h the least disrespect for the fathers;
but every man who is old enough to have a son in college is old enough
to have become very seriously immersed in some particular business and
is almost certain to have caught the point of view of that particular
business. And it is very useful to his son to be taken out of that
narrow circle, conducted to some high place where he may see the general
map of the world and of the interests of mankind, and there shown how
big the world is and how much of it his father may happen to have
forgotten. It would be worth while for men, middle-aged and old, to
detach themselves more frequently from the things that command their
daily attention and to think of the sweeping tides of humanity.

Therefore I am interested in this association, because it is intended to
bring young men together before any crust has formed over them, before
they have been hardened to any particular occupation, before they have
caught an inveterate point of view; while they still have a searchlight
that they can swing and see what it reveals of all the circumstances of
the hidden world.

I am the more interested in it because it is an association of young men
who are Christians. I wonder if we attach sufficient importance to
Christianity as a mere instrumentality in the life of mankind. For one,
I am not fond of thinking of Christianity as the means of saving
_individual_ souls. I have always been very impatient of processes and
institutions which said that their purpose was to put every man in the
way of developing his character. My advice is: Do not think about your
character. If you will think about what you ought to do for other
people, your character will take care of itself. Character is a
by-product, and any man who devotes himself to its cultivation in his
own case will become a selfish prig. The only way your powers can become
great is by exerting them outside the circle of your own narrow,
special, selfish interests. And that is the reason of Christianity.
Christ came into the world to save others, not to save himself; and no
man is a true Christian who does not think constantly of how he can lift
his brother, how he can assist his friend, how he can enlighten mankind,
how he can make virtue the rule of conduct in the circle in which he
lives. An association merely of young men might be an association that
had its energies put forth in every direction, but an association of
Christian young men is an associ