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^ PRINCETON, N. J. *^^
Presented by
£
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"pT-S/axcK^^V \-^a\Wa^
John Angell, 1785-
:e young man s friend and
.,^/:^. --hrni-ah life to
COII^TENTS.
rAos.
The Young Man Preparing for Life, . . .9
The Young Man Entering on Life, ... 35
The Young Man Undecided in his Religious Character, . 60
The Young Man Possessing a Defective Amiability, , 95
The Young Man Perplexed by Religious Controversy, . 124
The Young Man Recommended to Contemplate the Character
of Joseph, . . • . .158
The Young Man Advised to Study the Book of Proverbs, . .186
The Young Man Succeeding or Failing in Business, 215
The Young Man Emigrating to a Foreign Land, . . 243
The Young JVl^n Disappointing or Realising the Hopes of Parents, 27Q
The Young Man Impressed with the Importance of the Age ""01
The Young Man Dying Early, or Living to Review Life in Old
Age, . . . . . 330
^>M \
^j^ ^^bM>^
THE
YOUIfG MAN'S FRIEND
€ttik tljruitgl fife to |mmoi1iilitT[.
JOHN ASGELL JAMES,
»THOR or THE *'T0UNG WOMAN'S FRIEND," " ANXIOUS ENOUIRER," " C0O«81
OF FAITH," "christian DUTY," "CHRISTIAN PROFESSOR,'*
" CHRISTIAN FATHER'S PRESENT," ETC.
WITH AN INTRODUCTION
BY THOMAS DE WITT, D.D.
NEW YORK:
ROBERT CARTER Sz, BROTHERS.
No. 5 30 BROADWAY.
1857.
INTKODUCTION.
The name of John Angell James is extensively and
most favorably known to the Christian community,
by his successful labors in the ministry of the Gospel,
and his various writings of great practical excellence,
which have been very widely circulated, and have
proved eminently useful. Perhaps there are few
living more embalmed in the respect and grateful
affection of the various sections of the Christian
Church. With his advancing years he is still " bring-
ing forth fruit" by his active labors, and recurring
publications from the press peculiarly adapted to do
good. His works have been largely spread in Great
Britain and America, and a number of them have
been translated into several languages. The titles of
the prominent ones at once recur to the memory, as
" The Christian Father'^s Present to his Children^^
IV INTRODUCTION.
" Family Monitor^'' " Christian Chafity^'' " The
Anxious Enquirer ^"^ " An Earnest Ministry^'' " The
Church in Earnest^'' " The Widoio Directed to th^
Widow's God^^ " Pastoral Addresses^' " The Young
Man from Home^" " The Christian Professor^'' &c.
Several of these may be numbered among oui
Christian classics in their admirable adaptation to
the ends they have in view, rendering their general
diffusion desirable, while it would be hardly practica-
ble to supply the place they occupy by any from other
sources.
There is in all of the works of Mr. James a trans-
parent clearness of statement and discussion, a flow-
ing ease of style, a felicity of illustration, an earnest-
ness of spirit, and a pungency of appeal, combined
with the soundness of evangelical sentiment, im-
bedded in deep experience and holy practice. These
have imparted a charm and influence to them which
have made them a blessing amid the Churches.
This volume is the last one published by the esteemed
author, and comprises the matter of a series of dis-
courses preached by him from his own pulpit. It
was issued from the British press in the latter part of
the past year. On perusing it I was strongly im-
pressed with its value as beyond any that I could re-
collect to attract the attention, and elicit the interest
INIRODUCTION.
of the young men into whose hands it might fall, and
prove profitable to them in reference to their best in-
terests for time and eternity. Two of Mr. James's
former publications had particular respect to the
young, but he has here struck out a path with a
wider range, bringing in the various circumstances
and positions of life in connection with the formation
of character and guidance through life. While the
texture of the whole volume is interwoven with the
delineation of true religion as the grand spring and
safe-guard of happiness, and holiness, and the salva-
tion of the soul, the great interest of time in prepara-
tion for eternity, it is filled with the counsels and
lessons of wisdom for the practical conduct of life.
