A HISTORY OF IHE YOUNG MEI)||| I CHRISTIAN A%0 iii iifhil !il Cibrar;^ of Che theological ^emmarjp PRINCETON . NEW JERSEY FROM THE LIBRARY OF THE REVEREND JOHN ALEXANDER MACKAY LITT.D., D.D., LL.D., L.H.D. .Pt3 . mj=i C.l'.OKCi: WILLIAMS AT THI". ACl". ol" Tl 1 1 IM'V-FIVK HISTORY OF THE YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION PART I THE FOUNDING OF THE ASSOCIATION 1844-1855 PART II THE CONFEDERATION PERIOD 1855-1861 BY/ LAURENCE L. DOGGETT, Ph. D. PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL YOUNG MEn's CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION COLLEGE, SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS ASSOCIATION PRESS New YORK: 347 Madison Ave. 1922 JAN 22 1990 Copyright, 1922, by The International Committee ok YouNC, Men's Christian Associations Printed in the United States ok America PREFATORY NOTE TO VOLUME I. This first volume was presented as a thesis in the Department of Sociology of the University of Leipsic, under the direction of Prof, von Miaskowski in 1894. The purpose for which it was prepared explains its scope without further comment. The writer's interest in the history of the Association grew out of the preparation of a paper on the history of the American Movement, read before the "Ohio Church History Society," in 1892. Direct work upon this history was begun in August, 1893. In gathering material, several months were spent at the headquarters of the American Committee at New York, in the library of the American International Committee at Springfield, Mass., and at Exeter Hall in London. Visits have been made to the conference of the German Associations, held at Eisenach, in October, 1893 ; the World's Convention of Associations of all lands, at London, in June, 1894 ; to the headquarters of the German National Committee at Elberfeld, the World's Committee at Geneva, and the local Associa- tions at a variety of places, especially Berlin and Paris. From the libraries at Springfield, New York, London and Berlin, I have been kindly loaned reports and records, many of which are rare, and without which it would have been impossible to have gathered the numerous historical data. Personal interviews have been held with many of the actors in the Association's history ; especially am I in- debted to the noble Christian man whom all who know 4 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. this movement love and revere : Sir George Williams, the Father of the Young Men's Christian Association. The friends who have assisted me are so many, a com- plete list cannot be given. I am especially under obli- gation to W. Hind Smith and W. H. Mills of London, to Christian Phildius of Berlin and H, Helbing of Elber- feld, to S. D. Gordon, R. R. McBurney and Richard C. Morse, and Jacob T. Bowne of the International Train- ing School. This theme has grown into a work much beyond my expectation. I hope at some future day, if this volume meets with a kindly reception, to add two others on the second and third periods of the Association's history. L. L. D. February, 1896. CONTENTS FOR PART I, Chapter I. INTRODUCTION. PACE. Sec. I— The Study of Sociology 9 Sec. 2 — Religion as a Social Force lo Sec. 3— Influence of the Religion of Love ou Character .... 11 Sec. 4 — Religious Institutions 12 Sec. 5— Theme and Method M Chapter II. BEGINNINGS OK THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. Bee. 6 — Preparation in the British Churches 16 Sec. 7— The Industrial Revolution 22 Sec. 8— Origin of the London Association— Sir George Williams, 30 Sec. 9 — From the Founding to November, 1845 41 Sec. 10— Development of the Parent Association (1845-1851) . . 55 Sec. II— Financial History 72 Sec. 12— Extension of the Association (1S45-1851) 75 Sec. 13— Summary of the Results from 1844-1851 79 Chapter III. THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT. Sec. 14 — Preparation in the American Church (1800-1851) ... 81 Sec. 15 — The Industrial Situation 97 Sec. 16 — Founding of the American Association, December, 1851, to June, 1854 106 Sec. 17— The Confederation— William Chauncy Langdon .... 12s 6 CONTENTS. Chapter IV. FOUNDING OF THE CONTINENTAI. ASSOCIATION. Sec. i8— General Conditions on the Continent 141 Sec. 19— Preparation in the German Church 143 Sec. 20 — Social Conditions in Germany 149 Sec. 21 — Origin of the Jiinglings-Vereine 152 Sec. 22 — Geneva and Paris 162 Sec. 23 — Summary 164 Chapter V. THE FORMATION OF THE W0RI,D'S ALLIANCE. Sec. 24 — The Paris Convention 166 Sec. 25 — Conclusion 179 Appendices. Chronology of the Association 183 General and Association Literature 186 PART I. THE FOUNDING OF THE ASSOCIATION. The Founding of the Association. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. Section i. — The Study of Sociology.^ The thought of the ancient world was absorbed in the relation of man to nature and the universe. The Greek philosophers sought for an explanation of the physical world, and the principles underlying existence. They developed the study of Cosmology. The Middle Ages, through the introduction of Chris- tianity, became absorbed in the study of the relation of man to God. The teaching of Jesus Christ that God is "Our Father" and " thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind," riveted the attention of men and devel- oped the study of Theology ; men had advanced from a study of the universe to the study of God. The Reformation and the Renaissance shifted the point of view : men have not ceased to study nature or God ; they have perhaps eclipsed their fathers, but more and more the modern world is devoting itself to the study of the relation of man to man ; the study of society or Sociology — man in organized relationships. ^ Erdman's History of Philosophy ; Hough's English translation ; MacMillan & Co., N. Y., 3rd Edition, 1892. Sec. 259 "outline" in 3rd Vol. by Prof. H. C. King: Richard Ely's "Social Aspects oT Christianity." Chap. I. 10 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIOl^. The saying of Jesiis Christ, " Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," is being placed beside his teaching of love to God. Sec. 2. — Religion as a Social Force.- The two fundamental principles on which human so- ciety, not the ideal society, but present society is organized, are self-interest and altruism. Spencer, Drummond and Kidd, however much they disagree in the application of these two principles, practically rec- ognize them. " Egoism " and "Altruism," the " struggle for life," and " the struggle for the life of others," are different names for the same thing, Drummond makes these two principles evolve side by side. Kidd makes society the resultant of a continued warfare between them. He holds that reason dictates the pursuit of one's own interests, and religion through the conscience dictates that men should have regard for the interests of others. He thus recognizes religion as a social force. Spencer tries to ignore it. Professor Marshall, practi- cally in the same way with Benjamin Kidd, places religion in contrast with self-interest when he says, *' The two great forming agencies of the w^orld's history have been the religious and the economic." It is not the purpose of this treatise to discuss the manner in which religion has usually been treated as a social force, but to present an example of the way in which the Christian religion operates as a factor in socie- ty. Men are born with both the egoistic and the altruis- tic instinct. The Christian religion does not create either. It is natural for parents to love their children, and friends their friends. It is also natural for men to seek their own interests. Society may at present, as 2 "Social Evolution," Benjamin Kidd, MacMillan & Co., N. Y., 1894. "Ascent of Man," Henry Drummond; Hodder, London, 1894. " Principles of Economics," Vol. I., p. i., Prof. Marshall. INTRODUCTION. 11 Benjamin Kidd holds, be the result of a struggle between these two forces, but the Christian religion is gradually harmonizin'g the two, by a proper recognition of both. It seeks to control both forces and establish a proper equilibrium between the two on the principle laid down by Jesus Christ, " Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy- self." Egoism is regard only for self; altruism is re- gard only for others ; loi'e is a proper regard for both one's own interest and the interests of others. Christianity is the greatest of social forces because it is the religion of equal love between man and man. Sec. 3. — Influence of the Religion of Love on Character. Benjamin Kidd points out that the superiority of one race over another consists not in intellect, but in the possession of the moral qualities of virtue, steadfastness, integrity and self-mastery. He shows successfully that these qualities, and not intellectual gifts, have deter- mined the survival and supremacy of nations and races. Paul teaches that love (Galatians 5: 22) is the foun- dation stone on which these moral qualities rest. Love makes men honest towards their fellows ; love is the source of self-sacrifice ; the mainspring of true virtue ; the inspiration of valor; the highest incentive to achievement, and to what Paul and Spencer^ alike place as the cap-stone of virtue, self-mastery or self-control. I do not wish here to discuss the relation of man to God or to the future life, but to insist that when a man becomes a follower of Jesus Christ and endeavors to love his fellow men as himself, he becomes a new factor in society. His relation to the family, the State, the economic world, and all human life are governed no longer by the principles of self-interest or altruism, but ^"Principles of Sociology-," Herbert Spencer; Third Edition, Appleton & Co., N. Y., 1891, Vol. I., Chap. VL 12 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. a. new principle has liarmonized both — equal love to himself and his fellow men. The religion of love works at the foundation of so- ciety because it forms character in individuals. It is a primal social force. Henri Amiel has recognized its relation to society when he says: "Society rests upon conscience ; not upon science ; civilization is first and foremost a moral thing ; without honesty, without re- spect for law, without the worship of duty, without the love of one's neighbor, in a word, without virtue, the whole is menaced and falls into decay. The ultimate ground upon which every civilization rests is the aver- age morality of the masses, and a sufficient amount of practical righteousness." * The principle of love which harmonizes the egoistic and altruistic forces in man, and thus builds character, the foundation of society, has taken of necessity the next step and seeks to guide men's actions. The re- ligion of love not only shapes the actions of those who have accepted it, but it is constantly creating a public sentiment, a tradition of conduct, so to speak, which guides the movements of society. The ideal society which fulfills its functions on the principle of love between man and man may seem un- attainable, but it is this power of love which has abol- ished slavery, mitigated war, and which for centuries has been diminishing class and hereditary privileges. It is the practical side of the religion of Christ, and it is working today with unabated power. The religion of love is a fundamental social force, because it moulds men's character and governs their conduct. Sec. 4. — Religious Institutions. Like all great sociological forces, religion founds in- * Amiel's "Journal," Mrs. Humphrey Ward's English translation, London, 1893, Vol. XL, p. 86. INTRODUCTION. J 3 stitutions to fulfill its mission. The political, economic, educational and social forces of society have estab- lished powerful agencies which act with far-reaching consequences. The institution established by its found- er to fulfill the mission of the Christian religion is the Christian Church. In connection with what is popularly comprehended under this term, the religion of Jesus Christ has built up a vast net-work of agencies, differ- ently managed at various periods of Christian history, but adapted as completely as the resources at hand and the circumstances of the times would permit, to fulfill the great mission before it. A multitude of organizations, institutions and estab- lishments, under the centralized authority of the Pope, such as cloisters, schools of learning, monastic orders and alms houses, were established by the Church of Rome in the middle ages, as a direct expression of the religion of love. Mr. Ingram, in his history of Economic Science, speaks thus : *' Catholic Christianity brought out more forcibly and presented more persistently the higher aims of life, and so produced a more elevated way of viewing social relations. It purified domestic life, a re- form which has the most important economic results. It taught the doctrine of fundamental human equality ; heightened the dignity of labor, and preached with quite a new emphasis the obligation of love, compassion and forgiveness, and the claims of the poor. To the influence of Christianity as a moral doctrine was added that of the church, as an organization, charged with the application of that doctrine to men's daily transac- tions." As the various sociological forces extend their influ- ence, the organizations of society increase in intricacy and complexity. The progress of religion illustrates this law. The organizations of the early church were 14 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. simple, compared with the ramified agencies of modern Protestantism. The more vital and vigorous spiritual forces are, the more completely they lay hold of the classes of society, and the diflferent departments of life. The Christian religion is a primal social force, be- cause it begets love between man and man, and thus moulds human character and directs human conduct. In order to accomplish this practical side of its mission it founds such institutions as the changing circum- stances of the race demand. Sec. 5. — Theme and Method. The object of this thesis is to show the operation of this social force in one of the most important spheres of life — young manhood. One of the remarkable institu- tions established by the Christian Church is the Young Men's Christian Association. It is desired to show, first, the way in which the spirit of Christian love has created this institution, and second, to measure as truly as possible its influence and significance. In discuss- ing its development, I have tried to bear in mind that it is an expression of a spiritual and religious force, and have sought to give a true picture of the motives, as- pirations and forces which have guided it. They are distinctively religious. Doctrine, polity and the relation to the organized church are discussed only so far as these afiect the constitution of the organization and the character and conduct of its members. In order to measure the influence of the Young Men's Christian Association, we must understand first, the nature of the religious forces which produced it, and second, the social environment which has made such a movement necessary'. We must study the cause and the occasion. Geographically^ the Association has developed three IXrRODUCTIOS\ 15 types of life, each type in the main being determined by the conditions which surround it. These three types of Association life are the Anglo-American, the Continental (European), and the Missionary. The Association is an International Evangelical Institution, and reflects the condition of Protestantism in the differ- ent sections of the world. As contrasted with Roman- ism, a fundamental characteristic of the Protestant Church is freedom. It rests on individual consent; it aims at the development of the individual, and seeks to influence society and the state mainly through the individual. While freedom is its general characteristic, the conditions of Protestantism on the continent of Europe are so different from those which prevail in English-speaking countries, and further, the conditions in non-Christian lands are so diverse from those in lands that are denominated Christian, that it is necessary to treat separately the three types of Association life. Chronologically, Association history is divided into three periods: (i) Introduction of the Association idea. 1844-1855. (2) The development of Association methods. 1855- 1878. (3) Wide extension of the movement. 1878-192 2. The chronological method has been chosen as the basis of treatment, combining with it the topical and the geographical, but the movements in different coun- tries will be presented only so far as may be necessary to get a true perspective. This thesis is limited to the first period 1844 to 1855. CHAPTER 11. BEGINNINGS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. vSec. 6. — Preparation in the British Churches. The distinguishing characteristic of Protestantism in each of the great sections of the Protestant world, Continental Europe, Great Britain and America, grows out of the relation of the Church to the State. Conti- nental Protestantism is marked by the union, almost the subjection, of the Church to the government. In Germany, dissenters number half a million — a mere handful of the population. In Great Britain, the people are almost equally divided upon this question, whilst America affords the example of a free church. We consider first the nation where conviction on this question is in one form or another the prominent factor in determining church relationship — England, the soul of Protestantism, the home of the Anglican Church, of Puritanism and of Wesleyanism. The religious forces at work in England at the begin- ning of the century may be traced directly to the Reformation, as represented by the Established Church ; to the Puritan or Dissenting movement, as represented by the Independents, Presbyterians and Baptists, bod- ies which have been most active in advocating the separation of the church from the State ; and to the Wesleyan Revival of the i8th century, as represented by the Methodists. Christians were generally desig- nated with reference to their attitude toward the Estab- lished Church, as either churchmen or non-conformists. Churchmen gradually became divided into three parties BEGINNINGS OF THE BRIflSII ASSOCIATION. 17 — " High Church," " Low Church " or " Evangelical," and " Broad Church " or " Liberals." The " Evangelicals " were largely descendants of the Puritan and Wcsleyan Revivals, who remained within the Established Church. The " Evangelicals " and the *' Non-Conformists," while differing widely on questions affecting the relation of the Church to the State, were gradually approaching a platform on which they could act together with regard to great matters of social and moral reform. Romanism need not be considered in this discussion, as Roman Catholics number but four per cent, of the population in Great Britain in 1800. At the beginning of the century, religion was at a sadly low ebb all over the Protestant world. Religious life in England was feeble. War, infidelity, the Indus- trial Revolution, and other causes had rendered large multitudes indifferent to spiritual things. Bishop Burgess wrote of the Welsh See of St. David (1803) ; "The churches and ecclesiastical buildings are in a ruinous condition. Many of the clergy are incom- petently educated and disgrace their profession by inebriety and other degrading vices." " Clergymen often occupied several livings and neg- lected them all. Bishops, as a rule, were not in position to be overstrict, as some of their own body were the most glaring offenders." '" " At the beginning of the century the number of churches built and rebuilt (Church of England) aver- aged only three in a year." *^ In 1S14, John Bowdler wrote: " Not a tenth part of the Church of England population in the west and east parts of the metropolis, and the populous parts of Middlesex, can be accommo- dated in our churches and chapels. Over 950,000 per- ^ Overton's "History of the Church of England in 19th Century," page 7. ^ Cutts' " Turning Points of Church Historj'," page 316. 18 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. sons in London are left without the possibility of paro- chial worship. The want of church accommodation is more noticeable in other parts of the kingdom." In 1824, Islington had 30,000 inhabitants, and only one church and one chapel. Evidence exists of almost equal lethargy on the part of the various non-conformist bodies. The battle of Waterloo closed a series of struggles which for years had absorbed the life and energy of England. With the year 1815, attention began to be directed with renewed vigor to home policy in politics, business and religion. The whole Protestant world was emerging from under the shadow of the great Napoleonic conflicts. The tvv'o religious parties which did most at this period to vitally influence the life of England were the " Evangelicals " in the Established Church and the Non-Conformists. The " Evangelicals " emphasized belief in essentials, piety, practical charity and Christian work. They minimized ceremonies and the doctrine of the church. Overton says : " They were the salt of the earth in their day. It may be said generally that during the first quarter of the centur}' there was a marked increase in the strength of the Evangelical party until it became beyond all question the dominant spiritual power in the Church of England." John Tul- Igch says : " Evangelicalism was in short the only type I of aggressive religion then (1820-30) or for some time prevailing, although its aggressiveness was more of a practical than an intellectual kind." Such leaders as Charles Simeon of Cambridge, William Wilberforce, the Seventh Earl of Shaftesbury, and the brilliant Han-/ nail More were its chiefs. " They founded the Church v Missionary Society, the great British and Foreign Bible r Society, and the India Episcopate. They were espe- \ cially strong in the cities." BEGIXN/NGS /F THE BR FTrSFI ASSOC! ATFON. 1"^ Through the influence of these two great parties, the Evangelicals and the Dissenters, an immense activity in Christian efTort began in England. Slavery was abolished in 1833, countless agencies, such as ragged schools, tract societies, city missions, mechanics' insti- tutes, Sunday Schooj and foreign mission societies were either organized or so enlarged in their activities as to become efficient. From this period dates the be- ginning of most of the ^reat religious societies, also the great religious periodicals and journals, and the intro- duction of cheap Christian literature. In 1818, Parlia- ment voted one million pounds for church erection ; in 1830, there was an average of forty churches a year erected by the Church of England alone. In 1827, Will- iam Wilberforce expressed himself as "highly gratified with the opening prospect," and he says, " I, who knew the aspect of things forty years ago, can add, with the highly improved state of the clergy." The Evangelicals have always been on the side of popular reform, and have devoted their energies to up- lifting all classes of society. Bishop Hurst, writing in 1865, says of this party: "It has sought out the popu- lation of the factories and mines of England and ad- dressed itself to the relief of their cramped and stifled in- mates. It has reorganized ragged schools and endeavored to reach all the suffering classes of the Kingdom. At the commencement of its public career it founded the CKiif ch Klissionary Society (1800) and the Bible Society, which has translated the Scriptures into one hundred and fifty languages, and distributes two million copies annually. Archbishop Sumner founded the first Diocesan Church Building Society in 1828. The Pastoral Aid Society, founded in 1836, by its lay and clergical employees, is now (1865) ministering to three million souls. The Low Churchmen have established in needy localities, Sunday Schools, Infant Schools, Libraries, Benefit 20 YOUNG MEN'S , CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. Societies, Clothing Clubs and Circles of Scripture Readers. They seek out the abandoned and hopeless wretches in the darkest sinks of London, reading the Bible to them, clothing, finding work, and training them to self-respect."^ In the blaze of this devotion, the " fox-hunting parson " and "the absentee rector" of the i8th century became an impossibility. Religion had, to some extent, shifted its point of view and ceased to be so much a matter of doctrine or churchmanship, as a matter of practical life and help- fulness between man and man. The new movement did not pause to demonstrate its position by syllogisms or formulas, biit it made a new ideal to shine before the eyes of men, in the light of which minor differences were forgotten. In an address before the Evangelical Alliance, 1855, Rev. T. R. Birks said: "Pious Christians have had their intellectual horizons enlarged, and have fixed their thoughts more strongly on the humanizing and social aspect of Christianity." This subsidence of doc- trinal discussion and absorption in practical work is of great moment to our subject. Creeds divide, service unites. It indicates two aspirations of the early part of the century, which reveal the beating heart of Christian love, and which were an essential preparation for the Young Men's Christian Association. j First, a growing interest in practical Christian work, I and second, the willingness of denominations and "iparties to co-operate in service. A third advance must also be noticed: Christians were forming the habit of organizing in order to carry out common enterprises. In the midst of this period, and in spite of the grow- ing spirit of unity, a violent agitation against the Es- tablished Church broke out, which so aroused the friends of the church as to produce what is known as ' "Hurst's History of Rationalism," page 509. BEGINNINGS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 21 the Oxford or Anglo-Catholic Movement, called by its friends, the Church Revival. It was really of political origin. The advocates of the Reform Bill, passed in 1832, were pronounced opponents of establishment. " The Reform Bill gave great power to just that class which was most hostile to the Established Church, and most favorable to dissent, not the higher or the lower, but the middle classes."^ Dr. Stoughton sa}'s : " I question whether in the present day any attacks on any institution are to be compared in bitterness with those in reference to the Established Church between 1820 and 1830.'"' The High Church Party, under the leadership of Newman and Pusey, in 1833, sprang to the rescue, and inaugu- rated a revival of high churchmanship, which, while it resulted in a revolt to the Church of Rome of some one hundred clergymen and many laymen, restored the piety of the Established Church and its hold upon a large section of the English people. The Tractarians, as the High Churchmen were called, emphasized the ritual and the sacraments. They taught that the epis- copacy was of divine appointment, and dissent was separation from the body of Christ. The High Church movement was not in sympathy with sucli an enterprise as the Young Men's Christian Association. This should be borne in mind, as it is one of the reasons why the Association Movement in England has not received such unanimous encouragement or achieved as abun- dant success as in America. The numerical strength of religious parties in Eng- land at the time of the founding of the Association may be seen from the census of 1851, the year of the great exhibition at London ; the population was then over eighteen millions ; 6,000,000 of whom by youth, sickness ' Overton, p. 312. ' Overton, " English Church in XIX Century," p. 311. 22 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. or age, were not in condition to attend church. The worshipers in the Established Church were estimated at 4,100,000; in dissenting bodies, 3,400,000; non-wor- shipers, about 4,100,000. The places of worship con- nected with the Established Church were 14,077, with a seating capacity of 4,800,000. Dissenters owned 20,390 places of worship, with a seating capacity of 3,600,000. Mr. Birks estimates the High Church, Evangelical and Broad Church parties in the Established Church at this time (185 1) to be about equally divided, with proba- bly 6,000 clergymen each. Fully two-thirds of the re- ligious strength of England was in the non-conformist bodies and the Evangelical party of the Established Church at the middle of the present century. They represented the aspiration, the spiritual life, the Chris- tian zeal, the philanthropy and evangelical fire of England. The spiritual preaching of the dissenters and the zeal of the Evangelicals were the religious forces of the kingdom, which were ready to grapple with the new difficulties presented by an unparalleled revolution in the industrial life of the people. The High Church party and the Liberals alike have had a noble work to do in this century, not always understood by their rivals, but to the Dissenters and Evangelicals belong the organizing and manning of the agencies (of which the Association is one) that were called into being to save industrial England. From them came the money, the men, the sympathy and the courage to make the Young Men's Christian Association a success. Sec. 7. — The Industrial Revolution. While these changes (1800-1850) which breathed new life into English Christianity were in progress, a new social era was dawning. The Protestant world was changing its habit of life. The industrial age, with scarcely a note of warning, was beginning. The pro- BEGINNINGS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 23 foundest sociological fact of modern times is that tlie civilized world is leaving the country to live in the city. The magnet of the city is an irresistible force. The race is becoming urban. We will not repeat here the oft-told tale of the rise of the city except so far as is necessary to show that it is the modern fact which occa- sioned the Young Men's Christian Association. Without the rise of the city, the parlors, gymnasiums, reading rooms, educational classes, halls, Bible studies, religious meetings, — the vast organization of half a mill- ion young men, with its secretaries, directors, com- mittees, costly build? ngs and mign^^^' inriuence would never have been born. Tb*- As.^ociation movement was founded by a 'o'irg man who moved from the country to thf ■:^y^' . It was founded primarily for young men living a' ay from home in cities ; without the wide extent of \\.-t city it would have remained simply a London institution, and never have become a world- wide organization. The Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation is a nineteenth century enterprise. It has the flavor of modern times ; it is a city product. Its busi- ness methods, its enterprise, its intensity, its weaknesses, too, of superficiality and haste, all bear the stamp of its city origin. To understand Young Men's Christian Associations, we must understand the modern city. Self-protection, government, commerce and pleasure, built the cities of past centuries. The force that draws men into modern cities is wealth. The startling fact is that just as many people live in cities to-day as can make a living in them. This is the law of city growth. It is as inflexible as the laws of the Medes and Persians. It is their only limitation. Loomis, in his volume, " Modern Cities," shows that the cost of living alone regulates city population. ^"^ 1° Loomis' "Modern Cities," page 35. Shaw's "Municipal Government in Great Britain." New York, 1895. 24 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIOA. The Struggle with disease, poverty and famine shriv- elled the size of ancient cities, and only a Rome, where bread was distributed by the government, or a Babylon^ where food was raised within the walls, could support a million inhabitants. The discovery of almost unlimited means of increasing production, and the development of rapid transportation, has produced the modern city. Manufacture describes it in a single word. Commerce has been, and is a source of wealth, but manufacture is the chief Machinery made manufacture possible, man- ufacture produced wealth, and wealth has produced the modern city. With all its commerce, two-thirds of the population of New York are engaged in some form of manufacturing, and probably an equal proportion of the millions of London. The possibility of this great increase in wealth has arisen through the invention of machinery. In 1788, Watt invented the steam engine, and the industrial revolution began. " In the discovery of the steam engine, the mother of machines, may be found the central reason for the growth of our nineteenth century cities."^ A variety of agencies contributed to the industrial revolution in England. " In 1776, Adam Smith pub- lished his ' Wealth of Nations.' " This overthrew the Mercantile Theory, which held that national pros- perity ■could only be secured at the expense of neigh- boring States, and advocated industrial freedom. "Al- ready in 1762, the Bridgewater canal, the first joint of a net-work of inland water communication was opened. In 1767, Hargreaves introduced the spinning jenny; Arkwright's spinning machine was exhibited in 1768 ; Crompton's mule was finished in 1779 ; Cartwright hit upon the idea of the power loom in 1784; the Stafford- shire potteries date from 1763." ' I^oomis' " Modern Cities," page 42. BEGINNINGS OF THE BRmSII ASSOCIATION. 25 111 1786, a new commercial treaty stimulated trade be- tween England and France. Between 1800 and 1830, the year the first railroad was operated, a thousand inven- tions by the application of steam increased the means of production, and began to pile up the wealth of the civilized world, until Mr. Gladstone declares " that the amount of wealth which could be handed down to pos- terity produced during the first eighteen hundred years of the Christian era was equalled by the production of the first fifty years of this century."- He adds, " that an equal amount was produced between the years i860 and 1875. In 1770, the income of Great Britain was £119,500,000; in 1889 (including Ireland), it reached the enormous sum of £1,285,000,000, and the estimated wealth of the United Kingdom was £9,400,000,000. With this increase in production has come the won- derful development and cheapening of rapid transit by the application of steam, and more recently, electricity. The world has increased its pace. In 1807, Robert Ful- ton operated the first steamboat ; in 1830, there were cargoes of 24,000,000 tons carried by water ; 1889, the water freights were 139,000,000 tons. Since 1829, the miles of railroad have reached 354,300 in Christendom, while the aggregate investment in the railroad carrying trade represents £5,736,000,000. In 1780, it cost £13 to carry a ton of freight from London to Leeds. Flour is now carried to London from Chicago at the rate of 33s. per ton, and from San Francisco by water for 30s. ^ These mighty agencies have increased production, cheapened food, and have given the opportunity for great multitudes to support themselves by factory labor in cities. Coincident with this increased opportunity for em- ployment in the city, there has been a corresponding ' " Our Country," J. Strong, page 115. ' See Munhall's Statistics, 1892. 