The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1898-12-23
~ Holiday Goods Sons Exchange ST. IA
Y. M. c. A. ANNIVERSARY.
Large Meeting at Baptist Church and
Broad, Inspiring Address by Rev. F. L.
Thompson,

Large Meeting at Baptist Church and a
Broad, Inspiring Address by Rev. F. L.
Thompson,
The eleventh anniversary exercises of the
Y. M. c. A. held in the Baptist church
Sunday night were fully up to the usual
standard set for these meetings. The audi
torum and the main gallery of the Baptist
church were quickly filed and the assembly
room and galleries opening from it were
comfortably full before the services began.
The music for the evening was conducted
by e. K. Lohnes, who was assisted by a
male chorus which led in the congregational
singing. The invocation and the scripture
reading We're by Rev. Bastian Smits.
OF Charlotte, who occupied the Con-
gregational church in the morning and also
addressed the Y. M. G. A. in the after
noon.
Previous to introducing the speaker of the
evening, DIR. b. s. Knapp the president of
the Y. M. @. A, made few general
remarks concerning the work of the associa-
ton. A portion of this in the nature of a
summary of the years work was similar to
that given in our last issue. In addition to
this he gave few instances which showed
the character of the work done by the asso-
citation for individual young men whom he
had known.
The annual address delivered by Rev.
Tou Thnnnonn pft
tral M. E. church in Lansing. was one OF
the best ever given In these meetings and In
point of time occupied by the speaker
proved conclusively that he had mastered
the art of stopping before his audience had
heard anywhere near all that it would be
glad to hear from him. The subject, "Perils
and Promises of Twentieth Century Man
hood" was handled in an interesting and
inspiring way.
In the opening sentences the speaker re-
ferred to a we'll known retort of Daniel
Webster With which that gentlemen silenced
a bOastful Virginian-"We raise men in
New England"-and then went on to say
that the quality of the manhood and woman.
hood in civilization furnished the true test
of the civilization. And, the prevailing
characteristic OF the young men of today Is
to be the characteristic of the civilization OF
the future. The young man of twenty five has
formed the ideals and the traits of character
which determine what his life and his char.
acter shall be. 1t is like the railway tracks
In great railway center when q single
movement of switch iron In front of an
outgoing train means the breadth of the
the switches for the main line and not for q
sidetrack ending In the marshes.
The nineteenth century has seen three
times the advance in material things which
the whole preceding eighteen centuries
saw. This progress Is to be paralleled in the
twentieth century In the progress of charac
ter.
There are over eleven million young men
in the country. Only about eleven per cent
are church members; about seven more
attend church regularly; another seven at
tend occasionally; and about seventy five
per cent are utterly without the realm OF
Christian influence. In large city two
thousand young men were found in the
churches on Sunday night. In the same
city under similar conditions thirty thousand
we're found in places where the influence
was thoroughly bad. A great majority ol
the criminal class too is made up of young
men. Seven. tenths of the criminal popula
tion of one million are men under thirty
years of age, and every peril of the twenti-
eth century gathers around the fact thai
young men are not loyal to Christ.
To be living In this age is sublime. and
the young man who does not feel the Oppor
tunities it offers must be dead. It's no joke
to live. The twentieth century will demand
brain power. Ii will be the age of the
thinker. 1t will demand heart power even
more. The world Is full of little people, lit.
tie people measuring only two by four-and
so thin! The world is hungry for big men.
Men who weigh ton and are too big t(
truckle and too much filled with the fear of
God to fear men. SO the twentieth century
will demand strength but it will demand
with it more tenderness. There is much
truth in the joking assertion that the worlC
needs more 'taffy" and less ''epitaphy.
Put the tenderne IS In by an incarnation o
Christ into life.
There is great tendency to effect saliva
ton by culture, refinement, good clothes
better wages, better economics, and othe
schemes but while all are good don't try +
do it by leaving out the cross. Strength O
character tempered by tenderness and al
appreciation of Christ is the all importan
thing to be aimed at by the individual.
| -
His Life Was Saved