^. ^^. BV 1030 .D63 1896 v.l Doggett , L L. 1864-1957. History of the Young Men' s Christian Association . . ^^:^^^^A< HISTORY OF THE YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION Volume 1. THE FOUNDING OF THE ASSOCIATION, 1844-1855. BY L. Lf DOGGETT, PH. D., state Secretary Ohio Young Men's Christian Associations. NEW YORK; The international Committee of Young Men's Christian Associations. 1896. Copyright, /8(f6, By L. L. DOGGETT. Tlbe imperial press : The Clkveland Printing and Puhi.ishing Company. PREFATORY NOTE. This volume is a thesis presented in the Department of Sociology of the University of Leipsic, under the direction of Prof, von Miaskowski. The purpose for which it was prepared explains its scope without further comment. The writer's interest in the history of the Association grew out of the preparation of a paper on the history of the American Movement, read before the "Ohio Church History Society," in 1892. Direct work upon this history was begun in August, 1893. In gathering material, several months were spent at the headquarters of the American Committee at New York, in the library of the American International Committee at Springfield, Mass., and at Exeter Hall in London. Visits have been made to the conference of the German Associations, held at Eisenach, in October, 1893 ; the World's Convention of Associations of all lands, at lyondon, in June, 1894; to the headquarters of the German National Committee at Elberfeld, the World's Committee at Geneva, and the local Associa- tions at a variety of places, especially Berlin and Paris. From the libraries at Springfield, New York, London and Berlin, I have been kindly loaned reports and records, many of which are rare, and without which it would have been impossible to have gathered the numerous historical data. Personal interviews have been held with many of the actors in the Association's history ; especially am I in- debted to the noble Christian man whom all who know 4 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. this movement love and revere : Sir George Williams, the Father of the Young Men's Christian Association. The friends who have assisted me are so many, a com- plete list cannot be given. I am especially under obli- gation to W. Hind Smith and W. H. Mills of London, to Christian Phildius of Berlin and H. Helbing of Elber- feld, to S. D. Gordon, R. R. McBurney and Richard C. Morse, and Jacob T. Bowne of the International Train- ing School. This theme has grown into a work much beyond my expectation. I hope at some future day, if this volume meets with a kindly reception, to add two others on the second and third periods of the Association's history. L. L. D. February, 1896. CONTENTS. Chapter I. INTRODUCTION. PAGE. Sec. I — The Study of Sociology 9 Sec. 2 — Religion as a Social Force 10 Sec. 3 — Influence of the Religion of Love on Character .... 11 Sec. 4 — Religious Institutions 12 Sec. 5— Theme and Method 14 Chapter II. BEGINNINGS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. Sec. 6 — Preparation in the British Churches 16 Sec. 7— The Industrial Revolution 22 Sec. 8 — Origin of the London Association — Sir George Williams, 30 Sec. 9 — From the Founding to November, 1845 41 Sec. 10 — Development of the Parent Association (1845-1851) . . 55 Sec. II — Financial History 72 Sec. 12 — Extension of the Association (1845-1851) 75 Sec. 13— Summary of the Results from 1844-1851 79 Chapter III. THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT. Sec. 14 — Preparation in the American Church (1800-1851) ... 81 Sec. 15 — The Industrial Situation 97 Sec. 16 — Founding of the American Association, December, 1851, to June, 1854 106 Sec. 17 — The Confederation — William Chauncy Langdon . . . .125 6 CONTENTS. Chapter IV. FOUNDING OF THE CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION. Sec. i8 — General Conditions on the Continent 141 Sec. 19 — Preparation in the German Church 143 Sec. 20 — Social Conditions in Germany 149 Sec. 21 — Origin of the Jiinglings-Vereine 152 Sec. 22 — Geneva and Paris 162 Sec. 23 — Summary 164 Chapter V. THE FORMATION OF THE WORLD'S ALLIANCE. Sec. 24 — The Paris Convention 166 Sec. 25 — Conclusion 179 Appendices. Chronology of the Association 183 General and Association Literature 186 THE FOUNDING OF THE ASSOCIATION. The Founding of the Association. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. Section i. — The Study of Sociology.^ The thought of the ancient world was absorbed in the relation of man to nature and the universe. The Greek philosophers sought for an explanation of the physical world, and the principles underlying existence. They developed the study of Cosmology. The Middle Ages, through the introduction of Chris- tianity, became absorbed in the study of the relation of man to God. The teaching of Jesus Christ that God is "Our Father" and " thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind," riveted the attention of men and devel- oped the study of Theology ; men had advanced from a study of the universe to the study of God. The Reformation and the Renaissance shifted the point of view : men have not ceased to study nature or God ; they have perhaps eclipsed their fathers, but more and more the modern world is devoting itself to the study of the relation of man to man ; the study of society or Sociology — man in organized relationships. ^ Erdman's History of Philosophy ; Hough's English translation ; MacMillan & Co., N. Y., 3rd Edition, 1892. Sec. 259 " outline " h: 3rd Vol. by Prof. H. C. King: Richard Ely's "Social Aspects of Christianity." Chap. I. 10 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. The saying of Jesus Christ, "Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself," is being placed beside his teaching of love to God. Sec. 2. — Religion as a Social Force. ^ The two fundamental principles on which human so- ciety, not the ideal society, but present society is organized, are self-interest and altruism. Spencer, Drummond and Kidd, however much they disagree in the application of these two principles, practically rec- ognize them. "Egoism" and "Altruism," the "struggle for life," and " the struggle for the life of others," are different names for the same thing. Drummond makes these two principles evolve side by side. Kidd makes society the resultant of a continued warfare between them. He holds that reason dictates the pursuit of one's own interests, and religion through the conscience dictates that men should have regard for the interests of others. He thus recognizes religion as a social force. Spencer tries to ignore it. Professor Marshall, practi- cally in the same way with Benjamin Kidd, places religion in contrast with self-interest when he says, *' The two great forming agencies of the world's history have been the religious and the economic." It is not the purpose of this treatise to discuss the manner in which religion has usually been treated as a social force, but to present an example of the way in which the Christian religion operates as a factor in socie- ty. Men are born with both the egoistic and the altruis- tic instinct. The Christian religion does not create either. It is natural for parents to love their children, and friends their friends. It is also natural for men to seek their own interests. Society may at present, as 2 "Social Evolution," Benjamin Kidd, MacMillan & Co., N. Y., 1894. "Ascent of Man," Henry Drummond; Hodder, London, 1894. " Principles of Economics," Vol. I., p. i.. Prof. Marshall. INTRODUCTION. 11 Benjamin Kidd holds, be the result of a struggle between these two forces, but the Christian religion is gradually harmonizing the two, by a proper recognition of both. It seeks to control both forces and establish a proper equilibrium between the two on the principle laid down by Jesus Christ, " Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy- self," Egoism is regard only for self; altruism is re- gard only for others ; love is a proper regard for both one's own interest and the interests of others. Christianity is the greatest of social forces because it is the religion of equal love between man and man. Sec. 3. — Influence of the Religion of Love on Character. Benjamin Kidd points out that the superiority of one race over another consists not in intellect, but in the possession of the moral qualities of virtue, steadfastness, integrity and self-mastery. He shows successfully that these qualities, and not intellectual gifts, have deter- mined the survival and supremacy of nations and races. Paul teaches that love (Galatians 5: 22) is the foun- dation stone on which these moral qualities rest. Love makes men honest towards their fellows ; love is the source of self-sacrifice ; the mainspring of true virtue ; the inspiration of valor ; the highest incentive to achievement, and to what Paul and Spencer'^ alike place as the cap-stone of virtue, self-mastery or self-control. I do not wish here to discuss the relation of man to God or to the future life, but to insist that when a man becomes a follower of Jesus Christ and endeavors to love his fellow men as himself, he becomes a new factor in society. His relation to the family, the State, the economic world, and all human life are governed no longer by the principles of self-interest or altruism, but '"Principles of Sociology," Herbert Spencer; Third Edition, Appleton & Co., N. Y., 1891, Vol. I., Chap. VI. 12 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. a new principle has harmonized both — equal love to himself and his fellow men. The religion of love works at the foundation of so- ciety because it forms character in individuals. It is a primal social force. Henri Amiel has recognized its relation to society when he says: "Society rests upon conscience ; not upon science ; civilization is first and foremost a moral thing ; without honesty, without re- spect for law, without the worship of duty, without the love of one's neighbor, in a word, without virtue, the whole is menaced and falls into decay. The ultimate ground upon which every civilization rests is the aver- age morality of the masses, and a sufficient amount of practical righteousness." ^ The principle of love which harmonizes the egoistic and altruistic forces in man, and thus builds character, the foundation of society, has taken of necessity the next step and seeks to guide men's actions. The re- ligion of love not only shapes the actions of those who have accepted it, but it is constantly creating a public sentiment, a tradition of conduct, so to speak, which guides the movements of society. The ideal society which fulfills its functions on the principle of love between man and man may seem un- attainable, but it is this power of love which has abol- ished slavery, mitigated war, and which for centuries has been diminishing class and hereditary privileges. It is the practical side of the religion of Christ, and it is working today with unabated power. The religion of love is a fundamental social force, because it ?noulds me?i's character and governs their conduct. Sec. 4. — Religious Institutions. Like all great sociological forces, religion founds in- - Ainiel's "Journal," Mrs. Humphrey Ward's English translation, London, 1893, Vol. 11., p. 86. INTRODUCTION. 13 stitutions to fulfill its mission. The political, economic, educational and social forces of society have estab- lished powerful agencies which act with far-reaching consequences. The institution established by its found- er to fulfill the mission of the Christian religion is the Christian Church. In connection with what is popularly comprehended under this term, the religion of Jesus Christ has built up a vast net-work of agencies, differ- ently managed at various periods of Christian history, but adapted as completely as the resources at hand and the circumstances of the times would permit, to fulfill the great mission before it. A multitude of organizations, institutions and estab- lishments, under the centralized authority of the Pope, such as cloisters, schools of learning, monastic orders and alms houses, were established by the Church of Rome in the middle ages, as a direct expression of the religion of love. Mr. Ingram, in his history of Economic Science, speaks thus : " Catholic Christianity brought out more forcibly and presented more persistently the higher aims of life, and so produced a more elevated way of viewing social relations. It purified domestic life, a re- form which has the most important economic results. It taught the doctrine of fundamental human equality ; heightened the dignity of labor, and preached with quite a new emphasis the obligation of love, compassion and forgiveness, and the claims of the poor. To the influence of Christianity as a moral doctrine was added that of the church, as an organization, charged with the application of that doctrine to men's daily transac- tions." As the various sociological forces extend their influ- ence, the organizations of society increase in intricacy and complexity. The progress of religion illustrates this law. The organizations of the early church were 14 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. simple, compared with the ramified agencies of modern Protestantism. The more vital and vigorous spiritual forces are, the more completely they lay hold of the classes of society, and the different departments of life. The Christian religion is a primal social force, be- cause it begets love between man and man, and thus moulds human character and directs human conduct. In order to accomplish this practical side of its mission it founds such institutions as the changing circum- stances of the race demand. Sec. 5. — Theme and Method. The object of this thesis is to show the operation of this social force in one of the most important spheres of life — young manhood. One of the remarkable institu- tions established by the Christian Church is the Young Men's Christian Association. It is desired to show, first, the way in which the spirit of Christian love has created this institution, and second, to measure as truly as possible its influence and significance. In discuss- ing its development, I have tried to bear in mind that it is an expression of a spiritual and religious force, and have sought to give a true picture of the motives, as- pirations and forces which have guided it. They are distinctively religious. Doctrine, polity and the relation to the organized church are discussed only so far as these affect the constitution of the organization and the character and conduct of its members. In order to measure the influence of the Young Men's Christian Association, we must understand first, the nature of the religious forces which produced it, and second, the social environment which has made such a movement necessary. We must study the cause and the occasion. Geographically^ the Association has developed three INTRODUCTION. 15 types of life, each type in the main being determined by the conditions which surround it. These three types of Association life are the Anglo-American, the Continental (European), and the Missionary. The Association is an International Evangelical Institution, and reflects the condition of Protestantism in the differ- ent sections of the world. As contrasted with Roman- ism, a fundamental characteristic of the Protestant Church is freedom. It rests on individual consent; it aims at the development of the individual, and seeks to influence society and the state mainly through the individual. While freedom is its general characteristic, the conditions of Protestantism on the continent of Europe are so different from those which prevail in English-speaking countries, and further, the conditions in heathen lands are so diverse from those in lands that are denominated Christian, that it is necessary to treat separately the three types of Association life. Chronologically^ Association history is divided into three periods : (i) Introduction of the Association idea. 1844-1855. (2) The development of Association methods. 1855- 1883. (3) Wide extension of the movement. 1 883-1 896. The chronological method has been chosen as the basis of treatment, combining with it the topical and the geographical, but the movements in different coun- tries will be presented only so far as may be necessary to get a true perspective. This thesis is limited to the first period 1844 to 1855. CHAPTER II. BEGINNINGS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. Sec. 6. — Preparation in the British Churches. The distinguishing characteristic of Protestantism in each of the great sections of the Protestant world, Continental Europe, Great Britain and America, grows out of the relation of the Church to the State. Conti- nental Protestantism is marked by the union, almost the subjection, of the Church to the government. In Germany, dissenters number half a million — a mere handful of the population. In Great Britain, the people are almost equally divided upon this question, whilst America affords the example of a free church. We consider first the nation where conviction on this question is in one form or another the prominent factor in determining church relationship — England, the soul of Protestantism, the home of the Anglican Church, of Puritanism and of Wesleyanism. The religious forces at work in England at the begin- ning of the century may be traced directly to the Reformation, as represented by the Established Church ; to the Puritan or Dissenting movement, as represented, by the Independents, Presbyterians and Baptists, bod- ies which have been most active in advocating the separation of the church from the State ; and to the Wesleyan Revival of the i8th century, as represented by the Methodists. Christians were generally desig- nated with reference to their attitude toward the Estab- lished Church, as either churchmen or non-conformists. Churchmen gradually became divided into three parties BEGINNINGS OF TII/l BRITISH ASSOCIA TION. 17 — " High Clmrcli," " Low Church " or " Evangelical," and " Broad Church " or " Liberals." The "Evangelicals " were largely descendants of the Puritan and Wesleyan Revivals, who remained within the Established Church. The " Evangelicals " and the " Non-Conformists," while differing widely on questions affecting the relation of the Church to the State, were gradually approaching a platform on which they could act together with regard to great matters of social and moral reform. Romanism need not be considered in this discussion, as Roman Catholics number but four per cent, of the population in Great Britain. At the beginning of the century, religion was at a sadly low ebb all over the Protestant world. Religious life in England was feeble. War, infidelity, the Indus- trial Revolution, and other causes had rendered large multitudes indifferent to spiritual things. Bishop Burgess wrote of the Welsh See of St. David (1803) ; "The churches and ecclesiastical buildings are in a ruinous condition. Many of the clergy are incom- petently educated and disgrace their profession by inebriety and other degrading vices." " Clergymen often occupied several livings and neg- lected them all. Bishops, as a rule, were not in position to be overstrict, as some of their own body were the most glaring offenders." ^ " At the beginning of the century the number of churches built and rebuilt (Church of England) aver- aged only three in a year." '' In 1814, John Bowdler wrote: " Not a tenth part of the Church of England population in the west and east parts of the metropolis, and the populous parts of Middlesex, can be accommo- dated in our churches and chapels. Over 950,000 per- ^ Overton's "History of the Church of England in 19th Century, "^ page 7. ^ Cutts' " Turning Points of Church History," page 316. 18 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. sons in London are left without the possibility of paro- chial worship. The want of church accommodation is more noticeable in other parts of the kingdom." In 1824, Islington had 30,000 inhabitants, and only one church and one chapel. Evidence exists of almost equal lethargy on the part of the various non-conformist bodies. The battle of Waterloo closed a series of struggles which for years had absorbed the life and energy of England. With the year 1815, attention began to be directed with renewed vigor to home policy in politics, business and religion. The whole Protestant world was emerging from under the shadow of the great Napoleonic conflicts. The two religious parties which did most at this period to vitally influence the life of England were the " Evangelicals " in the Established Church and the Non-Conformists. The " Evangelicals " emphasized belief in essentials, piety, practical charity and Christian work. They minimized ceremonies and the doctrine of the church. Overton says : "They were the salt of the earth in their day. It may be said generally that during the first quarter of the century there was a marked increase in the strength of the Evangelical party until it became beyond all question the dominant spiritual power in the Church of England." John Tul- loch says : *' Evangelicalism w^s in short the only type of aggressive religion then (1820-30) or for some time prevailing, although its aggressiveness was more of a practical than an intellectual kind." Such leaders as Charles Simeon of Cambridge, William Wilberforce, the Seventh Earl of Shaftesbury, and the brilliant Han- nah More were its chiefs. " They founded the Church Missionary Society, the great British and Foreign Bible Society, and the India Episcopate. They were espe- cially strong in the cities." BEGINNINGS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 19 Through the influence of these two great parties, the Evangelicals and the Dissenters, an immense activity in Christian effort began in England. Slavery was abolished in 1833, countless agencies, such as ragged schools, tract societies, city missions, mechanics' insti- tutes, Sunday Schools and foreign mission societies were either organized or so enlarged in their activities as to become efficient. From this period dates the be- ginning of most of the great religious societies, also the great religious periodicals and journals, and the intro- duction of cheap Christian literature. In 1818, Parlia- ment voted one million pounds for church erection ; in 1830, there was an average of forty churches a year erected by the Church of England alone. In 1827, Will- iam Wilberforce expressed himself as " highly gratified with the opening prospect," and he says, " I, who knew the aspect of things forty years ago, can add, with the highly improved state of the clergy." The Evangelicals have always been on the side of popular reform, and have devoted their energies to up- lifting all classes of society. Bishop Hurst, writing in 1865, says of this party: " It has sought out the popu- lation of the factories and mines of England and ad- dressed itself to the relief of their cramped and stifled in- mates. It has reorganized ragged schools and endeavored to reach all the suffering classes of the Kingdom. At the commencement of its public career it founded the Church Missionary Society (1800) and the Bible Society, which has translated the Scriptures into one hundred and fifty languages, and distributes two million copies annually. Archbishop Sumner founded the first Diocesan Church Building Society in 1828. The Pastoral Aid Society, founded in 1S36, by its lay and clergical employees, is now (1865) ministering to three million souls. The Low Churchmen have established in needy localities, Sunday Schools, Infant Schools, Libraries, Benefit 20 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. Societies, Clothing Clubs and Circles of Scripture Readers. They seek out the abandoned and hopeless wretches in the darkest sinks of London, reading the Bible to them, clothing, finding work, and training them to self-respect."^ In the blaze of this devotion, the " fox-hunting parson " and " the absentee rector '* of the i8th century became an impossibility. Religion had, to some extent, shifted its point of view and ceased to be so much a matter of doctrine or churchmanship, as a matter of practical life and help- fulness between man and man. The new movement did not pause to demonstrate its position by syllogisms or formulas, but it made a new ideal to shine before the eyes of men, in the light of which minor differences were forgotten. In an address before the Evangelical Alliance, 1855, Rev. T. R. Birks said: "Pious Christians have had their intellectual horizons enlarged, and have fixed their thoughts more strongly on the humanizing and social aspect of Christianity." This subsidence of doc- trinal discussion and absorption in practical work is of great moment to our subject. Creeds divide, service unites. It indicates two aspirations of the early part of the century, which reveal the beating heart of Christian love, and which were an essential preparation for the Young Men's Christian Association. First, a growing interest in practical Christian work, and second, the willingness of denominations and parties to co-operate in service. A third advance must also be noticed : Christians were forming the habit of organizing in order to carry out common enterprises. In the midst of this period, and in spite of the grow- ing spirit of unity, a violent agitation against the Es- tablished Church broke out, which so aroused the friends of the church as to produce what is known as ' "Hurst's History of Rationalism," page 509. BEGINNIXGS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 21 the Oxford or Anglo-Catholic Movement, called by its friends, the Church Revival. It was really of political origin. The advocates of the Reform Bill, passed in 1832, were pronounced opponents of establishment. " The Reform Bill gave great power to just that class which was most hostile to the Established Church, and most favorable to dissent, not the higher or the lower, but the middle classes." * Dr. Stoughton says : " I question whether in tlie present day any attacks on any institution are to be compared in bitterness with those in reference to the Established Church between 1820 and 1830."^ The High Church Party, under the leadership of Newman and Pusey, in 1833, sprang to the rescue, and inaugu- rated a revival of high churchmanship, which, while it resulted in a revolt to the Church of Rome of some one hundred clergymen and many laymen, restored the piety of the Established Church and its hold upon a large section of the English people. The Tractarians, as the High Churchmen were called, emphasized the ritual and the sacraments. They taught that the epis- copacy was of divine appointment, and dissent was separation from the body of Christ. The High Church movement v/as not in sympathy with such an enterprise as the Young Men's Christian Association. This should be borne in mind, as it is one of the reasons why the Association Movement in England has not received such unanimous encouragement or achieved as abun- dant success as in America. The numerical strength of religious parties in Eng- land at the time of the founding of the Association may be seen from the census of 185 1, the year of the great exhibition at London ; the population was then over eighteen millions ; 6,000,000 of whom by youth, sickness * Overton, p. 312. ' Overton, " English Church in XIX Centur}-," p. 311. 22 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. oi age, were not in condition to attend church. The worshipers in the Established Church were estimated at 4,100,000; in dissenting bodies, 3,400,000; non-wor- shipers, about 4,100,000. The places of worship con- nected with the Established Church were 14,077, with a seating capacity of 4,800,000. Dissenters owned 20,390 places of worship, with a seating capacity of 3,600,000. Mr. Birks estimates the High Church, Evangelical and Broad Church parties in the Established Church at this time (1851) to be about equally divided, with proba- bly 6,000 clergymen each. Fully two-thirds of the re- ligious strength of England was in the non-conformist bodies and the Evangelical party of the Established Church at the middle of the present century. They represented the aspiration, the spiritual life, the Chris- tian zeal, the philanthropy and evangelical fire of England. The spiritual preaching of the dissenters and the zeal of the Evangelicals were the religious forces of the kingdom, which were ready to grapple with the new difficulties presented by an unparalleled revolution in the industrial life of the people. The High Church party and the Liberals alike have had a noble work to do in this century, not always understood by their rivals, but to the Dissenters and Evangelicals belong the organizing and manning of the agencies (of which the Association is one) that were called into being to save industrial England. From them came the money, the men, the sympathy and the courage to make the Young Men's Christian Association a success. Sec. 7. — The Industrial Revolution. While these changes (1800-1850) which breathed new life into English Christianity were in progress, a new social era was dawning. The Protestant world was changing its habit of life. The industrial age, with scarcely a note of warning, was beginning. The pro- BEGINNINGS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 23 foundest sociological fact of modern times is that the civilized world is leaving the country to live in the city. The magnet of the city is an irresistible force. The race is becoming urban. We will not repeat here the oft-told tale of the rise of the city except so far as is necessary to show that it is the modern fact which occa- sioned the Young Men's Christian Association. Without the rise of the city, the parlors, gymnasiums, reading rooms, educational classes, halls, Bible studies, religious meetings, — the vast organization of half a mill- ion young men, with its secretaries, directors, com- mittees, costly buildings and mighty influence would never have been born. The Association movement was founded by a young man who moved from the country to the city. It was founded primarily for young men living away from home in cities ; without the wide extent of the city it would have remained simply a London institution, and never have become a world- wide organization. The Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation is a nineteenth century enterprise. It has the flavor of modern times ; it is a city product. Its busi- ness methods, its enterprise, its intensity, its weaknesses, too, of superficiality and haste, all bear the stamp of its city origin. To understand Young Men's Christian Associations, we must understand the modern city. Self-protection, government, commerce and pleasure, built the cities of past centuries. The force that draws men into modern cities is wealth. The startling fact is that just as many people live in cities to-day as can make a living in them. This is the law of city growth. It is as inflexible as the laws of the Medes and Persians. It is their only limitation. Loomis, in his volume, " Modern Cities," shows that the cost of living alone regulates city population.^** 1" Loomis' "Modern Cities," page 35. Shaw's "Municipal Government in Great Britain." New York, 1895. 24 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. The struggle with disease, poverty and famine shriv- elled the size of ancient cities, and only a Rome, where bread was distributed by the government, or a Babylon, where food was raised within the walls, could support a million inhabitants. The discovery of almost unlimited means of increasing production, and the development of rapid transportation, has produced the modern city. Manufacture describes it in a single word. Commerce has been, and is a source of wealth, but manufacture is the chief. Machinery made manufacture possible, man- ufacture produced wealth, and wealth has produced the modern city. With all its commerce, two-thirds of the population of New York are engaged in some form of manufacturing, and probably an equal proportion of the millions of London. The possibility of this great increase in wealth has arisen through the invention of machinery. In 1788, Watt invented the steam engine, and the industrial revolution began. " In the discovery of the steam engine, the mother of machines, may be found the central reason for the growth of our nineteenth century cities."^ A variety of agencies contributed to the industrial revolution in England. " In 1776, Adam Smith pub- lished his ' Wealth of Nations.' " This overthrew the Mercantile Theory, which held that national pros- perity could only be secured at the expense of neigh- boring States, and advocated industrial freedom. "Al- ready in 1762, the Bridgewater canal, the first joint of a net-work of inland water communication was opened. In 1767, Hargreaves introduced the spinning jenny; Arkwright's spinning machine was exhibited in 1768 ; Crompton's mule was finished in 1779 ; Cartwright hit upon the idea of the power loom in 1784; the Stafford- shire potteries date from 1763." ^ Loomis' " Modern Cities," page 42. BEGTNNTNGS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 25 In 1786, a new commercial treaty stimulated trade be- tween England and France. Between 1800 and 1830, the year the first railroad was operated, a thousand inven- tions by the application of steam increased the means of production, and began to pile up the wealth of the civilized world, until Mr. Gladstone declares " that the amount of wealth which could be handed down to pos- terity produced during the first eighteen hundred years of the Christian era was equalled by the production of the first fifty years of this century."^ He adds, "that an equal amount was produced between the years i860 and 1875. In 1770, the income of Great Britain was i£i 19,500,000 ; in 1889 (including Ireland), it reached the enormous sum of £1,285,000,000, and the estimated wealth of the United Kingdom was £9,400,000,000. With this increase in production has come the won- derful development aud cheapening of rapid transit by the application of steam, and more recently, electricity. The world has increased its pace. In 1807, Robert Ful- ton operated the first steamboat ; in 1830, there were cargoes of 24,000,000 tons carried by water ; 1889, the water freights were 139,000,000 tons. Since 1829, the miles of railroad have reached 354,300 in Christendom, while the aggregate investment in the railroad carrying trade represents £5,736,000,000. In 1780, it cost £13 to carry a ton of freight from London to Leeds. Flour is now carried to London from Chicago at the rate of 33s. per ton, and from San Francisco by water for 30s. ^ These mighty agencies have increased production, cheapened food, and have given the opportunity for great multitudes to support themselves by factory labor in cities. Coincident with this increased opportunity for em- ployment in the city, there has been a corresponding 2 "Our Country," J. Strong, page 115. ■■' See Munhall's Statistics, 1892. 