as
strong. He does not fumble with the stopper in the vase-held forces of
good. "If you believe," he cries, "what Christ lived believing and
died believing, then break the vase, and do not keep as a private
possession powers that are meant for the world. Do not keep as a
personal luxury what is meant to be the family treasure." Such a young
man is the living exegesis of Christ's revolutionary word: "The kingdom
of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force."

When he is warned not to expect too much from human nature, not to put
too much trust in men, not to waste his strength in trying to remove
mountains, not to jeopardize his chances on the threshold of manhood in
trying to serve a world which, so far from thanking him, will very
effectually resent his most disinterested efforts on its behalf; when
he is reminded of some once aspirant who, young and confident as he,
set out to reform the world, and now cynically affirms that the only
wisdom is to let the world go to the devil in its own way--the young
man who is strong says: "I acknowledge your facts, such as they are,
but they are not facts for me. I, too, may be beaten in the right, but
I would rather be that a thousand times over than succeed in the wrong.
It is the temptation of the wicked one to conclude that, because
history is said to have repeated itself hitherto, it must needs repeat
itself for ever. I do not live on history; I live to make history. I
believe that I was sent into the world new from the fashioning hand of
the Creator, and that I have a new man's work to do. If my life of
faith on the Son of God seem recklessness to you, wanting in proportion
and eccentric, hold your opinions for all they are worth; but you shall
not influence me by your abandoned hopes, you shall not even chill me
with the east wind of your selfish ethics."

These are the young men we need to-day. Strong in hope, in position,
and in daring; strong in the strength which they find in their years,
and the strength they put into them.

And the Church has a right, society has a right, the nation has a right
to look to young men for a greater and a better future. We who are
older have a claim to look to you to confirm our faith in the survival
of Christianity as the living force of the future. We need fresh
leaders and men who incarnate new forces. We need, in fact, a certain
style of man--we never needed him more. We want young men who are
inspire