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 Neely, 
 
 Thomas 
 
 B. 
 
 1841 
 
 -1925. 
 
 Young 
 
 workers 
 
 in 
 
 the 
 
 church, 
 
 or The trciinincf and. 
 
 
YOUNG WORKERS 
 
 IN THE CHURCH; 
 
 OR, 
 
 The Training and Organization of Young People 
 for Christian Activity, 
 
 BY REV. T. B^NEELY, A.M. 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION 
 BY BISHOP MATTHEW SIMPSON, D.D., LL.D. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 PHILLIPS & HUNT 
 
 CINCINNATI: 
 WALDEN & S T O W E . 
 
 l83l. 
 
Copyright, 1S81, by 
 PHILLIPS & HUNT, 
 
 New York. 
 
To my Friend, 
 
 MR. CHARLES SCOTT, 
 
 OF PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 AN ACTIVE WORKER IN RELIGIOUS, EDUCATIONAL, AND BENEVOLENT 
 MOVEMENTS, 
 
 TO WHICH HE HAS GIVEN LIBERALLY OF 
 
 HIS TIME, HIS MEANS, AND HIS INFLUENCE, 
 
 THIS WORK 18 
 
 RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED. 
 
PHEQ 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 O OMETIME ago the Ministerial Union of Phila- 
 delphia, an organization composed of the min- 
 isters of the evangelical denominations of the city, 
 requested the writer to prepare a paper on young 
 people's work in the Church. 
 
 The special question submitted was, " How to 
 organize the young people of the Church for the 
 most efficient Church work?" The paper was pre- 
 pared, and, at the designated time, read before this 
 ministerial association, and, subsequently, a part of 
 it was read before another body, which represented 
 a large number of Churches. 
 
 On both occasions desires were expressed for its 
 publication, and, as frequent requests, both formal 
 and informal, by resolution and otherwise, have 
 come from clergy and laity, it has been concluded 
 
6 Preface. 
 
 that this paper may partially supply an unoccupied 
 place in this particular field of literature. 
 
 In view of these facts, the writer now consents 
 to the publication of these pages, which have grown 
 from the essay to which allusion has been made. 
 Not desiring to make a large volume, he has sought 
 to make the work practical rather than rhetorical, 
 and suggestive rather than exhaustive, so that its 
 size may be convenient for general circulation. 
 The scope of the book may make it suitable for 
 older members as well as young converts, and, as 
 it refers specially to the young, it may find an ap- 
 propriate place in the Sunday-school Library. 
 
 Hoping that the hints it contains may be helpful 
 to pastors and other Christian workers, and trust- 
 ing that it may be of service in utilizing the energy 
 of young heads, young hands, and young hearts, it 
 is now presented to the public. 
 
 T. B. Neely. 
 
 Philadelphia, January 25, 1881. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 r~pHE future of a nation depends largely on the 
 training of its youth. Some ancient lawgivers 
 considered the children as belonging, not to their 
 parents, but to the State. In modern times enact- 
 ments for compulsory education are based, not 
 merely on the duty of the State to the children, 
 but also on the conviction that educated children 
 add to the wealth of the nation. The Germans 
 owed their victory over the French in great part 
 to the fact that every German young man is 
 trained to bearing arms. He is a soldier as well 
 as a citizen. 
 
 In the Church the training of the young is no 
 less important. Mr. Wesley said to his preachers, 
 " Unless we can take care of the rising generation 
 the present revival of religion will be res unius 
 cetatis, it will last only the age of a man." The 
 
8 Introduction 
 
 efforts of the Church should be directed not only 
 to the children, but pre-eminently to the young 
 people who are passing through fascinations and 
 allurements, and who are being prepared for the 
 duties of maturer life. They should be not only 
 taught but trained. They need practical drill pre- 
 paratory to life's great battles. 
 
 How to employ them is the pressing problem. 
 They will be busy. Society calls, amusements 
 invite, business demands. If the Church neglects 
 them their interest will be enlisted elsewhere, and 
 their fervor, tact, and activity will be lost to the 
 cause of Christ. When we think of their numbers 
 and of the immense possibilities involved, who can 
 estimate the magnitude of such a loss? The young 
 of to-day will be the workers, leaders, and coun- 
 selors of to-morrow. If they attract not to Christ 
 they will repel from him. The soldier, once drilled 
 and trained, is always ready when his country calls ; 
 so the young Christian, drilled to active duty, is 
 prepared at any time, and in any field, to labor 
 for Christ. Experience proves that young con- 
 
Introduction. 9 
 
 verts, to whom active duties are at once assigned, 
 develop into a strong and useful Christian man- 
 hood ; while those who are neglected, or who de- 
 cline to work at once, are seldom of much value to 
 the Church. Some Churches die of official dignity 
 and age. A few men, good and true, do all the 
 work, fill all the offices, enjoy all the honors, and 
 the masses do nothing. They fear to trust the 
 young, and the young cease to care for the 
 Church. When the aged die, there are none pre- 
 pared to fill the places. But when the young are 
 employed they are trained under the eye of age, 
 and a place is found for every one. The Church 
 expands and grows, new enterprises are carried 
 forward, and when an Elijah ascends, his mantle 
 falls on a faithful Elisha. 
 
 The spirit of the Christian religion harmonizes 
 with the feelings of the young. They are full of 
 hope. To them life has visions of beauty and of 
 bliss. The religion of Christ is one of hope and 
 of promise. It tells of coming triumph and glory. 
 How different was Paganism ! It dwelt in the 
 
io Introduction. 
 
 past. Its golden age, when the gods talked and 
 walked with men, had long since faded away. 
 Ages of silver and brass and iron had followed. 
 Earth was becoming worse and worse, and even 
 Hope was about to bid a long farewell. When 
 Christ appeared the voice of childhood startled 
 the earth, and old Simeon and Anna rejoiced when 
 they beheld him in the temple. At twelve his 
 voice was heard among the wise men in the tem- 
 ple, asking and answering questions, and vindicat- 
 ing the right of youth to be there. How strangely 
 that life of Christ seems to re-appear upon earth ! 
 How many Simeons and Annas have rejoiced as 
 they have seen the little children gathering at the 
 cross and singing in sweet chorus, " Jesus loves 
 me ! " And how to-day are our children and young 
 people meeting in our churches, " asking and an- 
 swering questions," as did Jesus among the doc- 
 tors of the law ! 
 
 How often is youth addressed in holy Writ ! 
 " My son, give me thy heart." " Thou, Solomon, 
 my son, know thou the God of thy fathers." 
 
Introduction. i i 
 
 " Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth," etc. How 
 joyfully the psalmist turns from the music of the 
 temple, and, listening to the coming songs, exclaims, 
 " Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast 
 thou perfected praise ! " Jesus, in his hour of tri- 
 umphal entry into Jerusalem, permitted the cries 
 of childhood, saying, " Hosanna to the Son of 
 David ! " He himself, with a little child in his 
 arms, said, " Of such is the kingdom of heaven ;" 
 and the evangelical prophet saw the great govern- 
 ments of earth, like tamed wild beasts, falling into 
 line in the army of righteousness, and exclaimed, 
 " A little child shall lead them ! " If such is the 
 estimate of Christian childhood, how much more 
 of youth educated, trained, and filled with love to 
 God and man ! 
 
 Young people need not only the grand ideas of 
 the Gospel and its blissful inspirations to strength- 
 en them for life's duties, but also that more perfect 
 comprehending and realization of the truth which 
 comes from instructing others. The teacher becomes 
 wiser as he teaches others. As the lips tell of the 
 
12 Introduction. 
 
 grand promises and of the rich experience, the 
 heart grows warmer, the head clearer, and the arm 
 stronger for life's great duties. If some method 
 could be found whereby every young person in the 
 Church should be set at work, how much moral 
 power would be gained ! 
 
 Such is the aim of the present volume. It is 
 from the pen of an active minister, who has stud- 
 ied the question carefully, and who has practically 
 tested much that he has written. 
 
 I commend the work most heartily, and I pray 
 that God's blessing may accompany it. 
 
 M. Simpson. 
 
 Philadelphia, January 24, 1SS1. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Chapter Page 
 
 I. The Organized Church 15 
 
 II. Church Activity a Necessity 20 
 
 III. General Co-operation 23 
 
 IV. Co-operation of the Young 42 
 
 V. What the Young have Done 62 
 
 VI. The Nature of Young People's Work 69 
 
 VII. How to Secure their Co-operation 74 
 
 VIII. How to Obtain Thorough Work 83 
 
 IX. Individual and Organized Effort 92 
 
 X. How Youthful may the Workers be ? 99 
 
 XI. Preparation for Work 102 
 
 XII. Should the Young be Associated with the 
 
 Old ? 109 
 
 XIII. The Church Lyceum 113 
 
 XIV. Assignment of Workers 121 
 
 XV. Principles in Practice 128 
 
 XVI. Words for Pastors 132 
 
14 Contents. 
 
 Ciiaptek Page 
 
 XVII. Views for Veterans 135 
 
 XVIII. Thoughts for the Young 148 
 
 XIX. Words for all Workers 165 
 
 XX. Mr. Moody an Illustration 185 
 
 XXI. Conclusion 216 
 
PRINCETON 
 
 TH£GLQGie& 
 |fffflN&g^ 
 
 YOUNG WOEKEES IN THE CH IECH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE ORGANIZED CHURCH. 
 
 TESUS called men, and they responded by be- 
 coming his disciples ; drawn by him they came 
 together, and the Church of Christ was formed. 
 To-day he calls, and the Spirit of Christ in the 
 hearts of his disciples draws them together, and 
 Christian Churches are begun and perpetuated. 
 
 Called together by the external command, and 
 brought together by the same- internal Spirit, the 
 elements crystallize into oneness, and from the 
 combination is developed the organic Church — 
 the ecclesia. 
 
 This organized Church has a grand mission, which 
 isolated individuals never could accomplish. The 
 association gives united sympathy and combined 
 strength. The organic form gives an aggregation 
 
1 6 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 of moral power which is a mighty force in defend- 
 ing the good and in overcoming the evil. Just as 
 the trained army is more effective than the same 
 number of individuals acting independently, so is 
 the organized Church more efficient than its constit- 
 uent elements acting separately could possibly be. 
 
 The Church is the lens which brings the moral 
 forces of the world to a focus. Rays of moral and 
 spiritual light, which would otherwise be weak and 
 wasted, have, when thus focalized, a burning energy 
 to consume sin, to melt hard hearts, to illuminate 
 clouded minds, and to cheer drooping spirits. 
 
 Its concentration of interest is influential in at- 
 tracting souls to the service of God, and its union 
 of sympathy and effort is efficient in building beau- 
 tiful Christian characters. 
 
 Its work is to save sinners and to edify believers. 
 This is a double and simultaneous work. Both 
 lines of operation must be carried forward at the 
 same time. While the Church develops the relig- 
 ious character of its members, it should also go out 
 and bring others in, that they may be under the 
 same gracious influences. 
 
The Organized Church. 17 
 
 Both works are mutually helpful. Progress in 
 one benefits the other, while failure in one injures 
 the other. 
 
 Spirituality is as necessary to the Church as life 
 is to the body, and Church activity is as necessary 
 for the Church as exercise and exertion are for the 
 body. 
 
 Life in the body makes physical action possible, 
 but if there is no activity, the vigor of the body 
 diminishes and death ensues. So spiritual life is 
 needed to make true Church activity possible, but 
 if there is no Christian activity there will be spirit- 
 ual decay and death. 
 
 No lesson taught by the history of the Christian 
 Church is more prominent and indisputable than 
 this, that spirituality promotes activity and activity 
 preserves spirituality. Both move together. 
 
 Whenever the Church has abounded in spiritual 
 vitality and has exerted its power, it has proved su- 
 perior to all opposing forces, and has gained the 
 greatest triumphs even when the strongest antag- 
 onisms have been arrayed against it. 
 
 Whatever failures the Church may have had are 
 
 2 
 
1 8 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 attributable to a decline in external aggressiveness 
 or to a diminution in the development of the inner 
 spiritual vigor. 
 
 Whenever the Church has permitted periods of 
 decline in religious activities it has lost the power 
 of the religious life; but whenever it has performed 
 genuine missionary work it has strengthened its 
 spirituality. 
 
 Activity will spring from a vigorous spirituality, 
 and it will, by its reflex influence, strengthen spir- 
 itual power ; and hence the Church should develop 
 the internal piety of the individual members, and, 
 at the same time, stimulate to external action. 
 Without these conditions success is impossible ; 
 with them there is the prophecy of progress. 
 
 An army is organized for strong and sustained 
 effort ; the Church is formed for constant and vig- 
 orous action. The army is to move forv/ard ; the 
 Church is to advance. United in harmonious ac- 
 tion, it is to advance and conquer, to take and 
 hold, to overthrow wrong and strengthen right. 
 
 The preservative power of the Church over its 
 own adherents depends upon its aggressiveness, 
 
The Organized Church. 19 
 
 while upon the degree of its piety depends its in- 
 fluence upon the outside world. The Church must 
 be aggressive, or it will fail to gain accessions, and, 
 consequently, will die through natural waste. 
 
 On the other hand, if it does not edify and de- 
 velop those within the fold, its spiritual life will di- 
 minish and its members will become a mere bundle 
 of feeble formalists bound together by bands of brit- 
 tle formalities. 
 
 With this general recognition of the constant ne- 
 cessity of spirituality, we will not be misunderstood 
 as we confine ourselves to a consideration of Chris- 
 tian activities. 
 
 As we have already intimated, they are conserv- 
 ative of spiritual life. They benefit the individual 
 members who are active, and the Church in and 
 from which they act. As muscular exertion brings 
 increased vigor, so moral and religious activities 
 conduce to greater strength of the religious charac- 
 ter, while, through the activity of its members, the 
 Church augments its force by developing internal 
 power, multiplying its numbers, and increasing its 
 influence on the community. 
 
2o Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 CHURCH ACTIVITY A NECESSITY. 
 
 A S a Church is a body composed of individual 
 members, it is as a whole whatever are its con- 
 stituent parts. In organized action it presents the 
 average power of those composing the organism. 
 If the individual members are vigorously active, 
 then the Church will possess energy and engage in 
 earnest endeavor. Hence, as the influence of the 
 Church represents the aggregate power of its indi- 
 vidual members, so each Church, as well as each 
 person, has an individuality of character before the 
 community. A Church is judged by its work as a 
 Church, just as the member is judged by his per- 
 sonal life and acts. Because of this a Church may 
 be referred to as " a live Church," or " a dead 
 Church," " an inactive Church," or " a working 
 Church." 
 
 As reputation is a part of an individual's capital, 
 so does a Church's influence depend largely upon 
 
CJnircJi Activity a Necessity. 21 
 
 its reputation, and no Church is so respected by the 
 outside community as one which is steadily engaged 
 in intelligent and vigorous Christian work. Hence, 
 every Church should have the reputation of being 
 "a living and working Church" in order that it may 
 be influential with those outside its pale. 
 
 Mr. Spurgeon has said : " A Church gets to be 
 despised when it is dead. The better a thing was 
 when alive, the worse it becomes when dead ; and 
 so, if a Church was, when alive, full of vigor and 
 strength, in that proportion would it, when cor- 
 rupted, become bad and despicable, and the only 
 thing was to bury it out of sight. A dead Church 
 was the most loathsome thing on the face of the 
 earth." 
 
 In the present time the need for great activity 
 is, perhaps, more pressing than in any former age. 
 It is an era of eager energy and surprising swift- 
 ness. Business goes by steam, science takes the 
 wings of the light, and whatever is slower than the 
 times will be neglected, left behind, and forgotten. 
 
 Always on the alert, the Church should never al- 
 low the world to outstrip it in the march of prog- 
 
22 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 ress. It must be quick to avail itself of every op- 
 portunity in the earnest prosecution of its mission, 
 or stand in humiliating contrast with a busy world, 
 fail to secure what it might otherwise gain, and 
 suffer great loss in that which it has already 
 obtained. 
 
 Greater energy is needed on the part of the 
 Church, not only because of the general rush of 
 events, but also because of the vigorous opposition 
 of many antichristian antagonisms which it should 
 overcome, and because of the rapidly opening op- 
 portunities of which it should avail itself. It is 
 emphatically an age when the sowers of the word 
 should scatter the good seed from early morn till 
 dewy eve — when the Christian husbandman should, 
 with prompt and patient care, cultivate the plants 
 in the garden of the Lord — when Gospel reapers 
 should quickly gather the ripening harvest — when 
 the soldiers of the cross should speed them to the 
 field of strife, fighting not merely on the defensive, 
 but, boldly taking the aggressive, press forward to 
 the overthrow of the forces of evil, and to take pos- 
 session of points of permanent power. 
 
Genera/ Co-operation. 23 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 GENERAL CO-OPERATION. 
 
 r I ^HE great need of the Church is general 
 co-operation on the part of ministers and 
 members. 
 
 All other things being equal, the success of a 
 Church, or of any similar organization, will be in 
 proportion to the number of workers it possesses. 
 When the few do the work the results cannot com- 
 pare with what would be achieved if the toilers were 
 the many. Not only does this principle commend 
 itself to the reason as axiomatic, but experience 
 positively proves that the prosperity of a Church 
 is in proportion to the general interest manifested 
 and the numbers actually engaged in promoting its 
 welfare. Hence the true aim is to call into action 
 the largest possible number of workers. 
 
 Usually the real work is done by the few, and 
 this is not greatly to be wondered at when but a 
 very small minority seem to think that Church 
 
24 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 work should be expected of them. While the real 
 workers are comparatively few, it is not only a 
 negative disadvantage that the many " stand idle 
 all the day," but also a positive evil. Not only is 
 the power they could exert lost to the Church, but 
 they also, to a great extent, neutralize the aggress- 
 ive force of the active minority. Indeed, one of 
 the greatest impediments to the progress of a 
 Church is the indifference and inactivity inside 
 itself. Like non-combatants and invalids in an 
 army, these non-workers clog the movements and 
 retard the advance of the Church militant. En- 
 ergy is absorbed in caring for them. They are 
 a dead-weight which must be carried, and thus 
 strength is exhausted which would be more serv- 
 iceable in other directions. A desideratum is some 
 means of overcoming this inertia, for the vitality 
 of a Church will diminish in proportion to the 
 diminution of those actively interested. A Church 
 where one man assumes every thing tends gradu- 
 ally to reduce itself to that single individual. In- 
 action on the part of the many is also productive 
 of disquiet, and is a source of trouble, for many 
 
General Co-operation. 25 
 
 a time has the old saying been found true in the 
 Church, as well as in other places, that 
 
 " Satan finds some mischief still 
 For idle hands to do." 
 
 Hence it is good management to keep all so busy 
 that they will not have time for fault finding, dis- 
 content, and discord. 
 
 The mistake of generations was the habit of 
 reducing the number of workers to the minimum, 
 instead of developing the maximum. Practically, 
 for a long period, the pastor was esteemed, in a 
 spiritual sense, the only worker. This error is now 
 becoming evident, and the opinion and practice of 
 the Church is rapidly changing ; not that it is 
 thought the preacher should do less, but that the 
 people should do more. The intelligent now per- 
 ceive that the pastor can do only a particle of the 
 work which should be performed. The minister 
 may be an indefatigable laborer in his sphere, but 
 if he is the only toiler comparatively little can be 
 accomplished. 
 
 In the very nature of things fche minister is a 
 preacher before he becomes a pastor. His com- 
 
26 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 mission is, " Go preach," " Go teach." His first 
 place is the pulpit, then the pastorate. First, the 
 calling and gathering, and then the care-taking, the 
 latter work being the natural sequence of the for- 
 mer. No doubt it is true that preachers are and 
 should be pastors, but it is becoming evident to the 
 minds of many that there should be pastors who 
 are not pulpit preachers, or, at least, that in some 
 sense all the people are pastors, and should have a 
 watchful and loving care over each other. 
 
 A minister in charge of a Church, after preparing 
 two or more sermons a week, besides his weekly 
 lecture, visiting the sick, attending funerals, and, 
 perhaps, teaching a Bible lesson, besides giving at- 
 tention to many other details connected with his 
 charge, has left, especially in a large city parish, a 
 very insufficient amount of time for the general 
 work demanding attention and awaiting accom- 
 plishment, and, therefore, others must be called in 
 to assist, or the work will remain undone. 
 
 Or suppose the minister should spend no time in 
 his study, but should visit from early morn until 
 late at night, and that week after week, yet it 
 
General Co-operation. 27 
 
 would be impossible for him to satisfy the desires 
 of all the people to see the pastor in their homes, 
 and to attend to every case that demands atten- 
 tion. When the most diligent pastor has done all 
 he can, there will still remain much undone. 
 
 In this work of pastoral visiting the people 
 must be called in to do their share, and often the 
 visits of the members of the Church will have a 
 better influence than the calls of the minister, for 
 then the people will feel that the members are in- 
 terested in them, while the visit of the preacher 
 alone might be taken as merely professional. Just 
 here it is worth mentioning that it is a matter of 
 observation that though a preacher may attract 
 strangers to his church, they will seldom identify 
 themselves with the Church because of the pastor, 
 unless they are also attracted by the members, and 
 find the congregation congenial. Hence no Church 
 can afford to depend solely upon the efforts of the 
 preacher, but the members should individually 
 exert all their attractive power to draw and to 
 hold. 
 
 In view of such facts, the truth is now becoming 
 
28 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 generally accepted that the members must work 
 with the minister, and that, in the matter of gen- 
 eral Church activity, much of the pastor's work 
 should be to act as the chief officer in endeavoring 
 to develop the latent forces in the Church, and in 
 directing them most wisely and efficiently. 
 
 Not only is it a part of the pastor's duty to 
 arouse general activity, but he can scarcely be em- 
 ployed more effectively. Indeed, many a preach- 
 er's prosperity is due, not so much to great learn- 
 ing or overwhelming oratory, as to his tact in 
 persuading the people to perform Church work. 
 Thus Mr. Spurgeon's power is attributed, not so 
 much to his admirable ability as a speaker, as to 
 his skill in putting his people in the line of Chris- 
 tian activity. Active himself, he has developed a 
 working Church, and so the success of any pastor 
 will depend largely on the organizing power and 
 the executive ability he possesses. 
 
 He is not always the best pastor who is out of 
 his study most. He who walks about most may not 
 be doing the most work. The preacher's frequent 
 physical presence on the street is not a positive proof 
 
General Co-operation. 29 
 
 of a perfect pastorate. He who makes the greatest 
 number of personal calls may not be doing the 
 greatest amount of good. We knew a preacher 
 who, because of lameness, could do little of what 
 is conventionally called pastoral work, and yet, 
 through his systematic superintendence, the pas- 
 toral work of his charge was performed with more 
 than usual thoroughness. Time which others 
 spent on the street he spent in his study, consider- 
 ing the state of his Church, planning for its needs, 
 and determining what persons he would direct to 
 carry out his plans. In this he did better work 
 than if, even without his lameness, he had at- 
 tempted to do the whole work himself. Much of 
 the work was what a laymen could do as well as a 
 clergyman, and in calling the members to do this 
 work, he increased their interest, developed their 
 power, and consequently exerted greater influence 
 on the community. 
 
 A general is doing more for the success of the 
 campaign when, at head-quarters, he studies the 
 topography of the country, hears the information 
 brought in by his scouts, and determines the line 
 
30 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 of march, than if as a sentry he paced his beat at 
 an outpost. The commander contributes more to 
 the successful issue of the battle when, surrounded 
 by his aids, he directs the disposal of the troops, 
 than if, bearing a musket, he took his place in the 
 ranks. He may not fire a shot, and yet the victory 
 may be due to his skill. 
 
 Nehemiah did not put a stone in the walls of 
 Jerusalem, yet he built the walls by getting the 
 people to do the work. 
 
 So a minister may benefit the Church and com- 
 munity more by devoting some time to consider- 
 ing how duties may be distributed among the 
 members, than if, with his own inadequate powers, 
 he alone attempted their discharge. Indeed, such 
 study is second only to his preparation for the 
 pulpit. It should be his aim to call into activity 
 the largest possible number of individuals, and in 
 thinking out plans of operation, and in organizing 
 and getting others to work, his brain and time will 
 produce more valuable results than if he attempted 
 the impossibility of doing all himself. 
 
 The telegraph operator, sitting in his office from 
 
General Co-operation. 31 
 
 which wires run in all directions, holding the elec- 
 tric current under control by his touch, sends a 
 message in any or all directions, and men at great 
 distances respond to his call. So the honored pas- 
 tor, who has systematically studied his Church 
 work, and whose people cheerfully co-operate with 
 him, occupies the center of influence in his Church, 
 and may touch the key of harmonious action, 
 and from all directions call old and young to his 
 assistance in the discharge of duty in the diverse 
 departments of Christian effort, and cause the 
 work to be done with greater thoroughness and 
 promptitude. 
 
 Not only is it the result of reason and the ex- 
 hortation of experience that there should be the 
 co-operation of the largest possible number, but 
 we also find that the doctrine of holy writ is, " To 
 every man his work." Hence in view of the script- 
 ural injunction, as well as for many other reasons, 
 it is the duty of each member to do something in 
 the line of Christian activity; and therefore it is a 
 very important part of the responsibility of those 
 charged with the management of Churches to re- 
 
32 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 veal to every man his work, and persuade him to 
 its performance. 
 