26 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. decrease of demand for labor in the country. The in- vention of machinery has made it possible for one work- man to produce as much as a score by the old methods. The number of agricultural laborers in England in 1831 was 980,000 ; in fifty years it has declined to 870,000 ; while the population has increased from 13,990,000 to 26,100,000. This rapid movement from the country to the city began first in Great Britain, and has had there the most pronounced development. The facts have often been presented, but they are startling to the stu- dent of society. Josiah Strong, Samuel Loomis, Albert Shaw, and a great variety of writers, have brought them to public notice. England, Germany and the United States have about seventy-five cities of 100,000 popula- tion and upwards, and some 300 others with between 25,000 and 100,000 inhabitants. The United States has 353 cities of 10,000 population and over. London is adding 125,000 people annually to its population ; New York, Berlin, Chicago and Glasgow, the capitals of the Protestant world, average each nearly 50,000 annual increase in population. In 1818, Liverpool had only 94,300 people, Manchester only 70,000. London, which, in 1818, had 1,129,000, is now the marvel of the world, with over 5,000,000 human souls. Americans are fa- miliar with the summary given by Josiah Strong, in " Our Country," of the development of American cities. In 1790, one-thirtieth of the population of the United States lived in cities of 8,000 inhabitants and over. In 1800, one-twenty-fifth ; in 1820, one-twentieth ; in 1830, one-sixteenth ; in 1840, one-twelfth ; in 1850, one- eighth ; in i860, one-sixth ; in 1870, one-fifth ; in 1880, nearly one-fourth. "In 1780, there were but six cities of over 6,000 population ; in 1880, there were 286." The " Industrial Revolution " has produced the modern city. This sudden crowding into business centers seemed to arouse all the evil passions of the BEGINNINGS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. '27 race, and has sorely tested the religious institutions of the Protestant world. England found herself with a swarming city population, without adequate provision for their bodily, intellectual, social or spiritual needs. The greed of the money-getters outstripped philanthropy and Christian zeal. There was probably as much suffer- ing in body, stunting of intellect, anguish of heart and corruption of soul in the factory cities of England dur- ing the first half of this century as in the darkest annals of slavery. This is a bitter indictment, but the facts are appalling. The greed of capitalists who wrung hours of aching toil from infant children and starving women, the wretched hovels in which the laborers were herded without regard to sex, the reign of rum and the rampant rage of vice, were like a blight on city life. " Persons of all ages and both sexes were collected to- gether in huge buildings, under no moral control, and with no arrangements for the preservation of health, comfort or decency." The epithet, " a factory girl," became a badge of infamy. The "apprentice system," which put thousands of little children into the hands of mill owners, was a merciless slavery. Extra hours, night work, brutal treatment, wretched food, and foul sleeping-pens, wore out their little lives. The cities became sinks of moral iniquity, and, in spite of later efforts to redeem them, surpassing all previous move- ments of the Christian Church, they are still often spoken of as a menace to civilization, and an evil sore on the body politic. The important fact to this discussion is that the city is becoming the home of the young men of the Protest- ant world ; young men form the great majority of the industrial army, which annually invades the city from the country. It has already been pointed out that the country no longer needs their labor in the proportion it once did, while the city offers opportunity for advance- 28 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. ment and tlie fascinations of pleasure combined. Loomis, who has given, perhaps, the most successful study of modern cities, says : " Great cities have a special fascination for young men. They offer to the successful high and tempting prizes. There is little in the position of leading merchant, lawyer or physician in a country town to spur the ambition of the young ; but those who hold the like positions in the cities are princes and mighty men of the times." "x'lmbitious fel- lows prefer a hard race with high stakes." " Who can measure the fascination for the masses of manhood of the great cities' unequalled facilities for instruction and amusement?"* Berlin and Chicago have each 300,000 young men ; New York, 400,000 ; London, a million. These young men are a most important factor in social life. They fill the stores, offices and shops of the city, and man the thousand agencies which go to make up the activity of the modern world. They are students in the universities and workmen at the bench. From their number must come the legislators, teachers, preachers, physicians, merchants, manufacturers and workmen who are to guide and mould the Protestant world. The appalling indifference to religion among multi- tudes of young men in English cities at this period will appear as we discuss the founding of the London Asso- ciation. The interesting fact often overlooked is that such a large number of young men of Christian char- acter and zeal for preaching Jesus Christ should have been ready to take hold of a movement like the Young Men's Christian Association. The awakening of young men and young women to active interest in religion and in the welfare of others is one of the achieve- ments of the modern church. The brutal manners, the filthy conversation, the lustful lives, the yielding to un- * " Modern Cities," page 33. BEGlNNrNGS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 29 controlled desire, and the impiety of young men " sowing their wild oats " in English cities in 1800 and earlier, cannot be conceived of to-day. In a prize essay for £50, entitled " Our Young Men," by Francis Cox, published by the " British and Foreign Young Men's Society," in London, 1838, we read: " The cruel sports which were once pursued with avidity at wakes, fairs and general holidays, such as single stick, brutal wrest- ling, bull baiting, and others prevalent among the lower orders, have diminished, some of them have almost dis- appeared, and even the gentlemanly (?) amiisements of cock fighting and the ring, or the sanctioned feats of pugilism, are on the wane." The rise of the city, with its fierce temptations, brought about by the Industrial Revolution, threw young men into great peril ; multi- tudes fell into lives of sin and lawlessness, but the forces of vital religion we have already discussed had also been at work, and had awakened the consciences of a small number of young men who were ready to support any organization inaugurated to carry the Gospel to their fellows. A study of the short-lived earlier movements to benefit young men, which have been many, shows that whatever their weakness of organization as constrasted with the Young Men's Christian Association, they were not the spontaneous rising of young men to help each other. The Young Men's Christian Association is not a mission to young men, much as it has been aided by philanthropists and the ministry. It is an effort by young men to help themselves, an assertion, on the part of Christian young men, of the dignity of their position as Christians and members of society. We have seen the new problem created bythe indus- trial movement that has housed nearly 40 per cent, of the Protestant world in cities. We have pictured also the awakening vigor of the religious forces of England. 30 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. The peril of the city called forth the church in its might. The Church of Jesus Christ arose like a man of war to a battle with a new foe. Countless agencies for purifying and redeeming the modern city have been called into being — city missions in every slum, street preaching, lay helpers' associations, public libraries, mechanics' institutes, various parish organizations, deaconesses's orders, the Salvation Army, Dr. Barnado's Home for Boys, The Workman's Pleasant Sunday Afternoon, temperance societies. Young People's Societies, Sunday Schools, and a host of other agencies, until the church of the present day in Great Britain has become one organized army, directing its most power- ful attacks on the evils of the cities. It is estimated that in London £4,000,000 are spent annually for the uplifting, enlightening and blessing of its Christless masses. With such a Christian sentiment to appeal to, with the young men of the nation in peril, with a nucleus of Christian young men ready to follow, it only needed a leader to rear an institution devoted to the salvation of young men. Such a leader arose in the person of a young man, George Williams, now one of the merchant princes of London, the founder of the Young Men's Christian Association, the man who, more than anyone else, has lived, worked, given and prayed for the young men of his generation. Sec. 8. — Origin of the London Association, sir george wiivliams. George Williams was born at Ash way Farmhouse, five miles from Dulverton, in southern England, in the year 182 1. His father was a prosperous yeoman who owned two large estates, especially adapted to sheep culture. Agriculture had been prosperous, but the era of BECrNN/NGS OF THE BRITISH ASSOC/ A TION. 31 the transfer of power from the land-holding class to the cities was already dawning. With rare insight into the signs of the times, young George Williams was des- tined by his parents for a business career. He was sent to school at a notable private academy called " Glyns' School," where an elder brother and George Hitchcock, who was so soon to be identified with the London Young Men's Christian Association, had spent their school days together. When he was in his fifteenth year, in 1835, George Williams was apprenticed for six years by his father to learn the business of a merchant in the Holmes Drapery Establishment at Bridgewater. Williams' father paid a premium of thirty pounds for this opportunity. There were then some sixty young men and young women employed in the various depart- ments of the establishment. The Williams family were brought up in the Church of England and attended service at the parish church of Dulverton, However, when George Williams began life among the employees in the Holmes Drapery Establishment at Bridgewater, he had received no deep religious impressions. He was a thoughtless, active, capable young man, with a hasty temper and a warm heart. Among the employees were two or three apprentices who were members of the Independent Church of Bridgewater. These young men exercised a great influence upon Williams. By their example, consecration and loving faith, he was persuaded to give his own life to Jesus Christ. He be- gan to pray and to seek God. This occurred some time in 1836, and marks the beginning of George Williams' life of devotion and Christian service. In the Holmes Drapery House there was a little dark room where the wrapping paper was kept, into which Williams used to slip oflf alone, when he was tempted, and pour out his soul in prayer to God. He says : " Instead of spending my Sunday afternoons in pleasure as formerly, when 32 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. the light came, I began to go to vSunday School. I entered a class and afterwards became a teacher," The prejudice at this time against the Dissenters was very strong, and it was a great effort for a young man like Williams to rise above it. As a result of his con- version he was filled with a desire to win others to Jesus Christ. The "Principals" of the establishment attended the Independent Chapel, but were not Chris- tians. The life among the young men was careless and immoral. Williams and the two or three Christians who had been the means of his conversion decided to hold prayer meetings in their bedrooms and invite the other young men. These meetings, which were devoted to prayer, singing and short expositions of the Scripture, had a wonderful influence upon the young men of the establishment. In a short time, 27 became Christians, among them one of the proprietors. The young women also held meetings in their lodgings for the women clerks. Williams did not confine his efforts to his fel- low-clerks, but with others, in spite of criticism and ridicule, conducted meetings in the villages near Bridge- water. It was a period when laymen were just begin- ning to be active in Christian service. Mr. Williams says : " There was a freshness about it that gave zest to our efforts. We had no society or organization. We worked because we felt impelled to work."^ In 1840, the business at Bridgewater changed hands and Williams' apprenticeship terminated. This year was spent in helping his brothers establish themselves in business, after which, George Williams, now twenty years of age, decided to go to London. His elder brother was accustomed to purchase goods of his old school friend, Mr. George Hitchcock, of the firm of George Hitchcock & Co., 72 St. Paul's Churchyard, * This section is drawn from notes taken in a personal interview with Sir George Williams, in October, 1894. BEGINN/XaS OF 77 IE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 33 London. Through the influence of this brother, Will- iams was received, in October, 1841, into this establish- ment as a junior assistant, at 35 pounds for the first year. Here, under the shadow of St. Paul's mighty- dome, where for generations the restless stream of human life has ebbed and flowed, from Ludgate Hill to Cheap- side, young Williams began his London career. In 1841, some eighty young men were employed in the difierent departments of the Hitchcock establish- ment, working by day at its counters, and lodging by night in the upper apartments. London was then, as now, full of temptations. A writer in 1837, said : " As soon as a young man was introduced into London he found in the immense majority of instances that even lawful business itself was conducted in an unlawful manner." " The exposure to evil outside of business is extreme." " Under the present system, at every few steps our young mechanics in going to or returning from their labors are met with new solicitations to their pas- sions, and are made to drink, gamble and ruin their present and eternal interests."'* The first Young Men's Christian Association Report (page 12), in 1844, declares, " until recently the young men engaged in the pursuits of business were totally neglected. They were treated as though deprived of mind, as though formed only to labor and sleep, and to sleep and labor, so that they could only go from their beds to the counter, and from the counter to their beds, witliout a moment for men- tal or spiritual culture, without the disposition or even the strength for the performance of those devotional exercises which are necessary for the maintenance of a spiritual life. " But happily for us a brighter day has dawned. The 20,000 young men engaged in the drapery (dry goods) trade and the 30,000 employed in the various other * Francis Cox's " Prize Essay," page 212. .34 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. trades of the Metropolis are being regarded as an im- portant portion of society." Rev. William Arthur, M. A., in an address in 1844, before the newly organized Association, said : " Our general assistants (salesmen) in our great establishments have been looked upon as a species of physiological machines from whom a certain amount of work was required, and if that was done nothing more was thought respecting them. Sometimes the more knavish the assistant was, if but successful, the more he was approved. No class has been more neglected or despised." In 1847, a young man writes of the commercial house where he was employed : " During dinner, tea and supper time, nothing but obscene language is going on, such as scenes in brothels, night brav/ls, etc., and this in the presence of junior hands and apprentices, I am writing these lines within the hearing of those who are playing cards for half-penny the game, swearing at the top of their voices, and calling each other cheats. The heads of the houses leave in the evening for their homes, and leave these to go the broad way that leads to destruc- tion. They go to the theatre and those casinos where they dance and mix with the unfortunates." " We sometimes see the worst characters placed in the most important situations." *' Scarcely a week passes but some of the houses find their young men robbing them for the purpose of keeping up their extravagance." ^ A young man who had come up from the country writes in 1847 : " We only have a bedroom — no sit- ting-room. The consequence is that on Sunday we have nowhere to go. If we go to church, what is more miserable than to turn out into the streets — no place to go except a coffee or eating house, where nothing is to be read except the Sunday newspapers." * Another writes : ' Third London Annual Report. ' Third Annual Report. BEGINNINGS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 35 " I could not have believed it had I not witnessed it myself that so much wickedness could abound in one establishment. We have every sanction given for swearing, betting, horse racing, theatres and every facility afforded for gratifying the worldly thirst for pleasure. Our young men instead of hallowing the Sabbath day spend it on the water or in the numerous excursions." The Fourth Annual Report (page 22), says: " There are few persons who have not lived in the large hives of commerce with which the metropolis abounds who can adequately judge of the real life of the vast majority of those who dwell there. Could the pen faithfully describe the annual shipwreck of good conscience and character which takes place among the commercial young men of London, then it would be more easy to perceive the value of an attempt to carry into their midst the saving health of the Gospel." Mr. Shipton, the second employed secretary of the London Association, in 1855, writes: "In 1844, there were probably 150,000 young men in London." " Of the assistants in shops and warehouses, by far the larger number lived in the houses of business in which they were employed. They commenced their labor from 7 to 9 in the morning and closed it from 9 to 11 in the evening, while in some seasons the toil of the day did not end until after midnight." " The sleeping apart- ments were small and badly ventilated. Several slept in the same room, and of the juniors, two often occu- pied the same bed." " The majority sought their en- joyment in the tavern." "The novice and the veteran in sin, the ' old stager ' in London and the youth fresh from the country, occupied one and the same bedroom." "Their conviviality often reached the point of excess, and the moral degradation thus commenced ended in too man\^ cases in a point of debasement ruinous to the 36 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIA TION. individual and deeply pernicious to those around him." * It was into such an atmosphere as this, laden with iniquity, that young George Williams came, a conse- crated young man, with his heart burning with love and zeal for Jesus Christ. He worked during the day with his eighty fellow-clerks, and at night slept in a small bed-room in one of the upper floors of the estab- lishment. The loneliness, temptation and irreligion of his surroundings led him to pour out his heart in prayer that he might find a fellow-worker among the young men. In less than a month the house secured the services of J. Christopher Smith, a young man of about twenty-four years of age, who was a devoted Christian and a student of the Bible. Christopher Smith became George Williams' room-mate. The intimate relations, the Christian fellowship of these two young men will never be known, but the power of their lives exerted an influence which is to-day felt throughout the world. Through their efforts several young men in the estab- lishment became Christians. Bedroom prayer meet- ings similar to the Bridgewater meetings were estab- lished and led by Williams, generally in his own room, and some months later a Bible class was begun which was taught by Christopher Smith. A missionary society was founded among the clerks in the house, which be- tween the years 1842 and 1844 raised fifty pounds among the young men. Also a literary society for mu- tual improvement, at which the young men read essays and gave addresses on such subjects as "Astronomy," " The History of St. Paul's Cathedral," and the like. Young men in the house began to seek Jesus Christ and were converted. Larger numbers began to attend the prayer meetings and the Bible classes. In this emergency, Mr. Williams and the others decided to ask the proprietor, Mr. George ^ Report of Paris Couference, 1855, page 59. BEGIXXIXCS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 37 Hitchcock, for a larger room for the meetings. He was an energetic and successful business man, but had little or no interest in religion. The young men approached him with much hesitation, but presented the matter with such earnestness, that it touched his heart. The room was granted, and Mr. Hitchcock himself was led before long to become a Christian. He became a hearty sup- porter of the young men in their efforts, which were re- markably successful, resulting before June, 1844, in the conversion of some sixteen young men in the establish- ment. The conversion of George Hitchcock is an important step in the development of the Young Men's Christian Association. He was a man of wealth and large business acquaintance. Without the influence of such a friend the movement could hardly have made such rapid advancement. Early in 1844, he described the work among his young men to Mr. W. D. Owen, the proprietor of another large dry goods establishment. Mr. Owen, through his " principal assistant," ^ " Mr. James Smith inaugurated similar meetings among the young men of his business house, in Great Coram Street, which were blessed with like results. In two other establish- ments prayer meetings were carried on of a similar char- acter. It was now May, 1844. Four houses of business were holding prayer meetings among their young men. The Metropolitan Drapers* Association was urging early closing in order to give the young men opportunity for improvement. A number of mechanical institutes exist- ed in London and several societies for mutual improve- ment had been organized by young men. Towards the close of May, 1844, an important incident occurred on Black Friars Bridge, which can best be described in the words of one of the two persons present — Mr. Edward Beaumont, an assistant in the Hitchcock establishment, who had become a Christian through the influence of ^^ Sliipton,Historyof the Young Men's Christian Association, p. 33. 38 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. George Williams and his fellow-workers. In a letter to Mr. George Williams, written many years afterwards, he thus describes the way the idea of an Associa- tion first found expression. " On one Sunday even- ing, in the latter end of May, 1844, you accompan- ied me to Surrey Chapel. After walking a few minutes in silence you said, pressing my arm and addressing me familiarly, as you were in the habit of doing, ' Teddy, are you prepared to make a sacrifice for Christ?' I replied, 'If called upon to do so, I hope and trust I can.' You then told me that you had been deeply impressed with the importance of in- troducing religious .services, such as we enjoyed, into every large establishment in London, and that you thought that if a few earnest, devoted, and self-denying men could be found to unite themselves together for this purpose, that with earnest prayer God would smile upon their efforts, and much good might be done. I need not say that I heartily concurred, and said ' I would gladly assist in such an effort.' You told me at the same time that I was the only person to whom you had mentioned it. This conversation which occupied the whole of our time going and returning from Surrey Chapel was again resumed the following week, and collecting together three or four, it may be more, of the religious young men of the establishment, the matter was gone more fully into, and if I mistake not, the con- versation took place one evening after our prayer meet- ing and Bible class, when a few of the religious young men remained behind. We then resolved to call a meeting of all the religious young men of the establish- ment, to meet on Thursday, June 6th, 1844, to con- sider the importance and practicability of establishing such an Association." ^^ On this very day. May 31st, that the young men at 11 Stevenson's Historical Record, page 16. BEGINNINGS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 30 Hitchcock & Co. 's were conferring together, Mr. Owen's principal assistant, Mr. James Smith, who had inaugurat- ed the prayer meeting in the Owen Establishment, had written Mr. Geo. Williams : " I have been truly rejoiced to hear that the Lord is doing a great work in your house, and I hope that the leaven thus set will go on increasing abundantly. I am engaged here in the same work, but stand almost alone, and from what I have heard, I am induced to say, * Come over and help us.' We have a prayer meeting this evening at half-past eight. ' If you could by any possibility be here at eight, I should be glad as. I want to advise with you on another subject in reference to our trade, viz. : whether anything can be done in other houses.' " ^ These two meetings were held on May 31st, 1844, and the historic meeting already referred to arranged by George Williams for the following week, June 6th, 1844, at the establishment of George Hitchcock & Company. George Williams invited Mr. James Smith to attend this meeting for June 6th. On the evening of June 6th, 1844, twelve young men, one of whom, Mr. James Smith, was from the Owen Silk Establishment, met in the room granted by George Hitchcock to the young men of his house for prayer meetings, to consider the advisability of forming a " Society for Improving the Spiritual Condition of Young Men engaged in the drapery and other trades." The leading spirit in this meeting was George Williams. The work at Bridgewater and in the Hitchcock House had convinced him that a few determined, Christian young men, united by a common purpose, could wield a great influence over other young men. This meeting decided to form a society for the purpose of introducing reliofious meetings of a similar character into houses of business in London. A committee was appointed, of ^ Shipton, Association History, page 33. 40 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. which Mr. James Smith, of the Owen Silk Establish- ment, the most prominent of their number, was made chairman. This committee was instructed to prepare a Constitution, Mr. Christopher Smith, at a meeting held two weeks later, suggested the name, which has been universally adopted, " The Young Men's Christian Association." The constitution as finally set forth reads as follows : " I. That this society be called the 'Young Men's Christian Association.' 2. That the object of this Association shall be the im- provement of the spiritual condition of young men en- gaged in the drapery and other trades, by the introduc- tion of religious services among them. 3. That the affairs of the Association be in the hands of a committee of management comprising a President, Vice-President, a Treasurer, two Secretaries and twelve Committeemen, with power to add to their number, seven to form a quorum. 4. That the Committee meet once a month (or often- er if required), for the dispatch of general business. 5. That two social tea meetings be held in the year (the time of such meetings to be left to the discretion of the Committee), at which a report of the Society's proceedings shall be read. 6. That a general meeting be held once a fortnight (or oftener if required), for the purpose of hearing re- ports from members of the progress of the work of God in the various establishments, and for such other pur- poses as the Committee shall see fit to determine, and that all meetings shall be open for members and those friends whom they may consider proper persons to bring, and to those who shall receive invitations from the Committee. 7. That the Chairman of all general meetings be proposed by the Committee, and elected by a majority BEGINNINGS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 41 of the members, and that all meetings shall begin and end with prayer. 8. That no person shall be considered eligible to be- come a member of this Association, unless he be a mem- ber of a Christian Church, or there be sufficient evidence of his being a converted character." Three rules follow relating to the election of mem- bers by the Committee ; a membership fee of sixpence, and dues of sixpence per quarter, and the issuing of a membership ticket. Sec. 9. — From the Founding to November, 1845, ludgate hill coffee house. The movement now contemplated a wider work than the employees of a single business establishment, and it became necessary to secure a meeting room in some public place for the fortnightly gathering of the members from different houses. Mr. Williams ar- ranged that these meetings, which were soon attended by 70 young men, should be held at a coffee house in Ludgate Hill, for which they paid half a crown a week rent. Several weeks later, on the 25th of July, 1844, a circular letter was sent to a large number of Christian young men in various houses of business, as follows : No. 72 St. Paul's Churchyard. "Dear Sir: — Suffer us to bring before your notice some im- portant considerations to which, for some time past, our minds have been directed, and which intimately concern the eternal welfare of a large class of your fellow mortals. We have looked with deep concern and anxiety upon the almost totally neglected spiritual condition of the young men engaged in the pursuit of business, and feel desirous by the assistance of God to make some effort iu order to improve it. * * * We have seriously and carefully con- sulted as to the best means by which to accomplish so great a work, and have come to the decision that there is nothing so calculated to discountenance immorality and vice, and to promote a spirit of serious inquiry among the class in which our lot is cast, as the in- 42 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. troductiou of religious services among them. * * * We shall uot be surprised if such a proposal as this be reckoned by some as a Utopian scheme. * * * We are likewise aware of the numerous difficulties which in many places will present themselves, and the obloquy and contempt which such a course of procedure will inev- itably bring down upon the promoters and supporters of such an attempt from the irreligious members of some of our large estab- lishments. * * * But shall persecution keep us back from at- tempting the salvation of souls? A society is now formed, the ob- ject of which is the promotion of the spiritual welfare of young men engaged in the drapery and other trades by the introduction of religious services among them. We earnestly entreat your Christian co-operation in this great work. * s « ■:!:- Signed on behalf of the Committee, John C. Symons, ) Cecretaries W11.1.IAM Creese, J secretaries. This circular was sent to every Christian young man engaged in the drapery and other trades, whose names the Committee could secure. The coffee room at Ludgate Hill became too small, and after some diflficulty a larger room was secured at Radley's Hotel, 182 Black Friars Road. Here, on November 8tli, five months after the meeting for or- ganization, a " tea meeting of the members and friends of the Young Men's Christian Association " was held, at which Mr. W. D. Owen, the prominent silk mer- chant already mentioned, presided ; about two hundred persons, including several clergymen and ministers, " sat down to tea." The report penned at that- time without a thought that it would be read fifty years later, by young men thousands of miles distant, is full of the same faith, courage and hope as the circular just quoted. In speaking of the fortnightly meetings, the report says : " These meetings soon became numerously attended, and were rendered of an interesting and profitable character by the reports of members from various houses. The services which the ' Young Men's Chris- tian Association ' is established to promote are chiefly BEGINN/XGS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 43 prayer meetings, and wlierever it is practicable, Bible classes. The Committee recommend that religious young men residing in the different houses should es- tablish these in their sleeping rooms, and that the un- converted among them should be invited to attend." In a house where forty persons are employed a mem- ber writes : " We rejoice to say we have an altar raised to God within our walls. At first, two of us met once a week for the purpose. We met with a good deal of ridicule and opposition, but this did not daunt us. In- stead of two, the number who now attend is eleven ; one, I am happy to say, has ' stepped into the liberty of the children of God,' and is now a member of Rev. J. Sherman's Church." Another writes : " We have a prayer meeting once a week, to which we invite young men who are not re- ligious ; several regularly attend and appear to feel in- terested." One writes from another house : " Two have joined themselves to the people of God ; several others are becoming inquirers." Another house re- ports : " Three persons were converted in our meeting, one of whom has become a local preacher." The report of the first five months of work, in con- cluding, says: "The Committee cannot but feel encour- aged by their success. There are at present connected with the Association about 70 enrolled members ; the greatest possible caution has been exercised in their selection. We would rather see the names of men will- ing to be ' instant in season and out of season in the work of the Lord ' than behold a long and numerous list of those without the power of godliness. Religious services are now established in fourteen houses, into ten of which they were introduced by the Association. There are also two districts in which young men from different houses meet together for united prayer." The first result of the Association as shown in the 44 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. report given at their first tea gathering was the establish- ment of religious meetings in houses of business. This was looked upon by the young men themselves as their most important work. It was a noble beginning, but even more important was the establishing of the joint fortnightly meetings ; first at the Ludgate Hill coffee house (St. Martin's), afterwards on account of in- creased numbers removed to Radley's Hotel, and later, as we shall see, to Sergeant's Inn. This, with the sim- ilar meeting in another section of the city referred to in the report, was the real germ of the Young Men's Christian Association. Here the young men met for prayer and mutual encouragement, here their reports were given, here their plans were made, here they re- ceived inspiration for the trying work of the week in their own establishments. It was a fellowship meeting of believers, who received encouragement from each other, and from prayer. Here was born the young men's evangelistic meeting, which has been the rally- ing center of the Young Men's Christian Association for half a century. In three years the genius and zeal of George Will- iams had rallied around him the Christian young men of fourteen different commercial houses of the metropo- lis, into a compact, close organization, inspired with one purpose — the desire to save the young men of London. We must go one step further at this " tea gathering" on November 8th, 1844. Mr. W. D. Owen, who had shown such deep interest in the movement, suggested that the Association raise a fund and employ a missionary to devote his whole time to Christian work among young men, as the representative of the society. In accordance with this suggestion, on No- vember 14th, 1844, at a special meeting, the Committee of management unanimously resolved " to employ a missionary to act as assistant secretary, to attend all BEGINNINGS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 45 general meetings of the Association ; to assist in con- ducting services in houses where they want help ; to establish and render as efficient as possible district as- sociations ; to form, by communicating with Christian young men in the large towns and cities of the king- dom, branch Associations (it may sometimes be neces- sary that he should visit these towns and cities) — to visit young men in illness, and make himself generally useful among the class to which his efforts will be di- rected by pointing them ' to the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world.' " Through the efforts of the young men, and the lib- erality of George Hitchcock, seventy of the hundred and thirty pounds needed were secured, and an effort made to find a suitable man for the position. After con- sidering twenty-eight different applicants, most of whom were ministers or clergymen, Mr. T. H. Tarlton, a layman, was selected to become the first agent of the London "Young Men's Christian Association." In January, 1845, a branch Association with 50 members was organized in the West End. On February 14th, a public gospel meeting for young men was held ; on March 6th, 1845, nine months after the meeting for or- ganization in the little room of George Hitchcock's es- tablishment, the second "tea meeting" of members and friends of the Association was held at Radley's Hotel, Blackfriars Bridge. The work now began to attract the attention of Christian employers and of pastors. Rev. Geo. W. Noel, a prominent minister, presided at this gathering: " Upwards of 300 persons sat down to tea, among whom were several very influ- ential persons connected with the drapery trade." The chairman " was supported by four other ministers, the Rev. John Cumming, Rev. William Arthur, Rev. Sam- uel Martin, and Rev. John Branch."