stage best adapted for her moulding. She professes to provide for
the extension of her doctrine and spirit. Can she, with any show of
reason, neglect the force furnished her in this mass of youthful energy
and enthusiasm. She professes to rescue men from danger. Does she see any
danger more imminent than those which menace young men, any temptations
more seductive, any ruin more pitiable? Does she see any more susceptible
of these influences than youth with their high spirits, superfluous energy
and glowing passion? Does she see any victims which appeal more powerfully
to her compassion than these sons and brothers in whose success and virtue
are bound up the hopes and affections of thousands of parents, every one
of whom cries to the world and to the church, "deal gently for my sake
with the young man?"

2. But the church ought to deal with them, in the absence of other
appliances to reach them. The church has few enough, far too few; but
there are fewer elsewhere. Take business. What does it furnish? It deals
with the young man. Not always gently either. It deals with his youthful
strength; with his clear and active brain; with his enterprise and energy.
It uses these to build up trade and accumulate wealth. It deals, I say,
not always gently. It is often exacting and severe. It often binds burdens
too heavy for youthful shoulders. It often refuses leisure which health
imperatively demands, and denies compensations which might furnish less
temptation to crime. But I am not here to speak of these now. How does it
deal with the young man morally? Does business take into the account, to
any great extent, the fact that young men are moral and intellectual
beings? How much leisure does it afford them for mental or religious
culture? Alas, with the most charitable view of the case, with the noble
exceptions clearly recognized, business presents a sad aspect in this
regard. The maxim "_business is business_" is carried too far. What the
_world_ may think or do in this matter is not the question here; but to
Christian men, who believe or profess to believe that religion belongs
everywhere, business should be something more than business. How many
Christian business men recognize in its contact opportunities for the
exertion of Christian influence as well as for making money? How many see
in their clerks something besides the hired arms or brains to carry on
their trade? How many recognize them as beings with social instincts as