26 i OUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. decrease of demand for labor in the country. The in- vention of machinery has made it possible for one wor!i^- man to produce as much as a score by the old methods. The number of agricultural laborers in England in 1831 was 980,000 ; in fifty years it has declined to 870,000- while the population has increased from 13,990,000 to 20,100,000. This rapid movement from the country to the city began first in Great Britain, and has had there the most pronounced development. The facts have often been presented, but they are startling to the stu- dent of society. Josiah Strong, Samuel Loomis, Albert Shaw, and a great variety of writers, have brought them to public notice. England, Germany and the United States have about seventy-five cities of 100,000 popula- tion and upwards, and some 300 others with between 2":, 000 and 100,000 inhabitants. The United States has 353 cities of 10,000 population and over. London is adding 125,000 people annually to its population; New York, Berlin, Chicago and Glasgow, the capitals of the Protestant world, average each nearly 50,000 annua] mcrease in population. In 1818, Liverpool had only 94,300 people, Manchester only 70,000. London, which, in 1818, had 1,129,000, is now the marvel of the world, with over 5,000,000 human souls. Americans are fa- miliar with the summary given by Josiah Strong, in '''Our Country," of the development of American cities. In 1790, one-thirtieth of the population of the United States lived in cities of 8,000 inhabitants and over. In 1800, one-twenty-fifth ; in 1820, one-twentieth ; in 1830, one-sixteenth; in 1840, one-twelfth; in 1850, one- eighth ; in i860, one-sixth ; in 1870, one-fifth ; in 1880, nearly one-fourth. "In 1780, there were but six cities of over 6,000 population ; in 1880, there were 286 " The " Industrial Revolution " has produced tne modern city. This sudden crowding into business cen:eis seemed to arouse all the evil passions of the BEGINNINGS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 27 race, and has sorely tested the religious institutions of the Protestant world. England found herself with a swarming city population, without adequate provision for their bodily, intellectual, social or spiritual needs. The greed of the money-getters outstripped philanthropy and Christian zeal. There was probably as much suffer- ing in body, stunting of intellect, anguish of heart and corruption of soul in the factory cities of England dur- ing the first half of this century as in the darkest annals of slavery. This is a bitter indictment, but the facts are appalling. The greed of capitalists who wrung hours of aching toil from infant children and starving women, the wretched hovels in which the laborers were herded without regard to sex, the reign of rum and the rampant rage of vice, w^ere like a blight on city life. " Persons of all ages and both sexes were collected to- gether in huge buildings, under no moral control, and with no arrangements for the preservation of health, comfort or decency." The epithet, " a factory girl," became a badge of infamy. The "apprentice system," which put thousands of little children into the hands of mill owners, was a merciless slavery. Extra hours, night work, brutal treatment, wretched food, and foul sleeping-pens, wore out their little lives. The cities became sinks of moral iniquity, and, in spite of later efforts to redeem them, surpa'^^irg all previous move- ments of the Christian Churci. they are still often spoken of as a menace to civilization, and an evil sore on the body politic. The important fact to this discussion is that the city is becoming the home of the young men of the Protest- ant world ; young men form the great majority of the industrial army, which annually invades the city from the country. It has already been pointed out that the country no longer needs their labor in the proportion it once did, while the city offers opportunity for advance- 28 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. ment and the fascinations of pleasure combined. Loomis, who has given, perhaps, the most successful study of modern cities, says : " Great cities have a special fascination for young men. They oflfer to the successful high and tempting prizes. There is little in the position of leading merchant, lawyer or physician in a country town to spur the ambition of the young ; but those who hold the like positions in the cities are princes and mighty men of the times." "Ambitious fel- lows prefer a hard race with high stakes." " Who can measure the fascination for the masses of manhood of the great cities' unequalled facilities for instruction and amusement?"* Berlin and Chicago have each 300,000 young men ; New York, 400,000 ; London, a million. These young men are a most important factor in social life. They fill the stores, offices and shops of the city, and man the thousand agencies which go to make up the activity of the modern world. They are students in the universities and workmen at the bench. From their number must come the legislators, teachers, preachers, physicians, merchants, manufacturers and workmen who are to guide and mould the Protestant world. The appalling indifference to religion among multi- tudes of young men in English cities at this period will appear as we discuss the founding of the London Asso- ciation. The interesting fact often overlooked is that such a large number of young men of Christian char- acter and zeal for preaching Jesus Christ should have been ready to take hold of a movement like the Young Men's Christian Association. The awakening of young men and young women to active interest in religion and in the welfare of others is one of the achieve- ments of the modem church. The brutal manners, the filthy conversation, the lustful lives, the yielding to un- * " Modern Cities," page 33. BEGINNINGS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION, 20 controlled desire, and the impiety of young men " sowing their wild oats " in English cities in 1800 and earlier, cannot be conceived of to-day. In a prize essay for .£50, entitled " Our Young Men," by Francis Cox, published by the " British and Foreign Young Men's Society," in London, 1838, we read: "The cruel sports which were once pursued with avidity at wakes, fairs and general holidays, such as single stick, brutal wrest- ling, bull baiting, and others prevalent among the lower orders, have diminished, some of them have almost dis- appeared, and even the gentlemanly (?) amusements of cock fighting and the ring, or the sanctioned feats of pugilism, are on the wane." The rise of the city, with its fierce temptations, brought about by the Industrial Revolution, threw young men into great peril ; multi- tudes fell into lives of sin and lawlessness, but the forces of vital religion we have already discussed had also been at work, and had awakened the consciences of a small number of young men who were ready to support any organization inaugurated to carry the Gospel to their fellows, A study of the short-lived earlier movements to benefit young men, which have been many, shows that whatever their weakness of organization as constrasted with the Young Men's Christian Association, they were not the spontaneous rising of young men to help each other. The Young Men's Christian Association is not a mission to young men, much as it has been aided by philanthropists and the ministry. It is an effort by young men to help themselves, an assertion, on' the part of Christian young men, of the dignity of their position as Christians and members of society. We have seen the new problem created by the indus- trial movement that has housed nearly 40 per cent, of the Protestant world in cities. We have pictured also the awakening vigor of tlie religious forces of England. 30 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. The peril of tlic city called forth the church in its might. The Church of Jesus Christ arose like a man of war to a battle with a new foe. Countless aoencies o for purifying and redeeming the modern city have been called into being — city missions in every slum, street preaching, lay helpers' associations, public libraries, mechanics' institutes, various parish organizations, deaconesses's orders, the Salvation Army, Dr. Barnado's Home for Boys, The Workman's Pleasant Sunday Afternoon, temperance societies, Young People's Societies, Sunday Schools, and a host of other agencies, until the church of the present day in Great Britain has become one organized army, directing its most power- ful attacks on the evils of the cities. It is estimated that in London £4,000,000 are spent annually for the uplifting, enlightening and blessing of its Christless masses. With such a Christian sentiment to appeal to, with :he young men of the nation in peril, v/ith a nucleus of Christian young men ready to follow, it only needed a leader to rear an institution devoted to the salvation of young men. Such a leader arose in the person of a young man, George Williams, now one of the merchant princes of London, the founder of the Young Men's Christian Association, the man who, more than anyone else, has lived, worked, given and prayed for the young men of his generation. Sec. 8. — Origin of the London Association, sir george williams. George Williams was born at Ashway Farmhouse, five miles from Dulverton, in southern England, in the year 182 1. His father was a prosperous yeoman who owned two large estates, especially adapted to sheep culture. Agriculture had been prosperous, but the era of BEGINN/N(7S OF Till': BRITISH ASSOCIA TIO.V. 31 the transfer of power from the land-holding class to the cities was already dawning. With rare insight into the signs of the times, yonng George Williams was des- tined by his parents for a business career. He was sent to school at a notable private academy called "Gloyn School," where an elder brother and George Hitchcock, who was so soon to be identified with the London Young Men's Christian Association, had spent their school days together. When he was in his fifteenth year, in 1835, George Williams was apprenticed for six years by his father to learn the business of a merchant in the Holmes Drapery Establishment at Bridgewater. Williams' father paid a premium of thirty poimds for this opportunity. There were then some sixty young men and young women employed in the various depart- ments of the establishment. The Williams family were brought up in the Church of England and attended service at the parish church of Dulverton. However, when George Williams began life among the employees in the Holmes Drapery Establishment at Bridgewater, he had received no deep religious impressions. He was a thoughtless, active, capable young man, with a hasty temper and a warm heart. Among the employees were two or three apprentices who were members of the Independent Church of Bridgewater. These young men exercised a great influence upon Williams. By their example, consecration and loving faith, he was persuaded to give his own life to Jesus Christ. He be- gan to pray and to seek God. This occurred some time in 1836, and marks the beginning of George Williams' life of devotion and Christian service. In the Holmes Drapery House there was a little dark room where the wrapping paper was kept, into which Williams used to slip off alone, when he was tempted, and pour out his soul in prayer to God. He says: " Instead of spending my Sunday afternoons in pleasure as formerly, when 32 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. the light came, I began to go to Simday School. I entered a class and afterwards became a teacher." The prejudice at this time against the Dissenters was very strong, and it was a great efifort for a young man like Williams to rise above it. As a result of his con- version he was filled with a desire to win others to Jesus Christ. The "Principals" of the establishment attended the Independent Chapel, but were not Chris- tians. The life among the young men was careless and immoral. Williams and the two or three Christians who had been the means of his conversion decided to hold prayer meetings in their bedrooms and invite the other young men. These meetings, which were devoted to prayer, singing and short expositions of the Scripture, had a wonderful influence upon the young inen of the establishment. In a short time, 27 became Christians, among them one of the proprietors. The young women also held meetings in their lodgings for the women clerks. Williams did not confine his efibrts to his fel- low-clerks, but with others, in spite of criticism and ridicule, conducted meetings in the villages near Bridge- water. It was a period when laymen were just begin- ning to be active in Christian service. Mr. Williams says : " There was a freshness about it that gave zest to our "efforts. We had no society or organization. We worked because we felt impelled to work."^ In 1840, the business at Bridgewater changed hands and Williams' apprenticeship terminated. This year was spent in helping his brothers establish themselves in business, after which, George Williams, now twenty years of age, decided to go to London. His elder brother was accustomed to purchase goods of his old school friend, Mr. George Hitchcock, of the firm of George Hitchcock & Co., 72 St. Paul's Churchyard, * This section is drawn from notes taken in a personal interview with Sir George Williams, in October, 1894- BEGINNINGS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. \V.\ London. Tlirongli the inflnence of this brother, Will- iams was received, in October, 1841, into this establish- ment as a jnnior assistant, at 35 pounds for the first year. Here, under the shadow of St. Paul's mighty dome, where for generations the restless stream of human life has ebbed and flowed, from Ludgate Hill to Cheap- side, young Williams began his London career. In 1841, some eighty young men were employed in the diflferent departments of the Hitchcock establish- ment, working by day at its counters, and lodging by night in the upper apartments. London was then, as now, full of temptations. A writer in 1837, said: "As soon as a young man was introduced into London he found in the immense majority of instances that even lawful business itself was conducted in an unlawful manner." " The exposure to evil outside of business is extreme." " Under the present system, at every few steps our young mechanics in going to or returning from their labors are met with new solicitations to their pas- sions, and are made to drink, gamble and ruin their present and eternal interests."*^ The first Young Men's Christian Association Report (page 12), in 1844, declares, " until recently the young men engaged in the pursuits of business were totally neglected. They were treated as though deprived of mind, as though formed only to labor and sleep, and to sleep and labor, so that they could only go from their beds to the counter, and from the counter to their beds, without a moment for men- tal or spiritual culture, without the disposition or even the strength for the performance of those devotional exercises w-hich are necessary for the maintenance of a spiritual life. " But happily for lis a brighter day has dawned. The 20,000 young men engaged in the drapery (dry goods) trade and the 30,000 employed in the various other " Francis Cox's " Prize Essay," page 212. 34 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. trades of the Metropolis are being regarded as an im- portant portion of society." Rev. William Arthur, M. A., in an address in 1844, before the newly organized Association, said : " Our general assistants (salesmen) in our great establishments have been looked upon as a species of physiological machines from whom a certain amount of work was required, and if that was done nothing more was thought respecting them. Sometimes the more knavish the assistant was, if but successful, the more he was approved. No class has been more neglected or despised." In 1847, a young man writes of the commercial house where he was employed : "During dinner, tea and supper time, nothing but obscene language is going on, such as scenes in brothels, night brawls, etc., and this in th.^ presence of junior hands and apprentices. I am writing these lines within the hearing of those who are playing cards for half-penny the game, swearing at the top of their voices, and calling each other cheats. The heads of the houses leave in the evening for their homes, and leave these to go the broad way that leads to destruc- tion. They go to the theatre and those casinos where they dance and mix with the unfortunates." " We sometimes see the worst characters placed in the most important situations." " Scarcely a week passes but some of the houses find their young men robbing them for the purpose of keeping up their extravaganov. " A young man who had come up from the coun/.y writes in 1847 : " We only have a bedroom — no sit- ting-room. The consequence is that on Sunday we have nowhere to go. If we go to church, what is more miserable than to turn out into the streets — no place to go except a coffee or eating house, where nothing is to be read except the Sunday newspapers." * Another writes ; ' Third London Annual Report. * Third Annual Report. BEGINNINGS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 35 " I could not have believed it had I not witnessed it myself that so much wickedness could abound in one establishment. We have every sanction given for swearing, betting, horse racing, theatres and every facility afforded for gratifying the worldly thirst for pleasure. Our young men instead of hallowing the Sabbath day spend it on the water or in the numerous excursions." The Fourth Annual Report (page 22), says : " There are few persons who have not lived in the large hives of commerce with which the metropolis abounds who can adequately judge of the real life of the vast majority of those who dwell there. Could the pen faithfully describe the annual shipwreck of good conscience and character which takes place among the commercial young men of London, then it would be more easy to perceive the value of an attempt to carry into their midst the saving health of the Gospel." Mr. Shipton, the second employed secretary of the London Association, in 1855, writes: " In 1844, there were probably 150,000 young men in London." "Of the assistants in shops and warehouses, by far the larger number lived in the houses of business in which they . were employed. They commenced their labor from 7 to 9 in the morning and closed it from 9 to 11 in the evening, while in some seasons the toil of the day did not end until after midnight." " The sleeping apart- ments were small and badly ventilated. Several slept in the same room, and of the juniors, two often occu- pied the same bed." " The majority sought their en- joyment in the tavern." "The novice and the veteran in sin, the ' old stager ' in London and the youth fresh from the country, occupied one ^"^ Stevenson's "Young Men's Christian Association," I,ondou, 1884, p. 41. C8 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. to the foreign field ; tins consecrated hall opening on the crowded Strand, destined in later years to become the home of the Association, became after 1849 the platform of its winter lecture courses, which were called the "Exeter Hall Lectures." The Association was a pioneer in the lecture field ; it has exerted a great influence. As new Associations have been formed they have fol- lowed the example of the parent Association, until to- day thousands of lectures are delivered annually from the platform of Young Men's Christian Associations. In the Report for 1851, the close of the "Formative Period" of the London work, the Committee said (p. 10) : " When we commenced this form of effort it was an experiment of such interest as to involve decided public influences in its success. This result may be seen in the stimulant to similar effort which has been widely diffused, and in the greatly improved tone and tendency of public lectures generally. The fact that in connection with the Association alone there have been above 120 lectures for young men during the past year, suggests an idea of the extent to which this agency has already been multiplied. Of the lectures delivered in London, above half a million copies have been circu- lated, and who shall tell the work which they have silently done ; the fibre and muscle of character which in God's hands they may have supplied to thousands. The lectures were of a decidedly Protestant character and of a high moral tone." The Report for 1849 says (p. 10) : " In very many in- stances young men are drawn to the Hall who are unac- customed to attend the ordinary means of spiritual instruction. In others, the lectures prove a direct means of religious awakening, and in others the first step to the churches." " In one instance, the mind of an inter- esting young man was opened to apprehend God's way BEGINNINGS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 69 of salvation, who has since entered one of the universi- ties, with a view to prepare himself for the sacred work of the ministry." In the Report for 1850, a young man writes : " It will, I know, be gratifying to you to hear that the first awakening of my soul to its true state was consequent upon attending the last course of lectures given at Exeter Hall." How directly what are called the " secular agencies " began from the first to minister to the main purpose of the Association is seen from these and other testimo- nies in the report. Here was a new thought, a discov- ery of great moment. It was found that certain agen- cies usually regarded as secular, under Christian admin- istration, might be used to win men to a religious life. The development of this idea grew with the Associa- tion. It belongs to the fundamental idea that religion aims to save the whole man, and whatever helps to make him a better man in body, mind or spirit, lifts him to a higher life. The opening of the library and reading room, Octo- ber I, 1848, has already been alluded to. This was an additional recognition of the intellectual needs of young men. The Report for 1850 says : " The Committee are thankful to record that the experience of the past year has fully realized the anticipations by which they were led to open the library and reading room in Gresham Street. Five hundred young men have availed them- selves of the privileges it aflfords, and many have been led in consequence to attend the religious meetings of the Association. Classes are in operation in French, German, Hebrew and Greek languages, mathematics, arithmetic and book-keeping, in history and essay writ- ing, and for the practice of Psalmody. Arrangements have been made for the delivery of a lecture course at the rooms of the Association every alternate week, save 70 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. during the winter session at Exeter Hall." By June^ 1849, ^^ number of volumes in the library had reached one thousand. By 1851, the number of young men using the advantages of the library numbered 650, of whom 425 were *' associates." Mr. Shipton, who took charge as Secretary, near the close of 1850, writes : " In accordance with the desire and expectation of the Com- mittee, many of those who have attended the library and reading rooms have also frequented the Bible class and devotional meeting, and have entered upon the profession of their faith in the Gospel there illus- trated and proclaimed. Very many thus brought within the influence of the Association would not otherwise have been reached." ^ In 1853, speaking at a public meeting of the friends of the Association, Mr. Samuel Morley said : " The great attraction of the Young Men's Christian Associa- tion, to my own mind, has been this, — that it has pre- sented us a platform on which various kinds of agencies may be brought to bear for the benefit of young men. I need scarcely say that we believe in the cultivation of the spiritual life in young men, and that there is pro- vided here a large arrangement of Bible classes and other forms of religious teaching, from which I am quite sure that great benefit has been derived. But no one acquainted with the life of a young man in London can be ignorant of the fact that he is surrounded with temptations of the most horrible kind, leading young men into habits by which hundreds die off every year from pure physical ruin, and it has been to me a source of great satisfaction to have opportunity for oflfering in plain and distinct language advice to young men on the ruinous tendency of such conduct." ^ Shipton's History of the Young Men's Christian Association, Exeter Hall Lectures, Vol. I., 1855. BEGINNINGS OF Till- nRITISH ASSOCIATION. 71 THE SOCIAL WORK. The very name " Association of Young Men " sug- gests companionship, and it is not surprising that the leaders early recognized the need of a resort for young men under elevating influences. One of the objects in organizing the Sunday afternoon Bible class was to give young men an opportunity to meet together under wholesome influences, instead of wasting the Sabbath in idleness or sin. Mr. Shipton stated it thus : " It was an endeavor to provide a resort for steady youths without homes, and by kindly, social intercourse to pave the way for the influence of public worship." The conception, however, of the Association as a re- sort, open day and night, frequented by young men, in order to draw them away from temptation, did not really take shape until the opening of the rooms in Gresham Street, in October, 1848. Here the sociolog- ical fact that young men can be influenced by changing their environment began to find expression. Within a year, four hundred young men who were not Christians were led to frequent these attractive rooms, take advan- tage of the reading room, library, and educational classes, and mingle with the Christian young men who were members of the society. In order to keep these young men more continually under this influence, a restaurant was opened in the Gresham Street apart- ments, between 5 and 10 in the evening, so that young men for a reasonable price could get their evening tea at the rooms, and opportunity be aSbrded them to spend the evening in the wholesome surroundings of the Association. " Occasional Paper," No. i, says : " We desire by these means to present some counter attraction to the places of social and convivial resort open to young men after the hours of business" (p. 6). 72 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. The Annual Report for 1852 states : " None can re- ally know the isolation and discomfort of young men's lodgings without perceiving that they are necessarily exposed to terrible temptation. Many have confessed that our rooms, with the quiet retirement and intelli- gent companionship they afford, have been among the greatest blessings they enjoy." The rooms were the office of the "Agent" of the Association, and many in- stances are recorded of the opportunity thus afforded of personal interviews with young men, who were led by him to become Christians. Since the year 1848, the Young Men's Christian Association has exercised a mighty influence as a social resort. This feature of Association activity was destined to be more fully developed in America, but it originated with the parent Association at London. The London organization in Gresham Street had become in 1851 a well-defined institution, seeking to provide for the spir- itual, intellectual and social needs of young men. Sec. II. — Financial History. The early Association movement cannot be appreciated without a knowledge of its financial policy. There is no brighter page in the history of the church than the financial progress of this work for young men during the last fifty years. The self-denying love on the part of young men struggling to get a footing in the world ; the noble devotion of Christian business men ; the un- faltering persistence and apostolic faith of finance com- mittees, who have accepted the part assigned to them as an important trust, have marked the Association's financial history from its foundation. Sixpence was the humble fee charged for admission at first, with a similar amount due quarterly. At the first half-yearly tea given at Radley's Hotel in Novem- ber, 1844, the Committee stated what has been the finan- BEGIXNIXGS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIA HON. 73 cial policy of the organization ever since. " The Com- mittee begs leave to remark that though this sum (six- pence per quarter) will be insufficient to defray current expenses, yet it has been considered advisable to place so low a sum as a quarterly subscription, relying on the spontaneous liberality of members and friends, for the additional expense of the work." Following this gathering, steps were at once under- taken to secure 130 pounds as the salary for the super- intendent of the Association. The Committee estab- lished a precedent which became a principle with the organization : On the ground that a young man was of greater service to his employer for being a Christian man, they invited merchants, and others, who employed young men, to contribute to the Association. By Jan- uary, 1845, the sum of 70 pounds had been contributed by the young men themselves, and business men inter- ested in the work. In 1S45, Mr. Geo. Hitchcock accept- ed the position of treasurer. This was an important advance and bears a vital relation to the growth of the Association. The early financial history of the organi- zation is bound up with the life of this man. He had already contributed more largely than any one else toward the fund to secure a missionary. His first act as treasurer was, at his own expense, to equip and rem suitable rooms for the Association in Sergeant's Inn. The receipts of the Association for 1846 were 287 pounds; the disbursements 372 pounds; the balance, 85 pounds, was loaned to the Association by Mr. Hitchcock. The membership dues at the close of the second year were abolished, and the Association was supported en- tirely by voluntary contributions, but all young men, whether members or associates, habitually using the library, reading room, and other privileges of the Asso- ciation, paid an annual fee of ten shillings. In addition to these dues manv vounsf men made contributions from 74 VOLWG Jl/BN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. their small incomes, which showed their devotion to the work. The year 1845-1846, Geo. Williams and Mr. Durrant, both of the original Committee of twelve, gave two pounds each. Two other young men gave one pound, one shilling each. Five gave 10 shillings each. The third year the debt of 85 pounds and the expenses, a total of 600 pounds, were all paid, leaving a balance of eight pounds in the treasury. The fourth year the expenses were 608 pounds. The expenses of the next year were very large, owing to occupying and equipping of the Gresham Street rooms. By a vigorous effort over 2,100 pounds were raised and expended upon the year's work for 1849. The apart- ments thus provided with parlors, secretary's rooms, library and educational class-rooms laid the foundation for future work. Annual subscriptions are reported of 25, 20, and 15 pounds each. Mr. Bevan, the president, gave 41 pounds, and Mr. Geo. Hitchcock made the generous donation of 161 pounds and five shillings. Mr. Geo. Williams showed his devotion by giving what must have been a sacrifice at the time, the sum of 25 pounds toward the new equipment. The expenditures for 1850 were 2,080 pounds, with a balance in the treasury of 56 pmmds. The Association was now undertaking an ex- tensive work. Its varied agencies required large amounts of money. The great exhibition was close at hand and the Committee determined to take advantage of the opportunity this would afford, to preach the Gos- pel to large throngs of young men who would crowd the capital. To do this required increased means. Mr. Geo. Hitchcock enlarged his contribution to the liberal sum of 350 pounds; besides giving 150 pounds toward equipping the rooms opened by the branch in the West End. The expenses for the year were 3,438 pounds, all but 30 pounds of which were raised during the year. The records frequently make mention of Mr. Hitchcock's BEGINNINGS OF THE BRiriSH ASSOCIA TION. 1\ benevolence. The report for 1849 says: "The Com* mittee would hereby thankfully acknowledge the in- creased obligation of the Association for the magnificent and kind assistance which, in a variety of ways, has been rendered by their respected and beloved treasurer, Mr. George Hitchcock." Sec. 12. — Extension of the Association. — 1845-51. Life manifests itself by growth; it also manifests itself by reproduction. The Young Men's Christian Associa- tions began to multiply. The young men who formed the first organization had in view first the employees in one commercial establishment, then the young men of the commercial classes of London, then at their first "tea meeting" in 1844, at the suggestion of Mr. Owen, the idea was seized upon of making an effort for all the young men of London, and if possible reaching out to other cities of the United Kingdom. The aim of the leaders grew rapidly. Their hearts beat in sympathy with the tempted young men walking the city streets of commercial England. Their plans leaped forth to reach all young men, even while they were struggling to solve the problems of a new organization at home. The first move of the Association, as we have learned, was to open a headquarters in a coflfee house at Ludgate Hill. Not satisfied with this effort, before the Associa- tion was nine months old, a branch Association was formed in the West End of London, with a fortnightly meeting held in a Sunday-school room in Swallow Street. This branch, by March 6th, 1845, numbered fifty members. For the first three years, half of the lectures were carried on in this section of the city. When Mr. Tarlton became secretary, early in 1845, efforts were immediately undertaken to establish branch Associations in different parts of London, and before the end of the second year, branches had been formed at four new 7() YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. points, so that in November, 1846, 18 months after the organization in the Hitchcock establishment, including the original central or city Association, and the branch at the West End, there were six Associations in Lon- don. The relation of these branches, as they were called, to the parent Association, was a perfectly volun- tary one. The constitution of the London "City " Asso- ciation was amended so as to read, "Associations which are willing to unite with this society, being similar in their constitution and object, and adopting the spirit of the second, third, eighth and ninth rules of the Associa- tion, shall be recognized as in connection with and by mutual consent termed branches of the Young Men's Christian Association" (2d Report). The rules specified refer: To the object of the Association, the spiritual and mental improvement of young men, by any means in accordance with the Scriptures. To the management of the organization, by a committee elected by the mem- bership, and to the membership, which must consist of young men who give decided evidence of conversion to God. These were the three points which the Committee deemed the essential basis for fellowship with other Associations. They are of especial interest as showing the features which were regarded as the chief essentials of the new movement by its founders. Each branch filed a copy of its constitution with the parent body ; sent it an annual report, abstracts of which were printed in the report of the central work. By vote of the Cen- tral Committee, members of branches were considered " members of the Young Men's Christian Association." Thus a member was recognized as belonging not to his own local branch alone, but to the whole movement. But London did not bound the horizon of these young men. The report read in March, 1845, ^'^ ^'^^ second BEGINNINGS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 11 "tea gathering " at Radley's Hotel, echoes the resolution passed in November of the year before, when it was re- solved to employ a missionary to work among the young men of London. This March report says: " Nor would we confine ourselves to the metropolis, but through the medium of our missionaries, extend ourselves and form similar Associations in all the large towns and cities of the Kingdom." The industrial changes of the century had made Eng- land a nation of cities. The same conditions, modified somewhat but in the main the same as in London, pre- vailed in all the cities of the Kingdom. Industrial Eng- land was full of young men away from home, without home comforts, without opportunities for social, intel- lectual or spiritual improvement, tempted, irreligious, in the midst of the rush of city life. The same awful need prevailed, and with it too, in nearly every city, a small group of young men were found who were loyal to Jesus Christ. It was only necessary for a knowledge of the London movement to spread for it to take root and become a national endeavor. In accord- ance with the policy already mentioned, in 1846, prob- ably in April or Alay, deputations fro;n London, consist- ing of members of the Association, generally with Mr. Tarlton as their leader, visited Manchester, Liverpool, Taunton, Exeter, and Leeds, and organized in each of these cities the nucleus of a Young Men's Christian Association on the London model. The movement had been metropolitan, it now became national. The fol- lowing year, 1847, Associations were organized in Hull, Oxford, Derby, and Bath. These were followed by others, which have become, as the years passed, centers of influence in every city of the United Kingdom. In 1848, Associations at Sheffield, Bristol, and Reading were added to the list. These Associations varied in strength and vitality, in proportion to the zeal and 78 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. genius of the Christian young men of the various com- munities, but on the whole they were remarkably suc- cessful. Earnest men perceived that the Association had grasped a valuable idea, and encouraged the young men to carry it out. These various societies adopted rules similar to the London constitution, filed them with the parent Association to which they sent reports for the London annual meeting, in the same way as the metro- politan branches. They were called, in contrast. Pro- vincial Branches. By the end of the formative period of the British work (1851), Associations had been formed at eight points in London, including the original organ- ization, and in sixteen different cities in England, Scotland, and Ireland. The same conditions of membership prevail in all: " Members must be young men who give decided evi- dence of conversion to God." Since 1848, young men of good moral character, by the payment of a small fee, were allowed to become " associates," with the privilege of enjoying all the benefits of the Association, but were not allowed to vote or hold office. The membership of the "City Association," as the original Association was called, from its loca^tion in that part of the metropolis called the *' City," shows a steady growth. Twelve young men organized the Association in June, 1844; their number had increased by November, to 70; in March, 1845, to 160; in November, 1846, to 200. After this year, the report is given for the entire metropolitan district. In 1847, the number of members in London was 380; in 1848, the membership was 480; in 1849, it numbered 600 ; this includes the " associates," who were admitted to the privileges of the Association. The membership for 1850 has not been recorded, but at the close of this period the membership of the Central Association alone numbers 425 "associates" and 225 "members," a total of 650, and there were probably BEGINNINGS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 79 1,400 members and associates indentified with the move- ment in metropolitan London. It is difficult to learn definitely of the membership of the Provincial Branches. In November, 1849, the num- ber had reached 520 outside of London. The Associa- tion continued to increase both in number of organiza- tions and membership until by the end of 185 1 the eight London societies and the 16 Provincial branches, in all 24 Associations, enrolled some 2,700 young men. By 1858, the total membership of the United Kingdom had reached 8,500 " members " and " associates " in 47 Asso- ciations. Sec 13. — Summary of the Results from 1844-1851. In this short period a great advance had taken place. The Association had become firmly established in the affections of a large group of Christian young men and business men. The aim was a purely spiritual one and the conception of religion was puritan and ascetic, but the social ideal of service was imperceptibly broadening the spirit and work of the new organization with an irresistable power. The Christian spirit in the sordid urban environment of 1850 was radically developing methods for the religious and social education of the whole man and the leading of him out into service for his associates. Young laymen of all denominations were working in the same organization and getting a broader spirit of Christian unity. The Association had inaugu- rated a movement which was carrying on religious meet- ings in a large number of business houses and it had estabHshed a club house for the members with many social features. It maintained its relation with the church by requiring that all voting members must be Christian men, but it held out a welcome to young men of good character who desired to become associates. 