es, and cut every tie between
you. Here is one young man who loves books. Let the church give him books.
Let him know that he receives this high and pure pleasure from the hand of
Christianity. Here is another that loves pictures. Let Christian art adorn
the walls, and Christian liberality pay the price. But here is another of
a lower grade of culture. Not vicious, not specially inclined to
dissipation, but finding little interest in books or pictures. Throw him
among these higher influences, of course, for they will insensibly educate
him; but if a checker board or a game of dominoes will attract him, and
keep him for an evening away from the liquor saloon or the theatre, pray
tell me why Christian hands should not furnish him these, and a pleasant,
quiet place in which to play his innocent game, where no profanity greets
his ears, where no bar presents its seductions. Another loves music; why
should not Christian liberality furnish him the gratification of this
taste, and Christian hands and voices join with him in swelling the
harmony in which his heart delights?

It is, of course, impossible for me to go into details here, but the
general principle I think is clear. It seems to me that the only way in
which the church can reach any large proportion of these young men, is by
the judicious union of attractive and direct influences; by bringing under
her own control and using all those appliances which appeal to the social
instinct, to the taste, to the intellect, to the necessity for recreation,
freeing them from debasing associations, and thereby drawing the
unconverted youth within the range of direct religious influences. She
must be content to keep them out of the hands of evil for the time, if she
cannot fully commit them to piety. But then, let it be clearly understood
that these things are to be under the control of religion. That the
_salvation_ of the young men is the great end toward which these are only
means. The moment our Young Men's Christian Associations, to which we must
chiefly look to carry out this plan, let their rooms become mere lounging
places; the moment the prayer meeting is dropped; the moment the young men
cease to be on the watch for opportunities to speak the word of religious
counsel, that moment they are no longer the allies of the church; they
will have become no better than clubs. I want to say to the young men of
our own association who have so boldly and, thus far, so successfully
ca