The titles of several of the chapters will arrest atten-
tion, as " The Character of Josejph^'' " The Study of
the Booh of Proverhs^'^ " Failing in Business^'*
" The Young Man Imjpressed with the Imjportance
of the Age in which he Lives^'' &c. As a whole it
appears to me specially fitted for usefulness as to its
object in view, the temporal and spiritual benefit of
young men. Exposed as they are to a thousand snares
in the morning of life, when the character is to be
moulded and formed, how valuable would this volume
prove in their hands, as a vade mecum^ and referred
to as a monitor and guide. It has been received
▼i INTRODUCTION.
witli mucli acceptance by the religious public of Great
Britain, and is very favorably noticed in the I'eligious
periodicals. I rejoice at its republication here, and
hope it will meet with ample patronage. It is under-
stood that Mr. James has now in preparation a simi
lar volume addressed to " Young Women." I trust
the success of the volume now published will urge
Mr. Randolph to republish the proposed one as soon
as it issues from the British press.
THOMAS DE WITT.
Nkw-Yoek May 1, 1852
PEEFACE.
I INSCRIBE this volume to every young man who by tha
prompting of his own mind, or by the pei-suasion of others,
shall be induced to peruse it. To every such youth, I say,
with all seriousness and eai-nestness, ponder well its title. —
" The Young MarCs Friend and Guide through Life to Im-
mortality r Do you desire a Mend ? I offer myself : and I
believe you will find me to be such in these pages. Do you
need a guide through life, with all its duties, temptations,
and perplexities ? I am willing to perform for you this
service : and I dare pledge the truth, power, and love of God,
that if, by his grace sought by faith in Christ and fervent
prayer, you follow the directions here laid down, you will rise
to respectability, usefulness, and comfort, in this world, and to
everlasting happiness in the next.
Eternal and Almighty God — thou source of light, love, and
purity, who didst send forth thy seraphim with a coal from off
thine altar, to purify the prophet's lips ; and thine Holy Spirit
like cloven tongues of flame upon the heads of apostles ; and
who art still willing to grant wisdom to all that seek it through
1*
Vlll PREFACE.
the meditation of our Lord Jesus Christ, send down thy bless-
ing upon the youth of our age and nation ; and grant in thy
great mercy that many of them may by this volume be guided
in safety through the dangers of this sinful world ; and led, by
patient continuance in well-doing, to glory, honor, and immor-
tality in the world to come. Amen.
PREPARATION FOR LIFE.
" Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eye-lids look straight
before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be
established."— Proverbs iv. 25, 26.
You cannot be ignorant, Young Men, that I have felt a
great solicitude for your moral and spiritual welfare, and
have taken some pains to promote it. I say, your moral and
spiritual welfare, for in an age like the present, when educa-
tion is so much improved, and so widely extended ;_when the
discoveries of science, and the inventions of art, have been so
rapidly multiplied, and the means of kno\^ing them have
been placed so entirely within the reach of the multitude ;
there is a danger lest that which is moral and spiritual
should be neglected amidst the attention to that which ia
merely intellectual — lest talents should be appreciated more
highly than virtues — and general knowledge be more eagerly
sought than that which is religious. Yet it must be obvious
to you upon reflection, that happiness, even for this world,
to say nothing of the next, depends much more upon the
state of the heart and the practice of the life, than upon the
exclusive culture of the understanding. Not that they are
antaoronistic to one another. None but infidels or weak
10 THE YOUNG MAN S FRIEND.
minded Christians will ever attempt to set piety and science
at variance. They are neither enemies nor aliens, but
friends ; and are reciprocally helpful to each other.
Under the influence of this anxiety to promote your moral
and spiritual well-being, I have, in the course of my minis
try, addressed to you several courses of plain and practical
discourses. I have been rewarded for this " labor of love,"
by the attention with which they have been received, and
the benefit which I believe they have imparted, and am
thus induced to continue the practice, and invite your
serious and meditative attention to the following course of
subjects.
