And, then, I am glad that it is an association. Every word of its title
means an element of strength. Young men are strong. Christian young men
are the strongest kind of young men, and when they associate themselves
together they have the incomparable strength of organization. The Young
Men's Christian Association once excited, perhaps it is not too much to
say, the hostility of the organized churches of the Christian world,
because the movement looked as if it were so non-sectarian, as if it
were so outside the ecclesiastical field, that perhaps it was an effort
to draw young men away from the churches and to substitute this
organization for the great bodies of Christian people who joined
themselves in the Christian denominations. But after a while it appeared
that it was a great instrumentality that belonged to all the churches;
that it was a common instrument for sending the light of Christianity
out into the world in its most practical form, drawing young men who
were strangers into places where they could have companionship that
stimulated them and suggestions that kept them straight and occupations
that amused them without vicious practice; and then, by surrounding
themselves with an atmosphere of purity and of simplicity of life, catch
something of a glimpse of the great ideal which Christ lifted when He
was elevated upon the cross.
Pages:
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168