80 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. In seven years, the Association had revolutionized public sentiment regarding the claims of young men. It had been one of the chief factors in shortening the hours of labor for commercial young men. It had influenced directly or indirectly tens of thousands of young men, and led many hundreds to become followers of Jesus Christ, and to become members of his church. CHAPTER III. THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT. Sec. 14. — Preparation in the American Church. — 1 800- 1 85 1. We are to turn our eyes to a new theatre of action, a laud which, while it has received from Europe its popu- lation, and its political, social, and religious ideas, has nevertheless developed a decided individuality of its own. It is in America that the Young Men's Christian Association has achieved its greatest success. The World's Committee, in the report made at the London conference in 1894, said: "The Associations of the United States and Canada present the picture of a pow- erful, active, and complete organization. They are well at the head of our whole work, and their influence is felt far beyond the American Continent." ^ We must study briefly the development of the relig- ious forces of America, and the industrial situation, in order to understand the American movement. The distinguishing characteristic of American Christianity is the freedom of the Church from the State. So long has this been the accepted policy that the subject in America scarcely excites a passing interest, and yet it is the great contribution of America to the history of Christianity. The Declaration of Amer.can Independence introduced an entirely new chapter in the history of the Church. Europe, with its piled ecclesiastical traditions, lay many miles across the sea. For the first time since the days 2 " Fifty Years' Work Among Young Men," page 11, English Edition ; Exeter Hall, London. i8e/» 82 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. of Constantine the Church was free to develop among a great people, unfettered by union with the government, and this time it was to be a free Church, protected in its functions, not persecuted by a hostile, civil power. The history of the American Church previous to the in- troduction of the Young Men's Christian Association in 1851 falls into three periods: (i) The Colonial Period, 1607 to 1776. (2) The Period of Reorganization, 1776 to 18 1 5. (3) The Period of Rapid Extension through- out the growing Republic, 1815 to 1851. It is necessary to trace briefly the events which are of vital importance to our subject. THE FOUNDING OF THE AMERICAN CHURCH DURING THE COLONIAL PERIOD. Europe has furnished the elements from which the American Church has developed, but the chronological order of their introduction into the United States has been reversed. An analysis with reference to the European origin of the religious forces of the United States shows that they spring from four sources: The Old Roman Church; The Reformation; The Puritan and the Wesleyan Revivals. The Roman Catholic Church owes its present strength to recent immigration from Ireland and Europe. It was not a moulding force in the founding of the nation, except in one colony. The second element of American Christianity contin- ues directly the Protestant Reformation of the Sixteenth century. The two churches which stand directly for the Reformation are the Episcopal and the Lutheran. The Lutheran, and the kindred German bodies, like the Roman Church, owe their present strength to more re- cent immigrations. The Episcopal Church, however, was the first introduced into America, and has had a continuous history since the founding of the Jamestown Colony in 1607. For a century, the Church of England THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT. 83 was the dominant religion in the South. While the spirit of loyalty to the British Crown prevailed, the Anglican Church nourished the religious life of Virginia and the Southern Colonies as well as the isolated char- acter of the wilderness would permit. But the Church was poorly organized, and the sentiment against an establishment of religion early developed. The Ameri- can Church had no Bishop, but was in close connection with the English establishment under the direction of the Bishops of London. This led it to be regarded as an ally of the British government. The annals previous to the Revolution are full of struggles between the people and the rectors over their salaries, which were raised by taxation. At the close of the colonial period, the Episcopal Church was in a reduced condition. It had some fol- lowing in Connecticut and New York, but only three mission stations in Pennsylvania. Outside of Virginia and Maryland, it was supported as a mission under the British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. " In the South, there had been a distinct retrogression. Even in faithful old Virginia dissenters were two to one. The result of the fatal breach between clergy and people had already appeared. Church buildings were falling into neglect ; many of the clergy had withdrawn, * * * while further south the condition was no better." ^ The Episcopal Church was still further shattered by the Revolution. At the outbreak of the war, there were only 90 clergymen in Virginia, and at its close there were 28; in 1812, only 13 could be rallied to at- tend the first convention. ^ The Church was also weakened by being wantonly deprived of its en- dowments by disestablishment. It was not until about 1835 th^t ^^^^ Episcopal Church became again ' McConnell's History of the American Episcopal Cluirch, p. 182. * McConnell's History of the American Episcopal Church, p. 38S. 84 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. a vigorous factor in the religious life of the United States. It was one of the chief forces in introducing the Young Men's Christian Association, and produced the leader of the American movement during the first period of its history. The third and chief source from which America drew her religious life was the great Puritan movement of the 17th century. The lineal descendants of this Puri- tan revival are the Presbyterians and Congregationalists. The Baptists, who were also earnest in advocating sep- aration between the civil and religious powers, and the doctrine that the Church should be composed only of believers, as a movement among English-speaking peo- ple, date their origin from the same period as the Puri- tans. They accepted the Westminster confession with modifications of the statements regarding baptism and the sacraments. In Virginia they were especially active in the movement led by Thomas Jefferson against the Establishment. They were represented in all sections of the Union. The Presbyterians were especially strong in New York and Pennsylvania. The type of piety, the conception of the Bible, of education, of freedom of conscience, of the Sabbath, of sin, of the relation of the Church to the State, which prevailed at the founding of the nation, were the outgrowth of the Puritan move- ment of the seventeenth century. The fourth division of the American Church has come from the impulse to spiritual life given by the Wesleyan revival in Great Britain during the iSth century. America has seen the greatest successes of jMethodism. No other denomination has made such rapid progress, or shown more zeal for the elevation and enlightenment of the masses of the people. But this body of Chris- tians who were to become the leading division of American Protestants were hardly a determining factor at the beginning of the nation's history. The teachings 7 HE AMERICAN MOVEMENT. 85 of Wesley produced a deep impression in the colonies, but Methodism was not yet an organized force. The first meeting-house of logs was built in the woods of Mary- land in 1764,' and in 1773 the converts to Methodism numbered only 1,160. Fifteen years later, in 1784, the Methodist Church was episcopally organized with 14,983 members, four-fifths of whom were in IMaryland. With the founding of the new republic, the INIethodist Church set out on its great mission. I have given this brief summary of the early ori- gin of the American Church because this division of the people, among so many of the ecclesiastical organi- zations, was. the determining factor at the beginning of the next period in freeing the Church from union with the government. The second characteristic of the colonial period was the *' Great Awakening," under the leadership of Jona- than Edwards and George Whitfield, which stirred the entire nation. Beginning under the preaching of Ed- wards at Northampton, Mass., in 1734, the revival spread south with wonderful power, till it reached Georgia, where Whitfield was engaged in establishing an Orphan- age, with funds gathered mostly in England. Under the impulse of his marvellous eloquence and devotion, the revival received new vigor. He traveled north, preach- ing and exhorting in all the colonies. This movement, commonly known as the " Great Awakening," lasted until the Revolution, and even longer. It is of great im- portance to our subject, because to it can be traced one of the leading characteristics of American Christianity.*' W^ithout much regard to Calvanistic or Arminian conception of theology, the "Great Awakening" agreed with John Wesley in teaching the possibility * McTyiere's " History of Methodism," p. 253. ® McConnell's Historj' of American Episcopal Church, pp. 136- 146; Fisher's Historj' of the Christian Church, pp. 524-527. 86 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. of the immediate conversion of sinners, and that a Christian may know at once, by an inner experience, that he is accepted of God. It may be called the coun- terpart of the Wesleyan revival on the west side of the Atlantic. This conception of conversion became char- acteristic of American Christianity. It has developed the evangelistic and missionary spirit, which is one of the leading features of the American Church, and which was a necessary preparation for the Young Men's Chris- tian Association. The Association in America is an evangelistic agency which aims to win young men to yield their lives to Jesus Christ. The "Great Awaken- ing" prepared the American Church to welcome and support such an enterprise. It was this great revival which fortified the Church to meet the tide of irreligion and immorality which came with the Revolution and the opening years of the republic. The two features of the colonial period which are of importance to our theme were the founding of the different denomina. tions, and the development of the evangelistic spirit by the " Great Awakening." THE PERIOD OF REORGANIZATION, 1776-1815. War has often ushered in a decline in spiritual life. This was sadly true in America. The secc^nd period of American history is marked by irreligion and infidelity almost as pronounced as that which prevailed in Eu- rope. The rigid standard of morals of the early Puri- tans degenerated. Party strife was as bitter as in the declining days of Greece or Poland. Slavery was grow- ing in the South, " drunkenness threatened to debauch the nation." " In the Western States whiskey was the only currency used. In 1814, there were 1,400 distil* leries in the country, producing two and a half gal- lons of raw spirits annually for every person in thepop" THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT. 87 ulation." " The days of Christianity were thought to be numbered, and the "Age of Reason" to be at hand. Polit- ical alliance and sympathy with France brought in infi- delity, and associated the ideas of liberty, equality, and free institutions with unbelief and irreligion. There was danger that the Church, the great conserver of self-mast- ery in the individual, would be paralyzed at just the mo- ment when the inauguration of free institutions demand- ed self-poise and self-control in the mass of the people. The leading event in the history of the Church at this period was the culmination of the movement which had been developing for a century in favor of the sep- aration of the civil and religious powers. This senti- ment had grown with the growth of republican ideas. The irreligion of the day allied itself to the anti-estab- lishment party in demanding the separation of the Church from the State. The anti-establishment move- ment succeeded in Virginia in 1784. The leading fac- tor, however, in accomplishing separation, was not irreligion, but the division of the population among so many different denominations. " The convention of patriots, who framed the Federal Constitution at Phila- delphia in 1787, were sacredly bound by every consid- eration of justice and regard to the rights of the various States and religious parties represented by them, to pro- claim liberty of religion and its public exercise. This could not be done without a complete separation of Church and State." « The separation of the Church from the State has de- veloped several features of American religious life that are of great importance to our subject. The indepen- dence of the Church involved self-support, self-govern- ment, and the organization of the Church as a body of ■ McConnell's History of American Episcopal Church, p. 279. « Elliotts' Debate, Vol. III., p. 330, quoted by Philip SchaflF, Evangelical Alliance Report for 1857, p. 569. 88 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. believers, distinct from unbelievers. It is impossible to adequately discuss here the influence which these prin- ciples had upon American Christianity as it has devel- oped during the succeeding seventy-five years. The first result during the period of reorganization was the awakening of laymen to activity in Christian work. Self-government, and, above all, self-support, compelled the Church to lean more and more upon laymen in ful- filling her mission. The means for the support of religion, and the advancement of all religious enter- prises were no longer raised by taxation, but the Church now rested on the loyalty of its members. This sys- tem of voluntary support has been eminently successful. To this training is due the benevolence and generous giving in America which has often attracted the atten- tion of Europeans. Art galleries, universities, and churches arc built and maintained, not by the State or royalty, but by private munificence or general contribu- tions. A variety of influences have contributed to in- crease lay activity in Christian work during this century all over the Protestant world. This century has been characterized by the establishment of lay agencies for extending the Kingdom of Christ. From the German Inner Mission and the myriad organized agencies of Great Britain to the wonderful lay societies of Amer- ica, the layman is a recognized religious power. The Young Men's Christian Association is a purely lay organization, and without this awakening of lay- men to Christian service would have been an im- possibility. Laymen have become a more important factor in the activities of the Church throughout Amer- ica than in any other land, and this is one of the chief causes for the greater success of the American Young ]\Ien's Christian Association. The separation of the Church from the civil power also involved the organization of the Chu-«h as a body THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT. 89 of believers distinct from unbelievers. This was of im- mense advantage. It limited church membership to converted men, and enabled the Church to fulfill its mission of bearing witness to what it believed to be the truth. The separation of believers from unbelievers greatly stimulated the evangelistic spirit, which was the most precious legacy from the preceding period. In Europe, the basis of church membership is not conver- sion, and a public profession of faith in Christ but birth and baptism under a Christian government. In Amer- ica the conditions of fellowship are baptism and a pub- lic, profession of faith in Jesus Christ. This separation of the converted from the unconverted has proven a constant reminder to the Church of its evangelistic mission. It has confirmed the evangelistic character of American Christianity. The second characteristic of this period ( 1776-1815) was the necessar}' organization of the churches on the basis of the new relation to the government. The Pres- byterians and Baptists had never been connected with the State, and were already organized and ready to push for- ward and occupy the field as population moved westward. This in a measure explains the rapid development of these two denominations. The Methodists were swift to follow in their footsteps and soon outstripped them both. The Episcopalians and the Congregationalists were slow to accept the new situation, and thus lost this first opportunity for rapid advancement. The Episco- pal Church was the first to organize, but it was deprived of its resources by disestablishment, and had to face the hostility of the supposed sympathy of its clergy with the Tory party. The Congregationalists, while popular from their loyal support of the patriot cause, and their influence in moulding the new na- tion, were hardly organized at all, and were slow to ad- vance as an organization into the growing West, while 90 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. they gave the most liberally of all of men and money. As a church, they can hardly be said to have had a na- tional organization previous to the calling of the Na- tional Council of 1865. The third characteristic of this period, which has prevailed during all the succeeding history of the na- tion, is the systematic efforts of the reorganized churches to establish themselves among the population which moved westward. This movement at first fos- tered denominational rivalry, but it did much to stimu- late evangelistic zeal. It prevented the localizing of denominations, as had been done in the colonial period, and so in the end promoted denominational fellowship and intercourse. There is no section of America, ex- cept New England, where the Congregationalists still predominate, where any one denomination so outnum- bers the others as to justify pretentions to superiority. Tolerance was a natural development of the separation of the Church from the State. The Church emerged from the second period of 40 years fully organized, un- der the new condition of freedom from government control, able to support itself, a self-governed body of believers, and a witness for Christ in the world. The Church had two marked characteristics which are es- pecially important to our theme. The first was a vig- orous evangelistic spirit, the outgrowth of the " Great Awakening," strongly intensified by the organizing of congregations of believers as distinct from the uncon- verted, and by the missionary effort to evangelize the West. The second was the awakened interest of the laity, and their increased prominence in the affairs of the Church. The American Church in 18 15 was a growing power in the midst of a period of irreligion which prevailed widely over war-stricken Protestantism, and in the face of the serious problems of slavery and a rapidly developing nation. THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT. 91 THE PERIOD OF RAPID EXTENSION. The period from 1815 to 1851 in the United State.i was one of tremendous religious activity. The Church arose in its might to make the growing nation Chris- tian, and to perpetuate the Puritan and Wesleyan con- ception of Christianity. As population moved west- ward and occupied the vast domain of the Mississippi Valley, the Church and school were founded in every settlement. The powerful stimulus to business en- terprise, aroused by the appropriating of a new country, quickened also religious activity. The rapidly ac- cumulated wealth of Christian farmers, merchants, and manufacturers flowed into the coffers of the Church in a way that satisfied everyone of the wisdom of the sys- tem of voluntary support. Scores of colleges and theo- logical seminaries were established in both the old and new States. Church buildings were erected in large numbers and of more pretentious and beautiful struc- ture. This period of expansion is seen in all of the denominations. Numbers were added to church mem- bership which year by year has enrolled a greater pro- portion of the total population. The great external characteristics of the third period are : The march of the Church westward with the pioneer population. The great increase in the numbers of the communi- cants, ministers, church buildings, church organiza- tions, and financial resources. The entrance of Roman Catholicism on a large scale on the wave of the new European and Irish immigra- tion. The division of the denominations which had large numbers of communicants in both the North and the South into separate bodies on account of slavery. The feature of this period of chief interest to our 92 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. subject was the formation of the great lay societies of the Church. The different denominations now began to establish, or to render really vigorous, both their own denominational boards and interdenominational organizations. As early as 1801, the Congregationalists and Presby- terians entered into a " plan of union " for the planting of churches in western New York and Ohio. This de- veloped into the Home Missionary Societies of the two denominations in 1826. Each of the large denomina- tions soon founded agencies for extending their sys- tems into the rapidly growing West. In 1850, there were ten Home Missionary Societies in the United States, which received annual contributions to the amount of $433,090, and which supported 2,675 mis- sionaries in newly-settled communities. The foreign missionary movement began toward the close of the previous period by the organization of the A-merican Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in 1810. This was supported at first by several denom- inations, but gradually came to be the agent of the Congregationalists. It rapidly became the policy for each denomination to have its own Foreign Missionary Society. In 1850, there were 14 Foreign Missionary So- cieties in the United States, receiving annually $666,360. In addition to these 24 Home and Foreign Missionary Societies, there were a number of other denominational agencies for the education of young men for the minis- try, and for founding Sunday Schools. The attempt to inaugurate Home and Foreign Mis- sion work on an interdenominational basis, made in 1801 and 1810, failed, partly on account of the nature of the enterprises and partly on account of jealousy between denominations. But with the beginning of the third period, the willingness of Christians of differ- ent denominations to unite in carryins: on work of a THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT. 93 general character began to increase. In 1816, the American Bible Society was established to circulate the Bible without comment, both at home and in foreign lands. This society received hearty support from Christians of all creeds. In 34 years it had distributed nearly seven million copies of the Bible or New Testa- ments. In 1850, its annual income was $284,000. The American Tract Society, for the circulation of Christian literature, was founded on a similar basis in 1824, ^^^^ ^t the end of 26 years was receiving $308,000 annually for the distribution of Christian literature. One of the greatest of these agencies was the American Sunday School Union in connection wnth the various churches throughout the nation. This society marvel- lously stimulated lay activity. Its income in 1850 was $259,900. In 1850 these three great interdenominational agencies, with several others for similar purposes, according to the report made to the Conference of the Evangelical Alliance held at London in 1851, were receiving over $850,000 annually in voluntary contribu- tions from Christians of all evangelical churches. In addition to forming these societies. Christians began to unite in a great variety of benevolent enterprises. Anti- slavery and colonization societies, temperance organiza- tions, and union evangelistic service were powerful influences in drawing Christians together. In 1846, with evangelical believers of all lands, the American Church united in forming the Evangelical Alliance, which had for its object the establishment of a bond of union between Protestants of every nation and every tongue. The rapid development of the Sunday School, which rallied the young people under the instruction of Chris- tian laymen, did much to familiarize laymen w-ith methods of Christian work, and with the value of organ- ized eflfort. In 1851. there were '* 2,000.000 of children. 94 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION youths and adults in the Sunday Schools of the United States, taught by more than 200,000 teachers, among whom were members of Congress and of State Legisla- ture, judges, laymen, mayors of cities, and other magis- trates." ^ The Methodist Church, by its system of "local preachers," did much to promote lay preaching, while the development of the prayer meeting familiarized the whole Church with Christian work by laymen. This organizing of the energy of the lay element of the Church permeated American life with vital Christianity. The separation of Church and State, the decadence of doctrinal disputes, the absorption in practical effort had wrought mightily to weld American Christianity into one homogeneous whole, which all the rivalry for supremacy, the clashing of interests in new settlements, the bitterness over slavery, and the devotion to tradi- tional watch-words handed down from European strug- gles of former centuries, could not stifle. A breadth of view and warmth of heart began to permeate American Church life. On the broad platform of the Bible and Tract Societies, the Sunday School Union, and a multi- tude of benevolent organizations, American Christians met side by side. Union became popular ; ministers of different denominations exchanged pulpits, and congre- gations of different churches united in evangelistic ser- vices. The revival spirit, which, under the leader- ship of Charles Finney, awoke to new life, did much to draw the churches into harmonious relations. With the increased activity of laymen, the desire for unity grew stronger, year by year, and while party differences still prevailed, often bitterly, the Evangelical Churches of America in 1851 looked upon each other as standing shoulder to shoulder in a com- mon cause. At the close of the third period of Ameri- can Christianity, when the Young Men's Christian * Report Evangelical Alliance for 185 1, p 610. THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT. 95 Association was about to begin its role in America, the religious character and institutions of the new nation had become clearly defined, and the general direction of religious effort determined. The religious forces were organized into the denomi- nations already mentioned. Their numerical strength may be seen in the following table : MINISTERS. CONGREGA- TIONS. COMMUNICANTS. 1800 1850 1800 1850 1800 1850 Conereeationalists 1,687 4,578 8,018 6,000 1,504 1,827 1,971 5,672 13,455 30,000 1,550 5,356 197,196 490,259 948,867 1,250,000 73,000 333,000 Presbyterians 300 500 1,150 40,000 65,000 40,000 16,000 Baptists Methodists Episcopalians 260 320 German Churches Evangelical ; Other Denominations.... 300 Totals 23-514 ^8 101 "! '>n:> T>9 The two leading groups are (i) the Methodist denomi- nation, which was distributed over the whole nation in some 30,000 different congregations, enrolling 1,250,000 communicants and ministered unto by 9,000 lay preachers, in addition to 6,000 ordained ministers ; (2) the Puritan and Baptist group, which sprang from the non-conformist movement in England in the 17th century, represented by the Congregationalists, Presby- ierians and Baptists. This second group enrolled some 20,600 churches, under the supervision of 14,200 pastors, with some 1,640,000 members. In 1850, in a population of 23,225,000 people, Ameri- can Evangelical Christianity presented the picture of a group of voluntary", self-governing ecclesiastical organi- 96 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. zations, which had rallied some 3,300,000 commimicantg into 58,000 different congregations, scattered broadcast over the new Republic and fostered by the ministrations of some 23,000 preachers of the Gospel. Some indica- tion of the result of self-support may be gathered from the fact that in 1850 the sum of $7,700,000 was voluntarily contributed for the support of these churches, $3,000,000 additional for church building, and a sum of $2,150,000 for the support of the various denominational and inter- denominational societies already mentioned. Resting on this ecclesiastical foundation, laid during the two and a half centuries of its history, American Christianity had developed four characteristics, which were a neces- sary preparation for the Young Men's Christian Associa- tion : 1. Evangelistic zeal which sought to win each indi- vidual to personal alliance to Jesus Christ. 2. Lay activity, by means of which laymen had be- come a great factor in the direct work of preaching the Gospel and in directing the agencies of the Church. 3. A faculty for organization, which had created not only the great national societies, but reached also to the details in the life of the local churches. 4. An increasing spirit of harmony between denomi- nations, which manifested itself in fellowship and in union for specific objects. Here were the forces to give the impetus to a new movement. Without spiritual power, without practical organizing ability, without a willingness among Chris- tians of different creeds to unite in practical effort, the Young Men's Christian Association could not have been established. Dr. Charles Hase, of Jena, writing at the close of this period (1853), said: "The Puritan and Methodist elements have been especially attracted to America and have become prominent in the national character. The zeal engendered by an earnest Chris- THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT. &r tianity thrown into powerful conflict with the world has led its friends to an intense use of ordinary and extraor- dinary means for the conversion of men, and the religious revivals, which have sometimes been witnessed in other lands, have here become frequent." ^** Skc. 15. — Thp: Industrial Situation. We have seen the development of the religious forces in the United States, which were ready to establish and maintain any institution needed to advance the cause of the Gospel. We turn now to look at the actual condi- tions surrounding the life of young men, which have made the Young Men's Christian Association in America necessary. Tlie occasion is the same as in England : the growth of cities. We have already alluded to the decadence of morality which followed the Revolutionary War. The breaking up of the old relation to ' England, the expansion to the new West, the intoxication of founding a new government, and the rapid growth of wealth disturbed the self-controlled movement of society. The more settled East never really yielded to laxity of morals. But in the West, while government and order were being established, gambling, drunkenness, licentiousness, robbery and sometimes murder threatened to overturn the new States before they could be formed. The steamboats which plied the great lakes, the Mississippi River and the Ohio, were the haunts of gamblers and thieves, who, while less violent to the person, were as ruthless as the highwayman in the days of Robin Hood. Slavery in the South, Indian warfare, and the hardly less demoralizing Indian trading in the North, and, with it all, the isolation of pioneer life, stifled the relig- ious aspiration of the people. Young men, then, as to- 10 " History of the Christian Church," Ch. Hase, translated by C. E. Blumenthal, p. 601, New York, 1886. ^8 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. day, were the adventurous leaders in the march west- ward, and faced all the peril to their moral and higher life which these rude surroundings entailed. This ad- vance westward, headed by young men, has continued through all the subsequent history of the United States, until the Rocky Mountains have been crossed, the Pacific coast settled, and the East and West connected with lines of railway. This filling of the West with the young, leaving the older portion of the population in the East, necessarily forced young men to the front and into prominent business, political and social posi- tions. It led society to trust important enterprises to young men, and in a measure accounts for that readi- ness to lead, and that courage in the face of responsi- bility often seen in young men in America. While in Massachusetts and some of the southern States women outnumber men, the West has always had a large majority of men. In the lumber regions of northern Michigan and Wisconsin, it was estimated that in 1887 there were 80,000 more men than women, most of whom were young and unmarried, exposed to all the demoralizing influences of camp and frontier life. The vital statistics of Wyoming, Idaho, Montana and Colorado show the same great preponderance of males. Over 60 per cent, of the immigrants from Europe to America are males, and the large proportion of these are young men. ^ ^ The census for 1890 showed 377,000 married men in America whose families were still in Europe. The first pioneer march westward was rapidly followed by an agricultural period, in which the forests were felled and the prairies brought under cultivation. In an incredibly short time, the whole region, from the Allegheny Mountains to the Mississippi, assumed a ^ 1 See article on " The Census of Sex, Marriage and Divorce," in " Forum " for June, 1884, by C. D. Wright. THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT. 99 settled aspect. The canal system was extended to Ohio in 1825. In the year 1829, the railroad was introduced, and the industrial revolution, which began in England with the invention of the steam engine, in 1793, com- menced in the United States. All the internal condi- tions of the United States were completely altered by the railroad and the use of coal in the manufacture of iron introduced in 1837. The period 1830 to 1840 marks the entrance of modern American conditions. At its beginning, the country was an overgrown type of colonial life ; at its end, American life had been shifted to entirely new lines, which it has since followed.