The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1918-07-11

"
responsibility of the church to make
Christ known as the one ana only
Savior of men. Never has there been,
however, call so urgent as that which
now comes to the church to present to
the young men Of America Jesus OF
Nazareth, the Christ Of God, In all the
matchless splendor Of his manhood
and I'm all the fulness OF his saving
grace. Never has there been a time
when this salvation In Christ meant
80 much to our young men, never
time when 1t meant so much to the
nation, and to the world. We have
come upon the supreme test Of charac-
ter and manhood In the great battle
lines Of Europe. The crucial hour
surely Is at hand. Only the clear,
strong. enduring, overmastering man.
hood of the allied armies can win In
this mighty struggle. Who Is able to
lmpart this strength, but Christ only.
Never has there been day when
the moral power and physical strength
of American manhood was so In de-
mand and never time when II was
so imperiled. Our young men are
gathered by the thousands and hun
dred thousands into the training
camps, and are sent week after week
into the battle-llnes In France, remov-
ed from the home restraints to which
they have been accustomed. and sub
jected In new and trying way to
manifold temptations. In spite Of gov
ernment efforts to protect them, and
in spite of the devoted und heroic en-
deavOrs of the Christian forces OF the
army and the Y. N. G. A. to reach and
to save them, the dram shop and the
brothel, the boot-legger and the har-
lot. are seeking to reap a harvest
which, from the standpoint of our
country's need, is priceless. Leg,sla-
ton cannot change the hearts Of men.
Christ only can furnish the saving
grace, the moral fortitude and the
heroic courage that can take our
young men safely through the mazes
of temptation which must surround
them from the beginning to the end or
their experience in modern warfare In
n world of sin.
The, following story by nurse In
France Is illustrative Of the ruin
wrought when the vlperous grip OF
vice falls upon our sturdy lads:
"One morning nurse whose name
you have seen In the papers went with
me to n special clinic, and on our way
back we passed a great building used
for hospital.
az can stand anything In this war
but that she said.
"'Why, what is there here worse
than In other hospitals? Could any.
thing be worse than we had at Yer
dun and Ypresr
"Yes! yes these are the boys who
can fight for their country, but can't
fight for themselves, she answered
No wound received at the front Is SO
frightful as the wounds of these men.
Out there the wounds are awful and
CHASTITY, but when they are washed
and dressed, the boys look sweet and
| clean and wholesome. IL they die,
they die with honor; If they live, they
live with honor; but these boys here
suffer from diseases worse than lep'
rosy. II they die, they die In lonth'
some horror. II they live, they are q
curse to those who love them. These
are the spoils of the brotherhood OF
the harlot.'
"'Come, my dear, let us get away
from here. II haunts me. l have
boy In the army. Every day ask God
to give him courage TO fight this bat
tie to victory or let HIM die Then
she took my arm and led me away.
"a few weeks later ! was sent tC
that very hospital. 1t was all differ
ent. In other hospitals the soldiers
like to have the nurses near them. We
remind them of their mothers, sisters
and sweethearts, and they are lit
tie proud of their wounds. But In that
one they are ashamed of their lives
and disease and do not want n good
woman near. They are morose and
Respondent The blackest despair II
In their eyes and hearts,
oh how sorely these boys needed
Christ in the fresh, sweet days OF
early manhood. If every manly power
had been brought under captivity tC
Him, how different might have beer
the outcome of this testing time. Oul
thousands Of fresh, clean lads gather
ing weekly In the great cantonment'
and pouring daily into the battle lint
I'm France must have chance to know
the Man of Galllee. that manifest oi
men, "who hath been touched with I
feeling Of their infirniity," and wht
Is able to save them from sin and abl'
also to keep them whole. How grea
the responsibility and opportunity o.
the army chaplains and Y. Nj. @. A
secretaries In presenting Christ thu
only sufficient Savior to these youni
Americans who hold In their hands
the Issues OF the war and the destln!
of the democratic nations Of the earth
Pray for them that Christ only may b,
their strength.