 The eloquent and venerated Bishop Simpson has 
 sometimes said when addressing ministers : " Never 
 do any thing that you can get any one else to do." 
 Of course, this pointed and practical maxim was 
 qualified by his urging the ministers to do all they 
 could themselves, while at the same time they tried 
 to set all their people at work. 
 
 Mr. Spurgeon speaks of pastors who work " with 
 hands, feet, and mouths, like a mother knitting, 
 rocking a cradle, and perhaps reading, all at once," 
 and says : " Sometimes they would do more good 
 if, instead of doing so much, they let others do it. 
 A minister might as well occasionally employ a 
 deacon, and a deacon a young man that may then 
 grow into a deacon. It might be part of their bur- 
 den to put their burden upon somebody else. I 
 believe it is often a Christian duty not to do it, but 
 to make a man do it himself, for just as they might 
 beggar people by indiscriminate alms, so they 
 might beggar some Christians by indiscriminate 
 help. When a little girl is obliged to raise herself 
 
General Co-operation. 33 
 
 up to enable her to reach the knocker on a door, it 
 may be a very good thing for her, better than lift- 
 ing her up to knock. To pray for a person was 
 very well ; but to help another person to pray for 
 himself was far better, and so in all Christian work. 
 
 " They must try and train the whole of their 
 regiment for Christ — drummer-boys and girls ; every 
 man-jack of them must do something for Christ, 
 and try and invent a way of making it to be a 
 pleasure and spiritually healthy to be spending 
 their strength for Christ.'.' 
 
 Words like these from such an eminently indus- 
 trious minister mean very much. 
 
 The Church has a right to expect and demand 
 that each member shall contribute to the progress 
 of the Church by some form of Christian activity. 
 
 Drones should not be tolerated in the hive. All 
 should be workers. 
 
 Some denominations, in their ritual for the re- 
 ception of members, ask the candidates whether 
 they will contribute of their financial means to sus- 
 tain Church enterprises ; then, why not, on the 
 
 same principle, just as reasonably ask them to 
 3 
 
34 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 pledge a proportion of their time and talents to 
 some other form of supporting and strengthening 
 the Church? For example, why should they not 
 promise to perform Church work according to their 
 ability? In some places this plan has been tried. 
 
 Mr. Spurgeon says: " My esteemed friend, who 
 is a very apostle of Christ, Mr. Oncken, of Ham- 
 burgh, in forming Baptist Churches in Germany, 
 lays down as one of the first questions to be asked 
 of a person applying for membership, ' What will 
 you do in the service of- Jesus Christ?' Perhaps 
 the candidate says, ' I can do nothing.' And in that 
 case the pastor replies, * I cannot receive you ; we 
 can have no drones in this hive.' Or, perhaps the 
 candidate will reply, ' What do you think I can 
 do ? ' And the pastor will say, ' Something you 
 must do ; you can only become a member of this 
 Church by engaging in some Christian service.' 
 
 " I would almost carry it so far as to say, ' Un- 
 less you are laid aside by illness, you must continue 
 to do something, or be excommunicated ipso facto 
 by your doing nothing.' That might be too ex- 
 treme a rule, but the spirit of it is right. 
 
General Co-operation. 35 
 
 " If it were a generally understood regulation 
 that one of the conditions of Church membership 
 was service, we might see our Churches rising to a 
 far higher degree of zeal for God than they have 
 ever yet attained. We know by experience that 
 the idle part of the Church is that in which sin has 
 strongest hold. If a farmer should leave one part 
 of his farm uncultivated, it would be a hot-bed for 
 weeds ; and the garlic, the nettle, and the thistle 
 would from that center spread all over his estate. 
 
 " The unworking part of the Church, like the 
 mixed multitude that came out of Egypt, falls a 
 lusting, and brings mischief upon the whole of 
 Israel." 
 
 Such teaching largely explains the success of 
 Spurgeon's Tabernacle in London ; and the Rev. 
 James A. Spurgeon, brother of the celebrated 
 Charles H. Spurgeon, when referring to the pros- 
 perity of the Tabernacle congregation, said, " The 
 reason of their success was not that they had such 
 a great leader, for the general was powerless unless 
 his army was efficient and earnest. The true rea- 
 son of their success was that every one of the rank 
 
36 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 and file in the organization was a zealous worker 
 for the advancement of the cause of Christ. When- 
 ever a new member joins, the question was put to 
 him, 'What can you do?' 'What are you willing 
 to do ? ' and he was at once set at work to perform 
 the duty for which he was most fitted." 
 
 Perhaps, in some cases, it would not be a bad 
 idea to try the method of the senior Dr. Tyng. It 
 is said that a retired merchant, who had led a very 
 active life, offered himself as a candidate for mem- 
 bership in his Church, remarking that he now in- 
 tended to take his ease and not do any thing but 
 enjoy himself, when the venerable doctor quickly 
 responded, " My dear sir, this is not the Church for 
 you ; the ' Church of the Heavenly Rest ' is round 
 the corner." 
 
 In this world we do not need " Heavenly Rest" 
 Churches, but every one should be a Church of 
 Christian Endeavor. It should not be a place of 
 quietude, but a base of active operations, for this is 
 not the Church triumphant, but the Church mili- 
 tant. To make a formal demand for a pledge of 
 active work, as a condition of Church membership, 
 
General Co-operation. 37 
 
 might not be judicious, but it is certainly wise to 
 declare most emphatically the duty and necessity 
 of general co-operation. 
 
 The Rev. J. Clifford, in an address delivered in 
 the Metropolitan Tabernacle, London, says there 
 is " need for the diffusion throughout all the mem- 
 bers of each particular Christian community of a 
 keen and vivid sense of personal responsibility for 
 the fame, the efficiency, the happiness, and the suc- 
 cess of the whole Church. 
 
 " Christ Jesus requires the Churches to care for 
 themselves. He has cast the responsibility of 
 management entirely upon them. It is not to an 
 official, be he pastor or elder, but to the brethren, 
 that the direction is sent, * Warn the unruly, com- 
 fort the feeble-minded, support the weak, be pa- 
 tient toward all/ The Spirit spake to the Church- 
 es as well as to the seven angels. 
 
 11 Christ has gone away, and has devolved on his 
 disciples and servants the entire care of his king- 
 dom, saying, ' Occupy till I come.' Its protection 
 is in our hands, and the ordering of its affairs rests 
 with us. We have to fill his place, to think for 
 
38 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 him and his, to act for him and his, to suffer for 
 him and his, and to make the welfare of his king- 
 dom completely our own, its prosperity ours, its 
 failures ours, its whole experience ours ; in a word, 
 to live for it, putting it always first because it really 
 is first, and because we are never in our true place 
 save as it is before us. 
 
 '• He cannot be 'a good Churchman' who shirks 
 the responsibility of personal care and personal 
 gifts and personal service in the Church to which 
 he belongs. It is cowardly; it is unmanly; it is 
 against the will of Christ our Master. The Church 
 fails of its ideal, and we are to blame. It is not so 
 peaceful, so self-restrained ; it is noisy when it 
 might be quiet, agitated when it might be calm, 
 penurious where it might be generous and large- 
 hearted, weak when it might be strong; but we 
 fail through some false love of ease, a fear of fel- 
 lowship with natures not so refined and gentle as 
 ours, to come up to the help of the Lord. 
 
 " The creation of officials is not absolution from 
 personal duty ; the appointment of committees and 
 the arrangement of departments does not set us 
 
General Co-operation. 39 
 
 free from the claims of Christ upon our individual 
 thought and prayer, sympathy and work. 
 
 " Each man must carry his own burden, and not 
 put it on another; he himself, and not a paid sub- 
 stitute, has to fight against sin in every form, and 
 seek to build up a holy brotherhood permeated 
 with the love of God, enriched with all spiritual 
 wisdom and power, graced with all the courtesies 
 and gentleness of the life of Christ, and passionate- 
 ly bent on saving the world from the misery and 
 mischief of sin." 
 
 We commonly divide the Church into two classes 
 — the ministry and the laity. There is a just dis- 
 tinction between them but many of the old no- 
 tions concerning their respective rights and duties 
 should be swept away. 
 
 Each class should work in its own sphere, but 
 the object is the same, and the success of one class 
 tends to the success of the other. The soldier in 
 the ranks is not jealous of his general nor the 
 general of the rank and file ; neither should the 
 laity be jealous of the clergy nor the clergy of the 
 laity. Both soldier and officer have the same ob- 
 
40 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 ject in view ; so the minister and the member, 
 though in different spheres, should work together 
 for the glory of the same Lord, and, looking to 
 him, say, " Not unto us, not unto us, but unto thy 
 name be glory." There is no place for antagonism 
 or rivalry between the two orders, and, surely, it 
 must be admitted that to-day the ministry gladly 
 welcomes the laity to a very large share in the work 
 of the Church, and is extremely anxious to have all 
 do what they can. 
 
 Public opinion has been apt to give the ministry 
 a wide field, (perhaps too wide,) while it confined 
 the laity to very narrow limits. This is partly the 
 result of clerical teaching in other ages, and partly 
 the fault of shrinking or indisposition on the part 
 of the laity. 
 
 Old opinions need revision. While ministerial 
 work is far-reaching, the laity should not be pent 
 up in very restricted bounds. Outside a few spe- 
 cial offices that belong to the clergy, there is little 
 the laity may not do. As Dr. Haydn has well said : 
 " All Christian work, not exclusively ministerial, is 
 lav-work." 
 
General Co-operation. 41 
 
 Woman, especially, has a grand mission in 
 Church-work, and we are seeing the fulfillment of 
 the prophecy, " It shall come to pass, in the last 
 days, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh, 
 and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy." 
 
 There is, indeed, little work in the field of Chris- 
 tian activity that woman may not perform with the 
 utmost propriety. 
 
 Clergy and laity are beginning to perceive more 
 thoroughly than ever before that every individual 
 and every influence must be utilized. 
 
 The Church needs the peculiar power possessed 
 by each class in its membership, for each class has 
 a value peculiar to itself, and each in combination 
 supplements and sustains the others. The old are 
 needed for their experience, the cultured for their 
 intelligence, the wealthy for their means, and the 
 mature for their might, and whenever and wher- 
 ever all classes are brought into united action, each 
 doing its part, and all seeking the accomplishment 
 of the same common end, there will be a thor- 
 oughly aggressive and successful Church. 
 
42 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 CO-OPERATION OF THE YOUNG. 
 
 A S co-operation of the Church in general is 
 
 greatly to be desired, and, in view of many 
 
 circumstances, is absolutely demanded, it may be 
 
 asked whether in this co-operation there is a place 
 
 for the young people of the congregation. 
 
 But what are we to understand by the phrase, 
 " The young people of the Church ? " 
 
 Who are " the young people ? " 
 
 As a general definition, it will be sufficiently 
 specific to suppose that the phrase refers to persons 
 in the period of early manhood or womanhood, and 
 also to many who are even more youthful. For 
 practical purposes the majority of new converts 
 might be added to this category. The expression 
 therefore embraces the young people in connection 
 with the Church, and these may be divided into 
 two classes, namely, the young people in the 
 Church, and the young people of the Church — 
 
Co-operation of the Young. 43 
 
 those who are enrolled as actual members, and 
 those who, though not registered as members of 
 the Church, are connected with the Sunday-school 
 or congregation, and are therefore under the spe- 
 cial care of the Church. 
 
 We maintain that both these classes should be 
 called into action for the Church. We claim that 
 in the combined activities of a Church organization 
 there is an actual necessity for their co-operation. 
 But some may ask why their service is needed, and 
 reasons must be given. 
 
 We present a few out of many particulars : 
 
 I. Because it tends to bring the young people 
 of the congregation into the membership of the 
 Church. 
 
 Observation proves this a correct principle — for 
 the human heart becomes attached to that for 
 which it labors — and experience shows that attach- 
 ment to Church enterprises naturally tends to 
 bring the worker into the closer identification of 
 Church membership. So the history of perhaps 
 every Church will show that the giving charge of a 
 Sunday-school class or the placing in some position 
 
44 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 of trust in the Church has led to the conversion of 
 many of those placed in such positions. 
 
 II. Because, on the same general principle, it is 
 a means of retaining members in the Church. 
 
 The same activity which draws persons into the 
 Church is calculated to hold them therein. Activ- 
 ity for, augments attachment to an enterprise, and, 
 so common is the fact, that it is almost self-evident 
 that to preserve interest in any thing nothing is 
 better than one's having something to do for it and 
 then doing it. Many a man may date the decline 
 of his devotion to his Church from the day when he 
 began to diminish his participation in its efforts, 
 and, on the other hand, the freshness of many a 
 man's love has been maintained by his co-operation 
 in the work of the Church. Hence, engaging the 
 young in Church activities will be a bond to hold 
 them in the Church, and tend to prevent the great 
 loss of power occasioned by the formal or actual 
 withdrawment of great numbers of young persons 
 who, not having their attention engaged by the 
 Church, are drawn away by the magnet of counter- 
 attractions. 
 
Co-operation of the Young. 45 
 
 III. Because, in order to fully accomplish its mis- 
 sion, the Church needs the exertion of every parti- 
 cle of its available power, 
 
 It will be taken for granted that if the young 
 cannot do much good, their attempt in that direc- 
 tion is not likely to do any harm. But it will ac- 
 complish something, for the very attempt must, at 
 least, effect a negative good in showing others that 
 they are on the right side. No matter how trifling 
 their power may seem, yet, if they have only a frac- 
 tion of force, the Church cannot afford to have it 
 wasted in disuse. 
 
 IV. Because youth possesses in a large degree 
 the elements of energy and enthusiasm so essential 
 for successful effort on the part of any human or- 
 ganization. In no other period of life are these 
 elements present in so large a proportion ; and 
 these important requisites for the execution of great 
 purposes should be utilized at the earliest moment. 
 Especially is it important that the Church avail it- 
 self of their force at once, because there is so much 
 in the world that tends to turn it in the wrong di- 
 rection and for the furtherance of evil objects, and 
 
46 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 because in early life they are most easily drawn to 
 one side or the other. 
 
 John Foster has pictured youth as an electric 
 machine, generating energy and constantly charged 
 with this forceful element. He remarks : " How 
 precious a thing is youthful energy if only it could 
 be preserved, entirely englobed, as it were, within 
 the bosom of the young adventurer, till he can come 
 and offer it forth a sacred emanation in yonder tem- 
 ple of truth and virtue ! But, alas ! all along, as he 
 goes toward it, he advances through an avenue 
 formed by a long line of tempters and demons on 
 each side, all prompt to touch him with their con- 
 ductors, and draw this divine electric element, with 
 which he is charged, away." 
 
 This force will be evolved and thrown along the 
 line either of good or of evil. It is too precious to 
 be wasted, and too powerful to be permitted to give 
 potency to evil purposes. The Church should pro- 
 tect this power, but the only way to prevent its 
 perversion to sin is to direct it in the line of duty 
 and in the way of righteousness. 
 
 The Church must touch the young with the con- 
 
Co-operation of the Young. 47 
 
 ductor of its influence, and cause the force of this 
 ethereal electricity to flow in proper channels for 
 the advantage of the Church, the advancement of 
 the cause of God, and the best interests of human- 
 ity. When the Church shall effectually utilize 
 youthful energy and enthusiasm their force will 
 give new strength and success to Christian enter- 
 prise, and a grander era will dawn upon the relig- 
 ious world. 
 
 V. Because youth is the period in which it is 
 easiest to persuade persons to engage in earnest 
 enterprise. 
 
 1. Because their very nature impels to energetic 
 action. It is the time when the warm blood courses 
 rapidly through the system and urges the whole 
 man to effort, and hence it is that the young de- 
 light in activity, and scarcely any punishment is to 
 them so painful as enforced quiet. The Church may 
 and should take advantage of this characteristic of 
 youth, and, availing itself of this natural desire for 
 action, win to its assistance this willingness for 
 work. 
 
 2. Because, unlike age, youth is not so securely 
 
48 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 bound by strong and long-continued habits. Those 
 of more advanced age find that they are held by 
 habits of many years, and that it is only with great 
 difficulty that they can free themselves. Youth, 
 not being so firmly fastened, can more easily shake 
 off these shackles. Hence there is not the same 
 difficulty in prevailing on young people to enter 
 upon some new line of effort, and in this advantage 
 there is encouragement to seek their assistance in 
 religious activities. 
 
 3. Because youth has but a minimum proportion 
 of that reserve and caution which, in after life, 
 trammels in, or restrains from, new forms of action. 
 This caution grows with age. This general disin- 
 clination becomes stronger each day, so that the 
 more mature man recoils from the venture which 
 in his younger days he would have boldly attempted. 
 
 This is, probably, as it should be ; but our ob- 
 ject is not to discuss the philosophy, but merely to 
 present the practical fact, namely, that the young 
 have less of that timidity or caution which restrains 
 from untried efforts, so that they are more easily 
 persuaded to engage in new ventures, and that, 
 
Co-operation of the Young. 49 
 
 therefore, the Church should avail itself of such 
 opportunity of obtaining willing workers from 
 among the young before the timidity of caution 
 throws its coils around them. 
 
 4. Because youth is the time when life is freest 
 from family and business cares, and other entangle- 
 ments which so often, in the case of older persons, 
 prevent power from being used in general religious 
 efforts. So much force is there in the fact that 
 usually the young people have more leisure for 
 Church work, that it might be maintained that the 
 most of it must be done by the young or be left 
 unperformed ; but it is enough to know that the 
 nature and circumstances of the young make it eas- 
 ier to persuade them to the performance of new 
 effort, and that in view of this facility the Church 
 should endeavor to make them a part of its aggress- 
 ive army. 
 
 VI. The young people should be called into ac- 
 tion because of the conservative effect of religious 
 activity upon the spiritual life and the religious 
 character. 
 
 The same law that necessitates exercise for the 
 4 
 
50 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 preservation of physical life applies also to the 
 higher region of the moral. Inaction tends to 
 death in the realm of the spiritual as well as the 
 physical. As bodily exercise is preservative of bod- 
 ily health, so doing good, through Christian activi- 
 ties, is promotive of a healthy religious state. Not 
 a few who were vigorous Christians while they took 
 part in Church work lost their spiritual life when 
 they subsided into inaction. The lesson is plain. 
 Young as well as old Christians must engage in 
 religious activities as a means of preserving their 
 spirituality. 
 
 VII. Because it is necessary for the development 
 of their religious faculties. As action is necessary 
 for the preservation of life and health, so also is it 
 necessary for the development of strength. 
 
 There is no healthy physical growth without ex- 
 ercise ; so, for moral growth, there must be moral 
 activity. Without physical exercise the body would 
 remain puny and the man be but an overgrown 
 babe, even if a feeble life did linger ; so, even if 
 spiritual life might remain without exercise, the 
 spiritual nature must lack strength and symmetrical 
 
Co-operation of the Young. 51 
 
 development unless it be called into judicious ac- 
 tivity. Many have grown in grace while actively 
 engaged in the Church, who have suffered diminu- 
 tion in spiritual power and have steadily declined as 
 they ceased to exert themselves, until they have 
 become but the ghostly skeletons of their former 
 moral manhood. 
 
 The best development begins in youth ; and so, 
 if we are to have a strong and symmetrical devel- 
 opment of the spiritual powers, the process should 
 begin in early life, and, as the efficient means of 
 development is action, young Christians should be 
 taught at an early stage of their experience to en- 
 gage earnestly in Christian activities. 
 
 VIII. Because it is an excellent training process, 
 which will fit them for future triumphs. 
 
 We have referred to Christian activity as a con- 
 servator of spiritual life and as a means of moral 
 development. It is equally true that it gives skill 
 as well as strength. One may have power but not 
 know how to apply it to advantage. A man may 
 have rugged strength, but possess little skill in its 
 use. 
 
52 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 In the gymnasium, while he adds to his vigor 
 by exercise, he gains flexibility and elasticity, 
 and gradually brings eye, nerve, and muscle in 
 subjection and ready response to his will. So 
 the daily occupation of the mechanic gives him 
 greater ease and expertness in the performance of 
 his tasks. 
 
 The advantage of early discipline is a principle 
 which applies to Church work as well as to other 
 forms of activity. Here, as well as elsewhere, prac- 
 tice perfects. Even if young people cannot accom- 
 plish great immediate results — even if they cannot 
 accomplish any thing by their present attempts — 
 yet their engaging in early effort will pay, because 
 it is promotive of future perfection. As a training- 
 school, it will give them skill and success here- 
 after. 
 
 These early efforts are very valuable, at least, for 
 what they will make of the novices in the near fu- 
 ture. They are the Church of the future. What 
 they become the Church of the future will be ; and 
 what they will be depends largely upon their youth- 
 ful development. Before many days they will be 
 
Co-operation of the Young. 53 
 
 the managers, and their skill and success in the 
 years to come will depend materially upon the 
 present direction of their present powers. 
 
 Therefore, in view of these facts and many others, 
 it is evident that if the Church does not set its 
 young people to work it loses its best opportunity 
 for employing a large number in Christian activities, 
 for attaching the young to the Church, for devel- 
 oping strong and symmetrical Christian characters, 
 and for training the future leaders ; while it also 
 loses the freshness, energy, and enthusiasm which 
 are found most abundantly in youth, and which are 
 essential to success. But, going one step further, 
 we claim — 
 
 IX. That the young people should be encouraged 
 to engage in Church action because there is work 
 they can do. 
 
 But before we briefly discuss this point, and in- 
 dicate some kinds of Church work which the young 
 can perform, it must be observed that there is too 
 much skepticism in regard to the capability of 
 young people for such service, and that this skep- 
 ticism, on the part of influential individuals, some- 
 
54 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 times results in very objectionable treatment of the 
 youthful workers. 
 
 It is well known how sadly they are sometimes 
 treated. 
 
 When a young person offers himself for Church 
 service, or attempts to work for Christ, he is too 
 often greeted with a look of indifference, an incred- 
 ulous smile, a contemptuous remark in regard to 
 the presumption of youth, or some other manifes- 
 tation of displeasure. 
 
 So it was when young David expressed his right- 
 eous indignation at the defiance of Goliath, and in- 
 timated his willingness to meet the giant in personal 
 combat. He was treated harshly, and rudely re- 
 pulsed by his own elder brother. Thus we read 
 that " Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and 
 he said, Why earnest thou down hither? " 
 
 Similar displeasure is manifested at what some 
 are pleased to term youthful presumption, and now 
 and then some of the older Church members re- 
 buke the young Davids, who feel that there is some- 
 thing they can and ought to do, and are anxious 
 to attempt. 
 
Co-operation of the Young, 5 5 
 
 Others, who have little confidence in the capa- 
 bility of youth, receive the young volunteers with 
 an incredulous though kindly consideration, and 
 their words would discourage any but a bold and 
 confident spirit as, like Saul to the youthful David, 
 they say : " Thou art not able ... for thou art 
 but a youth." Though they do not prevent their 
 £oine into the conflict, but wish them well and are 
 willing to assist them, yet they have little faith in 
 their accomplishing any thing, and open their eyes 
 in amazement when the young do succeed. 
 
 Then, on the part of the hosts of evil, a corre- 
 sponding feeling is manifested. 
 
 Goliath despised the approaching David because 
 of his youth. So the Goliaths of wickedness be- 
 hold the advance of the young Christian with a 
 feeling of disdain, curse his presumption, and meet 
 him with a laugh of derision ; yet, not unfrequently, 
 many a giant evil falls under the blow of some 
 Christian David who is but a youth. 
 
 This incredulousness, this displeasure, and this 
 disdain, spring from misconceptions of youth, and 
 the work to be done. Hence the objections to 
 
$6 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 youthful workers have a defective basis, and are 
 unsubstantial and worthless. 
 It is objected — 
 
 1. That the young have insufficient talents. So 
 David seemed insufficient to meet Goliath, yet he 
 overthrew the giant. Indeed, when we consider 
 the tremendous power of evil there is apparent in- 
 sufficiency in every individual — old or young; yet 
 notwithstanding the seeming incompetency victory 
 comes to the right. In this conflict it is to be re- 
 membered that there is an unseen ally. It should 
 not be forgotten that God is with the right, whether 
 defended by old or young, and that the strength of 
 the Omnipotent more than makes up for human 
 deficiency. "The battle is the Lord's." 
 
 2. It is objected that the young have at their 
 disposal very inadequate instrumentalities. It is 
 thought that, no matter what may be their natural 
 powers, the means within their reach are but tri- 
 fling compared with the results to be secured. The 
 young are neither learned nor logical, wise nor elo- 
 quent, and it is presumed that if they chance to 
 possess other good qualities even these are neutral- 
 
Co-operation of the Young. 57 
 
 ized by the crudities of youth. But insignificant 
 instrumentalities may be sufficient if properly di- 
 rected. David went forth against the mailed giant, 
 not with the soldier's sword but with the shep- 
 herd's sling. It was only a little pebble from the 
 brook that he hurled, but it killed Goliath just as 
 effectually as if he had been crushed by a battering- 
 ram. David was skillful in slinging the small stone. 
 So a little power properly used may be very effect- 
 ive — a little word or deed, a short sentence or brief 
 utterance, wisely used, may prove adequate to a 
 great demand. Indeed, most of the moral effects 
 in the world are produced by the seemingly small 
 rather than by apparently important agencies. 
 
