The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-09-16
MESSAGE To
YOUNG MEN
Theodore Richards
Talks at the
Y. N. c. A.
BEING A WITNESS
FOR THE LORD
Christian Warfare Never Ends
and Requires the CeaseIess
Activity Of Christians.

meeting of the Y. NJ. c. A. was held
yesterday afternoon at 4 o'clock in the
building Of that association The theme
was q message which Professor Theodore
Richards gave to the young men After
a few hymns had been sung and PRAYER
offered by Mr. Brown, the secretary of
the Y. NJ c. A. and Mr.. Bancroft, MI.
Richards began his speech.
| He began by stating that if there was
anything he hated it was to try to tell
an intelligent Honolulu audience what to
do. 1t looked so very presumptueus.
| The text for the first part of the
speech was taken from the. Acts. chapter
/ l, verse g. But We shall receive power,
after that the Holy Ghost is come upon
you: and We shall be witnesses unto me
both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and
in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part
of the earth"
Professor Richards said that he him.
self knew what he should do to be a
witness to Christ, and he also knew what
his hearers should do, if they were
| Christians; and he was only talking to
| the Christians in the audience. After
for witness, "martyros," he showed how
we used the word witness" or martyr
about the early Christians, who suffered
death for their processing of Christ It
was not so hard now to be a witness to
Christ by speaking of Him to public
audiences; people no more suffered for
this, and even if many might feel it hard
to do SO, this kind of witnessing was
not nearly as difficult as is witnessing
in the more abstract meaning of the
word.
| To be witness for Christ means not
only to preach about Him, but to bear a
correct and consistent testimony of Him
| through ones life. Such witnesses were
| hard to find in law courts. Many good
people We're fearful lest their testimony
do injury and are perpleXed by circum-
stances. 1t is still more hard to be a
straight and forward witness for Christ
through ones life, in the streets, in busi-
ness, etc. By doing so. one puts oneself
aside, so to speaks in a class by itself.
| People would consider such a man q lit
tie unsafe, cranky, perhaps To bear wit
ness for Christ in Honolulu would cost
anyone something. And yet, that is the
only way a man can be straight and
| honest witness.
| But one great aid toward being a good
witness was given the Christian by God
through the Holy Spirit. When Christ
went away He left somebody that He
could be reproduced in the lives of men
through the Holy Spirit He made it
possible for US to bear consistent testi-
| Of hyr;ef
! After dwelling some time upon this
subject, Professor Richards passed over
to the second part of his speech, which
] had for the text g. passage from the Sec
ond letter to the Corinthians. Chapter 8,
| verse s: And God is able to make all
| grace abound toward you; that We, al
ways having all sufficiency In all things,
may abound to every good work.
Professor Richards spoke of this pas
sage with special reference to the work
done by the Y NJ G. A No one could
! witness without living his life just as
Jesus Christ did. No one could say,
Here now I've done this job of Chris
tian work. Now I'm going to take a rest
for a MONTH" To initiate Christ the
Christian has to go into all kinds of ac-
tivities, and he has to bear witnesses of
Him in them ALL Any one who falls be-
low that falls below the standard. If
the Christian does not bear witness to
Jesus Christ through all his life and in
all his actions, how can the man who
stands. outside the church be blamed for
staying outside?
Mr.. Richards dilated some more upon
the subject and finally closed his speech
with a prayer. After some hymns had
been sung, short speeches followed from
Rev. Mr.. Hartley, Mr.. c. E. Smith, Mr..
j. Marlin, Mr. Bancroft and others, and
the meeting closed with the singing of
few hymns.