I. " The Young Man preparing for Life."
II. *' The Young Man entering on Life."
in. " The Young Man undecided in his Religious Cha-
racter."
lY. '' The Young Man possessing a Defective Amiability."
V. " The Young Man perplexed by Religious Contro
versy."
VL " The Young Man recommended to contemplate the
Character of Joseph."
VII. '' The Young Man advised to study the Book of
Proverbs."
VIII. " The Young Man succeeding or failing in busi-
ness."
IX. " The Young Man emigrating to a Foreign Land."
X. '' The Young Man disappointing or realizing the
Hopes of Parents."
XL " The Young Man impressed with the Importance of
the Age."
XII. *' The Young Man dying early, or living to review
Life in Old Age."
PREPARATION FOR LIFE. 1]
You will perceive at once that these subjects are all of an
entirely practical character. Speculation and controversy
are with one exception both excluded ; and even doctrinal
matter is but sparingly introduced. Not that these things
are unimportant or unnecessary in proper place, but they do
not come within the comprehension of my design. I am a
practical man, and am most at home on practical subjects ;
and at the same time, that I believe holiness is founded upon
truth, and that Christian duties are drawn from Christian
doctrines, and are to be enforced by them, I am still of
opinion, that what is practical will be more for your edifica-
tion than what is theoretical or controversial. Speculation,
novelty, and dry criticism, or thorny controversy, will, per-
haps, have a less beneficial influence upon your future
character and happiness, than the subjects contained in this
course.
My first sermon is on Preparation for Life. We often
preach on preparation for death ; and most momentous, most
necessary that is — but we too much neglect to preach on
preparation for life. And yet how incumbent is such a
subject, both for our discussion and your serious considera-
tion.
The passage of Scripture placed at the head of this dis-
course is much in point. It is selected from a portion of
Scripture which is of incalculable value, and which proves
that the Bible is a book not only to make men wise unto
salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus, but to serve
as an admirable guide to them in their passage through this
life, and in reference to the temporalities of their condition :
a book not only to form the saint and the devotee, but the
tradesman, the parent, and the member of domestic and
12 THE YOUNG MAN'S FRIEND.
social life. To this I shall call your attention on a futuri
occasion, and devote a discourse to the consideration of it.
In the passage I have selected, you will at once perceive
that a habit of consideration and forethought is inculcated.
We must not only consider the past by looking hack^ nor the
present by looking round ^ but the future by looking on. All
these are important — we must look back to consider what we
have done that we should not have done ; what we have not
not done that we should have done ; and what we have
done well, that we might have done better ; that thus from
the past, we may draw lessons for the future. It is true
that in your case so short a space of life has yet been passed
over, as to afford comparatively few materials for reflection,
and little aid for your future guidance. But even youth has
something to look back upon, and the practice of retrospec-
tion cannot be adopted too early. It is well to begin life
with the formation of a habit of self-scrutiny and self-
accountability.
We must also consider well the present, because there is
always some duty now to be done, the doing of which is our
immediate business, which no reflection on the past, and no
anticipation of the future, should lead us to neglect. Still,
however, we must let our " eyes look on, and our eyelids
look straight before us." We have not only memory, but a
certain measure of prescience. True, we cannot look into
futurity, so as to ascertain particular events, but we can an-
ticipate general conditions ; and it is a mark of a well-
governed mind to anticipate as far as possible the future.
We should consider what in all probability is to happen tc
us, and prepare for it. Young people are not unapt to look
forward, but it is rather in a sentimental and romantic, than
in a practical manner, and as an exercise of the imagination
PREPARATION FOR LIFE. 13
rather than of the judgment. Be thoughtful, then, and let
your thoughtfulness have respect to the future. " Let your
eyelids look straight on ; and ponder the ways of your feet."
There is a world of practical wisdom in some single
terms ; among them is that momentous term, Prepare.
How many evils, in some cases, would have been avoided,
had men prepared to meet them. How many benefits would
have been secured, had men prepared to appropriate them.
How much that they have done would have been better done
if they had prepared to do it. How often, already, have
you had regretfully to say, " I wish I had prepared for this."