 3. Objection is made on the ground of the inex- 
 perience of youth. It may be said that even if they 
 have sufficient strength and the right means, yet 
 they lack experience. It will be admitted that the 
 experienced can do more than the inexperienced, 
 but it does not follow that the inexperienced can- 
 not do any thing. David was a raw recruit, yet he 
 gained a great victory. Besides, experience is not 
 always a matter of years. Some acquire more in 
 
58 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 one year than others do in ten. But the most 
 thoroughly trained never would have gained experi- 
 ence had they not begun to act when they were 
 without it. Experience comes only by service. 
 The old would always have remained inexperienced 
 had they not engaged in activities ; so the young 
 can become experienced only by attempting and 
 doing ; and, therefore, their inexperience is a rea- 
 son for, rather than against, their engaging in Chris- 
 tian activities. 
 
 Mr. Spurgeon states the point quaintly but forci- 
 bly when he says : 
 
 " If a young man is rough in his Christian ef- 
 forts, if he does murder the queen's English, let him 
 not be checked ; let all have a turn. There is so 
 much ammunition that if a man hits the target but 
 once out of ten times, let him have a shot. I am 
 always for saying to every body in the Church, 
 'Just as sure as you love Christ, do something 
 for him ; there is a niche for you.' I believe 
 that some of the best ministers were led to be 
 come ministers of the Gospel by being permitted 
 to say a little at a meeting, when somebody has 
 
Co-operation of the Young. 59 
 
 remarked, ' I wonder they allowed the fool of a 
 young man to say any thing.' Why, if they had 
 not allowed some of them to make fools of them- 
 selves, they never would have made any thing of 
 themselves." 
 
 These objections do not constitute a sufficient 
 reason for opposition or indifference to, or con- 
 tempt for, young people's work. But, even if there 
 was abstract force in such negative objections, it 
 would be completely overcome by positive facts in 
 favor of the ability of youth to do good work in the 
 service of the Church. 
 
 In passing, it may be remarked, at least as an 
 item of interest, if not a conclusive argument, that 
 it is a fact well known to biblical critics that the 
 Hebrew word which means a chosen person is the 
 same word which is commonly used throughout the 
 Hebrew Bible to signify a young person ; as though 
 the sacred Scriptures would, even in this particular, 
 teach us that young persons are chosen persons — 
 that God has selected them to aid in the execution 
 of his work. 
 
 The word is *vin3, (bakhur.) Gesenius thus de- 
 
60 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 fines it : " A youth, a young man ; pr., a chosen 
 youth, i. e.j choice, one in the prime of manhood ; 
 spec, young men for young warriors." From "ins, 
 {bakhar) to choose, to select. Eden, in " Church 
 Dictionary," referring to this word says, " Singled 
 out from others to some honorable service or sta- 
 tion. ' Chosen ' warriors are such as are picked 
 out as the most valiant and skillful in any army, or 
 as best adapted to some special and momentous 
 enterprise." 
 
 The young are the chosen. Men choose the old 
 for counsel, but select the young for action, and 
 God calls youth to religious activity. The old may 
 plan, the young can execute. 
 
 As to service for the Church, it is not a matter of 
 abstract speculation whether young people can do 
 any thing. It is a matter of fact that they can. 
 We are, therefore, not left merely to deductions 
 from the demands of circumstances, the possession 
 of ability, or the presence of opportunity; for youth 
 has actually shown its power, and there are abun- 
 dant data which demonstrate that the young can 
 do and have done good work for God and his 
 
Co-operation of the Young. 61 
 
 cause. Hence one way to find out what the young 
 may do will be to inquire what they have per- 
 formed. Such an inquiry will limit us to facts 
 rather than inference. 
 
 The facts are abundant, but we presume there is 
 no necessity for our doing more than to present a 
 few special instances and give some general indica- 
 tions, which will be sufficient to satisfy the thought- 
 ful, and be as finger-boards pointing them where, 
 within easy reach, they may find many similar illus- 
 trations. 
 
62 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 WHAT THE YOUNG HAVE DONE. 
 A FEW minutes' reflection would be sufficient to 
 surprise many persons with a revelation of 
 what the youth of the Church have already accom- 
 plished, and unveil to them a vision of the greater 
 possibilities of this fresh and vigorous element in 
 the Christian Church. 
 
 The work of the young people may be seen in 
 the Sunday-school, in the general work of the 
 Church, and in the community at large. In the 
 Sunday-school, that very important department of 
 the Church, they have probably done the most of 
 the work. They have brought scholars into the 
 school, they have recruited the ranks of the teach- 
 ers, they have done duty as librarians, they have 
 served as secretaries, and have acted in various 
 other official and serviceable capacities. 
 
 In the more comprehensive work of the Church 
 they have been useful as ushers and collectors, they 
 
What the Young have Done. 63 
 
 have been valuable as visitors and tract distributors, 
 and frequently they perform excellent service in 
 sustaining the Church music. Here and there, 
 where encouraged, they are heard leading in prayer 
 in the social meetings. They have been instru- 
 mental in the conversion of others. Youthful Da- 
 vids have overthrown Goliaths of sin, and young 
 maidens, like the captive maid in the household of 
 the Syrian commander, have been the means of 
 bringing the great ones of earth to a saving knowl- 
 edge of the true God. 
 
 Even little children have done much good in 
 leading both young and old to the Christly life, and 
 in this sense it is often true that " a little child 
 shall lead them." 
 
 As an illustration of what even a little child may 
 accomplish, we will cite an instance. During the 
 recent civil war a little Philadelphia girl wrote the 
 following : 
 
 "To some sick soldier in the hospital at Nashville: 
 
 " My Dear Soldier : I send you a little Testa- 
 ment. I am a little girl seven years old. I want to 
 
64 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 do something for the soldiers who do so much for 
 us ; so I have saved my pocket money to send you 
 this. Although I have never seen you, I intend to 
 pray that God will make and keep you good. Oh, 
 how sorry I am that you have to leave your dear 
 mother ! Did she cry when you bade her good- 
 bye? Do you kneel down and say your prayers? 
 If I were you I would not care if other soldiers did 
 laugh. God will smile upon you. I am sorry, very 
 sorry, that you are sick. I wish that I could go and 
 nurse you. I would bathe your head and read to 
 you. Do you know the little hymn, ' There is a 
 happy land?' I hope you will go to that land when 
 you die. But, remember, I will pray that you may 
 get well again. When you are able to sit up, I 
 wish you to write to me and tell me all your troub- 
 les. I live at number — North cjth-street, Phila. 
 Good-bye. 
 
 "Your friend, L. S." 
 
 This letter fell into the hands of S. L. N., of the 
 Fourth Michigan Cavalry, and by it he was led to 
 Jesus. In his answer to the child's letter, he said : 
 
What the Young have Done. 65 
 
 '■ I trust your letter will be one of the means of 
 converting others as well as the receiver. May God 
 bless you!" So this little letter from a little girl 
 led to the conversion of a man who became a Sun- 
 day-school superintendent and an earnest Christian 
 worker, who has, during subsequent years, been in- 
 strumental in the conversion of many souls ; and 
 thus the good influences of the little deed continue 
 to radiate and to bless many hearts. 
 
 There are many facts on record which illustrate 
 and demonstrate the ability of young persons to 
 successfully engage in various kinds of Christian 
 effort, but so well and so generally are these known 
 that it seems superfluous to cite further proof by 
 presenting other incidents in regard to individual 
 workers. 
 
 But it should be observed that not only is there 
 now and then an isolated individual who is capable 
 of such action, but there are also numerous in- 
 stances demonstrating that the young can be organ- 
 ized for effective work. 
 
 A few cases will be sufficient to show their capa- 
 bility for judicious and efficient organization. 
 5 
 
66 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 It is well known that young people have accom- 
 plished very much through the many Young Men's 
 and Young Women's Christian Associations of the 
 land. 
 
 In the temperance movement, young people's 
 societies, such as the Cadets of Temperance, the 
 Cold Water Templars, etc., have evinced an effi- 
 ciency which compares favorably with the efforts of 
 adult associations. 
 
 The Juvenile Missionary Societies of the Churches 
 have raised vast amounts of money for the spread 
 of Christianity, and the Church would not now be 
 willing to dispense with this source of supply to its 
 missionary treasury. One of the best benevolent 
 societies with which we have been acquainted was 
 an association of a few young girls. 
 
 Feeling that there was good to be done which 
 they should try to do, they organized themselves 
 into a " Try Company," and made the attempt. 
 Besides contributing from their own resources, they 
 obtained from others donations of money, clothing, 
 and other requisites. They visited the sick and 
 poor, and distributed clothing, food, and fuel, while 
 
What the Young have Done. 6j 
 
 they helped pay the rent of the worthy poor, and 
 even employed a physician to attend the sick. 
 The society has now been in existence seven years. 
 Throughout these years, though their affairs have 
 been on a comparatively small scale, still they have 
 managed their matters with as much wisdom as 
 societies which from the beginning were controlled 
 by adults. The girls have become young ladies, 
 but they still continue their benevolent operations. 
 Their last annual report shows over two hundred 
 visits made and over two hundred dollars disbursed. 
 
 One fact more may be added. The splendid 
 Roman Catholic Church of the Immaculate Con- 
 ception, in Boston, had its final debt of thirty thou- 
 sand dollars canceled by what was called " The 
 Church Debt Society." The members paid twenty- 
 five cents per month, and, there being a member- 
 ship of three thousand, this gave an annual income 
 of nine thousand dollars. But the point of present 
 application is that the stipends of twenty-five cents 
 which aggregated this large sum were gathered by 
 a corps of youthful collectors. 
 
 These cases are only a few out of many, and but 
 
68 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 hints in the direction of what the young people 
 have done and may do. Such facts ought to be 
 sufficient to convince the most skeptical that there 
 is work the young have done, and that they are 
 competent to perform many varieties of Church 
 effort. Indeed, of many a youth it may be said, in 
 the language of Shakspeare, " He hath borne him- 
 self beyond the promise of his age ; doing, in the 
 figure of a lamb, the feats of a lion ; he hath, in- 
 deed, bettered expectation." 
 
 Facts show that these efficient efforts of youth 
 need not be so exceptional as some may have 
 thought, and, indeed, that they have been more 
 abundant than is generally supposed. Their indi- 
 vidual, and also their organized, efforts show that 
 their capabilities and possibilities are very great, 
 and, that to produce better and more extensive 
 results, they only need the Church to encourage 
 and properly direct their energies. 
 
The Nature of Young People's Work. 69 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE NATURE OF YOUNG PEOPLE'S WORK. 
 
 np^HE previous remarks indicate some spheres in 
 which the young can be useful. A few gen- 
 eral principles in reference to the nature of their 
 work may now be given. 
 
 From data already alluded to it is evident that 
 as far as ability for action goes, the young people 
 have, in a degree, the same qualities as are pos- 
 sessed by their seniors. Their ability to speak and 
 sing, to read and pray, gives them power to enter 
 many avenues of usefulness both in public and in 
 private. 
 
 In the social services of the sanctuary they can 
 take leading as well as subordinate parts. Their 
 musical talents are available in the Sunday-school 
 and in the preaching services. Sometimes this 
 power is partially utilized by having the Sunday- 
 school introduce its special song during the worship 
 of the Sabbath congregation. 
 
yo Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 There is also considerable advantage in having 
 a choir composed largely of young persons. A 
 young people's choir is more economical and usu- 
 ally more satisfactory than an artistic quartette. 
 The voices are young and fresh, the singers delight 
 in their work, and it increases their attachment to 
 the Church, while at the same time it affords plea- 
 sure to their families and friends. 
 
 In private circles the young can converse on the 
 subject of religion, can become Bible readers, and 
 can bring joy to sad hearts by singing the songs of 
 salvation. 
 
 As visitors they are certainly competent to visit 
 persons of their own age, and there can be little 
 doubt that their calls will be acceptable even to 
 those who have lost the vigor and vivacity of their 
 vernal years. 
 
 Though young people may not be able to work 
 as thoroughly or present as perfect results, yet it is 
 apparent that they possess qualities which give 
 them capability for almost any form of Church 
 work that older persons perform. Indeed, so very 
 little is there that the elderly do that the young 
 
The Nature of Young People's Work. 7 1 
 
 people cannot perform, that it may seem a mistake 
 to discriminate»between the work of the young and 
 of those farther advanced in years. And because 
 of the fact that there is scarcely any thing which 
 the more mature can do that youth cannot, it is 
 difficult and indeed impossible to write compre- 
 hensively in regard to the work of the young with- 
 out presenting points which apply equally well to 
 their seniors. 
 
 While there cannot be a decided distinction 
 drawn between their lines of work, there is, how- 
 ever, this general difference, that the chief charac- 
 teristic of young people's work will be activity 
 rather than accuracy. It will be that which re- 
 quires action and energy rather than maturity of 
 thought or ripeness of judgment, and, therefore, 
 though there will be little if any essential distinc- 
 tion in the lines of action, the result of their labors 
 may differ in degree and be unequal in quality. 
 
 But they can do in kind if not in degree, and the 
 difference will not be so much as to the nature of 
 the effort as the degree of perfection in the results. 
 
 Who would think that boys could do the work 
 
72 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 of veterans ? Yet history relates that they have 
 taken their places beside them, and have done 
 similar service. 
 
 When Paris was besieged by the allied armies, in 
 1 8 14, boys, principally of twelve or fifteen years of 
 age, pupils of the Polytechnic School, served the 
 Parisian artillery on the heights of Montmarte. 
 
 These boys fought beside, and did the work of, 
 experienced soldiers. Though minors, yet having 
 skill, they courageously took their place with vet- 
 erans, and rivaled them in ardor. By a well-di- 
 rected fire they filled the approaches with the dead 
 bodies of the enemy, and, with enthusiastic valor, 
 stood by their post as long as it was possible to 
 hold it. In the struggle several hundreds of these 
 youths sacrificed their lives on the altar of their 
 country. 
 
 So if the young soldiers of the Cross are trained, 
 and their heroic spirit aroused, they, too, will battle 
 for the right as valiantly as veterans. Let the 
 Church instruct and train them, and call them to 
 the front, and they will respond right heartily, and 
 do brave and effective service. 
 
The Nature of Young People's Work. 73 
 
 The Church has had its era of almost exclusively 
 clerical labor, when only the clergy were expected 
 to discharge these duties ; in recent days it has 
 made a decided advance in the matter of lay co- 
 operation, and now the period of young people's 
 effort has already been inaugurated. What is 
 needed is a more general recognition of the fact 
 that youth can be utilized for Church service, that 
 the co-operation of the young will have great value, 
 and that its procurement and proper management 
 is exceedingly important ; and, then, with this rec- 
 ognition, a more general, hopeful, and persistent 
 effort to develop this latent force into well-directed 
 activity. 
 
 It is the duty of the Church to plan for this 
 youthful element, to organize the workers, and to 
 assign them to fields of labor. 
 
74 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 HOW TO SECURE THEIR CO-OPERATION. 
 
 T F, then, there is Church work which young peo- 
 ple can do, the question now to be considered 
 is, How to get them to attempt that which they may 
 accomplish. 
 
 In developing power in the line of Christian ac- 
 tivity, there are two points to be gained, namely, 
 the production of quantity and also of quality ; or, 
 in other words, the procuring of the greatest num- 
 ber of workers and the securing of the highest ex- 
 cellence in their effort. 
 
 Naturally the first inquiry is as to quantity; 
 hence, the first question for consideration is, How 
 to induce the young people to engage in Church 
 activities. 
 
 In regard to this matter of calling the young into 
 action, the ancient direction for cooking a hare may 
 not be out of place. It ran thus : " To cook a hare 
 — first, catch the hare." So, to prepare young peo- 
 
How to Secure their Co-operation. 75 
 
 pie to engage in Church work, first get the young 
 people. To organize youth for efficient service, 
 first have the young people, then persuade them to 
 be willing to work, and then induce them to submit 
 to organization. 
 
 A Church without a fair proportion of young 
 people is in a deplorable condition. It is like a 
 stream drying up at its source. It is like a tree, in- 
 jured at the root, withering and becoming unfruitful. 
 It is a decay which is the premonition of death. 
 
 The Church which has promise for the future is 
 the one that has many young people. They are 
 the source of supply. They make up for loss by 
 wear and waste. They fill the places of those who 
 have gone on the retired list of the Church militant, 
 or who have ascended to the Church triumphant. 
 Hence, a large share of attention should be given to 
 the youth in the school and in the congregation. 
 When a Church discovers that it is losing its hold 
 upon the young it should at once realize its danger, 
 take alarm, discover the cause, and immediately 
 seek and apply the remedy. 
 
 By watchful care it should retain the children of 
 
76 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 the Church as they grow up from childhood, and, 
 at the same time, by personal effort and by present- 
 ing a desirable church, attract and attach other 
 young people to its interests, and keep them under 
 its precious influences. 
 
 Presuming that a Church possesses the young 
 people, the point now is, how to convince the young 
 persons in the Church and congregation of their 
 duty, and how to persuade them to its performance. 
 
 How may they be persuaded? 
 
 Many methods might be proposed, but we need 
 only pause to present a few prominent points. 
 
 I. The pastor, or whoever would secure the co- 
 operation of the young people in Church work, must 
 first win their respect and affection. 
 
 There is a potent persuasiveness in personal in- 
 fluence, and youthful natures will rally around those 
 for whom they have real regard. When they have 
 a loving respect for him who calls for their service, 
 then are they prepared to perceive the truth, to 
 receive direction, and to decide upon the discharge 
 of duty. 
 
 This affectionate regard may be created by pay- 
 
How to Secure their Co-operation. yy 
 
 ing them marked attention, by manifesting sympa- 
 thy with their young natures, by taking an active 
 interest in their welfare, and loving them as he 
 would have them love him. By so doing, instead 
 of repelling, he will draw them to him, and then, 
 having gained their confidence, he may soon secure 
 their service. 
 
 II. He must demonstrate to them that there is a 
 work which they can perform. 
 
 Human nature will not attempt that which it 
 believes utterly impossible. Hence, one of the first 
 things to be done is to show the young that there 
 is something they can do. The feeling of incom- 
 petence must be destroyed, and he who would 
 enlist the young people in effort should seek to 
 create in them confidence in their own capabilities. 
 He must encourage them to believe in their own 
 powers and possibilities, if he would have a reason- 
 able hope of arousing them to action. 
 
 This may be accomplished by kindly discussions 
 of duty, by frequently indicating opportunities, and 
 especially by showing them something specific ; for 
 when something they can do is specifically sug- 
 
78 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 gested there is greater certainty of their attempting 
 its accomplishment. 
 
 III. When they are convinced that there are op- 
 portunities for Christian activity which they should 
 accept, and lines of work in which they have ability 
 to succeed, the next step is to awaken the spirit of 
 Christian zeal, and develop a desire for the dis- 
 charge of such duty. 
 
 This can be attained by a variety of means, a few 
 of which may be mentioned. 
 
 i. By the presentation of an earnest example. The 
 leader must be a worker if he would induce others 
 to toil. 
 
 Personal example is infectious. Wherever the 
 worker moves his activity carries contagion and 
 affects those with whom he comes in contact. We 
 do not mean that he must be fussy and forever in a 
 flutter, for some of the most efficient men are calm 
 and self-possessed in demeanor; but he must be in- 
 dustrious, for a lazy man is not likely to lead others 
 in the line of action. 
 
 2. By stimulating to activity by recitals of what 
 others have accomplished. 
 
How to Secure their Co-operation. 79 
 
 The triumphs of others will fire their hearts with 
 a glow of encouragement as to their own possibili- 
 ties, and generate a thrill of pleasurable emulation 
 which may move them to go and do likewise. 
 
 3. By securing the quickening of the spiritual na- 
 ture and the invigoraiion of the religious life. 
 
 There is no better means than this. Where the 
 Spirit of Christ is there is the spirit of Christian 
 activity. Hence, Christianity is an aggressive relig- 
 ion. As Christ came "to seek and to save that 
 which was lost," so the impulse of the Christly heart 
 sends the disciple out " to seek and to save." 
 Hence is it a matter of common observation that 
 the young convert seeks something to do for his 
 fellows and his Master ; and hence is it found that 
 when the revival spirit rules. workers rapidly multi- 
 ply ; and, on the other hand, that in proportion to 
 the decrease of spiritual force in a Church is the 
 diminution of its Christian activity. 
 
 Paul, writing to the Corinthians relates of the 
 Churches of Macedonia (2 Cor. viii, 5) that, before 
 they entered upon a work of liberality, which even 
 to the apostle seemed beyond their ability, they 
 
80 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 " first gave their own selves to the Lord," and then 
 they were able to accomplish a noble achievement. 
 
 So in the Church of the present time, effort should 
 be made to secure complete consecration to God, 
 and then glorious results will follow. 
 
 What is most needed to arouse a dormant 
 Church is to bring each individual's moral nature 
 under the warming and vivifying influences of " the 
 Sun of righteousness." Then, when the individual 
 has the mind that was in Jesus and the presence of 
 the divine Spirit in his heart, he will be " endued 
 with power from on high," and be eager to enter 
 upon the fulfillment of his mission. As Mr. Spur- 
 geon has remarked, " A Church will work in pro- 
 portion to its life, and the first thing, therefore, 
 is to get life in the Church." 
 
 4. Then it may be necessary to educate the con- 
 science, and frequently to impress the individual 
 mind and heart with the necessity and duty of each 
 person performing such work. 
 
 Even the intelligent often need instruction on 
 these points of duty, and it is constantly needful to 
 " stir up pure minds by way of remembrance." 
 
How to Secure their Co-operation. 81 
 
 While the doctrine that " the just shall live by 
 faith" should be taught, yet, on the other hand, the 
 declarations of James, that faith is shown by works, 
 that " by works was faith made perfect," and " that 
 faith without works is dead," are also to be incul- 
 cated. Arguments are to be drawn from the com- 
 mands of the Creator and from the concurrent ex- 
 istence of opportunity and ability, until, like con- 
 victed Saul of Tarsus, each soul cries out, " Lord, 
 what wilt thou have me to do ? " 
 
 When they are brought to the point of asking 
 what is their duty and of seeking something to do, 
 more than half the battle is won. Then, if there 
 is no plan of operations, they will make one ; if 
 there is no one to direct, they will themselves find 
 work ; and then will be overcome one of the greatest 
 obstacles in the way of the Church's advancement, 
 namely, unwillingness to do humble toil and fill in- 
 conspicuous positions. 
 
 5. When persons are willing to work, the next 
 step is to invite their co-operation. 
 
 All that some need is the summons, when they 
 
 will at once respond with service. 
 6 
 
82 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 As to the matter of invitation, the minister must 
 be the main spirit, though the request may be is- 
 sued through others. 
 
 Solicitations should be both public and private, 
 general and personal. Invitations may be given 
 from the pulpit, by printed circulars, or through 
 autograph letters. In some instances the manu- 
 script message will have great influence, for there 
 is something in the letter-form and in the hand- 
 writing which is calculated to deeply impress the 
 recipient with the depth of the desire and the in- 
 tensity of the personal interest felt by the writer of 
 the request. 
 
 Usually, however, there is nothing so potent as 
 the personal presence and the living voice accom- 
 panied by a loving face. 
 
 The thoughtful minister will perceive repeated 
 opportunities for calling out volunteers when he 
 makes public references to the various departments 
 of his local Church work. Availing himself of these 
 methods, he will be astonished to discover how 
 many willing workers are ready to respond. 
 
How to Obtain Thorough Work. 83 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 HOW TO OBTAIN THOROUGH WORK. 
 
 T T AVING referred to a few methods for obtain- 
 ing workers, or securing the largest quantity 
 of work, we should now inquire as to the means of 
 gaining the best quality. 
 
 Having generated desire for work and called forth 
 willing co-operation, the aim should now be to util- 
 ize this new force by judiciously directing the ener- 
 gies of the willing workers so as to develop the 
 greatest efficiency. 
 
 The first thing is to be ready with work when 
 they are ready for work. When the workers re- 
 spond to the call, the pastor, or whoever manages 
 the movement, should be prepared to present a 
 practicable plan. 
 
 To attain a successful accomplishment of the 
 work a systematic plan of operations must be de- 
 vised. 
 
 The completeness of the plan will depend largely 
 
84 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 upon the accuracy of its maker's conception as to 
 the province of Church activity. 
 
 It should be remembered that the sphere of prac- 
 tical Christian activity is exceedingly comprehen- 
 sive. The Church is to gather into and retain in 
 the fold. It is to watch over, protect, and edify the 
 members of its congregation, and it is the moral 
 guardian of the neighborhood of which it is the 
 center. 
 
 It is a light to dissipate spiritual darkness, a moral 
 force to neutralize and destroy wickedness, and a 
 magnet to draw men from vice and uphold them 
 in the path of virtue. It is a Dorcas to clothe the 
 naked, a Good Samaritan to care for the unfortu- 
 nate, a friend to feed the hungry, and a physician 
 to visit the afflicted. Indeed, if the necessity arose, 
 it would not go beyond its province if it became an 
 employment bureau and assisted worthy persons in 
 obtaining occupation, or even do as the Rev. John 
 Wesley once did when the poor were suffering from 
 want of work. He bought wool for them, gave 
 them the use of one of his chapels in which to work 
 it up for the market, and then sold the fabric for 
 
How to Obtain Thorough Work. 85 
 
 their benefit. This was practical Christianity, and, 
 in an extreme case, a minister to-day would not de- 
 tract from the dignity of his position if he followed 
 such an example. 
 
