In all brotherly freedom, we would call your very serious attention to the organizations known as “Boys' Brigades,” which have been recently introduced in many congregations, and have met with a dangerous popularity. Let us consider whether there are not tendencies and consequences inseparable from them which are inimical to the highest interests of our youth, and the true work of the church.
With the inculcation of prompt obedience to superiors, is there not fostered a love of arbitrary power in the boys who command? Is not an admiration for martial display begotten by the parade and the trappings which are part of the outfit of the brigade? Do301these not minister to the pride and vanity of human nature, which so early assert themselves, and, viewed from the Christian standpoint, need no stimulus? Will not the precision and efficiency with which large numbers move under the control of one or more leading minds, give an undue estimate as to the value or necessity for military service in the administration of civil government? And is not the general tendency of such training as is derived through the Boys' Brigade, to lead away from the gospel view of the church, its rightful service, the nature of that conflict with sin and error to which it is indeed called, and the method by which it is to be carried on, whereof the Apostle Paul declares, “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”
If the system has these tendencies, unfavorable to moral and religious welfare, of how little comparative value are the discipline and physical advantages claimed for it! and how directly does it conflict with the principle involved in the command of our Saviour, “Seek first the kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof.”