"Well, then, let this impress you, and guide you for the
future. Let your own limited experience in the little things
which have yet happened, be for a warning to prepare you
for the greater ones which will happen. I know very well
that the opposite evil of always preparing and never acting,
which is the case with some, is also to be avoided. There
are some who are ever getting ready to act, but when the
moment for acting arrives, are so irresolute, so timid, so
procrastinating, that they let go the time for duty. But this
is by much the rarer case of the two. This discourse, then,
meets you about to enter on life, and it gives out to you the
momentous note of preparation.
Preparation is often half the doing ; and the easier part
too. Preparation for life ! How impressive an idea ! Not
for one particular act, or scene, or engagement, but for the
whole of future existence. Life ! How much is included in
that weighty term. A love of life is an instinct of our na-
ture, wisely implanted in us for important purposes by the
Great Author of our existence. It was the lano-uao;e of
truth, though uttered by the Father of Lies, '^ Skin for skin,
yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life." Surely,
14 THE YOJNG man's FRIEND.
then, if it be incumbent upon us to prepare for everything
else, it must be of incalculable moment to prepare for life
since it is the most valuable thing we can covet or possess.
But it will be asked, perhaps, what is meant by preparing
for life ? By this then, I intend, a preparation to act wel*
our part upon earth, so as to secure to ourselves the greatest
measure of happiness and usefulness in this world, and eter-
nal happiness in the world to come. Preparing to live suc-
cessfully, religiously, usefully, and happily — to secure to
ourselves the promise of Grod to Abraham, " I will bless
thee, and thou shalt be a blessing."
The injunction to prepare for life implies that whatever
constitutes the felicity and usefulness of life must be matter
of choice, pursuit, and labor ; that it will not come sponta-
neously. This is very true. The continuance of even ex-
istence itself, is not independent of man's own volition, ac-
tion, and preparation. We do not live in spite of ourselves,
or without ourselves — the vital spark at first communicated
to us without our own acting, is still fed and sustained hy
our own action. We take food and medicine, and wear
clothes, and dwell in habitations, to preserve life ; and we
must manifest no less solicitude, and put forth no less effort,
to secure the blessings of life. It depends very much upon
every man's own choice and labor, how life is to turn out.
To spend life in happiness and usefulness, we must pre-
pare in the early stages of it, for what is future. There is
no truth in the Platonic notion of the pre-existence of
human souls. We cannot in another and an antecedent
state, anticipate our existence on earth, go through a train-
ing in some previous world, and thus learn how to act our
part here. Such an advantage, if it would be an advantage,
is denied us We can have no previous training of this
PREPARATION FOR LIFE. 15
kind, but must come into life, and learn as we go on. We
must, by though tfulness, and observation, and experience,
pick up knowledge by the way. This wonderfully increases
the peril of our situation, and the necessity of our cultivat-
ing and exercising a reflective and cautious habit. Still,
though we cannot in some previous state of existence anti-
cipate our dwelling and conduct upon earth, we may be
trained for the subsequent stages of our being, by the con-
duct pursued in the earlier ones. We cannot first live to
know how to live, but we can be educated in the first part
of life for what is future. Boyhood and youth are life, phy-
sically considered, as well as manhood and old age ; but in-
tellectually, morally, and socially considered, they are rather
introductory to life, than life itself. I am, therefore, in this
view of the subject, to consider the preparatory processes
for future life. Now by these T mean : —
First of all — Education. I am aware that most of
those whom I now address, will have passed through this
already. Yet this is not the case with all, and the subject
is so important that I must say a few things upon it. Edu-
cation includes on the part of those by whom it is con-
ducted, not only instruction, but the right application of
knowledge to practical purposes ; in other words, the forma-
tion of character. This is beautifully expressed in the pro-
verb : " Train up a child in the way he should ^p." Not
merely in what he should k^iow., but in the way he should go.