 To particularize still further, new scholars are to 
 be brought into the Sunday-school, strangers are 
 to be invited and welcomed to the Church services, 
 absentees are to be sought out and brought back, 
 the serious are to be followed to their homes and 
 the good impressions they have received are to be 
 deepened. The aim of each individual Church 
 should be to bring each person in the neighborhood, 
 who is not connected with some other Church, un- 
 der the direct influence of its own sanctuary. 
 
 In brief, the Church is in Christ's stead, and it is 
 to be Christlike, constantly going about doing 
 good to spirit, mind, and body, blessing all men, 
 spiritually, intellectually, physically, politically, and 
 socially. 
 
 As far as possible, a plan of Church work should 
 embrace the full mission of the Christian organ- 
 ization. 
 
 Special forms of work will vary with difference in 
 
86 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 the surroundings. Thus, to mention extremes, the 
 work will have different features in the centers of 
 degradation in large cities from those required in 
 regions of refinement and high average morality. 
 Ordinarily, however, there will not be much mate- 
 rial variation, because the same general principles 
 will hold and the same demands will exist, though 
 in varying degrees in different localities. 
 
 The methods must be modified in view of these 
 differences in the demand occasioned by differing 
 circumstances. 
 
 Modifications may also be necessitated by the 
 character of the persons by whom the plan is to be 
 executed. For such reasons no absolute method 
 can be given which will adjust itself equally well 
 to every place, and, even in a given place, a plan, 
 sound and successful at one time, may at another 
 time need much modification because of changed 
 circumstances. Hence, though the same principles 
 will always apply, the same working plan may not 
 continue to answer the purpose, and should, there- 
 fore, be revised to meet the new relation of facts. 
 To do this judiciously will necessitate constant 
 
How to Obtain Thorough Work. 87 
 
 study of the surroundings and frequent compari- 
 sons with the system of operation. 
 
 When a correct conception of the necessities of 
 the case has been gained the work should be di- 
 vided into distinct departments. 
 
 One important principle of successful action is 
 division of labor, for experience in many lines of 
 effort shows that thoroughness is attained most 
 easily by devoting one's power to a special section 
 of industry, and this principle of division of labor 
 certainly applies in Church affairs as well as in or- 
 dinary operations. Therefore, as system facilitates 
 the accomplishment of any work, it is well for 
 those who prepare a plan of Church effort to have, 
 as far as possible, an exact classification of the lines 
 of action. 
 
 We have already designated some possible and 
 desirable divisions and distributions of such activi- 
 ties, others will hereafter be indicated, and others 
 will readily suggest themselves. 
 
 As a specific point, and one not to be over- 
 looked, the plan should provide for the systematic 
 visitation of the vicinity. 
 
88 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 In order to thoroughly arrange for this the pas- 
 tor, or whoever acts as director, should secure or 
 make a map of the locality. In a city parish every 
 street should be marked, extending at least six 
 blocks on every side of the church edifice, and, in 
 rural charges, the region, to be carefully visited, 
 should at least cover the territory occupied by the 
 mass of the members. 
 
 Then the neighborhood should be divided into 
 districts, and special visitors should be assigned to 
 each district. The size of the districts and the 
 number of the visitors must, of course, be deter- 
 mined by circumstances. 
 
 The plan of visitation should be so arranged that 
 at any time the pastor can tell what neighborhoods 
 are being inspected, and by whom. The districts 
 should be visited systematically at regular inter- 
 vals, say once a week, once a month, or once a 
 quarter. Probably it is better to make a thorough 
 visitation once a month, or even once a quarter, 
 than to have an unsystematic and desultory activ- 
 ity all the time; for general effort at a specified time 
 is calculated to intensify interest and focalize the 
 
How to Obtain Thorough Work. 89 
 
 forces of the Church. There might be, however, 
 particular periods, when each district would be 
 visited thoroughly within a short space of time, 
 while during the interval the amount of visitation 
 could be decided according to the special need, or 
 left largely to the option of the visitors. 
 
 Such lay visitation will not excuse the pastor 
 from the performance of his duty ; but the calling 
 of others to co-operate with him will contribute to 
 the more thorough cultivation of the field. The 
 result will be, not that the minister will do less, but 
 that the members will do more. Indeed, instead 
 of relieving the pastor, it will probably increase his 
 toil by bringing to his notice work that he would 
 not himself have discovered, but at the same time 
 it will enable him to accomplish more with less 
 friction. When, for example, some one is reported 
 ill, the pastor should go himself, but he may also 
 send a vistor to pray, read, or sing with the inva- 
 lid. Again, if one is ascertained to be under con- 
 viction for sin, not only should the pastor give 
 personal attention to the case, but he should also 
 direct some trusty Christian to pay special atten- 
 
90 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 tion to the individual, and to endeavor to lead the 
 soul to the Saviour. In the matter of visiting 
 there will be a number of objects to be gained and 
 various kinds of work to be done, and, as far as 
 possible, committees should be selected for special 
 service in each department. 
 
 Thus there may be bands for holding neighbor- 
 hood prayer-meetings, and committees to conduct 
 religious services with the sick or aged, to relieve 
 the suffering poor, to visit non-attendants upon 
 Church service, to welcome strangers, to secure 
 new scholars for the Sunday-school, and to seek 
 Church members who have moved into the vicinity, 
 but have not deposited their Church letters, and so 
 with any other branch of the work. 
 
 If the Church is large and the workers numerous, 
 each department, perhaps, should be worked by a 
 distinct body, and the departments should be in- 
 creased as the number of available assistants mul- 
 tiplies, so as to give each one some special work. 
 But if the Church is small and the workers few, 
 several departments might be grouped together. 
 In either case the policy would be to call into ac- 
 
Hoiv to Obtain TJiorough Work. 91 
 
 tivity the largest possible number, and thus pro- 
 mote their individual interest and the efficiency of 
 the Church. 
 
 Then the committees and departments may be mu- 
 tually helpful, aiding each other while in the prose- 
 cution of their own work. Thus visitors to secure 
 new scholars for the Sunday-school might, while 
 engaged in that work, discover the poor, visit the 
 sick, and find persons who do not attend Church 
 service. 
 
 So, on the other hand, a committee, visiting for 
 some other object, might at the same time obtain 
 new scholars. Indeed, each committee can, in a de- 
 gree, co-operate with and in a measure perform the 
 work of the others, and thus, by several going over 
 the same ground, and reporting to each other cases 
 which do not directly belong to their own depart- 
 ment, make more thorough work than if there was 
 but one committee. 
 
92 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 INDIVIDUAL AND ORGANIZED EFFORT. 
 
 ' I ^HERE are two ways in which Church work 
 may be performed, namely, organized and un- 
 organized action ; that is to say, by combined and 
 by individual effort. 
 
 I. Individual effort is the simplest method, and, 
 in some instances, most easily gained. According 
 to this, the individual may make his own plan, or 
 follow a line of working presented by another, but, 
 at the same time, act separately from, and inde- 
 pendently of, other workers. 
 
 It must be admitted that each person has a nat- 
 ural right to select his own sphere of activity, and 
 to follow his own convictions as to the best meth- 
 od ; and, also, that individual and independent 
 action will always be needed, and should therefore 
 be encouraged, no matter what method may be 
 devised or generally used ; but, on the other hand, 
 for the efficient employment of the majority of the 
 
Individual and Organized Effort. 93 
 
 membership, there must be a general combination 
 of effort and unity of plan. 
 
 II. Therefore, there should be organized opera- 
 tion, in which the power of the many may be called 
 out, concentrated, and judiciously employed. 
 
 Organization will secure the valuable service of 
 persons who are too timid or too indifferent to act 
 independently, and it will also give mutual stimulus 
 to the workers, and multiply their influence accord- 
 ing to the ratio of increase which attends the union 
 of human energies. 
 
 Organization may bo, formal or informal. Formal 
 organization is that which has the regular form of a 
 society, with, it may be, constitution and by-laws, 
 and the various officers and formalities of proced- 
 ure usual in such bodies. 
 
 Some departments should be formally organized, 
 especially those having the management of money 
 or other valuables, such as Dorcas and provident 
 societies for the relief of the poor. It is not neces- 
 sary, however, to have formal societies for every 
 thing ; generally, the simpler they are the bet- 
 ter, and an unnecessary multiplication of societies 
 
94 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 should be avoided. Perhaps all that ma}' be need- 
 ed may be attained through Church boards already 
 in existence. 
 
 There may be informal organization, as when the 
 plan of work exists in the brain of the pastor, when 
 the minister's mind is the motive power of the 
 mechanism, and when he manages the movement 
 directly and personally, or, indirectly, through his 
 deputies. 
 
 In passing, it may be remarked that, from his 
 official position, as the recognized head of the 
 Church, the pastor must, usually, take the main 
 management of such matters, though they may be 
 successfully carried on by influential and judicious 
 laymen. 
 
 There are a number of advantages in this plan 
 of having the method in the mind of the minister. 
 It requires less machinery, and, when change of 
 plan is needed, it obviates formal re-organization, 
 and gives the pastor opportunity to modify the 
 mechanism quietly and without friction. 
 
 As the general director, the pastor may secure the 
 execution of his plan — 
 
Individual and Organized Effort. 95 
 
 First, by summoning individuals whom he may 
 select for special work ; and, 
 
 Secondly, by forming committees of those who 
 will volunteer to act under his direction and carry 
 out his purposes. 
 
 Again, having mapped out his work, the pastor 
 might pick out a few reliable young persons to take 
 charge of the different departments, and let them 
 secure assistants among their young friends. 
 
 This would have the advantage of making them 
 feel that they are doing the work, though the pas- 
 tor would have complete supervision, by acting di- 
 rectly and personally upon the chiefs, and indirect- 
 ly, through them, upon their colleagues. 
 
 He may accomplish this object also by securing 
 the assistance of experienced persons of more ad- 
 vanced years but with young hearts, who will be 
 willing to direct without seeming to command, 
 and, while they lead and control, are not unwilling 
 to stand in the shaded background, and permit the 
 young workers to appear as the central figures, and 
 receive the credit which is their due. 
 
 With such older members assigned to the charge 
 
96 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 of each department, these deputies could rally the 
 young around them, the- youthful and inexperi- 
 enced auxiliaries could report to them, and, then, 
 in turn, these superintendents could report to the 
 pastor. 
 
 This plan of calling around the pastor a few, 
 either old or young, who will act as a staff through 
 which he may direct the disposition of his forces, 
 has the advantage of obviating the necessity of 
 much machinery, thus economizing time by the 
 avoidance of many society meetings. It may also 
 enable the pastor and his aids to make a better 
 selection and distribution of the co-workers than 
 could be done by organizing a promiscuous com- 
 pany, while it will also enable them more easily 
 and pleasantly to make subsequent and necessary 
 changes in the working force. 
 
 As a basis for beginning, and as a nucleus for 
 future development, the pastor may find sufficient 
 organization already existing in the Sunday-school, 
 and he will do well to avail himself of this material 
 which he has at hand. 
 
 Most of the Sunday-school teachers are young 
 
Individual and Organized Effort. 97 
 
 persons. One of their duties is to visit their schol- 
 ars. Now, without adding greatly to their labor, it 
 would seem an easy thing to induce them, while 
 performing the duty belonging to their position, 
 also to act as tract distributors, to speak on the 
 subject of religion to the scholars' parents and near 
 neighbors, and endeavor to persuade them to attend 
 public religious service, and so, perhaps, succeed in 
 leading them into the paths of righteousness. 
 
 So, again, the teacher might employ the scholars 
 to do much excellent work, especially in the matter 
 of visiting absentees. 
 
 The pastor may also utilize the valuable material 
 to be found among the senior scholars ; and here it 
 may be suggested that one thing which makes the 
 adult school important is the fact that it tends to 
 retain the young people where they may be easily 
 reached and readily used by the Church. 
 
 It will be evident, however, in regard to these 
 proposed additions to the usual work of the Sunday- 
 school teacher, that even then the teachers would 
 only reach the vicinity of their scholars' residences. 
 
 This might leave some portions of the locality un- 
 
 7 
 
98 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 visited, and hence, though even this would be an 
 improvement in many places, yet to secure thor- 
 oughness in the work and the complete cultivation 
 of the territory, it will be necessary to specially di- 
 vide the neighborhood into districts, and have a 
 more systematic and comprehensive method of 
 visitation. 
 
How YoiitJiful May the Workers Be ? 99 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 HOW YOUTHFUL MAY THE WORKERS BE ? 
 
 A N inquiry may be presented in regard to the 
 proper time for calling young people to par- 
 ticipate in the activities of the Church. It will be 
 asked, " How old should they be ? " As to this 
 there will be, as there has been, difference of opin- 
 ion. The time must be determined by the capaci- 
 ties of the young people in the Church, and by the 
 nature of the circumstances which call for action. 
 Some who are quite young have as good judgment 
 and general fitness as many who have reached ma- 
 ture years, and certainly these may be judiciously 
 employed as well as those who, though adults, are 
 not so capable. 
 
 There are some good people who cannot conceive 
 of wisdom or ability existing before gray hairs ap- 
 pear, and so they act on the theory that the young 
 should be rigidly repressed until they have attained 
 greater maturity of view and more skill than they 
 
ioo Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 suppose young persons to possess. They profess 
 to be so fearful that the young may commit errors, 
 that they are emphatically opposed to employing 
 them in any such service as has been suggested. But, 
 if we wait until the members have passed the pos- 
 sibility of mistake, our Church machinery must 
 stand idle, for the most mature and experienced are 
 liable to err. 
 
 Observation in many quarters demonstrates that 
 one of the best ways of developing ability and cul- 
 tivating skill is to thrust responsibility upon the in- 
 dividual and set him at work ; then, though his first 
 attempts may be crude, yet his future efforts will 
 be all the more perfect. Indeed, no matter how 
 long a man delays action, his first ventures will be 
 defective, for it is still true that " practice makes 
 perfect." Again, it must be remembered that if 
 young people and young converts are not intro- 
 duced at an early period into some form of Church 
 activity, the favoring circumstances of youthful en- 
 ergy and the glow of the new life will be lost ; then 
 subsequent efforts to secure them for such service, 
 when these favorable elements do not exist, will be 
 
Hozv Youthful May the Workers Be? 101 
 
 compelled to battle almost hopelessly against the 
 confirmed habit of inaction. 
 
 Still, they should not be set at the performance 
 of a task which is entirely beyond their years, or 
 for which they are wholly unadapted. Of this, how- 
 ever, there is little danger. The danger is that they 
 will not be persuaded to do that which they are 
 able to perform. The question is to be determined 
 not by years, but by ability. Certainly there are 
 some things which young people and young con- 
 verts can do, and, therefore, the duty of the Church 
 will be : first, to immediately put upon them the 
 performance of that which they have ability to do ; 
 and, secondly, to prepare them to advance to the 
 performance of that which is more difficult. While 
 they are preparing for that which they may here- 
 after accomplish they should do that which they 
 now can perform, for it is not necessary that they 
 should remain in complete idleness until they have 
 mastered all the mysteries. 
 
io2 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 PREPARATION FOR WORK. 
 
 * I ^HERE should be preparation by instruction. 
 
 Meetings for theoretical study might be held 
 occasionally, or at stated times, when the best 
 methods of working could be presented in lectures, 
 sermons, addresses, or conversations. Here they 
 could be taught how to approach strangers, how to 
 direct inquirers, how to visit judiciously, how and 
 what to read or sing with the sick, and so with va- 
 rious lines of action which will suggest themselves 
 to the thoughtful, and which need not be stated 
 here in detail. 
 
 Such study will promote intelligent effort and 
 prevent a great waste of ignorant energy, while, in 
 other respects, the results will abundantly pay for 
 the trouble of preliminary preparation. Intelligent 
 workers are intense workers, who wisely use their 
 power, and thus accomplish more than the unintel- 
 ligent. 
 
Preparation for Work. 103 
 
 Skilled labor is what is needed in Church activi- 
 ties as well as in mechanical pursuits, and this intel- 
 ligent action will be promoted by the proposed in- 
 struction. 
 
 At the meetings for instruction a very attractive 
 and profitable feature might be the presentation of 
 the reports and the narration of the experience of 
 the workers. They could relate interesting partic- 
 ulars of their work, the kind of cases they had met, 
 and how they had treated them. These statements 
 would give practical illustrations of the principles 
 enunciated in the lectures, and furnish examples for 
 others to imitate. Such reports might also with 
 advantage be introduced in a general meeting of 
 the Church. 
 
 In the management of such meetings the minister 
 might call members or others to his aid, and might, 
 indeed, find some one more competent, or who 
 could devote himself especially to such work, and 
 to whom the pastor might safely intrust this impor- 
 tant matter. 
 
 We may here refer to a plan tested in the Beth- 
 any Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia. This is 
 
104 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 a flourishing Church, with a Sunday-school which 
 is probably the largest directly connected with any 
 Protestant Church in the country, numbering, as it 
 does, two thousand or more. Its success will make 
 its methods an interesting study. 
 
 The Rev. J. R. Miller, when pastor, wrote as 
 follows : 
 
 " For several winters we have held a meeting 
 every week with our young workers. These meet- 
 ings have been variously conducted. Usually they 
 have consisted of Bible readings on the vital mat- 
 ters of Christian doctrine : first, because young 
 Christians need themselves to be fed ; and, second, 
 because they should be made conversant with 
 God's word before they are sent out to teach 
 others. With open Bibles we turn from passage 
 to passage to find what the Scriptures say on such 
 matters as sin, repentance, faith, justification, sane- 
 tification, the atonement, prayer, and the various 
 phases of Christian duty. The texts of Scripture 
 are enforced by simple comments and explanations, 
 questions are asked and answered, difficulties re- 
 moved, and suggestions thrown out. Special in- 
 
Preparation for Work. 105 
 
 struction is given on how to deal with anxious per- 
 sons and inquirers, and how to approach the careless 
 and impenitent. Harm is sometimes done by ig- 
 norant zeal and want of tact. Efforts to save men 
 sometimes drive them away from Christ, because 
 ill-timed or because unsuitable. On this point, 
 therefore, the instruction is very simple and is en- 
 forced by illustrations. Besides, Scripture texts are 
 pointed out, which may be used in explaining to 
 men the plan of salvation and the way to Christ. 
 Our young people are taught to discard every word 
 of their own, and to go every-where simply with 
 their open Bibles. This weekly class has been the 
 drill-room in which a number of young people have 
 not only gotten impulse and inspiration, but have 
 also learned how to use their gifts and how to 
 work effectively for the Master. A number of our 
 best teachers have come from this class. 
 
 " Another school of preparation is a weekly 
 young people's prayer-meeting, such as is held in 
 nearly all our Churches, where young men become 
 accustomed to lead in prayer, and to try their gifts 
 of speech. Much good is done in this meeting." 
 
106 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 Besides this general or class preparation it may 
 also be necessary for the pastor or other experi- 
 enced workers to give individual instruction, so as 
 to meet the special needs of particular persons. 
 But there is no teacher so good as practice. As 
 Mr. Spurgeon once said : " The best way to do a 
 thing is to do it." Put a novice to work, and he 
 will soon learn how if he has the disposition and 
 the ability. 
 
 Some have become trained speakers by trying to 
 talk in some little gathering, or at some obscure 
 mission station. In such places they made their 
 first ventures in leading in singing and prayer, or in 
 reading and expounding the Scriptures, and thus 
 gradually gained courage and acquired ease and 
 efficiency. 
 
 But we know of nothing that has accomplished 
 so much good in this particular as the class-meet- 
 ings and the cottage prayer-meetings of the Meth- 
 odist Church. In this Church the young convert 
 is at once taught to "speak in class" or "to tell his 
 experience " in the presence of the small number 
 of friends who meet from time to time in the same 
 
Preparation for Work, 107 
 
 class-meeting. This gives exercise to his talents, 
 while he receives instruction from the advice given 
 by the leader or conductor of the class. Hearing 
 his leader instruct others as well as himself in prac 
 tical religion, he gradually learns how to give simi- 
 lar instruction. 
 
 Then he is called on to lead the class in prayer. 
 After awhile he is encouraged to take part in the 
 general experience meetings and larger prayer serv- 
 ices of the Church, and, as ability reveals itself, he 
 is occasionally called upon to lead the class or to 
 conduct a prayer-meeting. Giving further evi- 
 dence of gifts and graces, he may be granted 
 license to exhort — to conduct minor services and 
 deliver addresses, and, perhaps, in time, to act as 
 a lay preacher. Thus has he been gradually, and 
 almost unconsciously, trained, and, as the develop- 
 ment proceeds, the Church, recognizing his fitness, 
 may finally admit him into the regular ministry. 
 
 This method accounts very largely for the ability 
 of the Methodist Church to rapidly meet the de- 
 mands of the masses by furnishing men who, from 
 humble beginnings, have become eloquent and use- 
 
108 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 ful ministers, but who, without such a system, 
 would never have been discovered. 
 
 So is it that, avoiding the faults some others have 
 fallen into, Methodism does not have to send a man 
 through the theological school in order to find out 
 whether he will make a good preacher, but usually 
 educates him for that special work after he has 
 shown his fitness and given proof of his call. The 
 lad or young man who gives promise is encouraged 
 and kept in practice, while he is urged to obtain a 
 thorough education, and may finally be sent to 
 college and theological seminary, that he may be 
 more thoroughly furnished for his lofty vocation. 
 
 Even university students and graduates are ex- 
 pected to pass through the same school of practice ; 
 for while Methodism has, from the beginning under 
 the scholarly Wesley, urged the highest possible 
 standard of ministerial education, it has also insisted 
 upon test and development through continual in- 
 struction in the principles of practical theology and 
 gradual familiarity with methods of Christian work. 
 It is in its facilities for training young converts that 
 this Church has an advantage over some others. 
 
Should the Young be Associated ivith the Old? 109 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 SHOULD THE YOUNG BE ASSOCIATED WITH THE 
 OLD? 
 
 A NOTHER question may now be considered, 
 namely, Should the young people, in these or- 
 ganized operations, ivork separately or in combina- 
 tion with those who are older and more experienced? 
 
 Already we have noticed that it is difficult to 
 draw a decided distinction between the nature of 
 young people's work and that of others ; indeed, it 
 is evident that the distinction is not in kind, but in 
 degree, and, therefore, as far as the work itself is 
 concerned, there would be no impropriety for both 
 the senior and junior workers to act in conjunction 
 on the same committees. 
 
 Usually the young need contact with the 
 stronger moral character of the more mature and 
 experienced, to give them firmness amid evil in- 
 fluences, and to inspire them with fortitude and 
 stimulate them to courageous conduct. 
 
no Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 So, for the purpose of practical training, it is 
 well to associate the less with the more expe- 
 rienced. The association of the young with their 
 seniors checks any tendency to frivolity, and gives 
 gravity of demeanor and stability of purpose, while 
 it affords them opportunity to learn from those 
 who have had greater practical experience. 
 
 Hence, in the matter of preparation, it is an ex- 
 cellent method for a veteran worker to associate 
 with himself a younger or more inexperienced per- 
 son, and to take pleasure in teaching and encourag- 
 ing him. Thus working with and under the super- 
 vision of the senior, the junior acquires theory and 
 practice at the same time, and so becomes less 
 liable to mistake. This method has been found to 
 work exceedingly well. 
 
 As a general thing, the young and old should be 
 yoked together. There should be sufficient super- 
 vision on the part of adults to keep the juniors 
 from running into error, but not enough to depress 
 their spirits or to destroy healthy freedom. 
 
 Yet, while in almost all forms of Church-work 
 the old and the young are needed together, 
 
Should the Young be Associated with the Old? 1 1 1 
 
 there appear to be exceptions even to this general 
 rule. 
 
 The young sapling will have but a stunted 
 growth if it stands constantly in the shade of old 
 oaks, and, likewise, young people may not develop 
 strongly if they are continually overshadowed by 
 those who are much more mature. So, while the 
 occasional presence of greatness is a stimulant, its 
 constant presence may be depressive. This may 
 partially account for the fact that few great men 
 have equally great sons. 
 
 In some matters, then, it would seem both just 
 and judicious to let young people have and sustain 
 their own societies and manage their own meetings. 
 Such, for example, are young people's prayer- 
 meetings. In such meetings the presence of their 
 elders is calculated to intimidate and to repress the 
 free flow of feeling. Being permitted to direct 
 their own movements, self-reliance is developed, 
 and then, when the young have been trained to 
 speak, sing, or pray in such a gathering, they may 
 efficiently participate in the general meetings of the 
 larger and more promiscuous congregation. So the 
 
ii2 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 young people's literary societies should almost en- 
 tirely be managed by the young, though, at the 
 same time, there may be oversight of an informal 
 character, which should never be overbearing or 
 offensive, and which, except in extreme cases, should 
 superintend without seeming to supervise. 
 
 Notwithstanding the exceptions, however, the 
 rule should generally hold : the young should be as- 
 sociated with their seniors. Though in the training 
 school the young may sometimes be 'left to them- 
 selves, yet, in the field of action, veteran and raw 
 recruit should stand together. 
 
