I

NSTITUTIONS must be judged

after the same manner as men and trees. "By their fruits shall ye know them." By their fruits then shall our institutions be known and because of their fruits shall they receive our commendation or our condemnation. There are four American institutions whose business it is to make men and women. These are the family, the school, the church and the State. The two Christian Associations are agencies of the church.

The only justification for the Association is that through this agency the church and society can accomplish certain important work with. greater economy and efficiency than in any other form. The several denominations in your community may maintain their separate places of worship and study, but very few churches can afford the cost and labor necessary for successful institutional work. These lines of work can, however, very properly be centered in the Association.

For the sake of clearness permit me to group my thoughts under several headings.

I. Shall we consider the Christian Association as a force for evangelism? Perhaps we are not of one mind here. There may be some who think this work belongs to the church and not to the Association. Let me insist that

it belongs to both. Possibly you do not hold large public meetings. That is not absolutely necessary. Possibly you do not have Bible classes and study classes. If so, that is a misfortune.

But the lack of these does not rob you of opportunity or release you from responsibility. Evangelism is not a matter of preaching but of

* Professor Ganfield, who gave the above address at the Central City Conference, holds the chair of economics and political science at Carroll College, Wisconsin.

personality. It is not a question of eloquence but of earnestness.

Suppose that this company sat in the place of that original one hundred and twenty in the upper room. Suppose that to us was committed the task of spreading the gospel throughout the world and of reaching the uttermost man. What would be your suggestion? Well, I think I know. Some one would arise and suggest a subscription, for if this big enterprise is ours it will take lots of money and before we start we must have a large fund. Another would certainly propose that we appoint a committee to prepare some plan and method of work, for surely nothing big was ever achieved without a big program and a perfect plan. Still a third, possibly a business man, if one were present, would arise and propose that if this great work were to be done, we must have some chosen and appointed men. So he would suggest that we select from the company several of our number and send them

away to school and college, and then lay upon them the hands of authority and send them out to preach.

Now, young women, please mark what I It is not by sermons that the world shall be won. It is not by buildings that men and women are saved. Plans never builded a bridge, erected a cathedral or saved a soul. Money, methods, sermons and plans are all useful and needful, but Jesus' method of saving this old world is to reach, touch, and save the life whom you touch, through you. Contact means opportunity. Opportunity means responsibility. one in your community has such close contact with scores of young women and girls as is possessed and enjoyed by the secretary of the Association. Your opportunity is immense. Your responsibility is tremendous.

No

II. May I suggest to you that the Christian Association embodies the finest ideals, and the Association girl exemplifies the finest type of Christian life. Here I have for you no word of warning but rather of congratulation. The Christian life has taken on larger meanings because of the work of these Associations. This life is no longer one of restraint, cramped and bound in by false notions and foolish pride. Rather we have come to see that the Christian life is "the life that is easy." It is the normal life. The

life longs for companionship. The young woman away from home must make new friends. Where shall she go? Whom shall she meet? It is your business to find her. It is your mission to see that in the city she finds new friends that are just as good as those from whom she parted when she left home. If you do not or cannot do this, she is defeated and you have failed.

Our friendships are our finest assets. Our friends make us what we are. You may blame me for my choice

life of sin is abnormal. Sin hurts. It wounds, it cuts, it kills, and souls. die hard. The Christian girl is the most normal girl in your community, and the more perfectly she responds to the high ideals of our common faith, the more normal and perfect does her life become.

III. What shall we say of the Association as a social center, as a place of recreation and social life? Here, if anywhere, our young women ought to be able to meet and make friends. I think you are performing this part of your work well. The average young

of friends, but do not blame me for what I am. Blame my friends. They made me. Now you cannot always blame the girl in the strange city for her choice of friends. You Association workers may be at fault if you have failed in your opportunity with this new girl.

IV. Do I dare ask you to assume an obligation in the new field of eugenics? I have no dogmas here. There is great need. Much may and must be done. Fathers and mothers are often unable or unwilling properly to instruct their sons and daughters. The

young women and girls are ready for sound counsel and sane help. I must leave the matter to your good judgment and delicate discretion. This word of warning-be sure you are wise as well as right, then go ahead. Our institutions are agencies of social preservation. They are the organs of our national and social life. We are spending time, money, energy and thought in varied efforts to improve the quality of the live stock upon our farms and conserve the resources of our land. Our future depends upon these things. But our future sustains a more vital relation to the quality and character of our men and women. The conservation of our American youth is the greatest achievement of the present hour. Your Association is committed, by its very purpose, to this sublime task.

V. The Christian Associations have not seized every opportunity. The social settlement proclaims your failure. Had our Associations had the abundant means and the large spirit, the social settlement would never have had a cause.

New institutions arise to meet new needs or because old institutions were too weak or ineffective to supply the want. Let me illustrate. Christian science embodies a fundamental truth. It may be obscured by much error, but a great truth is there. Now had the church been wise enough and broad enough to understand and include the whole truth then a separate sect had not arisen. But the church was too ignorant or too narrow. This truth found no abode within her palaces and therefore took up lodgings on the outside. Multitudes flocked to the standard and a large new sect appeared.

The sympathies and interests of Jesus Christ are as wide and as deep as are the interests and concerns of men. The interests and sympathies of the church must not be more restricted than those of her founder. For if the church refuse to be interested in all the interests and concerns of men,

how can she expect the masses of men to retain their interest in her?

Your Association is a branch of the church. You have a peculiar opportunity to come into vital contact with the life and needs of the women workers in our growing cities. You may be obliged to restrict the number and character of your activities, but you cannot afford, indeed you do not dare, to restrain or narrow your vision or your sympathies, so that you refuse interest in the great economic and social concerns and welfare of our American women.

