Rev. William M. Bell. D.D.

              REV. WILLIAM M. BELL, D. D.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
"Bishop Bell will measure up to any responsibility.    He is an eloquent speaker, well and favorably known, and will not disappoint any audience."            J. Frank Hartley, Ex-Governer of Indiana.
Pastor,  Editor,   Mission   and   Sunday   School   Secretary, Author, Bishop, Orator and Lecturer
CHAUTAUQUA   MANAGERS  ASSOCIATION CHICAGO
REV.   WILLIAM    M.   BELL,    D.   D.
COMMENDATORY
Condensed    Biographical    Sketch
Native of Indiana, educated in public schools, Normal Schools, and Ro¬anoke Classical Seminary. Twelve years a pastor, two years President and Superintendent of the Indiana Sunday School Association, and Editor of its State paper. Twelve years General Secretary of the Department of Home and Foreign Missions, and Editor of The Searchlight. Member of the Inter¬denominational Committee which brought into existence The Young Peoples Missionary Movement. Received the degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1897. Elected to the bishopric in 1905 and designated as Bishop of the Pacific Dis¬trict, with oversight of the work of his Church in the states west of the Rocky Mountains, in China, Japan and the Philippines. President of The California Sunday School Association since 1907. Member of the Lesson Committee of the International Sunday School Association. Author of ''The Love of God," and "The Social Message of Our Lord."
The    Los    Angeles    Times    Says:
The Conference was presided over by its bishop, Dr. William Melvin Bell, and right like a bishop he conducted himself. He was as loving as Saint John, as earnest as Peter, as analytical as Paul. If his physique is notable, his features are more so. He is one of those white-faced men indicating a pure, temperate life, free from self-indulgence in the way of laziness or other¬wise. That's where the John the Divine character shows through his kindly, intelligent face, and through eyes as kindly and bright as any other feature in his face. Now here, perhaps, is where Bishop Bell's right to claim succession from the apostles is that, although he is one of the most eloquent and powerful preachers in California, he has no admirers so ardent as his brethren among the clergy. When the bishop, with all his towering stature and powerful physique mounts the platform, and beaming from his white face and kindly eyes, reels forth eloquently and sonorously his appeal to the heart of hu¬manity, the clergy of his audience applaud him to the echo.
SUB J ECTS
American Perils
Christianity and Social Progress
Democracy and Government
Our Country
Is the World Growing Better?
American Ideals
Constructive Civilization
The Powers That Be
Three Giants
Aims for Men
The Fictions of the Liquor Traffic
Constructive Education
Christianity and Current Social
Movements Family Efficiency The Outstanding Characteristics of
Our Age
REV.   WILLIAM   M.    BELL,    D.   D.
At a State Sunday School Convention —
And then would come Bell, Bishop Will¬iam M. Bell, you understand. He has his address organized so we can all take it down. Out come all our note books and pencils. We will have his speech all right so we can report it to the home folks who thought they could not be here. All together! Go! Half an hour later we rouse to the fact that we have spent practically every moment of the time hanging to the seat in front of us too intent on the vital eloquence of the man to care whether we ever make an¬other note or not.
What a magnificent phrase-maker our Bishop is! Follow him with our note books? Why, it would take at least two expert stenographers, one on each side of him and an extra pair for relay serv¬ice, to keep in sight of him, especially when his theme is even remotely con¬nected with "civic righteousness," or the "reunited Christendom maintaining the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace." But the beauty of it all is that the dic¬tion is never for a moment careless and slip-shod, but precise, chosen with scrup¬ulous care and strikingly expressive.— Dr. R. P. Shephard, in the California Sunday School Advance.
Presiding at an Annual Conference — Bis¬hop Bell, the big brainy man, who has been directing the work of the Confer¬ence, is a Hoosier by birth, but comes now from the Pacific Coast, and his en¬thusiastic, breezy, boundless manner, re¬flects the spirit of the region. It takes a big man to loom tall on the Pacific Coast, and Bishop Bell is that kind. He was invited to give the final Sunday night address to the "Jackies" before the United States Fleet steamed out of San Francisco on its famous cruise around the world. In the great moral move¬ments on the Coast, no man stands higher than Bishop Bell. His eloquence is of the Niagara type, majestic and mighty. His vocabulary is marvelous and his diction beautiful. His breadth of view and progressiveness is one secret of his greatness as a leader in the moral and religious movements of the country. His experience as a General Secretary of the Missionary Society of his Church, taking him to foreign lands as well as all parts of America, has contributed to the preparations of the man for his larger work. In his native State he was prom¬inently connected with the State Sunday School Association, serving as Secretary, Superintendent, and President, also as editor of the State paper. He is now President of the California Sunday School Association, having the unusual honor of being elected to succeed himself
for the third consecutive year. At the last International Sunday School Con¬vention he was made a member of the Lesson Committee. By his eloquent plea at that Convention he captured the In¬ternational Convention for San Fran¬cisco in 1911. His study of present-day conditions in the social and industrial world has found expression in a popular book, entitled "THE SOCIAL MES¬SAGE OF OUR LORD," which is heart¬ily accepted by the reading public. While he is popular in the wider realm of State and International movements, he is greatly appreciated by his own Church, having been recently elected Bishop for the second term by the largest vote ac¬corded to any Bishop by the General Conference at Canton, Ohio.— The Up¬shur Daily Republican, Buckhannon, West Virginia.