The Church Lyceum. 113 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE CHURCH LYCEUM. 
 
 * I ^HIS is a fitting place to interject a few thoughts 
 in regard to Church lyceums or literary socie- 
 ties. They are sometimes objected to because it is 
 supposed and asserted that they are difficult to 
 manage and that they disturb the harmony of the 
 Church. 
 
 It may be admitted that occasionally they are 
 not as peaceable as they should be, but these in- 
 stances are not sufficient to make a general objec- 
 tion to such organizations. If possible and occa- 
 sional difficulties of this nature would justify whole- 
 sale opposition to such societies, the objection 
 would also apply against Church organizations ; for 
 even in Churches there are sometimes strong differ- 
 ences of view and inharmonious elements which 
 break the ecclesiastical peace, and not infrequently 
 result in schism. 
 
 But they may be properly conducted, and one way 
 
ii4 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 is, by the infusion of blood which is riper if not 
 richer. 
 
 These associations are mainly, but not exclusive- 
 ly, for the young. There should be enough of the 
 senior element to somewhat restrain the volatile 
 spirits of youth ; not to rule in a domineering style, 
 but to mingle with and to guide in a friendly man- 
 ner. As the chief object should be to benefit the 
 young people in every possible way, they should 
 be permitted at least to seem to control and to hold 
 most of the positions, as well as to perform most of 
 the active work. The responsibility thrust upon 
 them will tend to train them, while the presence, 
 co-operation, and unobtrusive supervision of their 
 elders will give them stability of purpose, preserve 
 decorum, and promote efficiency. 
 
 Sometimes it may be well for the pastor, or some 
 other competent person, to hold the society in his 
 own hand as a class for study, or an assembly for 
 mental improvement, under his direction ; but cir- 
 cumstances and common sense must determine 
 the wisdom of such a course. In some cases this 
 plan would avoid unpleasant possibilities. There 
 
The CI lurch Lyceum. 115 
 
 would be no dispute as to the letter of the law, for 
 the individual managing it would be Constitution 
 and By-Laws and Committee of Arrangements, and 
 he could appoint one person to preside at one 
 meeting and another at another time, and so share 
 the honors with all. Probably this plan would do 
 only in exceptional cases. 
 
 Will the Church lyceum interfere with the regular 
 religious work of the Church ? In some form this 
 question is frequently asked. We may answer it 
 by asking another question : Why should it be sup- 
 posed to interfere ? Do public and private schools 
 interfere with the work of the Church? Does an 
 individual's general reading? Do other legitimate 
 methods for intellectual improvement, and other 
 means for the acquisition of general information? 
 The answer is in the negative. They do not. 
 Then why propose the question as to whether a 
 properly conducted lyceum will interfere with the 
 operations of the Church? The purpose of the 
 lyceum is literary improvement and mental culture, 
 and increase in this direction is certainly not antag- 
 onistic to Church work, and common sense will so 
 
n6 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 adjust the time that the lyceum will not conflict 
 with the regular meetings of the Church. Some 
 who demand positive advantages may ask, Will the 
 lyceum be beneficial to the Church ? 
 
 We answer in the affirmative. 
 
 First. Because a good association of this charac- 
 ter will attach the young to the Church. If noth- 
 ing more could be gained, this would be worth striv- 
 ing for. If you would influence human nature you 
 must begin at the point where it is already inter- 
 ested. So you must first touch the young mind 
 where interest is already manifested, and then you 
 may create interest in some other desired direction. 
 Hold them by one cord, and you may fasten them 
 by others. 
 
 The young mind desires to know, and this nat- 
 ural desire shows itself in some form of curiosity or 
 investigation. The lyceum gratifies this desire, as 
 it stimulates them to inquiry and affords them in- 
 struction ; and the Church which, through its ly- 
 ceum, holds the young by lines of general knowledge 
 may draw them to that higher wisdom which is the 
 fear and love of God. 
 
The Church Lyceum. 117 
 
 If the young will come to the literary society, it 
 is probable that they will come to other services of 
 the Church. Finding that the Church meets a 
 want of their nature in one particular, they will be 
 likely to seek in it the satisfaction of their higher 
 nature. Perceiving that the Church is interested in 
 their minds' culture, they may give it their heart- 
 attachment. Learning that the Church seeks to 
 give them genuine pleasure in one form, they will 
 have pleasant memories of the Church, and, possi- 
 bly, through these be led to feel that the greatest 
 happiness comes through the truth of Jesus. 
 
 In this age, when there are so many counter- 
 attractions, it must seem wise to resort to any legit- 
 imate measure to interest the young in the Church, 
 and make them realize that it is to them a home 
 that does not repress, but which promotes, their 
 happiness. The lyceum may prove a strong mag- 
 net, to take hold on their intellectual natures and 
 draw them into the Church. Young people will 
 form such associations, and certainly it is better 
 that they should be under the wing of the Church 
 than under the shadow of outside influences. 
 
n8 Young Workers in th-e Church. 
 
 Second. The lyceum will be beneficial because it 
 will increase the intelligence of the Church. 
 
 This will hold among the most cultured as well 
 as among the poorly educated. Even the best in- 
 formed need to study constantly, for the knowledge 
 of the world steadily accumulates. The Church 
 should not be behind the world in intelligence. 
 
 Ignorant zeal may be a dangerous element. Zeal 
 without knowledge may sometimes be good, but 
 zeal with knowledge is always far better. 
 
 The world wants a spiritual Church with a cult- 
 ure in harmony with the times ; and, all other 
 things being equal, the Church with the best men- 
 tal culture will be strongest in its inner development 
 and most potent in its outer influences. Intelli- 
 gence and religion are not foes but friends — mates 
 that should never be divorced — and the lyceum 
 strengthens the bonds of this union. The essays 
 read, the lectures delivered, and the discussions car- 
 ried on, tend to the increase of information ; and 
 especially will they add to the knowledge of those 
 who prepare the papers and participate in these 
 exercises. 
 
The Church Lyceum, 119 
 
 Third. These societies are beneficial because they 
 develop ability to write and speak. 
 
 The preparation of essays and similar productions 
 gives facility and accuracy in the expression of 
 thought, the readings and recitations give correct- 
 ness of pronunciation and precision and beauty of 
 elocution, while the debates cultivate rapidity of 
 perception and readiness of utterance. 
 
 All this power acquired by lyceum training may 
 be utilized in the Sunday-school, the prayer-meet- 
 ing, and the general gatherings of the Church. 
 
 Its beneficial results will be seen in the teachers' 
 talks, in the public prayers, and in the various ad- 
 dresses which the members may be called upon to 
 deliver. 
 
 So the Church lyceum may be made a training 
 field for future achievements, and the power there 
 acquired to express thoughts accurately and to 
 speak easily may fit some to fill positions of distin- 
 guished honor and usefulness. 
 
 Fourth. The lyceum will give skill in conducting 
 the business meetings of the Church. 
 
 The parliamentary practice gained as officers and 
 
i2o Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 members of these associations will prepare them to 
 preside over and prosecute the business in Church 
 conventions, so, that all things may be done " de- 
 cently and in order." 
 
 These societies will train the future presidents of 
 boards of trustees, and chairmen and secretaries of 
 other bodies, so that the Church, in the better man- 
 agement of its business meetings, will reap a rich 
 reward. 
 
 These are only a few reasons out of the many 
 which might be assigned in behalf of these organi- 
 zations, but they are sufficient to make a case, and 
 to show that the Christian Church may find in them 
 a powerful auxiliary. 
 
 Holding the young, increasing intelligence, and 
 training the intellectual powers, as it is calculated 
 to do, the Church Lyceum, if wisely used, will be a 
 fine preparatory school for action in other depart- 
 ments, and even for what may specifically be called 
 the spiritual work of the Church. 
 
Assignment of Workers. 121 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 ASSIGNMENT OF WORKERS. 
 
 XT THEN the method is marked out and the 
 willing workers are ready to proceed, they 
 must be assigned to special departments. They 
 must be selected, or they must select for themselves. 
 They must choose their own line of operation, or it 
 must be designated by the director. 
 
 Many persons have difficulty in deciding what 
 they should do, but will act efficiently if they are 
 assigned the performance of a particular part of a 
 plan. They hesitate in selecting, but not in obey- 
 ing, and, when specific work is set before them, they 
 perceive something tangible, and are more likely to 
 take hold with strong hope and firm determination. 
 Then, again, some who are too modest to act on 
 their own responsibility will cheerfully do what they 
 are asked to perform. Hence it is generally better 
 for the pastor to indicate the special work for each 
 individual, or, at least, to appoint the chief of each 
 
122 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 committee or head of each department, and then 
 let that person select the others. 
 
 In selecting leaders or in assigning laborers to 
 special fields, great care should be exercised. To 
 place some persons, for example, on a committee 
 to visit the sick would appear almost criminal and 
 with malice aforethought, for their appearance, 
 manner, and conversation would be almost enough 
 to kill an invalid in a few visits. 
 
 One of Dickens' characters in " David Copper- 
 field " is not a bad model for visitors to the sick. 
 Of him he says : " He went into Mr. Barkis's room 
 like light and air, brightening and refreshing it 
 as if he were healthy weather. There was no 
 noise, no effort, no consciousness, in any thing he 
 did ; but in every thing an undescribable brightness, 
 a seeming impossibility of doing any thing else, or 
 doing any thing better, which was so graceful, so 
 natural and agreeable, that it overcomes me, even 
 now, in the remembrance." 
 
 To these qualities the Christian visitor should add 
 the consolation of the Gospel, which may be more 
 needed than medicine. 
 
Assignment of Workers. 123 
 
 Those who would do very well to distribute tracts 
 or to relieve the poor, might, if they attempted to 
 speak to others in regard to their souls' salvation, 
 make bungling work of it, like the individual who, 
 toward the close of day, recollecting that he had not 
 spoken to any one on the subject of salvation, re- 
 solved to speak in regard to it to the first person he 
 might meet. Passing through a lonely place, a man 
 happened to approach. This was our friend's op- 
 portunity, as he supposed; so at once, abruptly and 
 in a startling tone, he exclaimed, " Are you ready 
 to die ? " The stranger, thus accosted in a solitary 
 spot, probably thinking the question was only a va- 
 riation of the highwayman's " Your money or your 
 life ! " immediately fled. 
 
 Some who are not fitted for one form of work 
 may be admirably adapted for another. Some who 
 cannot pray in public can sing sweetly, and, as 
 singers, will be very useful in neighborhood prayer- 
 meetings. Some who do not sing may be able to 
 offer prevailing prayer, while others, who can neither 
 sing nor lead in prayer, being good readers, might 
 do grand service as Bible-readers. 
 
124 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 It is evident that, in view of differences of talent, 
 wisdom must be exercised in distributing the work, 
 else injury will be done the cause, and the individ- 
 ual himself become discouraged because he accom- 
 plishes so little through being placed in a sphere 
 for which he has no adaptation, while another de- 
 partment suffers for lack of the very skill he pos- 
 sesses but does not use. 
 
 Hence, he who directs the assignment of the 
 volunteers should have an approximately accurate 
 acquaintance with the ability of the persons to be 
 employed. 
 
 In determining the question of adaptation very 
 often, though not always, the best criterion is the 
 taste or preference of the individual ; for nature 
 sometimes manifests its conscious possession of 
 ability by the moving of desire. 
 
 It may be well, at first, to engage workers 
 for a brief period, for some, especially in new 
 forms of effort, might not be willing to under- 
 take a long term of service, but, by being em- 
 ployed for short seasons, could be kept constantly 
 in action. 
 
Assignment of Workers. 125 
 
 Then it may be judicious at proper intervals to 
 transfer workers from one department to another, 
 for human nature soon wearies of one form of work. 
 The monotony may be broken, and fresh interest 
 preserved, by changing the character of the em- 
 ployment. 
 
 As a general rule, especially in new neighborhoods, 
 a visitor should seldom go alone. Christ sent 
 out his disciples in couples, and so, as a general 
 thing, at least two visitors should go in company. 
 This arrangement will give mutual encouragement, 
 and, what may also be needed, mutual protection, 
 for there may chance to be danger in strange 
 places which they may be called to visit. 
 
 It will be well to send out together persons who 
 have qualities which, though differing, supplement 
 each -other. One may have talent in conversation, 
 while another may possess ability as a singer, or 
 one may be an impressive reader, and another may 
 be gifted in prayer. So, for the visitation of the 
 afflicted, it will be wise to send three persons to- 
 gether, one to read, another to sing, and the third 
 to pray. 
 
126 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 In " Thoughts Through the Year," J. E. A. 
 Brown has embodied this principle in verse : 
 
 They went forth two and two throughout the land ; 
 
 Such was the Master's bidding. Did he know, 
 
 Being alone, how hard it is to go 
 
 Without the comfort of a helping hand ? 
 
 Or were they chosen thus of Him, and planned-, 
 
 That to weak faith strong love a torch might show; 
 
 Tempered by patience, zeal might gentler grow ; 
 
 Or doubt through hope wax mightier to withstand ? 
 
 Lord, send us two and two ; or, if alone, 
 
 Let thy twin spirits, Faith and Charity, 
 
 Be two bright wings to bear us to thy throne ! 
 
 If no dear voice may commune by our side 
 
 Show us our Elder Brother, close allied, 
 
 And let us find our comforter in thee ! 
 
 It will not be out of place to mention that each 
 worker should keep a memorandum of his work, 
 and that there should be a general record of the 
 workers and the work accomplished. Memory is 
 treacherous with most persons, and the only way 
 to secure thoroughness is at once to note down the 
 names, residences, and incidents which may subse- 
 quently be needed. Even the Committee on 
 Strangers, when welcoming a stranger in the 
 church, and inviting his return, should politely 
 
Assignment of Workers. 127 
 
 manage to ascertain whether the individual belongs 
 to any Church, and, if he does not, to learn his 
 name and address, and note this in their book, 
 so that further attention can be paid him. 
 
 Many a person has been lost to the Church sim- 
 ply through failure to write the name and a few 
 other particulars. A little care in this regard will 
 amply repay the worker for his trouble. 
 
i28 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE. 
 
 A LL the principles we have advanced have been 
 tested, though perhaps not all at any one 
 time in any one place. 
 
 As a further illustration of what can be done, 
 and what has actually been accomplished, we may 
 refer once more to the Bethany Church. The pas- 
 tor previously mentioned states that the young men 
 who have received instruction in the preparatory 
 meetings are placed under competent leaders, and 
 " are sent out on Friday evenings, and hold a num- 
 ber of cottage prayer-meetings in different neigh- 
 borhoods, which are often largely attended and 
 yield rich blessing." 
 
 He also remarks : " From time to time we make 
 special efforts to canvass the parish. A number 
 of our best workers are called together by special 
 invitation to take seats with the Session, and to 
 confer together about the work. Volunteers are 
 
Principles in Practice. 129 
 
 called for, to go from house to house. They are 
 yoked in twos. A block or more is assigned to 
 each pair. They are furnished with tracts and 
 cards of invitation to our church and Sabbath- 
 school. They are to go from door to door to 
 ascertain, as far as possible, the church relation of 
 every household. When they find a family that 
 belongs to any other Church they are merely to 
 leave a friendly Christian greeting, and pass on. 
 When they find families with no church home, 
 they are to seek admittance, if the way be open, 
 and hold such conversation with the members as 
 they may be able to do. They are also to leave 
 a card, inviting them to the church and Sunday- 
 school. 
 
 " In this canvass they are to keep a careful rec- 
 ord of all families of the latter class, that they may 
 be visited again, and proper efforts made for their 
 salvation. 
 
 " About three weeks ago a hundred and fifty 
 postal cards were sent out to as many of our most 
 efficient young people, calling them to meet to- 
 gether. Three classes or committees were formed : 
 9 
 
130 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 " i. The class of visitors to go from house to 
 house in the neighborhood, as Bible-readers and 
 tract distributers. 
 
 " 2. A group often good singers. 
 
 " 3. A large committee to invite impenitent per- 
 sons to a special inquirers' meeting, held after each 
 service. We think that the net should not only be 
 let down, but drawn in again as well, and that, es- 
 pecially when every heart is feeling the influence 
 of the Spirit, the net should be hauled in after 
 every service. 
 
 " Here is the method : It is announced that such 
 a meeting will be held immediately after the bene- 
 diction, in an adjoining room. The committee of 
 singers go in at once and begin to sing. All who 
 are seeking the Saviour are also invited. The large 
 committee to invite others in watch for impenitent 
 persons. The result is that the room is filled with 
 earnest souls. 
 
 " A great deal can be done quietly and pri- 
 vately by a word dropped here and there to one 
 who is able to be useful. Many persons want to 
 work, but cannot mark out their own field, and 
 
Principles in Practice. 131 
 
 need to be sent, as children are sent, on special 
 errands. 
 
 " A pastor sees every day something that needs 
 to be done, and knows some one who can just 
 do that. Let him send the messenger on his 
 errand." 
 
 We present these facts to show what has been 
 successfully done in one place, and what may be 
 done elsewhere and just as well. The principles, 
 which are certainly good, might, however, be ap- 
 plied in a modified form where different methods 
 are preferred. 
 
132 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 CHAPTER XVL 
 
 WORDS FOR PASTORS. 
 
 A FTER what has already been said it will not 
 be necessary to deliver an exhortation to pas- 
 tors. Every true pastor is anxious to do all he can 
 to secure a successful Church. He will appreciate 
 the many encouragements there are to induce him 
 to make his young people's power active in pro- 
 moting the prosperity of the Church. But many a 
 pastor will feel that, in view of his surroundings, he 
 cannot at once start complete Church machinery 
 into action. He may feel depressed because he 
 cannot find a sufficient number of persons with 
 the proper qualifications, or because those in the 
 Church have not been educated to a point where 
 they are willing to co-operate in carrying out a 
 comprehensive plan of Christian activity. 
 
 These difficulties, which are very discouraging, 
 exist in many places, and such obstacles may be 
 exceedingly hard to overcome. Yet, let one so sit- 
 
Words for Pastors. 133 
 
 uated remember that thorough Church work is a 
 growth which requires time and teaching, and, also, 
 that it is not necessary to make a perfect plan or 
 to have many helpers before beginning operations. 
 Generally, it may be better to begin with one de- 
 partment, or to commence with some small com- 
 mittees, and afterward to extend the field and 
 increase the laborers. The true plan is not to at- 
 tempt every thing at first, but to start a few work- 
 ers in special lines, and gradually, but as rapidly as 
 possible, to increase the number of workers and the 
 variety of the operations. 
 
 Prompt action, thorough work, and constant de- 
 velopment, should be the aim, and, with a high 
 ideal, steadily, though it may be slowly, the pastor 
 should attempt its realization. 
 
 The plan we present is suggestive. All the 
 points may not be needed at any one time, but the 
 principles will apply generally to all Churches and 
 at all times. The wise pastor can call around him 
 a few earnest souls, and they will soon influence 
 others, and then he can modify his method as cir- 
 cumstances require. 
 
134 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 Let it also be understood, and that with eiru 
 phasis, that we do not limit the management of 
 the work to the pastor, but simply speak of him as 
 the chief spirit in these movements, and, humanly 
 speaking, as usually the inspiration that arouses 
 others to action. 
 
Views for Veterans. 135 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 VIEWS FOR VETERANS. 
 
 "\I 7E have endeavored to show that the youth- 
 ful portion of the Church is an element of 
 power, and that, while it has done some good, it is 
 capable of accomplishing much more. It is also 
 evident that the greater part of this force is per- 
 mitted to lie latent, and that even the fraction 
 which is sometimes called into requisition is far 
 from being developed to its full power. 
 
 If it is ever thoroughly utilized, it will be through 
 the judicious management of the older members. 
 Hence, great responsibility rests upon you who are 
 more advanced in years, and much depends upon 
 how you conduct yourselves toward the younger 
 members. They look up to you as leaders in 
 Church movements ; they await your call, and ex- 
 pect your guidance. Your look of indifference, 
 your frown of repression, or your word of discour- 
 agement, may check the development of their re- 
 
136 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 ligious energy and usefulness ; while, on the other 
 hand, your words of approval may be an influential 
 incentive to one who may prove an angel of good 
 deeds, and your smile of encouragement may stim- 
 ulate one who may become a very Samson in Chris- 
 tian aggression. 
 
 The principles previously presented suggest sev- 
 eral special duties which devolve upon you who are 
 adult Christians, and especially upon those whose 
 position makes them prominent managers in Church 
 movements. 
 
 First, it will be your duty to attract young peo- 
 ple to the Church. 
 
 It is not enough that they come like strangers to 
 some of the services. They must feel at home, and 
 their hearts must be interested in the Church and 
 its welfare. To bring this about you should make 
 the Church building and the Church services at- 
 tractive, You should study to create and to sus- 
 tain interest, not by making the conduct of the 
 Church light and trifling, or by imitating the style 
 of the sensational religious buffoon, but by inviting 
 them to a cheerful and comfortable Church edifice, 
 
Vieivs for Veterans. 1 3 7 
 
 and introducing them into a warm Christian and 
 social element, and, above all, by revealing to them 
 a Church thoroughly aroused, and discharging the 
 complete duty of a Church — for nothing can make 
 a Church so attractive as earnest effort in saving 
 sinners and edifying believers. 
 
 In harmony with this thought is the idea of an- 
 other, who has said, " Do something that is really 
 living and helpful, and that will draw Church mem- 
 bers closer together, and deepen their interest in 
 the highest welfare of each other. Every member, 
 official and unofficial, is under obligation to Christ 
 to make his Church the happiest of homes, the 
 brightest and most attractive of societies, so that 
 the world may say, ' Behold how these Christians 
 love one another ; ' and the members of the Church 
 may say, ' Did not our heart burn within us, while 
 he talked with us by the way, and while he opened 
 to us the Scriptures?'" 
 
 A Church with this spirit will not repel, but 
 attract. 
 
 There are, however, special attentions which tend 
 to draw and to hold. 
 
138 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 There should be the individual invitation. The 
 general invitation is not enough. You must seek 
 them personally, for it is mainly by such means that 
 the corps of workers will be increased. 
 
 The Rev. James A. Spurgeon gives us a hint, 
 when he tells us how a member of his brother's 
 Church acted : He purchased seven sittings and 
 seven hymn books, and when he saw a young man 
 trying to enter the church he gave him a seat and 
 a book, and when he had his little flock gathered 
 he felt happy. If possible, after the service, he 
 spoke to them a word of kind inquiry or encour- 
 agement. By this means he had brought no less 
 than fifteen young men into the membership of the 
 Church. 
 
 And the Rev. Mr. Clifford, of London, urging a 
 similar point, says : " Barnabas took Saul of Tarsus 
 and brought him into the society of Christ Jesus. 
 He knew where his place was, and he did his ut- 
 most to move him into it. Every Christian should 
 be a Barnabas — every one should ; not merely the 
 seat steward, or the deacon, or the Sunday-school 
 teacher; it is a common duty, devolving alike on 
 
Views for Veterans. 139 
 
 young and old, on officer and private, on cultured 
 and uncultured." 
 
 You must go out and seek, and give a special 
 and earnest invitation. 
 
 Then associate with them, for attachment is cre- 
 ated only by contact. Mingle with them that they 
 may know you personally, and, being drawn near 
 you, may become attached to you, and through 
 you to the Church. 
 
 Show them that you sympathize with them. 
 Sympathy must be manifested as well as felt. 
 When they know that you love and sympathize 
 with them they will be drawn to you, but they can- 
 not know it unless they see its expression. Re- 
 member that youth needs the support of sincere 
 sympathy, and sustain them by your gentleness 
 and strength. 
 
 Then encourage them to attempt the accomplish- 
 ment of something noble. 
 
 Human nature desires and requires appreciation, 
 and it must not be forgotten that young people 
 have a great deal of human nature. 
 
 They are easily disheartened when they notice 
 
140 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 the absence of approval, and it is safe to say that 
 more young persons are spoiled by lack of encour- 
 agement than by judicious words of commendation. 
 Do not discourage the young workers either by 
 word or look, but be anxious to encourage them by 
 every means in your power. Whenever you per- 
 ceive that they are attempting even the feeblest 
 effort in the right direction, let them know at least 
 that you are pleased with their willingness to work. 
 
 Mr. Spurgeon, in addressing Church workers, 
 touches this point when he says : " You should al- 
 ways try to criticise work done for Christ very ten- 
 derly, as well as very wisely, because you might 
 otherwise put a man's light out when you only in- 
 tended to snuff his candle. Very often real talent 
 and true ability that might be serviceable for 
 Christ are lost by the injudicious manner in which 
 a brother is encouraged backward." 
 
 Advise them kindly and wisely. They are inex- 
 perienced, and, of course, need instruction. Show 
 them what they can do, and direct them in its per- 
 formance. But, in order to counsel, first study the 
 needs of the Church and the right methods of work, 
 
Views for Veterans. 141 
 
 and also consider the capabilities of the individuals. 
 Then make your application with good judgment, 
 and in the spirit of love. 
 
 Last of all — we might almost say first, last, and 
 always — call them to co-operate with you. 
 
 Recall a few of the many reasons why you 
 should associate them with you in your Church 
 work. You should do it for the sake of the Church. 
 The Church needs the efforts of all. It cannot 
 afford to permit any power it possesses to remain 
 latent. 
 
