NEW BUILDING.
The benefits of the Association are for all--its management alone is restricted.
[pg 251]
There are now nearly twenty-five hundred Associations in the world, all upon what is called the evangelical basis, and in the United States and British Provinces only Associations upon this basis have membership or representation in the International Organization, formulated in Paris, in 1855, thus:--
"The Young Men's Christian Associations seek to unite those young men who, regarding Jesus Christ as their God and Saviour according to the Holy Scriptures, desire to be his disciples in their doctrine and in their life, and to associate their efforts for the extension of his kingdom among young men."
It is a fact that whenever the attempt has been made, and it often has, in any Association, to give an equal right in the management to those who are not of our faith, that Association has either soon adopted our basis or ceased to exist.
The spiritual benefit of its members having thus always been its ultimate end, the London Association, during its early years, did no other work; and no sooner was the Boston Association formed than it, too, took it up. For a while, it carried on a Bible-class and a weekly prayer-meeting; but in May, 1857, a daily prayer-meeting was established, and has been continued almost without intermission to the present time. The visitation of sick members, the distribution of tracts, and the conduct of general religious meetings, have been the regular work of special committees. These last have been held when and where they seemed to be called for: on the Common, at the wharves, on board the ships in the harbor, and, especially during our Civil War, on board the receiving-ship Ohio; in the theatres, at Tremont Temple, and at the Meionaon, where, at various times, for weeks, a noon meeting has been held for business men.
The Association has also been the rallying-point and chief instrumentality in great revival movements, under the direction of the churches, and especially in that under Mr. Moody in the great Tabernacle. The Boston Association has never forgotten the chief object of its existence, nor, though not without some fluctuation, has it intermitted its religious work.
We have said that in London the work was at first wholly religious. In this country, however, the social and intellectual element in young men was immediately recognized and measures taken to satisfy them. Therefore pleasant rooms were at once secured, carpeted, furnished, hung with pictures, and supplied with papers, magazines, and books; and, as the work enlarged and additional and more commodious rooms were obtained, the literary class and the occasional lecture in the room at the Tremont Temple building, expanded, in its first own building at the corner of Tremont and Elliot Streets, into evening classes, social gatherings, readings, and concerts; and here first we were able to give to our members who wished them the advantages of the gymnasium and bathrooms. And when, through the munificence of the business men, the Association was enabled to take possession of its present building, certainly excelled by no other in the world, either in beauty of exterior or accommodation, every appliance for physical, social, intellectual and spiritual work has been made possible.