^ The report given ^ShiptoD, "History of the Association," page 35. 46 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. at this meeting is full of enthusiasm, and breathes the courage born of success. The Committee said : *' The number of members nov/ amounts to i6o. Our usual fortnightly meetings are largely attended and are ren- dered increasingly interesting and profitable. It is the design of the Committee to extend the benefits of the Association to all parts of the metropolis, by means of various branches. Nor would they confine themselves to the metropolis, but through the medium of their mis- sionary extend themselves and form similar Associations in all the large towns and cities of the kingdom. They believe the day is not far distant when in every house of business an altar shall be raised to the God of Heaven." The activity of the Association increased rapidly under the direction of Mr. Tarlton. It soon became clear that if they were to undertake seriously the prob- lem of winning the young men of London, the work must be conducted on a more extended scale, and adapted to the needs of all young men. It was felt that the establishment of prayer meetings and Bible classes in houses of business was not sufficient for so extended an undertaking. Through the liberality of George Hitchcock, attractive headquarters for the Association were now secured at Sergeant's Inn, No. 14 Fleet Street. Mr. Hitchcock furnished the apartments and paid the rent. Here an office was provided for Mr. Tarlton, a room for the fortnightly meeting, and later, one for Mr. Williams' Bible class. This Bible class, taught by George Williams, was attended by young men about 50 in number, who had recently become Christians, or who were desirous of learning about Jesus Christ. The young men of the Association also felt that they could not carry on such a great enterprise requiring money and wisdom, without the support of men older than themselves, and men prominent in the metropolis. Mr. R. C. L. Bevan, a leading banker of London, was ac- BEGIiyNINGS OF THE BRiriSH ASSOCIA TION. 47 cordingly asked to assume the duties of President of the Association. " Mr. Bevan did not attend our meeting, but represented us outside," Mr. Williams once said in conversation, many years later. " Twenty-two pastors of both the Church of England and of dissenting de- nominations accepted positions as Vice-Presidents, and Mr. George Hitchcock, who had already done so much for the Association, became its Treasurer," a position he filled until 1864. The Association now decided upon a most important step. Until March, 1845, the Young Men's Christian Association had been a purely religious organization. Its aim was clearly defined : the winning of young men to Jesus Christ, and the building in them of Christian character. The important fact to be noticed is that in the pursuance of this aim the Young Men's Christian Association has been led step by step to minister to the mental, then the social, and lastly to the physical needs of young men, as well as to their spiritual natures. This is an important, religious and sociological fact. In serving Jesus Christ, Christians are led to serve their fellowmen in any capacity which the needs of the times suggest. The Young Men's Christian Associa- tion on the one hand has been led to contemplate the nature of young men as a whole, and to aim at their symmetrical development, and on the other hand to contemplate the religion of Jesus Christ as adapted to redeem the whole man — body, soul, and spirit. There has been much difference of opinion among Association leaders as to whether the aim to provide social, intel- lectual and physical advantages for young men is le- gitimate for an institution which professes simply to ^' extend the Kingdom of Christ among young men." Two positions have been taken : The first and earliest historically is that the establishment of an institution, under the management of Christian young men, to pro- 4S YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. vide the various agencies which young men need for symmetrical development, brings young men who are not Christians into friendly relations with young men who are Christians, and enables these Christian young men to win the others to Jesus Christ. This is a great fact, of which the Young Men's Christian Association is a fifty years' demonstration. It rests upon a socio- logical truth — the power of environment. It is the recognition of this truth, and the embodiment of it in organized form, which has shaped the policy of the Young Men's Christian Association. The Association has demonstrated that practical agencies in the hands of Christian men may be a means of drawing men who are not Christians into fellowship with men who are, and so lead them to become followers of Jesus Christ. The second position which has been taken by many Association leaders is that providing physical, social and intellectual opportunities for young men is a good in itself. That the Christian religion demands the symmetrical development of the whole man in all his powers — body, soul and spirit, and that Christians in serving Jesus Christ, must, to the full extent of their ability, help their fellow men, not only in spiritual, but in temporal matters as well, if they have need ; that " extending the Kingdom of Christ among young men" necessitates the symmetrical development of all the powers of young manhood. Both are right. Practical agencies under Christian management do lead men to become Christians ; serving Jesus Christ does lead Christians to provide for the needs of the whole man. Upon these two truths — the' power of environment to mould character, and the adaptation of the religion of Jesus Christ to redeem manhood — body, soul and spirit, the Young Men's Christian Association rests its claim for a place among the agencies of the Church. The Committee in charge of the new London Associ- BEGINNINGS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 49 ation were actuated by both motives, though especially by the first. Between the " tea evening" at Radley's Hotel in March, and the first anniversary of the Asso- ciation held at the same place a few months later in November, the new plans were formulated. A new clause appears in the constitution which reads : " The object of this Association shall be the improvement of the spiritual and mental condition of young men en- gaged in houses of business, by the introduction of family or social prayer, Bible classes. Mutual Improve- ment Societies, or any other plan strictly in accordance with the Scriptures.'' ^ The first annual report states that the article describ- ing the admission of members is altered so as to provide only that applicants give credible evidence of conver- sion. The report also states, " Since the last meeting (the March previous), your Committee have added to their plan the formation of Mutual Improvement Societies, as in many large houses containing upwards of eighty to one hundred young men, no Christian young man is found, or if there be one, his position is so isolated that he is prevented from carrying out the other part of our plan. Now many unconverted young men would assist and feel interested in a Mutual Improvement Society, so would principals of houses, and we should deem it no unimportant result if in any instance we can lead to the library of useful knowledge, rather than to cards and billiards, to the cigar divan, concert room, theatre or the seductive retreat." As a part of this enlarged programme, a course of popular lectures to young men was announced to be delivered by leading ministers and laymen of London, to begin on December 9th, 1845. This lecture course, known as the Exeter Hall Series, became a remarkable agency in stimulating the intellectual life of young men. As a pioneer in the ' First Annual Report, Nov. 6th, 1845. 50 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. lecture field, the influence of this movement cannot be measured. It has reached all over the Anglo-Saxon world. Two public tea gatherings of the friends of its work had been held during the year by the Association, at which reports were read of the society's progress. The first anniversary was announced for November 6th, 1845. Three hundred and thirty-five persons, among them many noted clergymen, sat down to tea at this first anniversary meeting at Radley's Hotel.* It was one year and five months since twelve young men, un- known, without influence, without money, without friends, had met in the humble bedroom of George Williams to pray for the young men of London. The result was already a marvelous testimony to their zeal, their wisdom, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Born in the revival among George Hitchcock's young men, an Association had been inaugurated numbering 200 young laymen of all denominations in 18 different commercial establishments of London ; managed by a Committee elected by a majority of the members ; with a leading banker as President ; a prominent merchant as Treasurer ; 22 prominent ministers of every denomi- nation as Vice-Presidents ; with such prominent citi- zens as Samuel Morley (who afterwards gave 5,cxdo pounds toward the purchase of a home for the Associa- tion) willing to give an address at the annual meeting ; with rooms nicely furnished as headquarters, where Bible classes and prayer meetings were conducted ; a paid agent devoting his entire time to the interests of the Association, the whole movement animated with the purpose to improve young men spiritually and in- tellectually by any means strictly in accordance with the Word of God. Here was the beginning of the fundamental idea of the Young Men's Christian Asso- * First Auiuial Report. BEGINNINGS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 51 ciation, — that the religion of Jesus Christ through His Church is intended to save, redeem and develop the whole man, body, soul and spirit — an idea which has become dominant in the modern church, and which was to find its first organized expression in this Associ- ation. This was not recognized fully at the time. The only effort was to adapt the work to the needs of young men. Years afterwards, when physical education had been added to mental, spiritual, and social im- provement. Dr. Luther Gulick gave utterance to the ideal toward which the Association is striving (Phila- delphia Convention, 1889). He said : " From a scien- tific standpoint, the Associations have a very valua- ble foundation for their work in the fact that they are working for young men, not simply for their bodies, minds and souls, but for the salvation, development and training of the whole man complete, as God made him." Here was a new force — an inter-denominational association of 3'oung laymen, animated with a burning love for Christ, standing as pioneers behind three great ideas which have become characteristic of English and American Christianity : The union of denominations for service regardless of creeds. The salvation of the whole man, which has broad- ened out into the Institutional Church and the present practical interest in sociology. The recognition of young people as a factor in Chris- tian work, which has developed into the marvelous young people's organizations of the United States. The Young Men's Christian Association, with all the credit given to it, has never been fully recognized by the Christian public as the first organization to give ex- pression to these three modern movements on a large scale. It has been the pioneer in them all. In the 5-2 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. face of criticism and inexperience it has resolutely en- tered new and untried paths, and has demonstrated the value of its methods and the truth of its principles. The Association was inaugurated in a revival on a purely religious basis, upon a strictly evangelical plat- form. It has held tenaciously to its evangelistic and evangelical origin. While clinging to its faith, it has risen to the practical position of James, that " faith without works is dead." The Association has become a social factor, because it is a religious force. PERSONAL INTERVIEWS WITH NORTON SMITH AND WILLIAM CREESE, TWO OF THE FOUNDERS OF THE LONDON ASSOCIATION. It may be interesting to see something of the early working of the Association, both before and after it emerged from its birthplace in the Hitchcock estab- lishment in St. Paul's Churchyard. In May, 1894, I called upon Mr. Norton Smith, for years a prominent business man in London, who was in Mr. Hitchcock's employ between October, 1841, and June, 1844. He was a brother of Christopher W. Smith, Mr. Williams' fellow-worker. During our con- versation, he said : " Christopher, my brother, came to London from Norwich, in October, 1841, fifty-three years ago. He was then twenty-four years of age, four years older than Williams, and had been a Christian about four years. My brother remained with the firm for fifty years, until almost the close of his life. He and George Williams slept together in the same bed. I was one of the four who occupied the same bedroom. My brother was a great Bible student, and would often get up at five o'clock in the morning to study. He learned Greek, and employed a Jew to teach him Hebrew. He was alwavs scholarlv and studious in his BEGINNINGS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 53 habits, and very thorough and painstaking. He started a Bible class, which was held in our room, and which was attended by 15 to 20 of the young men. Prayer meetings were held in different bedrooms, but I remem- ber one more especially held every week in our bed- room, which was led by George Williams. He was a verv earnest, devoted Christian, an impetuous, ardent spirit, and a man of great courage. We had also a Mutual Improvement Society for lectures by members. I remember I gave one on ' St. Paul's Cathedral.' We had declamations and elocution exercises and wrote several stories. George Williams went around ever}^ Saturday to receive the two-pence, or whatever the young men would give for foreign missions. The an- niversary of this Society became later quite an import- ant meeting, which both Mr. and Mrs. Hitchcock at- tended. The Society has existed for fifty years. " My brother drew up the first circular, and suggested the name of the Association. After the organization, weekly meetings were held in the Coffee House on Ludgate Hill, and then at Radley's Hotel, where some of the annual meetings were held. Mr. R. C. L. Bevan, who became President of the Association, was a banker of large means, and later gave 5,000 pounds toward the purchase of Exeter Hall for the Association. He was a prominent Christian worker. Mr. T. H. Tarlton, the first missionary (secretary), who afterwards became a clergyman of the Church of England, was an earnest, beautiful spirit, a good speaker, seraphic in address. When the ' early closing movement ' began, Mr. Hitchcock made a noble start. He was among the very first to encourage ' early closing,' without regard to what others did. I left his employ shortly after the Association was established, but have always remained a member of the Association, though, since I moved to the suburbs, I have not been able to be active." 54 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. In June, at the Jubilee Convention (1894), the writer had a conversation with Mr. William Creese, one of the first secretaries of the Association. He said: "George Williams and Christopher Smith entered Mr. Hitchcock's establishment in 1841. They had started a Bible class and a prayer meeting before I came. Through their influence, Mr. Hitchcock had already become a Chris- tian. I was employed by the firm in 1843. Mr. Hitchcock engaged me without seeing me, through- the recommendation of Mr. Edward Beaumont, who showed him one of my letters. I received thirty pounds a year. When I came, Mr. Hitchcock took me into his office, and said : 'You please God, and you will please me.' There were about one hundred of us, fifteen or sixteen were members of the church. I was of the Church of England. George Williams was an Independent. At the meeting for organization, there were three Methodists, three Independents, three Pres- byterians, and three Church of England. We thought we were not doing enough for the young men of our house. We had been reading Finney's * Revival Lec- tures, and his 'Autobiography,' and they had a great influence over lis. We held a series of revival meet- ings, in which quite a number were reached ; one, the president of a ' Free and Easy Club,' at a public house. We divided the eighty or ninety in the house who were not Christians equally among us, five or six for each of us. It was done with great care. We took no pledge, but each one worked and prayed for the ones assigned to him, and invited them to attend church. This work was wonderfully blessed. One morning, Williams came down to his work and said to me, with great earnestness, ' Rogers will be converted ; you speak to him.' Rogers was the president of the ' Free and Easy,' at the * Goose and Gridiron.' I thought, 'can any good thing come out of Nazareth?' but I BEGINNINGS OF 71 IE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 55 watched him as he worked. He looked different from usual, and avoided people. I felt sure he was * under conviction.' At my first opportunity I had a talk with him, and as a result he yielded, and became a true Christian. Williams said to me later, ' I had been praying for him that morning, and it seemed as if an answer came direct from God, which said, ' Yes.' We worked and prayed, especially for the men assigned to us. Williams was a ' son of thunder.' We gave him the hardest of the lot ; he was a tremendous personal worker. I never knew his equal." Sec. io. — Development of the Parent Associa- tion FROM November, 1845-1851. The Association leaders were without experience, facing a- new problem, the winning of the young men of London. They already recognized that these young men had both spiritual and intellectual needs. From this time forth the work has always included these two features. The Constitution had thrown down the broad declaration that this purpose should be achieved by any means strictly in accordance with the Word of God. New members began to crowd into the organization, and the room occupied in Sergeant's Inn was not large enough to contain them. A new thought was pressing upon the minds of the Committee of Management — they saw the great numbers of young men in London who were desirous of improvement, but who were not Chris- tians. They had already seen how these young men could be influenced by " Mutual Improvement Societies," organized in different houses of business, and step by step led into the prayer meeting and Bible class, and many of them influenced to become Christians. They decided, therefore, to open rooms and invite this class of young men " to a well-selected library, to classes for mental culture under Christian teachers, and to rooms 56 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. adapted to their use, where, withdrawn from the tempta- tion of ungodly society, they might spend their even- ings in suitable companionship, or in the pursuit of useful information." ~' Accordingly, in 1848, after an earnest effort, larger and more attractive rooms were secured on Gresham Street, a library, which soon numbered a thousand vol- umes was opened for use, also a reading room with cur- rent papers and reviews, and educational classes in prac- tical branches. Opportunity was also given for com- panionship and social intercourse. The rooms were not thrown open as a public resort as yet, but this was the first recognition of the craving of young men for , companionship with each other, to satisfy which rap- idly became the third great aim of the Association. Young men who were not professed Christians, for a small fee were given a ticket entitling them to the vari- ous privileges of the Association, except taking part in the management. They were called '''■ associates T In taking this step, the Committee took great care to have it distinctly understood that they were not lowering the standard of membership, but simply increasing the op- portunity for the "members" to exercise an influence over a larger number of young men. The report for 1849 thus states the Committee's purpose (page 13) : " That without in the slightest degree impairing the distinctive character and design of membership in the Association, of the value of which every year has brought additional proof, many young men of good moral character may be provided for, by the society, under the simple plan of a money subscription, and that by this means in widening our sphere of influence we will be fulfilling our mission, and by God's help promoting more largely the spiritual improvement of young men." Thus the /Association entered the field 5 Shiplon's History, p. 72. BEGINNINGS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIA TION. 57 as a social resort for young men, and added to its Con- stitution by admitting young men of good moral char- acter as " associates." This distinction of the two classes of members is of the utmost importance in understand- ing the development of the Young Men's Christian As- sociation. It was the logical culmination of the policy already adopted. In order to bring young men who were not Christians under the influences of young men who were, and at the same time preserve the spiritual aim and character of the Association, these two classes of membership were a necessity. The Association movement was about to step forth as a world-wide organization. Other societies for young men with similar objects had arisen, flourished, ex- tended over considerable territory, exerted a marked influence and then disappeared, but this organization was based upon vital principles, which were destined to give it a continued life. It had many strong features, but there are two principles which have given the As- sociation permanency and success : (i) The placing of the management and control in the hands, only, of men who had consecrated themselves to Jesus Christ. (2) The unswerving devotion to the aim of winning young men to become Christians. The Associations have extended over a wide territory, they have adapted themselves to varying surroundings, and have used countless agencies, but they have inva- riably been true to these two principles, or they have ceased to exist. We pass now to consider the development during the years 1845-1851, first of the spiritual, second of the in- tellectual, and third of the social agencies of the Asso- ciation. RELIGIOUS WORK. The Society now (i 845-1 851) began to carry on a 58 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. widely extended activity. The heart of the church had awakened to its appeals. Christian business men were watching its efforts with interest. The Evangelical Alliance, which has worked in such close harmony with the Association, was founded in 1846, and rallied all de- nominations on a common platform. The Evangelical party in the Established Church, and the Non-Con- formists were redoubling their zeal to win the city. "Early closing" became an accomplished fact in the winter of 1849. The Exeter Hall preaching services for Sunday evening, started by the " Evangelicals " of the Established Church, then forbidden by the church authorities and re-undertaken by the Dissenters, soon developed into the Sunday Theatre services, in which Lord Shaftesbury took a prominent part.** There was a strong public sym.pathy behind a movement which aimed to save young men. The first form of direct spiritual endeavor outside of commercial houses which the Young Men's Christian Association undertook was the devotional meeting for the members of the new organization. Members of the Association carried on prayer meetings, Bible classes, or Mutual Improvement Societies, in the various houses of business in which they were employed, and then came together to talk over the work of the week, and pray for spiritual power and refreshment. This meet- ing, at first held once a fortnight, but very soon weekly, on a week-day evening, was attended by members and such friends as they chose to invite, and also by young men to whom the Committee gave invitations. The attendance by 1847 numbered 80 young men at the Parent Association. The Annual Report for 1851 (page 19) says : " The meetings for prayer have been from the commencement of the Association one of the chief channels of its life « Hodder's " Life of Shaftesbury." BEGINNINGS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. o9 and usefulness. At the central and district meetings, there are about three hundred young men, who thus meet together regularly. Very many young Christians who have to contend against the unprincipled push for gain, or the miasma of impure conversation, have found at these meetings the emotions of a spiritual life quick- ened, and have gained courage to confess Christ before his enemies." Testimonies of individual members of the Association and of young men who were led to be- come Christians through these devotional meetings abound in the reports. The prayer meeting for members and invited friends was one of the powerful spiritual agencies during the " Formative Period " of the English work, and one destined to become a permanent feature. The second development in the direct spiritual work was the establishment of a Bible class for Sunday after- noon, by the secretary, Mr. Tarlton, in June, 1845. This class soon numbered 38 young men. A second Bible class was conducted on a week-day evening by George Williams. " Young men on their arrival from the country were immediately introduced to these classes by some member, if found willing to attend." '^ These classes were not intended for advanced Bible study, but were composed of young Christians or young men seeking spiritual light. The one led by George Williams was especially adapted for recently converted young men. The Sunday afternoon class aimed directly to win men who were not Christians to a decision. An incident recorded in the Second Annual Report (p. 15), November, 1846, gives a picture of the work of these classes : "About nine months since a member of the Association invited an unconverted young man to go with him to the Bible class in Sergeant's Inn. He will- ingly consented, and continued to attend regularly. ' Page 14, Second Annual Report. 60 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. Some time elapsed without any apparent effect being produced on his mind, but after a time the truth found its way to his heart through the powerful influence of the Holy Spirit, and he is now a sincere and humble follower of the Saviour. No sooner had he felt the value of his own soul, than his attention was directed to the spiritual welfare of his most intimate companion. Hav- ing described to him the change of mind he had expe- rienced, he prevailed on him to attend the Bible class, which through God's blessing has resulted in his con- version. Both are now actively engaged as Sunday- school teachers, and have offered themselves for admis- sion to the visible church of Christ." " These classes are for young men not members of churches, and form a distinctly evangelistic effort. There are no members of the Association present ex- cept those who are engaged in the conduct of the neces- sary arrangements, it being the object of the Associa- tion that all who through grace have believed, should at once take part in Sunday-school or ragged school teaching, or in some of those varied instrumentalities by which the Gospel is carried to the destitute and the perishing on the Lord's Day." ® A third Bible class was formed in 1848. Bible study as a means of winning young men and strengthening young Christians has ever remained a prominent feature of the movement. The Association is founded upon the Word of God. Evangelistic Bible classes were the chief means used at the rooms of the London Association for winning voung men to become Christians. This has been true, more in England than in America, where the " Men's Gospel Meetings" have become the chief agency. Bible classes have been used more in America as a means of developing Christians and Christian workers. ^"Occasional Paper," No. i, 1853, Gresham Street, London, p. 7. BEGINNINGS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. Gl The Annual Report for 1849 says : "The classes for Biblical instruction, and the devotional meetings, mav be regarded as the arteries and sinews of the Associa- tion." " It is, therefore, with gratitude that the Commit- tee report that their vigor has not been impaired, but rather augmented by the external eifort of the past year. In the last report (1848) the average weekly attendance at the three Bible classes was stated to be no. For some time past it has averaged 200," The chief work of the Association during this period was not, however, the work done at the headquarters, where the Bible classes and prayer meetings assembled. The Association was conceived of as a body of young men working for Jesus Christ, " in the sphere of their daily calling." Through all this period the organizing and conducting of prayer meetings and group Bible classes in houses of business continued to be a leading, perhaps the chief feature of the Association's activity. Untold blessings followed this effort ; testimonies simi- lar to those already quoted abound in the early reports. At the close of the second year (the fall of 1846), relig- ious services had been introduced and were main- tained throughout this period in twenty different houses of business employing no less than a thousand young men. At one time the number of houses increased to thirty. The underlying principle of this work is alluded to frequently in the early reports — " That the duty of the members should be to exert a Christian influence in the sphere of their daily calling." This constant testimony to the truth of the Christian religion bore abundant fruit. The members came to the meetings of the Asso- ciation for inspiration and to report their work, and then dispersed through the houses of business during the week and to Sunday-schools and churches and mis- sions on the Sabbath, to engage in Christian endeavor. 