 Every force should be developed into vigorous 
 activity, and you should avail yourself of the capa- 
 bilities of the young because of the present, press- 
 ing needs of the Church, and because there is 
 danger that the powers of evil may turn these very 
 capabilities against the right, unless the Church 
 promptly and persistently employs their ability in 
 the line of Christian endeavor. 
 
 You should associate them with you for your own 
 sake. Contact with their youthful spirits will keep 
 your heart young, even when advancing age enfee- 
 bles your body. As you become older the young 
 
142 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 workers you call into action will share your toil and 
 lighten your burdens. As time steals your elastic- 
 ity their fresh natures will supply the loss. As the 
 fire of your enthusiasm diminishes, the glow of their 
 young life will meet the deficiency. They will sup- 
 plement your experience with their strong energy 
 and enthusiastic spirit, and so, when their enthusi- 
 asm and your experience are engaged in combined 
 action, grand results will follow. 
 
 Secure their co-operation for their own sake. 
 Should nothing more be accomplished, you will 
 train their powers for future usefulness. Under 
 your direction, and with your example before them, 
 they will be profited in the present and prepared 
 for efficient service in the future. The activities 
 you induce them to attempt will preserve the right 
 direction of their affections and will increase their 
 strength and skill. What wonderful results would 
 follow if each adult Church member would try to 
 bring out the ability of at least one young Chris- 
 tian ! You may develop a humble worker who 
 will be a great blessing in a limited sphere, or 
 one who, moving in a larger orbit, may prove 
 
Views for Veterans. 143 
 
 to be an eminent personage, possessing potent in- 
 fluences, whose beneficent effects may be felt far 
 and wide. 
 
 A number of years ago some Christians in Phila- 
 delphia noticed a poor boy working in one of the 
 factories of that city. They encouraged him to use 
 in religious meetings the talent he possessed as a 
 speaker. They aided him in obtaining an educa- 
 tion, and that factory boy became the Rev. Abel 
 Stevens, LL.D., a powerful pulpit orator, an emi- 
 nent writer, and the celebrated historian of Method- 
 ism. There are hosts of similar cases which show 
 the value of a little attention to the young; but do 
 not think that your work is a failure unless the 
 good boys become ministers and the good girls the 
 wives of missionaries. The Lord does not want all 
 the good boys in the pulpit. He wants most of 
 them to stay in the pews. People can perform im- 
 portant service for God without preaching sermons. 
 The member can work together with God as well 
 as the minister. But the best work must come from 
 those who have been trained early in life. Then 
 train the young to be workers, no matter how hum- 
 
144 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 ble may be the kind of work, and they will work 
 well after you have gone to your reward. 
 
 It is trite but true to say that youth is the forma- 
 tive period, and, consequently, the best time for train- 
 ing. If you fail to train them when their characters 
 are flexible you lose your grandest opportunity. 
 
 Ruskin says : " The human soul in youth is not a 
 machine, of which you can polish the cogs with any 
 kelp or brick-dust near at hand, and, having got it into 
 working order, and good, empty, and oiled service- 
 ableness, start your immortal locomotive at twenty- 
 five years old, or thirty, express for the Strait Gate 
 on the Narrow Road. The whole period of youth 
 is one essentially of formation, edification, instruc- 
 tion. I use the words with their weight in them, in 
 taking of stores, establishment in vital habits, hopes, 
 and faiths. There is not an hour of it but is trem- 
 bling with destinies, not a moment of which, once 
 passed, the appointed work can ever be done again, 
 or the neglected blow struck on the cold iron. 
 Take your vase of Venice glass out of the furnace, 
 and strew chaff over it in its transparent heat, and 
 recover that to its clearness and envied glory when 
 
Views for Veterans. 145 
 
 the north wind has blown upon it ; but do not think 
 to strew chaff over the child fresh from God's pres- 
 ence, and to bring heavenly colors back to him, at 
 least in this world." 
 
 The latter point Ruskin may state too strongly, 
 but the force of the general thought cannot be 
 overestimated. The heavenly colors may come 
 back to the regenerated heart, but in the matter of 
 education and training there is not an hour of youth 
 " but is trembling with destinies, not a moment of 
 which, once passed, the appointed work can ever 
 be done again." 
 
 If we would have the best development we must 
 train human beings when they are young. 
 
 But while the employment of young workers is 
 
 urged, let it not be feared that this will push older 
 
 persons out of the places they are worthily filling. 
 
 Calling young Christians into Church activity will 
 
 not take position or prominence from the older 
 
 members. There is need and room for both. 
 
 There is an abundance of work for all classes, the 
 
 old and the young, the mature and the immature. 
 
 The sphere will in some sense differ, so that the 
 10 
 
146 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 youthful toiler never can do the full work of the 
 more mature and experienced, but the effort of 
 both will, nevertheless, be necessary. There is, 
 therefore, no occasion for the old being jealous of 
 the young, or for the young being jealous of the old. 
 
 Before we close another matter should be guard- 
 ed. It is this : while on the one hand the junior 
 member is taught that he is not too young to do 
 something for the Church, the seniors should never 
 permit themselves to feel that they are too old to 
 do their share. 
 
 There is danger that mature persons will weary 
 in well-doing, and consider that they are too far ad- 
 vanced in years, just as others may excuse their in- 
 activity on the ground of youthfulness. 
 
 Hence, one important point to be kept in view in 
 Church management is to persuade members to 
 continue in active participation in Church affairs 
 even when their heads have silvered with age. 
 
 The calm judgment of old age is always as much 
 needed as the glowing energy of youth. An army 
 must have trained and tested veterans, while it also 
 accepts and drills the raw recruits. So with the 
 
Views for Veterans. 147 
 
 Church militant. It must fill up the ranks with the 
 inexperienced who need training, but back of the 
 young soldiers of the cross- must stand the old 
 guard, which has fought many a good fight. Then 
 the army of Christ will have greater steadiness and 
 enthusiasm, and win greater victories. 
 
148 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THOUGHTS FOR THE YOUNG. 
 
 1\ /FY young friends, presuming that you have 
 read the foregoing pages, it will not be nec- 
 essary to restate facts nor to add many points to 
 those already presented. God calls you to work for 
 him. The field, which is the world, opens before 
 you, and the Church invites your co-operation. 
 The Creator has endowed you with talents which 
 may be productive of great good. You are formed 
 for activity and not for indolence. Your own capa- 
 bilities as well as God's word prove that God in- 
 tends you to accomplish good, and, now that he 
 has selected you, it is for you to select your sphere. 
 There is something you can do toward the over- 
 throw of evil and the establishing of the right. 
 There is something you can do to further the cause 
 of Christ. Within the sphere of Church action 
 there is a place for you to take and a part for you 
 to perform. Give the matter careful and consci- 
 
Thoughts for the Young. 149 
 
 entious thought, pause long enough to perceive 
 what powers you possess and what work you can 
 do, until your natures are fired with a holy purpose 
 and your hearts are aroused to attempt its per- 
 formance. 
 
 There are many things in Church work you can 
 do. You can speak to others on the subject of re- 
 ligion, if not publicly, at least privately. You can 
 tell others of your Church, and invite them to the 
 Sabbath-school and the other Church services. 
 You can influence others, and especially the young, 
 by your kind words and consistent example. You 
 can cheer and comfort the aged, for they appreciate 
 the respectful attention of their juniors. You can 
 cheer their hearts by your joyous words and glad 
 smile, and you can comfort them by the word of 
 God you may read, or the sacred hymns you may 
 sing for them. But there are many other ways in 
 which you can accomplish good. 
 
 Then, if there is a work you can do and God calls 
 you to perform it, it is your duty to do what you 
 can. 
 
 You should do it, first, because you have talents 
 
150 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 which fit you for work, and because opportunities 
 open before you. Ability possessed and opportu- 
 nity offered are God's commands. They indicate 
 God's intention that you shall employ the talent 
 and avail yourself of the opportunity. 
 
 Second, because the Church needs your assist- 
 ance. It needs the aid of all, no matter how tri- 
 fling may seem the help some can bring. You pos- 
 sess a peculiar force, which is needed. You have 
 energy and enthusiasm, and your bold spirit is 
 needed to mingle with the caution of age, and your 
 hopefulness with the weariness of advancing years. 
 
 Third, because even the little good you do will 
 bless others, and as the effect of a good act never 
 perishes, your good deed will go on forever on its 
 mission of blessing. The little acorn which a child 
 plants grows into a mighty oak, giving shade, it 
 may be, for centuries, while, from the acorns it 
 yields, great forests grow, and from the timber taken 
 from the forest, fleets of many ships are built to de- 
 fend the nation or to carry earth's productions to 
 and from many lands. Much greater is the possi- 
 ble outcome of a single good deed which makes one 
 
Thoughts for the Young. 151 
 
 character better, for it goes on as long as the gener- 
 ations of men live in this world, and, as man is im- 
 mortal, its influence extends as long as eternity 
 endures. 
 
 Fourth, because the good you do will benefit 
 yourself. Real and lasting happiness comes only 
 from good accomplished. You know that pleasur- 
 able emotions come from action. Thus children in 
 their sports show us that joy can be gained from 
 mere activity; much more, then, will happiness come 
 from efforts to do good. Besides this, Christian 
 activity tends to the preservation of the religious 
 life. Without action vigor declines and death en- 
 sues. We must act or die. So spiritual life can 
 be preserved only by active exercise in doing good. 
 Then this action will promote the development of 
 your spiritual powers and help mature your moral 
 natures, so that you can more easily resist tempta- 
 tion and discharge duty. The practice gained will 
 train you for future efficiency, which will be needed, 
 for the time is coming when the responsibilities of 
 the Church will rest mainly upon you. Doing what 
 you can now will lead to the formation of right 
 
152 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 habits, and give you skill which will make you ex- 
 pert in the discharge of future and more difficult 
 duties. 
 
 Notwithstanding all we have said, one young 
 friend desires to interpose some objections in be- 
 half of himself and others. 
 
 He admits that some young people have done 
 excellent work, and that no doubt others can do as 
 well, but he claims that he cannot, and that because 
 of that he must be excused from the attempt. 
 
 We must, therefore, address ourselves to this ob- 
 jector. To him we say, As a general principle you 
 agree that young people may do all that is claimed, 
 but you object that individually you are not com- 
 petent — that though others may have the requisite 
 qualifications you have not. 
 
 You say you are too weak to do any thing. 
 Well, it may be true that your powers are not 
 great. You may not be able to do every thing, but 
 it does not follow that you cannot do any thing ; 
 or, it may be true that you cannot do some special 
 kind of work that others have done, yet it does not 
 follow that there is nothing you can do. The best 
 
Thoughts for the Young. 153 
 
 cannot do every thing, and, though you cannot do 
 some particular and lofty work, yet there may be, 
 and no doubt is, something you can perform. Da- 
 vid could not carry the armor of Saul or wield the 
 king's sword, but he could use the sling and hurl 
 the stone. Perhaps you should not attempt to 
 handle the king's sword, but you may do efficient 
 service with the shepherd's sling. Do the little 
 good if you cannot the great deed. You are not 
 to be like some doctor of divinity or aim at the im- 
 possible, but to be yourself, and do what is within 
 your powers. Though you cannot preach, you may 
 converse. Though you cannot deliver an elaborate 
 oration, you can talk for Jesus. Though you may 
 not be able to address a large audience, you can 
 speak to a single individual. It is written, " To 
 every man his work," and there is something you 
 can do. 
 
 Still, you object that what you are able to do is 
 so small that it is not worth doing. But the small- 
 est good is worth doing. It adds something to the 
 aggregate good in the world. The ocean is made 
 up of drops. If there were no drops there would 
 
154 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 be no ocean. The drop, tiny as it is, goes to make 
 up the ocean. The earth is made up of atoms. 
 Annihilate the atoms, minute as they are, and there 
 would be no world. So the mass of good in the 
 world is made up of little deeds which seem small 
 in themselves. " Despise not the day of small 
 things." Despise not what you can do, though it 
 appears trifling. What the Church needs to-day 
 is people who are willing to do humble work in ob- 
 scure places — to do little deeds of goodness. There 
 are plenty who are willing to be prominent and to 
 stand where many eyes shall look upon them and 
 many voices shout their praise. The little act 
 which you think valueless may be just what is re- 
 quired. Though small, it may be effectual. 
 
 Some time ago a ship was about to be launched. 
 Every thing was made ready, but she moved not. 
 The workmen exerted all their strength, but the 
 vessel did not stir. Just then a lad ran to the 
 ship's side and began to push. The spectators 
 laughed as they saw him press against the vessel, 
 but the lad's strength was just what was needed, 
 and the ship glided swiftly into the water. So the 
 
Thoughts for the Young. • 155 
 
 Church needs the activity of the weakest as well as 
 of the strongest, and the effort of the weakest will 
 greatly facilitate the progress of the work of 
 Christ. Refrain not from doing what good you 
 can, no matter how insignificant it may appear, for 
 you cannot excuse yourself from doing a little be- 
 cause you cannot do much. If some great duty 
 presents itself, and you realize that it is your duty, 
 and at the same time feel your insufficiency, re- 
 member that God is on your side, and that his 
 strength is pledged, to aid you. But if the duty 
 seems small, remember that the great Being who 
 brings the majestic tree from the tiny seed can 
 bring great results from the good deed that seems 
 small to the human eye. Do what you can, and 
 rely on God for the result. 
 
 Still you urge that you are inexperienced and un- 
 skilled. That will be admitted, but let it be re- 
 membered that others, equally inexperienced and 
 unskilled, have accomplished much. Skill is at- 
 tained only through action. Attempt, and perse- 
 vere, and in due time skill will come. 
 
 You have not experience, but you have the 
 
156 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 compensating qualities of energy and enthusiasm. 
 Experience comes with time, yet, as time advances, 
 energy and enthusiasm diminish. Each state has 
 its compensation. In early life enthusiastic energy 
 makes up for lack of experience, while in old age 
 experience compensates for the loss of energy. 
 
 You have the fiery forces of youth, and, as they 
 fade away, experience will come to take their place. 
 The valuable qualities you now have are what you 
 now need. Energy and enthusiasm are important 
 elements in a worker. Attempt with these, and 
 you may expect skill and whatever else is needed 
 to follow. 
 
 Just here we may suggest that caution increases 
 as time advances, and caution not balanced by ac- 
 tion becomes cowardice. If you wait too long cau- 
 tion will unduly increase, and you will fear to at- 
 tempt. Perfect skill is not expected from the 
 young, and early imperfections are soon forgotten. 
 The true way is to begin at once, even if the 
 beginning is a blunder, and then, if it cannot be 
 otherwise, blunder on until you blunder into suc- 
 cess. 
 
Thoughts fcr the Young. 157 
 
 You plead as an excuse from service that you are 
 discouraged by imperfect results. 
 
 If you really have a disposition to work, that is 
 not a bad sign. It shows that your conception 
 of what should be done is ahead of what you 
 have done. This is as it should be if you will try 
 to measure up to your growing standard of excel- 
 lence. Suppose there is some imperfection in what 
 you have done ; that is not a reason why you should 
 stop, but rather that you should make greater effort 
 to succeed. When duty is in question former fail- 
 ure is no reason why we should give up effort, but 
 rather that we should study and strive to do better 
 in the future. We should inquire why there has 
 been failure, and learn how we may be more suc- 
 cessful. 
 
 All perfection in human work began in the im- 
 perfect. Perfection is gained, not by giving up, 
 but by going on. " Practice makes perfect." Per- 
 severe. Let imperfection not discourage but 
 rather stimulate you. Though your effort may not 
 have succeeded, feel that your failure only fits you 
 to do better in the next attempt. 
 
158 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 Beginners' efforts are expected to be inferior, but 
 those who continue can improve and attain ap- 
 proximate perfection. The young artist does not 
 equal the old master, but through patient struggle 
 he becomes himself a master. The old master 
 never would have been able to execute his great 
 works if he had yielded to discouragement, and 
 had given up effort because of the imperfection of 
 his early attempt. 
 
 The traveler visiting the museum in Rotterdam 
 may notice a painting, which is rough and without 
 marks of genius or skill. He may pass it carelessly, 
 only wondering why such a daub should be in such 
 a place, and turn away to view finer pictures. In 
 the same gallery he will perceive the masterpiece 
 of the renowned Rembrandt, which is counted of 
 immense value, as it is a work showing the ripest 
 genius and the highest skill. What a contrast ! 
 Why should that poor painting hang so near this 
 masterpiece ? They teach a valuable lesson. They 
 are by the same painter. The rough picture is the 
 first piece painted by Rembrandt. If he had 
 stopped with that crude effort the world would 
 
Thoughts for the Young. 159 
 
 have lost much. The imperfect beginning did not 
 prevent ultimate success, and the masterpiece was 
 but the result of going on in patient study and 
 steady practice. The comparatively worthless 
 work of the student must precede the perfection 
 of the master. The master is only the developed 
 student, and every attempt, no matter how poor, 
 tends to perfection. Like the young artist, do the 
 best you can now, and daily strive to do better. 
 Be not discouraged by seeming failures. Let them 
 stimulate you to greater effort. " Be not weary in 
 well doing, for ye shall reap, if ye faint not." 
 
 Remember, too, that you cannot ahvays tell the 
 result. You cannot say positively what efforts for 
 the moral good of others are failures. Seeming 
 failures are not always real failures. The farmer 
 plants the seed. It is buried out of sight. He 
 comes back the next day, the next week, the 
 next month, but there is no harvest. Shall 
 he say his work is a failure? The frosts of 
 winter come, the soil is frozen hard, and snow 
 covers the ground. Shall he say he has failed — 
 there will be no harvest ? Months pass, and the 
 
160 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 winter disappears, and now the favoring influences 
 of spring approach, and, lo ! the snow melts, the 
 ground softens, the green blade appears, the stalk, 
 the ear, the full corn in the ear. The seed was not 
 destroyed, the work was not a failure, but a rich 
 harvest is gathered. 
 
 Just as the seed is buried out of sight for some 
 time before it sprouts and springs up through the 
 soil, so one may not immediately perceive the de- 
 sired result of some well-intended act, but after 
 awhile it may bring an abundant harvest. Al- 
 though we fail to see the sprout or the ripe grain, 
 others may gather many sheaves from our sowing. 
 
 One thing is absolutely certain, and that is, there 
 cannot be a total failure. 
 
 Should we fail as to others, we need not as to 
 ourselves, for every right effort brings a reflex 
 benefit to the actor. Briefly restating points al- 
 ready presented : First, there is peace and happi- 
 ness from duty discharged. There is reward in the 
 consciousness of having done what we could. Sec- 
 ond, religious effort tends to preserve moral health 
 and spiritual life. Without exercise the body will 
 
Thoughts for the Young. 161 
 
 become diseased and die, and without effort spirit- 
 uality will be lost. Third, our efforts to do good 
 will increase our moral power, and our spiritual 
 strength will be steadily developed. No right ef- 
 fort is lost. See the gymnast. What has he to 
 show for his effort ? He has not broken up the 
 soil for the sower ; he has not erected a palace ; he 
 has not constructed a machine. There is nothing 
 to show for it outside himself; but who will say he 
 has failed ? See the result in massive muscles, in a 
 sinewy and elastic frame, in steady nerves, and in 
 the glow of vigorous health, which adds beauty to 
 his magnificent form. Though there may be noth- 
 ing else accomplished, yet his effort has been a suc- 
 cess, because of what it has made himself. 
 
 So the Christian worker, though he failed as to 
 others, would, from every attempt, receive a reflex 
 benefit within himself, and this would be worth the 
 endeavor, should his work accomplish no more. 
 But good efforts for others will produce good re- 
 sults beyond the performer. 
 
 It is well to have a lofty ideal and try to reach 
 
 it, even if we do not fully succeed. But if we can- 
 11 
 
162 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 not accomplish all we desire we should not be dis- 
 couraged and desist, for there cannot be total fail- 
 ure when there is sincere and earnest attempt. 
 
 Again, you urge as an objection that you are not 
 encouraged, but are discouraged by older persons. 
 
 This may be true in exceptional cases, but gen- 
 erally it is a misapprehension. Every intelligent 
 Christian will be glad to have you perform your 
 part in Church work. Laborers are not so numer- 
 ous that wise Christians will discourage those who 
 are trying to do what they can. 
 
 If you have not received encouragement, possi- 
 bly you were striving to do work which was beyond 
 your ability, and which naturally belonged to older 
 persons. If so, then the difficulty was that you 
 went a little beyond your sphere, and you can easily 
 correct your mistake. But, perhaps, you were too 
 sensitive, and imagined that others wanted to dis- 
 courage you. You may have misunderstood their 
 words or actions, or you may have made a hasty 
 inference, simply because they failed to utter words 
 of encouragement in your hearing, or did not praise 
 you as warmly as you desired. 
 
Thoughts for the Young. 163 
 
 Even if others did intentionally try to discourage 
 you, that should not prevent your discharge of 
 duty. Duty should overbalance disapproval. In- 
 attention or disheartening remarks on the part of 
 others will not excuse your non-performance of the 
 duty which devolves upon you. Lack of encour- 
 agement may be a fault justly charged against some, 
 but that will not absolve you from the greater fault 
 of neglect to do your part, be it great or small. 
 
 However, it is generally true that the representa- 
 tives of the Church gladly welcome the young 
 worker, though they may not always pat him on the 
 head and tell him how well he has done. As we 
 leave childhood we should leave behind all great 
 expectations of this character, and learn to dis- 
 charge our duty for duty's sake, even if others do 
 not reward us with deserved commendation. But 
 remember that God notices, encourages, and rewards. 
 
 As a final plea you say you do not know what you 
 can do. 
 
 We assume that you are willing to perform your 
 part if your place can be pointed out. Then, as it 
 is a serious duty, you should make it a matter of 
 
164 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 careful reflection and of prayer to God for direction. 
 It will be well also for you to inquire of your pastor, 
 or some other older and more experienced person, 
 and, with an honest purpose, consider the advice you 
 receive. Do not, however, have your mind filled 
 with something so lofty, distant, and difficult that 
 it is quite impossible for you to perform it, for duty 
 is always within our reach, and is usually the near- 
 est and simplest thing we can do. 
 
 The field is before you. Hesitate no longer, but 
 enter and toil on. Work for your own sake and for 
 the sake of others. God calls you to action ; answer 
 the summons by service. Hearken to the call and 
 obey the command, and in this world and the world 
 to come there shall be for you a rich and everlast- 
 ing reward. 
 
Words for all Workers. 165 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 WORDS FOR ALL WORKERS. 
 
 JOHN FOSTER says: "But little is accom- 
 plished because but little is vigorously attempt- 
 ed, and but little is attempted because difficulties 
 are magnified." 
 
 This is true in Church affairs as well as in other 
 departments. Here, as elsewhere, men are apt to 
 magnify the difficulties until they become self-par- 
 alyzed. That there are difficulties in the work of 
 the Church is not to be questioned, but that they 
 are as many and as insurmountable as people are 
 apt to imagine, experience and observation emphat- 
 ically disprove. They are not so great that they 
 cannot be overcome. Even from a human stand- 
 point, as seen through experience, they are not so 
 numerous and appalling as our fears fancy them. 
 Then, when we remember that God's help is prom- 
 ised, our fears take flight, our vision becomes 
 clearer, and we perceive facts in their true relation 
 
166 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 and obstacles in their real littleness, for " if God be 
 for us, who are they who are against us? " 
 
 It is recorded that in the days of Grecian grand- 
 eur some persons who traveled to Olympia to see 
 Phidias's statue of Zeus, the great Colossus of ivory 
 and gold, were so full of thoughts of the disagree- 
 able and troublesome things they experienced — 
 they were scorched by the sun, or wet by the rain, 
 or pressed by the crowd — that they forgot all about 
 the glory and sublimity of the splendid statue. 
 Thus many are inclined to let their minds be taken 
 up with the troubles, annoyances, and difficulties in 
 the way of the Christian worker, so that they gather 
 no inspiration from the grandeur of the work ac- 
 complished. 
 
 Let us not be intimidated ! Let us not be dis- 
 couraged ! The greatest obstacles have been sur- 
 mounted, and under our divine Leader we can sur- 
 mount every barrier, bear every necessary burden, 
 and withstand the strongest foe. The great Captain 
 of our salvation issues the order to advance. Let 
 there be no skulking, no slinking to the rear, no 
 pleading of indisposition ! The muster-roll is being 
 
Words for all Workers. 167 
 
 called — let every man take his place and obey the 
 divine command. On one occasion, in India, the 
 English army was in peril, and an effort had to be 
 made that required bravery and steadfastness. 
 Then the commander cried out, " Send for Have- 
 lock's men ; they can be trusted." So, to-day, 
 God and the Church want men who are ready and 
 reliable — who are so disciplined, and have such 
 confidence in God and the righteousness of their 
 cause, that they will not be appalled by the strength 
 of the foe or disheartened by difficulties. Let us 
 not magnify difficulties, but magnify God. The 
 work is great, but God is greater. He leads, he in- 
 spires, he strengthens ; and, weak and imperfect 
 though we are, we shall overcome. 
 
 While we remember the might of God, and the 
 promise of divine help, we must not forget that we 
 have personal responsibilities in the way of prepa- 
 ration and fitness. 
 
 Let me point out to those who are willing to 
 work for Christ a few requisites. 
 
