Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1882-05-14

What tremendous force is this Here
are thousands of young men burning with
zeal toward G )d-and filed with the impelI-
ing power of His blessed spirit men who
have direct access by their peculiar methods
to the 60 600 students, to 100, 900 CONNER
cial travellers, to 500, 900 railroad men, to
the thousands of the young all over the
country-North and South, asst and West.
What reserve force for God is this Young
Mems Christian Association. Your relation,
friends. to the church of the Redeemeris Just
in this line, what the religious order | spoke
of was to the church of Rome, you must
be to the Church of Christ, to Christ him.
self AS an association you must enter the
lists against the evils which have been indi-
cated right down among the thousands of
the young of our country and of every
country who are beguiled by the seductive
influences of scepticlsm, you must go and
must win them to Christ. You must as an
association, meet the thousands who land
upon these shores; you must give battle to
all pernicious influences end destroy all mi
del efforts to supplant the church of the
living God, and this you must accomplish
by capturing the young men of every ma
tionalty. This is your relation 20 the
church in a general sense. but such rela
ton can be sustained only as you remain as
individual associ. tioas, local working
forces of the church for what can you hope
to accomplish separate from the church
And unless the building up of the church of
the living God, which IS done by converting
the sons of men and plant lg them in the
courts OF our God, is your ooj Get, how can you
have a permanent existence and where is
the necessity for your longer continuance
This brings me to the consideration of the
particular or local relation of the associa-
ton to the church. On this I wish to be
very explicit and candid. In some places
en- unfortunate misunderstanding has arisen
between the churches and the assocla-
tons. No sufficient reason can be given for
this that does not at bottom lay the blame
at the door OF the parsonage or at the door
of the church. There are many churches
mere like fine art societies than societies for
the propagation of blood-stained gospel
which goes down to the lowly and the aban-
doned and transforms them into Christ
Ekeno3s, synonymous with purity and white
ness OF soul. The religion of such churches
| is little better than ''sleek propriety."
Smooth Potipherisms and mammonism,
and Belial with all his crew, can sooner get
| through the Celestial Gates than Lazarus
with his rags and sores. No ''babes and
sucLlings" perfect the praise of their God.
| No bad grammar or stammering utterance
canIss.cr their mercy-seat. Only the purest
Add; onisal can be tolerated in the
court of Heaven. A false
accidence, or accent, or tone shuts
up hopelesslessly the Divine audiences.
The celestial heights can be climbed only
by regular approaches of rhetoric or logic
or of sentimentality, or sensationalism, ac-
cording to he rules of most approved art.
The tears o. penitence may fall, but they
must fall gracefully. Sobs may go up, but
only on the most exquisite of misereres A
falsetto in music puts the whole chorus of
serapbic hallelujahs to fight"
What possible sympathy, what co-opera-
ton can the association expect from such
Churches? A certain kind of aesthetic is
too utterly lacking in the association that
tolls with Christlike patience and zeal
among the lazaroni of society, that visits
/ the prisons and the poor houses and the
reeking alleys of our great cities; that
works among commercial travellers, en-