62 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. The report for 1849, after summing up the achievement of the year, repeats this thought : It says : — "We would affectionately suggest to our brethren that the supreme aim of your daily life should be to bring glory to your Redeemer, and that the most appropriate sphere for the attainment of this object is that of your daily calling." The nature of the work in these business establish- ments may be seen from the following account taken from the report for 1847. A member writes : " We have more than a hundred young men in our establishment, thirty-seven of whom are members of the Church of Christ. It is our privilege to meet every morning for half an hour for family worship before commencing the duties of the day. On Tuesday evening we have a Bible class, and on Saturday evening a prayer meeting. Both are well attended and often prove times of great spiritual profit. We have also a Mutual Improvement Society for the deliverance of lectures, debates, etc. The average attendance is about 50." In close connection with the devotional meetings and Bible classes in commercial houses, a form of effort was adopted, by which members could make themselves felt as they went about their daily occupation. One of the powerful means of winning young men used from the beginning was personal interviews between Chris- tian young men and their companions on the subject of personal religion. We have already seen that this was the almost daily habit of George Williams, from whom the inspiration came. It was urged again and again as the highest form of activity of the Association. An- other method was a kind, sympathetic personal pleading at the close of a meeting or Bible class with any uncon- verted young man who might be willing to remain for a few moments' conversation. In the next period this developed into the " after meeting," following the praver meeting and Bible class, to which young men BEGINNINGS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 63 seeking to become Christians were invited. The First Annual Report read in November, 1845, gives an ac- count of this work in one of the commercial houses. " I may mention as one of the best results of our connection with the Young Men's Christian Association, the forma- tion among us of a society, the members of which each take a young man in the establishment as an especial object of his care, to seek by Christian persuasion and the influence of companionship to induce him to attend church and prayer meeting, and by speaking to him and praying for him to bring him, through God's bless- ing, to the cross of Christ." In the report with which " the formative period " of the London work closes occurs an illustration of the way members dealt personally with young men. One Avrites (p. 21): "Two members of your Association kindly asked me to attend the meetings, where I derived much benefit ; but I found more from being called aside by them after one meeting, when they persuaded me to give up my sin and turn to Him who has said, ' Whosoever believeth on Christ shall not perish but have everlasting life.' They kindly prayed with me, and through these means I was led to see the folly of my sin and became accepted of God." The Fourth Annual Report, in commenting on the personal work of members, says: "That the members of the Association have in their daily callings influenced over 6,000 young men." In December of 1846, the Association headquarters presented a busy scene. A prominent minister had consented to prepare a special address to young men, which was to be published in a neat, attractive little volume. The members of the Association secured the names of ten thousand young men in London. A copy of this address was done up carefully, directed, and on New Year's Day, January i, 1847, presented to each of 64 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. these ten thousand young men. "The novelty of these addresses, their free bestowment, and the circumstance of their being enclosed personally to individuals, ren- dered them generally very acceptable, and in several cases the Committee were made aware of their useful- ness."^ The Annual Report for 1849 says: "In the great majority of instances they were received with no less good feeling than astonishment." This wide distribu- tion of New Year's addresses on such subjects as " Real Joy," " The Young Men's Christian Year," "Papers to Young Men," was continued for four years and was a characteristic feature of this period. Of a similar na- ture was the extensive circulation of " tracts " and small leaflets, filled with pithy statements of the way of salva- tion. A special effort was made for a wide distribution of readable Christian literature upon the occasion with which this first period of the London Young Men's Christian Association closes the first " World's Fair" held in London, 1851. This exhibition brought thousands of strangers from all over the world to London, and the Young Men's Christian Association made a special effort to present the Gospel to young men who at- tended from British and foreign lands. The meetings and lectures arranged failed to attract large audiences, owing to the season of the year, and the excitement at- tendant upon the exhibition, but the distribution of lit- erature proved very successful. London was divided into six districts, and two members of the Association assigned to each district. Every Sunday during the exhibition these districts were canvassed and tracts given to all young men with whom the members came in contact. In this way three hundred and fifty-two thousand direct and affectionate statements of the Gos- pel were presented to young men from almost every ^ Shipton, " History of the London Association," p. 40. BEGINNIXGS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 65 town and city of Great Britain ; each leaflet had also a statement about the Association, with an invitation to visit its rooms. Those little leaflets, as the reports show, not only resulted in the conversion of many young men, but even in the founding of young men's meetings in distant cities. The Association had now become a recognized spirit- ual power. It had demonstrated that consecrated voung men compactly organized were a mighty force in winning their fellows to become Christians. It is, of course, impossible to measure results of a spirit- ual character in figures, even if they could be se- cured. The Association was plainly successful in carrying out its aim. At the first public gathering in Radley's Hotel, twenty- three young men are reported as having been brought to Christ ; at the second meeting, held in March, 1845, one writer says : "It gives us joy to know that six in our house who at our last ' tea meeting ' (November 8, 1844,) were strangers to God, and with- out hope in the world, are now happy in the con- sciousness of being reconciled to Him." The Fourth Annual Report (1848) says: "The most aflfecting fact is the conversion of fifty immortal souls during the year. Almost the whole of this number have been received into membership and communion with dif- ferent branches of the Church." The Fifth Report for the year 1849 states: "During this year we have re- ceived evidence that upwards of ninety young men have confessed themselves indebted to the instrumentality of this Association for their experience of the force and power of the Gospel. The large majority of these have been received into communion with the various Chris- tian churches. Your Committee rejoices in the evidence which is furnished by this fact, as well as in almost every letter cited in their report, that the labors of the 66 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. Association are in every way auxiliary to the churches of the Lord Jesus Christ." The first seven years resulted in intensifying the spir- itual aims of the Association. It became clearly under- stood that its chief object was the winning to Jesus Christ of young men. In these seven years, hundreds, perhaps reaching to thousands, of young men in Lon- don were converted. Large numbers of Christians were encouraged and led to become workers, while many more young men, probably one hundred thou- sand, had the Gospel presented to them individually. The Association had gained experience, and now had definitely settled upon five lines of direct spiritual work : (i) Devotional meetings for prayer and fellowship, especially for members. (2) Bible classes for both unconverted young men and young Christians. (3) Religious services in houses of business. (4) Personal work. (5) The distribution of tracts and Christian litera- ture. INTELLECTUAL WORK. While the Association was still a germ in the Hitch- cock business establishment, the " Mutual Improvement Society" became a part of its work. In this step was involved the whole principle for which the Association stands in its indirect work for young men. The su- preme aim of the Young Men's Christian Association has ever been the extension of Christ's Kingdom. The striking sociological fact already discussed is that in carrying out this purpose it has become a powerful agency for developing young men, intellectually, so- cially and physically. It has been led to seek the sym- metrical development of the whole man. The first step BEGINNINGS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 67 was the establishment of a course of popular lectures. These were open to the general public and were suc- cessful from the start. As many as 1,400 persons were present at single lectures given during the first winter. Leading ministers of all denominations, statesmen, uni- versity professors and philanthropists have appeared in this lecture course. It quickly became the lecture plat- form of London. In the first course of twelve lectures a variety of interesting topics were treated, such as " Monumental Evidences of Christianity," "Ancient Rome and IModern London," "The Extent and the Moral Statistics of the British Empire," " Luther and the Reformation," and "Ancient and Modern Pales- tine." These lectures were given weekly during a period of twelve weeks, usually beginning about De- cember I St. " For three years the lectures were deliv- ered in alternate weeks at the Wesleyan Centenary Hall in the city and at a room in the West End of London. The tickets for this course of twelve lectures were sold for a shilling, or two-pence for a single lecture."^'* Young men attended them in large numbers. The lectures were published, and thousands of copies found a ready sale. In 1849, the Committee ventured to rent the large Exeter Hall for this lecture course. The result vindicated the wisdom of this decision. This large audience room, seating from 2,500 to 3,000 people, where Wilberforce had championed the rights of the slave, where the " British and Foreign Bible Society " had held its stirring anniversary, where the " May Meetings " of the myriad religious and benev- olent agencies of London and England voiced the needs of a world, where Lord Shaftesbury had pleaded the cause of the oppressed, and where many a devoted mis- sionary has bidden farewell to England as he set his face ^''Stevenson's "Young Men's Christian Association," London, 1S84, p. 41. 68 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. to the foreign field ; this consecrated hall opening on the crowded Strand, destined in later years to become the home of the Association, became after 1849 the platform of its winter lecture courses, which were called the " Exeter Hall Lectures." The Association was a pioneer in the lecture field ; it has exerted a great influence. As new Associations have been formed they have fol- lowed the example of the parent Association, until to- day thousands of lectures are delivered annually from the platform of Young Men's Christian Associations. In the Report for 185 1, the close of the " Formative Period " of the London work, the Committee said (p. 10) : " When we commenced this form of effort it was an experiment of such interest as to involve decided public influences in its success. This result may be seen in the stimulant to similar effort which has been widely diffused, and in the greatly improved tone and tendency of public lectures generally. The fact that in connection with the Association alone there have been above 120 lectures for young men during the past year, suggests an idea of the extent to which this agency has already been multiplied. Of the lectures delivered in London, above half a million copies have been circu- lated, and who shall tell the work which they have silently done ; the fibre and muscle of character which in God's hands they may have supplied to thousands. The lectures were of a decidedly Protestant character and of a high moral tone." The Report for 1849 says (p. 10) : "In very many in- stances young men are drawn to the Hall who are unac- customed to attend the ordinary means of spiritual instruction. In others, the lectures prove a direct means of religious awakening, and in others the first step to the churches." " In one instance, the mind of an inter- esting young man was opened to apprehend God's way BEGINNINGS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 69 of salvatiou, who has since entered one of the universi- ties, with a view to prepare himself for the sacred work of the ministry." In the Report for 1850, a young man writes : " It will, I know, be gratifying to you to hear that the first awakening of my soul to its true state was consequent upon attending the last course of lectures given at Exeter Hall." How directly what are called the " secular agencies " began from the first to minister to the main purpose of the Association is seen from these and other testimo- nies in the report. Here was a new thought, a discov- ery of great moment. It was found that certain agen- cies usually regarded as secular, under Christian admin- istration, might be used to win men to a religious life. The development of this idea grew with the Associa- tion. It belongs to the fundamental idea that religion aims to save the whole man, and whatever helps to make him a better man in body, mind or spirit, lifts him to a higher life. The opening of the library and reading room, Octo- ber I, 1848, has already been alluded to. This was an additional recognition of the intellectual needs of young men. The Report for 1850 says : *' The Committee are thankful to record that the experience of the past year has fully realized the anticipations by which they were led to open the library and reading room in Gresham Street. Five hundred young men have availed them- selves of the privileges it affords, and many have been led in consequence to attend the religious meetings of the Association. Classes are in operation in French, German, Hebrew and Greek languages, mathematics, arithmetic and book-keeping, in history and essay writ- ing, and for the practice of Psalmody. Arrangements have been made for the delivery of a lecture course at the rooms of the Association every alternate week, save 70 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. during the winter session at Exeter Hall." . By June, 1849, the number of volumes in the library had reached one thousand. By 1851, the number of young men using the advantages of the library numbered 650, of whom 425 were " associates." Mr. Shipton, who took charge as Secretary, near the close of 1850, writes : " In accordance with the desire and expectation of the Com- mittee, many of those who have attended the library and reading rooms have also frequented the Bible class and devotional meeting, and have entered upon the profession of their faith in the Gospel there illus- trated and proclaimed. Very many thus brought within the influence of the Association would not otherwise have been reached." ^ In 1853, speaking at a public meeting of the friends of the Association, Mr. Samuel Morley said : " The great attraction of the Young Men's Christian Associa- tion, to my own mind, has been this, — that it has pre- sented us a platform on which various kinds of agencies may be brought to bear for the benefit of young men. I need scarcely say that we believe in the cultivation of the spiritual life in young men, and that there is pro- vided here a large arrangement of Bible classes and other forms of religious teaching, from which I am quite sure that great benefit has been derived. But no one acquainted with the life of a young man in l/ondon can be ignorant of the fact that he is surrounded with temptations of the most horrible kind, leading young men into habits by which hundreds die oflf every yer.r from pure physical ruin, and it has been to me a source of great satisfaction to have opportunity for ofi"ering in plain and distinct language advice to young men on the ruinous tendency of such conduct." 1 Shipton's History of the Young Men's Christian Association, Exeter Hall Ivectures, Vol. I., 1855. BEGINNINGS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 71 THE SOCIAL WORK. The very name " Association of Young Men " sug- gests companionship, and it is not surprising that the leaders early recognized the need of a resort for young men under elevating influences. One of the objects in organizing the Sunday afternoon Bible class was to give young men an opportunity to meet together under wholesome influences, instead of wasting the Sabbath in idleness or sin. Mr. Shipton stated it thus : " It was an endeavor to provide a resort for steady youths without homes, and by kindly, social intercourse to pave the way for the influence of public worship." The conception, however, of the Association as a re- .sort, open day and night, frequented by young men, in order to draw them away from temptation, did not really take shape until the opening of the rooms in Gresham Street, in October, 1848. Here the sociolog- ical fact that young men can be influenced by changing their environment began to find expression. Within a year, four hundred young men who were not Christians were led to frequent these attractive rooms, take advan- tage of the reading room, library, and educational classes, and mingle with the Christian young men who were members of the society. In order to keep these young men more continually under this influence, a restaurant was opened in the Gresham Street apart- ments, between 5 and 10 in the evening, so that young men for a reasonable price could get their evening tea at the rooms, and opportunity be afibrded them to spend the evening in the wholesome surroundings of the Association. " Occasional Paper," No. i, says : *' We desire by these means to present some counter attraction to the places of social and convivial resort open to young men after the hours of business" (p. 6). 72 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. The Annual Report for 1852 states : " None can re- ally know the isolation and discomfort of young men's lodgings without perceiving that they are necessarily exposed to terrible temptation. Many have confessed that our rooms, with the quiet retirement and intelli- gent companionship they afford, have been among the greatest blessings they enjoy." The rooms were the office of the "Agent" of the Association, and many in- stances are recorded of the opportunity thus afforded of personal interviews with young men, who were led by him to become Christians. Since the year 1848, the Young Men's Christian Association has exercised a mighty influence as a social resort. This feature of Association activity was destined to be more fully developed in America, but it originated with the parent Association at London. The London organization in Gresham Street had become in 1851 a well-defined institution, seeking to provide for the spir- itual, intellectual and social needs of young men. Sec. II. — Financial History. The early Association movement cannot be appreciated without a knowledge of its financial policy. There is no brighter page in the history of the church than the financial progress of this work for young men during the last fifty years. The self-denying love on the part of young men struggling to get a footing in the world ; the noble devotion of Christian business men ; the un- faltering persistence and apostolic faith of finance com- mittees, who have accepted the part assigned to them as an important trust, have marked the Association's financial history from its foundation. Sixpence was the humble fee charged for admission at first, with a similar amount due quarterly. At the first half-yearly tea given at Radley's Hotel in Novem- ber, 1844, the Committee stated what has been the finan- BEGINNINGS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 73 cial policy of the organization ever since. " The Com- mittee begs leave to remark that though this sum ( six- pence per quarter) will be insufficient to defray current expenses, yet it has been considered advisable to place so low a sum as a quarterly subscription, relying on the spontaneous liberality of members and friends, for the additional expense of the work." Following this gathering, steps were at once under- taken to secure 130 pounds as the salary for the super- intendent of the Association. The Committee estab- lished a precedent which became a principle with the organization : On the ground that a young man was of greater service to his employer for being a Christian man, they invited merchants, and others, who employed young men, to contribute to the Association. By Jan- uary, 1845, the sum of 70 pounds had been contributed by the young men themselves, and business men inter- ested in the work. In 1845, M^- Geo. Hitchcock accept- ed the position of treasurer. This was an important advance and bears a vital relation to the growth of the Association. The early financial history of the organi- zation is bound up with the life of this man. He had already contributed more largely than any one else toward the fund to secure a missionary. His first act as treasurer was, at his own expense, to equip and rent suitable rooms for the Association in Sergeant's Inn. The receipts of the Association for 1846 were 287 pounds; the disbursements 372 pounds; the balance, 85 pounds, was loaned to the Association by Mr. Hitchcock. The membership dues at the close of the second year were abolished, and the Association was supported en- tirely by voluntary contributions, but all young men, whether members or associates, habitually using the library, reading room, and other privileges of the Asso- ciation, paid an annual fee of ten shillings. In addition to these dues many young men made contributions from 74 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. their small incomes, which showed their devotion to the work. The year 1845-1846, Geo. Williams and Mr. Durrant, both of the original Committee of twelve, gave two pounds each. Two other young men gave one pound, one shilling each. Five gave 10 shillings each. The third year the debt of 85 pounds and the expenses, a total of 600 pounds, were all paid, leaving a balance of eight pounds in the treasury. The fourth year the expenses were 608 pounds. The expenses of the next year were very large, owing to occupying and equipping of the Gresham Street rooms. By a vigorous effort over 2,100 pounds were raised and expended upon the year's work for 1849. The apart- ments thus provided with parlors, secretary's rooms, library and educational class-rooms laid the foundation for future work. Annual subscriptions are reported of 25, 20, and 15 pounds each. Mr. Bevan, the president, gave 41 pounds, and Mr. Geo. Hitchcock made the generous donation of 161 pounds and five shillings. Mr. Geo. Williams showed his devotion by giving what must have been a sacrifice at the time, the sum of 25 pounds toward the new equipment. The expenditures for 1850 were 2,080 pounds, with a balance in the treasury of 56 pounds. The Association was now undertaking an ex- tensive work. Its varied agencies required large amounts of money. The great exhibition was close at hand and the Committee determined to take advantage of the opportunity this would afford, to preach the Gos- pel to large throngs of young men who would crowd the capital. To do this required increased means. Mr. Geo. Hitchcock enlarged his contribution to the liberal sum of 350 pounds; besides giving 150 pounds toward equipping the rooms opened by the branch in the West End. The expenses for the year were 3,438 pounds, all but 30 pounds of which were raised during the year. The records frequently make mention of Mr. Hitchcock's BEGINNINGS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION, "lo benevolence. The report for 1849 says: "The Com- mittee would hereby thankfully acknowledge the in- creased obligation of the Association for the magnificent and kind assistance which, in a variety of ways, has been rendered by their respected and beloved treasurer, Mr. George Hitchcock." Sec. 12. — Extension of the Association. — 1845-51. Life manifests itself by growth ; it also manifests itself by reproduction. The Young Men's Christian Associa- tions began to multiply. The young men who formed the first organization had in view first the employees in one commercial establishment, then the young men of the commercial classes of London, then at their first "tea meeting" in 1844, at the suggestion of Mr. Owen, the idea was seized upon of making an effort for all the young men of London, and if possible reaching out to other cities of the United Kingdom. The aim of the leaders grew rapidly. Their hearts beat in sympathy with the tempted young men walking the city streets of commercial England. Their plans leaped forth to reach all young men, even while they were struggling to solve the problems of a new organization at home. The first move of the Association, as we have learned, was to open a headquarters in a coffee house at Ludgate Hill. Not satisfied with this effort, before the Associa- tion was nine months old, a branch Association was formed in the West End of London, with a fortnightly meeting held in a Sunday-school room in Swallow Street. This branch, by March 6th, 1S45, numbered fifty members. For the first three years, half of the lectures were carried on in this section of the city. When Mr. Tarlton became secretary, early in 1845, efforts were immediately undertaken to establish branch Associations in different parts of London, and before the end of the second year, branches had been formed at four new 76 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. points, so that in November, 1846, 18 months after the organization in the Hitchcock establishment, including the original central or city Association, and the branch at the West End, there were six Associations in Lon- don. The relation of these branches, as they were called, to the parent Association, was a perfectly volun- tary one. The constitution of the London " City " Asso- ciation was amended so as to read, "Associations which are willing to unite with this society, being similar in their constitution and object, and adopting the spirit of the second, third, eighth and ninth rules of the Associa- tion, shall be recognized as in connection with and by mutual consent termed branches of the Young Men's Christian Association" (2d Report). The rules specified refer: To the object of the Association, the spiritual and mental improvement of young men, by any means in accordance with the Scriptures. To the management of the organization, by a committee elected by the mem- bership, and to the membership, which must consist of young men who give decided evidence of conversion to God. These were the three points which the Committee deemed the essential basis for fellowship with other Associations. They are of especial interest as showing the features which were regarded as the chief essentials of the new movement by its founders. Each branch filed a copy of its constitution with the parent body ; sent it an annual report, abstracts of which were printed in the report of the central work. By vote of the Cen- tral Committee, members of branches were considered *' members of the Young Men's Christian Association." Thus a member was recognized as belonging not to his own local branch alone, but to the whole movement. But London did not bound the horizon of these young men. The report read in March, 1845, at the second BEGINNINGS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 11 "tea gathering " at Radley's Hotel, echoes the resolution passed in November of the year before, when it was re- solved to employ a missionary to work among the young men of London. This March report says : " Nor would we confine ourselves to the metropolis, but through the medium of our missionaries, extend ourselves and form similar Associations in all the large towns and cities of the Kingdom." The industrial changes of the century had made Eng- land a nation of cities. The same conditions, modified somewhat but in the main the same as in London, pre- vailed in all the cities of the Kingdom. Industrial Eng- land was full of young men away from home, without home comforts, without opportunities for social, intel- lectual or spiritual improvement, tempted, irreligious, in the midst of the rush of city life. The same awful need prevailed, and with it too, in nearly every city, a small group of young men were found who were loyal to Jesus Christ. It was only necessary for a knowledge of the London movement to spread for it to take root and become a national endeavor. In accord- ance with the policy already mentioned, in 1846, prob- ably in April or May, deputations from London, consist- ing of members of the Association, generally with Mr. Tarlton as their leader, visited Manchester, Liverpool, Taimton, Exeter, and Leeds, and organized in each of these cities the nucleus of a Young Men's Christian Association on the London model. The movement had been metropolitan, it now became national. The fol- lowing year, 1847, Associations were organized in Hull, Oxford, Derby, and Bath. These were followed by others, which have become, as the years passed, centers of influence in every city of the United Kingdom. In 1848, Associations at Sheffield, Bristol, and Reading were added to the list. These Associations varied in strength and vitality, in proportion to the zeal and 78 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. genius of the Christian young men of the various com- munities, but on the whole they were remarkably suc- cessful. Earnest men perceived that the Association had grasped a valuable idea, and encouraged the young men to carry it out. These various societies adopted rules similar to the London constitution, filed them with the parent Association to which they sent reports for the London annual meeting, in the same way as the metro- politan branches. They were called, in contrast, Pro- vincial Branches. By the end of the formative period of the British work (1851), Associations had been formed at eight points in London, including the original organ- ization, and in sixteen different cities in England, Scotland, and Ireland. The same conditions of membership prevail in all: "Members must be young men who give decided evi- dence of conversion to God." Since 1848, young men of good moral character, by the payment of a small fee, were allowed to become " associates," with the privilege of enjoying all the benefits of the Association, but were not allowed to vote or hold office. The membership of the "City Association," as the original Association was called, from its location in that part of the metropolis called the "City," shows a steady growth. Twelve young men organized the Association in June, 1844; their number had increased by November, to 70 ; in March, 1845, to 160; in November, 1846, to 200. After this year, the report is given for the entire metropolitan district. In 1847, ^^^ number of members in London was 380; in 1848, the membership was 480; in 1849, it numbered 600 ; this includes the " associates," who were admitted to the privileges of the Association. The membership for 1850 has not been recorded, but at the close of this period the membership of the Central Association alone numbers 425 "associates" and 225 "members," a total of 650, and there were probably BEGINNINGS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 79 1,400 members and associates indentified with the move- ment in Metropolitan London. It is difficult to learn definitely of the membership of the Provincial Branches. In November, 1849, the num- ber had reached 520 outside of London. The Associa- tion continued to increase both in number of organiza- tions and membership until by the end of 185 1 the eight London societies and the 16 Provincial branches, in all 24 Associations, enrolled some 2,700 young men. By 1858, the total membership of the United Kingdom had reached 8,500 " members " and " associates " in 47 Asso- ciations. Sec. 13. — Summary of the Results from 1844-1851. Speaking before the Association in 1853, Mr. George Hitchcock, who was intimately acquainted with its work, said: " This institution I have always regarded with the deepest sympathy. I remember what London was when I was a young man, and the contrast now is strik- ing. Twenty-seven years ago I came to London, and for some time after that it might be said of the young men in London in the shops and warehouses, ' No man cared for their souls, or their bodies either.' Young men in the large houses, for they were worse than the small ones, were herded together ten to fifteen in a room at night. They were literally driven from the shops to their beds, and from their beds to the shop, by a person called a shopwalker. There was no sitting room, no social comfort, no library; they remained until they were taken ill, then they were discharged at a moment's notice ; away they went, many of them to the workhouse, and numbers of them used to die prematurely. But now what a change has taken place, and principally through this Association and that admirable institution, ' The Early Closing Association.' I rejoice to say that the hours of business are much shortened, and we know 80 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. that there is a very general feeling that there is some- thing more to be done than laboring with the hands, 'that we go forth to our labor until the evening,' and that then is the time for mental improvement and for social duties and privileges." In seven years, the Asso- ciation had revolutionized public sentiment regarding the claims of young men. It had been one of the chief factors in shortening the hours of labor for commercial young men. It had influenced directly or indirectly tens of thousands of young men, and led many hundreds to become followers of Jesus Christ, and to become mem- bers of his church. CHAPTER III. THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT. Sec. 14. — Preparation in the American Church. — 1800-1851. We are to turn our eyes to a new theatre of action, a land whicli, while it has received from Europe its popu- lation, and its political, social, and religious ideas, has nevertheless developed a decided individuality of its own. It is in America that the Young Men's Christian Association has achieved its greatest success. The World's Committee, in the report made at the London conference in 1894, said: "The Associations of the United States and Canada present the picture of a pow- erful, active, and complete organization. They are well at the head of our whole work, and their influence is felt far beyond the American Continent." ^ We must study briefly the development of the relig- ious forces of America, and the industrial situation, in order to understand the American movement. The distinguishing characteristic of American Christianity is the freedom of the Church from the State. So long has this been the accepted policy that the subject in America scarcely excites a passing interest, and yet it is the great contribution of America to the history of Christianity. The Declaration of American Independence introduced an entirely new chapter in the history of the Church. Europe, with its piled ecclesiastical traditions, lay many miles across the sea. For the first time since the days 2 " Fifty Years' Work Among Young Men," page 11, English Edition ; Exeter Hall, London, 1894. 