 First and always, manifest a consistent Christian 
 life. For the most efficient service this is abso- 
 
i68 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 lutely needed, and its presence often makes up for 
 many deficiencies of talent and culture. The Rev. 
 H. C. Hadyn, D.D., of Cleveland, Ohio, has well 
 expressed the thought in saying, " It needs no 
 argument to show that a profoundly consistent life 
 makes a word dropped here and there of more value 
 than the most ostentatious service without that 
 support." If the world doubts the character of the 
 worker it will not be influenced by his words, but 
 the humblest, in whom the people have confi- 
 dence, may, in a quiet way, exert great influence 
 and accomplish great good. 
 
 But this impression must be made not by mere 
 external formality, but by that mysterious, impal- 
 pable, and unconscious influence that comes from a 
 genuine inner life. 
 
 Therefore it is necessary to keep up a high degree 
 of spirituality. To this end there should be fre- 
 quent reading of God's word, private prayer, self- 
 examination, meditation, and secret communion 
 with the divine Spirit. 
 
 Be regularly in your place at public worsJiip and 
 at the Church's social means of grace. 
 
Words for all Workers. 169 
 
 It is something to set a good example as a list- 
 ener, and regularity in attendance on the services 
 of the Church is a passive way of working. The 
 example influences others. Hearken to the word, 
 that you may have food for reflection and material 
 for conversation. Great good may be accomplished 
 by talking to others of the good points heard from 
 the pulpit, and no preacher is so poor that his ser- 
 mon contains nothing worth talking about. If 
 hearers would look for the good, instead of harping 
 upon chance faults in the pulpit, their religious life 
 would be healthier, and the minister's efforts would 
 not so often be neutralized. 
 
 From the Church services you will gather inspira- 
 tion that will stimulate you in your work, and a 
 worker stands out all the better before the people, 
 with the background of attention to religious du- 
 ties in his Church. 
 
 Take your place in the Sunday-school, or, as some 
 would call it, the Bible-school. You may be an 
 officer, a teacher, or a scholar. Be willing to be a 
 student if there is not demand for you in some 
 higher position. Do not have the stupid conceit of 
 
170 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 the young man who, when invited into a Bible- 
 class, said he " had studied the Bible enough, and 
 did not care to go in unless they wanted a teacher." 
 No one can be too learned or too lofty to be a 
 Bible student. No knowledge can excel, and no 
 age can outgrow, that wonderful book. It is a vol- 
 ume into which the longer we look the more we 
 see. If you are not needed as officer or teacher, 
 gladly accept the opportunity of being a faithful 
 and diligent scholar, as a preparation for other 
 forms of work or future demands which may come 
 to you. 
 
 As a teacher you can come within short range of 
 human souls, and in this you have almost an ad- 
 vantage over him who preaches from the pulpit. 
 Take advantage of your opportunity. Come with a 
 full head to impart knowledge, and with a warm 
 heart to melt away the cold barrier between their 
 souls and the life-giving word. 
 
 As an officer, whether it be secretary or librarian, 
 determine to discharge your duty well. God may 
 mean to train you for something grander. If you 
 occupy the place of superintendent, perceive how 
 
Words for all Workers. 171 
 
 broad a field for influence there is before you. 
 Prompt, prepared, and prayerful, be an inspiration 
 to the teachers and a loving example to all. With 
 an intelligent, warm-hearted management, melt 
 hearts and mold minds; but, to successfully ac- 
 complish this, be sure to have your plan carefully 
 studied and your work thoroughly prepared before 
 you appear before the school. 
 
 Show an interest in all departments of Church 
 work. You may not be able to take a leading or 
 active part in every movement. Perhaps it is not 
 necessary, or even well, that you should. But you 
 should not be indifferent as to the success of any 
 effort of the Church. If you cannot do more, at 
 least you can manifest your interest and show your 
 sympathy. Those managing or assisting in other 
 forms of activity need your sympathy, and so you 
 will need their sympathy in your line of action. 
 While there may be division of labor, the work is 
 one, and each endeavor of the Church requires 
 some kind of support from all, and, therefore, in- 
 terest should be shown in what the Church is doing 
 in its various departments. 
 
172 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 Cherish an anxiety to do something — to do all you 
 can. 
 
 Be alarmed if you find that your disposition to 
 work is departing, for it may betoken loss of spir- 
 itual vigor. At once place yourself under the in- 
 fluence of the divine Spirit, and pray once more 
 to be " endued with power from on high." 
 
 When a place opens do not draw back. When 
 the proper authorities invite you into some position 
 of responsibility do not hastily refuse. Let not 
 backwardness prevent your responding. It may be 
 the divine indication. It may be your special duty, 
 and the voice of duty is the voice of God. Look 
 upon it as providential ; ask God to help you ; ac- 
 cept, go on, and do the best you can. 
 
 Work in your ozvn Church and for your own 
 Church before you attempt outside activity. 
 
 It is not a good sign to see a man who is indo- 
 lent at home wanting to be diligent abroad. The 
 man who is not willing to toil in his own Church 
 vineyard is hardly fit to work beyond it. A worker 
 away from home is all the better for standing well 
 at home, and men are suspicious of him who is 
 
Words for all Workers. 173 
 
 worthless in his own Church but wants to be con- 
 spicuous in wider movements. A person who is 
 constantly running away from his own Church never 
 amounts to much anywhere as a worker. 
 
 Dr. Hadyn has justly said: " It is not well that 
 any man should be known as a Christian worker 
 solely outside his Church relations. Let him first 
 make his power felt at home ; then, when he goes 
 forth, he takes the sympathies and prayers of his 
 Church with him. 
 
 " Any body not known in his Church as a worker 
 is a man, with rare exceptions, never to be indorsed 
 for any outside work whatever. Let him first exer- 
 cise his gifts at home, and prove himself possessed 
 of a right spirit and of good common "sense ; then 
 bid him Godspeed into the wider world, if God 
 wants him and men will receive him. And when it 
 is thought that in the sphere of the local Church 
 the great majority of disciples are to do their work 
 for their Master, the emphasis to be laid upon it, 
 covering its dignity, its worth, and its importance, 
 cannot well be exaggerated." 
 
 Do what you can in your own Church — there 
 
174 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 give your toil and get your training, and after 
 awhile you may properly and successfully enter 
 broader fields as the indications of Providence may 
 direct. Mr. Moody was active in his own Church 
 before he became a great influence in the broader 
 spheres of two continents. His local work at home 
 prepared him for that which was more conspicuous 
 and far-reaching. 
 
 Begin humbly; let not your aspirations be too lofty ; 
 be willing to do yonr duty in obscurity. 
 
 You cannot hope to attain perfection instantly. 
 Your first address will not be one of finished elo- 
 quence, and it need not be. You must be willing 
 to begin low and to gradually ascend. You must 
 be content to grow as the child does into the man. 
 
 " It is a thing to be deplored when a prevailing 
 impression is abroad that lay-work is nothing if it 
 be not occupied in calling conventions, holding 
 public meetings, and addressing assemblies. The 
 world is not perishing for this above all things, but 
 it is greatly burdened that so few are willing to 
 take up a quiet, unobtrusive, unostentatious work 
 in the boarding-houses, among the poor, in the 
 
Words for all Workers. 175 
 
 shops, among the homeless young men and women 
 of village and city, in the lanes and by-ways, ex- 
 tending a warm greeting to the stranger, looking 
 after him, drawing him from the theaters and sa- 
 loons by personal acquaintance and influence. 
 
 " A man happy and successful in obscure and 
 quiet paths is almost certain to be sound in the 
 faith, with a power within that will bear sending 
 out into the larger world. While a man with an 
 itch for publicity, and unwilling to do any thing 
 except in a public way, is much more likely to be 
 mistaken as to the grounds of his personal faith and 
 hope, and to be lifted up himself rather than to be 
 found knowing only Christ and him crucified. 
 
 " It should rejoice the heart of every worker in 
 the vineyard of the Lord that there are very many 
 busy in doing good of whom mention will never be 
 made till the judgment. They tread such quiet 
 unnoticed paths, they so shrink from observation, 
 that but few are really aware of the breadth and 
 result of their endeavor. 
 
 " Such is the unobtrusive visiting of families, 
 opening the Scriptures, at fitting times kneeling 
 
176 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 with them in prayer, leaving a quickening word, a 
 wholesome book, counseling to habits of sobriety, 
 and being the good Samaritan, in Christ's name, to 
 families, youth, and children, who else would be 
 habitually and only under the tuition of the evil 
 one and his emissaries. 
 
 " Such is the word dropped by the way-side, the 
 note indicative of fraternal interest or deep solici- 
 tude, the way-side conversation, the invitation to 
 the home-circle, thus to fasten a cord around a 
 heart, which thereby may be led to Christ. 
 
 " I lay stress upon this unheralded service with 
 individuals and families, in humble cottages, board- 
 ing-houses and shops, in prisons, hospitals, poor- 
 houses and schools of reform, for several reasons. 
 
 " Here is found one of the best spheres for the 
 culture of a genuine, earnest, well-balanced piety. 
 The best motives are called into exercise. It is a 
 work which will foster a love for Christ and a sense 
 of his nearness. Indeed, it is not likely to be car- 
 ried on at all except under the impulse of love to 
 Christ, and a passion for the salvation of men." — 
 Dr. Hadyn. 
 
Words for all Workers. 177 
 
 The most of Church work is humble work, and 
 the Church greatly needs those who are willing to 
 do little things which lie within their power. He 
 who is unwilling to do the little is unprepared to do 
 the great. He who faithfully does the little is pre- 
 paring to do that which is grander. 
 
 We say little and great, but these are only so in 
 
 man's way of reckoning. No good deed is small in 
 
 the estimation of the great Judge. " Jesus sat over 
 
 against the treasury, and beheld how the people 
 
 cast money into the treasury : and many that were 
 
 rich cast in much. And there carne a certain poor 
 
 widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a 
 
 farthing. And he called unto him his disciples, and 
 
 saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this 
 
 poor widow hath cast more in than all they which 
 
 have cast into the treasury: for all they did cast in 
 
 of their abundance ; but she of her want did cast in 
 
 all that she had, even all her living." So humble 
 
 deeds, if they be all, and the best, we can do, will 
 
 not be lightly esteemed by the Lord, before whom 
 
 we must stand to give account for the deeds done 
 
 in the body. 
 12 
 
178 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 That you may cheerfully work in obscure places, 
 cultivate the spirit of humility. 
 
 " Let no man think more highly of himself than 
 he ought." Nothing prevents progress so much as 
 pride and self-conceit. Confidence, which is the re- 
 sult of experience, however, is a very different thing. 
 
 If you would succeed, be willing to risk failure. 
 You have not tested your powers. You dread the 
 effort. Your first attempts may be failures. Be 
 willing to pass through the ordeal. Some of the 
 greatest orators at first broke completely down 
 before they had spoken a half dozen sentences. 
 So do not be astonished if your first lesson before 
 a Sunday-school class, or your first prayer in the 
 public prayer-meeting, or your first address, should 
 fall below your expectation. From the fire comes 
 the pure gold. The child first creeps, then walks, 
 stumbles it may be, but after awhile stands firmly 
 and walks securely ; first stammers and then talks. 
 Take your risk, and you will have your reward. 
 
 Be teachable, and hearken to hints no matter 
 from whom they come. 
 
 Closely observe how the best workers act, and learn 
 
Words for all Workers. 179 
 
 from them how you should work, and how you 
 may improve your methods. Do not imitate so 
 as to lose your individuality, but copy that which 
 will destroy your defects and round out your char- 
 acter as a worker. Learn from all, but be a second 
 edition of no man. As the art student learns from 
 seeing his master's work, so attention to the meth- 
 ods of master-workers in Christian activities will 
 help you become " a workman that needeth not to 
 be ashamed." 
 
 You must be students as well as teachers. It is 
 not well to work all the time — to be active but 
 never to study. There must be time for consider- 
 ation, meditation, and investigation. 
 
 Study God's plan of salvation, not only that you 
 may understand for yourself, but that you may be 
 able to clearly explain it to others. Be prepared 
 to fully answer the inquirer's question, " What must 
 I do to be saved ? " It is not enough to answer by 
 certain familiar and frequently figurative expres- 
 sions. You must be able to explain the figure, and 
 enter into the inner meaning. You say, " Come to 
 Jesus," but what is it to come to Jesus ? How shall 
 
i8o Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 the sinner come to Christ ? You say, Repent ; but 
 can you explain to the one who seeks for light what 
 it is to repent ? You say, " Believe on the Lord 
 Jesus Christ ; " but can you give a simple and intel- 
 ligent explanation of faith in Jesus ? So there are 
 many other points which should be carefully thought 
 out. Then, too, you should study what motives 
 and appeals you may legitimately present to cause 
 persons to reflect and consider their sinful condi- 
 tion, to repent and turn to the Lord. 
 
 Study the Bible. Other books may be good, but 
 the Bible is the Book of books. The word of God 
 is the sword of the Spirit with which you must con- 
 quer. It contains revelations of sin and of salva- 
 tion. It is full of facts and arguments, of warnings 
 and appeals, of invitations and promises. He who 
 is familiar with the Bible will be at no loss for ma- 
 terial for prayer, conversation, or formal address. 
 Neither will he lack for variety ; and his statements 
 will always have the weight of authority, for they 
 will be based on God's word. He who is forever 
 ringing the changes on his own conversion and his 
 personal experience, without presenting the word, is 
 
Words for all Workers. 1 8 1 
 
 in danger of becoming stereotyped and uninterest- 
 ing. A statement of so-called experience, or of 
 genuine experience, cannot be a substitute for the 
 Scriptures, for that would be making man's word 
 supersede God's word. The Bible is so full of inci- 
 dents that they will illuminate every religious topic, 
 and he who uses them will always be fresh and in- 
 teresting. The Bible is the text-book of the Chris- 
 tian worker, and a storehouse of information and 
 illustration. 
 
 But study the Bible with as much care, at least, 
 as you would other books, that you may not indulge 
 in the fanciful interpretations which some so-called 
 " Bible readers " give to the sacred word. Be ready 
 to give a reason for the hope that is within you. 
 Be prepared to give an intelligent statement of your 
 grounds of confidence in the Bible as the word of 
 God. With all that is implied in these remarks 
 you will be well furnished for Christian work. 
 
 Study works that throw light upon the Bible. 
 Have a good Concordance, that you may readily 
 turn to particular passages ; a good Bible Diction- 
 ary, that you may have at hand explanations of cus- 
 
182 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 toms and other matters which the biblical student 
 should know; and consult a good Commentary, that 
 you may have the advantage of the investigation 
 of profound scholars. There are many other books 
 which will be of great service, among which are 
 standard religious biographies. 
 
 Study human nature. You must deal with human 
 beings, and you must understand human nature. 
 Somebody has said, " There is a great deal of hu- 
 man nature in man." So there is, but it shows it- 
 self differently in different men, and the differences 
 in men are not to be studied in books, but in men 
 themselves. Dr. Haydn, from whom we have be- 
 fore quoted, says : 
 
 " Learn to read them, that you may know how to 
 approach them — how not to ' rub the wrong way' 
 — how not to be captious with men — how to give 
 them the line and let them have their own way 
 within certain reasonable limits — how to let them 
 think their opinions, on many things, all they fancy 
 them, when no harm can come of them — how to si- 
 lence an opposer without controversy — how to tell 
 when a man is talking for effect, to cover up a guilty 
 
Words for all Workers. 183 
 
 conscience — how to respect honest doubt and 
 help it." 
 
 Acquire tact. This comes just after the study of 
 human nature. Understand the man, and then 
 know how to take advantage of circumstances to 
 influence him for his own good. Many avenues 
 lead to the heart ; therefore acquire skill in ap- 
 proaching through the right one. What will influ- 
 ence one man will have no effect upon another ; 
 what would influence a man yesterday may not 
 move him to-day ; and so you need to govern 
 yourself accordingly. Carelessness may neutralize 
 your well-intended efforts, and hence you must 
 learn when is the favorable moment, what to say, 
 when to stop, and when to renew. 
 
 Such tact, which comes by observation and expe- 
 rience, is trained common sense. Without com- 
 mon sense a worker will be a failure. 
 
 In all your work let there be forgetfiilness of 
 self. Pride and egotism should be discarded. You 
 work not for your own honor, but for that of the 
 Master. Remember Christ's injunction, ''Let your 
 light so shine before men that others seeing your 
 
1 84 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 good works may glorify your Father which is in 
 heaven." 
 
 Be earnest and enthusiastic. Earnest men are al- 
 ways impressive, but it must not be merely a sur- 
 face earnestness, but that which flows from the 
 depths of the soul. People soon detect the spu- 
 rious kind. The enthusiastic — those who are full 
 of their work — are those who accomplish much. 
 Have a burning zeal which comes from a head and 
 heart on fire, and obstacles will melt away. " What- 
 soever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy 
 might." 
 
 Finally, work patiently. Remember the injunc- 
 tion, " Let us not be weary in well-doing : for in 
 due season we shall reap, if we faint not." If the 
 Master says, " Go work to-day in my vineyard," 
 there is also the assurance that '* He that goeth 
 forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall 
 doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his 
 sheaves with him." 
 
Mr. Moody an Illustration. 185 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 MR. MOODY AN ILLUSTRATION. 
 
 /^NE of the best illustrations of many of the 
 principles which have been presented in the 
 foregoing pages is the case of Mr. Dwight L. 
 Moody, whose success as a revivalist has been so 
 great. What he has been for a number of years, 
 and is now, is well known on both sides of the At- 
 lantic ; indeed, his reputation may be said to extend 
 to the ends of the earth. We now see him a pow- 
 erful preacher and an efficient evangelist, whose 
 work has been greatly blessed in the Old as well as 
 in the New World — a man who has addressed the 
 largest audiences drawn to hear any minister of 
 Christ in this generation, for whom ordinary churches 
 were too small, and for whom great tabernacles, ca- 
 pable of holding more than ten thousand hearers, 
 were erected — one who has been gladly heard by 
 the poor and just as eagerly by the rich, who drew 
 the peasant and the noble, and who has been list- 
 
1 86 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 ened to with delight by the learned professor as 
 well as by the illiterate laborer. 
 
 This most popular and useful man stands before 
 the world as one of the wonders of the day on ac- 
 count of his success in winning souls to Christ. 
 Naturally, we ask, Who is he ? and what advantages 
 has he had to make him so successful as a Christian 
 worker ? 
 
 Running back to the beginning of his career, we 
 perceive that it would be difficult to find a more 
 unpromising case than his, and that he furnishes 
 one of the finest illustrations of the possibilities 
 of imperfect human nature which has had but very 
 defective early culture. 
 
 We go back to his start in life. He was a poor 
 boy. Born in Northfield, Mass., in 1837, he was 
 the sixth of a family of nine children. When he 
 was only four years of age he was bereft of his 
 father. Though very poor, the mother was able to 
 keep the family together in the old homestead, 
 which meant a little house with an acre or two of 
 mountain land, which was incumbered with a 
 mortgage. 
 
Mr. Moody a?i Illustration. 187 
 
 During the summer Dwight worked on the little 
 mountain farm, and his only opportunity for going 
 to school was in the winter. In consequence of 
 such limited advantages he was very poorly edu- 
 cated, not even receiving a good foundation for fu- 
 ture self-culture. He could read a little and spell 
 less ; while, besides a slight knowledge of the sim- 
 ple rules of arithmetic and a peep into geography, 
 he had learned nothing save the art of " speaking 
 pieces." This was the sum-total of his acquire- 
 ments when he left the winter school in his seven- 
 teenth year, and started out in the world to earn a 
 living. 
 
 He went to Boston, where he was offered a place 
 in the boot and shoe store of his mother's brother, 
 who had previously aided the mother in holding 
 her humble home. 
 
 Fortunately for Dwight, his uncle was very judi- 
 cious, and, knowing the temptations of city life, he 
 only gave the position upon three conditions : first, 
 that he should select Dwight's boarding-place in a 
 Christian family ; second, that the lad should not 
 go at night to any place the uncle did not approve ; 
 
1 88 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 and third, that he should regularly attend the Mount 
 Vernon Congregational Church. These conditions 
 the boy accepted, and he was duly installed in his 
 place. 
 
 We have now this ignorant country boy moving 
 in the rush of a great city. He was not naturally 
 more religious than the average boy. He was pro- 
 fane and terribly passionate, and cared little for re- 
 ligious services, but he went to church, according 
 to his agreement. He has since said : " When I 
 first went to Boston my employers made me go to 
 church. I used to go and sit in the gallery; and 
 very often fell asleep. One day, while I was having 
 a nap under the sermon, I felt somebody poking me 
 in the ribs, and when I looked up there was orte of 
 the deacons who had come to wake me, and was 
 pointing with his finger at the minister, as much as 
 to say, ' Attend to the preaching ! ' I felt as if ev- 
 ery body in the church was looking at me ; but I 
 didn't know what else to do unless I gave attention 
 to the sermon, so I began to listen to Dr. Kirk, and, 
 for the first time in my life, felt as if he were preach- 
 ing altogether at me." 
 
Mr. Moody an Illustration. 189 
 
 The good deacon had no idea of the man who 
 was in the slumbering boy ; but sleeping boys 
 sometimes make wide-awake men, and it is better 
 that one should sleep in church than not come at all. 
 
 The sermon made him exceedingly uneasy, for it 
 so fitted his case that he thought some one had in- 
 formed the minister about him, an effect often no- 
 ticed under the plain preaching of the Gospel when 
 the minister has no knowledge whatever of the 
 hearer. Conscience often makes the soul see itself 
 in the gospel mirror. 
 
 At first he was so annoyed that he resolved not 
 to go again, but, remembering his promise to his 
 uncle, he continued to attend, and the serious im- 
 pression was deepened. 
 
 He also joined the Sunday-school, but cared little 
 for either church or school. One might have been 
 excused for thinking him a not very hopeful sub- 
 ject, and his own Sunday-school teacher considered 
 him a very unpromising pupil ; and certainly the 
 outcome of his case should be a great encourage- 
 ment for teachers, and help them to have greater 
 patience with their dull and indifferent scholars. 
 
190 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 The first encouragement the teacher received, and 
 the first gleam of interest manifested by the boy, 
 was Dwight saying, " That Moses was what you 
 would call a pretty smart sort of a man, wasn't he ? " 
 A rude and ignorant question, one might have said, 
 but, coming from that boy, the teacher was encour- 
 aged to answer him in such a way that he awakened 
 interest on the part of the scholar and gained his 
 confidence. 
 
 The teacher, seeing his opportunity, soon after 
 visited him and asked him if he would not like to 
 become a Christian. Dwight thought he would, 
 and though he had a very indifferent knowledge of 
 the way of life, he began to make an effort. There 
 was a change in his conduct, but no sudden and 
 complete transformation. He began, however, in 
 his humble way to seek the Saviour, and soon after 
 he was converted. What an encouragement to the 
 Sunday-school worker if such a rough pebble could 
 turn out such a precious stone ! 
 
 Dwight was now seventeen years of age, and, de- 
 siring to make a public profession of his faith, he 
 applied for admission into the Church ; but the 
 
Mr. Moody an Illustration. 191 
 
 committee who considered his application found 
 him so unable to give a satisfactory reason for the 
 hope that was in him, and so unacquainted with 
 the fundamental doctrines of Christianity, that they 
 recommended him to delay a public profession un- 
 til he became more thoroughly acquainted with the 
 teachings of the New Testament. 
 
 Mr. Moody, speaking of this, says : " When I first 
 became a Christian I tried to join the Church, but 
 they wouldn't have me, because they didn't believe 
 I was really converted." 
 
 A committee was appointed to watch over him 
 and help him, and, after a probation of six months 
 or more, he again presented himself for admission, 
 and was received into the communion of the 
 Church. 
 
 He was now a youth of eighteen, and he very 
 soon showed himself a willing worker. He began 
 early to speak for Jesus in the prayer-meetings of 
 the Church and in some little mission meetings in 
 another place. 
 
 But so crude were his thoughts, and so ungram- 
 matical were his expressions, that on the first occa- 
 
192 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 sion when the meeting was over the pastor took 
 him aside and advised him to cease speaking in the 
 meetings, and to serve God in some other way. Other 
 rebukes of a similar nature came from many of the 
 well-meaning people of the Church, who could not 
 appreciate the zealous young convert's efforts to 
 help his neighbors to the kingdom of heaven. 
 They even called upon Dwight's uncle, and asked 
 him to request the youth to hold his peace ; but 
 this he declined to do, replying that he was glad 
 that Dwight had grace and courage to profess his 
 faith in Christ. 
 
 Here came out some of his strong characteristics. 
 He was courageous and persevering, and, nothing 
 daunted, he continued to attend the prayer-meet- 
 ings and to make brief remarks. He had commit- 
 ted himself as a young worker in the Church, and 
 his piety and pluck held him true to his purpose. 
 
 Years after, an old member of the same Church, 
 finding Mr. Moody famous as a Christian worker in 
 the West, spoke disparagingly of the religious con- 
 dition of that section for allowing him such promi- 
 nence, for, he said, " When we had him in our 
 
Mr. Moody an Illustration. 193 
 
 Church, we wouldn't let him speak in our prayer- 
 meetings." 
 
