Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1906-04-16

child. 1t was never started with the
idea that a clean shirt viii necessarily
make a clean heart to beat under the
clean shirt. 1t was never started with
the idea that we'll BACKED shoes and
well creased trousers are sure proofs
that the owners of those shining shoes
viii walk in the path of virtue and of
truth. But the Young Mems Christian
association was started with the idea
Of leading yOuHg men to seek first the
kingdom Of God and his Righteousness.
IT was started with the idea that the
greatest work of life for a young man
to do was to bring other young men
into touch with Jesus Christ. Thus the
Young Mems Christian association has
never from the beginning been afraid
70 lift high the banner Of the cross. It's
very name signifies tic purpose for
which it was organized. Young Mems
Christian association" means young
men for Christ" That is the first and
chief reason for which honor this be-
neficent movement.
work For Young Men,
But the Young Mems Christian as
ISOLATION work does not end here. 1t
is important to get a young man to
confess Jesus Christ. but it is also nee
essary, during the years of his Chris
tan infancy or formative period. to
keep the young man by Christ's side
and to surround him with the protect
ing influences Of a Christian home
That to me is the greatest work on
earth to be done for young men in our
large or smaller cities, next to getting
a young man to publicly confess his
love for the Saviour. Indeed. | may
go farther Perhaps. the second work
is even more important than the first,
for if young man who has once con
fessed his love for Christ does not con-
tinue to live very close to Christ he is
very apt to be drawn aside by tempta-
lions and his last condition be worse
than the first. Let me sketch the story
of young man coming into q large
city. | use this illustration because
the work of the Young Mems Christian
association always has been and al
ways will be chiefly among the young
fellows who, like George Williams.
come to live in a large city with no
home but a boarding house, and no
friends but those they are compelled to
make among strangers.
This average young man is the son of
Christian parents. All his past life has
been surrounded by Christian infu-
ences; but, like most young men living
in the smaller towns or on the farm, he
wants to get into the center of things.
He goes to New York, Chicago, Phila-
| delphia, San Francisco or Los Angeles.
| At first he is dazed or dazzled by the
noise and the hustle. The houses look
| to him as though they were reaching
| to the sky. The streets are so crowd
| ed with electric cars and tramways
and automobiles and shooting auto
| cycles that he is afraid to cross them.
Then the crowds! The people seem to
| be everywhere, They push him, they
| jolt him, they growl at him, they do
everything but speak kindly to him.
Everybody seems to be in such a hur-
ry. The people are running for the
fCrrybo2ts, and they are running for
the elevate trains, and they are run
ming for the bridge cars. They are run
ming everywhere.
The Sense of Loneliness.
| At first the young mans time is TAX
| en- up with watching the different
sights. He acts just as he did when his
| father first took him to a county fair.
Then there comes over him an awful
| sense of loneliness. Like David, he
seems to. cry out, mo man careth for
my soul" He goes to church the first
Sunday. He says to himself, ''Now, if
| go to church will meet some nice
| people" But he finds the average city
| church lust as different from the coun-
| try church as the tall, stiff, unbending
and inhospitable city home is different
from his fathers genial, open door
| farmhouse. No one speaks to him at
church. Then the lonely Monday night
and the lonely Tuesday night and the
lonely Wednesday night and the lonely
Thursday night and the lonely Friday
night and the lonely Saturday night
He wants to be good, but what is he tC
do? Yet all this time sin is everywhere
reckoning: Come, brother, come and
drink with me. Come and laugh will
me. Come and make merry with me-
Plenty of church services on the Sab
bath day, but what is he to do during
all the rest of the. week? Mark this
The young men of the city will not be
saved for Christ by two sermons
preached on the Sabbath day They
must have a Christian home. They
must have a place where they can 20
and meet Christian people If the
Christian churches in the past had beer
run on the line Of the institutiona
church, there would have been no neeC
of a Young Mems Christian associa
ton But as they have not been so rul
there have been thousands and tens o
thousands of young men saved TO
Christ through the influence of tn
Young Mems Christian associations
Now, how does the Young Mems Chris
tan association offer to the young me-
q Christian home?
-. To