hood, going forth in the sign of the cross to work righteousness, to subdue kingdoms, to stop the mouths of lions, to wax valiant in fight, and to put to flight armies of the aliens. God speed that coming day!

THE RELATION OF THE YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION TO THE CHURCHES

REV. FRANCIS E. CLARK, D. D.

There was never a better definition of the church of God than that which was sung by Charles Wesley:

One family we dwell in Him,

One church above, beneath.

In this church family one of the children, perhaps we may say, the most stalwart son, is the association in whose honor we meet to-day. Some refuse to admit that there are many children in the family of the church, and that there could ever be another birth in the family. This was said, as we know, regarding the Sunday-school about one hundred years ago. It has also been said of the modern young people's movement in the churches, and of the Young Men's Christian Association more than once. But these fifty years of patient, magnificent service in all parts of the world have proved that the association has a right to sonship in the family of God.

In a family there is some special and specific work for each member. The father is the bread-winner; the mother is the home-maker, and each child has his recognized, individual place. So in the family of God, this association has its special, peculiar, unique work.

In the first place its special mission in the church is to set young men at work for young men. I have not very much sympathy with those who say that the church is "chopped into bits," when its work is divided or distributed. It is as if an objector should talk of breaking up the spinning jenny and smashing the power-loom because in increasing production they make a division of labor. In these days everything is subdivided, and every one has his special work in the great family of the world's workers. The family is not broken into fragments because the father goes to his business, and the mother goes to the kitchen or the parlor, and the children go to school. The school is not broken up into fragments because there are primary, intermediate and high school grades, and at last the boys go on into college. The school and the cause of education are advanced by this subdivision. So it is in the church of

God. Because the young men have a special work to do for young men ; because there is a special work for the young people, for the men, for the women in their missionary societies, and in all kinds of church effort, seeking all kinds and conditions of people—because of all this specialization I believe that the unity of the church is promoted and that it is doing a vastly greater work than in the past because of wise subdivision.

In a recent remarkable sermon Dr. T. T. Munger says that the work of the church is done by its so-called minor organizations, that here is its life, and that the lowest form of church organization is that which is content simply to listen to preaching.

A little while ago I was in the town of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Here, years ago, the Moravians were given a reservation by the government, and established their church, noted far and wide for its simplicity, purity and missionary zeal. The church in Salem, as in other places, is divided up into what are called "choirs" or little bands of people of the same age and condition. There is a choir of little boys and girls, and another of older boys and girls, a choir of widows and a choir of widowers. Every year these different choirs come together for their annual love-feast. I went to the widows' love-feast in Winston-Salem, not because I was a widow or a widower, but because I was an invited guest. It was a touching sight to see those old ladies gathered together, forty or fifty of them, all sympathizing with each other, and joining together in that beautiful love-feast. Then they partook of the Lord's Supper together, and went out strengthened in their hearts to do what God gave them to do.

The next Sunday there was to be the choir of young women, and then the choir of the young men, and later the choir of the married people. There is no church that is more united, more hearty in its sympathy of member for member, more active in its work than this Moravian church which is thus subdivided. What are the "choirs" of the church universal? One of them is this stalwart Young Men's Christian Association choir at work in all the world.

A second special mission of this association in the family and church of God is to put emphasis upon a symmetrical, wellrounded development of the whole man. It says to young men, "Your bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost." It has accepted the benediction of the Apostle Paul,-that, "your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." In the early ages the ascetics and mystics, in their emphasis upon the spirit, did not put sufficient emphasis upon the body and the mind. The tendency in these days in many scholastic circles is to put the emphasis upon intellectual belief and the intellectual apprehension of religion. I thank God that there is one institution, flourishing and

vigorous, that has divided life in this way, and that your symbol is the triangle-a figure with equal sides and equal angles. May I speak a personal word? I am proud to be a member of the Boston Young Men's Christian Association. Especially am I glad to frequent its gymnasium. I go in with the boys three or four times a week during the winter when I am in Boston. I strip with them, throw the medicine ball, work the chest weights, and look on with wonder and admiration while the younger boys stand upon their heads and turn double somersaults in the air, and only wish that I could do as well as they. I speak of this only to give my testimony to the fact that it has done much for me, and I am only one of thousands who can say the same thing. I have been able to do my work during the last three years, since I became a member of these gymnastic classes, in a better way, with far greater ease, because I have put some emphasis upon this side of my triple nature. If I may speak a word to my gray-haired confreres, in the ministry and out of it, I would say, Wherever you are, join this association if you can; go regularly to the gymnastic classes; put yourself under the physical trainers whom you will find in every large association, the best men of their kind-and this can be said with special emphasis in Boston, for there is in this country no better physical director than Mr. Roberts, or better physical trainers than those who are associated with him. Put yourself under the direction of such men. You will live longer, preach better, and do your work more for the glory of God.