^ The Agricultural Period, which closed with 1830, has been followed by an industrial era, in which the cities have grown to contain half the wealth and 18,000,000 people out of a population of 62,000,000 (1890). It is a striking sociological fact that although the density of population in the United States is only 21 to the square mile (1890), while in France it is 187 ; in Germany, 221 ; in England, 498, still the movement from the country to the city has become as pronounced in America as in Europe. The millions of acres of cheap public lands, the homestead privileges, the fact that only one-sixth of the land is under cultivation, did not prevent, between 1880 and 1890, the stagnation or decline of the rural population in over 10,000 out of the 25,700 townships in the United States. ^ In 1834, McCormick, by the invention of the reaper, began the long list of agricultural inventions which have made it possible for an ever-diminishing propor- tion of agricultural laborers to feed the cities of the world. These inventions have stimulated the concen- tration of vast sections of American farm land under single managements, until " one farmer, like Dr. Glyn, 1 Britannica "History of the United States." J " New Era," Josiah Strong, p. 167. 100 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. of California, or Mr. Dalrymple, of Dakota, with a field of wheat covering a hnndred square miles, can raise as much grain with 400 farm servants as 5,ck)o peasant proprietors in France can by old methods." ^ It is not my purpose to enter into a detailed discus- sion of the growth of American cities!* The facts to be observed are that the same movement of popu- lation from the country to the city, found in Europe, obtains in America even to an accelerated degree, that this movement was pronounced in 1851, and that it was the occasion for establishing the American Young Men's Christian Association. In 1790, Philadelphia had 42,000 people; New York, 33,000; Boston, 18,000, and Baltimore, 13,000. By 1830, while the whole population had increased ^ less than fourfold, the city population increased 13-fold and contained 6.3 per cent, of the total population. By 1850, the proportion of the population in cities was already 12^ per cent, out of a total of 23,- 200,000 people. The increasing power of the city is seen from the place of manufacture in the nation. There were already 120,855 manufacturing establish- ments, employing 944,100 persons. The manufactured product was estimated at $1,013,000,000, as compared with a total agricultural product of $1,600,000,000. ^ The current of population was already flowing from the country to the city in 1851. The first characteristic of American cities to be noticed is their abnormally large proportion of young men. '' Young men form an undue proportion of the * Loomis' "Modern Cities," p. 51. * See Josiah Strong's " Our Countrj'," Revised Edition, and " The New Era ; " Samuel Loomis' " Modern Cities." ^ " Our Country," p. 179. * Report of Evangelical Alliance, 1855, p. 77. ' See Sec. 7, on British Cities. ^%^2.^^^^ dfru-^^^l^ /^s-^ THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT. 101 army which marches annually from the country and village to the city. Cleveland, out of a population of 149,000 males (1892), had 60,000 young men between the ages of 15 and 36 years, — 20 per cent, of the entire population. The general average for the population of the entire country is 14 per cent. (1890 Census). An examination of the reports made by the Young Men's Christian Associations in a large num- ber of American cities, varying from 8,000 to 1,800,000 inhabitants, reveals two interesting and significant sociological laws regarding American young men: i. A decided tendency on the part of young men to seek a livelihood in the city. 2. That the proportion of young men between the ages of 15 and 35 tends to vary accord- ing to the size of the city. The more population is concentrated, still greater is the concentration of young men.* From 18 to 20 per cent, of the population of American cities are young men. The second characteristic is the homeless condition of young men in American cities. City young men may be divided into three classes : foreign young men, strangers, and young men with homes, either of their own, or their parents. In American cities, the foreign element is very large. Immigration from Europe, of a very different character from that which had given a Puritan cast to the free institutions of the republic, began to pour with increasing volume into America. In 1820, it was about 12,000 annually. But soon the famine- stricken inhabitants of Ireland, and the peasants from Germany, Austria and Italy began to invade America. Immigration reached in 1850 as many as 315,000 immi- grants in a single year. This current, interrupted to some extent by the Civil War, has brought a vast multitude of newcomers to America. Between 1880 and 1891, 5,240,000 immigrants came to make their * See " Dying at the Tops," Dr. J. W. Clokey, p. 19. 102 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. homes in the United States. The cities have proved especially attractive to immigrants from Europe. The percentage of foreign-born inhabitants in the fifty lead- ing American cities was in 1880 eighteen times as great as the percentage of foreign-born persons in London. While less than one-third of Americans are foreign born, or children of parents born in other lands, 62 per cent, of the population of Cincinnati was foreign, in this sense ; 83 per cent, of Cleveland ; 63 per cent, of Boston ; 80 per cent, of New York, and 90 per cent, of Chicago. It is a noticeable fact that a large proportion of the immigrants are young men who have left their fatherland to seek their fortunes in the New World. The cities of America have proved especially attractive to these young men. Fully fifty per cent, of the yomig men in American cities are foreign by birth or parent- age. This class of young men are open to especial temptat\on. Old customs, church relations and ^tradi- tional ideas of conduct have lessened their hold before these young men have had time to adjust themselves to their surroundings. This has been especially true of members of the Roman Church, thousands of whom have drifted ofif into indifference and unbelief This half of the city young men of America are especially impervious to the American agencies for preaching the Gospel, and open to the swarming temptations of the city. Thousands of these foreign young men have no home ties and belong also to the second class of young men who may be called the stranger portion of the city population. The tendency already mentioned of popu- lation to move from the rural districts to the city, and the facility with which Americans change residence from one city to another, gives a colonist character to the city population. The resident population of London which is London-born is 63 per cent, of the whole, while Cleveland, which in 1890 had 261,000 people. THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT. 103 twenty years previous had a population of only 72,000. It is impossible to estimate the percentage of city young men who are living away from home, but it is very large. One incident in New York is significant.^ There, young men who have fallen below the plane of self- respect live in the " Cheap Lodging Houses," where a wretched bed in a crowded room may be had for a small fee. " Nearly all of these lodgers are young men." Inspector Byrnes, of the New York police force, says : " The cheap lodging houses have caused more destitution, more beggary and more crime than any other agency I know of."^" Mr. Riis, from the reports given by the police authorities, estimates that some 14,000 young men in New York live in these " Cheap Lodging Houses." These are only the young men whose incomes are insufficient to secure more re- spectable lodgings, and they form but a small percent- age of the young men who are strangers in New York City. A very large proportion of the young men m American cities are living away from home influences^ in boarding houses and lodgings. The third class of young men in American cities are those who live wdth their parents, or in homes of their own. Home, Church and American traditions have a much better opportunity to exert a powerful elevating influence upon this class of young men. They respond to this influence, and are among the most valuable of American citizens. But this class of young men are under an increasing volume of evil influences. The simplicity of colonial and country life is gone. The young man of the city is in the whirl of temptation, the fierce struggle for place and the feverish thirst for pleasure. Whether the young man of the city resides » Riis' " How the Other Half Lives," chapter " The Cheap Lodg- ing House." 10 "How the Other Half Lives," Riis, p. 82. 104 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. with his parents, or be a stranger from a foreign land, or from the country, the influence of home over him i? greatly diminished. The young men of American citie? are largely a homeless class. Not only has the home lost much of its hold, but the Evangelical Church has no real grip upon the majority of the young men of American cities. Scarcely 35 per cent, of the communicants of Ameri- can Protestant Churches are men ; women form the greater proportion of nearly every Protestant commun- ion and congregation. The Congregational Churches of Cleveland enroll 2,200 women and only 1,200 men.^ The proportion of the communicants and worshipers in the majority of churches who are young men is very small. In a town of 14,000 people in Ohio, in 1890, an examination of the register of the eleven Protestant Churches showed only 297 young men as members, — about 13 per cent, of the young men of that town. Similar tests have been made in six Ohio towns, with a similar result. A careful investigation of the habits of the young men of Cleveland, made by the Young Men's Christian Associations in 1892, shows that out of 60,000 young men, between the ages of 15 and 36, in that city, 6,212, about 107^ per cent, were members of Evangelical Churches.^ Similar investigation has been made by Associations in widely separated sections of America. Whatever conclusion may be drawn as to the moral character of the young men of American cities, it is plain that they are largely withdrawn from the influence of the Evangelical Churches. One of the chief reasons for this estrangement is the struggle between capital and labor, which involves a large section of city young men. This struggle began 1 Address, Pres. W. G. Ballautine, 25tli Report Ohio Y. M. C. A. 2 25th Report Cleveland Y. M. C. A. r.'lE AMERICAN MOVEMENT. 103 with the growth of cities and manufacture. The first city trade union was formed in New York, in 1803.* There was a strike among printers, in 1821. The first national labor organization was formed in 1850. By i860, twenty-six different trades were organized. The cities of America, 66 per cent, of whose population are work- ing men, began to assume the aspect of two organized camps, in which capital and labor stood arrayed against each other. Samuel Loomis says: "The faith on which the nation was founded, and through the strength of which she has endured the shock of war and the stress of stormy times, this faith has almost no place among the working classes." " It is doubtful if one in twenty of the average congregation in our English speaking Protestant city churches fairly belongs to this class." ^ Fully 60 per cent, of the young men of American cities belong to the industrial classes, and share their prejudice against the Church and its agencies. While a large number of the young men of American cities are active workers in the cause of Evangelical religion, both the home and the Church have lost their hold on a majority of the young men of American cities. The fourth characteristic is the concentration in American cities of the powers of evil. Nowhere else are young men so surrounded by temptation. The fact is too apparent to need discussion. Low theatres, con- cert halls, liquor saloons, houses of ill-fame, dives, fast clubs, and even hotels, boarding houses and the city streets swarm with temptations, and are the headquar- ters for an army of depraved men and women who lie in wait to prey upon young men. The city is without parallel the great center of America's religion, piety and benevolence. The power, ' Labor Movement in America, Ely, p. 38. * Modern Cities, p. 82. 106 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. leadership, wealth and much of the aggressive zeal of the Church is in the city, but the city is also the head- quarters of vice and evil, and it may well be doubted, rapidly as the conserving forces of the city have grown^ if they bear as favorable a relation to the powers of evil as they did in 1830, when the American Industrial Era began. This concentration of the forces of evil in American cities is aimed directly at young men who are so largely removed from the influences of both home and Church. The case is complete : American life had entered upon a new stage. The Industrial Era ushered in the supremacy of the city. These cities began to be crowded with an abnormally large proportion of young men, a small minority of whom were earnest support- ers of the Evangelical faith, but the greater majority of whom were beyond the influence of home and the ordinary agencies of the Church, exposed to new and powerful temptations. In this emergency the evangel- istic zeal, liberality and energy in the American Church, which has already been described, needed only direc- tion to organize a mighty agency to save young men. This opportunity came with the founding of the Boston Association on the London model, in December, 1851. Sec. 16. — Founding of the American Association, December, 1851, to June, 1854. The first period of the development of the Young Men's Christian Association on the American continent properly extends from the founding of the Montreal and Boston Associations, in 1851, to the permanent location of the American Committee in New York in 1866. This period of 15 years, in spite of the movement towards unity, and the establishment of a national alliance, in contrast with later development must be called 2i period THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT. 107 of local effort. There was no general consciousness of a great national or world-wide movement. The four leading events of this period were : The founding of the movement under the leadership of Boston and Montreal. The establishment of the confederation under the leadership of William Chauncy Langdon, of Washing- ton. The great revival of 1857 to i860, which, beginning in New York, swept over the whole country, and which, while it almost overwhelmed for a number of years the oricrinal definite idea of the distinctive mission of the Association to young men, and made it in many places a general missionary agency to all classes, confirmed for- ever the evangelistic character of the movement. The fourth work of this period was the mission to the army and navy during the great Civil War, one of the noblest instances of devotion in the annals of Chris- tianity, and the most brilliant page in the early history of the Association. This period of fifteen years in the United States and Canada was one of uncertainty and experiment. The mission of the Association was ill-defined in the minds of many of its supporters ; the relation of the Associa- tions to each other and to the Church was undeter- mined. It was a period of training of leaders and discovery of methods of work, during which the Amer- ican Association gradually grew into self-consciousness, and in which the Association tradition was being formed. It was a period during which the spiritual power necessary for a great undertaking slowly devel- oped. On the other hand, this period did not define definite- ly the aim of the Association as a work for young men by young men. It was clearly recognized as a society of young men, but many of the leaders thought the 108 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. efforts of the Association should be directed to preach- ing the Gospel to all classes of society. In the second place, the relation of the Association to the Church was not defined. There was a strong tendency which ulti- mately prevailed to limit the control to evangelical Christians, but no definition of an evangelical church was formulated. The Association had not evolved its method of work for the fourfold development of young men, spiritually, intellectually, socially, and physically. It was as yet confined almost wholly to the spiritual and intellectual side of its mission. The American Associations did, however, do much during this period to furnish a wholesome social resort. In this chapter we are to discuss the work accom- plished in America between December, 1851, and Au- gust, 1855, the date of the Paris convention. The two events of these five years are the founding of the local Associations, and of the Confederation. THE BOSTON ASSOCIATION. In America, as in Germany and Great Britain, there had been many efforts to inaugurate special work for young men. It has not been the purpose of this treatise to enter into a discussion of these movements. Cotton Mather speaks of young men's religious societies in the early colonial days in New England. Some of these had a continuous existence covering a long period, one for 150 years. The Nasmith movement, shortly preceding the found- ing of the Association, did much to awaken an interest in Christian effort for young men, and in Montreal trained the men who organized the first Association on the American continent. In the United States, the only society formed previous to 1851 which vitally influenced the Young Men's Chris- tian Association was the " Young Men's Societv of THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT. 109 Religions Inquiry," of Cincinnati. In 1848, seven young men in Cincinnati, who were members of the same church, formed themselves into a society " for the pur- pose of cultivating Christian intercourse ; of assisting each other in growth in grace and knowledge, and es- pecially of enlarging their acquaintance with the relig- ions movements of their own country and of the world, and fitting themselves for more extended usefulness in the service of the Divine Redeemer." ^ This society was very soon reorganized on an interdenomina- tional basis, and, in seeking an appropriate way " to extend their influence " in Christian service, wrote a letter to Dr. Samuel Miller, a prominent theologian connected with Princeton University. In replying, Dr. Miller said : " I earnestly advise that your in- quiries and benevolent efforts be especially directed to the moral and spiritual benefit of children"* and young people. He that searches out a child or young person, and especially a young man of amiable and promising character, and secures for him a good literary and religious education, may be said to be doing good in the most solid and permanent form possible. * ii: * J believe there is no branch of religious effort more likely to richly remunerate the effort bestowed upon it than searching out the children of the needy and vicious, providing for their moral and religious education, and teaching them to live to God, to their country, and to their own happiness." This letter shaped the activities of the new society, which in a few years enrolled seventy earnest, active young men, who devoted much effort to Christian work. The two ob- jects of their efforts were young men and the children of the poor. In their work for young men they estab- lished nicely furnished rooms, with a library', reading room, and parlors, where semi-monthly meetings were ^ Report First American Convention, 1854, p. 29. no YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. held of a religious and social character. In carrying on the work for children, seven Sunday Schools were established in the more destitute parts of the city, which were managed and taught by members of the " Young Men's Society." This effort at Cincinnati was at first entirely local, but after the introduction of the Young Men's Christian Association, this society identi- fied itself with the Association cause, and with the ma- turity of experience threw itself into the movement. The influence of the Cincinnati Association was power- ful in forming the Confederation, and especially in fostering the spiritual zeal of the American Associations, but not being a movement directed solely toward young men, this society was one of the chief influences in diverting the American Associations from their specific mission. In a few years, however, the Cincinnati As- sociation recognized the wisdom of concentrating its ef- forts upon work exclusively for young men. It is now an organization of nearly 2,000 members, and has re- cently erected a building of its own at a cost of $200,000. The real founding of the Association in America was in i85i,when the influence of the London idea reached simultaneously Montreal, in Canada, and Boston, the metropolis of New England. We are especially con- cerned with the Boston movement because it was from Boston the Association has spread over the American continent. In the winter of 1849-1850, a student from Columbia University, New York, named G. i\I. Van Derlip, visited Edinburg University for a course of study. During his stay abroad he spent some time in London, where he became acquainted with the London Young Men's Christian Association. He was so much impressed with the value of this organization that he prepared an extended account of it, which was sent to the IVatch- man and Reflector^ of Boston, the organ of the Baptist THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT. Ill denomination. This letter, written in June, 1850, de- scribed so vividly the work in London in the seventh year of its history, and was such an important link in extending the movement in America, that a considerable extract must be quoted from it." It was written from London as follows : " Taking the most direct course from the general post office to the Bank, on the right-hand side of Gresham Street, a large stuccoed building will be obser\'ed, on the doors of which is inscribed, ' Young Men's Christian Association.' Ascending the stairway, we enter a spacious apartment some sixty by thirty feet. It is elegantly furnished with mahogany tables, sofas and lounges. Here are to be found the principal newspapers of the Kingdom, together with copies of journals from ever>' part of the world. " Ascending another flight, we reach a room supplied with all the reviews and magazines. Adjoining it is the library room, in which lectures are occasionally delivered. The library may be called a small one, having less than eight thousand volumes, but size is no criterion of value, for a better selected collection of books — one more completely adapted to the w^ants of those using it — can scarcely be conceived of. "In the library room, on Sunday afternoon, a large class of young men meet to study the Word of God. There are other classes of the same kind, under the direction of the Association, meeting in different parts of the city. The graduates of these classes make effi- cient Sunday School teachers. On the floor above the library are bath rooms, class rooms, etc. Instruction is regularly given to classes in French, German, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. There is also a class in English literature which meets weekly under the supervision of Rev. Charles Stovel. *See"nistory of the Boston Young Men's Christian Association," L.L.D., 1901, p. 7. 112 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIO.^ " There is one peculiarity in the arrangement of the Association, and that is the refreshment room. Provis- ion is made for the physical as well as intellectual man. Between the hours of 5 and 8 P. M., servants are in attendance, and members are furnished with tea, coffee, chocolate and other refreshments at cost price, about half the price charged at restaurants. Members can now spend two or three hours in the reading room after business hours before going home. " I see I have reversed the proper order by describing the ' local habitation ' of the Young Men's Christian Association before speaking of the Association itself. It is, comparatively speaking, a new institution. Six years ago it was organized. The Rev. Thomas Binney, in an address delivered at a late meeting of the society, said : *' ' There was a young man ( George Williams ) in a certain house in London, working away there, aye, and working well ; a young man of activity and tact and industry and talent, attending to his business, and being thoroughly in his business when he was in it, and the thought rose up in his mind of getting a few young men, like-minded, together, to read the Scriptures and unite in prayer, and lo, this institution came to be evolved from that one thought.' " Its religious character is its peculiar glory. There are other associations which accomplish a part of what this proposes, but I know of none in which the attain- ment of vital piety and manifestation of godliness is the leading object. It is not enough that a man should be religious in the sense often understood. A man has more to do than save himself. Says Frederick Maurice, * The Kingdom of God begins within, but it is to mani- fest itself without ; it is to penetrate the feelings, habits, thoughts, words, acts of him who is the subject of it.' Believing these things, not a few Christian young men THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT. 113 of London resolved in God's strength to accomplish these objects, viz. : " The improvement of the spiritnal and mental con- dition of commercial young men by the efforts of the members of the society in the sphere of their daily call- ing, by devotional meetings, Biblical instruction, mu- tual improvement classes, and the diffusion of Christian literature. Article 8 of their constitution reads, * Any person shall be eligible for membership who gives decided evidence of his conversion to God.' Young men of good character may enjoy the privileges of the library and reading room on payment of a small sum. The first three years of its existence there was a strug- gle. The munificence of George Hitchcock, Esq., kept the society free from debt, yet it was felt that too little was accomplished. *' In 1848, the third annual course of lectures was pub- lished, and in a short time 36,000 copies were sold. The attention of the Christian public was at once di- rected to the Association, and thousands of warm friends enlisted. All the evangelical clergymen of London are its warm friends, and a large proportion of the young men of their congregations members. As might have been expected, a few high churchmen have opposed it openly. . " There are district prayer meetings held regularly in five different parts of London, and numbers of young men trace their conversion to them, and bless God for this Association. There is scarcely a commercial house in London without one or more missionaries among their clerks. Young men from the country come up to London, and many are at once led out of temptation. Instead of snares, they find friends who have provided a delightful place, and a delightful way to spend leisure hours. 'The young stranger can say no longer, 'No man careth for my soul.' This is best of all— G.N. V." 114 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION This letter, though written in June, 1850. appeared in the Watchman and Reflector in October. 185 1, and fell under the eyes of a converted sea captain named J. V. Sullivan, a member of the Baptist Church who, in his roving life, had realized intensely the temptation to which young men in the thronging streets of modern cities are exposed. The desire of Captain Sullivan was aroused to have a similar work done among the young men of Boston who were being led into lives of sin. Captain Sullivan never visited the Association in London, but was so impressed with this account of its work that he began to urge the formation of a similar society.^ Through his efforts, on December 15th, 185 1, "thirty-two men, repre- senting twenty congregations of Boston, met in the vestry of the Central Church to consider the matter. "'^^ Mr. Charles Demond, afterwards to play so noble a part in the work for the Union soldiers, was appointed Chairman, and Henry S. Chase, Secretary. This meet- ing favored the proposed enterprise, and appointed a committee, of which Captain Sullivan was a member, to prepare a plan of organization. The meeting then adjourned to December 226., "when they assembled with largely increased numbers in the Old South Chapel, in Spring Lane, to consider the proposed constitution." For years the struggle between the Orthodox, or Trinitarians, as they were called, and the Unitarian and Universalist party, had been characteristic of the relig- ious life of Boston. The evangelical or orthodox, and the non-evangelical party, both Unitarians and Univer- salists, had learned to know each other well, and it was ' Captain Sullivan in the summer of 1851 began a union effort for the young men of Boston. This led Mr. Uaniel Ford, one of the editors of the Watchman and Reflector, to publish the Van Derlip letter which he had received a year previous. 'a Report Boston Association, 1853, A. M. -21. THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT. 115 a recognized fact that tliey could not work together for a common end. This was a critical point in the inaugu- rating of any religious enterprise. It is not surprising that it was almost the first question raised when the constitution came up for adoption before the young men assembled in the chapel of the " Old South Church," on December 22, 1851. The non-evangelical party in the United States was clearly defined and easily recognized. Here was one advantage, at least, of a free church system. Instead of all parties being identified with the State Church, as in Germany, in America, each party forms its own communion. In Boston, at this time, the non-evangelicals were repre- sented by the Unitarian and Universalist Churches ; the evangelicals principally by the Episcopalians, Baptists, Congregationalists and Methodists. The question thus arose in a very clear and definite shape, should members of all six of these denomina- tions be admitted, or only members of the evangeli- cal churches? The question was accentuated by the fact that Boston, of all places in America, was the battle-ground where the conflict between evan- gelical and non-evangelical belief had been fought out. The non-evangelicals to-day number a mere hand- ful in the United States, scarcely 2 per cent, of American Protestants, but in Boston and vicinity they have some 45,000 members.* No one fully realized the profound importance of the step under discussion. The matter was earnestly debated. As yet it was purely an evangelical movement ; should the mem- bership be limited to members of these churches ? It was the supreme moment for the American movement. After much discussion, the constitution was referred back to the committee, and four young men appointed to secure the advice of the leading * Carroll, " Religious Forces in U. S" 116 YOUNG MEN 'S CJIRISTIAN ASSOCIA TION. representatives of the four evangelical denominations. The meeting adjourned to meet in the same place, the "Old South Church," December 29, 1851, for final decision. Bishop Eastburn of the Episcopal Church, Dr. Lyman Beecher of the Congregational Church, Dr. Sharp of the Baptist, and the Bishop of the Methodist Church, were interviewed without con- ference with each other for their opinions. The young men brought the opinions of these leading ministers to the meeting held on December 29th, and it was found they were unanimous in favoring organization on an evangelical basis. The meeting was almost to a man of the same opinion, and the following Constitution was unanimously adopted : PREAMBLE. ."We, the subscribers, led by a strong desire for the promotion of evangelical religion among the young men of this city, and impressed with the importance of concentrated eflfort, both for our own spirit- ual welfare and that of those from without, who may be brought under our influence, and desirous of forming an Association in which we may together labor for the accomplishment of the great end proposed, hereby agree to adopt for our united government the following CONSTITUTION. Article I. Title and Object. The name of this society shall be the " Boston Young Men's Christian Association," and its object the improvement of the spiritual and mental condition of young men. Article II. Members. Section i. Active Members. Any j-ouug man who is a member in regular standing of an evangelical church may become an active •member of this Association by the payment of one dollar annually. Active members only shall have the right to vote and be eligible to office. - Section 2. Associate Members. Any young man of good mor4 character may become a member of this Association by the pa^-menj THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT. 117 of one dollar annually, and shall be entitled to all the privileges of the Association, eligibility to office and the right to vote only ex- cepted. Section 3. Related to life members. Artici^E III. The officers of this Association shall consist of a President, four Vice-Presidents, Recording Secretary, Corresponding Secretary, Treasurer and Librarian, all of whom shall be elected annually by ballot, A standing committee, consisting of two members from each evangelical church in the city, shall also be chosen at the annual meeting, who shall appoint twelve from their own number to con- stitute, with the officers elect, a Board of Managers." Then follow articles upon the duties of managers and officers. In the By-Laws, Article IV reads : " The Board of Managers shall annually appoint from its own number four committees, consisting of five persons, one of whom shall be a Vice-President of the Association." The names of these committees were as follows : (i) " Committee on Library and Rooms." (2) "Committee on Lectures." (3) A " Committee on Publication," which published copies of the Constitution, with a list of officers of the Association, and the local- ity of its rooms, and which were forwarded to the pastors of each evangelical church in Boston. (4) A "Committee on Finance, to devise means for obtaining the necessary funds for the Association." By the adoption of this Constitution, the Young Men's Christian Association of Boston was organized on De- cember 29, 1851, seven years and a half after the bed- room meeting in George Hitchcock's establishment in far away London. The Boston Association had clearly defined principles. It was to be a work for young men. Its aim was " to improve them spiritually and men- tally." Its controlling membership was evangelical. Its management, like the parent Association in Lon- 118 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. don, was to be a small board of Christian men chosen by the evangelical members. It recognized the value of bringing young men under good influences by allowing moral young men to be- come associate members. Next to emphasis upon the evangelical position the greatest addition was the introduction of the committee system, which came to be characteristic of the American work. Committeemen were appointed to carry out the various plans of the organization. There is an undoubted advance in the emphasis upon the value of the Association as a social resort. This may be seen from the address introducing the Constitu- tion, which said : "A young man who is a stranger here finds it difficult to obtain access to Christian families or in any way to satisfy the demands of his social na- ture, except in places that are dangerous to his morals." * * * * * " We intend to make this a social organiza- tion of those in whom the love of Christ has produced love to man. We shall meet the young stranger as he enters the city, take him by the hand, direct him to a boarding house, introduce him to the Church and Sab- bath School, and bring him to the rooms of the As- sociation. By making his social atmosphere a Chris- tian one, we believe the allurements to evil will be stripped of much of their power." The first circular sent out in January, 1852, expressed the same hope : " The young men of Boston belonging to the four evangelical denominations have united them- selves for the purpose of aiding young men who come to our city as strangers, by surrounding them with such social influences as will tend to their moral and spiritual profit." The idea of unity of all evangelical denominationi appears in all the proceedings of the Boston Association The address just mentioned closes with a joyful note. THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT. 119 "We have a Christian union, so often longed for, in actual and successful operation, concentrating the Christian influences of the city and binding into one the various