This should ever be remembered by the pupil as well as the
teacher. His mind is of course to be stored with know-
ledge, but then his judgment, heart, will, and conscience,
must be trained to act morally right. The term of school
education is of immense consequence to future life, and
should, and does, lead all considerate parents most anxiously
THE YOUNG MAN S FRIEND.
to look out for suitable persons with wliom to entrust tba
education of their children, when thej are no longer able to
educate them themselves at home. But, however, judicious
the selection of a teacher may be, all young persons should
recollect that every one must, to a certain extent, be self^
educated. It remalas with themselves to determine whether
the pains bestowed upon them shall be successful or fruit-
less. It is not in the power of man or woman, or all men
and women combined, to educate a young person if he will
not be educated, or if he does not determine to be well-
trained. The intellect is not a cup or a bottle into which
knowledge can be poured, whether the mind will receive it
or not ; nor is the heart a piece of passive clay, which may
be shaped at will by the teacher, irrespective of the will of
the pupil. No. It depends on yourselves whether you
will be educated. And all your future life, for time and
eternity, depends upon your education. " The child is
father of the man," and education forms the child. What
you are when you leave school, that you may be expected to
be through all future existence. Would that I could im-
press this upon all young persons ; would that I could lead
them to look forward, especially the older pupils, and con-
sider themselves as entering upon life, and passing through
it, and then ask with what measure of knowledge, and with
what form of character, they would fill up their place in the
great community.
Secondly. — Self-education must not stopj hut he con-
sidered as having only just hegun when you leave school.
You must still carry on your improvement by a thirst after
knowledge, a studious habit, and a love of reading, thinking,
and acc^uiring. Books must be your companions, and if
they are good and useful ones, they will be your most profit-
PREPARATION FOR LIFE. 17
able associates. In this wonderful age, waen knowledge is
eo rapidly and extensively widening its boundaries — when
science and the arts are ever astonishing us with new dis-
coveries, inventions, triumphs, and wonders — when they are
incorporating themselves with all the practical business of
life — when to be ignorant is not only disgraceful to a man's
intellectual reputation, but injurious to his temporal interests
— when to have any weight in society, he must know ten
times as much as his grandfather knew before bim, — and
when such facilities are afforded for mental improvement no
young man can be considered as preparing well for life who
neglects the cultivation of his intellect. It is a love of
knowledge, young men, not a love of pleasure, that will pre-
pare you to act well your part in life. Understand and re-
member this.
But Thirdi-y. — The acquisition of a knowledge of some
secular callings is another and an important part of the
preparatory processes of life. Most of those whom I now
address, are intended for business, either in the way of
manufacture, trade, or one of the professions, and are already
for that purpose apprenticed, articled, or hired to some one
who is to teach them their business — to some one who ought
to feel himself bound by every principle of honor, justice,
and religion, to teach them all they are sent to him to learn.
And if the child be the father of the man, so it is equally
true that the apprentice is the father of the master. What
you are now as to industry, application, and ability, in your
term of service and secular education, that you will be in all
probability as the future master. Subordination is essentially
necessary. We learn to command by first learning to obey.
t is of immense consequence to remember this ; a refractory^
Turbulent, disobedient apprentice or servant, will mc-st pro-
18 THE YOUNG MAN's FRIEND.
bably make a capricious, tyrannical, and ill-judging master.
The apprentice wbom his master cannot govern, will be the
master who cannot govern his apprentice. This is not sim
ply one of the retributions of Providence, but one of the
natural results of the course of things. The great principle
which has given to Jesuitism such prodigious power in past
ages, is unhesitating and unlimited obedience to a superior.