May I suggest to you, my brethren of the Young Men's Christian Association, that if you ever make any change in your symbol, the triangle, make the spiritual arm a little longer than the others. In these days, when there is a schoolhouse upon every corner and an athletic field behind every schoolhouse; when in college "athletics are made compulsory and chapel voluntary," there is little need of fear lest we put too much emphasis upon the spiritual side. In all the churches and in all these associations, let us remember that after all this is the thing for which we stand. I thank God that you have so well kept this idea to the fore.

One thing more. The Young Men's Christian Association has a right and a place in the family of God because it has done more than almost any other organization to bring together the people of God in the different denominations, and to fulfil our Lord's prayer, "that they all may be one, as Thou, Father, art in Me and I in Thee." During the last fifty years there have been divisive forces at work. But there have also been uniting influences, and one that is most prominent is this splendid association movement. What some one has said about a similar organization can be said about the Young Men's Christian Association, with just as much emphasis: "If the denomina

tional bars have not been taken down (and that is not necessary), this association has at least taken the barbs off the wires, and that is a great deal to do." There was a great gathering of young people of the Christian Endeavor societies in the city of Melbourne. The city hall, a building of magnificent proportions, was crowded with young people from all parts of the colony of Victoria. It was the consecration meeting at the close of the convention, and they said to each other: "Now, we will show our loyalty to our own churches and our community by responding, when it comes our turn, by denominations and not as individuals and societies." So they were arranged according to denominations. In one gallery were the Presbyterians, three or four hundred of them. In the opposite gallery were the Church of England young people, three or four hundred more of them. Behind the Church of England young people were the Congregationalists. Behind the Presbyterians were the Baptists. In the front row were some of the smaller denominations in the colony. And behind these were a great body of Wesleyan Methodists, who are the largest in that colony, and the largest in this particular organization of which I am speaking. There were thirteen or fourteen hundred of them sitting together in solid phalanx. The Presbyterians rose, and standing together sang an old Scotch version of the Twenty-third Psalm. Then the Episcopalians rose and sang the Te Deum and were followed by the Congregationalists, the Baptists and the smaller denominations. Then the Wesleyan Methodists rose and took for their consecration message the first hymn that Charles Wesley wrote after his conversion. They sang the first verse, and the second, and the third all by themselves for no one was expected to join with them. Then they began on the fourth

But this hymn seemed too big for any one denomination, and as they began on the first line

"He breaks the power of reigning sin,”

the Presbyterians began to join:

"He sets the captives free."

and the Episcopalians began to sing:

"His blood can make the foulest clean-"

and the Baptists and the Congregationalists joined in :

"His blood availed for me."

And all were singing. No one could keep silent because that song told of the basis of their fellowship.

Brothers of the association, this is indeed the basis of our fellowship; the reason that we are standing together; the meaning of our unity-that we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ; that we are striving to do what He would have us to do, and that in His blood we look for salvation from our sins.

It has been my happy privilege to see and work with the members of this association in many lands and on every continent, young men of different complexions, of varying garbs, of differing histories and antecedents. But always I have found them doing the same splendid work for their Lord.

I congratulate you on the good work they are doing, in China, in India, in Japan, in the islands of the sea. I congratulate you on having such men as you now have in India-the McConaughys, the Whites, the Eddys. I congratulate you on your secretaries in China, whom I have seen within a twelvemonth. They were upon many platforms with me, the Lewises, the Lyons, the Gaileys-splendid, stalwart men, who are big physically, mentally and spiritually, and who are carrying the name which is above every name throughout all the world. They proved themselves heroes in the awful Boxer uprising as they have proved themselves splendid workers in the everyday humdrum of life. I rejoice with you in this belting of the world with work in Christ's name, for young men and by young men a work which will be for the glory of God and for the establishment of His kingdom, in all the ages

to come.

THE NEED OF A MORE AGGRESSIVE WARFARE AGAINST THE FORCES WHICH ARE DESTROYING YOUNG MEN

REV. JAMES M. BUCKLEY, D. D.

The theme, not conceived by me, but assigned to me, is too grave for levity, too deep for superficial treatment, too momentous to be discussed offhand. Half truths, sparkling epigrams and platitudes are all aside from a theme which proposes to emphasize the need of a more aggressive warfare against the forces which are destroying young men.

"Destroying young men !" Destroying old men would be a sad thing, and much might be said upon it, for while there are many self-made men, there are not a few self-unmade men. But destroying young men is the annihilation of everything good in the individual, in the family, in society, in the church