Phoenix tribune., 1923-01-20
CHURCH LADS AS BOY SCOUTS

great tmth-a truth full of the wisdom of God
getting constantly increasing hearing in the councils
Of the church 1t is this: vital spiritual thing-call
it what you will-takes place in the soul of boy when
he sings knapsack on his back and swings down the
street and out into the open when after much he
SNAPS the shutter of his and carries home an
exposure OF mother her nest when tired
after long DAYS hike he digs the hollow in the ground
rolls up in his blanket stretches himself close to the
good old brown earth and sleeps under Gods stars And
this spiritual thing which is deposited the soul of the
boy the thing which for centuries the church has toll
ed to bring into the life of the boys for whom she has
assumed spiritual responsibility and often has toiled in
vain.
It is no wonder that the church believes in scouting
for boys 1t is no wonder that thousands of churches
appeal for charter from the Boy Scouts of America
and conduct scout troop under it's supervision for
its boys The church does these things because
scouting has made vital spiritual contribution to tens
of thousands of church boys right along these lines
Nature through scouting has been made ''school
master to bring the boy to God Virtue has been made
90 out of nature and into the boy as they touch each
other. This unique out-ofdoor program which scouting
emphasizes and completely is vastly different
from formal deliberate types of boy work It gives
things to boy to handle right where they are while
they alive, rather than asking him merely to de-
scribe the things of nature by the repetition of what he
has read about them 1t takes him to them rather than
brings them to him.
"Preparedness for peacer-this is the meaning of
the scout motto. Things are over the HILL around the
corner Just beyond the bend in the road in the next
block the next budng-it is the creed of scouting to
get ready-Spendldly readVtO meet these things, and
meet them right. First aid to the injured human or
animal, and all the catalogue of things which may be
done to anticipate and prepare for what is to come it
not hard to go from such preparation into the idea that
is back of it athe sacredness Of life its infinite pre-
ciousness and then to go from life to the Creator of life
Here spiritual opportunities the like of which few
programs for boys work have ever sensed.
Boys being taught to know God in an intimate
personal way through scouting because they intro
duced to him through newer deeper personal
knowledge Of the things He has made and scattered
about in endless variety in His out-odoors It is easy
for boy to understand God when He stands revealed in
the big spaces of forest the far reaches of and
lake. in the upreared heights of the mountain peak or
the chsled depths of mighty chasm There are
concrete things which he and touch They are
far better teachers than pictures printed texts Scout
ing takes the boy into the heart of these great revea
ons of God and in their setting lets the voice of God
speak to the soul of boy who has been made supera
lively ready for the hearing of Gods voice.
Birds, plants insects, animals s,-scouting asks it's
boys to know them ALL be able to describe each one ac
catey tell the story of it's habits know it's good and
its bad qualities learn the wonder of it's mechanisms 1t
is easyfar easier than in any class room for the boy
to the part God plays in the great universe Of living
things out where living things and to bring himself
personally into the right relation to God which all
living things enjoy.