Cultured to Refinement, but not to Death
— Bishop Bell is endowed with an ex¬cellent physique, is strong, young and vigorous and possesses marked versatil¬ity. His grasp of the moral, social, po¬litical and religious pulse of the times, combined with a spirit quickened to activity for the welfare of humanity; fa¬vored with volubility of forceful expression, cultured to refinement — but not to death — he is a fountain flowing with richest thought and withal most refresh¬ing. He has expressed in a recent vol¬ume from his pen (The Social Message of Our Lord), that which many other authors would require ten times the space and then not express it half so well."— California  Independent.
From Senior Bishop, N. Castle — His promethean growth has astonished me. He has distinguished ability for great things and great occasions. He is a man for great movements and great opportuni¬ties. I think he was well born. I knew his grandfather, and he was a remarkable preacher. I think the whole of child¬hood and youth was environed by the un¬seen hands of a holy ancestral life. Good blood flowed in his veins. Right genera¬tion was the forerunner and guarantee of timely regeneration. Good earthly her¬edity was early followed by divine her¬edity. No sooner was he converted than the priestly blood began to assert itself, and in a short and strenuous struggle he gave himself in absolute surrender to God. His success in the ministry on the human side is owing to a certain rough vigor and energy of character, and to his sympathy with the popular tendencies of the times. He wields a trenchant blade, carrying the significant motto, "I CUT." Many a hearer has felt the keen edge of the  lancet  of  truth,  and  has   yielded  to
REV.    WILLIAM   M.   BELL,    D.   D.
better living. His tongue is never tied, and his eye never closed. His speech is clear and incisive. He swings the sledge¬hammer of assault against all sin and unrighteousness, whether in the individ¬ual, the municipality, the State, or the Nation. He is large in size, and his per¬sonal presence is commanding. His neat¬ness and carefulness in dress, his round full eye, his full head of hair, will draw all eyes to him when he rises before a conference or congregation, and they lis¬ten with expectation to hear his mes¬sage. The attractive personality makes him a leader without his knowing it. It makes him revered and loved in the homes of the people. His natural dignity of manner, his gentle urbanity, his purity of life and experience, all contribute to make him the marked character that he is.— Nicholas Castle.
From the Home of President McKinley — Bishop Bell's oratory made such an impression upon the audience that many persons came to the platform after the lecture to congratulate him and one or two were heard to say that "he had Bryan beaten on the rostrum."— Canton, Ohio, Repository.
From the President of the California C. E. Union — I am taking this occasion to express to you in a small way my appre¬ciation of the splendid service you ren¬dered our State Convention in that "prince" of addresses that you gave us on such a timely subject.— Harry H. Godber, President California C. E. Un¬ion.
From the Religious Telescope — Bishop Bell is widely known as an eloquent speaker and has won for himself and his Church the highest recognition as a prophet of the better times in all that region on the Coast, where human so¬ciety is in turmoil, and the building of the nation is in progress. At the recent General Conference in Canton, Bishop Bell lectured on his favorite theme, "American Perils," on the same platform with Bryan, Hanly, and Dolliver, and won for himself praise above the others from the thoughtful audience who heard the  address — Religious  Telescope.
"Who is He and What is He Like?"— Bishop W.  M.  Bell, D. D.    Who is he?
And what is he like? Who can justly de¬scribe him? One needs his own wonder¬ful command of language, and his elo¬quent tongue to present him completely. His is grand. He magnifies the office. The office does not make him what he is, only as the weight of responsibility and the tremendous openings of opportunity
impel and lure him on in his chosen path to greatness. He is large, not only in physical structure, but in heart, mind and soul. His big, broad shoulders look as though they could bear a thousand weighty burdens. His massive frame gives the impress that the Creator in¬tended to inhabit the structure with mat¬ters of the greatest importance. And when we hear his words of wisdom, feel his sympathetic nature, and are caught in the whirl of his strenuous life, we con¬clude that God is not being disappointed but that this is one of his after sons in whom he is well pleased.
As a preacher he stands in the front rank. 'He is a student Godward and manward, saturating himself with the Divine Word and Spirit and at the same time absorbing himself in the perplexities of mankind, combining the two so as to bring harmony out of chaos, peace out of disorder and strife. He looks upon men with such love and fraternity that they seek him and hang upon his words. With master hand he wields the brush, and paints on the canvas of imagination the scenes of the past, present and fu¬ture. Like a great stereopticon, he throws on the screen of the mind the views of both earth and heaven. Like a great organist he plays on the heart strings of creation, now soft and calm, now louder and louder, finally coming as a rushing torrent and a mighty water¬fall. He is like a deep river, a turbulent cataract, a heaving and sighing sea. We love him, but that is not all; we love others better after coming under the spell of his spirit. Strange and myster¬ious as it is, roused up under the in¬fluence of his speech, we are filled with the feeling and desire to throw our arms around the man next to us, and we are conservative people, too.
He intoxicates men with the feeling of good will. He gives the effect that is usually sought in champagne and wines by some. Our natures are socialized. The twists, kinks, and wrinkles are smoothed out by a relaxed tension. Our troubles are forgotten, our trials are lost sight of, and our hearts go in sympathy and fellowship to the lot of the other fellow. God bless such a man. But why do we say that, for God has blessed him and made him to be such a blessing to us. And why has he blessed him so much and us so little? This is the sec¬ret. Not because he is a favorite, not because he is naturally better, but be¬cause he is leagues ahead of us in sur¬render and submission to his Lord. May God lead us to know more about such a surrendered life as that.— The Hill Mem¬orial Review, Bradford, Pa.