82 } 'O I ^NG MEX \S CHRISTIA N ASSOCIA TION. of Constantine the Church was free to develop among a great people, unfettered by union with the government, and this time it was to be a free Church, protected, in its functions, not persecuted by a hostile, civil power. The history of the American Church previous to the in- troduction of the Young Men's Christian Association in 1851 falls into three periods: (i) The Colonial Period, 1607 to 1776. (2) The Period of Reorganization, 1776 to 1815. (3) The Period of Rapid Extension through- out the growing Republic, 181 5 to 185 1. It is necessary to trace briefly the events which are of vital importance to our subject. THE FOUNDING OF THE AMERICAN CHURCH DURING THE COLONIAL PERIOD. Europe has furnished the elements from which the American Church has developed, but the chronological order of their introduction into the United States has been reversed. An analysis with reference to the European origin of the religious forces of the United States shows that they spring from four sources: The Old Roman Church; The Reformation; The Puritan and the Wesleyan Revivals. The Roman Catholic Church owes its present strength to recent immigration from Ireland and Europe. It was not a moulding force in the founding of the nation, except in one colony. The second element of American Christianity contin- ues directlv the Protestant Reformation of the Sixteenth century. The two churches which stand directly for the Reformation are the Episcopal and the Lutheran. The Lutheran, and the kindred German bodies, like the Roman Church, owe their present strength to more re- cent immigrations. The Episcopal Church, however, was the first introduced into America, and has had a continuous history since the founding of the Jamestown Colonv in 1607. For a century, the Church of England THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT. 83 was the dominant religion in the South. While the spirit of loyalty to the British Crown prevailed, the Anglican Church nourished the religious life of Virginia and the Southern Colonies as well as the isolated char- acter of the wilderness would permit. But the Church was poorly organized, and the sentiment against an establishment of religion early developed. The Ameri- can Cliurch had no Bishop, but was in close connection with the English establishment under the direction of the Bishops of London. This led it to be regarded as an ally of the British government. The annals previous to the Revolution are full of struggles between the people and the rectors over their salaries, which were raised by taxation. At the close of the colonial period, the Episcopal Church was in a reduced condition. It had some fol- lowing in Connecticut and New York, but only three mission stations in Pennsylvania. Outside of Virginia and Maryland, it was supported as a mission under the British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. " In the South, there had been a distinct retrogression. Even in faithful old Virginia dissenters were two to one. The result of the fatal breach between clergy and people had already appeared. Church buildings were falling into neglect ; many of the clergy had withdrawn, * * '•' while further south the condition was no better." ^ The Episcopal Church was still further shattered by the Revolution. At the outbreak of the war, there were only 90 clergymen in Virginia, and at its close there were 28; in 1812, only 13 could be rallied to at- tend the first convention. ^ The Church was also weakened by being wantonly deprived of its en- dowments by disestablishment. It was not until about 1835 that the Episcopal Church became again ^ McConneH's History of the American Episcopal Church, p. 1S2. * McConuell's History of the American Episcopal Church, p. 288. 84 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. a vigorous factor in the religious life of the United States. It was one of the chief forces in introducing the Young Men's Christian Association, and produced the leader of the American movement during the first period of its history. The third and chief source from which America drew her religious life was the great Puritan movement of the 17th century. The lineal descendants of this Puri- tan revival are the Presbyterians and Congregationalists. The Baptists, who were also earnest in advocating sep- aration between the civil and religious powers, and the doctrine that the Church should be composed only of believers, as a movement among English-speaking peo- ple, date their origin from the same period as the Puri- tans. They accepted the Westminster confession with modifications of the statements regarding baptism and the sacraments. In Virginia they were especially active in the movement led by Thomas Jefferson against the Establishment. They were represented in all sections of the Union. The Presbyterians were especially strong in New York and Pennsylvania. The type of piety, the. conception of the Bible, of education, of freedom of conscience, of the Sabbath, of sin, of the relation of the Church to the State, which prevailed at the founding of the nation, were the outgrowth of the Puritan move- ment of the seventeenth century. The fourth division of the American Church has come from the impulse to spiritual life given by the Wesleyan revival in Great Britain during the i8th century. America has seen the greatest successes of Methodism. No other denomination has made such rapid progress, or shown more zeal for the elevation and enlightenment of the masses of the people. But this body of Chris- tians who were to become the leading division of American Protestants were hardly a determining factor at the beginning of the nation's history. The teachings THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT. 85 of Wesley produced a deep impression in the colonies, but Methodism was not yet an organized force. The first meeting-house of logs was built in the woods of Mary- land in 1764,^ and in 1773 the converts to Methodism numbered only 1,160. Fifteen years later, in 1784, the Methodist Church was episcopally organized with 14,983 members, four-fifths of whom were in Maryland. With 'the founding of the new republic, the Methodist Church set out on its great mission. I have given this brief summary of the early ori- gin of the American Church because this division of the people, among so many of the ecclesiastical organi- zations, was the determining factor at the beginning of the next period in freeing the Church from union with the government. The second characteristic of the colonial period was the " Great Awakening," under the leadership of Jona- than Edwards and George Whitfield, which stirred the entire nation. Beginning under the preaching of Ed- wards at Northampton, Mass., in 1734, the revival spread south with wonderful power, till it reached Georgia, where Whitfield was engaged in establishing an Orphan- age, with funds gathered mostly in England. Under the impulse of his marvellous eloquence and devotion, the revival received new vigor. He traveled north, preach- ing and exhorting in all the colonies. This movement, commonly known as the " Great Awakening," lasted until the Revolution, and even longer. It is of great im- portance to our subject, because to it can be traced one of the leading characteristics of American Christianity.'^ Without much regard to Calvanistic or Arminian conception of theology, the "Great Awakening" agreed with John Wesley in teaching the possibility '•" McTyiere's " History of Methodism," p. 253. '■ McConnell's Histon'- of American Episcopal Church, pp. 136- 146; Fisher's Historj' of the Christian Church, pp. 524-527. 86 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. of the immediate conversion of sinners, and that a Christian may know at once, by an inner experience, that he is accepted of God. It may be called the coun- terpart of the Wesley an revival on the west side of the Atlantic. This conception of conversion became char- acteristic of American Christianity. It has developed the evangelistic and missionary spirit, which is one of the leading features of the American Church, and which was a necessary preparation for the Young Men's Chris- tian Association. The Association in America is an evangelistic agency which aims to win young men to yield their lives to Jesus Christ. The "Great Awaken- ing" prepared the American Church to welcome and support such an enterprise. It was this great revival which fortified the Church to meet the tide of irreligion and immorality which came with the Revolution and the opening years of the republic. The two features of the colonial period which are of importance to our theme were the founding of the different denomina- tions, and the development of the evangelistic spirit by the " Great Awakening." THE PERIOD OF REORGANIZATION, 1776-1815. War has often ushered in a decline in spiritual life. This was sadly true in America. The second period of American history is marked by irreligion and infidelity almost as pronounced as that which prevailed in Eu- rope. The rigid standard of morals of the early Puri- tans degenerated. Party strife was as bitter as in the declining days of Greece or Poland. Slavery was grow- ing in the South, " drunkenness threatened to debauch the nation." " In the Western States whiskey was the only currency used. In 1814, there were 1,400 distil- leries in the country, producing two and a half gal- lons of raw spirits annually for every person in the pop- THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT, 87 ulation." ^ The days of Christianity were thought to be numbered, and the "Age of Reason" to be at hand. Polit- ical alliance and sympathy with France brought in infi- delity, and associated the ideas of liberty, equality, and free institutions with unbelief and irreligion. There was danger that the Church, the great conserver of self-mast- ery in the individual, would be paralyzed at just the mo- ment when the inauguration of free institutions demand- ed self-poise and self-control in the mass of the people. The leading event in the history of the Church at this period was the culmination of the movement which had been developing for a century in favor of the sep- aration of the civil and religious powers. This senti- ment had grown with the growth of republican ideas. The irreligion of the day allied itself to the anti-estab- lishment party in demanding the separation of the Church from the State. The anti-establishment move- ment succeeded in Virginia in 1784. The leading fac- tor, however, in accomplishing separation, was not irreligion, but the division of the population among so many different denominations. " The convention of patriots, who framed the Federal Constitution at Phila- delphia in 1787, were sacredly bound by every consid- eration of justice and regard to the rights of the various States and religious parties represented by them, to pro- claim liberty of religion and its public exercise. This could not be done without a com.plete separation of Church and State." « The separation of the Church from the State has de- veloped several features of American religious life that are of great importance to our subject. The indepen- dence of the Church involved self-support, self-govern- ment, and the organization of the Church as a body of " McConnell's History of American Episcopal Church, p. 279. « Elliotts' Debate, Vol. III., p. 330, quoted by Philip Schaff, Evangelical Alliance Report for 1857, p. 569. 88 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION believers, distinct from unbelievers. It is impossible to adequately discuss here the influence which these prin- ciples had upon American Christianity as it has devel- oped during the succeeding seventy-five years. The first result during the period of reorganization was the awakening of laymen to activity in Christian work. Self-government, and, above all, self-support, compelled the Church to lean more and more upon laymen in ful- filling her mission. The means for the support of religion, and the advancement of all religious enter- prises were no longer raised by taxation, but the Church now rested on the loyalty of its members. This sys- tem of voluntary support has been eminently successful. To this training is due the benevolence and generous giving in America which has often attracted the atten- tion of Europeans. Art galleries, universities, and churches are built and maintained, not by the State or royalty, but by private munificence or general contribu- tions. A variety of influences have contributed to in- crease lay activity in Christian work during this century all over the Protestant world. This century has been characterized by the establishment of lay agencies for extending the Kingdom of Christ. From the German Inner Mission and the myriad organized agencies of Great Britain to the wonderful lay societies of Amer- ica, the layman is a recognized religious power. The Young Men's Christian Association is a purely lay organization, and without this awakening of lay- men to Christian service would have been an im- possibility. Laymen have become a more important factor in the activities of the Church throughout Amer- ica than in any other land, and this is one of the chief causes for the greater success of the American Young Men's Christian Association. The separation of the Church from the civil power also involved the organization of the Church as a body THE AI\[ERICAN MOVEMENT. 89 of believers distinct from unbelievers. This was of im- mense advantage. It limited church membership to converted men, and enabled the Church to fulfill its mission of bearing witness to what it believed to be the truth. The separation of believers from unbelievers greatly stimulated the evangelistic spirit, which was the most precious legacy from the preceding period. In Europe, the basis of church membership is not conver- sion, and a public profession of faith in Christ but birth and baptism under a Christian government. In Amer- ica the conditions of fellowship are baptism and a pub- lic, profession of faith in Jesus Christ. This separation of the converted from the unconverted has proven a constant reminder to the Church of its evangelistic mission. It has confirmed the evangelistic character of American Christianity.' The second characteristic of this period ( 1876-1815) was the necessary organization of the churches on the basis of the new relation to the government. The Pres- byterians and Baptists had never been connected with the State, and were already organized and ready to push for- ward and occupy the field as population moved westward. This in a measure explains the rapid development of these two denominations. The Methodists were swift to follow in their footsteps and soon outstripped them both. The Episcopalians and tbe Congregationalists were slow to accept the new situation, and thus lost this first opportunity for rapid advancement. The Episco- pal Church was the first to organize, but it was deprived of its resources by disestablishment, and had to face the hostility of the supposed sympathy of its clergy with the Tory party. The Congregationalists, while jK)pular from their loyal support of the patriot cause, and their influence in moulding the new na- tion, were hardly organized at all, and were slow to ad- vance as an organization into the growing West, while 90 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. they gave the most liberally of all of men and money. As a church, they can hardly be said to have had a na- tional organization previous to the calling of the Na- tional Council of 1865. The third characteristic of this period, which has prevailed during all the succeeding history of the na- tion, is the systematic efforts of the reorganized churches to establish themselves among the population which moved westward. This movement at first fos- tered denominational rivalry, but it did much to stimu- late evangelistic zeal. It prevented the localizing of denominations, as had been done in the colonial period, and so in the end promoted denominational fellowship and intercourse. There is no section of America, ex- cept New England, where the Congregationalists still predominate, where any one denomination so outnum- bers the others as to justify pretentions to superiority. Tolerance was a natural development of the separation of the Church from the State. The Church emerged from the second period of 40 years fully organized, un- der the new condition of freedom from government control, able to support itself, a self-governed body of believers, and a witness for Christ in the world. The Church had two marked characteristics which are es- pecially important to our theme. The first was a vig- orous evangelistic spirit, the outgrowth of the " Great Awakening," strongly intensified by the organizing of congregations of believers as distinct from the uncon- verted, and by the missionary effort to evangelize the West. The second was the awakened interest of the laity, and their increased prominence in the affairs of the Church. The American Church in 18 15 was a growing power in the midst of a period of ii*religion which prevailed widely over war-stricken Protestantism, and in the face of the serious problems of slavery and a rapidly developing nation. THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT. 91 THE PERIOD OF RAPID EXTENSION. The period from 1815 to 1851 in the United States was one of tremendous religious activity. The Church arose in its might to make the growing nation Chris- tian, and to perpetuate the Puritan and Wesleyan con- ception of Christianity. As population moved west- ward and occupied the vast domain of the Mississippi Valley, the Church and school were founded in ever>' settlement. The powerful stimulus to business en- terprise, aroused by the appropriating of a new country, quickened also religious activity. The rapidly ac- cumulated wealth of Christian farmers, merchants, and manufacturers flowed into the coffers of the Church in a way that satisfied everyone of the wisdom of the sys- tem of voluntary support. Scores of colleges and theo- losfical seminaries were established in both the old and new States. Church buildings* were erected in large numbers and of more pretentious and beautiful struc- ture. This period of expansion is seen in all of the denominations. Numbers were added to church mem- bership which year by year has enrolled a greater pro- portion of the total population. The great external characteristics of the third period are : The march of the Church westward with the pioneer population. The great increase in the numbers of the communi- cants, ministers, church buildings, church organiza- tions, and financial resources. The entrance of Roman Catholicism on a large scale on the wave of the new European and Irish immigra- tion. The division of the denominations which had large numbers of communicants in both the North and the South into separate bodies on account of slavery. The feature of this period of chief interest to our 92 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. subject was the formation of the great lay societies of the Church. The different denominations now began to establish, or to render really vigorous, both their own denominational boards and interdenominational organizations. As early as 1801, the Congregationalists and Presby- terians entered into a " plan of union " for the planting of churches in western New York and Ohio. This de- veloped into the Home Missionary Societies of the two denominations in 1826. Each of the large denomina- tions soon founded agencies for extending their sys- tems into the rapidly growing West. In 1850, there were ten Home Missionary Societies in the United States, which received annual contributions to the amount of $433,090, and which supported 2,675 mis- sionaries in newly-settled communities. The foreign missionary movement began toward the close of the previous peiriod by the organization of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in 1810. This was supported at first by several denom- inations, but gradually came to be the agent of the Congregationalists. It rapidly became the policy for each denomination to have its own Foreign Missionary vSociety. In 1850, there were 14 Foreign Missionary So- cieties in the United States, receiving annually ^666,360. In addition to these 24 Home and Foreign Missionary Societies, there were a number of other denominational agencies for the education of young men for the minis- try, and for founding Sunday Schools. The attempt to inaugurate Home and Foreign Mis- sion work on an interdenominational basis, made in 1801 and 1810, failed, partly on account of the nature of the enterprises and partly on account of jealousy between denominations. But with the beginning of the third period, the willingness of Christians of differ- ent denominations to unite in carrying on work of a THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT. 93 general character began to increase. In 1816, the American Bible Society was established to circulate the Bible without comment, both at home and in foreign lands. This society received hearty support from Christians of all creeds. In 34 years it had distributed nearly seven million copies of the Bible or New Testa- ments. In 1850, its annual income was $284,000. The American Tract Society, for the circulation of Christian literature, was founded on a similar basis in 1824, and at the end of 26 years was receiving $308,000 annually for the distribution of Christian literature. One of the greatest of these agencies was the American Sunday School Union in connection with the various churches throughout the nation. This society marvel- lously stimulated lay activity. Its income in 1850 was $259,900. In 1 850 these three great interdenominational agencies, with several others for similar purposes, according to the report made to the Conference of the Evangelical Alliance held at London in 185 1, were receiving over $850,000 annually in voluntary contribu- tions from Christians of all evangelical churches. In addition to forming these societies, Christians began to unite in a great variety of benevolent enterprises. Anti- slavery and colonization societies, temperance organiza- tions, and union evangelistic service were powerful influences in drawing Christians together. In 1846, with evangelical believers of all lands, the American Church united in forming the Evangelical Alliance, which had for its object the establishment of a bond of union between Protestants of every nation and every tongue. The rapid development of the Sunday School, which rallied the young people under th^ instruction of Chris- tian laymen, did much to familiarize laymen with methods of Christian work, and with the value of organ- ized effort. In 1851, there were '* 2,000,000 of children, 94 } 'OUNC MEN 'S CHRISTIAN ASSOC I A TION. youths and adults in the Sunday Schools of the United States, taught by more than 200,000 teachers, among whom were members of Congress and of State Legisla- ture, judges, laymen, mayors of cities, and other magis- trates/' •' The Methodist Church, by its system of "local preachers," did much to promote lay preaching, while the development of the prayer meeting familiarized the whole Church with Christian work by laymen. This organizing of the energy of the lay element of the Church permeated American life with vital Christianity. The separation of Church and State, the decadence of doctrinal disputes, the absorption in practical effort had wrought mightily to weld American Christianity into one homogeneous whole, which all the rivalry for supremacy, the clashing of interests in new settlements, the bitterness over slavery, and the devotion to tradi- tional watch-words handed down from European strug- gles of former centuries, could not stifle. A breadth of view and warmth of heart began to permeate American Church life. On the broad platform of the Bible and Tract Societies, the Sunday School Union, and a multi- tude of benevolent organizations, American Christians met side by side. Union became popular ; ministers of different denominations exchanged pulpits, and congre- gations of different churches united in evangelistic ser- vices. The revival spirit, which, under the leader- ship of Charles Finney, awoke to new life, did much to draw the churches into harmonious relations. With the increased activity of laymen, the desire for unity grew stronger, year by year, and while party differences still prevailed, often bitterly, the Evangelical Churches of America in 1851 looked upon each other as standing shoulder to shoulder in a com- mon cause. At the close of the third period of Ameri- can Christianity, when the Young Men's Christian " Report Evangelical Alliance for 185 1, p 610. THE ami:rican MOJ'EMENT. 95 Association was about to begin its role in America, the religious character and institutions of the new nation had become clearly defined, and the general direction of religious effort determined. The religious forces were organized into the denomi- nations already mentioned. Their numerical strength may be seen in the following table : MINISTERS. 1800 1850 CONGREGA- TIONS. 1800 1850 COMMUNICANTS. 1800 1850 Congregationalists Presbyterians Baptists ■. Methodists Episcopalians German Churches Evangelical Other Denominations. 300 260 1,687 4,578 8,018 6,000 1.504 1,827 500 1. 150 1,971 5,672 |4o,ooo 13-455 65,000 320 30,000 1,550 5,356 300 40,000 16,000 197,196 490,259 948,867 1,250,000 73,000 333,000 Totals. 23,514 58,304 3,292,322 The two leading groups are (i) the Methodist denomi- nation, which was distributed over the whole nation in some 30,000 different congregations, enrolling 1,250,000 communicants and ministered unto by 9,000 lay preachers, in addition to 6,000 ordained ministers ; (2) the Puritan and Baptist group, which sprang from the non-conformist movement in England in the 17th century, represented by the Congregationalists, Presby- terians and Baptists. This second group enrolled some 20,600 churches, under the supervision of 14,200 pastors, with some 1,640,000 members. In 1850, in a population of 23,225,000 people, Ameri- can Evangelical Christianity presented the picture of a group of voluntary, self-governing ecclesiastical organi- 96 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. zations, which had rallied some 3,300,000 communicants into 58,000 different congregations, scattered broadcast over the new Republic and fostered by the ministrations of some 23,000 preachers of the Gospel. Some indica- tion of the result of self-support may be gathered from the fact that in 1850 the sum of $7,700,000 was voluntarily contributed for the support of these churches, $3,000,000 additional for church building, and a sum of $2,150,000 for the support of the various denominational and inter- denominational societies alr^dy mentioned. Resting on this ecclesiastical foundation, laid during the two and a half centuries of its history, American Christianity had developed four characteristics, which were a neces- sary preparation for the Young Men's Christian Associa- tion : 1. Evangelistic zeal which sought to win each indi- vidual to personal alliance to Jesus Christ. 2. Lay activity, by means of which laymen had be- come a great factor in the direct work of preaching the Gospel and in directing the agencies of the Church. 3. A faculty for organization, which had created not only the great national societies, but reached also to the details in the life of the local churches. 4. An increasing spirit of harmony between denomi- nations, which manifested itself in fellowship and in union for specific objects. Here were the forces to give the impetus to a new movement. Without spiritual power, without practical organizing ability, without a willingness among Chris- tians of different creeds to unite in practical effort, the Young Men's Christian Association could not have been established. Dr. Charles Hase, of Jena, writing at the close of this period (1853), said: "The Puritan and Methodist elements have been especially attracted to America and have become prominent in the national character. The zeal engendered by an earnest Chris- THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT. 97 tianity thrown into powerful conflict with the world has led its friends to an intense use of ordinary and extraor- dinary means for the conversion of men, and the religious revivals, which have sometimes been witnessed in other lands, have here become frequent." ^ ^ Sec. 15. — The Industrial Situation. We have seen the development of the religious forces in the United States, which were ready to establish and maintain any institution needed to advance the cause of the Gospel. We turn now to look at the actual condi- tions surrounding the life of young men, which have made the Young Men's Christian Association in America necessary. The occasion is the same as in England : the growth of cities. We have already alluded to the decadence of morality which followed the Revolutionary War. The breaking up of the old relation to England, the expansion to the new West, the intoxication of founding a new government, and the rapid growth of wealth disturbed the self-controlled movement of society. The more settled East never really yielded to laxity of morals. But in the West, while government and order were being established, gambling, drunkenness, licentiousness, robbery and sometimes murder threatened to overturn the new States before they could be formed. The steamboats which plied the great lakes, the Mississippi River and the Ohio, were the haunts of gamblers and thieves, who, while less violent to the person, were as ruthless as the highwayman in the days of Robin Hood. Slavery in the South, Indian warfare, and the hardly less demoralizing Indian trading in the North, and, with it all, the isolation of pioneer life, stifled the relig- ious aspiration of the people. Young men, then, as to- 1'' " History of the Christian Church," Ch. Hase, translated by C. E. Blumenthal, p. 601, New York, 1886. 98 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. day, were the adventurous leaders in the march west- ward, and faced all the peril to their moral and higher life which these rude surroundings entailed. This ad- vance westward, headed by young men, has continued through all the subsequent history of the United States, until the Rocky Mountains have been crossed, the Pacific coast settled, and the East and West connected with lines of railway. This filling of the West with the young, leaving the older portion of the population in the East, necessarily forced young men to the front and into prominent business, political and social posi- tions. It led society to trust important enterprises to young men, and in a measure accounts for that readi- ness to lead, and that courage in the face of responsi- bility often seen in young men in America. While in Massachusetts and some of the southern States women outnumber men, the West has always had a large majority of men. In the lumber regions of northern Michigan and Wisconsin, it was estimated that in 1887 there were 80,000 more men than women, most of whom were young and unmarried, exposed to all the demoralizing influences of camp and frontier life. The vital statistics of Wyoming, Idaho, Montana and Colorado show the same great preponderance of males. Over 60 per cent, of the immigrants from Europe to America are males, and the large proportion of these are young men. ^^ The census for 1890 showed 377,000 married men in America whose families were still in Europe. The first pioneer march westward was rapidly followed by an agricultural period, in which the forests were felled and the prairies brought under cultivation. In an incredibly short time, the whole region, from the Allegheny Mountains to the Mississippi, assumed a ^ 1 See article on " The Census of Sex, Marriage and Divorce," in " Forum " for June, 1884, by C. D. Wright. THE AMERICAN MO J 'EMEN T. 99 settled aspect. The canal system was extended to Ohio in 1825. ^"1 the year 1829, the railroad was introduced, and the industrial revolution, which began in England with the invention of the steam engine, in 1793, com- menced in the United States. All the internal condi- tions of the United States were completely altered by the railroad and the use of coal in the manufacture of iron introduced in 1837. The period 1830 to 1840 marks the entrance of modern American conditions. At its beginning, the country was an overgrown type of colonial life ; at its end, American life had been shifted to entirely new lines, which it has since followed.^ The Agricultural Period, which closed with 1830, has been followed by an industrial era, in which the cities have grown to contain half the wealth and 18,000,000 people out of a population of 62,000,000 (1890). It is a striking sociological fact that although the density of population in the United States is only 21 to the square mile (1890), while in France it is 187 ; in Germany, 221 ; in England, 498, still the movement from the country to the city has become as pronounced in America as in Europe. The millions of acres of cheap public lands, the homestead privileges, the fact that only one-sixth of the land is under cultivation, did n#t prevent, between 1880 and 1890, the stagnation or decline of the rural population in over 10,000 out of the 25,700 townships in the United States. ^ In 1834, McCormick, by the invention of the reaper, began the long list of agricultural inventions which have made it possible for an ever-diminishing propor- tion of agricultural laborers to feed the cities of the world. These inventions have stimulated the concen- tration of vast sections of American farm land under single managements, until *' one farmer, like Dr. Glyn, ' Britannica "History of the United States." * " New Era," Josiah Strong, p. 167. 100 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. of California, or Mr, Dalrymple, of Dakota, with a field of wheat covering a hundred square miles, can raise as much grain with 400 farm servants as 5,000 peasant proprietors in France can by old methods." ^ It is not my purpose to enter into a detailed discus- sion of the growth of American cities.