St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-05-24
THIRTY YEARS OLD.
Thirtieth Anniversary of the Y. M
C. A. Appropriately Celebrated.

Thirtieth Anniversary of the n. WI.
C. A. Appropriately Celebrated.
The thirtieth anniversary of the organlz-
alton of the Young Mems Christian asso-
citation was celebrated yesterday afternoon
at the Grand opera house with an elaborate
program. The floor of the house was hlled
and there was quite number OF people IN
the gallery. On the stage were seated the
officers of the association, y. l.. Rood,
president, the musicians and several mem
bers of the clergy The orchestra consisted
of the combined choirs of the Grace NJ. Y.
church and the Y. NJ. c. A. Prof. William
A. Wheaton, pianist. The congregation
was invited TO join in all the singing, which
they did under the direction of Prof. Sher-
ret of the First Baptist church. Clergymen
on the stage were: DR.. S. A. Mutchmore,
Philadelphia; Rev. E. P. Lewis, Mt. Yer
non, O.; DR.. G. W. F. Birch, New Y DIRK
city and Dr.. Christie, Revs. Harriet and
Evans of st. Paul. After singing the doX-
ology Rev. E. P. Lewis read the scriptures
and offered prayer, which was followed by
singing ''All Hail the Power of Jesus
Name"
John R. Hague, general secretary, then read
brief summary of the associations his
tory, The first call for a meeting being written
by Rev. A. NJ Corbett, pastor of the First
Baptist church, in 1856. The constitution
was adopted in September of that year. The
new quarters, corner of Ninth md WabaSha
streets, taken possession of about Jan. l
last year, had already become too small and
the association membership had increased
within two years from 200 to 500. During
1855 situations were obtained for Isl persons,
against 81 for the year previous. Between
JAN l and May l, 1856, employment had been
secured for fitty-nine persons. He also gave
statistics of attendance upon lectures, Bible
classes and gospel meetings, and read letters
showing the work of the organization with
young men from other cities.
Another hymn was sung and President
Rood briefly thanked the public and the
clergy for assistance rendered the assoca-
ton during the past and hoped that it
would meet with equal success in the future.
He was followed by the annual address,
delivered by Rev. S. A. Mutchmore, d. D.,
of Philadelphia, one of the Presbyterian
clergymen in attendance upon the general
assembly, and who preached in st. Paul
yesterday.
DIR. MUTCHMoRE's SERMON.
Mr.. Mutchmore said man ought to feel
ashamed to appear before such an audience
without preparation, but his excuse was the
short notice he had received. 1t was always
a subject of heartache to him to talk to young
men. His early experience as a clergyman
has been in preaching to students, and he
! knew the inside OF their case. He spoke of
the letters of mothers inquiring after their
sons through the association. The young
! men who invited him to speak said the pro-
gram contained nearly everything except q
stirring up, and, taking the cue he
would give the audience stirring up"
A stirring up was Il good thing once in
( while. How should the community be stirred
up TO the interests of these young men so that
the result would not be the same as with that
father who cried out in the bitterness of his
heart: 'Oh, Absolom, Absolom, my son,
Absolom." Where are your sons? It is ter
rible when young men cannot cross the street
without meeting temptation. The trouble is
men get hold of the wrong end of things, the
''switch end'' as they say in the West. We
are not speaking only for the present, but
for the future fifty years At that time these
two great cities will be ten miles in circum-
ference and instead of being $4,000 popula-
tioa Will be ], ZOO 600. And right here is the
center OF the moral growth of that LOO, 900
people. Paul said to Timothy: .'Stfr up the
gift that is within thee You stir up the fire
by poker put under it and letting in the air.
Use the poker that this gift within you burn
not down to gray ashes. There are two
kinds of pokers. We have our choice
of pokers. One is polished bright for use be-
fore company, like most of the young men to-
day. One is hard and crooked and used to
break the coal, but any kind of q poker is
good if it will stir up the fire. Use the gift
within you, and stir yourselves up to the
work. The fertility of the fruit of God sur
passes the great fertility of the SOIL and it is
more fertile to-day than ever before. / had
rather see young men avaricious than to see
them tipping and wasting their substance.
Never before in the history of men were men
SO willing to listen to you. Young men, you
need to be stirred up to keep you from
LOSING YOUR HOLD.
To keep your faith and do your work YOU
must do it by constant activity. John the
Baptist's faith was paralyzed by want of
activity when cast into Herod's prison. But
Christ had to tell him what they saw, how the
blind see and the lame walk, and the activity
Of the son of God restored his faith.
My young friends are you losing the
activity of your faith? There are only two
ways to get it back. One is to read the word
pf God, the other to go forth and do your
Masters work. The best way to get rid of
hnbelief is to feed aud clothe the needy. The
lkeptcs are around you, who can see as far
into stone as we can. They will tell you of
protopasm and so on, and the only reason /
believe in protoplasm is that some would
never get out of it. Five years ago Mr.. In
gerSoll s people met at Lake Seneca and
founded college, and haYe not heard a re-
port from that college to this day. The most
convincing argument against skepticism is
to show what Christianity is doing. Dogmas
may go at sevens and skies. men NAV get Mt
loggerheads on theological points, but there is
no way of building ND Christianity like heal
ing the sick. Now, young man, it seems to
me all you want is grace and money
and with these two you can conquer the
devil. There's money enough here, there are
plenty OF men outside the church who be-
Heye in giving. Show them what you have
done and their purse will open. The wealth
of the king OF glory is yours, only come and
take it,
AT the close of DR.. Mutchmore's address,
which was enthusiastically applauded, DIR.
G. W. +. Birch offered prayer. the congre-
CATION sang 'Our Master Has Taken His
Journey" and DR.. Christie dismissed them
hcr.