The Semi-weekly leader. (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1905-1941, 1916-03-11
Y.m. 9. A. FOR BROOKHsvEH.
Good for One Would Help
the Handicapped Man or Boy
The Site Proposed.

man strongest when he is weakest.
This.is one of the greatest miracles
which He performs. He is con-
stantly performing it. He is do
ing so among all classes and con-
ditions of men. He is doing so in
all lands. He came not to occupy
Himself with perfect men but with
the imperfect. He came not to
call the righteous but sinners.
His great appeal is not to men who
count themselves as having attain
ed, but to those who have fallen
short and are keenly conscious of
their limitations. In contrast with
all other religions Christ's religion
is one of hope. This is its most
distinctive note, Christ announc-
ed as the real credential of His di-
vine mission that the sick were
healed, the deaf heard, the blind
received sight and the poor had the
Gospel preached unto them. On
every hand He has shown His abil-
ity to take lapsed individuals and
peoples and to remake them and to
raise up from among them men of
saintliness and might. He has al
so shown equal ability to take
good men and to make them vastly
better, to take strong men and
make them far stronger, to take
brilliant men and make them truly
great.
So it has ever been with the
Young Mems Christian Association
when it has really understood and
has been true to its mission-that
of bringing the living Christ to dy-
ing men. Its crowning glory
through all its crowded years of
glorious life has been its abound
ing helpfulness to men who stood
in need of help. Its distinctive
mission is to the handicapped men.
handicapped men called it into be-
ing. Its marvellous fascination
and its mightiest triumphs have
been its worldwide service to,
handicapped men, especially in re-
lating them to Christ and His
Church. So it must ever be.
When the Association loses this,
its primary interest in and passion
for fractional men, incomplete
men, undeveloped men, unfortu-
nate men, unsaved men and men
unadjusted and unrelated to life's
tasks and life's opportunities, then
it may well perish from the earth
and give way to some other move
ment which will be true to this
unique purpose of its Lord and of
all who bear His name.
What q boundiess field opens be-
fore this Association with such
mission! No man the world over
is one hundred per cent efficient,
be he the son of the rich or the
poor, college man or illiterate cot
ton-mill boy struggling for live
lihood, in training camp or prison
ers-of-war camp, in the most cul-.
tured Christian home of the Occi-
dent or in the most favored circles
of the ruling classes of the Orient.
The Association is in a position to
fill up to his ten per cent or his
seventy five per cent lack in physi-
cal, intellectual or moral efficiency.
1t offers him a chance. 1t opens
before him an unending vista of
attainment and achievement. Ey-
cry offer of its dynamic and vital
izing Gospel is a call to throw off
the shackles of binding habit and
the incubus of the sin which so
easily besets one and to rise in
newness Of life.
In the nearly thirty years which
| have spent at work among the
young men and boys of over forty
nations in all parts of the world, II
have not yet found a person con-
corning whom / have lost hope.
Wherever have appealed to hand
icapped men there has invariably
been a favorable response. The
men and boys of all lands and of
all races are in need of help to
help themselves, and they are uni
versally and remarkable responsive
to constructive and wise ministry
of brotherhood, such as that so
we'll illustrated by the work of the
Young Mems Christian Associa-
ton.
In this review on the threshold
of new and momentous year is
presented veritable moving pic
ture film of vast, varied and vital
service of men of our generation.
Here men who have followed the |
investment of their money as well
as that which has cost them yet
more of themselves-reveal with |
freedom the motives which have
led them to give; for example, Mr.. |
E. B. Sturges, one of the most use
full citizens of Pennsylvania, who
provided a gymnasium for Scran-
tons youth as "a thank offering,
his own lonely youth |
when he found through the Associ-
alton his first friends and his best
Friend. = One cannot fail to be
moved by the gifts, springing from
he mofher-love of Mrs. Smith and
Mrs. Gates for young men in
and New York, to perpet-
late noble purposes expressed by
heir sons (sons cut off before they
could put impulses into action), T
but to aid less fortunate young
men in times of stress and need
3r by benedcence of Mr.. ]. NJ.
who erected that most
complete Association building in
- II