Connecticut western news., 1906-02-01

That to me Is the greatest work on
 earth to be done for young men in our large or smaller cities, next to getting q young man to publicly confess his
 love for the Saviour Indeed, l may
 go farther. Perhaps the second work
 is even more important than the first,
 for if q 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-
 tions and his last condition be worse
 than the first Let me sketch the story
 of a young man coming into a large
 city. I use this illustration because
 the work of the Young Mems Christian
 association always has been and all
 ways will be chiefly among the young
 fellows who, like George Williams,
 come to live in 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
 
 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 ferryboats, and they are running for the elevated 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 talk en up with watching the different sights. He acts just as he did when his father first took him to county fair. Then there comes over him an awful sense of loneliness. Like David, he seems to cry out, No man careth for my soul" He goes to church the first Sunday. He says to himself, "Now, if I go to church I will meet some nice people," But he finds the average city church just 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 to
 do? Yet all this time sin is everywhere
 beckoning: Come, brother, come and drink with me. Come and laugh with 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 go
 and meet Christian people. If the Christian churches in the past had been run on the line of the Institutional church, there would have been no need of a Young Mems Christian associa- lion. But as they have not been so run there have been thousands and tens of
 thousands of young men saved for
 Christ through the influence of the
 Young Mems Christian associations.
 Now, how does the Young Mems Chris
 tian association offer to the young men Il Christian home?
 Work for the day is done. Monday
 night is here. The young man is eating
 his dinner at the boarding house. The
 boarders are ab1ut to separate. Where are you going tonight?' asks one of the boys of another boarder Down to the Young Mems Christian associa- tion," is the answer. "Whatw says the questioner. Do. you go there? What do you do there" "Oh," says this friend, that depends. Some nights I sit and read in the library. Sometimes I bowl and play games with the boys. Sometimes I work in the gymnasium. Sometimes we have lectures. There Is always something to do. By the way, Mr. So-and-so, won't you come and be my guest tonight" he turns and says to the new boarder. "I want you to meet some of the boys. Then, If you like, I wish you would join us." Then the young mans eyes take on a look of great anxiety as he says: ''You Snnn6 | and in doing something. You cannot spend them better than down at the | association with us." What is the use | of my carrying the illustration any fur | ther? Do you not see that where the | average church work stops the Young | Mems Christian association work be- | gins? With the long arm of loving | tenderness 1t reaches out and encircles | tbat boys neck and heart. It says to him: Young man, come and spend l your leisure hours with us. Come and | read. Come and play. Come and meet | pleasant companions, the same kind of | Christian boys you used to meet in | your fathers home" And as sin beckons ill one direction the young man in his | lonely bedroom sees the Young Mems | Christian association beckoning in the other direction. l say, thank God that we have this noble association as a | great Christian home, fighting the 1 temptations of sin on their own ground. | But the purpose of the Y. M. c. A
 is greater than those we have already | described. It tries to bring young men
 to Christ. It surrounds the young men
 of a great city with the protecting in
 fuence of a Christian home. It has
 also an intellectual as well as a fun
 loving atmosphere. No sooner does a
 young man enter its walls than he is
 inspired with holy purpose of increas-
 ing his mental and physical capabilities
 in order that he may increase his spirit
 ual opportunities for doing good.
 Developing Strength.
 Now, the old idea of the literal inter |