congregations of the Lord." Officers were chosen on January 5th, 1852, and the Board of Managers appointed five days later. ** Two months of severe labor followed. The Standing Com- mittee and the Board of Managers met often and de- voted a large portion of their time to the obtaining of funds and in interesting the Christian community in the cause. The funds needed to commence the enter- prise were obtained, spacious and convenient rooms were provided, fitted up in neat and agreeable style, furnished with papers and periodicals and a foun- dation laid for a library." ^ These rooms w^ere on the corner of Washington and Sumner Streets, and were about 80 by 30 feet in size. Mr. Francis L. Watts, a learned and Christian lawyer, a member of the Episcopal Church, v/as chosen President of the Associa- tion. The opening of the rooms attracted considerable at- tention, over six hundred young men being present. Dr. Lyman Beecher, Bishop Eastburn, and other prominent ministers were present, and made stirring addresses. The Governor of the State, Honorable George L. Briggs, and Honorable Robert C. Winthrop, were also among the guests. Dr. Beecher closed his address wnth these words : " I always felt sure the millennium would come, but never so sure of it before as now. I breathe a longer breath than ever I breathed before. You will stand fast and sure and go on in this good work, until your great adversary, the Devil, is turned into Hell ! " The enthusiasm, determination and large plans of the Boston Association were characteristic of the New World. In less than five months, the Association num- bered 1,200 members, " most of whom were active * Second Boston Reoort, 120 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIA TION. members of the Association." The secular or indirect spiritual work was carried on along four lines, under the direction of the four committees of the Board aU ready mentioned ; the Committee on Library and Rooms ; Lecture Committee ; the Committee on Pub^ lication and the Committee on Finance. A Vice-Presi- dent was Chairman of each committee and these com- mittees made their reports at quarterly meetings of the Board. The rooms on Washington and Sumner Streets, for which the Association paid $650 rent yearly, although they were in the fourth story, were fitted up quite elegantly. The first report states that : "The Commit- tee on Rooms felt the importance of a central location, easy of access and attractive to young men. If we would induce young men to frequent our rooms instead of places of danger, we must provide such as are pleas* ant in themselves and attractive on account of the society there found and the entertainment furnished. These considerations caused the committee to provide rooms neater and more agreeable and more attractive in all respects than the boarding houses where the young men whom we seek to benefit severally reside." During the year 1852, the rooms were frequented and their advantages enjoyed by a large number of young men. But rooms on the fourth floor were not a favor- able place for a resort. This was to be a prominent feature in the plans of the Boston Board. So it is not surprising that they made a vigorous effort to secure quarters nearer the ground. " The committee found ? suite of rooms in the New Tremont Temple, admirably adapted for their purpose, which they could have by favor of the owners for $1,200 per year." Tremont Temple belonged to a Baptist congregation, and while the proposed apartments would command $1,500 rent, a reduction was made to the Association. " One of the most energetic and active members of the Standing THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT. 121 Committee raised the extra money necessary to pay the rent for two years," and the handsome rooms in Tre- mont Temple, the home of the Association for so many years, were opened early in the year 1853, scarcely eighteen months from the foundinor of the organization. In accordance with the constitution, a " Librarian and Assistant Secretary" was appointed to have charge of the rooms and be a missionary among young men. The conception of a secretary as the chief executive officer was a later development. Boston has been favored with some of the ablest men in the service of the Young Men's Christian Association, and has paid them liberal- ly, but the first secretary began his work for $507 per year. The Board of Managers devoted a great deal of attention to the needs of the Association. The receipts for the first eighteen months were $6,900 ; the expenses $5,008. Thirteen gentlemen contributed $50 each, and 112 gave $25 each. The same liberality and noble devotion which in later years has invested nearly half a million dollars in a palatial edifice and sustains an annual budget of $35,000 for the saving of the young men of a great city was manifest in the first movement in 1851. One of the novel features of the Boston work was the freedom with which they employed the " press and the post." In January, 1852, a circular announcing the purpose of the Association was scattered widely. Before eighteen months had passed, more than 10,000 copies of the constitution and 5,000 copies of the first address delivered before the friends of the Association in May, 1852, outlining its purpose, were sent to every pastor in New England and to hundreds of Christian men and women throughout the Union. " A large quantity of other matter necessary for the Association w^as printed under the direction of this committee." With all the enterprise of the new movement, the 122 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. managers of the Association did not seem to have very definite ideas of how to carry on the religious work necessary to reach young men. The presence of Tre- mont Temple, with its large auditorium, in the end proved a snare and led the Board in a few years into the conducting of large evangelistic meetings for the general public, which while an excellent work, was quite aside from the original purpose of concentrating all effort to win young men. The first step taken was to arrange through the Lecture Committee a course of Sabbath evening lectures to young men, by prominent ministers, which were delivered before the Association at the Melodeon Hall. A fee sufficient to pay expenses was charged for admis^ sion. These lectures were of great benefit and were open to the general public. Some of the ministers were inclined to complain that it drew people from their own churches, but the work prospered. In the summer of 1856 a series of tent meetings on Boston Common, ad- dressed by leading clergymen, was undertaken. These meetings, which were attended by thousands, were kept up for a number of years, and were a means of great blessing. Even policemen bore testimony to the in- fluence they had upon public order. The first form of spiritual effort for young men began with the founding of the Association in a request by a number of the members that a prayer meeting be es- tablished in the rooms. A meeting was held on Mon- day evenings. At first it was from 9 to 10 P. M. ; then at 8:30. The report for the first year says : " The meet- ings have been of deep interest. From fifty to seventy- five young men have been present at each meeting, and above all, the Spirit of the Lord has been with them, souls have been born there and quite a number who now rejoice in Christ attribute their conversion to the in- fluence of this meeting." The following year this meet' THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT. 123 ing grew in power. It was especially characterized by unity of feeling and the enthnsiasm arising from the presence of members of different denominations. This meeting continued to increase in influence until 1857 and 185S, when the great revival gave it an additional impetus. The second year a Bible class was organized which began with a membership of 136, but soon assumed a more moderate average of twenty to thirty. Its meet- ings were held on Saturday evenings. Some difficulty was experienced in finding a suitable teacher, but after a year or two, Mr. Richard Gardner undertook the task. The Bible class became one of the most successful feat- ures of the Association. Unlike the British classes, which were mainly for the unconverted or for young Christians, these classes came to be especially for young men interested in Bible study and for training students for teachers in Sunday School classes. " The Acts of the Apostles," "The General Epistle of James," "The Apocalypse," and part of "The Prophecy of Isaiah" formed the course of study for one winter. It is noticeable that the Association from its central position and union character came to be a sort of re- ligious exchange for the churches of the city. Various religious agencies employed its rooms for assembly pur- poses from time to time. Pastors' Unions and Benevo- lent Societies met in the lecture hall. An extensive correspondence was inaugurated throughout New England to secure information re- garding young men who w'ere coming from the country and small towns to enter business in Bos- ton. ]\Iuch effort was devoted to finding employ- ment for young men, and many incidents are re- corded of members watching by the side of the sick bed of some country lad whose home was miles away on a New England hillside. 124 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. Very pleasant relations were maintained between the Boston Association and London, which was always recognized as the parent of the movement. The first r*eport says : " There is a similar Association in Lon- don, from which we took our idea, and with which we are in pleasant correspondence." From time to time, letters of friendly greeting were interchanged. In 1853, the Vice-President, Honorable Charles T. Russell, and two members of the Boston Association attended, as representatives of their home society, the annual meeting of the London Association and presented a report of the work in Boston. By May, 1854, the date of the third anniversary, the Boston Association presents the picture of a young religious society filled with spiritual zeal, equipped with attractive apartments as a social resort, enrolling over 2,500 members ; a compact organization, with the management in the hands of a small Board of Christian business men, elected by the evangelical members : a committee system for carrying out the plans of th?. Board, a clearly defined purpose to help young men spiritually and mentally, but on the whole an organize tion without precedents or experience to guide it. In the meantime, the Association idea was wel- comed in a great number of places. The efforts of the Publication Committee scattered information concerning the movement, not only throughout New England, but over the whole nation. Knowledge of the Montreal Association suggested to the young men of Toronto the formation of a similar society. During the years 1852 to 1854, Associations were or- ganized mostly through the influence of Boston, in twenty-four different cities in the United States. Immediately following the founding of the Boston So- ciety during 1852, Associations were established at the following cities in the order named : Worcester, Sp^i:ig' THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT. 125 field, Buffalo, New York City, Washington, New Lon- don, Detroit, Concord and New Orleans.^** The fol- lowing year, 1853, societies were organized in as widely separate cities as Baltimore, Alexandria, Chi- cago, Peoria, Louisville, San Francisco, Providence, Brooklyn, Lexington, Ky., Quincy and Portland, Maine. At the close of the year there were twenty- seven Associations in the United States and Can- ada. They were young, inexperienced, separated from each other, but unified by a common origin, and a common purpose — the desire to win young men to Jesus Christ. Sec. 17. — The Founding op the Confederation. Intercommunication between the American Associa- tions existed to some extent from the first, though it was carried on in a desultory way. Chance visits brought Associations into touch ; ministers and promi- nent laymen of one city were invited to give addresses by neighboring, and sometimes distant, associations. During the first year of its history, the Boston Society invited Dr. Stephen H. Tyng, perhaps the most active friend of the Association among the ministers of New York, to give a Sunday evening discourse. Dr. R. S. Storrs and Bishop Alonzo Potter also accepted similar invitations. In December, 1852, Hon. R. C. Winthrop, of Boston, who had been present at the opening of the rooms of the Boston Association, was invited to deliver an address before the Association at Washington. Let- ters and publications were constantly interchanged, es- pecially between Boston and the newer organizations, seeking information. Between Boston, New York and Washington, and the parent Association in London, a ^° Report of the Paris Convention, 1855. 126 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. friendly correspondence arose. In February, 1853, Rev. Clement M. Butler was given credentials as a delegate from the Washington Association, to such similar organizations as he might visit during a tour in Europe. Mr. Butler and the two gentlemen from Boston already mentioned visited a number of British Societies. A real contact was established in the following year. In the spring of 1854, Mr. R. C. Mc- Cormick, of New York, who had already made a tour of a number of American Associations, and had served as an officer in various capacities in the New York Society,^ "having given notice of an intended visit to Europe, was duly accredited by the New York organiza- tion as its delegate to the kindred Associations of the Old World." Mr. McCormick, in the name of New York, " vis- ited the Associations at London, Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester, 2 Huddersfield, Glasgow, Greenock, Belfast, Dublin, Limerick and Cork, with various others in Great Britain and Ireland; also those at Paris, Geneva and Turin. The most cordial welcome was extended to him, and many of the Associations passed resolutions thank- ing the New York Association for appointing a delegate. At every point it was insisted that Mr. McCormick should aflford all the information possible concerning the progress of the Young Men's Christian Associations of the United States." The President's report to the New York Society the following year says: "The details concerning the work in America were listened to by thousands with the utmost delight. The young men of Europe were anxious to become familiar with the movements of their American brethren. Let us hope that the happy visit of our delegate may tend to strengthen the ties of our sympathy and love for our Christian friends in the Old World." Mr. McCormick 1 See 2nd Annual Report of N. Y. Association, p. 11. 23rd Annual Report, N. Y. Association, p. 11. THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT. 127 did much by interviews with leading workers and by his public addresses to arouse a sense of unity and a de- sire for fellowship among the Associations of the world, and especially to draw the American and European Societies into closer relations and prepare the way for the first conference of Associations of all lands held a year later at Paris during the Industrial Exhibition of 1855. In 1853, the Association at Cincinnati became affili- ated with the general movement, and a knowledge of the Montreal and Toronto organizations reached several of the societies in the United States. In a little over two years, Associations with similar constitutions had sprung up in the leading cities of America. A feeling of common origin, a common purpose, and a common need of each other's sympathy, fellowship and encour- agement was ripening into the inevitable fruition, a union which should weld together not only Associations of the same country into national organization, but which would soon establish a bond of fellowship be- tween Christian young men throughout the cities of the Protestant world. The man whose name above ever}' other is identified with the early period of the American Associations is Rev. William Chauncy Langdon, of the American Epis- copal Church. He did not have the evangelistic gift of Dwight L. Moody, the loving devotion of Sir George Williams, or the leadership of Robert R. McBurney, or R. C. Morse. But though his service to the Associa- tion was not equal to the service of any of these, and his connection was limited to a few years, while the As- sociation endures his name will not be forgotten. He was a man of prophetic faith, and endowed with the gifts of an organizer, an intense spirit, yet a man of wide horizon. He failed as a diplomat, but succeeded by his determination and enthusiasm. As e-arly as 128 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. September, 1852, when the Washington Association t/as but three months old, his mind was filled with the •vision of a net-work of Christian Associations for yonng jnen established in every city of the New World, bound together by ties of a common origin ^nd a common pur- pose, meeting annually in convention and working unitedly as independent members of a common federa- tion. A year later he had grasped the idea of a world union, and in June, 1854, on the floor of the first Ameri- can convention, he said: "Already two hundred and fifty such brotherhoods, scattered throughout every na- tion, people, kindred and tongue, lift up their hearts in unison to the same Savior and Redeemer, and it scarce- ly needs prophetic inspiration now for the heart confi- dent and trusting in Him to look forward to a rapidly approaching hour when the young men of the age shall have risen in their strength, nay, rather in the strength of the Lord God of Hosts, and when through them the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea." ^ To Mr. Langdon's faith and generalship the American Associations owe the Confed- eration, — the first form. of the Association as an interna- tional mov.ement. Mr. Langdon also suggested a system of corresf)ondence between the Associations throughout the world, which was adopted at the Paris Conference of 1855. The Washington Association played an important part in the early history of the American movement. The capital, to a greater extent than any other city, was filled with transient young men whom the system of dis- tributing government patronage over different sections of the country drew to the seat of government. These young men who occupied positions in Washington sel- dom looked upon their residence as permanent, but re- garded themselves as citizens of the home section which ^ First American Couvention Report, 1854, p. 49. THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT 120 diey represented. It is not surprising that the Associa- tion of this city should have been the first to be inter- ested in a federation of the various Associations. Two other causes already suggested were, however, more po- tent. First, the presence in Washington of a young man fired with enthusiasm for a national organization, and second, the longing of the weaker organizations for fel- lowship and mutual support. In April, 1852, a copy of the constitution of the Boston Society-had fallen into the hands of the Rev. C. M. But- ler, Rector of Trinity Episcopal Church of Washington. Tne peculiar needs of the young men of Washington seemed to Dr. Butler to demand just such an organiza- tion as the Boston Constitution described. William Chauncy Langdon, who had recently been appointed from Kentucky an Assistant Examiner in the United States Patent Office, was a member of Dr. Butler's church. Dr. Butler placed the Constitution of the Bos- ton Association in his hands, with the suggestion that a similar work was needed in Washington. After con- siderable effort, a meeting of 60 young men gathered on June loth, 1852, in the Masonic Hall, to consider the matter of organizing a Young Men's Christian Associa- tion in Washington. This was accomplished on June 29th, by the adoption of a constitution similar to that of the Boston organization. In August, six months later, ]\Ir. Langdon, who was made Corresponding Secretary of the new Association, visited Boston and learned with interest that there were already seven similar societies in America. On his return, he planned a federa- tion of these societies and proposed that the W^ashington Association endorse it. The meeting was an animated one, the proposition being warmly discussed. The idea was finally adopted with enthusiasm and a committee appointed to report on the project. On October i8th, • cc^ ^^'i^t^^ *^ ^^^ ^^ ''^ ^ )'t>-tA.i fe./t•/.. <..v.< r ■ ,,-^L<» — (^ Un c ittHo i^ ^ Vtr ^- a x /U ^ ^ h f^ t^- ^. T' THE PARIS BASIS AS FINALLY ADOPTED THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT 131 of the work at large during these first years. This con- centration on the home field was largely due to the efforts of one man, who made the New York local work a success in the face of many dilhculties, and who after- wards, as chairman of the Committee on the Evangelical Test, formed the one theological symbol of the American Associations. Dr. Howard Crosby, then a professor and writer, who afterwards became prominent as a pastor and as Chancellor of the University of New York, was the leading spirit in the New York Association at the time. Foi three years, 1853 to 1856, he was its president, and by his vigorous personaUty, common sense, and clear insight he held the Association definitely to its main purpose, and did much to win a place for it among the institutions of the American metropolis. He was opposed to the New York Association's identifying itself with any central movement. Two distinct altitudes toward the proposed confeder- ation rapidly developed. The strong Associations, Bos- ton, New York, Baltimore, and Brooklyn, containing one- half of the entire membership in the country, for various reasons were unwilling to lend their adhesion to the plan proposed. The smaller Associations, especially in' the West, became more and more favorable to some form of union. It was a difficult matter in the face of oppo- sition and indifference from the four Associations named to make much progress. When the confederation was finally established, the New York Association would send no official delegates, and later gave its adhesion to the Central Committee, merely as to a committee of correspondence. The posi- tion of the New York Association is seen from its action when requested to entertain the second convention of the Associations. Professor Crosby replied officially to the request, that the New Y^'ork Association had unani- mously decided in full meeting that they deemed any 132 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. convention inexpedient, and declined any connection with it. The reasons given for this position were stated : " (i) We believe conventions draw off attention from local work, and our institution is essentially local. (2) We believe they foster a centralizing spirit at war with independent action. (3) We believe they will tend to produce unpleasant scenes and ruptures on such subjects as slavery. (4) We believe the expense unauthorized by our main object. (5) We believe fraternal feelings between the Associa- tions may be better cultivated by correspondence and chance visits." This letter is characteristic of Dr. Crosby, and illus trated forcibly the position maintained by the New York Association. His real objection was fear of division over the slavery question, which later caused very serious disturbance in the New York Society itself. Mr. Langdon, in writing of this period, says: "In fact, without being as yet fully conscious of it, perhaps on either side, two Associations were representative types of two distinct principles. " To the New York Society its work and purpose were all at hand, all its efforts, attention, and interest were concentrated upon the home work, save only so far as occasion might from time to time involve correspond- ence with some other body. The Washington Associa- tion, on the contrary, whose membership was gathered from every portion of the Union, with thoughts and prayers divided between scenes and friends at home and those around, became even more naturally the exponent of the movement for a national organization." ^ Not discouraged by the indifference already mentioned, Mr. Langdon, in February, 1853, addressed another com- * Early History of the Confederation. THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT. 133 miiiiication to the New York Association, but received no reply. Rev. Dr. Butler brought back to the Wash- ington Association, publications of the London Society, and gave a glowing account of its work. Mr. Langdon now corresponded with London, Geneva, and Paris, and visited New York, Boston, and Baltimore, to propose the publishing of an American Association Journal. The proposition was not even considered by Boston or Balti- more. The New York Association gave Mr. Langdon a hearing, after which Prof. Crosby frankly stated his ob- jection to the proposition and the Association voted against it. Mr. Langdon did not for a moment abandon the project of a national union. He was, at the close of 1853, in correspondence with 18 out of the 22 American Associations, and early in 1854, he prepared a careful account of the Association movement throughout the world, which then included, according to his information, 230 societies. This report produced a deep impression both in Washington and in the other American Associa- tions. It showed the wide-spread character and vigor of the movement. The Washington Association now proposed if any other Association would act with it, to call a convention of delegates of all the Associations in the United States and Canada, to consider the forming of a federation. New York again declined. Buffalo, how- ever, consented to unite with Washington in inviting such a convention and offered to entertain the gathering. A few days later the Boston Association, though it after- ward refused to approve the acts of the convention, agreed to unite with Washington and Buffalo in issuing the call. Circulars were sent out inviting the conference. Reference was made to the alliance of the Jiinglings- Verein, existing in West Germany, to a Swiss union which had just been completed, and to the alliance of the British societies as branches of the London Society. The circular proposed "A convention of delegates to con. i34 YOCNC MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. fer together relative to the formation of an American Young Men's Christian Alliance, a union of indepeftdent^ equal y but co-operating Associations^ to secure such uni- formity of organization and action as may be thought desirable." ® It is unnecessary to enter into the details of the prep- aration for this important gathering, the first convention of leaders in specific work for young men in an English speaking country which ever assembled. It was ten years since George Williams had gathered with eleven others in the little bedroom of the ware-house in St. Paul's Churchyard. Like the influence from that earlier meeting in an upper chamber at Jerusalem, the influence of this little group of young men had already reached Vv'idely separated sections of the world, and now from Portland, Maine, to San Francisco, from New Orleans to Toronto, Canada, representatives were gathering to consider how to inaugurate on a plan commensurate with the needs of a continent, the work of moulding the character of young men. The delegates were all young, there was scarcely a man 40 years of age among them ; the majority were under 30, and their leader was only 23 years old„ There were 37 delegates, from 19 socie- ties; 34 of these delegates were laymen. Buffalo was not stirred by the presence of a large body of young men. There was no promise of the great conventions of later years, which should attract the attention of the Protest- ant world. But it was a prophetic meeting. A spirit of harmony and fellowship welded into one the hearts of the young men present, as on the first evening session they united in singing the words which have since be- come the convention hymn of the Associations, " Blest be the Tie that Binds our Hearts in Christian Love." They felt themselves on the crest of a victorious movement, * See circular calling first Convention, First American Report, 1854. THE AMERICAN MO VEMEN T. 1 35 and their convictions were voiced in the reading by the delegate from Boston of the Sixtieth Chapter of Isaiah. "The little one shall become a thousand, and the small one a strong nation; I, the Lord, will hasten it in its time." The convention assembled on the 7th day of June, 1854, in the rooms of the Buffalo Association. Mr. George W. Helme, of New Orleans, as a pledge, so to speak, to the South, that the slavery question should not be discussed, was chosen president. New York, Balti- more and Brooklyn were not represented. Boston was represented by three delegates, who sought to secure, for future conventions, representation in proportion to membership in behalf of the large city Associations. It was largely because this was not granted that the pro- ceedings of the convention were not ratified by the Boston Association. The leaders in this convention were from Washington and Cincinnati. The two great issues were the forma- tion of an alliance and the proper object to which the Associations should direct their eflforts, Washington and Cincinnati took the same position on both issues, but the Washington delegates were the chief advocates of the federation, and the Cincinnati delegation of mis- sion Sunday School work as an object for Association endeavor. Mr. Langdon, the real leader of the conven- tion, was delayed and did not arrive until the second day. A motion had already been passed which, if allowed to remain, would have defeated the idea of a confederation. It was simply a recommendation that annual conventions be held, and a committee of three be appointed to publish the report. On the second day, Mr. Neff, of Cincinnati, and Mr. Langdon moved a re- consideration of this decision, and most earnestly and eloquently advocated the forming of an alliance that should promote with vigor the work of winning young 136 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. men. The substitute plan brought forward was finally adopted by the unanimous vote of the delegates of 17 Associations, the representatives of Boston, who at first opposed the plan, altering their votes in its favor. The resolutions adopted were as follows : Resolved, i. That this convention recommend to the Youni> Men's Christian Associations of the United States and Britis'r, Provinces the formation of a voluntary confederation for their mutuai encouragement, co-operation, and usefulness, and that they recom mend that when 22 Associations shall concur in the plan hereafter suggested, the said confederation shall go into operation. 2. That a convention of the Young Men's Christian Associations of the United States and British Provinces be held annually at such time and places as may be determined.'' 3. That while it would oftentimes be judicious to discuss in con- vention principles of organization and action, this body shall have no authority or control over the local affairs of any Association, 4. That a Central Committee be appointed, to consist of eleven members, five of whom shall be residents of the city where the com- mittee shall, for the time being, be located, and shall be members of different religious denominations; the remaining six to be selected from the Associations generally, not more than one member from any one Association. 5. That the Central Committee shall maintain correspondence with American and Foreign kindred bodies, promote the formation of new Associations, and collect and diffuse appropriate information, and from time to time recommend to the Associations such meas- ures as may seem calculated to promote the general object, but it shall not have authority to commit any local Association to any pro- posed plan of action until approved by said Association, nor to assess any pecuniary rate upon them without their consent. 6. That the Central Committee be appointed by this Convention and continue in office until their successors are appointed by a sub- sequent convention. 7. That the Central Committee shall ascertain the wishes of the different Associations in regard to the time and place of holding *;ach annual convention, and shall issue the call as nearly as possible in accordance therewith. By the adoption of these resolutions the most impotr- ant step in the establishment of the confederation was ^ Report of first American Convention, 1854, page 36. THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT. IS"? accomplished. A committee of thirteen, with five of \\.^ members resident at Washington as headquarters, was appointed, and Mr. Channcy Langdon made secretary of the committee. Through his efforts, by January 15th of the following year, 22 Associations had given in their allegiance, and the confederation became a fact. The Associations of the United States and Canada thus began an affiliated organized life. The organization was ex- ceedingly loose, but it was the source from which has developed the supervisory agencies to which the Ameri- can Associations owe much of their usefulness. From that hour, the Association began to awake to self-con- sciousness, and to feel the strength of unity and fellow- ship and the inspiration of a great mission. The second important action of the Buffalo convention was the result of a proposition from the Cincinnati dele- gation regarding the mission of the Association. Mr. J. H. Marshall, one of the founders of the Cincinnati societv, and especially active in its mission Sunday School work, on the afternoon of the first day introduced a resolution recommending that the Associations of America engage in Union Sunday School work, and the formation of adult Bible classes. The matter was referred for con- sideration to a committee, of which Mr. Marshall was made chairman. Tlie morning of the second day of the convention, the committee made an extended report. Mr. Marshall spoke earnestly in behalf of Bible instruc- tion for both children and adults. His address made a deep impression on the convention. An earnest discus- sion followed, in which the measure was favored by all except delegates from Pittsburgh and Toronto. The report as finally adopted was as follows: " The committee to whom were referred the resolutions from the Cincinnati delegation would respectfully report: "That they have considered the subject of mission work among the masses, and in accordance with the 13S yOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. Spirit and action of the London, Boston, and Cincinnati Associations, would recommend the establishment of Sunday Schools and the organization of adult Bible classes, as the initiative of this great work. It appears to the committee that this would be peculiarily the legitimate work of Young Men's Christian Associations. The committee would, therefore, recommend : " That this General Convention of Associations recom- mend to the various local Associations the establish- ment of at least one Mission Sunday School, to be the agent and creature of the Association; also of adult Bible classes, where practicable, to form the nucleus of enlarged future missionary efforts, of the same and kin- dred character, among the masses of the population of our large cities." '* The adoption of these resolutions gave a decided im- petus to the spiritual work of the Associations. This was not the beginning of Sunday School work as a feature of the Association's activity, but it emphasized it as one of the chief objects of Association endeavor, and thus led the Associations to deviate from their original and proper purpose — the winning of young men. There was another important matter v.^hich came up for consideration at this convention. There were three great questions, upon whose right solution the future of the American Association depended. The first was the mission of the society; second, the condition of mem- bership in the Association ; and third, the relation of the Association to the Evangelical churches. The second of these questions came up for discussion at this convention. An examination of the Associations represented showed that the conditions of membership were not uniform ; two Associations opened their mem- bership to all young men of good moral character. One, Cleveland, required that officers be members of ** First American Convention Report, 1854, p. 28. THE AMERICAN MOVEMENT. 