^ The facts to be observed are that the same movement of popu- lation from the country to the city, found in Europe, obtains in America even to an accelerated degree, that this movement was pronounced in 1851, and that it was the occasion for establishing the American Young Men's Christian Association. In 1790, Philadelphia had 42,000 people ; New York, 33,000; Boston, 18,000, and Baltimore, 13,000. By 1830, while the whole population had increased ^ less than fourfold, the city population increased 13-fold and contained 6.3 per cent, of the total population. By 1850, the proportion of the population in cities was already i2>^ per cent, out of a total of 23,- 200,000 people. The increasing power of the city is seen from the place of manufacture in the nation. There were already 120,855 manufacturing establish- ments, employing 944,100 persons. The manufactured product was estimated at $1,013,000,000, as compared with a total agricultural product of $1,600,000,000. ^ The current of population was already flowing from the country to the city in 1851. The first characteristic of American cities to be noticed is their abnormally large proportion of young men. '' Young men form an undue proportion of the ' Ivoomis' "Modern Cities," p. 51. * See Josiah Strong's " Our Country," Revised Edition, and " The New Era; " Samuel Loomis' " Modern Cities." * "Our Country," p. 179. ^ Report of Evangelical Alliance, 1855, p. 77. * See Sec. 7, on British Cities. THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT. 101 army which marches annually from the country and village to the city. Cleveland, out of a population of 149,000 males (1892), had 60,000 young men between the ages of 15 and 36 years, — 20 per cent, of the entire population. The general average for the population of the entire country is 14 per cent. (1890 Census). An examination of the reports made by the Young Men's Christian Associations in a large num- ber of American cities, varying from 8,000 to 1,800,000 inhabitants, reveals two interesting and significant sociological laws regarding American young men : i . A decided tendency on the part of young men to seek a livelihood in the city. 2. That the proportion of young men between the ages of 15 and 35 tends to vary accord- ing to the size of the city. The more population is concentrated, still greater is the concentration of young men.* From 18 to 20 per cent, of the population of American cities are young men. The second characteristic is the homeless condition of young men in American cities. City young men may be divided into three classes : foreign young men, strangers, and young men with homes, either of their own, or their parents. In American cities, the foreign element is very large. Immigration from Europe, of a very different character from that which had given a Puritan cast to the free institutions of the republic, began to pour with increasing volume into America. In 1820, it was about 12,000 annually. But soon the famine- stricken inhabitants of Ireland, and the peasants from Germany, Austria and Italy began to invade America. Immigration reached in 1850 as many as 315,000 immi- grants in a single year. This current, interrupted to some extent by the Civil War, has brought a vast multitude of newcomers to America. Between 1880 and 1891, 5,240,000 immigrants came to make their ' See " Dying at the Tops," Dr. J. W. Clokey, p. 19. 102 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. homes in the United States. The cities have proved especially attractive to immigrants from Europe. The percentage of foreign-born inhabitants in the fifty lead- ing American cities was in 1880 eighteen times as great as the percentage of foreign-born persons in London. While less than one-third of Americans are foreign born, or children of parents born in other lands, 62 per cent. of the population of Cincinnati was foreign, in this sense; 83 per cent, of Cleveland; 63 per cent, of Boston ; 80 per cent, of New York, and 90 per cent, of Chicago. It is a noticeable fact that a large proportion of the immigrants are young men who have left their fatherland to seek their fortunes in the New World. The cities of America have proved especially attractive to these young men. Fully fifty per cent, of the yotmg men m American cities are foreign by birth or parent- age. This class of young men are open to especial temptation. Old customs, church relations and tradi- tional ideas of conduct have lessened their hold before these young men have had time to adjust themselves to their surroundings. This has been especially true of members of the Roman Church, thousands of whom have drifted off into indifference and unbelief. This half of the city young men of America are especially impervious to the American agencies for preaching the Gospel, and open to the swarming temptations of the city. Thousands of these foreign young men have no home ties and belong also to the second class of young men who may be called the stranger portion of the city population. The tendency already mentioned of popu- lation to move from the rural districts to the city, and the facility with which Americans change residence from one city to another, gives a colonist character to the city population. The resident population of London which is London-born is 63 per cent, of the whole, while Cleveland, which in 1890 had 261,000 people, THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT. 103 twenty years previous had a population of only 72,ocx). It is impossible to estimate the percentage of city young men who are living away from home, but it is very large. One incident in New York is significant.^ There, young men who have fallen below the plane of self- respect live in the " Cheap Lodging Houses," where a wretched bed in a crowded room may be had for a small fee. " Nearly all of these lodgers are young men." Inspector Byrnes, of the New York police force, says: "The cheap lodging houses have caused more destitution, more beggary and more crime than any other agency I know of."^° Mr. Riis, from the reports given by the police authorities, estimates that some 14,000 young men in New York live in these " Cheap Lodging Houses." These are only the young men whose incomes are insufficient to secure more re- spectable lodgings, and they form but a small percent- age of the young men who are strangers in New York City. A very large proportion of the young men in American cities are living away from home influences, in boarding houses and lodgings. The third class of young men in American cities are those who live with their parents, or in homes of their own. Home, Church and American traditions have a much better opportunity to exert a powerful elevating influence upon this class of young men. They respond to this influence, and are among the most valuable o f American citizens. But this class of young men are under an increasing volume of evil influences. The simplicity of colonial and country life is gone. The young man of the city is in the whirl of temptation, the fierce struggle for place and the feverish thirst for pleasure. Whether the young man of the city resides 9 Riis' "How the Other Half Lives," chapter " The Cheap Lodg- ing House." 10 " How the Other Half Uves," Riis, p. 82. 104 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION witli his parents, or be a stranger from a foreign land, or from the country, the influence of home over him is greatly diminished. The young men of American cities are largely a homeless class. Not only has the home lost much of its hold, but the Evangelical Church has no real grip upon the majority of the young men of American cities. Scarcely 35 per cent, of the communicants of Ameri- can Protestant Churches are men; women form the greater proportion of nearly every Protestant commun- ion and congregation. The Congregational Churches of Cleveland enroll 2,200 women and only 1,200 men.^ The proportion of the communicants and worshipers in the majority of churches who are young men is very small. In a town of 14,000 people in Ohio, in 1890, an examination of the register of the eleven Protestant Churches showed only 297 young men as members, — about 13 per cent, of the young men of that town. Similar tests have been made in six Ohio towns, with a similar result. A careful investigation of the habits of the young men of Cleveland, made by the Young Men's Christian Associations in 1892, shows that out of 60,000 young men, between the ages of 15 and 36, in that city, 6,212, about 10% per cent, were members of Evangelical Churches.^ Similar investigation has been made by Associations in widely separated sections of America. Whatever conclusion may be drawn as to the moral character of the young men of American cities, it is plain that they are largely withdrawn from the influence of the Evangelical Churches. One of the chief reasons for this estrangement is the struggle between capital and labor, which involves a large section of city young men. This struggle began 1 Address, Pres. W. G. Ballantine, 25th Report Ohio Y. M. C. A. 2 25th Report Cleveland Y. M. C. A. THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT. 105 with the growth of cities and manufacture. The first city trade union was formed in New York, in 1803.' There was a strike among printers, in 1821. The first national labor organization was formed in 1850. By i860, twenty-six different trades were organized. The cities of America, 66 per cent, of whose population are work- ing men, began to assume the aspect of two organized camps, in which capital and labor stood arrayed against each other. Samuel Loomis says : " The faith on which the nation was founded, and through the strength of which she has endured the shock of war and the stress of stormy times, this faith has almost no place among the working classes." " It is doubtful if one in twenty of the average congregation in our English speaking Protestant city churches fairly belongs to this class." ^ Fully 60 per cent, of the young men of American cities belong to the industrial classes, and share their prejudice against the Church and its agencies. While a large number of the young men of American cities are active workers in the cause of Evangelical religion, both the home and the Church have lost their hold on a majority of the young men of American cities. The fourth characteristic is the concentration in American cities of the powers of evil. Nowhere else are young men so surrounded by temptation. The fact is too apparent to need discussion. Low theatres, con- cert halls, liquor saloons, houses of ill-fame, dives, fast clubs, and even hotels, boarding houses and the city streets swarm with temptations, and are the headquar- ters for an army of depraved men and women who lie in wait to prey upon young men. The city is without parallel the great center of America's religion, piety and benevolence. The power, ^ Labor Movement in America, Ely, p. 38. * Modern Cities, p. 82. 106 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. leadership, wealth and much of the aggressive zeal of the Church is in the city, but the city is also the head- quarters of vice and evil, and it may well be doubted, rctpidly as the conserving forces of the city have grown, if they bear as favorable a relation to the powers of evil as they did in 1830, when the American Industrial Era began. This concentration of the forces of evil in American cities is aimed directly at young men who are so largely removed from the influences of both home and Church. The case is complete : American life had entered upon a new stage. The Industrial Era ushered in the supremacy of the city. These cities began to be crowded with an abnormally large proportion of young men, a small minority of whom were earnest support- ers of the Evangelical faith, but the greater majority of whom were beyond the influence of home and the ordinary agencies of the Church, exposed to new and powerful temptations. In this emergency the evangel- istic zeal, liberality and energy in the American Church, which has already been described, needed only direc- tion to organize a mighty agency to save young men. This opportunity came with the founding of the Boston Association on the London model, in December, 1851. Sec. 16. — Founding of the American Association, December, 1851, to June, 1854. The first period of the development of the Young Men's Christian Association on the American continent properly extends from the founding of the Montreal and Boston Associations, in 185 1, to the permanent location of the American Committee in New York in 1866. This period of 15 years, in spite of the movement towards unity, and the establishment of a national alliance, in contrast with later development must be called ?i. period THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT. 107 of local effort. There was no general consciousness of a great national or world-wide movement. The four leading events of this period were : The founding of the movement under the leadership of Boston and Montreal. The establishment of the confederation under the leadership of William Chauncy Langdon, of Washing- ton. The great revival of 1857 to i860, which, beginning in New York, swept over the whole country, and which, while it almost overwhelmed for a number of years the original definite idea of the distinctive mission of the Association to young men, and made it in many places a general missionary agency to all classes, confirmed for- ever the evangelistic character of the movement. The fourth work of this period was the mission to the army and navy during the great Civil War, one of the noblest instances of devotion in the annals of Chris- tianity, and the most brilliant page in the early history of the Association. This period of fifteen years in the United States and Canada was one of uncertainty and experiment. The mission of the Association was ill-defined in the minds of many of its supporters ; the relation of the Associa- tions to each other and to the Church was undeter- mined. It was a period of training of leaders and discovery of methods of work, during which the Amer- ican Association gradually grew into self-consciousness, and in which the Association tradition was being formed. It was a period during which the spiritual power necessary for a great undertaking slowly devel- oped. On the other hand, this period did not define definite- ly the aim of the Association as a work for young men by young men. It was clearly recognized as a society of young men, but many of the leaders thought the 108 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. efforts of the Association should be directed to preach- ing the Gospel to all classes of society. In the second place, the relation of the Association to the Church was not defined. There was a strong tendency which ulti- mately prevailed to limit the control to evangelical Christians, but no definition of an evangelical church was formulated. The Association had not evolved its method of work for the fourfold development of young men, spiritually, intellectually, socially, and physically. It was as yet confined almost wholly to the spiritual and intellectual side of its mission. The American Associations did, however, do much during this period to furnish a wholesome social resort. In this chapter we are to discuss the work accom- plished in America between December, 1851, and Au- gust, 1855, the date of the Paris convention. The two events of these five years are the founding of the local Associations, and of the Confederation. THE BOSTON ASSOCIATION. In America, as in Germany and Great Britain, there had been many efforts to inaugurate special work for young men. It has not been the purpose of this treatise to enter into a discussion of these movements. Cotton Mather speaks of young men's religious societies in the early colonial days in New England. Some of these had a continuous existence covering a long period, one for 150 years. The Nasmith movement, shortly preceding the found- ing of the Association, did much to awaken an interest in Christian effort for young men, and in Montreal trained the men who organized the first Association on the American continent. In the United States, the only society formed previous to 1851 which vitally influenced the Young Men's Chris- tian Association was the " Young Men's Society of THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT. 109 Religions Inquiry," of Cincinnati. In 1848, seven young men in Cincinnati, who were members of the same church, formed themselves into a society " for the pur- pose of cultivating Christian intercourse ; of assisting each other in growth in grace and knowledge, and es- pecially of enlarging their acquaintance with the relig- ious movements of their own country and of the world, and fitting- themselves for more extended usefulness in the service of the Divine Redeemer." ^ This society was very soon reorganized on an interdenomina- tional basis, and, in seeking an appropriate way " to extend their influence " in Christian service, wrote a letter to Dr. Samuel Miller, a prominent theologian connected with Princeton University. In replying, Dr. Miller said : "I earnestly advise that your in- quiries and benevolent efforts be especially directed to the moral and spiritual benefit of children and young people. He that searches out a child or young person, and especially a young man of amiable and promising character, and secures for him a good literary and religious education, may be said to be doing good in the most solid and permanent form possible. * * * I believe there is no branch of religious effort more likely to richly remunerate the effort bestowed upon it than searching out the children of the needy and vicious, providing for their moral and religious education, and teaching them to live to God, to their country, and to their own happiness." This letter shaped the activities of the new society, which in a few years enrolled seventy earnest, active young men, who devoted much effort to Christian work. The two ob- jects of their efforts were young men and the children of the poor. In their work for young men they estab- lished nicely furnished rooms, with a library, reading room, and parlors, where semi-monthly meetings were ^ Report First American Convention, 1854, p. 29. no YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. held of a religious and social character. In carrying on the work for children, seven Sunday Schools were established in the more destitute parts of the city, which were managed and taught by members of the " Young Men's Society." This effort at Cincinnati was at first entirely local, but after the introduction of the Young Men's Christian Association, this society identi- fied itself with the Association cause, and with the ma- turity of experience threw itself into the movement. The influence of the Cincinnati Association was power- ful in forming the Confederation, and especially in fostering the spiritual zeal of the American Associations, but not being a movement directed solely toward young men, this society was one of the chief influences in diverting the American Associations from their specific mission. In a few years, however, the Cincinnati As- sociation recognized the wisdom of concentrating its ef- forts upon work exclusively for young men. It is now an organization of nearly 2,000 members, and has re- cently erected a building of its own at a cost of $200,000. The real founding of the Association in America was in i85i,when the influence of the London idea reached simultaneously Montreal, in Canada, and Boston, the metropolis of New England. We are especially con- cerned with the Boston movement because it was from Boston the Association has spread over the American continent. In the winter of 1849-1850, a student from Columbia University, New York, named G. M. Van Derlip, visited Edinburg University for a course of study. During his stay abroad he spent some time in London, where he became acquainted with the London Young Men's Christian Association. He was so much impressed with the value of this organization that he prepared an extended account of it, which was sent to the Watch- majt and Reflector^ of Boston, the organ of the Baptist THE AMERICAN MO VEMEN T. Ill denomination. This letter, written in June, 1850, de- scribed so vividly the work in London in the seventh year of its history, and was such an important link in extending the movement in America, that a considerable extract must be quoted from it.'' It was written from London as follows : " Taking the most direct course from the general post office to the Bank, on the right-hand side of Gresham Street, a large stuccoed building will be observed, on the doors of which is inscribed, ' Young Men's Christian Association.' Ascending the stairway, we enter a spacious apartment some sixty by thirty feet. It is elegantly furnished with m.ahogany tables, sofas and lounges. Here are to be found the principal newspapers of the Kingdom, together with copies of journals from every part of the world. " Ascending another flight, we reach a room supplied with all the reviews and magazines. Adjoining it is the library room, in which lectures are occasionally delivered. The library may be called a small one^ having less than eight thousand volumes, but size is no criterion of value, for a better selected collection of books — one more completely adapted to the wants of those using it — can scarcely be conceived of. " In the library room, on Sunday afternoon, a large class of young men meet to study the Word of God. There are other classes of the same kind, under the direction of the Association, meeting in different parts of the city. The graduates of these classes make effi- cient Sunday School teachers. On the floor above the library are bath rooms, class rooms, etc. Instruction is regularly given to classes in French, German, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. There is also a class in English literature which meets weekly under the supervision of Rev. Charles Stovel. ^ See Young 3fen's Era, June 14, 1S94. 112 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. " There is one peculiarity in the arrangement of the Association, and that is the refreshment room. Provis- ion is made for the physical as well as intellectual man. Between the hours of 5 and 8 P. M., servants are in attendance, and members are furnished with tea, coffee, chocolate and other refreshments at cost price, about half the price charged at restaurants. Members can now spend two or three hours in the reading room after business hours before going home. " I see I have reversed the proper order by describing the * local habitation ' of the Young Men's Christian Association before speaking of the Association itself. It is, comparatively speaking, a new institution. Six years ago it was organized. The Rev. Thomas Binney, in an address delivered at a late meeting of the society, said : " ' There was a young man ( George Williams ) in a certain house in London, working away there, aye, and working well ; a young man of activity and tact and industry and talent, attending to his business, and being thoroughly in his business when he was in it, and the thought rose up in his mind of getting a few young men, like-minded, together, to read the Scriptures and unite in prayer, and lo, this institution came to be evolved from that one thought.' " Its religious character is its peculiar glory. There are other associations which accomplish a part of what this proposes, but I know of none in which the attain- ment of vital piety and manifestation of godliness is the leading object. It is not enough that a man should be religious in the sense often understood. A man has more to do than save himself. Says Frederick Maurice, * The Kingdom of God begins within, but it is to mani- fest itself without ; it is to penetrate the feelings, habits, thoughts, words, acts of him who is the subject of it.' Believing these things, not a few Christian young men THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT. 113 of London resolved in God's strength to accomplish these objects, viz. : ** The improvement of the spiritual and mental con- dition of commercial young men by the efforts of the members of the society in the sphere of their daily call- ing, by devotional meetings, Biblical instruction, mu- tual improvement classes, and the diffusion of Christian literature. Article 8 of their constitution reads, * Any person shall be eligible for membership who gives decided evidence of his conversion to God.' Young men of good character may enjoy the privileges of the library and reading room on payment of a small sum. The first three years of its existence there was a strug- gle. The munificence of George Hitchcock, Esq., kept the society free from debt, yet it was felt that too little was accomplished. " In 1848, the third annual course of lectures was pub- lished, and in a short time 36,000 copies were sold. The attention of the Christian public w^as at once di- rected to the Association, and thousands of warm friends enlisted. All the evangelical clergymen of L FOUNDING OF CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION. 143 nate with either the London Association or the German Jiinglings-Verein. But the practical application of this idea in a form which was destined to spread over the world under a name which was to be generally ac- cepted, as well as the spiritual power to compel the acceptance of this idea, were born with the London society, founded by George Williams. It was the movement inaugurated at London which has marshalled the Christian young men of the cities of Protestantism into a compact organization to win young men, and which has given the distinctive character to this world-wide institution. The German Associations had an earlier origin, and have evolved a method of operation adapted to the sur- roundings in which they are placed. They are the best and most vigorous example of the movement on the Continent The Jiinglings-Verein and the Christlicher Verein junger Manner of American origin are the result of forces in the German Evangelical Church, nobly striv- ing to meet the needs of young men in the midst of new industrial conditions. Sec. 19. — Preparation in the German Church, It is impossible here to trace adequately the develop- ment of the religious forces in Germany which have created the characteristics peculiar to the German Young Men's Christian Associations. The religious condition of Germany at the founding of the Jiinglings-Verein was the result of a long strug- gle between Rationalism and the party in the Church which stood for practical Christian life and eflfort. The Reformation on the Continent had been fol- lowed by a handing over of the Church to the domi- nation of the various civil governments. There was 144 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. no ecclesiastical organization, as in England, to re- sist the appropriation by the State of the management of the Church. This subjection of the Church to the State was followed by the reign of Rationalism and a prevalence of theological discussion.^ Dr. F. W. Krummacher, of Berlin, speaking before the Evangeli- cal Alliance in 1851, said: "Rationalism, or that form of theology which indicated human reason as the supreme authority on religious subjects, denied supernatural revelation, and the necessity of salvation to man, disputed that God was able to work miracles, and only accepted Christ as the teacher of natural relig- ion and of a better morality, ascended from the mid- dle of the eighteenth century in Germany to such an extended dominion that the few isolated believers in Revelation began seriously to fear that the Lord might have determined entirely to extinguish from his holy temple the light of the Gospel."^ On account of its union with the State, the Church had to bear the brunt of the mistakes of the civil power. Opposition to the Church came to be looked upon as opposition to the Government. The Church in the eyes of the multitude was responsible with the State for the maintenance of the existing order in political affairs. For this reason republican and democratic movements on the Continent have been hostile to the Church and religion. The subjection of the Church to the State has made the Church the supporter of conservative and monarchial institutions, instead of leaving it free to minister to the spiritual needs of the people and bear witness to the truth. For this reason, free institutions have been on the Continent so largely associated with irreligion, and this want of the conserving influence of religion among the democratic parties of Germany and other European ^ Hase's "History of the Christian Ch"ch, "English Edition, sec. 402. ^ Alliance Report, 1851, p. 419. FOUNDING OF CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION. 145 countries has often made those parties lawless and vio- lent. As a result of its subjection to the State, and the admission of unconverted men into a large share in church government and the consequent reign of Ration- alism, religious life in Germany at the close of the eighteenth century and the beginning of this was at a sadly low ebb. The Church was split up into the same small political divisions as the Empire. The appoint- ment of pastors and theological professors, and the gov- ernment of the Church were in the hands of the civil power. Support of the Gospel, instead of being a volun- tary act of worship, was a matter of taxation. The simple edict of the King of Prussia was sufficient to eflfect in 1817 the union of the two great bodies of the Church in Prussia — the Lutheran and the Reformed. The Church was looked upon simply *' as the religious element in the State." ^^ Pastors held an official relation to their people. There was no possibility of a distinc- tion between believers and unbelievers. All practical Christian work was paralyzed by the prevailing teach- ing that every one born and baptized in a Christian country is a Christian, and that the province of the Church is to instruct rather than to convert. It is not surprising that only nine to ten per cent, of the popula- tion in the country districts attended church and from two to three per cent, in the large towns. Fully 99 per cent, of the children were baptized and 93 per cent, of those of proper age were confirmed, but it was esti- mated that only a small per cent, of those confirmed were really Christians. Confirmation was looked upon as the liberation of the lad from school and parental con- trol, and often celebrated as such.^ Young working men passed almost completely out from under the influence '* Fisher's "History of the Christian Church," period VI., chap. 5. * "Die Mission an den Jiinglingen," by J. Hesekiel, Berlin, 1864. 146 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. of the pastors after confirmation when they began to earn their own living as apprentices. Two prevailing sentiments characterized the body of young working men — "unbelief in the Word of God" and "indiffer- ence and hostility to the Church." The French Revo- lution had done much by awakening aspirations for free institutions among the people to arouse opposition to the Church, which was looked upon as the supporter of royalty. The result was a manifest tendency to substi- tute philosophy for religion. On the other hand, there had always existed a party in the German Church who believed in Revela- tion, who sympathized with a practical applica- tion of Christianity to the lives of individuals, and who were active in works of love and benevo- lence. Spener and Franke, who were the founders of the Orphan Home at Halle, the leaders of a party called in reproach the Pietists, the Moravians under the lead- ership of Zinzendorf, Hans Hague, John Oberlin and many others, had by example and teaching proclaimed the necessity of carrying the Gospel to individuals and of ministering to both the spiritual and temporal wants of men. It was this party which made the effort to heal the distractions caused by the Napoleonic wars, and which founded the various agencies for infusing the Gospel into the life of the people and caring for their necessities. It was to this party after the shock of 1848 to which Germany turned, under the leadership of Pas- tor T. H. Wichern, the founder of the Inner Mission, for a revival of faith and for the spiritual power to stem the forces which strove to overthrow all the insti- tutions of society. The beginning of the century was marked by the efforts of believing men in all parts of Germany to min- ister to the spiritual and temporal necessities of their fellow men. Christian H. Zeller, of Wiirtemberg, FOUNDING OF CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION. 147 founded in 1820 a voluntary institution for training teachers to devote themselves to the instruction of poor children. From Basle, Switzerland, in this period, there went forth an influence for practical Christian work. Baron von Kottwitz was instrumental in estab- lishing after the depression in 1806 agencies for furnish- ing work for the unemployed.'* Amiel Sieveking, dur- ing the cholera plague in Hamburg, organized a sisterhood for the help of the sick. In 1825, ^^^ ^^st Sunday-school of Germany was founded at Ham- burg. In 1833, Pastor Fliedner, at Kaisersworth, with one young woman, began the Deaconess work of Germany ; in 1836, he organized the " Rheinisch West- falische Diakonissen-Verein," which has been the means of extending the Deaconess work over Germany and other lands. Fifty years have achieved marvelous results. " In 1894, there were in the Evangelical cHurches of Germany between 50 and 70 Deaconess homes. The number of the deaconesses was about 8,000, who were engaged in a great variety of ac- tivities. Six hundred were nurses in hospitals ; 130 worked in poor-houses and infirmaries ; 700 as parish helpers ; 100 in orphanages ; 340 in schools for small children, the rest in rescue houses, industrial schools, homes for fallen women, blind asylums and prisons." ^ Many other institutions for the amelioration of all classes of society were established during this period, chief of which was an institution for neglected children, the Rauhe House, at Hamburg, under the management of Pastor T. H. Wichern. The Revolution of 1848 opened the eyes of believing Germans to the misery and irreligion which prevailed throughout the Father- * " Leitfaden der Inneren Mission," Theo. Schafer, Hamburg, 1893, sec. 8. ^ "Werberufe fiir die Arbeit der Inneren Mission," Seyfarth, I^eip- zig, 1804. 