VI. This brings me to the last subject for our consideration-the relation of the Association to our great social and industrial problem. Suppose an industrial war is on. A strike is called. Your girls are involved. What is your duty? I have no fixed program. Time and place and conditions must be taken into account. Much counsel and earnest prayer will help in that crisis hour.

There are two sides to every conflict. There is a rashness that is folly. There is a cowardice that ill becomes a soldier. The Christian church and Association is not simply a hospital to care for the wounded. It is our business to care for the man injured on the Jericho road, but it is bigger business and better business to police the Jericho road so men can travel in safety.

It is your task and mine to care for the unfortunate and the injured, hurt and maimed by the machinery and systems of our modern social and industrial life. But it is also our business so to rid our social and industrial life of wrongs and abuses and injustice that our young women may live their lives in safety, and enjoy their leisure with purity and happiness and peace.

Three words of preaching and I am through. First, a word to the secretary: Do not allow your time and thought to become so absorbed with buildings and campaigns and plans that you fail to touch the lives of

the young women you ought to help. Yours is the biggest personality in the place, and every other life ought to feel the touch and inspiration of yours.

Second, a word to the volunteer worker: Do not let the seclusion and security of your life dull your appreciation of the conditions and the life of the hundreds of other girls,

or deaden your sympathies with them and their needs.

Third, a word to the girls: You are not simply sponges. You should not always ask, how much can you get, but how much can you give. The Association is not simply a place to opportunity to give your very best, get something. It is a place and an and in giving, your life shall be made. richer, larger and better.

A

ND Elijah said, "Thou hast asked a hard thing; nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee." You all remember that pathetic and invigorating incident related in the second chapter in the second Book of Kings. Jehovah is minded to take his servant the prophet Elijah from earth. Elijah and Elisha stood by the Jordan. "And Elijah took his mantle and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, so that they two went over on dry ground. And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha: 'Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee.' And Elisha said, 'I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.'

And he said, "Thou hast asked a hard thing; nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so.' And it came to pass, as they still went on and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried, 'My *This address was given by Bishop

Strange at the Southern Conference.

father, my father, the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof.' And Elisha took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and smote the waters and said, 'Where is the Lord God of Elijah? And when he also had smitten the waters they parted hither and thither, and Elisha went over. And when the sons of the prophets which were at Jericho saw him they said, 'The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha.' And they came to meet him and bowed themselves to the ground before him."

The point in this story is in the text, "If thou see me when I am taken from thee, then shalt thou have my spirit," that is, the power to see, gives the power to do and to be.

Let us go forward across the centuries to another Bible story in the New Testament days: There walks in the temple courts in Jerusalem a new deacon of the young church. He is a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit. He preaches to and teaches the people, who are moved to follow his guidance. He argues against the Jews and they are not able to answer his points. So in their anger and wickedness they hire false witnesses, stir up the people against him and drag Stephen before the council. As they make their false accusations, he

sits quiet and fearless, looking on them, and they mark how his face shines like the face of an angel. Then he rises and speaks; speaks of the history of God's love and care, of God's purpose for them, of their stubbornness and hardness of heart. As they break off the trial in a tumult, gathering stones to murder him, he looks away from them, and looks up into the open heavens and cries aloud, "Behold, I see the heavens open and the son of man standing on the right hand of God." That sight gave Stephen the power to do and to be, gave him the power to endure, calm and uncomplaining, the fearful punishment of a death by stoning, aye, and more than that, the power to be his master's true follower; for his last words were, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge."

In the latter days of the fifteenth century a young man sat in his simple. room, gazing on an atlas, holding a compass and scales in his hands. He had been a sailor; he was versed in all the marine knowledge of his day. He was studying, pondering, seeking more knowledge. Suddenly there came to him the vision; he saw that the world was round; he saw that there could be a new way to India, that there was some other continent over the unknown waters. This sight gave him courage, zeal and persistance. He traveled to different countries to enlist men and to gather money. He cut through indifference and mockery, endured refusals and overcame poverty. And at last through the generosity of Ferdinand and Isabella he sailed from Palos with his three tiny ships. I know of nothing in human history finer than Columbus in his little vessel, sailing an unknown sea, true to his vision. His crew murmured and then grew mutinous; his officers first grew cold and then besought him to return; and all alone Columbus keeps the rudder true, goes forward, following his star, sailing towards the land he sees. Sid

See (as they wept), God's warning! Admiral, turn!

Steersman, I said, hold straight to the West, Then down the night we saw the meteor burn.

So do the very heavens in fire protect. Good Admiral, put about, O Spain, dear Spain !

Hold straight into the West, I said again. Yet when the long time stagnant winds arise,

And day by day the keel to westward flies, My good, my people's ill doth come to be; Ever the winds into the West do blow, Never a ship, once turned, might homeward go;

Meanwhile we speed into the lonesome main.

For Christ's sake, parley, Admiral! Turn, before

We sail outside all bounds of help from pain.

Our help is in the West, I said once more. I marvel, how mine eye, ranging the night, From its big circling ever absently

Returns, thou large, low star, to fix on thee.

Maria, star! No star-a light, a light! Wouldst leap ashore, heart? Yonder burns a light.

Well, but I saw it, wait the Pinta's gun! Why, look, 'tis dawn, the land is clear, 'tis done;

Two dawns do break at once from Time's full hand;

God's, East; mine, West; good friends, behold, my land!

In the middle years of the past century there grew up in England a fair, intelligent and cultured English lady. Her parents were possessed of ample means, so leisure, fashion, frolic were hers for the asking. That is what her people had been contented with for generations and that was to be her portion; so her father and mother thought. But no, Florence Nightingale had a vision of other things; she saw her means and opportunities; she saw the suffering of the poor about her; she saw the need for nurses and hospitals. She busied herself with charity work on and about