139 Evangelical churches. One, Cincinnati, admitted to membership only members of Evangelical churches. The larger number, hov/ever, followed the example of Boston and admitted two classes of members; active, young men who were members of Evangelical churches ; associate, young men of good moral character; only active members being allowed to vote or hold office. A delegate from Cleveland introduced a resolution recom- mending to the various Associations the Boston plan, that active membership, with the privilege of voting and holding office, be restricted to members of Evangelical churches. This resolution, principally because the con- vention feared it would be regarded as an interference with the affairs of local Associations, was amended be- fore adoption to read as follows: '■'Resolved, That while we agree in the importance of an evangel- ical basis for the operation of our Associations, and while we look to members of these churches for our leading and governing in- fluences, and in order to preserve the Christian element, we recom- mend that such only should hold office, or vote on alterations of the constitution; this convention is decidedly of the opinion that the qualifications for the different kinds of membership can be best de- termined by each Association for itself, as being the best judges of the circumstances of the case, and that uniformity of action cannot, without greater experience, be asked or expected of our Associations by this convention." * This indefinite action w^as without doubt the wisest course that could have been taken at the time. The American Associations were destined after years of ex- perience to demonstrate anew that the surest way to build noble and solid character in young men was by standing unfalteringly on the evangelical basis. They learned later that this very position would make them a welcomed auxiliary to the church and secure them the favor of the ministry and of benevolent and earnest laymen. * Report First Convention, 1854, page 59. 140 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. Mr. Langdon, at the close of the convention, gave a careful address on the Association movement through- out the world. Mr. Helme, of New Orleans, the presi- dent, as he rose to announce the adjournment, said : "He rejoiced at the successful issue of the convention. Great fears were entertained that it would be the scene of wrangling and strife, that sectional issues would be agitated, causing an adjournment without action on many of the important topics for which it conferred. No agitation, however, of these questions has taken place, and the convention, embracing delegates from Maine to California, has met and adjourns, bound in heartfelt ties, strengthened manifold by even the short time they had been together. Should the Associations persevere iq their annual assemblage, the 7th of June, 1854, would be remembered with pride and gratification." Thus was accomplished the forming of the Confederation, the be- ginning of the affiliated life of the American Associa- tions. The New World at the beginning of 1855 presented the spectacle in 36 of its leading cities of organized groups of young men, varying in membership from 50 to 2,500, inspired by a love for Jesus Christ, eager to grow in spiritual life, and for the most part devoting their energies to win the young men of American cities to the same allegiance. These groups of young men were further united to each other by unity of origin and of organization, and by the bonds of a voluntary federation. It has been said the first period of American Association Yistory extended from 1851 to 1866, when the American Associations became more thoroughly organized. Two important steps of this early period were completed by January i8th, 1855 — the founding of the movement in America under the leadership of Boston and Montreal, and the establishment of the Confederation under the leadership of William Chauncy Langdon, of Washington. CHAPTER IV. FOUNDING OF THE CONTINENTAL ASSO- CIATION. Skc. i8. — Gener.\l Conditions on the Continent. We turn from the restless, aggressive industrial com- munities of the New World to the more conservative and military atmosphere of the European Continent. The most prominent contrast presented by Protestant- ism is the union, almost the subjection of the Church to the Government. The Church is the department of the State devoted to the maintenance of religion as other departments are devoted to maintain education or the army. Americans can hardly appreciate the different atti- tude which Europeans take upon this question. It is largely a matter of heart and a conviction that it takes away the character of Christian from a nation to sepa- rate the Church from the Government. Even republican Geneva, on July 4, 1880, rejected by a vote of 9,300 to 4,844 a proposition recommended by the " Great Coun- cil" to bring about a separation between the Church and the State. This feeling is voiced by as liberal a thinker as Henri Amiel, who penned in his journal on the day of the vote : " The sun has come out after heavy rain. May one take it as an omen on this solemn day ? The great voice of Clemence has just been sounding in our ears. The bells' deep vibration went to my heart. For a quarter of an hour the pathetic appeal went on . 'Geneva! Geneva! Remember! I am called Clem- 142 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSGCIATION. ence. I am the voice of Church and of Country. Peo- ple of Geneva, serve God and be at peace together.' " ^ In Europe, the hoary traditions of the past confront every new movement in industrial, political and relig- ious life. The Continent has an atmosphere of its own, and it is not surprising that movements with the same purpose should have different developments in the two worlds, the old and the new. Protestant effort on the Continent naturally centers in Germany, the " heart of Europe," "the land of the Reformation." It is here that the endeavor to mold the character of young men has had its chief European development. Next to Ger- many, the center on the Continent from which the movement has exerted an influence is Geneva, the pres- ent headquarters of the World's Federation of Young Men's Christian Associations. The Continental socie- ties are more limited in the range of their activities than the American or British, but this is due more to a lack oi financial resources than to a different conception of the aim of the Associations. The Geneva Association and the societies which were influenced by it in their origin trace their inspiration to the London movement. The German Junglings-Verein, like several Scotch and American societies, has a much earlier history and is unwilling to regard the London Association as the founder of the Association movement. Societies of young men for religious and moral improvement are very old ^ " — much older than either the Jiinglings- Verein of Germany or the Nasmith movement in Scot- land and the United States. The idea of organizing young men for the purpose of improving themselves and other young men spiritually certainly did not origi- ® Amiel's Journal, English Edition, Mrs. H. Ward, 1893, vol. IL p. 29. ^"Association Hand-Book, New York, 1892, pp. 30-35. (See Chap ter on " History of the Young Men's Christian Association.") FOUNDING OF CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION. 143 nate with either the London Association or the German Jiinglings-Verein. But the practical application of this idea in a form which was destined to spread over the world under a name which was to be generally ac- cepted, as well as the spiritual power to compel the acceptance of this idea, were born with the London society, founded by George Williams. It was the movement inaugurated at London which has marshalled the Christian young men of the cities of Protestantism into a compact organization to win young men, and which has given the distinctive character to this world-wide institution. The German Associations had an earlier origin, and have evolved a method of operation adapted to the sur- roundings in which they are placed. They are the best and most vigorous example of the movement on the Continent The Jiinglings-\'erein and the Christlicher Verein junger Manner of American origin are the result of forces in the German Evangelical Church, nobly striv- ing to meet the needs of young men in the midst of new industrial conditions. Sec. 19. — Preparation in the German Church. It is impossible here to trace adequately the develop, ment of the religious forces in Germany which have created the characteristics peculiar to the German Young Men's Christian Associations. The religious condition of Germany at the founding of the Jiinglings-Verein was the result of a long strug- gle between Rationalism and the party in the Church which stood for practical Christian life and eflfort. The Reformation on the Continent had been fol- lowed by a handing over of the Church to the domi- nation of the various civil governments. There was 144 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. no ecclesiastical organization, as in England, to re- sist the appropriation by the State of the management of the Church. This subjection of the Church to the State was followed by the reign of Rationalism and a prevalence of theological discussion.^ Dr. F. W. Krummacher, of Berlin, speaking before the Evangeli- cal Alliance in 1851, said: "Rationalism, or that form of theology which indicated human reason as the supreme authority on religious subjects, denied supernatural revelation, and the necessity of salvation to man, disputed that God was able to work miracles, and only accepted Christ as the teacher of natural relig- ion and of a better morality, ascended from the mid- dle of the eighteenth century in Germany to such an extended dominion that the few isolated believers in Revelation began seriously to fear that the Lord might have determined entirely to extinguish from his holy temple the light of the Gospel."^ On account of its union with the State, the Church had to bear the brunt of the mistakes of the civil power. Opposition to the Church came to be looked upon as opposition to the Government. The Church in the eyes of the multitude was responsible with the State for the maintenance of the existing order in political affairs. For this reason republican and democratic movements on the Continent have been hostile to the Church and religion. The subjection of the Church to the State has made the Church the supporter of conservative and monarchial institutions, instead ofleaving.it free to minister to the spiritual needs of the people and bear witness to the truth. For this reason, free institutions have been on the Continent so largely associated with irreligion, and this want of the conserving influence of religion among the democratic parties of Germany and other European * Hase's "History of the Christian Ch'ch," English Edition, sec. 402. 2 Alliance Report, 1851, p. 419. FOUNDING OF CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION. 145 countries has often made those parties lawless and vio- lent. As a result of its subjection to the State, and the admission of unconverted men into a large share in church government and the consequent reign of Ration- alism, religious life in Germany at the close of the eighteenth century and the beginning of this was at a sadly low ebb. The Chureh was split up into the same small political divisions as the Empire. The appoint- ment of pastors and theological professors, and the gov- ernment of the Church were in the hands of the civil power. Support of the Gospel, instead of being a volun- tary act of worship, was a matter of taxation. The simple edict of the King of Prussia was sufficient to effect in 1817 the union of the two great bodies of the Church in Prussia — the Lutheran and the Reformed. The Church was looked upon simply " as the religious element in the State." -" Pastors held an official relation to their people. There was no possibility of a distinc- tion betw^een believers and unbelievers. All practical Christian work w^as paralyzed by the prevailing teach- ing that every one born and baptized in a Christian country is a Christian, and that the province of the Church is to instruct rather than to convert. It is not surprising that only nine to ten per cent, of the popula- tion in the country districts attended church and from two to three per cent, in the large towns. Fully 99 per cent, of the children were baptized and 93 per cent, of those of proper age were confirmed, but it was esti- mated that only a small per cent, of those confirmed were really Christians. Confirmation was looked upon as the liberation of the lad from school and parental con- trol, and often celebrated as such.^ Young working men passed almost completely out from under the influence ^'^ Fisher's "History of the Christian Church," period VI., chap. 5. ^ "Die Mission an den Jiinglingen," by J. Hesekiel, Berlin, 1864. 146 YOUNt^ MEAN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIA TION. of the pastors after confirmation when they began to earn their own living as apprentices. Two prevailing sentiments characterized the body of young working men — " unbelief in the Word of God " and " indiffer- ence and hostility to the Church." The French Revo- lution had done much by awakening aspirations for free institutions among the people to arouse opposition to the Church, which was looked upon as the supporter of royalty. The result was a manifest tendency to substi- tute philosophy for religion. On the other hand, there had always existed a party in the German Church who believed in Revela- tion, who sympathized with a practical applica- tion of Christianity to the lives of individuals, and who were active in works of love and benevo- lence. Spener and Franke, who were the founders of the Orphan Home at Halle, the leaders of a party called in reproach the Pietists, the Moravians under the lead- ership of Zinzendorf, Hans Hague, John Oberlin and many others, had by example and teaching proclaimed the necessity of carrying the Gospel to individuals and of ministering to both the spiritual and temporal wants of men. It was this party which made the effort to heal the distractions caused by the Napoleonic wars, and which founded the various agencies for infusing the Gospel into the life of the people and caring for their necessities. It was to this party after the shock of 1848 to which Germany turned, under the leadership of Pas- tor T. H. Wichern, the founder of the Inner Mission, for a revival of faith and for the spiritual power to stem the forces which strove to overthrow all the insti- tutions of society. The beginning of the century was marked by the efforts of believing men in all parts of Germany to min- ister to the spiritual and temporal necessities of their fellow men. Christian H. Zeller, of Wiirtemberg, FOUNDING OF CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION. 147 founded in 1820 a voluntary institution for training teachers to devote themselves to the instruction of poor children. From Basle, Switzerland, in this period, there went forth an influence for practical Christian work. Baron von Kottwitz was instrumental in estab- lishing after the depression in 1806 agencies for furnish- ing work for the unemployed.'* Amiel Sieveking, dur- ing the cholera plague in Hamburg, organized a sisterhood for the help of the sick. In 1825, the first Sunday-school of Germany was founded at Ham- burg. In 1833, Pastor Fliedner, at Kaisersworth, with one young woman, began the Deaconess work of Germany ; in 1836, he organized the " Rheinisch West- falische Diakonissen-Verein," which has been the means of extending the Deaconess work over Germany and other lands. Fifty years have achieved marvelous results. " In 1894, there were in the Evangelical churches of Germany between 50 and 70 Deaconess homes. The number of the deaconesses was about 8,000, who were engaged in a great variety of ac- tivities. Six hundred were nurses in hospitals; 130 worked in poor-houses and infirmaries ; 700 as parish helpers ; 100 in orphanages ; 340 in schools for small children, the rest in rescue houses, industrial schools, homes for fallen women, blind asylums and prisons." ^ Many other institutions for the amelioration of all classes of society were established during this period, chief of which was an institution for neglected children, the Rauhe House, at Hamburg, under the management of Pastor T. H. Wichern. The Revolution of 1848 opened the eyes of believing Germans to the misery and irreligion which prevailed throughout the Father- * "I,eitfaden der Inneren Mission," Theo. Schafer, Hamburg, 1893, sec. 8. ^ "Werberufe fiir die Arbeit der Inneren Mission," Seyfarth, I/cip- zig, 1804. i 45 VO UNG 3IEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIA TFON. land. A church conference was called in September of that year at Wittenberg to consider plans of meeting the rising tide of unbelief. The leading figures in this conference, which was attended by 500 representatives, were two prominent laymen and Pastor T. H. Wichern, then a young mission worker from Hamburg. This conference, called primarily to promote a spirit of har- mony and union between all parties in the Church, in- stead of attempting to answer the dogmatic questions by which the Church was agitated, endeavored to carry out its mission by fostering the practical work of Chris- tianity, and by bringing into interrelations the various benevolent and philanthropic agencies already estab- lished. In 1843, a phrase had come into current use describing these agencies, this term " Innere Mission" was now formally adopted, and the *' Kirchentag " ap- pointed a central committee to foster these various agencies throughout Germany. The leading member of this committee was the man already mentioned, who had been drawn into this practical work through super- intending a Sunday-school at Hamburg, Pastor T. H. Wichern. This central committee, by the calling of conferences, by publications, visitation and by agitation, aroused the believing elements of Germany and united them in building up a vast net-work of agencies for re- lieving suffering, ignorance and misery, and bringing the Gospel to all classes of society. At the Wittenberg Conference, Pastor Wichern pointed out that ** against the lawlessness of the Revolution, Christianity and the spirit of love alone had prevailed." He declared " that the great social questions of the present time are not to be solved by cannons and bayonets, but by the Word of God." At the Evangelical Alliance at London, in 1851, he said : " The Inner Mission seeks to engage all liv- ing Christians in its works of usefulness ; it proceeds upon the principle upon which the Protestant Church FOUNDING OF CONTINENTAL yiSSOClATic;.:'. 'A'i is itself founded, the universal priesthood of Chris- tians." In speaking of the work among the poor, he iaid : " An impassable gulf has arisen between the rich and the poor. No stream of gold can fill it. It can only be filled by the love which is born of God. What we should give to the poor is not so much money, or food, or clothing, but ourselves." ''' The Inner Mission embraces Bible societies, city mis- sions, Sunday schools, colporteurage, Christian lodging houses, work among neglected children, criminals, sea- men, the poor, the unemployed, and the helpless. It is a work independent in its government of the State Church, and supported by voluntary contribution. Among the agencies which were founded during this first period of Inner Mission work was the German Young Men's Christian Association, which sought to hold apprentices after confirmation in continued loyalty to the Church. The anti-rationalistic party in Germany at the beginning of the century began to answer their opponents more and more by deeds of love and practi- cal Christian effort among the people. It was from this party that the inspiration came to organize the Jiing- lings-Verein, the first German Young Men's Christian Association. Sec. 20. — Social Conditions in Germany. A profound industrial change was taking place among working men. This is not the place to discuss the es- tablishment of new relations between capital and labor, the influence of the discovery of new methods of pro- duction and new means of transportation, which make modern life so different from what it was a few genera- tions ago. The important fact is the changed social life which these innovations forced on Germany's work- ing men. The boy who left home to learn a trade no * Alliance Report for 1851, p. 483. 150 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. longer lived in the family, ate at the same table, or went to church on Sunday morning with his employer, as his father had done before him. In 1786, an em- ployer in Leipsic stated that his workmen were under agreement " to go to church once on Sunday, and never to go out nights without his permission."^ The "mas- ter was often a sort of priest or patriarch for his house- hold." Between 1800 and 1820, this social relation be- came entirely changed. Masters began to employ large numbers of " hands," often of both sexes. The practice of " binding ap- prentices " for a number of years declined. The working men's guilds of former years were almost ex- tinct. The working men, especially the unmarried men, became a roving class, who went in great num- bers on foot from city to city. For the twenty years previous to i860, the fluctuations of working men in Berlin averaged 30,000 annually ; in Frankfort for i860, it was 8,000; in Kassel, 30,000.* As a result of the in- creased numbers employed by one master, and of this nomadic life, the cheap lodging house made its debut. It became the regular home of the young working man in the place of the master's family. The young workman's bedroom was wretched and dismal, " cold in winter and hot in summer." " Both sexes were often herded indiscriminately together." "The conscience of many became so hardened that they defended immorality as necessary to satisfy na- ture." A military physician states that in a country village he found 175 young men incapacitated for service on account of impure lives. That a single inci- dent of such a character occurred shows the low state of public sentiment and morals. In 1855, two-thirds of ' Krummacher's " Die Evangelischen Jiinglings-Vereine," pp. 2 and 3. * Die Mission an den Jiinglingen, Dr. Hesekiel, pp. 3-7. FOUNDING OF CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION. 151 all the working men of Bonn lived in cheap lodging houses; in i860, this was true of over half of those in Elberfeld. The young working man had ceased to be a member of his master's family, and had become a homeless wanderer, surrounded by new temptations, which soon arose with this new social condition. It is an interesting fact that during this period the beer halls, whose bright, attractive rooms were open to all, increased with alarming rapidity. Superintendent Hesekiel, while traveling secretary for the West Deutscher Bund, in 1862, wrote: " These beer halls became the source of unspeakable evil, especially to young men. In 1862, in Prussia there were 45,000 beer halls." Dr. Krummacher, in his his- tory of the German Jiinglings-Verein, emphasizes the fact that the theatres also began to increase in number, and to present demoralizing French plays. The theatre and beer hall became the social resort of the young working man of the cheap lodging house. Dr. Hesekiel says : " This manner of life drove the working man, already disposed to unbelief, still farther away from the Church." It was to meet this condition of affairs that a church without the evangelistic spirit called the Jiinglings- Verein into existence. It was not a movement to evangelize young men so much as a noble effort to find a home for the homeless young working men of Ger- many and bring them under Christian influence. Its religious work was devotional instruction, and it aimed to hold young men who had been confirmed in contin- ued allegiance and fellowship with the Established Church. " The movement had the twofold purpose of bringing young men back into Christian fellowship through the Word of God and to overthrow their indif- ference and unbelief." .'52 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. Sec. 21. — Origin of the Jungungs-Vereine. ^ Tn 1708, a Swiss minister, named Pastor Mayennock, established a religious association for the young men of his congregation at Basle, which, while it was suspended between the years 1820 to 1825, ^^^^7 properly be called the forerunner of the Jiinglings-Vereine of Germany, This Basle society was composed of nine unmarried brethren, who had five rules of discipline. They agreed " (i) to abide strictly by the teaching of the Word of God and the apostolic faith ; (2) to shun all sectarianism and anything that might seduce to it ; (3) each one shall be true toward God, himself, and all men ; (4) each shall have the privilege, shall even be under ob- ligation to reprove and remind the others ot their faults ; (5) especially shall each one take care never to tell evil stories about the others, that good-will toward one another may be strengthened." From these regulations it will be seen that the ob- jects of the society were solely spiritual and moral. There were neither written laws, constitution, nor or- ganization. It was simply a fellowship meeting of young men with their pastor. Durinof the first three decades of the centurv the longing to do something for young men is seer' in the number of societies of a similar character to this move- ment at Basle, which sprang up independently in dif- ferent parts of Germany, notably at Stuttgart and El- berfeld. They are evidence of a growing conviction that special effort for young men was needed, and are a recognition of the new conditions and temptations surrounding them. "'Fifty Years of Work for Young Men," London, 1894, p. 274. Krummacher's "Die Evangelischen Jiinglings-Vereine," Kap. 3. " Die Jiinglings-Vereine in Deutschland," D. v. Gertzen, Heilbronn, 1886, Sec. 2. "Die Jiinglings- und Jungfrauen-Vereine," Schwau- beck, Gotha, 1890, Chap. III. FOUNDING OF CONT/NENTAL ASSOCIATION. 153 In the year 1833, Dr. Frederick Mallet, of Bremen, during a summer visit to Switzerland, became ac- quainted with the simple movement among the young men at Basle. It appealed to him as being just the needed organization to hold young men after confirma- tion. When he returned home, he published an ac- count of this society, with an appeal for a similar work. The people of his congregation became interested. " Two rooms were rented in the center of the city which were soon filled to overflowing with men and young men of different callings." Dr. Mallet saw very quickly that religious teaching alone was not sufficient to accomplish his purpose. The working men had no homes or elevating social surroundings for their leisure hours, and many of them had but little education. It was decided to add amusements or " entertainment," as it was styled, and instruction. In 1834, there was or- ganized in Bremen the first Jiinglings-Verein, or Young Men's Union, for the purpose of giving young men devotional, social and intellectual opportunities. Its aim was embodied in the following statement, which is still used in West Germany : It shall be the object of this association, (i), "to foster under the direction and influence of the Word of God, Christian sentiments and godly conduct among our young men ; (2), to oppose as much as pos- sible all the perils which beset young men through the temptations of the world, particularly through the beer halls ; (3), to unite young men in Christian union and fellowship ; (4), through the increase of their knowl- edge to enable them to be more skillful in their daily work ; (5), to serve sick and destitute young men by relief and attendance." These three departments — intellectual, social and devotional — rapidly became the leading characteristics of the new association, which soon enrolled 300 mem- 154 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. bers, and was given a home in the new parish building of the city. In organization, the Bremen Verein was substantially like the Jiinglings-Vereine of to-day. The constitution contained three features, a president, usually a pastor; the managing committee, which were chosen from the membership, with often some older men who were interested in the work ; the membership consisting of all young men of the parish who desired to unite with the society. The majority were young working men under twenty-five years of age. It was a compact, simple organization, with three definite ideas ; a practical movement adapted to the needs of the times. It satisfied the aspiration of the better spirits among the young working men, and gave them some needed comforts and opportunities ; it helped the pas- tors to hold many young men who were slipping away from their influence. It was a recognition of the act- ual conditions surrounding young working men and the duty laid upon followers of Jesus Christ. This movement soon began to attract attention as a practical effort to help young men. In 1836, a young mechanic from Mecklenburg, who, while at work at his trade in Bremen, had become interested in the new J iinglings- Verein, arrived in Barmen in search of employment. At Barmen, he be- came acquainted with a young business man named K. F. Klein, and told him of the efforts Pastor Mallett and others were making in behalf of the young men of Bremen. Herr Klein was a business man of earnest Christian faith, who devoted himself constantly to Christian work. He immediately resolved to attempt a similar organization in Barmen. The beginning of this movement in Barmen-Elberfeld reminds one of a simi- lar endeavor inaugurated but a short time previously among the young men of Glasgow by David Nasmith. On his birthday, Herr Klein invited a number of young FOUNDING OP CONTINENT.IL ASSOCIATION. 155 men like-minded with himself to his home, and in this little circle of close friends explained the movement inaugurated in Bremen, and proposed that they under- take a similar work for Barmen young men. The young men received the idea with enthusiasm and de- termined to establish a Jiinglings-Verein. Frederick Klein, who was destined for fifty years to devote him- self to the cause of helping young men, was made president of the little Barmen society. His untiring zeal has made this one of the leading associations of Germany. Even in his old age he was accustomed to visit the lodgings of the young working men, and the " Herberge zur Heimat," in order personally to invite the men whom he met to the religious services of the Association. In 1838, two years later, a Jiinglings- Verein was established at Elberfeld, now, by the growth of population, practically one city with Barmen. Pastor Doring, a devoted Christian man, had already by faithful preaching and efforts among young men prepared the way for a successful work. A young man named Anton Haason was chosen president. Herr Haason was a man of the same zeal and earnestness as Frederick Klein. Dr. Krummacher says of him : " With his warm heart he encircled young people, and we may well say that a stream of living water has gone forth from him to all young men."^* The Associations of these two cities were closely af- filiated. Under the leadership of Klein and Haason, they soon became the center of the Jiinglings-Verein cause in Germany. Their membership increased rap- idly. The best methods of association work were de- veloped here, and Elberfeld and Barmen have ever since been the leaders in forming the constitution and policy of the Jiinglings-Verein movement of Germany. Jiinglings-Vereine were organized in 1839 in Karlsruhe, 1" Die Evangelische Jiinglings-Vereine, p. 39. 156 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. and in 1842, at Ronsdorf. The president of the last named Verein, Pastor Diirselen, was one of the leaders in the early Verein work. He 'was editor of the first association paper, president of the first provincial or- ganization of Jiinglings-Vereine, and was a delegate to the first convention of associations of all lands, in 1855. A number of associations on the Bremen model were now organized in different parts of Germany. By 1844, the year of the founding of the London Associa- tion, there were some ten Jiinglings-Vereine in Ger- many, under the leadership of Frederick Klein, Anton Haason, and Pastor Diirselen. Associations now sprang up in widely separated sections of the Fatherland. Reports of the work were published in the organ of the " Innere Mission," at Hamburg, which attracted the attention of many earnest men. The movements of the times and the prevalence of irreligion among the working men demanded new efforts on the part of Christians. Especially was attention directed to the large numbers of unmarried young men of the working classes who traveled about in search of employment. Already the scattered Jiinglings-Vereine felt the need of union, and showed a growing sense of the import- ance of the great mission they had undertaken. In 1847, in the organ of the " Innere IMission," the follow- ing open letter appeared addressed to all the Jiinglings- Vereine of Germany : " Announcement to the Christian Handworkers' and jung1.1ngs-vere1ne3 " The Christian Handworkers' and Jiinglings-Vereine of Berlin, Gartz, Stettin, and Greifenhagen in Pommern, send greeting to all kindred associations among their German Brethren far ana uea^. " Although you are mostly unknown to us, it has been for a long time our heartfelt wish to enter into fellowship and loving relation- ship with you. We have already experienced the joy and blessing which fellowship with a few associatioiir^ can give, and we are eager for the richer fellov/ship of a wider circle. It is natural and neces- FOUNDING OF CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION. 157 sary that every association like ours should reach out its hand to brother societies. Our chief purpose is to help young men of the industrial classes, especially those who are among strangers and -wandering in search of work. We seek to warn and protect them against the many seductions, temptations and moral pitfalls of life, and to build them up in honor and Christian character. To accom- plish this we must be united. Therefore every association which agrees with us in the conviction that faith in Christ is the only foundation of morality aud that to turn to Him is their only hope for the future, and for the redemption of these evils of society, is invited to enter into relation with one of the undersigned associa- tions, either by correspondence or by publishing information in this paper {Die Flicgende Blditer), or in any other suitable manner. We know already that many of our German Brethern are of one mind with us, and therefore we hope that this call will find a friendly response in many hearts. We are rejoiced to learn that in many foreign cities where Germans are living, Paris. London, and even Constantinople, Vereine exist which are like our own. At home in the German Fatherland, from Basle to Bremen and Ham- burg, from the Rhine to Prussian Konigsberg, many Vereine with the selfsame purpose exist, but are unacquainted with each other. Let us learn to know each other and draw into a closer union. When this has been accomplished, we can decide how best we may work together. In the meantime, we commend our cause to the gracious almighty protection of God. February, 1847." This letter was signed by the Jiinglings-Vereine of Stettin, Gartz, and Greifenhagen, and also by two asso- ciations of similar character in Berlin. The Elberfeld Verein immediately published the following answer : •' Circular letter of the Christian Association of young mechan- ics and factory workers of Elberfeld to the kindred societies of Ber- lin, Stettin, Gartz, and Greifenhagen in Pommern : " We send our heartfelt greetings to our dear Brethren. " With great joy we have read your letter of greeting, and we cannot conceal how much it has quickened our hearts. * * * * The need is truly great. Wichern has well said : ' He who lets his sob go as an apprentice among strangers, sends him forth into a wilderness in which thousands have wandered from the right course of life. Hundreds of doors which lead to destruction stand open through which young men are drawn.' * * ^'^ * The facts he re- lates of the life of mechanics is appalling. " Oh, Brethren ! where such a mass of misery aud sin abounds, shall we not. with God's help, make an effort to overcome it? * • * * 158 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. We rejoice at the opportunity to share our work with you. Our as- sociation is similar to your own. Mechanics and factory employees are united in an association, of which twelve members are chosen by ballot as an executive committee. The officers of this committee are a president, treasurer, and secretary, who have regular meetings to consider the interests of the society. In the association rooms are Bibles, books and writing material ; educational classes and lec- tures are also provided to improve the members. Now that we have come into relation with you, we feel the necessity of naming an in- dividual member to whom traveling workmen on their arrival in our city may apply. Will you please give any workmen among your membership who may be journeying hither, a letter of intro- duction to Anton Haasou, who shall give such an one information, not only concerning our association, but such other knowledge as he may need during his stay in our city. We would also ask that as soon as possible, you act likewise, since the summer months are near at hand, in which the workmen are accustomed to travel. * * * * Dated May, 1847." In July of the same year, th.