Shall there be no Christ for those who for the moment seem to need no
comfort?
Shall there be no Christ for the strong men who have before them the
duties of their life, and who want the strength with which to do them?
Shall there be no Christ for the young men, the young men standing in
danger, but also standing in such magnificent and splendid chances? It
is great to think of Christ standing by the sorrowing and comforting
them. It is great,--we will not say it is greater,--it is very great,
when by the side of the young man just entering into life there stands
the Christ, saying to his soul, with the voice that he cannot fail to
hear: "Be pure, be strong, be wise, be independent; rejoice in Me and My
appreciation. Let the world go, if it is necessary that the world should
go. Serve the world, but do not be the servant of the world. Make the
world your servant by helping the world in every way in which you can
minister to its life. Be brave, be strong, be manly by My strength." Oh!
young man, if you can hear the Christ speak to you like that behind all
the traditions of the street, behind the teachings of the books, behind
all that the wise and successful men say to you, behind all the cynics
and sneerers say to you, the great, strong, healthy voice of Jesus
Christ, who believes in man because He has known man filled with
divinity, and believes in you because He knows that which has been set
before you by your Father in the sending out of your life, and who longs
and prays and waits to strengthen you, that you may do your work, that
you may escape from sin, that you may live your life, this great figure
of the present Christ that Christianity can produce--it is not the
memory of something that is away back in the past, it is not the
anticipation of something to come in the future.
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