Heroes have usually been trained in the school of obedience
and discipline. So our most thriving tradesmen, especially
the men that have risen to a high situation, have first served
well in a low one. But when I recommend submission and
obedience, I mean that which springs from principle^ and not
merely from compulsion and fear. In this, as well as in
everything else, you should do that which is right to be done,
because it is right. Call in your judgment, your conscience,
your sense of propriety. It is just, good, best, to obey the
authority of a master. The principle of fear, the mere
sense of compulsion, will be a bad training. T-he slaves of
tyrants, who obey only from dread of punishment, often
upon their emancipation make greater tyrants than their
own former ones. A character cast in the mould of fear
must be a misshapen one. As to capability of application,
dispatch, sagacity, quickness, perseverance in the situation
of a master, you must get all these while learning your busi-
ness as an apprentice. If not learnt then, they never will
be. An idle apprentice will make an idle master — a plea-
sure-loving youth a pleasure-loving man. On the other
hand, a quick, sharp, clever boy, will make a quick, sharp,
clever tradesman. Tell me what the apprentice is, and 1
will tell you what the master will be. Be diligent, be sub-
missive, be honest, be attentive to business. Determine, by
God's blessing, to excel. Aim to be eminent. Do not be
PREPARATION FOR LIFE. 19
contented with dull mediocrity. Have a little ambition tc
stand well and to rise high. A clever, industrious, success-
ful, religious tradesmen, is an ornament to his town and his
country. Future life is before you, prepare for it thus.
But Fourthly. — I should be defective indeed, if, in
speaking of the preparatory processes of life, I left out the
formation of the moral and religious character. I have
already reminded you how much the happiness and useful-
ness of life depend, even in this world, upon the formation
of character generally viewed — I now speak of the religious
character. Genuine religion, the parent of sound morality —
and no religion is genuine that does not produce morality —
is the surest guide to success in this world ; other things be-
ing equal, he will be almost certain to be the most success-
ful tradesman, who is the most consistent Christian. And as
religion is the best guide to happiness in this world, it is the
only way to happiness in the world to come. It has been a
thousand times told you, on the authority of Holy Writ, that
^' godliness is profitable for all things, having the promise of
the life that now is,^^ — mark that — as well as of " that
which is to come." Who will contradict it ? Religion will
preserve you from all the habits that tend to poverty and
misery, and put you in possession of all that tend to wealth
and happiness. Have you ever studied, for I would not so
reflect upon you as to suppose you have never read, Solo-
mon's exquisite allegory, in which he so beautifully describes
the nature and consequences of true religion ? *' Happy is
tk& man that fiTideth wisdom., and the man that getteth under-
standing. For the merchandise of it is better than the mer-
chandii^e of silver., and the gain thereof than fine gold. Shi
is more precious than rubies ; and all the things tho>^
canst desire are not to be compared unto her. Length of
20 THE YOUNG MAN S FRIEND.
days is in her right hand ; and in her left hand, riches and
honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her
-paths are peace. She is a tree of life to them that lay hold
upon her ; and happy is every one that retaineth her.'''* Proy.
iii., 13 — 18. Now the wisdom here so exquisitely described,
and so forcibly recommended, is true religion. Who will
rise up to say that religion ruined them } Ah ! but how
many millions could rise up, some on earth, and some from
hell, to say they were ruined for want of it }
If the formation of character is one of the preparatory
processes of life, then you should not have your character to
establish, your principles of action to choose, when you
want them to use. Your rule should be laid down, your
standard fixed, your purpose formed, when you begin to act.
You are about to set sail on the perilous ocean of life, not as
a passenger merely, but as a captain and owner of the ves-
sel ; and should you not have learnt navigation, and have
prepared a chart and a compass, and some practical skill
how to use both .? There are rocks and shoals to be
avoided, and storms and contrary winds to be encountered,
at your going out of port. Without fixed religious princi-
ples, and established moral character, you may be wrecked
in going out of harbor. It is of infinite consequence
that the fear of God — a hatred of sin — an apprehension of
judgment to come — should be in you before you embark.
Remember, therefore, your Creator in the days of your
youth. Set the Lord always before you. Be rooted and
grounded in the love of Christ. Be a young disciple, and
then you are ready for everything. Religion will be your
guide in perplexity — your shield in danger — ^your companion
in solitude — ^jour comfort in sorrow — your defence against
PREPARATIOX FOR LIFE. 21
temptation — and if it be genuine, earnest, and consistent,
will not fail to make you holy, happy, and useful.