148 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. land. A church conference was called in September of that year at Wittenberg to consider plans of meeting the rising tide of unbelief. The leading figures in this conference, which was attended by 500 representatives, were two prominent laymen and Pastor T. H. Wichern, then a young mission worker from Hamburg. This conference, called primarily to promote a spirit of har- mony and union between all parties in the Church, in- stead of attempting to answer the dogmatic questions by which the Church was agitated, endeavored to carry out its mission by fostering the practical work of Chris- tianity, and by bringing into interrelations the various benevolent and philanthropic agencies already estab- lished. In 1843, a phrase had come into current use describing these agencies, this term " Innere Mission " was now formally adopted, and the " Kirchentag " ap- pointed a central committee to foster these various agencies throughout Germany. The leading member of this committee was the man already mentioned, who had been drawn into this practical work through super- intending a Sunday-school at Hamburg, Pastor T. H. Wichern. This central committee, by the calling of conferences, by publications, visitation and by agitation, aroused the believing elements of Germany and united them in building up a vast net-work of agencies for re- lieving suffering, ignorance and misery, and bringing the Gospel to all classes of society. At the Wittenberg Conference, Pastor Wichern pointed out that "against the lawlessness of the Revolution, Christianity and the spirit of love alone had prevailed." He declared " that the great social questions of the present time are not to be solved by cannons and bayonets, but by the Word of God." At the Evangelical Alliance at London, in 1851, he said : " The Inner Mission seeks to engage all liv- ing Christians in its works of usefulness ; it proceeds upon the principle upon which the Protestant Church FOUNDING OF CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION. 149 is itself founded, the universal priesthood of Chris- tians." In speaking of the work among the poor, he said: "An impassable gulf has arisen between the rich and the poor. No stream of gold can fill it. It can only be filled by the love which is born of God. What we should give to the poor is not so much money, or food, or clothing, but ourselves." " The Inner Mission embraces Bible societies, city mis- sions, Sunday schools, colporteurage. Christian lodging houses, work among neglected children, criminals, sea- men, the poor, the unemployed, and the helpless. It is a work independent in its government of the State Church, and supported by voluntary contribution. Among the agencies which were founded during- this first period of Inner Mission work was the German Young Men's Christian Association, which sought to hold apprentices after confirmation in continued loyalty to the Church. The anti-rationalistic party in Germany at the beginning of the century began to answer their opponents more and more by deeds of love and practi- cal Christian effort among the people. It was from this party that the inspiration came to organize the Jiing- lings-Verein, the first German Young Men's Christian Association. Sec. 20. — Social Conditions in Germany. A profound industrial change was taking place among working men. This is not the place to discuss the es- tablishment of new relations between capital and labor, the influence of the discovery of new methods of pro- duction and new means of transportation, which make modern life so different from what it was a few genera- tions ago. The important fact is the changed social life which these innovations forced on Germany's work- ing men. The boy who left home to learn a trade no " Alliance Report for 1851, p. 483. 150 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. longer lived in the family, ate at the same table, or went to church on Sunday morning with his employer, as his father had done before him. In 1786, an em- ployer in Leipsic stated that his workmen were under agreement " to go to church once on Sunday, and never to go out nights without his permission."'' The "mas- ter was often a sort of priest or patriarch for his house- hold." Between 1800 and 1820, this social relation be- came entirely changed. Masters began to employ large numbers of " hands," often of both sexes. The practice of " binding ap- prentices " for a number of years declined. The working men's guilds of former years were almost ex- tinct. The working men, especially the unmarried men, became a roving^ class, who went in great num- bers on foot from city to city. For the twenty years previous to i860, the fluctuations of working men in Berlin averaged 30,000 annually ; in Frankfort for i860, it was 8,000; in Kassel, 30,000.* As a result of the in- creased numbers employed by one master, and of this nomadic life, the cheap lodging house made its debut. It became the regular home of the young working man in the place of the master's family. The young workman's bedroom was wretched and dismal, " cold in winter and hot in summer." " Both sexes were often herded indiscriminately together." "The conscience of many became so hardened that they defended immorality as necessary to satisfy na- ture." A military physician states that in a country village he found 175 young men incapacitated for service on account of impure lives. That a single inci- dent of such a character occurred shows the low state of public sentiment and morals. In 1855, two-thirds of " Krummacher's "Die Bvangelischeu Jiinglings-Vereine," pp. 2 and 3. * Die Mission an den Jiinglingen, Dr. Hesekiel, pp. 3-7. FOUNDING OF CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION. 151 all the working men of Bonn lived in cheap lodging houses; in i860, this was true of over half of those in Elberfeld. The young working man had ceased to be a member of his master's family, and had become a homeless wanderer, surrounded by new temptations, which soon arose with this new social condition. It is an interesting fact that during this period the beer halls, whose bright, attractive rooms were open to all, increased with alarming rapidity. Superintendent Hesekiel, while traveling secretary for the West Deutscher Bund, in 1862, wrote : " These beer halls became the source of unspeakable evil, especially to 5'oung men. In 1862, in Prussia there were 45,000 beer halls." Dr. Krummacher, in his his- tory of the German Jiinglings-Verein, emphasizes the fact that the theatres also began to increase in number, and to present demoralizing French plays. The theatre and beer hall became the social resort of the young working man of the cheap lodging house. Dr. Hesekiel says : " This manner of life drove the working man, already disposed to unbelief, still farther away from the Church." It was to meet this condition of aflfairs that a church without the evangelistic spirit called the Jiinglings- Verein into existence. It was not a movement to evangelize young men so much as a noble effort to find a home for the homeless young working men of Ger- many and bring them under Christian influence. Its religious work was devotional instruction, and it aimed to hold young men who had been confirmed in contin- ued allegiance and fellowship with the Established Church. " The movement had the twofold purpose of bringing young men back into Christian fellowship through the Word of God and to overthrow their indif- ference and unbelief." 152 young men's christian association. Sec. 21. — Origin of the Junglings-Vereine. ^ In 1708, a Swiss minister, named Pastor Mayennock, established a religious association for the young men of his congregation at Basle, which, while it was suspended between the years 1820 to 1825, may properly be called the forerunner of the Jiinglings-Vereine of Germany. This Basle society was composed of nine unmarried brethren, who had five rules of discipline. They agreed " (i) to abide strictly by the teaching of the Word of God and the apostolic faith ; (2) to shun all sectarianism and anything that might seduce to it ; (3) each one shall be true toward God, himself, and all men ; (4) each shall have the pri\'ilege, shall even be under ob- ligation to reprove and remind the others of their faults ; (5) especially shall each one take care never to tell evil stories about the others, that good-will toward one another may be strengthened." From these regulations it will be seen that the ob- jects of the society were solely spiritual and moral. There were neither written laws, constitution, nor or- ganization. It was simply a fellowship meeting of young men with their pastor. During the first three decades of the century the longing to do something for young men is seen in the number of societies of a similar character to this move- ment at Basle, which sprang up independently in dif- ferent parts of Germany, notably at Stuttgart and El- berfeld. They are evidence of a growing conviction that special effort for young men was needed, and are a recognition of the new conditions and temptations surrounding them. *" Fifty Years of Work for Young Men," London, 1894, p. 274. Krummacher's " Die Evangelischen Jiinglings-Vereine," Kap. 3. " Die Jiinglings-Vereine in Deutschland," D. v. Gertzen, Heilbronn, 1886, Sec. 2. " Die Jiinglings- und Jungfrauen-Vereine," Schwan- beck, Gotha, 1890, Chap. III. FOUNDING OF CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION. 153 In the year 1833, Dr. Frederick Mallet, of Bremen, during a summer visit to Switzerland, became ac- quainted with the simple movement among the young men at Basle. It appealed to him as being just the needed organization to hold young men after confirma- tion. When he returned home, he published an ac- count of this society, with an appeal for a similar work. The people of his congregation became interested. " Two rooms were rented in the center of the city which were soon filled to overflowing with men and young men of different callings." Dr. Mallet saw very quickly that religious teaching alone was not sufficient to accomplish his purpose. The working men had no homes or elevating social surroundings for their leisure hours, and many of them had but little education. It was decided to add amusements or " entertainment," as it was styled, and instruction. In 1834, there was or- ganized in Bremen the first Jiinglings-Verein, or Young Men's Union, for the purpose of giving young men devotional, social and intellectual opportunities. Its aim was embodied in the following statement, which is still used in West Germany : It shall be the object of this association, (i), " to foster under the direction and influence of the Word of God, Christian sentiments and godly conduct among our young men ; (2), to oppose as much as pos- sible all the perils which beset young men through the temptations of the world, particularly through the beer halls ; (3), to unite young men in Christian union and fellowship ; (4), through the increase of their knowl- edge to enable them to be more skillful in their daily work ; (5), to serve sick and destitute young men by relief and attendance." These three departments — intellectual, social and devotional — rapidly became the leading characteristics of the new association, which soon enrolled 300 mem- 154 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. bers, and was given a home in the new parish building of the city. In organization, the Bremen Verein was substantially like the Jiinglings-Vereine of to-day. The constitution contained three features, a president, usually a pastor; the managing committee, which were chosen from the membership, with often some older men who were interested in the work ; the membership consisting of all young men of the parish who desired to unite with the society. The majority were young working men under twenty-five years of age. It was a compact, simple organization, with three definite ideas ; a practical movement adapted to the needs of the times. It satisfied the aspiration of the better spirits among the young working men, and gave them some needed comforts and opportunities ; it helped the pas- tors to hold many young men who were slipping away from their influence. It was a recognition of the act- ual conditions surrounding young working men and the duty laid upon followers of Jesus Christ. This movement soon began to attract attention as a practical effort to help young men. In 1836, a young mechanic from Mecklenburg, who, while at work at his trade in Bremen, had become interested in the new Jiinglings-Verein, arrived in Barmen in search of employment. At Barmen, he be- came acquainted with a young business man named K. F. Klein, and told him of the efforts Pastor Mallett and others were making in behalf of the young men of Bremen, Herr Klein was a business man of earnest Christian faith, who devoted himself constantly to Christian work. He immediately resolved to attempt a similar organization in Barmen. The beginning of this movement in Barmen-Elberfeld reminds one of a simi- lar endeavor inaugurated but a short time previously among the young men of Glasgow by David Nasmith. On his birthday, Herr Klein invited a number of young FOUNDING OF CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION. 155 men like-minded with himself to his home, and in this little circle of close friends explained the movement inaugurated in Bremen, and proposed that they under- take a similar work for Barmen young men. The young men received the idea with enthusiasm and de- termined to establish a Jiinglings-Verein. Frederick Klein, who was destined for fifty years to devote him- self to the cause of helping young men, was made president of the little Barmen society. His untiring zeal has made this one of the leading associations of Germany. Even in his old age he was accustomed to visit the lodgings of the young working men, and the '* Herberge zur Heimat," in order personally to invite the men whom he met to the religious services of the Association. In 1828, two years later, a Jiinglings- Verein was established at Elberfeld, now, by the growth of population, practically one city with Barmen. Pastor Doring, a devoted Christian man, had already by faithful preaching and efforts among young men prepared the way for a successful work. A young man named Anton Haason was chosen president. Herr Haason was a man of the same zeal and earnestness as Frederick Klein. Dr. Krummacher says of him : *' With his warm heart he encircled young people, and we may well say that a stream of living water has gone forth from him to all young men."^*^ The Associations of these two cities were closely af- filiated. Under the leadership of Klein and Haason, they soon became the center of the Jiinglings-Verein cause in Germany. Their membership increased rap- idly. The best methods of association work were de- veloped here, and Elberfeld and Barmen have ever since been the leaders in forming the constitution and policy of the Jiinglings-Verein movement of Germany, Jiinglings-Vereine were organized in 1839 in Karlsruhe, ^' Die Evangelische Jiinglings Vereine, p. 39. 15t) YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. and in 1842, at Ronsdorf. The president of the last named Verein, Pastor Diirselen, was one of the leaders in the early Verein work. He was editor of the first association paper, president of the first provincial or- ganization of Jiinglings-Vereine, and was a delegate to the first convention of associations of all lands, in 1855. A number of associations on the Bremen model were now organized in different parts of Germany. By 1844, th^ year of the founding of the London Associa- tion, there were some ten Jiinglings-Vereine in Ger- many, under the leadership of Frederick Klein, Anton Haason, and Pastor Diirselen. Associations now sprang up in widely separated sections of the Fatherland. Reports of the work were published in the organ of the '' Innere Mission," at Hamburg, which attracted the attention of many earnest men. The movements of the times and the prevalence of irreligion among the working men demanded new efforts on the part of Christians. Especially was attention directed to the large numbers of unmarried young men of the working classes who traveled about in search of employment. Already the scattered Jiinglings-Vereine felt the need of union, and showed a growing sense of the import- ance of the great mission they had undertaken. In 1847, in the organ of the " Innere Mission," the follow- ing open letter appeared addressed to all the Jiinglings- Vereine of Germany : " Announcement to the Christian Handworkers' and Junglings-Vereine. " The Christian Handworkers' and Jiinglings-Vereine of Berlin, Gartz, Stettin, and Greifenhagen in Pommern, send greeting to all kindred associations among their German Brethren far and near. "' Although you are mostly unknown to us, it has been for a long time our heartfelt wish to enter into fellowship and loving relation- ship with you. We have already experienced the joy and blessing which fellowship with a few associations can give, and we are eager for the richer fellov.ship of a wider circle. It is natural and neces- FOUNDING OF CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION. 157 sary that every association like ours should reach out its hand to brother societies. Our chief purpose is to help young men of the industrial classes, especially those who are among strangers and wandering in search of work. We seek to warn and protect them against the many seductions, temptations and moral pitfalls of life, and to build them up in honor and Christian character. To accom- plish this we must be united. Therefore every association which agrees with us in the couvictiou that faith in Christ is the only foundation of morality and that to turn to Him is their onl)' hope for the future, and for the redemption of these evils of society, is invited to enter into relation with one of the undersigned associa- tions, either by correspondence or by publishing information in this paper ^,Die Fliegende Blatter), or in any other suitable manner. We know already that many of our German Brethern are of one mind with us, and therefore we hope that this call will find a friendly response in many hearts. We are rejoiced to learn that in many foreign cities where Germans are living, Paris, London, and even Constantinople, Vereine exist which are like our own. At home in the German Fatherland, from Basle to Bremen and Ham- burg, from the Rhine to Prussian Konigsberg, many Vereine with the selfsame purpose exist, but are unacquainted with each other. Let us learn to know each other and draw into a closer union. When this has been accomplished, we can decide how best we may work together. In the meantime, we commend our cause to the gracious almighty protection of God. February, 1847." This letter was signed by the Junglings- Vereine of Stettin, Gartz, and Greifenhagen, and also by two asso- ciations of similar character in Berlin, The Elberfeld Verein immediately published the following answer : •' Circular letter of the Christian Association of young mechan- ics and factory workers of Elberfeld to the kindred societies of Ber- lin, Stettin, Gartz, and Greifenhagen in Pommern : " We send our heartfelt greetings to our dear Brethren. " With great joy we have read your letter of greeting, and we cannot conceal how much it has quickened our hearts. * * * * The need is truly great. Wichern has well said : ' He who lets his son go as an apprentice among strangers, sends him forth into a wilderness in which thousands have wandered from the right course of life. Hundreds of doors which lead to destruction stand open through which young men are drawn.' * * * « The facts he re- lates of the life of mechanics is appalling. " Oh, Brethren ! where such a mass of misery and sin abounds, shall we not, with God's help, make an effort to overcome it? * * * * 158 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. We rejoice at the opportunity to share our work with you. Our as- sociation is similar to your own. Mechanics and factory employees are united in an association, of which twelve members are chosen by ballot as an executive committee. The officers of this committee are a president, treasurer, and secretary, who have regular meetings to consider the interests of the society. In the association rooms are Bibles, books and writing material ; educational classes and lec- tures are also provided to improve the members. Now that we have come into relation with you, we feel the necessity of naming an in- dividual member to whom traveling workmen on their arrival in our city may apply. Will j'ou please give any workmen among your membership who may be journeying hither, a letter of intro- duction to Anton Haason, who shall give such an one information, not only concerning our association, but such other knowledge as he may need during his stay in our city. We would also ask that as soon as possible, you act likewise, since the summer months are near at hand, in which the workmen are accustomed to travel. * * * * Dated May, 1847." lu July of the same year, the Junglingsbote^ the first paper devoted to the association cause, was established. Pastor Diirseleu, of Ronsdorf, became its editor. Then came the Revolution of 1848, which startled all Ger- many. Whatever we may think of its political char- acter, it certainly aroused the Evangelical believers of Germany to the irreligious condition of the masses of the population. The leaders of the Jiinglings-Vereine felt that they must unite if they were to make any progress in winning young men in the face of organi- zations which had sprung up with the avowed purpose of propagating infidelity. In August, a number of leaders of the Vereine met in Elberfeld to consider plans for a distinct organization. This informal gath- ering issued a call for a meeting of delegates from Jiinglings-Vereine to assemble in Elberfeld in October of 184S. Nine associations from Westphalia sent rep- resentatives, who, on the 8th of October, formed the Rhenish Westphalian Alliance of Young Men's Chris- tian Associations, under a district committee, with headquarters at Elberfeld. Pastor Diirselen was made FOUNDING OF CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION. \h% President, a position he continued to occupy with un- tiring service for twenty-five years, during which thousands of young men have been blessed by this or- ganization. His address before this conference gives us some idea of the situation which occasioned the movement towards union. He said : " h. spirit of wickedness has burst forth among us. The tempest of revohition has torn from our eyes a veil that obscured a dreadful abyss into which we now look with horror. We see with apprehension how the spirit of lawlessness has hurled thousands of our young men into the vortex of ungodliness, lawlessness and immorality, from which the worst is to be feared. We hear how hundreds of societies of young men have been formed, from which come forth the challenge — ' We hate Christianity. God must be discarded, we will never rest until every comrade has personally renounced God.' Therefore we ask ourselves, what can we do in the face of this spectacle ? Let us resolutely determine to establish a Christian union of young men, and thus stretch forth a net with which we may rescue many from this whirl- pool of destruction." ^ The yearly festival of Westphalian Churches, held at Elberfeld, became the occasion for the annual meeting of the delegates from the Vereine of West Germany. This gathering at which the Bund Committee was chosen, the work of the year reviewed, and religious services for young men conducted, became a center of great influence in extending the Verein cause. Many pastors who came to the church festival learned of the Verein work. In 1850, a Jiinglings- Verein on the Bremen model was established in Berlin, then a city of 400,000 inhab- itants. This was an important advance. In 1853, the West Bund organized its territory into small sub- ^ Krummacher's "Die Evangelischen Jiinglings- Vereine," p. 46. 160 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. districts, with from eight to twenty associations in a district. This did much to solidify the movement, and with the annual festival, was really a valuable system of supervision. By the close of the " formative period " of the Young Men's Christian Association, the cause of the Jiing- lings-Vereine had made rapid progress in Germany. During the seven years following the organization of the Westfalische Bund, a large number of Vereine were established in West Germany. The methods and purpose of the Jiinglings-Vereine of this period may be learned from the report given by Pastor Durselen, at the Paris Convention. He said : " These associations have combined in themselves several distinct objects. First, they are designed as Christian refuges for young men. Second, they are places of Christian nourishment and religious instruction. Through their Bible exercises and their devotional and other meetings, they aim at supplying the young men with this essential need. Third, they are places for intellectual training. The young men attending them belong principally to the class of artisans and hand laborers. It is an important object of the association to provide those of the mem- bers who may need it with that instruction which will fit them for their civil duties. Fourth, they are de- signed to connect Christianity with social life, recogniz- ing that in every man there exists a social instinct." "To attain this fourfold end, it is felt by all that the association must be based upon a purely Christian foundation." " This having been firmly laid, we admit to our soci- ety all who will conform to our rules. Conversion is the grand aim, but it is not made the condition of ad- mission. Once a week a Bible class is held in all the associations ; this is generally conducted in a conversa- tional manner." "There are special singing classes." FOUNDING OF CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION. 161 " In each of the associations, one evening is set apart for instruction. Provision is made also for lectures and other means of mental improvement. To maintain the social character of our society, we have promenades, fetes and annual meetings. A very important provision is that of the Christian Herberge, or homes for the trav- eling apprentices or others. They are furnished with one, two, three, or four beds, according to the size of the place, as well as with food. Instead of being driven to the wretched lodging houses in which many of the traveling apprentices and journeymen are compelled to stay, they can find within the precincts of the associa- tion a home, until they may have obtained employ- ment. In all these Christian homes, a mild but strict discipline is enforced." Speaking of the Rhenish Westphalian Union, Dr. Diirselen said : "In the year 1848, the first of the general unions of these different associations was formed. Nine at first joined the Union, now it numbers 130 associations, and includes at least 6,000 young men. If these are not all con- verted, they are at least under the influence of the Word of God, and are surrounded by the counsels, prayers and exhortations of living Christian brothers." ^ "At the head of the Union there is a committee. By visitation and correspondence, this central committee maintains a constant connection with all the associa- tions. The committee meets at Elberfeld. Once in the year, at Elberfeld, a general meeting is held of the associations. It is a pleasing sight to see at this meet- ing seven or eight hundred young men, from all sec- tions, who have come to take part in its hallowed en- joyment. The highest authorities, both civil and ec- clesiastical, have expressed their sympathy with the work in many ways. In most parishes, the pastors and teachers take an active part in the associations." ^ Report of Paris Convention, 1855, pp. 54-6. 162 young men's christian association. Sec. 22. — Geneva and Paris. Politically and religiously, Geneva lias long main- tained an independent attitude toward the rest of Europe. Her people are patriotic, and have the self- reliance of leadership. Their estimate of themselves may be seen in the words of their poet philosopher, Amiel, " Geneva is certainly one of those world anvils on which numbers of projects have been hammered out. The explanation is, that Geneva, republican, protestant, democratic, learned and enterprising Ge- neva, has for centuries depended on herself alone for the solution of her own difficulties. It pleases me that' she has not yet become a mere copy of anything. This is a proof of her vitality. " ^ The Christian young men of Geneva, as early as 1836, used to associate together for prayer and various works of charity. For ten years there was such concert of action among a small number. In 1847, a group of young men, after prayer, decided to devote themselves especially to win young people to a religious life. Their work prospered, and they were given a room for their meetings by the Geneva " Evangelical Society." ^ In this year, they became acquainted with similar attempts at Rheims and Amsterdam, and immediately opened correspondence with the societies in those cities. As knowledge of these societies came to them, they extended their correspondence. They also at- tempted to hold religious meetings for young people in the neighborhood of Geneva. These unorganized efforts were attended with considerable difficulty, and the movement was, in 1851, in danger of extinction when it was brought into contact with the London work directly, by correspondence, and indirectly, through the 3 Amiel's Journal, Vol. II., p. 301. * Paris Conference Report, p. 48. FOUNDING OF CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION. 163 influence of the Young Men's Christian Association of Paris/ Mr. George Williams was now thirty years of age, and had become a partner in the firm of George Hitchcock «& Co. His interest in Christian work for young men had increased year by year. In 1850, dur- ing a business trip to Paris, he called upon Pasteur J. P. Cook, one of the Protestant ministers of the city, and urged him to do definite work for young men. As a result, Mr. Cook associated himself with some students who were already in the habit of meeting for religious exercises, and soon a band of eighteen young men were united together for mutual spiritual edification. In December, 185 1, Mr. Williams again visited them and encouraged them, but reminded them that they were doing nothing for the multitudes of young men who came to Paris and there lost their religious im- pressions.*^ They ought to be aggressive and organ- ize themselves for the purpose of directing their efforts. Having, however, a dread of organization, they made objections which Mr. Williams succeeded in removing, by relating what the Young Men's Chris- tian Association was doing in London. A com- mittee was formed, which after mature deliberation drew lip a plan of organization. This was then sub- mitted for approval to several pastors. The name which they chose for themselves was " Union Chretienne des Jeunes Gens." At length, on the 19th of March, 1852, twelve young men met together, and having de- clared their faith, enrolled their names as members of the proposed association. This was the first French Union ever formed. The Geneva young men by cor- respondence had already become acquainted with the London work, and this organization of an association ' Paris Report, p. 49. * Paris Report, p. 39. 164 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIA TION at Paris encouraged the young men of Geneva to maice a similar effort. After advising with the secretary of the Ivondon Association, the young men who had previously been associated together decided to organ- ize. "A provisional committee drew up regulations, chose a suitable location, and on the ist of Decem- ber, 1852, the Young Men's Christian Association of Geneva, consisting of 30 members, was founded," Merle D'Aubigne was among those who assisted materially in this movement. The rooms of the new society were open every evening and frequented by between 150 and 200 young men. The number of members soon in- creased to 80. Every year a general assembly of the members was held. Several members devoted to the work of the Association went out as delegates to visit the south of France, Paris, and Alsace. " During the winter months, a gathering of some sort was held on each evening of the week." ^ For the most part, the meetings were of a religious character. Through the influence of Geneva, the small unions of young men in France and Switzerland, so far as they were large enough, organized themselves into Young Men's Christian Associations. The Geneva Association extended its correspondence to Associations in all parts of the world. In 1853, this work had become so extended that it was carried on largely by means of printed circulars. In August, 1853, the first communication was established between Geneva and the United States.* Delegates from other countries visited Geneva, and much was done to promote a friendly intercourse between the Associations of the world. Sec. 23. — Summary. By 1855, at nearly 200 points on the Continent of Europe, with Elberfeld and Geneva as leaders, there ^ Paris Report, p. 48. * Langdon's Early Story of the Confederation, page 27. FOUNDING OF CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION. 165 were small groups of Christian young men, enrolling in all some 7,800 members, organized for the definite pur- pose of improving themselves and their associates spir- itually, intellectually and socially. These groups aver- aging much smaller in size than the Associations of England or America, they had smaller financial resources and fewer friends of influence and distinction. Their work was more largely among the humbler classes of young working men, and the average membership was younger in age, but they were animated by the same purpose and had perhaps a deeper spirit of devotion, though less evangelistic zeal. Not only was there a movement among young men on the Continent of Europe, but already the Association idea was rallying young men in all parts of the world. There were now, one society in Algiers, three in Aus- tralia, one at Constantinople, and in 1854, a Young Men's Christian Association was organized by students at Bey rout, Syria. ^ ' First American Report, 1854, page 48. CHAPTER V. THE FORMATION OF THE WORLD'S ALLIANCE. Sec. 24. — The Paris Convention, August, 1855. We have seen how the idea of young men associating themselves together for the improvement of all young men, spiritually, mentally, and socially, had gradually taken root in widely separated sections of the world. A common purpose, common difficulties, a common faith, with many societies a common origin, above all a com- mon need of sympathy and mutual support, overcame the barriers of language, nationality, difference of church relationship, and distance, and drew these young men irresistibly together. The idea of a world organi- zation of young men devoted to elevating the young men of the world was hammering out a social force that was to wield a mighty influence, and though the great work of the Association has really been accom- plished since 1880, it was during these years of hope, experiment and sacrifice that the foundations were laid. Letters, chance visits, regularly appointed delegates, printed circulars, journals, and conferences, in Germany and America, had aroused a feeling of unity, and had awakened a desire for concerted action. Between the years 1851 and 1855 the London Association had grown in strength, confidence, and prestige. In 1851, just as the v/ork began to assume the proportion of a world-wide endeavor, the noble Earl of Shaftesbury, whose name has been identified with so many social movements for the elevation and ameliorating of the condition of the FORMATION OF THE WORLD'S ALLIANCE. 