 The pastor of the same Chifrch, however, took a 
 different view of the matter when he saw the work 
 Mr. Moody was doing in Chicago. When he came 
 back to Boston he called on Moody's uncle and 
 said : " I told our people last night that we ought 
 to be ashamed of ourselves. There is that young 
 Moody, who we thought did not know enough to 
 be in our Church, exerting a greater influence for 
 Christ than any other man in the great North-west." 
 
 If young Moody had taken the bad advice that 
 was given him by good people, the world never 
 would have heard of him ; but he went on doing 
 what he believed to be his duty, and to-day the 
 world honors his name. 
 
 About a year after his conversion, the boy of 
 nineteen went to Chicago, where he obtained a sit- 
 uation in a shoe-store, though his employer had 
 misgivings on account of Dwight's blunt speech and 
 impetuous manner, the very elements which, with 
 subsequent training, became powerful forces for 
 
 good. 
 13 
 
194 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 Several of the clerks lodged in the store, and, 
 after the hour of closing, would turn the room into 
 a debating hall for the discussion of various sub- 
 jects, especially theology, and, doubtless, these dis- 
 cussions in that impromptu literary society greatly 
 aided young Moody in his subsequent efforts as a 
 speaker. 
 
 His impetuous earnestness for the cause of relig- 
 ion soon showed itself. It is said that, returning to 
 the store one night after he had been at a prayer- 
 meeting, he found two of the boys playing a game, 
 when, instantly dashing the pieces on the floor, and 
 before a word could be spoken, he dropped on his 
 knees and began to pray. His method was faulty, 
 but his earnestness is to be commended. 
 
 Joining a Congregational Church, he attended 
 the prayer-meeting, exhorted and prayed, notwith- 
 standing, as in Boston, some of the good people 
 tried to dissuade him, and urged him to leave the 
 exhorting and praying to those who knew how to 
 exhort and pray. His religion showed itself, how- 
 ever, in more than talk, for he rented four pews 
 and kept them full of young men every Sunday. 
 
Mr. Moody an Illustration. 195 
 
 After a time he began to attend a Methodist 
 class-meeting. Finding in this Church a people to 
 him more congenial and sympathetic, he joined a 
 band of young men who went around on Sabbath 
 mornings to hotels, saloons, etc., distributing 
 tracts, and inviting people to attend the services 
 of the Church, and it is said that it was not an 
 uncommon circumstance to see this young Congre- 
 gationalist standing in front of the Methodist 
 Church, at a time when there was no service in his 
 own, giving out printed and verbal invitations to 
 the passers-by to come in to the services. 
 
 Thus he began to show that catholicity of spirit 
 which has been such a great power in his evangel- 
 istic efforts, and here he began his habit of giving 
 personal invitations to strangers and others to at- 
 tend divine worship. 
 
 On one of his tract-distributing tours he discov- 
 ered a little mission Sunday-school, and this illit- 
 erate youth of nineteen, who could scarcely read a 
 chapter through, offered himself as a teacher. Poor 
 material, one might say, but those he proposed to 
 teach knew even less than he did himself. The 
 
196 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 superintendent informed him that he had already 
 twelve teachers and only sixteen scholars — nearly 
 as many teachers as scholars ; but said that if he 
 would go out and gather a class he would permit 
 him to teach it. So out he went and tried his 
 favorite method of personal solicitation, and the 
 next Sunday young Moody entered the school, fol- 
 lowed by eighteen rough and ragged urchins. 
 
 Feeling, however, that he was not so well quali- 
 fied for the position of teacher as for recruiting 
 officer, he placed his class under the care of an- 
 other who was more competent, and went out into 
 the streets to seek more scholars, and brought in 
 fresh supplies until the school was filled. 
 
 When it was full it occurred to him that he 
 might organize a school of his own. So, finding a 
 deserted saloon among the very poor and de- 
 graded, he rented it, and began his new enterprise. 
 During the week and on Sunday he would go out 
 and become acquainted with the young people, and 
 actually coax them to come to his school. After 
 awhile the saloon was not large enough to hold the 
 scholars, and the school was removed to a large 
 
Mr. Moody an Illustration. 197 
 
 hall, which was generally used on Saturday night 
 for dancing, so that it took most of Sunday 
 morning to sweep out the sawdust and wash out 
 the stains of tobacco and beer. For sometime 
 there were no chairs or benches, so that the scholars 
 were compelled to stand, or else sit on the floor. 
 But Moody's executive ability began to show itself, 
 and he. proved himself equal to the emergency. 
 Resolving himself into a committee of finance, he 
 went here and there and raised the needed funds, 
 and his power as an organizer gradually grew with 
 the demand until he reduced the rude rabble in his 
 school to some kind of order. 
 
 In three months the school numbered two hun- 
 dred, in six months three hundred and fifty, and 
 within a year the average attendance was between 
 six and seven hundred, with occasionally a crowd 
 of nearly one thousand. 
 
 Young Moody's methods are worth studying. 
 He did not open his school and wait for scholars to 
 come. He obeyed Christ's command to " Go." 
 He followed the example of Jesus, and went out 
 "to seek and to save that which was lost." 
 
198 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 He was a marvelous recruiting sergeant. He 
 would visit house after house and hunt up scholars 
 for the Sunday-school, or, walking along the streets, 
 would invite those he met to go with him to 
 Church ; and he has been known to go out before 
 the evening service, and at the hour of service 
 come into the church, followed by a long proces- 
 sion of young men, whom he had found, and 
 brought with him on an errand which, to them, 
 was evidently something new. 
 
 Moody, usually accompanied by his friend, Still- 
 son, spent every evening, from the close of business 
 until ten or eleven o'clock, hunting up scholars one 
 by one, and on Sunday they would make a grand 
 excursion, and generally bring in a dozen or so of 
 those they had found. 
 
 Sometimes his visits were attended with danger 
 of personal violence, and sometimes he was actually 
 molested by the vicious people with whom he came 
 in contact, so that occasionally he was obliged to 
 find safety in flight, and then, he used to say, his 
 legs were his best friends. 
 
 On one occasion he could not get away from 
 
Mr. Moody an Illustration. 199 
 
 three ruffians, who threatened to kill him, and he 
 exclaimed, " Look here, give a fellow a chance to 
 say his prayers, wont you ? " As they permitted 
 him, he fell on his knees, and prayed so earnestly 
 for his persecutors, that they quietly slipped away 
 from the room, and he conducted the children he 
 came for to the Sunday-school. 
 
 He says of himself: " For a long time I used to 
 be the laughing-stock of this community, because I 
 used to stop people on the street and elsewhere 
 and talk to them about their souls ; but that was 
 the school in which I learned to preach the Gospel. 
 It was my rule to speak to some one every day. 
 One night as I was going home, when I got as far 
 as the corner of Clark and Lake streets, I remem- 
 bered that I hadn't spoken to any unconverted 
 man that day about his soul. But just then I hap- 
 pened to see a man leaning against the lamp-post, 
 so I went up and put my hand on his shoulder, 
 and asked him if he loved the Lord. He was very 
 angry, turned round and cursed me, and afterward 
 went to a friend of mine and said, ' If you have 
 any influence with that man Moody, I wish you 
 
2oo Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 would tell him to stop his impudence. He is 
 doing more harm than any ten men in Chicago.' 
 My friend came and tried to persuade me that I 
 was doing mischief by speaking to strangers that 
 way, but I replied that God hadn't showed it to 
 me in that light, and that until he did I should 
 keep right on as before. 
 
 " Well, a little while after that, when I used to 
 live up in the Young Men's Christian Association 
 rooms, and was janitor, and sexton, and secretary, 
 and what-not, very early one morning I heard a 
 rap at my door, and, as soon as I could dress me, 
 I opened it, and there stood a man who was a per- 
 fect stranger. 
 
 " ' Don't you know me ? ' he asked. ' I am the 
 man who cursed you for asking him about his soul 
 down there at the corner of Clark and Lake streets. 
 I haven't had a minute's peace since, and now I 
 am come to ask you to pray for me.' " 
 
 This is the way to gather in and build up a 
 Church. A half dozen earnest and thoroughly 
 consecrated souls, who will go out and invite oth- 
 ers to come, and do it patiently and bravely, will 
 
Mr. Moody an Illustration. 201 
 
 soon greatly enlarge a congregation, quicken the 
 Church's activity, and probably see a revival in 
 which many will be saved. 
 
 Some time after he began his Sunday-school he 
 established week-night prayer-meetings in the old 
 saloon, and thus tried to bring his work to a relig- 
 ious focus, and in that rude place, with seats made 
 out of rough boards placed upon empty nail kegs, 
 and lighted by a few candles, many darkened souls 
 felt the light of the Holy Spirit. He had already 
 learned that something more was needed than 
 merely the intellectual conception of truth, the 
 mere learning of the Word — that it must have a 
 spiritual application, and be brought down from 
 the head to the heart ; a lesson which too many 
 Sunday-school teachers have failed to learn, and 
 because of which their knowledge and intellectual 
 skill is a spiritual failure. 
 
 When Moody began his Sunday-school he was a 
 young man of very little general knowledge and 
 exceedingly illiterate. He could scarcely read a 
 chapter in the Bible unless it was composed of 
 short and simple words ; but he began to be more 
 
202 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 and more conscious of his defective education and 
 his lack of accurate scriptural knowledge. 
 
 He had read here and there in the Bible because 
 he liked it, but now he began to turn his reading 
 into study, and he devoted himself to the study of 
 chapter after chapter, spelling out the difficult 
 words, and skipping the ones he could not 
 master. 
 
 An old friend of Mr. Moody, in an address deliv- 
 ered in a convention in Canada, said : 
 
 " The first time I ever saw him was at a meeting 
 in a little old shanty that had been abandoned by a 
 saloon keeper. Mr. Moody had got the place to 
 hold a meeting in at night. I went there a little 
 late, and the first thing I saw was a man standing 
 with a few tallow candles around him, holding a 
 negro boy, and trying to read to him the story of 
 the Prodigal Son ; and a great many of the words 
 he could not make out and had to skip. I thought, 
 If the Lord can ever use such an instrument as 
 that for his honor and glory it will astonish me. 
 
 " After that meeting was over Mr. Moody said to 
 me : ' Reynolds, I have got only one talent. I 
 
Mr. Moody an Illustration. 203 
 
 have no education, but I love the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 and I want to do something for him ; and I want 
 you to pray for me.' I have never ceased from 
 that day to this, morning and night, to pray 
 for that devoted Christian soldier. I have watched 
 him, have had counsel with him, and known him 
 thoroughly ; and, for a consistent walk and con- 
 versation, I have never met a man to equal him. 
 It astounds me when I look back and see what 
 Mr. Moody was thirteen years ago, and then what 
 he is under God to-day — shaking Scotland to its 
 very center, and reaching now over to Ireland. 
 The last time I heard from him his injunction was, 
 ' Pray for me every day ; pray now that God will 
 keep me humble.' " 
 
 This statement shows not only the illiteracy of 
 the young worker, but also his spirit of earnest de- 
 votion, which, in spite of his other deficiencies has 
 made him so successful. 
 
 Moody's success in his school brought him invita- 
 tions to address Sunday-school conventions in vari- 
 ous places, and his hearers were greatly influenced 
 by the plain, matter-of-fact style of the uncultured 
 
204 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 young man, impressed by his hard common sense, 
 and aroused by his enthusiasm. 
 
 The little skill he had acquired in recitations in 
 the country school helped him in these efforts to 
 stand before an audience and express his ideas ; but 
 he has since confessed that he made himself unpop- 
 ular in those gatherings by overmuch pious dis- 
 course. He says: "I suppose they used to think 
 me a nuisance. I used to think I must say some- 
 thing in every meeting I attended, until one good 
 minister advised me to hold my tongue." 
 
 The effect of this blunt counsel did not cause him 
 to lose his religion, or discourage him from fur- 
 ther effort, as it might have done in the case of a 
 weaker character, but set him to thinking how he 
 could improve his speech and make his addresses 
 more acceptable. He was full of faults, and he 
 knew he was faulty, but he was anxious to overcome 
 them, and so he observed, reflected, and corrected. 
 
 One of his friends said, " Moody was all the time 
 making blunders, but he never made the same mis- 
 take twice." Another friend said to him one day, 
 " Moody, if you want to draw wine out of a cask, it 
 
Mr. Moody an Illustration. 205 
 
 is needful first to put some in. You are all the 
 time talking, and you ought to begin to study." 
 
 Moody saw the force of the remark, and con- 
 sented to enter upon a course of reading; but, be- 
 fore he had read very much, his friend was suddenly 
 called away from the city, and Moody never became 
 a bookish man. 
 
 But he continued a close student of the Bible. 
 Mr. Stillson, of Chicago, who was for a long time 
 his counselor and helper, declares that during those 
 years he does not know of Moody's owning any 
 other book except a copy of the New Testament. 
 
 For a time he drew his discourses from the expe- 
 riences of Christians and the affairs of every-day 
 life, but he grew to be more and more a preacher of 
 the Word, and the more he depended upon and 
 used the Scriptures the more potent he became. 
 He was led to this change of method by a remark 
 which Mr. Harry Morehouse, the English Bible 
 reader, made to him. Said he : " Mr. Moody, you 
 are sailing on the wrong tack. If you will change 
 your course, and learn to preach God's word instead 
 of your own, he'll make you a great power for good." 
 
206 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 Mr. Moody responded : " You must have studied 
 a great many books to come by your knowledge of 
 it ;" to which Mr. Morehouse replied : " No. Since 
 I began to be an evangelist I have been a man of 
 one book. If a text of Scripture troubles me, I ask 
 another text to explain it ; and if this will not an- 
 swer, I carry it straight to the Lord." 
 
 This conversation had a great effect upon Mr. 
 Moody, and from that time his preaching was ob- 
 served to be very scriptural ; one said, " Brother 
 Moody used to preach his experience, and there 
 wasn't much wheat in that ; but now he preaches 
 the word of God, and that is all wheat." He made 
 the Bible his companion, and his discourses became 
 rich with the precious truth he drew from God's 
 word, and even to this day Mr. Moody knows few 
 other books. 
 
 His case shows what an illiterate youth may 
 become with but few books, and how largely Chris- 
 tian workers should depend upon God's word. Yet 
 there is little doubt that he read in a desultory 
 manner, and appropriated whatever thought he 
 could use. As one has said, " He reckoned all ser- 
 
Mr. Moody an Illustration. 207 
 
 mons and addresses which he heard and read as so 
 much lawful plunder, and of this he made no secret. 
 He would sometimes say to a minister, " I heard 
 you preach from such a text at such a time, and I 
 went home and preached that sermon to my peo- 
 ple." But the author himself would not recognize 
 his production in Mr. Moody's version. This 
 method, which we could not defend in the case of a 
 well-educated man, no doubt helped to train him in 
 the expression and arrangement of his thoughts. 
 Then, as he moved among educated people, he 
 gained ideas from them, and a sort of culture from 
 contact with culture, so that at last he has become 
 able to interest intelligent audiences and profit 
 even Scotch professors. 
 
 Another of Moody's good points was his power 
 to get others to work. He was born to command. 
 A leader among boys, he became a leader among 
 men. He had ability to discern another's fitness 
 for untried work, and he had tact to get him 
 into it. 
 
 When he gathered his first Sunday-school class 
 he saw that another was better fitted for teaching 
 
208 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 than he ; so, giving him the class, he went out to 
 bring others in, a work for which he was better 
 qualified. 
 
 When he formed his Sunday-school he gath- 
 ered around him an earnest band of workers, but 
 he felt that something more was needed. Then 
 he remembered Mr. J. V. Farwell, a prominent mer- 
 chant, whom he used to meet in the Sunday morn- 
 ing Methodist class-meeting, and, knowing his qual- 
 ities, he determined to secure him as superintend- 
 ent. So he invited him to visit the mission school. 
 Mr. Farwell came. Such a school he had never 
 seen. Before him was a wild mass of rough and 
 restless human beings, almost every minute rush- 
 ing into confusion and crying out loudly, as though 
 they were in the streets or on a playground, from 
 which clamor and uproar they were occasionally res- 
 cued by a Scripture reading, a song, or a speech. 
 
 Mr. Moody introduced Mr. Farwell to deliver 
 an address. Mr. Farwell responded in a very few 
 words, but great was his surprise, at its close, to 
 hear Mr. Moody nominate him as superintendent, 
 and, before there was time to object, the school 
 
Mr. Moody an Illustration. 209 
 
 elected him with a voice like the sound of com-, 
 bined thunders. 
 
 Another instance reveals the same faculty. One 
 morning Moody observed a stranger standing on 
 the corner near his church, apparently with nothing 
 to do and nowhere to go. He went up to him, 
 and, handing him a number of papers, said, with 
 a pleasant promptness, " Here, take this pile of 
 papers, stand at the corner, and give one to every 
 body that passes by." The stranger could not 
 refuse, but did as directed, and, being interested, 
 joined Moody's Church, and became a most effi- 
 cient worker. 
 
 It is not only what Mr. Moody has done himself 
 
 that has made him such a power, but also what he 
 
 has persuaded others to do. He intuitively knew 
 
 himself, and experience perfected that knowledge. 
 
 He knew his power, and thrust himself into that 
 
 for which he was best fitted — where his greatest 
 
 strength lay. He did all he could, but he did not 
 
 expect to do ail himself, so he called others into 
 
 the field. In this ability to get others to work — a 
 
 talent which he has shown very conspicuously of 
 14 
 
210 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 late years — do we find one of the best features of 
 Mr. Moody's methods. Not only should we work, 
 but we should encourage others to work also. 
 
 Gradually the field opened before him, and as his 
 experience and knowledge increased, opportunities 
 multiplied. The way opened as he became ready 
 to enter. 
 
 His missionary labors grew upon him, so that at 
 last he determined to give up his long-cherished 
 purpose of making a fortune, and to devote his whole 
 time to evangelical work. 
 
 A friend said, "How do you expect to live?" 
 and he replied, " God will provide if he wishes me 
 to keep on ; and I will keep on till I am obliged to 
 stop." Money that he had saved soon disappeared, 
 until he no longer had money to pay for lodging, 
 and was obliged to sleep upon the benches in the 
 hall of the Young Men's Christian Association. 
 
 On the breaking out of the Civil War, in 1861, 
 he extended his evangelistic work to the camps 
 near Chicago, and afterward entered the service 
 of the Christian Commission, and visited many of 
 the encampments and battle-fields, relieving the 
 
Mr. Moody an Illustration. 2 1 1 
 
 wants of the soldiers, and pointing them to the 
 Saviour. 
 
 When the war was over, he went back to his local 
 work in Chicago, and erected a chapel, at a cost of 
 $20,000, which he himself collected. 
 
 It will not be necessary to refer to his work in the 
 Young Men's Christian Association further than to 
 mention the fact that he became its president. 
 
 After these years of training there came to him a 
 call from England to come over and carry on his 
 evangelistic work in the Old World. He accepted 
 the invitation, and made his arrangements to go; 
 but, up to within an hour of his departure from 
 Chicago, he had not a single dollar with which to 
 defray his expenses. His faith that God would 
 take care of him when he was in the line of duty 
 was well nigh unbounded, and he prepared for the 
 voyage with just as much confidence as if he had a 
 well-filled purse. Just at this moment it occurred 
 to Mr. Farwell that Mr. Moody might need some 
 money after he reached England, and, as he bade 
 him farewell, he placed in his hand a check for five 
 hundred dollars, and so his need was supplied. 
 
212 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 His wonderful career in England, Ireland, and 
 Scotland is now a matter of history. Hundreds of 
 thousands came to hear him, from the most de- 
 graded classes and the humblest peasants up to 
 members of the nobility, so that he literally stood 
 before princes. The ignorant flocked to hear the 
 truth from his lips, and, though unpolished and un- 
 grammatical, he was heard just as gladly by learned 
 professors of theology. 
 
 We cannot sketch his great success on that side 
 the Atlantic, or in the great cities on this side, and 
 only refer to it to call to mind to what a great 
 height of usefulness the ignorant boy had ascended, 
 and to illustrate the possibilities of the poorest ma- 
 terial in our Churches. 
 
 It remains for us to discover some of the charac- 
 teristics of this celebrated Christian worker. We 
 mention them briefly. 
 
 He was a willing worker; he sought opportuni- 
 ties. He was courageous; he dared to do that 
 which was difficult and to face opposition. He was 
 earnest ; he threw his whole soul into whatever he 
 undertook. He was ready to do the humblest 
 
Mr. Moody an Illustration. 213 
 
 work that offered, and just as ready to attempt the 
 greatest if it seemed to be duty. He was self-for- 
 getful, thinking more of the work than of himself. 
 He had great faith in God. He was a natural, 
 straightforward talker, expressing the truth plainly, 
 but pointedly. He was studious, and tried to im- 
 prove, though he was not a student of many books. 
 He drew the material for his discourses almost en- 
 tirely from the Bible. Finally, he was patient and 
 untiring, and held on even when defeat seemed be- 
 fore him. 
 
 There are many other points which we might 
 present, were we desirous of doing more than sim- 
 ply to show what the humblest may accomplish for 
 Christ ; but we omit reference to them. 
 
 His history is a great encouragement to the 
 young Christian who thinks himself incompetent to 
 take part in Church work. Let it be remembered 
 that few are as poorly qualified as young Moody 
 was. We have seen how illiterate and imperfect 
 he was at first, but how he gradually improved and 
 grew in power, and so his example is an encourage- 
 ment to the most ignorant and incompetent. Let 
 
214 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 such be willing to do what they can. Let them 
 begin where they are able, and gradually they will 
 acquire ability for grander work. Let them be stu- 
 dious and go on courageously, earnestly, and pa- 
 tiently, and they will be astonished at what they 
 will be enabled to accomplish. Let them begin 
 early to work for Christ, and with such an example 
 as that of Moody before them, let them never be 
 disheartened. Mr. Moody himself has said : 
 
 " Courage is necessary to success in Christian 
 work. I have yet to find a man who is easily dis- 
 couraged that amounts to any thing anywhere. If 
 a minister is easily discouraged his people soon find 
 it out, and lose their courage, also. If a Sunday- 
 school teacher hasn't any courage, his class find it 
 out and leave him. About the most worthless set 
 of people you can find is a lot of faint-hearted Sun- 
 day-school teachers. If we are to have any success 
 we must be of good courage, and we must also 
 meditate upon, and believe in, and obey, the word 
 of God. God hasn't any use for a man who is all 
 the time looking on the dark side. What he wants 
 is a man who isn't afraid. ' Be of good courage,' 
 
Mr. Moody an Illustration. 215 
 
 says he, ' fear nothing; believe that I am willing to 
 use you, and then I will use you.' " 
 
 Let every Christian learn from the achievement 
 of the poorly qualified Moody what a willing worker 
 may accomplish, and let each one courageously at- 
 tempt and patiently continue. 
 
 And let those who have little confidence in the 
 possibilities of the young and imperfect, learn to 
 what power and efficiency such may develop, and 
 what they may accomplish in spite of their manifest 
 imperfection. With the example of a blundering 
 Moody, who blundered into success, let all be care- 
 ful how they repress young beginners, and let it 
 teach them to seek and call out every possible tal- 
 ent for the service of God ! 
 
2i6 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 /^VUR allotted task is ended. We have not said 
 all that could have been said on the subject, 
 but we hope we have said enough to quicken the 
 interest of some of our readers in steady and sys- 
 tematic Church work, and, through them, to influ- 
 ence others who may never hear of this book. 
 
 In our treatment we have followed a very simple 
 and direct method, being anxious to make the 
 reader think of the subject rather than of the writ- 
 er ; and, not wishing to speak merely from our own 
 experience, we have freely strengthened our posi- 
 tions by credited quotations from others who have 
 spoken or written on this or kindred themes. 
 
 Our main object has been to answer the ques- 
 tion, How shall we employ our young people ? A 
 question which means, What shall we do with the 
 mass of our converts ? for the large majority of our 
 new members are young persons. Hence, neglect 
 
Conclusion. 217 
 
 of the young is neglect of a large proportion of 
 the Church, while caring for them is caring for the 
 majority of the present Church, and all of the 
 Church of the next few years, for the old will soon 
 drop off, and the youth of to-day will take their 
 places. 
 
 In considering this special theme we have also, to 
 some extent, been compelled to refer to matters 
 which belong equally to the older generation, so 
 that the work has two main thoughts : first, the 
 training of the young, and, secondly, the promotion 
 of general Christian activity. 
 
 If our words shall awaken greater attention to 
 the necessity and opportunity for more general 
 co-operation in Church work, and shall help bring 
 about a more thorough utilization of the energy 
 that belongs to young blood and young brain, we 
 shall feel amply rewarded for the time and thought 
 employed in the preparation of this book. 
 
 When the Church becomes a hive of busy work- 
 ers — when all work, old, middle-aged, and young 
 — incalculable results will follow ; the Church will 
 have greater temporal prosperity, greater acces- 
 
218 Young Workers in the Church. 
 
 sions, steadier and more symmetrical growth, great- 
 er spirituality, and vastly greater influence upon 
 the outer world. May the time speedily come 
 when the Church shall call into action the energies 
 of all classes, and especially of the young, so that 
 sanctified energy shall be directed by sanctified ex- 
 perience, for then only will the grandest achieve- 
 ments be possible, probable, and certain ! 
 
 THE END. 
 
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