiding missionary enterprises of the Church, at home and abroad, the most vital and permanent element in Christian life; 4. To increase the permanent contribution of the Church to the best life of the Continent, socially, politically, commercially and physically, and to emphasize the modern message of the Church in social service and usefulness; 5. To unite the churches, the brotherhoods, the Sunday-schools and the Young Men's Christian Associations in a worthy and workable plan of permanent specialized effort for men and boys, and to assemble and publish the same: AND, FURTHER: That using all wise human agencies, we recommend that prayer be exalted as the most effective means for the accomplishment of these ends. Recognizing the important place of true worship as a vital factor of the religious life, we express our conviction as to the sobering, hallowing, healing and saving influence in American life of the public worship of God as expressed in the stated public services of the churches. The greatest contribution to be made by any company of men to the well-being of this nation and the permanent progress of the Kingdom of God is a contribution by personal habit and influence toward the maintenance in spiritual power of this public recognition of Almighty God." These resolutions so fully typify the whole campaign that it seems fitting to include them in this report. Committee of Ninety-Seven.-The Committee to be known as "The Committee of NinetySeven" which was elected at this meeting to take charge of the Campaign, consisted of the following gentlemen:— |