^. Jung lings bote ^ the first paper devoted to the association cause, was established. Pastor Diirselen, of Ronsdorf, became its editor. Then came the Revolution of 1848, which startled all Ger- many, Whatever we may think of its political char- acter, it certainly aroused the Evangelical believers of Germany to the irreligious condition of the masses of the population. The leaders of the Jiinglings-Vereine felt that they must unite if they were to make any progress in winning young men in the face of organi- zations which had sprung up with the avowed purpose of propagating infidelity. In August, a number of leaders of the Vereine met in Elberfeld to consider plans for a distinct organization. This informal gath- ering issued a call for a meeting of delegates from Tiino-lino-s-Vereine to assemble in Elberfeld in October of 18480 Nine associations from Westphalia sent rep- resentatives, who, on the 8th of October, formed the Rhenish Westphalian Alliance of Young Men's Chris- tian Associations, under a district committee, with headquarters at Elberfeld, Pastor Diirselen was made FOUNDING OF CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION 159 President, a position he continued to occupy with un- tiring service for twenty-five years, during which thousands of young men have been blessed by this or- ganization. His address before this conference gives us some idea of the situation which occasioned the movement towards union. He said : " A spirit of wickedness has burst forth among us. The tempest of revohition has torn from our eyes a veil that obscured a dreadful abyss into which we now look with horror. We see with apprehension how the spirit of lawlessness has hurled thousands of our young men into the vortex of ungodliness, lawlessness and immorality, from which the worst is to be feared. We hear how hundreds of societies of young men have been formed, from which come forth the challenge — ' We hate Christianity. God must be discarded, we will never rest until every comrade has personally renounced God.' Therefore we ask ourselves, what can we do in the face of this spectacle ? Let us resolutely determine to establish a Christian union of young men, and thus stretch forth a net with which we may rescue many from this whirl- pool of destruction." ^ The yearly festival of Westphalian Churches, held at Elberfeld, became the occasion for the annual meeting of the delegates from the Vereine of W^est Germany. This o:atherinof at which the Bund Committee was chosen, the work of the year reviewed, and religious services for young men conducted, became a center of great influence in extending the Verein cause. Many pastors who came to the church festival learned of the Verein work. In 1850, a J iinglings- Verein on the Bremen model was established in Berlin, then a city of 400,000 inhab- itants. This was an important advance. In 1853, ^^^^ West Bund organized its territory into small sub- ^ Krummacber's "Die Evangclischen Jiinglings- Vereine," p. 46. i60 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. districts, with from eight to twenty associations in a district. This did much to solidify the movement, and with the annual festival, was really a valuable system of supervision. By the close of the " formative period " of the Young Men's Christian Association, the cause of the Jiing- lings-Vereine had made rapid progress in Germany. During the seven years following the organization of the Westfalische Bund, a large number of Vereine were established in West Germany. The methods and purpose of the Jiinglings-Vereine of this period may be learned from the report given by Pastor Durselen, at the Paris Convention. He said : " These associations have combined in themselves several distinct objects. First, they are designed as Christian refuges for young men. Second, they are places of Christian nourishment and religious instruction. Through their Bible exercises and their devotional and other meetings, they aim at supplying the young men with this essential need. Third, they are places for intellectual training. The young men attending them belong principally to the class of artisans and hand laborers. It is an important object of the association to provide those of the mem- bers who may need it with that instruction which will fit them for their civil duties. Fourth, they are de- signed to connect Christianity with social life, recogniz- ing that in every man there exists a social instinct." "To attain this fourfold end, it is felt by all that the association must be based upon a purely Christian foundation." " This having been firmly laid, we admit to our soci- ety all who will conform to our rules. Conversion is the grind aim, but it is not made the condition of ad- mission. Once a week a Bible class is held in all the associations ; this is generally conducted in a conversa- tional manner." "There are special singing classes." FOUNDING OF CONTINENTAL ASSOC! A TION. 161 " In each of the associations, one evening is set apart for instruction. Provision is made also for lectures and other means of mental improvement. To maintain the social character of our society, we have promenades, fetes and annual meetings. A very important provision is that of the Christian Herberge, or homes for the trav- eling apprentices or others. They are furnished with one, two, three, or four beds, according to the size of the place, as well as with food. Instead of being driven to the wretched lodging houses in which many of the traveling apprentices and journeymen are compelled to stay, they can find within the precincts of the associa- tion a home, until they may have obtained employ- ment. In all these Christian homes, a mild but strict discipline is enforced." Speaking of the Rhenish Westphalian Union, Dr. Diirselen said: "In the year 1848, the first of the general unions of these different associations was formed. Nine at first joined the Union, now it numbers 130 associations, and includes at least 6,000 young men. If these are not all con- verted, they are at least under the influence of the Word of God, and are surrounded by the counsels, prayers and exhortations of living Christian brothers." ^ "At the head of the Union there is a committee. By visitation and correspondence, this central committee maintains a constant connection with all the associa- tions. The committee meets at Elberfeld. Once in the year, at Elberfeld, a general meeting is held of the associations. It is a pleasing sight to see at this meet- ing seven or eight hundred young men, from all sec- tions, who have come to take part in its hallowed en- joyment. The highest authorities, both civil and ec- clesiastical, have expressed their sympathy with the work in many ways. In most parishes, the pastors and teachers take an active part in the associations." 2 Report of Paris Convention, 1855, pp. 54-6. 162 YOi'NG M/iiV'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. Sec. 22 > — Geneva and Paris. PoUticaliy and religioush', Geneva has long maiu tained an independent attitude toward the rest of Europe, Her people are patriotic, and have the self- reliance of leadership. Their estimate of themselves may be seen in the words of their poet philosopher, Amiei, " Geneva is certainly one of those world anvils on which numbers of projects have been hammered out. The explanation is, that Geneva, republican, protestant, democratic, learned and enterprising Ge- neva, has for centuries depended on herself alone for the solution of her own difficulties. It pleases me that she has not yet become a mere copy of anything. This is a proof of her vitality. " ^ The Christian young men of Geneva, as early as 7836, used to associate together for prayer and various works of charity. For ten years there was such concert oi action among a small number. In 1847, a group of young men, after prayer, decided to devote themselves especially to win young people to a religious life. Their work prospered, and they were given a room for theii meetings by the Geneva " Evangelical Society." ^ In this year, they became acquainted with similar attempts at Rlieims and Amsterdam, and immediately opened correspondence with the societies in those cities. As knowledge of these societies came to them, they extended their correspondence. They also at- tempted to hold religious meetings for young people in the neighborhood of Geneva. These unorganized efforts were attended with considerable difficulty, and the movement was, in 1851, in danger of extinction when it was brought into contact with the London work directly, by correspondence, and indirectly, through the ' Amiel's Journal, Vol. II., p. 301. * Paris Conference Report, p. 48. FOUNDING OF CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION. l»i;5 influence of the Young Men's Christian Association of Paris. ^ Mr. George Williams was now thirty years of age, and had become a partner in the firm of George Hitchcock & Co. His interest in Christian work for young men had increased year by year. In 1850, dur- ing a business trip to Paris, he called upon Pasteur J. P. Cook, one of the Protestant ministers of the city, and urged him to do definite work for young men. As a result, Mr, Cook associated himself with some students who were already in the habit of meeting for religious exercises,, and soon a band of eighteen young men were united together for mutual spiritual edification. In December, 185 1, Mr, Williams again visited them and encouraged them, but reminded them that they were doing nothing for the multitudes of young men who came to Paris and there lost their religious im- pressions.*' They ought to be aggressive and organ- ize themselves for the purpose of directing their efforts. Having, however, a dread of organization, they made objections which Mr. Williams succeeded in removing, by relating what the Young Men's Chris- tian Association was doing in London. A com- mittee was formed, which after mature deliberation drew up a plan of organization. This was then sub- mitted for approval to several pastors. The name tvhich they chose for themselves was " Union Chretienne des Jeunes Gens." At length, on the 19th of March, 1852, twelve young men met together, and having de- clared their faith, enrolled their names as members of the proposed association. This was the first Frencli Union ever formed. The Geneva young men by cor- respondence had already become acquainted with the London work, and this organization of an association ^ Paris Report, p. 49. ^ Pari 3 R.eport. "o. 3.}. IC4 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIA TION. at Paris encouraged the young men of Geneva to mai^e a similar effort. After advising with the secretary of the London Association, the young men who had previously been associated together decided to organ- ize. "A provisional committee drew up regulations, chose a suitable location, and on the ist of Decem- ber, 1852, the Young Men's Christian ^Association of Geneva, consisting of 30 members, was founded." Merle D'Aubigne was among those who assisted materially in this movement. The rooms of the new society were open every evening and frequented by between 150 and 200 young men. The number of members soon in- creased to 80. Every year a general assembly of the members was held. Several members devoted to the work of the Association went out as delegates to visit the south of France, Paris, and Alsace. " During the winter months, a gathering of some sort was held on each evening of the week." ^ For the most part, the meetings were of a religious character. Through the influence of Geneva, the small unions of young men in France and Switzerland, so far as they were large enough, organized themselves into Young Men's Christian Associations. The Geneva Association extended its correspondence to Associations in all parts of the world. In 1853, this work had become so extended that it was carried on largely by means of printed circulars. In August, 1853, the first communication was established between Geneva and the United States.* Delegates from other countries visited Geneva, and much was done to promote a friendly intercourse between the Associations of the world. Sec. 23. — Summary. By 1855, at nearly 200 points on the Continent of Europe, with Elberfeld and Geneva as leaders, there ' Paris Report, p. 48. * Langdon's Early Story of the Confederation, page 27. FOUNDING OF CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION. 105 were small groups of Christian young men, enrolling in all some 7,800 members, organized for the definite pur- pose of improving themselves and their associates spir- itually, intellectually and socially. These groups aver- aging much smaller in size than the Associations of England or America, they had smaller financial resources and fewer friends of influence and distinction. Their work was more largely among the humbler classes of young working men, and the average membership was younger in age, but they were animated by the same purpose and had perhaps a deeper spirit of devotion, though less evangelistic zeal. Not only was there a movement among young men on the Continent of Europe, but already the Association idea was rallying young men in all parts of the world. There were now, one society in Algiers, three in Aus- tralia, one at Constantinople, and in 1854, a Young Men's Christian Association was organized by students at Beyrout, Syria. ^ ® First Ameri'"i3n Report, 1854, page 48. CHAPTER V. THE FORMATION OF THE WORLD'S ALLIANCE. Sec. 24. — The Paris Convention, August, 1855. We have seen how the idea of young men associating themselves together for the improvement of all young men, spiritually, mentally, and socially, had gradually taken root in widely separated sections of the world. A common purpose, common difficulties, a common faith, with many societies a common origin, above all a com- mon need of sympathy and mutual support, overcame the barriers of language, nationality, difference of church relationship, and distance, and drew these young men irresistibly together. The idea of a world organi- zation of young men devoted to elevating the young men of the world was hammering out a social force that was to wield a mighty influence, and though the great work of the Association has really been accom- plished since 1880, it was during these years of hope, experiment and sacrifice that the foundations were laid. Letters, chance visits, regularly appointed delegates, printed circulars, journals, and conferences, in Germany and America, had aroused a feeling of unity, and had awakened a desire for concerted action. Between the years 185 1 and 1855 the London Association had grown in strength, confidence, and prestige. In 1851, just as the work began to assume the proportion of a world-wide endeavor, the noble Earl of Shaftesbury, whose name has been identified with so many social movements for the elevation and ameliorating of the condition of tliQ FORMATION OF THE WORLD'S .ILLIANCE. 107 oppressed classes in England, accepted the presidenc;^ of the London Association, a position he was to hold until his death, in 1885. The activity of the London Association during the great Industrial Exhibition did much to inform visitors from foreign lands concerning its plans, aims, and work. Messrs. W. Edwyn Shipton, T. H. Tarlton, George Will- iams and T. H. Gladstone, in various ways, through letters, visits, and addresses, helped to awaken a spirit ji fellowship between the widely scattered Associations ; but, above all, the location of the London Association in the commercial metropolis of the world enabled it frequently to entertain representatives from Association*' of the various countries in which the movement had taken firm root. In this way, the London Society be- came almost unconsciously the headquarters of this rapidly spreading movement of which Mr. Williams and Mr. Shipton were the natural leaders. Mr. Shipton was a man of broad mind, with a grasp on affairs — an ener- getic executive, of powerful frame and strong will, with oratorical gifts and intense devotion to the cause of young m^en. For thirty years he was the faithful secre- tary of the Central London Association, and one of the most important factors in the world-wide work. He carried on a correspondence with New York, Washing- ton, Boston, and the various Associations in Europe. He prepared in 1855 the firsthistory of the Young Men's Christian Association, which vv'as published in volume i of the Exeter Hall Lecture Series. The Association at Paris, of which Pasteur J. Paul Cook was the leading spirit, gradually extended its influence, and in connection with the society at Nismes, which traced its origin to Geneva, pushed the Association idea among the Protestant commu- nities of France. ^ ^ Correspondence was kept up between ^^ Shiotou's History Exeter Hall Lectures, vol. I 16 . YOUNG MEN'S ClIRfS'r/AN ASSOCIATION. these meetings and the Paris Association. In these friendly letters the desire was expressed for a con- ference, in which leaders in the different Associations of France might meet face to face. The year of the Industrial Kxhibition at Paris in 1855 furnished a fa- vorable opportunity for such a gathering. This confer- ence being determined upon, the expectation of visitors from all lands at the exhibition suggested the idea of a world convention of delegates from foreign as well as French Associations. ^ The Evangelical Alliance, which had held its first great gathering with some 800 repre- sentatives from all Protestant nations at London during the World's I'air of 185 1, had determined to call a similar assembly to meet in Paris from August 23 to August 30, during the Paris Exposition. The committee of the Paris Young Men's Association chose the days August 19th to 24tli for the Association conference, in order that where it would be desirable the same person might be a delegate to both gatherings. This was a very for- tunate arrangement. Thirty-seven of the delegates to the convention were also delegates to the alliance, and 18 other delegates to the alliance, who were members of Associations, attended sessions of the convention. The program of the conference announced that op- portunity would be given to consider a proposition from America concerning a system of international corre- spondence, and that the conference would be especially devoted to considering reports of the work of the Asso- ciations in all lands. The invitation sent out by the Paris society met with a cordial response. It appealed to the growing sense of unity among the scattered organizaions of Pvurope and America, and such coun- tries as were able decided at once to be represented. The conference assembled in the rooms of the Pans ^ Young Men's Christian Association Hand Book, New Yorx. 1892, p. 442. FORM ATI ox OF THE WORLD'S ALLIANCE. IGii Association on vSunday evening, August 19, 1855. Fifty representatives were present at the first session, which was devoted to prayer and consecration. This number was afterwards increased to 97 representatives of Associations, 35 of whom were regularly accredited delegates to the convention. Associations from 36 Eu- ropean cities of seven different nationalities sent 90 representatives. Seven delegates were present from America, three being from New York, three from Phil- adelphia, and one from Newark, New Jersey. The con- ference was not only representative of the chief associa- tions in existence, but the leaders of the work were present to give character to its proceedings and weight to its decisions. George Williams, W. Edwyn Shipton, T. H. Tarlton, and T. H. Gladstone were among the representatives from the London Association. They took an important part in the affairs of the convention ; especially Mr. Shipton, who at the critical moments spoke the word and made the suggestion which brought harmonious action. The leaders of the American delegation were Rev. Abel Stevens, of New York, and George H. Stuart, of Philadelphia. Mr. Stevens was a minister of the Meth- odist Church, who had been active in laying the foun- dation of the New York Association, in which he had served as vice-president and chairman of an important committee. Mr. Stuart was president of the Philadel- phia Association, and was destined in a few years to gain national distinction in America as president of the United States Christian Commission during the Civil War. The two prominent delegates from Germany were Pastor Diirselen, the president of the Westfa- lische Union, and K. P. Klein, president of the Jiing- lings-Verein of Barmen. From Switzerland, the leaders were Max Perrot and Edward Barde, from Geneva, and Pasteur Chas. Cuenod, from Lausanne. 170 VOU.\G MENS CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. Pasteur J. Paul Cook, of Paris, who had been the chief factor in arranging the conference, was in grateful acknowledgment chosen its president. Like the American gathering at Bufifalo of the year before, this unobserved conference of young men did not attract much comment from the Church or State, but the young men themselves were impressed with the conviction that they were pioneers in a great cause. A spirit of earnestness and hope prevailed in all the ses- sion, and though it was the first conference of represent- atives from widely separated countries, so harmonious were the proceedings that the resolutions of the con- vention were adopted imanimously. The report says : " The first session, which was to many the first oppor- tunity of meeting face to face brethren whose names and whose deeds have long been familiar, was conse- crated to prayer. Friendship was sealed by devotion, and many voices in French and English were raised to the Lord to implore His blessing. A deep feeling of their oneness as Christians, of their common brother- hood as well in faith as in labor, pervaded this gather- ing from many lands." Two days were devoted to hearing addresses and reports of the origin and progress of the Young Men's Christian Associations in the various countries repre- sented. These reports give a true picture of the move- ment in 1855. They show that in Great Britain, espe- cially in London and Glasgow, in the eastern cities of America, in Westphalia and the Rhine provinces of Germany, and in Geneva there was a strongly en- trenched Christian sentiment in favor of organized effort to help young men, spiritually, intellectually, and so- cially. This sentiment had crystallized into organiza- tions of young men, who, standing on an evangelical platform, were endeavoring to discover the best methods for accomplishing their purpose. The movement as /^ORI^TATION OF THE WORLD'S ALLIANCE. 173 yet was more exclusively religious in its character than in later years, and provided less for other needs of young men. It was, however, less definite in its aim. The two purposes expressed at the convention were : First, tlie development of Christian activity among the members of the Associations, and, second, the conver- sion of young men. The development of activity in Christian work among the members had led the Asso- ciations in many places to devote their energies to other classes in society instead of concentrating on the " ex- tension of Christ's Kingdom among young men." The British Associations at this time (1855) possessed the best organization, with the most complete financial resources, the greatest social prestige, and the most marked evangelistic zeal. They gave a large place to the study of the Bible and were the most careful in con- centrating their efforts upon young men. The American Associations, though only four years old, were larger in membership, more aggressive, less spiritual, with a greater variety of activities, — a national organization, a stronger emphasis upon the need of bet- ter social surroundings for young men, a greater empha- sis upon religious meetings than Bible study, and a disposition to devote their energies to various classes of society. The Continental Associations were much smaller in size, were not confined to cities, poorer in financial re- sources, deeper in devotional spirit, more inclined to limit their activities to improving the membership of their societies, given to Bible study and social fellow- ship. Few of the continental societies provided places of resort for young men not members, but in Germany much attention was devoted to providing lodging houses for young workmen away from home. The numerical strength of the movement is presentef", in the Report of the Pans covention, August, 1855. 172 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIAriON. 6000 Members 700 " 700 " 400 li 60 APPENDICES Appendix I for Part I 389 Appendix II for Part I 392 BIBLIOGRAPHV Bibliography for Part II 399 INDEX Index 401 THE CONFEDERATION PERIOD CHAPTER I THE AMERICAN CONFEDERATION It is our purpose in the coming chapters to discuss the development of the Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation during the critical years from 1855 to 1861. The leadership of the movement was §oon to be transferred to the American side of the Atlantic. The American Associations were seeking to find them- selves in a new country which during this pre-Civil- War period reached a point of economic prosperity previously unequalled and then saw that prosperity overwhelmed with dire disaster. The Confederation, as it was then called, existed during a period of six years, torn by political strife over slavery and agitated by the threat of approaching civil war. The decade before the Civil War saw the economic and industrial transition to modern conditions. It was a period during which the churches were divided sectionally over slavery and during which the agitation of this issue produced a great moral enthusiasm in the North. This, combined with the serious frame of mind resulting from the financial collapse of 1857, produced the most stirring and far-reaching religious revival the country had ever experienced — a revival in which at its inception in New York City the Asso- ciation was the leading factor and in the promotion of 190 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION which the Associations of the country were the chief agents. It is necessary to examine very briefly the Hfe of the nation during these six years in order to under- stand the problem of our organization which was gradually awakening to national self-consciousness. Could a religious movement inaugurated and pro- moted by laymen endure? Could such an organiza- tion find a needed sphere of service? Could it clearly define its own mission and also have the power of consecutive service necessary for fruitful success? It is true that this experience demonstrated the insufifi- ciency of volunteer leadership unaided by employed ofificers and revealed by the method of "trial and error" many things the Association should not at- tempt. But it did show how volunteers can have a wide vision, can cooperate in a sensible and unselfish manner, and can be depended upon to arrive ulti- mately, even though instinctively, unerringly at the right decision. While wrong decisions were reached at many conventions of the Confederation, the imme- diate matters of chief importance were always settled right. This chapter is a triumph for democracy. The Confederation was always sound on the great ques- tion of the founding of the international alliance of the American Associations and it is because this was accomplished in the manner it was that the Associa- tions of all time are indebted to Langdon and the young men of 1855-1861. Sec. 26. — Political Developments The years from 1855 to 1861 were dominated in the nation at large by the struggle between the pro- slavery forces of the South and the anti-slavery forces of the North. Friends of the South in the North and many persons in the North who feared the disruption THE AMERICAN CONFEDERATION 191 of the Union opposed all anti-slavery measures and deprecated anti-slavery agitation. But gradually and irresistibly the North became united in its opposition to the extension of slavery and the South l)ecame "solid" in its determination to defend to the utter- most its peculiar institution. Step by step the con- flict developed until the one side came to look upon the slave as property, and the other, having less pecuniary interest at stake, looked upon the slave as a man. During the six years which preceded the out- break of the Civil War the question of slavery de- termined every election of importance, state or na- tional. It also dominated every significant act passed by Congress and every step taken by the national Administration. The first American convention of the Young Men's Christian Association when it met at Buffalo in 1854 had a young man from Kentucky as its most influen- tial leader. The election of Mr, Helme of New Or- leans as president of the convention was a guarantee that slavery should not be discussed, but the introduc- tion of an anti-slavery resolution by the one delegate present from Canada showed how difficult it was to smother this issue even in a small gathering of thirty- seven young men who had met for a national, altruis- tic purpose. The historic Missouri Compromise of 1820 had been accepted in the North as a sacred pledge that slavery would never be extended north of 36 de- grees 30 minutes latitude. For thirty years this agreement had maintained peace between the two sections and preserved the Union. The annexation of the great territory of Texas and the Mexican W'ar undertaken at the behest of the slavery leaders to extend slave territory reawakened the slumbering apprehension in the North. The bill admitting Texas provided that it might be divided 192 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION into four states. As each of these would have two senators, there would be eight votes added to the strength of the "solid South" in the Senate. In 1850 Clay and Webster engineered the second great com- promise on the slavery issue. The North, for the sake of peace and union, accepted the ignoble fugitive slave law. The South agreed that the partition of Texas should be postponed. California was admitted as a free state. The region intervening between Texas and California, then called New Mexico, was or- ganized as a territory without the "Wilmot proviso" against slavery. Peace between the two sections seemed restored, but the "irrepressible conflict" was only delayed a few brief years. With scarcely a note of warning Senator Douglas, in his hope of securing the support of the South for his presidential aspirations, threw the whole question again into the caldron of discussion by the Kansas-Nebraska bill. This bill provided that the power of Congress to decide on the extension of slavery into new territories be abrogated and that the question be left for "local sovereignty" to determine. Thus the whole question of slavery extension was to be decided by the party which could muster the most votes at the time of the adoption of a constitution by a new state. This was the most important political step in fomenting the bitter anti-slavery agitation between 1855-1861. It showed that the South was determined to extend slavery. It brought on the struggle over Kansas, led to the formation of the Republican party, the unify- ing of the North against slavery, and the election of Abraham Lincoln to the presidency. Jefferson Davis, who was the leader of the extreme slave party in the Senate, maintained not only the doctrine of Calhoun that the Constitution permitted slavery in the territories, but went further and de- THE AMERICAN CONFEDERATION 193 iiiaiulcd that slave owners were entitled t(j the pro- tection of their property in new territories belonging to the national government. He did not hesitate on July 6, 1860, at the Democratic State Convention of Mississippi to declare, "In the contingency of the election of a President on the platform of Air. Seward's Rochester speech, let the Union be dis- solved." ("History of the U. S.," Rhodes, Vol. H, p. Z7Z.) By 1860 there was also a pronounced agitation in the South for the revival of the African slave trade. These political questions filled the minds of the young men and their advisers who were active in the work of the Young Alen's Christian Association, They were of especial moment to those who wished the organization to become not a local but a national movement. Sec. 27. — Moral and Religious Divisions over Slavery But even more than the political, the moral issue raised by slavery was a challenge to any organization which bore the name of Christian. The publication of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" by Harriet Beecher Stowe synchronized wn'th the establishment of the New York Young Men's Christian Association in 1852. The fugitive slave law of 1850 had aroused the sym- pathy of many Christian people in the North, and "Uncle Tom's Cabin" "was an outburst of passion against a wrong done to a race." ("History of U. S.," Rhodes, Vol. I, p. 279.) Three hundred thousand copies were sold the first year of its appearance and the sale soon reached a million and a half copies. The book was dramatized and translated into twenty languages. (Report of Investigating Committee of New York City Association, 1857, p. 7.) In 1853 the librarv committee of the New York 194 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION Association aroused considerable stir by excluding as the report states "a book called 'Uncle Tom's Cabin.' " This controversy led to a careful definition of the powers of the library committee. Its action, however, was sustained, a vote by the board being passed as follows, "Resolved that the library committee have power to exclude from the library such books as in their judgment are improper." An effort was made at the next meeting of the board to require the library committee "to report all works excluded and a state- ment of their reasons for such exclusion." This motion was laid on the table and the young men of the New York Association were protected from the influence of Harriet Beecher Stowe's volume. The fatherly and sheltering practice of the leaders at this time is indicated in the president's report for 1853 where he says: "It is not deemed proper that this library should contain all works from the press. Theories and opinions of every shade are freely spread upon the printed page — so that youth is com- pelled to pass an ordeal which, though it may possibly strengthen and expand the mind of a few, will prove fatal to others." Out of 1,009 volumes 383 were listed as "moral and religious works" and the chairman of the library committee remarks reluctantly, "\Miile it has been our determination to exclude novels and romances, we have felt it incumbent on us to admit, to some extent, works of fiction acknowledged to be of a sound moral and religious character." Anti-slavery sentiment evidently developed in the New York Association until it was the attitude of the dominant element of the members. Discussion over this issue reduced and nearly disrupted the organiza- tion. While the New York Association never yielded to the attempts of some of the zealous members to secure the passage of resolutions denouncing slavery, nevertheless the agitation lost to the Association TIIR AMERICAN CONFEDERATION 195 financial support and the sympathy of a considerable portion of the community. The conservative ele- ment, which was made up of many ("Life of Mc- Burney," pp. 40-41) of the leading young men in business circles in the city, to the number of 150, de- cided to withdraw in a body. Their resignations were all signed to one paper; but the other party learned of this effort of the "dough-faces" and created not a little surprise when the resignations were presented by announcing a list equally long of new applicants for membership. The young men who withdrew were, however, more influential and the prosperity of the New York Association seriously declined. The character of the agitation can be seen from the following incidents recorded in a report of twenty- four printed pages issued in 1857 by a special "inves- tigating committee" appointed by the members of the New York Association to investigate the action of the board of directors in expelling the committee on rooms and library which occurred after a number of stormy meetings. In the summer of 1856 a number of the Associa- tion members ("Life of AIcBurney," p. 40) were active in the Fremont campaign and figured in a pro- cession given that summer. (These statements are based on notes taken by the author in an interview with Cephas Brainerd in 1901.) "This procession was savagely caricatured by the New York Express, a rather violent political organ. The chairman of the library committee, Mr. George P. Edgar, excluded the Express from the rooms of the Association in August, 1856. This was done simply by stopping the subscription which caused no trouble ; but the ground of the action be- came noised about and the Express began an attack on the Association as a political organization. Mr. Edgar on his own responsibility, and other members, 196 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION replied through the cohimns of the Post. During December, 1856, and January, 1857, a heated