167 oppressed classes in England, accepted the presidency of the London Association, a position he was to hold until his death, in 1885. The activity of the London Association during the great Industrial Exhibition did much to inform visitors from foreign lands concerning its plans, aims, and work. Messrs. W. Edwyn Shipton, T. H.Tarlton, George Will- iams and T. H. Gladstone, in various ways, through letters, visits, and addresses, helped to awaken a spirit of fellowship between the widely scattered Associations ; but, above all, the location of the London Association in the commercial metropolis of the world enabled it frequently to entertain representatives from Associations of the various countries in which the movement had taken firm root. In this way, the London Society be- came almost unconsciously the headquarters of this rapidly spreading movement of which Mr. Williams and Mr. Shipton were the natural leaders. Mr. Shipton was a man of broad mind, with a grasp on affairs — an ener- getic executive, of powerful frame and strong will, with oratorical gifts and intense devotion to the cause of young men. For thirty years he was the faithful secre- tary of the Central London Association, and one of the most important factors in the world-wide work. He carried on a correspondence with New York, Washing- ton, Boston, and the various Associations in Europe. He prepared in 1855 the firsthistory of the Young Men's Christian Association, which was published in volume i of the Exeter Hall Lecture Series. The Association at Paris, of which Pasteur J. Paul Cook was the leading spirit, gradually extended its influence, and in connection with the society at Nismes, which traced its origin to Geneva, pushed the Association idea among the Protestant commu- nities of France. ^ ^ Correspondence was kept up between *° Shipton's History Exeter Hall Lectures, vol. I. 168 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. these meetings and the Paris Association. In these friendly letters the desire was expressed for a con- ference, in which leaders in the different Associations of France might meet face to face. The year of the Industrial Exhibition at Paris in 1855 furnished a fa- vorable opportunity for such a gathering. This confer- ence being determined upon, the expectation of visitors from all lands at the exhibition suggested the idea of a world convention of delegates from foreign as well as French Associations. ^ The Evangelical Alliance, which had held its first great gathering with some 800 repre- sentatives from all Protestant nations at London during the World's Fair of 1851, had determined to call a similar assembly to meet in Paris from August 23 to August 30, during the Paris Exposition. The committee of the Paris Young Men's Association chose the days August 19th to 24th for the Association conference, in order that where it would be desirable the same person might be a delegate to both gatherings. This was a very for- tunate arrangement. Thirty-seven of the delegates to the convention were also delegates to the alliance, and 18 other delegates to the alliance, who were members of Associations, attended sessions of the convention. The program of the conference announced that op- portunity would be given to consider a proposition from America concerning a system of international corre- spondence, and that the conference would be especially devoted to considering reports of the work of the Asso- ciations in all lands. The invitation sent out by the Paris society met with a cordial response. It appealed to the growing sense of unity among the scattered organizaions of Europe and America, and such coun- tries as were able decided at once to be represented. The conference assembled in the rooms of the Paris 1 Young Men's Christian Association Hand Book, New York, 1892, p. 442. FORMATION OF THF WORLD'S ALLIANCE. 169 Association on Sunday evening, August 19, 1855. Fifty representatives were present at the first session, which was devoted to prayer and consecration. This number was afterwards increased to 97 representatives of Associations, 35 of whom were regularly accredited delegates to the convention. Associations from 36 Eu- ropean cities of seven different nationalities sent 90 representatives. Seven delegates were present from America, three being from New York, three from Phil- adelphia, and one from Newark, New Jersey. The con- ference was not only representative of the chief associa- tions in existence, but the leaders of the work were present to give character to its proceedings and weight to its decisions. George Williams, W. Edwyn Shipton, T. H. Tarlton, and T. H. Gladstone were among the representatives from the London Association. They took an important part in the affairs of the convention ; especially Mr. Shipton, who at the critical moments spoke the word and made the suggestion which brought harmonious action. The leaders of the American delegation were Rev. Abel Stevens, of New York, and George H. Stuart, of Philadelphia. Mr. Stevens was a minister of the Meth- odist Church, who had been active in laying the foun- dation of the New York Association, in which he had served as vice-president and chairman of an important committee. Mr. Stuart was president of the Philadel- phia Association, and was destined in a few years to gain national distinction in America as president of the United States Christian Commission during the Civil War. The two prominent delegates from Germany were Pastor Diirselen, the president of the Westfa- lische Union, and K. P. Klein, president of the Jiing- lings-Verein of Barmen. From Switzerland, the leaders were Max Perrot and Edward Barde, from Geneva, and Pasteur Chas. Cuenod, from Lausanne. 1 70 VO C/A G 31 EN 'S CHRIS TIA X ASSOC I A TION. Pasteur J. Paul Cook, of Paris, who had been the chief factor in arranging the conference, was in grateful acknowledgment chosen its president. Like the American gathering at Buffalo of the year before, this unobserved conference of young men did not attract much comment from the Church or State, but the young men themselves were impressed with the conviction that they were pioneers in a great cause. A spirit of earnestness and hope prevailed in all the ses- sion, and though it was the first conference of represent- atives from widely separated countries, so harmonious were the proceedings that the resolutions of the con- vention were adopted unanimously. The report says : " The first session, which v;as to many the first oppor- tunity of meeting face to face brethren whose names and whose deeds have long been familiar, was conse- crated to prayer. Friendship was sealed by devotion, and many voices in French and English were raised to the Lord to implore His blessing. A deep feeling of their oneness as Christians, of their common brother- hood as well in faith as in labor, pervaded this gather- ing from many lands." Two days were devoted to hearing addresses and reports of the origin and progress of the Young Men's Christian Associations in the various countries repre- sented. These reports give a true picture of the move- ment in 1855. They show that in Great Britain, espe- cially in London and Glasgow, in the eastern cities of America, in Westphalia and the Rhine provinces of Germany, and in Geneva there was a strongly en- trenched Christian sentiment in favor of organized effort to help young men, spiritually, intellectually, and so- cially. This sentiment had crystallized into organiza- tions of young men, who, standing on an evangelical platform, were endeavoring to discover the best methods for accomplishing their purpose. The movement as FORMATfOX OF THE WORLD'S ALLIANCE. 171 yet was more exclusively religious in its character than in later years, and provided less for other needs of young men. It was, however, less definite in its aim. The two purposes expressed at the convention were : First, the development of Christian activity among the members of the Associations, and, second, the conver- sion of young men. The development of activity in Christian work among the members had led the Asso- ciations in many places to devote their energies to other classes in society instead of concentrating on the " ex- tension of Christ's Kingdom among young men." The British Associations at this time (1855) possessed the best organization, with the most complete financial resources, the greatest social prestige, and the most marked evangelistic zeal. They gave a large place to the study of the Bible and were the most careful in con- centrating their eflforts upon young men. The American Associations, though only four years old, were larger in membership, more aggressive, less .spiritual, with a greater variety of activities, — a national organization, a stronger emphasis upon the need of bet- ter social surroundings for j'oung men, a greater empha- sis upon religious meetings than Bible study, and a disposition to devote their energies to various classes of society. The Continental Associations were much smaller in size, were not confined to cities, poorer in financial re- sources, deeper in devotional spirit, more inclined to limit their activities to improving the membership of their societies, given to Bible study and social fellow- ship. Few of the continental societies provided places of resort for young men not members, but in Germany much attention was devoted to providing lodging houses for young workmen away from home. The numerical strength of the movement is presented in the Report of the Paris covention, August, 1855. 172 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. Continent of Europe. Germany 130 Associations Switzerland .... 54 " France 49 " Holland 10 " Belgium and Italy . 3 " . . 6000 Members . . 700 " . . 700 <( . . 400 « . . 60 (( 7S60 (( . . 8500 (1 . . 14000 c< Total for Continent 246 " British Isles ... 47 " U. S. and Canada . 36 " Total in World . . 329 " 30360 " The average American society enrolled 380 young men, the British 180, and the Continental 40. Conti- nental Europe enrolled about one-fourth of the mem- bership of the Associations in 1855, and has maintained a similar relation to the movement ever since. At the time of the Paris convention there was not a single paid officer on the Continent who devoted his whole time to the work, and probably less than a dozen in England and America. On Tuesday evening, the third evening of the con- vention, Pasteur Cuenod, of Lausanne, " proposed the adoption of the system of general correspondence first suggested by Mr, Chauncy Langdon, of Washington, United States." ^ America, which was destined soon by increased membership, wealth, and the large num- ber of its general secretaries, to share with London the leadership in the Association cause, already took an active part in the general movement. As early as Feb- ruary 22d, 1854, Mr. Chauncy Langdon had sketched in outline to the Washington Association " a scheme of international correspondence, in which there should be a center of information for every national group of Associations, each center being in direct corre- spondence with all others, furnishing them on the one hand information from its own field and dis- - See Paris Report, 1855, p. iS. FORMATION OF THE WORLD'S ALLIANCE. 173 tributing in turn, to the Associations of its own national group, the information so received from abroad." ^ Mr. Langdon wrote to the London and Geneva Associations proposing this plan of corre- spondence. The Geneva Association endorsed it and in a printed circular suggested it to the Associations • in a more enlarged form. Pasteur Cuenod expressed to the convention his approval of this plan of correspond- ence and moved that the conference recommend it to the Associations. The general idea was warmly advocated by Messrs. Tarlton and Shipton of London, Mr. Stev- ens of New York, and Dr. Diirselen of Germany. It was unanimously adopted by the committee. W. Ed- wyn Shipton, to carry out this proposition, proposed the following resolution: "That the conference having resolved upon a system of general correspondence by means of centres in each country, recommend the fol- lowing cities as centres for their respective countries, subject to confirmation of the Local Associations : London as centre for England. Edinburgh centre for Scotland. Dublin centre for Ireland. Paris and Nismes for France and Belgium, and St. Gall for Switzerland. Amsterdam as centre for Holland. Elberfeld and Stuttgart as centres for Germany. Washington and New York as centres for United States ; and that the British Colonies in America and Australia be corresponded with separately and the Waldensian Valleys, the Associations in the Levant and other out- lying places, be corresponded with through Geneva." Representatives present were appointed from the differ- ent nations to see that this resolution was carried out, and W. Edwyn Shipton, of London, was appointed to receive from the various Associations the announcement * Early Story of the Confederation, p. 27. 174 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. of their adhesion to this plan, and as soon as their re- plies were received to inaugurate the correspondence. This practically recognized Mr. Shipton as the leader in the world's work. " By his talents and his force of char- acter he gathered around him a nucleus of friends with whom he was in the habit of taking counsel after the Paris Conference. Chosen from among the most active and well-known workers of various countries, these men, the first representatives of the international idea, formed practically the first International Committee, though without any definite organization." * On Wednesday afternoon, August 22nd, the supreme moment of the conference was reached. The delegates had come from various lands, from various church com- munions, they spoke different tongues, they had listened to each other's reports, they had decided upon a system of correspondence, but the three days during which they had associated together had revealed to them all that they were one in faith and purpose in a more real sense than they had imagined. At three in the after- noon, Rev. Abel Stevens, of New York, rose to propose an alliance of the Young Men's Christian Associations of the world. He commenced his address by showing the desirability of some bond of union between the different Associations, its influence as a means of imparting mutual strength ; its value as the expression of an ines- timable truth, the sacred unity of the Church of Christ, and its special importance to America as removing a stumbling block which might otherwise cause division amongst the Associations on that continent. It was in the power of the present conference to accomplish this work, to confer one of the greatest boons on the Asso- ciations, to place on a permanent basis the work to which they were committed, and thus to unite in one confederation the various Associations which they ^ "Fifty Years of Work Among Yovtng Men," page 8. FORMATION OF THE WORLD'S ALLIANCE. 175 represented." Mr. Stevens' basis of union contained five articles : First, that the Associations should be managed by members of evangelical churches. Second, that an order of associate members should be admitted when desired, who should not vote or hold office. Third (the article which really prompted Mr. Stevens' reso- lution), that no difference of opinion on points not comprehended in the immediate aim of the Association should be permitted to interrupt their harmony." (The danger to the American Association through difference of opinion in dealing with slavery is here contemplated.) The fourth article proposed a certificate of membership to be recognized by all Associations, and the fifth, the system of correspondence already adopted. Mr. Stevens' address was listened to with deep interest and attention. As he concluded, M. Frederick Monnier, of Strassburg, a layman, who represented an energetic Association that had a numberof University students in its membership, and admitted only avowed Christians, rose to address the Convention. He said (p. 20) : " It is a great idea which our brother from America has just placed before us, and we are all deeply moved by its consideration. It is only because we feel deeply that in Christ we are one and from this arises the necessity we all feel to give expression to this intimate union of faith. It is not ours at this moment to organize a union. It already exists. Our question is how to manifest it in visible form. The first article in the proposition from our American broth- er would not be applicable in Europe, seeing that here we have evangelical churches, the membership of which does not necessarily imply any personal profession. In preference to the basis proposed by Mr. Stevens, I would submit the following, which has been drawn up by me in conjunction with a friend : ' The members of the Conference feeling that they are one in principle and in work, propose to their respective Associations that they 17<3 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. recognize with them the unity thus subsisting between them, and that whilst preserving a complete independ- ence in their particular organizations, they form one united Association on this general principle.' * The Christian Associations have for their object the union of those young men who, regarding Jesus Christ as their God and Saviour according to the Scriptures, desire to be his disciples in their doctrine and in their life, and associate their efforts for the extension of His Kingdom amongst young men.' " Mr. Shipton at once rose to suggest that in place of Mr. Stevens' first article, that this confession of faith proposed by M. Monnier be adopted as " the basis of the Alliance," and that the succeeding propositions be con- sidered separately. Drs. Diirselen and Traube, of Ger- many, most warmly supported the proposed basis. Mr. Tarlton and Mr. Williams united in approving the basis, because " it gave sole prominence to the one source and characteristic of the Christian life — love to Christ, and placed the Associations on the one only foundation, — Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." Mr. Stevens ex- pressed his ready assent to the proposition. He rejoiced to hear the accordance of other voices with his own. He said : " A solemn act is this in which we are en- gaged, and one of which the after consequences cannot be conceived. The spirit of God is not withdrawn from His Church, nor from the assemblies of His people. We believe we are under His guidance in the work to which we are now called." " Before Mr. Stevens' observa- tions, the meeting, deeply impressed with the import- ance of the act which was before it, joined in prayer to supplicate the presence of the Most High, and to en- treat that He might Himself dictate their procedure." Then the revised proposition was read as the funda- mental principle of the Alliance of the Young Men's Christian Associations, the meeting all standing, in FORMATION OF THE WORLD'S ALLIANCE. 177 which position it was then solemnly passed by the unanimous vote of the whole assembly. The members present then knelt together, gratefully to acknowledge the mercy of God and to entreat His benediction on the decision at which they had arrived." Thus was adopted the Paris Basis, the " Apostle's Creed " of the Young Men's Christian Association, the one standard express- ing simply and clearly the aim and the faith of the movement. The final form in which the Paris Basis was adopted is as follows : "alliance of young men's christian associations. The delegates of various Young Men's Christian Asso- ciations of Europe and America, assembled in conference at Paris the 2 2d of August, 1855, feeling that they are one in principle and in operation, recommend to their respective societies to recognize with them the unity existingamong their Associations, and whilst preserving a complete independence as to their particular organi- zations and their modes of action, to form a confedera- tion on the following fundamental principle, such prin- ciple to be regarded as the basis of admission of other societies in the future. The Young Men's Christian Associations seek to unite those young men who, regarding Jesus Christ as their God and Saviour according to the Holy Scriptures, de- sire to be his disciples in their doctrine and in their life, and to associate their efforts for the extension of His Kingdom among young men. This fundamental prin- ciple being admitted, the Conference further proposes : First — That any difference of opinion on other sub- jects, however important in themselves, but not em- braced by the specific designs of the Association, shall not interfere with the harmonious relations of the con- 178 }'0 UNG MEX 'S CHRISTIAN ASSOC I A TION. federated societies. Second — That a traveling certifi- cate of membership be designed, by which members of the confederated societies shall be entitled to the privi- leges of any other society belonging to this confedera- tion, and to the personal attention of all its members. Third — That the system of correspondence adopted b}' this Conference shall apply to the societies of this con- federation." ^ This basis was destined to be adopted by all the As- sociations of the world as at once the bond of union, the inspiration to endeavor, and the test by which the As- sociation offered itself to the judgment of mankind. The remaining articles proposed by Mr. Stevens were considered and adopted, with the exception of the sec- ond. This referred to the admission of associate mem- bers, and was left to the discretion of local Associations. We have dwelt thus at length upon the Paris Conven- tion and quoted so freely from the reports and speeches because this Convention marks the close of a complete period of Association history — the launching of the Association idea ! The Paris Convention, and espe- cially the Paris Basis, had a remarkable influence in steadying and unifying the Association movement. Methods of accomplishing its great mission were still to be discovered, financial resources and the adherence of influential members were yet to be won, the magni- tude of the task before it was hardly grasped, but the mission and bond of faith of the Association had been clearly stated, never to be recalled, and the movement was presented as a definite organization before the world ! The following evening, Thursday, August the 23d, b)- invitation, the Conference visited the Evangelical Alli- ance, attended by 1,200 delegates from all Protestant lands. ^ Mr. Maximillian Perot, of Geneva, presented * Paris Report, 1855, p. 23. " Second Alliance Report, p. 35. FORMATION OF THE WORLD'S ALLIANCE. 179 a paper describing the " Rise, Progress and Operations of Young Men's Christian Associations." Addresses by- George H. Stuart, of Philadelphia, and others on the basis of union just adopted were delivered before the Alliance. The Basis, with extracts from Mr. Perot's paper, was published in the Evangelical Alliance Re- port, and thus a wider publicity was given to the Asso- ciation. On Friday afternoon, August 24th, the delegates met in the rooms of the Paris Association for their farewell service. It was an impressive hour. Letters were read inviting the Conference to send delegates both to the American Convention, soon to be held at Cincinnati, and the German Conference, which had been annoiinced for September the 9th at Elberfeld. Parting words were uttered by delegates from each of the countries represented. Mr. T. H. Gladstone reminded the meet- ing of how different a scene was passing in Paris on that very day nearly three hundred years before, and ob- served, " that deep emotions of gratitude should accom- pany the reflection that the 24th of August, 1855, was not marked by a St. Bartholomew's massacre, but was signalized by the binding together of a holy union, and the connecting of a true fellowship of sacred affection between representatives of the Christian young men of France, Switzerland, Germany, Holland, Britain and America." Sec. 25. — Conclusion. The founding of the Young Men's Christian Associa- tion was now accomplished. During the eleven years, 1844 to 1855, the spiritual force was generated which dur- ing the succeeding decades was to vitally influence the character of multitudes of young men. The rise of the city had brought the young men of the Protestant world under new conditions, with fierce temptations. The 180 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. evangelistic zeal of the Protestant Church created a new movement to meet these conditions. In its effort to win young men to a religious life, the Association, was already seeking to provide intellectual and social oppor- tunities. It was soon to set before itself as its aim the salvation and the symmetrical development of the whole man — body, soul and spirit. The first period may be characterized as the introduc- tion of the Association idea — the extension of Christ's Kingdom among young men by young men! In widely separated sections of the world, among groups of earnest young men this idea had taken a firm hold, and in the succeeding periods was to produce great results. It had already united together over 30,000 young men, organized in 329 different societies, into a World's Alli- ance. It had influenced the lives and character of a large number of young men of the commercial class in Great Britain and the United States, and of the working classes of Continental Europe. It held up a new ideal of union to Protestant denomi- nations ; not through creeds, but through service. It was a pioneer in Christian work by laymen and of organized work by young people. Above all this, it was an evan- gelistic force which aimed at the regeneration of men. The Association was a new assertion in a practical form of the authority of the Scriptures and the deity of Jesus Christ. In Germany, it was a part of a reaction against Rationalism, and of a movement which was building up voluntary agencies as suDplementary to the Established Church. The Association had introduced a new institution into society ; it had rallied a new social force — Chris- tian young men. It had marshalled them into an or- ganization which was now to step forth and take its place among the institutions of society. APPENDICES. APPENDIX I. Chronology of the Young Men's Christian Association from the Birth of George Williams to the Adoption of the Paris Basis. 1821. Birth of George Williams, Ashway Farmhouse. 1834. Bremen Jiinglings-Vereiii, founded by Pastor Mallet. 1836. George Williams enters the Holmes Business House at Bridgewater. Barmen Jiinglings-Verein, founded by K. F. Klein. George Williams' conversion. 1837. Prayer meetings inaugurated by W^illiams in the Holmes House, Bridgewater. 1838. Elberfeld Verein, founded by Anton Haason. 1841. Williams enters the Hitchcock establishment in London. 1842. (London) Prayer meetings established by Will- iams and others in the Hitchcock establish- ment. 1844. (London) Prayer meetings established in the Owen House. May 31. (London) Meeting to consider organi- zation. June 6. {London) Organization of London Yoimg Men's Christian Association. (Summer) Fortnightly meetings held at Ludgate Hill Coifee House ; headquarters established at Radley's Hotel. 184 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. 1844. November 8. First "Tea Gathering" of the lyondon Association at Radley's Hotel (Black Friars Bridge). 1845. January. (London) T. H. Tarlton appointed missionary to young men. Branch Association formed in West End. Evangelistic Bible class established for Sunday afternoons. February. First public religious service for young men. March 6. Second " Tea Gathering " at Radley's Hotel. (Summer) Headquarters removed to Sergeant's Inn, No. 14 Fleet Street. Mr. Bevan made President ; Mr. Hitchcock chosen Treas- urer. November 6. First Anniversary gathering held at Radley's Hotel. Intellectual agencies established. December 6. First popular lecture delivered. 1847. January I. First New Year's Address issued by London Society. July. First Bulletin published by the West- phalian Vereine. 1848. August. First Conference of Verein leaders at Elberfeld. October. Westfalischer Jiinglingsvereins-Bund formed at Elberfeld. (London) Apartments opened in Gresham Street ; social agencies established by Lon- don Associations, and associates admitted to Association privileges. United States — Cincinnati Society of Inquiry formed. 1850. December. E. W. Shipton appointed Secretary by the London Society. APPENDIX I. 185 185 1. The Earl of Shaftesbury becomes President of the London Association. October 30. Van Derlip letter published in Bos- ton. December 9. Montreal Society formed. December 29. Boston Association formed ; act- ive membership limited to members of Evan- gelical Churches. 1852. March 19. Paris Association founded by Pas- teur Cook. May 28. New York Association founded. June 29. Washington Association founded. October. First proposal of an American Con- federation made by Chauncy Langdon. December i. Geneva Association founded. 1853. Sub-district organizations formed in Westphalia. 1854. R. C. McCormick sent by the New York Asso- ciation as a delegate to Associations in Eu- rope. June 7. Buffalo Convention. 1855. January 15. American Confederation com- pleted. August 20. Paris Convention convened. August 22. Paris Basis adopted. APPENDIX II. General and association Literature. I. Sociological and Religious. Uhlhorn. — Die christliche Liebesthatigkeit. Stuttgart. I. Bd., Alte Kirche. 1882; II. Bd., Mittelalter, 1884; IIL Bd., Seit der Reformation, 1890. Nathusius. — Die Mitarbeit der Kirche an der Losung der socialen Frage. Leipzig, 1895. Roscher. — System der Volkswirthschaft. V. Bd., Die Armenpflege und Armenpolitik. 2. Auflage, 339 Seiten. Stuttgart, 1894. Fisher, Geo. P.— History of the Christian Church. New York, 1887. Hase, Ch. — History of the Christian Church. (English Edition.) New York, 1886. Carroll. — Religious Forces in the United States. New York, 1894. Annals of the Low Church Party. II. Vol. London, 1888. Overton. — English Church in the XIX. Century. London, 1894. Hurst, Bishop. — History of Rationalism. New York, 1865. Allen, J. H. — Modern Phases of Church Historj-. Boston. Cutt. — Turning Points in Church History. (English.) London, 1889. Tulloch. ^ Religious Thought in Britain in XIX. Century. New York, 1885. Church, R. W. — The Oxford Movement. London. Strong, Josiah. — Our Country. New York, 1891. Strong, Josiah.— The New Era. New York, 1893. El)', R. T. — Social Aspects of Christianity. New York, 1889. Ely, R. T.— The Labor Movement in America. New York, 1886. Loomis, Sam'l L. — Modern Cities. New York, 1887. Booth, Gen. W. — In Darkest England and the Way Out. London, 1890. Barnett, S. A. and H. O. — Practical Socialism. London, 1888. Hodder, Edwin. — Life and Work of the Seventh Earl of Shaftesbury. London, 1892. Riis, J.— How the Other Half Lives. New York, 1890. "Wolf, E. J. — The Lutherans in America. New York, 1889. APPENDIX II. 187 McTjdere, H. N. — History of Methodism (in America). Nashville, Tenn., 1884. McConnell, G. D. — History of the American Episcopal Church. New York, 1890. Dyer, Henry, — The Evolution of Industry, London, 1895. Spencer, Herbert.— A System of Synthetic Philosophy. Vols. VI, VII. The Principles of Sociology. New York, 1891. Erdmann, J. E. — A History of Philosophy. Vol. III. New York, 1892. Kidd, Benj. — Social Evolution, New York, 1894. Drummond, H. C. — The Ascent of Man. London, 1894. Fremantle, W. H.—The World the Subject of Redemption. New York, 1892. Traill. — Social England, New York, 1893. Toynbee. — Industrial Revolution. London. Stearne, Edward, (ed.) — The Religious Condition of Christendom. A report to the Oecumenical Council of the Evangelical Alliance, held at Loudon, 1846. London, 1848. Stearne, E. — The Religious Condition of Christendom. II. Report of Alliance held at London, 1851. London, 1853. Stearne, E. — The Religious Condition of Christendom. III. Report of the Alliance held at Paris, 1855. London, 1857. The Religious Condition of Christendom. IV. Report of Alliance held at Berlin, 1857. London, 1859. The Religious Condition of Christendom. V. Report of Alliance held at Geneva, 1861. London, 1862. The Religious Condition of Christendom. VI. Report of Alliance held at Amsterdam, 1867. London, 186S. SchafF, Phillip. — The Religious Condition of Christendom. VII. Report of Alliance held at New York, 1873. New York, 1874. II. Association Literature, 1844-1855. I. International : English, French, German. I. Report of World's Conference of Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation held at Paris, 1855. Paris. II. Report of World's Conference of Y. M. C. A. held at Geneva, 1858. Geneva. III. Report of World's Conference, London, 1862. London. IV. " " " Elberfeld, 1865. V. " " " Paris, 1867. Paris. VI. " " " Amsterdam, 1872. Amsterdam. VII. " • " " Hamburg, 1875. (Die innere Mission unter der mannlichen Jugend. Halle.) 188 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. VIII. Report of World's Conference, Geneva, 1878. Geneva. IX. " " " London, 1881. London. X. " " " Berlin, 1884. Berlin. XI. " " " Stockholm, 1888. London. XIII. " " " London, 1894. London, 1894. Fermaud, Qh. (ed.) — Fifty Years' Work Among Young Men in All Lands, 1844-1894. London, 1894. 2. German. (a.) Inner Mission. Oldenberg, F. — ^Johann Heinrich Wichern, sein Leben und Wirken Hamburg, 18S2. Wichern, J. H. — Die innere Mission. Hamburg, 1889. Augener. — Die Herbergen zur Heimath und die Vereinshauser in ihrer socialen Bedeutung fiir die Gegenwart. Leipzig, 1869. Schafer. Theo. — Leitfaden der inneren Mission. Hamburg, 1893. Lehmann. — Die Werke der Liebe. Leipzig, 1893. Seyfarth. — Werberufe fiir die Arbeit der inneren Mission. Leipzig, 1894. Perthes. — Das Herbergswesen der Handwerksgesellen. 2. Auflage. Gotha, 1883. Chalmers. — Die kirchliche Armenpflege. Berlin, 1847. Hesekiel. — Die Armenpflege in der Gegenv/art. Verhandlung des XXII. Kongresses fiir innere Mission. Bremen, 1881. Phillips. — Schlechte Wohnungsverhaltnisse, eine Quelle der Un- sittlichkeit. Berlin. Lehmann. — Die Stadtmission. Leipzig, 1875. (b.) Jungli7tgs- Vereine und Christliche Vcreine junger Manner. Meyeringh. — Ein Wort an und iiber Jiinglings- und Gesellen-Ver- eine. Hamburg, 1858. Meyeringh. — Der Jugend Not und Hilfe. Zur Geschichte der Jiing- lingsvereine. Berlin, 1861. Korner, R. — Die evangelischen Jiinglingsvereine ; ihre Bedeutung und Winke zu ihrer Begriindung und Belebung. Berlin, 1874. Krummacher, K.— Fragen und Antworten iiber evangelische Jiing- lingsvereine. 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