news- paper controversy was waged. The board of direc- tors voted to expel the library committee and to re- turn the Express to the Association reading rooms. A committee of the Association appointed to investigate the affair, after extended and animated hearings, re- ported that the library committee had not been fairly dealt with and asked for the resignation of the entire board of directors." (Langdon, "Early Story of the Confederation," Year Book, 1888, p. 21.) Langdon relates at the first public anniversary of the Washington Association, July, 1852: "We were addressed by a Southerner, the Hon. Robert M. Charlton, United States Senator from Georgia. On the next public occasion it was therefore necessary to invite a Northerner and accordingly the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop of Boston was asked for the December following. We were forced to consider national prej- udices and even politics in everything. At a meeting of the board of managers, September 27, one of our Southern members — to quote my diary — 'threw a firebrand among us by an attempt to expel the Na- tional Era, an abolition newspaper, from our reading rooms. The bringing in of politics was most desper- ately opposed by "several of us" and the casus belli was laid on the table for the present.' " While the slavery issue was a menace to the in- ternal development of local Associations with a di- vided meml)ership like those of Washington and New York, it was a still greater obstacle in the pathway of an international organization. Langdon stated (1855 Report, p. 74) in his report to the Second An- nual Convention that the Baltimore Association "earnestly requests that the Convention be assured that it is not from the want of the most sincere and THE AMERICAN CONFEDERATION 197 thoroug-h Christian syiiipalhy and affection toward the cause in which their brethren are engaged that they withhold their participation therein, but from the beHef, founded on reasons elaborately urged in the report, that permanent harmony cannot be se- cured from the elements of which the Confederation is composed." The opposition of Howard Crosby, president of the New York Association, has been mentioned in our discussion of the founding of the early Associations. (See Vol. I, p. 132.) He did not believe a national organization could be established. Through his influence the New York City Associa- tion refused to enter the Confederation. It was un- willing to take its natural place of leadership as the largest Association in the country. (New York City Report, 1854, p. 11.) The New Orleans Association in a letter to the Con- vention held at Cincinnati in 1855 writes (Cincinnati Convention Report, 1855, p. 51) : "As a band of Chris- tians, as friends, and as countrymen you have been called together and are therefore prepared no doubt to yield private opinions for the general good. Differ- ences must of course exist, but they need not mar the peace of the body. Let each forget for the time his sectional prejudices and legislate for the good of the whole. Then will the croaking of our enemies be silenced." On the other hand, in Associations in sections where strong abolition sentiments prevailed there was a growing determination not to compromise on the slavery issue. Many believed they would sacrifice their Christian principles by fellowshipping with any religious organization which was silent on this issue. Speaking of the first Convention at Buffalo in 1854, Langdon relates: "Mr. Holland of Toronto offered a resolution which illustrated the ground of oppo- 198 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION sition to the Convention. It was to the effect that 'as in Christ Jesus there is neither bound nor free,' therefore that all young men 'of whatever degree or condition in life' be invited to an equal partici- pation in the advantages of the Association. This resolution was without debate referred to the busi- ness committee and not reported. It was at that time the only course which could possibly have been taken. As long as slavery existed, certain social results fol- lowed. The Young Men's Christian Association neither could deal nor did it propose to deal with the institution itself. To what practical purpose were any resolutions of protest or nonrecognition of those social results? At the adjournment the president, Mr. Helme of New Orleans, frankly admitted that great fears had been entertained that the Convention would be the scene of wrangling and strife, that sec- tional questions would be agitated. Had the Holland resolution been admitted to debate these fears would have been realized, that they were not is the more remarkable in such a body of Northern young men." But this lack of action at the Convention did not satisfy the Toronto Association. This Association at first approved the founding of the Confederation and then sought to induce the Central Committee to take a stand against slavery. The great task confronting Langdon and the newly appointed "Central Committee" was to secure enough Associations as members of the proposed Confederation to establish it authoritatively. They found the slavery issue their chief obstacle and were compelled to take action announcing their policy. ("Early Story of the Confederation," Year Book, 1888, pp. 36-37.) The Association at Toronto through its corresponding secretary, C. R. Brooks, addressed the Central Committee on this subject. Brooks was also the Canadian representative on the Central THE AMERICAN CONFEDERATION 199 Committee. lie proposed that the Central Commit- tee incorporate in the organic law of the Associations some provisions recognizing the rights of Christian slaves to become members of the Association "as a principle which should be adopted as fundamental by any Confederation of Young Men's Christian Asso- ciations." Brooks stated that the Toronto Asso- ciation had ratified the resolution to join the Confed- eration only by a small majority and "in the hope that when the Central Committee should adopt a constitu- tion, some such principle would be pro])osed to the Associations as a test of their connection with one another." "The Southern Associations on the other hand were equally sensitive of anything which would re- flect on the Christian principle with which they con- formed to the social and political conditions under which they were constituted and under which alone of course they could do their work. Some of these therefore were unwilling to expose themselves to having these principles called to question — as for in- stance : Baltimore, Charleston, and indeed the Asso- ciation at New Orleans also." The Central Committee accordingly issued a cir- cular on November 18, 1854, stating that the Central Committee (Cincinnati Convention Report, 1855, p. 105) was "not a ruling power, but an agent" through which the local Associations might act and that it had no power whatever to adopt a constitution for the Confederation. Toronto and Providence at once withdrew. The Pittsburgh Association wrote that they would send delegates to the Cincinnati Convention only on the condition "that they should be free to bear their con- scientious testimony against what they believed to be a national sin." Langdon decided to stand firm on the position that 200 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION it was not the province of the Central Committee to pass on the slavery issue. The question of the autonomy of the local Associa- tion was also involved. Five additional Associations refused to enter the Confederation — Portland, Maine; Boston; Brooklyn; Detroit, and Nashville. The slavery issue even appeared at the World's Convention held at Paris in 1855. Through the re- quest of the American delegate, Rev. Abel Stevens of New York City, a resolution was adopted as a part of the Paris Basis, which after referring to the faith and object of the Associations states: "That any differences of opinion on other subjects, however im- portant in themselves, but not embraced in the specific designs of the Associations, shall not inter- fere with the harmonious relations of the Confed- erated Societies." How interwoven with the life of its times is any vital organization! This simple society for the spirit- ual welfare of young men made necessary by the new urban conditions which industry was creating found itself even before it could realize its corporate exist- ence tossed on the waves of political strife and social unrest. As the controversy over slavery waxed more in- tense so the difficulties of the national organization increased. It is no wonder when one considers the experience of the different denominations that Asso- ciation leaders despaired of creating a national or- ganization and it is a proof of Langdon's statesman- ship that one was successfully established. In 1850 the churches were already divided on this issue. In the Senate Calhoun said: ''The cords that bind the States together are not only many but vari- ous in character. Some are spiritual or ecclesiastical; some political, others social. The strongest are those Tllli AM ERIC A \' CONFEDERATION 201 of a religious nature, l)Ut lliey have begun to snap. The great ]\Iethodist Episcopal Church has divided. There is a Methodist Church North and a Methodist Church South and they are hostile. The Protestant organization next in size, the I>ai)tist Church, has likewise fallen asunder. The cord which binds the Presbyterian Church is not entirely snapped, but some of its strands have given way." ("History of U. S.," Rhodes, Vol. I, p. 128.) In 1854 during its passage the Kansas-Nebraska act had called out a petition of protest to Congress which was signed by Rev. Stephen H. Tyng of New York, one of the vice-presidents of the New York Association and a delegate to the Paris Convention of 1855, by Rev. G. T. Bedell, and Chancellor Isaac Ferris, both of wdiom attended and addressed the meeting at which the New York Association was or- ganized (1852), and by Rev. Theo. L. Cuyler, w^ho was the most active clergyman in New York in sup- porting the work of the Association. Rev. Lyman Beecher of Boston joined in a similar protest signed by 3,050 out of 3,800 clergymen of New England. Mr. Beecher had delivered the address at the founding of the Boston Association and was one of the four clergymen upon whose advice the evangelical church basis for active membership was adopted by the Boston society. This petition was couched in strong language. ("History of U. S.," Rhodes, Vol. I, p. 478.) It said : "The undersigned clergymen of different religious denominations in New England, hereby in the name of Almighty God and in his presence do solemnly pro- test against the passage of what is known as the Ne- braska bill. . . . Wo. protest against it as a great moral wrong, as a breach of faith eminently unjust to the moral principles of the community and subversive of all confidence in national engagements; as a measure 202 YOUNG MENS CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION full of danger to the peace and even the existence of our beloved Union and exposing us to the righteous judgments of the Almighty." ("History of U. S.," Rhodes, Vol. II, p. 152.) The Kansas-Nebraska bill of 1854 which permitted slavery in a new territory, but left it for the people to decide whether the territory upon becoming a state should exclude or permit slavery, brought on the armed con- flict over slavery in Kansas. The North hastened into Kansas settlers who favored freedom. These men were armed with "Sharp's rifles," then considered superior weapons. The slavery leaders of the South in a similar manner sent armed representatives to the debated territory. Early in 1856 Buford's battalion of 280 armed men assembled at Montgomery, Ala- bama, in the Baptist Church. "The Methodist minis- ter solemnly invoked the divine blessing on the enter- prise. The Baptist pastor gave Buford a finely bound Bible and said that a subscription had been raised to present each emigrant with a copy of the Holy Scrip- tures. ... A distinguished citizen made an address, saying, 'on them rested the future welfare of the South ; they were armed with the Bible, a weapon more potent than Sharp's rifles.' " Mr. Rhodes in his history of this period further states (Vol. II, p. 153) : "The most warlike demon- stration and one which excited the greatest attention, was at New Haven, Conn. Charles B. Lines, a deacon of a New Haven Congregational Church, had enlisted a company of seventy-nine emigrants. A meeting for the purpose of raising funds was held in the church shortly before their departure. Many clergymen and many of the Yale College faculty were present. The leader of the party said that Sharp's rifles were lacking, and that they were needed for self-defense. After an earnest address by Henry Ward Beecher, the subscription began. Professor Silliman started it with THE AMERICAN CONFEDERATION 203 one Sharp's rifle ; the pastor of the church gave the second; other gentlemen and some ladies followed their example. As fifty was the number wanted, Beecher said that if twenty-five were pledged on the spot, Plymouth Church would furnish the rest. The number of rifles wanted was subscribed. Previous to this meeting Beecher had declared that for the slave holders of Kansas the Sharp's rifle was a greater moral agency than the Bible and from that time the favorite arms of the Northern emigrants became known as "Beecher's Bibles." The anti-slavery tide rose higher and higher in the North and the determination to maintain slavery even to the point of secession strengthened in the South. The difficulties of pre- serving the unity of the Confederation increased. The Southern Associations were given every considera- tion. The International Convention was held in 1857 at Richmond, in 1858 at Charleston, in 1860 at New Orleans, and the one for 1861 was scheduled for St. Louis. At the New Orleans Convention W. F. Mun- ford of Richmond was chosen president. The attend- ance of delegates at these conventions was larger from the South than from the North. The Central Committee for 1860 was located at Richmond. The Association at New Orleans issued a magazine which circulated widely among other Associations. Affectionate greetings and interchange of good fel- lowship neutralized to a degree feelings of antago- nism, but these could not alter the fact of a widening divergence of conviction. At the Montreal Conven- tion the delegates were given a reception on the top of Mount Royal. At Richmond an entire day was spent in an excursion into the surrounding country, and at Troy, in 1859, the largest convention of this period, the nearly 300 delegates were taken in a body by the Troy Association to Saratoga Springs, where a dinner with post-prandial speeches was served in 204 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION truly modern style. But none of these occasions equalled the reception extended at Charleston in 1858 and at New Orleans in 1860. As if shrinking from imminent separation the fellowship of these co-work- ers was the more intense. At the Charleston Convention the first afternoon in place of formal addresses of welcome was spent in a sail around the harbor and a picnic on Sullivan Island, The Report (1858, p. 11) states "that the steamer sailed past Fort Sumter to Sullivan Island . . . mar- tial music waking patriotic echoes . . . under the gen- tle reign of peace, on the spot where patriot blood was shed . . . when independence was born and present national happiness ushered in." The report speaks of the influence of this social fellowship as a bond of union which would "long survive the separation and vicissitudes of life." x\t New Orleans in 1860 the hymn of welcome written for the occasion says, "Here we meet in unity." The entire convention marched later in the procession at the unveiling of a statue of Henry Clay. In his address of welcome at the opening of the Convention, Rev. J. B. Walker said, "We know no North, no South, no East, no West, but love our common country from ocean wave to ocean wave and for the preservation of the institu- tions of that country we will labor with men and intercede with God." Fort Sumter was fired on one }-ear later on April 12, 1861. President Lincoln issued his first call for troops on April 15. On May 6, as a last appeal for peace, William T. Munford of Richmond jointly with Joel B. Watkins, former chairman of the Central Committee, addressed the following communication to the "Young Men's Christian Associations of North America" : "Brethren: We have determined, by the help of God, to address you in the character of peace-makers. THE AMERICAN CONFEDERATION 205 In connection with the Confederacy of Christian As- sociations, we trust that we have secured the confi- dence and love of many of your members and we are conscious that we sincerely reciprocate their senti- ments. You will then regard with some respect the statements we may make in reference to the present condition of our country. Many of those who par- ticipated with us in the Christian fellowship which was exhibited by the delegates from the various parts of our beloved country at the annual conventions held in Troy, Charleston, Baltimore, Cincinnati, and New Orleans, will doubtless be willing to unite with us in an earnest eiTort for the restoration of peace and goodwill between the contending parties. "Through the distorting medium of the press, there is a misunderstanding between the North and the South as to their respective positions. If there could be a fair representation of the sentiments of the bet- ter portion of the people at the North and the South, we should not present the melancholy spectacle of a great nation involved in a civil w'ar, which must be productive of the most disastrous consequences to the material and spiritual interests of each section. The separation of the South from the North is irrevocal)le, and the sooner this great fact is acknowledged by the nations of the earth the better will it be for the in- terests of humanity. The conquest of either section by the other is impossible. You can have no doubt of the truth of this proposition, if you consider the teach- ing of all history in regard to the ability of an invaded country to repel its invaders, wdiere the numbers are nearly equally divided, and the courage of each is un- questioned. In the present contest there is a una- nimity of sentiment on the part of the South to main- tain its independence and to repel invasion, which has been unexampled in the history of the world. In this community almost every person capable of bearing 206 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION arms is ready to volunteer in the service of the State. Our Association, and even the ministry, is largely represented in the ranks of the army. The South has no desire to invade the soil of the North, or to take from it any of its rights. We only ask to be permitted to govern ourselves in accordance with the principles which were guaranteed in the Constitution of the United States, and which were maintained by the North and the South in the Revolutionary War. The wisest and best men of both sections recognized these principles, and we do not now advocate a war of aggression or conquest. "As Christians let us discountenance the misrepre- sentations of each other, which are so frequently made, and let us labor earnestly in the cause of peace. In November last, we united in a call upon the Presi- dent of the United States for the appointment of a day of humiliation and prayer to Almighty God for a blessing on our country, and in answer to our prayers the fratricidal hand has thus far been withheld by a merciful providence. Let us again unite our prayers and efforts for the restoration of peace and goodwill between the Northern and Southern Confederacies. "With the sincere hope that we may be able to con- gratulate you at our approaching Convention in St. Louis upon this auspicious result, we remain yours, fraternally, "Wm. p. Munford, "Joel B. Watkins, "Wm. H. Gwarthmey." On May 14 the New York City Association replied as follows : "Bible House, New York, May 14, 1861. "To W^m. P. Munford, Joel B. W^atkins, Wm. H. Gwarthmey. "Gentlemen: Your letter of the 6th inst. has just THE AMERICAN CONFEDERATION 207 reached me. Like every other document which comes from the South, there is in your letter a mixture of truth and error. For instance, you say, 'Through the distorting- medium of the press there is a misunder- standing between the North and South.' Now it is true that the press has 'distorted' the truth in certain instances in the North, and entirely suppressed it in the South in every instance where it did not accord with the interests of slavery. But I cannot believe there is any longer a 'misunderstanding between the North and the South.' There is but one question now — viz. : Have Southerners the right to rule the Union until they lose an election and then destroy it? "The South says, 'Yes.' Young and old, rich and poor, educated and ignorant, religious and uncon- verted. North, East, and West, say 'No.' "The whole North recognizes the war as a holy effort to maintain good government. The cross up- holds the flag on our churches, and in every assembly the good old Union hymns are sung amid tears and cheers of generous, godly people who yet love you and pray for you, though they deny, and will die before they will consent to, the right of secession. The only possible way for us to consent to separation is through a National Convention. Come back to your alle- giance, call such a convention by your votes in Con- gress, and you can certainly go. This will be regular. But our very existence is imperilled by your hideous 'secession.' No government could stand a year upon such a basis. We never can admit it. We are not ig- norant of loss and hardship, and we can learn death. But we cannot consent to throw away that for which our fathers fought nor to call our glorious govern- ment a failure. "Indulge me in one word more. Slavery is wrong, you have determined to defend that wrong. You have counted no cost in defending it even before it was as- 208 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION sailed but have been willing even to destroy our gov- ernment for fear it might be. May God forgive you ; your position is utterly false and my heart bleeds that men calling themselves Christians can connect them- selves with so wicked a cause, even calling it holy and daring to compare it with that of our God-protected fathers ! ! ''Your Christians will meet ours in battle. The 7th regiment of New York numbers many of our mem- bers; the 12th and the 71st as well; and tomorrow the 9th takes others — active earnest Christians. Doctor Tyng's son is second in command of a company now in A\'ashington. My friend, Air. Abbot, correspond- ing secretary of the Trenton Association, is also un- der arms. Mr. Haddock of Troy writes me the same. "Upon you and your 'institution' must rest the re- sponsibility of this fratricidal war, and shirk it or dis- semble it how you may, God will require an account of every man who abets the treason of the South. I cannot pray for the Southern Confederacy. "Noble Heath, Jr., "Cor. Sec, N. Y. Young Men's Christian Association." The leaders of the Association had struggled for nine years to eliminate slavery discussion and all agitation from its religious meetings and its inter- national convention programs. It was this experience with slavery agitation and later with the prohibition of the liquor traffic which has led the Association to become neutral on all moral questions when they become political issues. The same difficulty has arisen more recently over the economic struggle between "Capital and Labor." Robert R. McBurney of New York City, the most in- fluential leader of the Association movement, in 1888 announced as one of the nine settled principles of the THE AMERICAN CONFEDERATION 2()9 organization "that when questions of moral reform become political party questions, our Association, as such, can have no connection with them." One must with reluctance admit the necessity for this policy on the part of an interdenominational in- ternational organization. If it is to survive it must not as an organization engage in a contest for the ad- vancement of this or that current movement for right- eousness. However burning your zeal for social justice, your enthusiasm for prohibition, or your eagerness to free the slave, you cannot advocate your cause on the platform of an interdenominational in- ternational religious association for the salvation of young men without disrupting the organization. Be- fore the Civil War the Association had but a partial existence nationally and would have disappeared as a national organization entirely if the views of the Con- gregationalists of New England on slavery or of the Southern Methodists of Georgia on the same theme were allowed to be expressed on the platform of the International conventions. The question is whether there is an adequate per- manent field for an organization which devotes itself to the religious education of young men and boys, which inculcates the teachings of Jesus Christ, but which must refrain from urging their application to a particular situation as soon as this becomes a party political issue, that is, as soon as there is a prospect of the ideal being practically realized. This would seem to paralyze action at the very moment when it was worth while and most needed. It seems like deser- tion of the right and cowardice in the face of opposi- tion. The answer is: that the Young Men's Christian As- sociation is not the only agency for action or expres- sion; the members under the inspiration of its teach- ing should as citizens and Christians organize or allv 210 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION themselves under other auspices with persons hke- minded with themselves for the immediate reform or promotion of the moral issue at stake, McBurney illustrated this method when he joined with Anthony Comstock in founding the Society for the Suppression of Vice rather than carry on that work under the New .York Association with which it originated. Later Association leaders have taken a prominent part in promoting the Playground Movement of America, the Boy Scout organization, and the Laymen's Mission- ary Movement."*' The period under discussion was one when the As- sociation was seeking to find itself. It did not succeed in doing so completely ; it floundered and in the main failed to discover its true mission, but it took one step forward by elimination. The leaders of the Associa- tion recognized that the Association was not to be- come a society for moral reform by means of political action. There have been some notable exceptions to this practice. As soon as the North was committed to the war for the Union, the Associations of the North allied themselves with all the zeal and enthusi- asm of young manhood with the cause of the Union. Enlisting was stimulated, funds were raised, and the great work of the United States Christian Commis- sion w^as established. During the great World War there has been a similar outburst of unanimity which has overridden all counsels of neutrality. The Asso- ciations entered the war as a holy crusade against *Glen K. Sliurtlcff (General Secretary, Cleveland. 1893-1909) was the most constructive social mind in the general secretaryship. He formed a Social Service Club of influential and growing Cleve- landers who promoted investigations and reform through various organizations or efforts independent of the Association organization. The founding of the Juvenile Court, the building and operation by the city of public bath houses, the founding of The Municipal Asso- ciation and Civic League, the reform of the Jury System, and the calling of several successive national conferences on social service were conspicuous results. — R. E. Lewis. rilll AMERICAN CONFEDERATION 211 despotism and militarism. The Association buildings of England and Canada were often enlisting head- quarters. American Associations both local and mili- tary became the centers of political discussion. In- struction to the soldiers in the war aims of the gov- ernment was one of the great services rendered by the "Red Triangle" huts. Whether the avoidance of questions of moral re- form when they are adopted by political parties will continue to be the policy of the future is difficult to foretell. The International Convention for 1919 held at Detroit approved the declaration of the Federal Council of Churches supporting many of Labor's con- tentions against Capital and many students at the recent Student Volunteer Convention at Des Moines returned home dissatisfied because of the "stand pat" attitude of that Convention and the obscuring of the social message. Several of the large forum meetings held on Sunday afternoons, like the one at the Bed- ford Branch, Brooklyn, or at Springfield, Mass., are open for the discussion of live current issues but in the industrial Associations the secretaries must hold an independent position between Capital and Labor. It may be said, however, that for the fifty years follow- ing 1855 the experience with the slavery issue estab- lished the principle of neutrality on political questions for the Young Men's Christian Association. Sec. 28. — Industrial and Economic Developments The decade preceding the Civil War saw important steps in the transition of American life from the agri- cultural to the industrial stage. The prosperity of this period has already been mentioned. This was practically uninterrupted in the South and continued until the panic of 1857 in the North and the West. Slavery was the cornerstone of Southern prosper- 212 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION ity; cotton and rice depended on slave labor for profit- able production. ("History of U. S.," Rhodes, Vol. I, p. 497.) The passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill in 1854 raised the hope of the extension of slavery into Kansas. "It was thought in the border states that if a new slave state could be created it would add five per cent to the value of slaves, which were already very high. The planters in the cotton states being buyers of negroes did not regard the rise of value as an unmixed good but they did not grumble. They cast about for a remedy. The reopening of the African slave trade began to be discussed seriously in South Carolina and Mississippi." While the rest of the country was still struggling with depression, the South went prosperously on its way. Mr. Rhodes quotes from the Neiv York Times of March, 1859, as follows: "There is no disputing the fact," writes a correspondent from New Orleans, "that the Southern portion of the Confederacy is in a highly prosperous condition — perhaps never more so. Of all the great staples produced, the crops during the past year have been abundant, sales active, and prices high. . . . No species of property has felt the effect of this state of affairs more sensibly than the negroes. The average price of field hands may be stated at $1,500 and the tendency is upward. Al 'niggers' sell for $1,750 to $2,000. These rates were never reached but once before. . . . The South is getting out of debt and beginning to accumulate surplus capital." It is true that the "poor whites" of the South were indigent and could not compete with slave labor, but they never set themselves against the system. In spite of the supposed cheapness of slave labor it is an interesting economic fact that the free industrial states of the North were steadily and unmistakably outstripping the slave states of the South. The period THE AMERICAN CONFEDERATION 213 we are discussing closed with a disastrous panic and a devastating civil war, and yet before the slave power fell the free states had gained an unapproach- able economic supremacy. They had entered upon the industrial age which is only fairly beginning with the New South of the present time. In fact, the rapid increase in population and wealth of the North over the South was one of the reasons leading to secession. The slave leaders saw both economic and political supremacy irrevocably slipping from their grasp. What was the cause of the rapid rise to industrial power of the North? The answer is: Intelligent free labor and the introduction of the railroad, the tele- graph, and agricultural and manufacturing machin- ery. The descendants of the Puritans had peopled and conquered the central Northern states and were al- ready pushing into the territory west of the Missis- sippi River. Bancroft states that in 1834 the de- scendants of New England were one third the white population of the United States. That the 4,000 families (21,200 persons) who migrated from Eng- land to New England between 1620 and 1635 had in 200 years an average of 1,000 descendants for each family or a total of 4,000,000 persons. The new immi- gration from Ireland and the continent of Europe, which began with the Irish famine of 1848 and the checking of the European revolutions of the same year, flowed into the Northern States. The immigrant avoided slave territory. This immigration brought with it the Catholic Church and many race divisions, but it was of great economic value. The meteoric rise and fall of the "Know-Nothing Movement," which was opposed to Irishmen and Catholics, illustrate these conflicts. Rhodes remarks (\'ol. II, p. 51) : "The efforts of the Catholics (1854) to exclude the Bible from the pub- 214 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION lie schools struck a chord which has not ceased to vibrate. The ignorant foreign vote had begun to have an important influence on elections and the result in large cities was anything but pleasant of honest, effi-' cient government." The immigration between 1850 and 1860 was greater than the preceding decade and was not again surpassed until the new immigration movement which began about 1870. The growth of the population was amazing but the interesting fact of great moment to our theme is that the city popula- tion of the North was growing more than twice as rapidly as the rural population. The high cost of living is said to have begun in 1850 (Rhodes, Vol. Ill, p. 112); the concentration of wealth began in this decade and the growth of city slums (Rhodes, Vol. Ill, p. 64). During this decade the North was beginning to shake off the provincialism and isolation which it in- herited from colonial and revolutionary times. The individualism of "Yankeedom" and the crudeness in- cident to pioneer life were to a degree giving way to the cosmopolitan spirit. The great impetus to this change as already intimated was from the railroad and the telegraph. These and immigration from Europe coupled with the migration westward have given a fluid dynamic character to American life. Herbert Spencer in speaking of the influence of inter- communication brought about by the railroad and the telegraph says ("Sociology," Vol. I, p. 575) : "Within a generation the social organism has passed from a stage like that of a cold-blooded creature with feeble circulation and rudimentary nerves to a stage like that of a warm-blooded creature with efficient vascular system and a developed nervous apparatus. To this more than any other cause are due the great changes in habits, beliefs, and sentiments characteriz- ing our generation." THE AMERICAN CONFEDERATION 215 The industrial North with its large cities was to give to the world the modern Young Men's Christian Association. The new type of life was over-stimulat- ing to young men. Their natural instability of temper was accentuated by the growth of the city and the lure of the Great West. Rev. C. M. Butler of Cin- cinnati at the Association Convention held in that city in 1855 said (Cincinnati Convention Report, 1855, p. 33), "The times have crowded into our youth the combined characteristics of the boy and the man and have subjected them to the dangers which belong to both." Young men in politics, in industry, and in social life held a position of leadership never occupied by them before. They illustrate Kipling's "Feet of the Young Men" : " They must go, go, go away from here ! On the other side the World they're overdue. 'Send your road is clear before you when the old Spring- fret comes o'er you And the Red Gods call for you !' " The decade of 1850 to 1860 in the United States was one of the greatest in world history and it is small wonder that young men felt its stimulus, that they thronged its rising cities, manned the growing indus- tries, and put the same enthusiasm and aggressive spirit into the religious organization which they espoused. The relation between national economic prosperity and organized religious or educational progress is more intimate than is generally supposed. It is true that the great revival of 1857 and 1858 followed al- most as swiftly as the thunder-clap follows the light- ning upon the heels of the financial panic of October, 1857, but it is also true that the financial depression of that period sapped the organic life of many Asso- ciations. Membership in many of the Associations fell 216 YOUNG MllN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION oft. This condilion also alTccled other v