Fifthly. — There is another thing I would most earnestly
enforce upon you as a preparation for life, and that is a deep
impression of the imjportance of hahit^ and the necessity of
forming good habits while young. Among the words of our
vocabulary which you should select, as having a greater im-
portance than others, and as deserving to be more intently
pondered upon, is Habit. Dwell upon it ; it is a golden
term of incalculable value. It means the facility of doing a
thing well, acquired by having done it frequently, together
with a certain impulse or inclination to do it. It differs
from instinct, not so much in its nature, as its origin — habit
being acquired, and instinct natural. I shall not trouble
you with a discussion upon the philosophical theory of nabit,
but only advert to its importance.^ Consider, then, of what
moment it is to do what is right by habit, and thus to have
everything good and proper to be done made easy ; and
not to have all the disinclination, difficulty, and awkwardness
of doing a right thing, to encounter every time the action is
to be done ; but to go to it with the impulse and ease of
habit : to be good not only from principle, but from habit.
On the other hand, how dreadful is it to be carried forward
in the way of evil, by the double force of inclination and
habit. Now, childhood and youth are the time for forming
habits. We see this in the mechanical arts, and it is so in
all the mental and moral processes. Industry and self-
denial ; forethought and caution ; religion and virtue ; will
all be comparatively easy to the man who has acquired the
habit in early life. Through God's grace, the most difficult
duty, the most rare virtue, may thus become easy.
And now let me urge this preparation for future life
22 THE YOUNG MAN S FKIEXD.
upon you. Recollect then what it is J am urging upon you
Ponder it well. Weigh it in the balances of reason. It is
preparation for life. What a sentence ! How pregnant with
meaning ! Suppose you were going upon a voyage to a
strange land, never to return to your own country. Would
you not prepare both for the safety and comfort of the voy-
age, and also for your well-being in the country where you
were going to dwell the remainder of your existence ; and
would not every body be astounded at you, if you were busy
about a variety of things, and yet gave no care at all to the
work of preparation for your voyage, and your foreign resi-
dence ? And what is your life but a voyage to eternity — a
state requiring preparation both for itself and what lies be-
yond it ? Now if in the former case you would be anxiour.
to get a safe vessel ; to select a skilful and agreeable cap
tain ; to choose a comfortable berth ; to sail with pleasant
companions ; to lay in a good stock of necessary articles ;
and if you would commence the preparation in due time,
that when the hour of embarkation arrives you might have
nothing to do but to go on board ; how much more necessary
is it that now in youth, you should be diligently preparing
by-and-bye to embark on the ocean of human life. And if
in the case I have supposed, you would be still more anxious
about the foreign land in which you were going to dwell than
even about the comfort of the voyage itself, how much more
important is it that you should be more careful about the
eternity to which this life leads, than the comfort of life
itself ?
Not only does life, like everything else, require preparation,
but more than everything else. If every situation in life
demands previous consideration, provision, and training —
if every new, detached, and isolated scene demands an adap-
PREPARATON FOR LIFE. 23
tation, a meetness, a bracing up of the mind to it, how much
more the whole of life. Who can do anything well, that is
novel, difficult, and important, without forethought and plan,
and purpose ? Who then should think of entering upon life
without preparation ? Stepping upon the stage of existenca
without learning to act well their part in the great drama ?
A life altogether unprepared for, must be a life of perpetual
mistakes, faults, and miseries. A man cannot live happily,
righteously, usefully, or successfully, who does not prejpare
to do so — that is, he cannot at all expect to do so, and or-
dinarily he does not do so.
You are to recollect, young men, that while the brute
creation are prepared by instinct for their life, and without
any previous education, perform all the functions which are
necessary to their well-being, and to answer the ends of their
creation, you can be prepared only by an education in which
you must take a part. The bird constructs her nest, the
spider her web, the bee her cell, and the beaver his house,
by instinct, and they do their work as well and as perfectly
the first time as the tenth. They are taught in no school,
are apprenticed to no master ; there is no preparation neces-
sary for their life. He that gave it, gave all necessary pre-
paration with it. But it is not so in your case. Instinct
teaches you to eat, and drink, and sleep, and perform other
functions of the animal economy ; but in all ihat pertains to
art, science, literature, business, and religion, in short, to all
that pertains to you as social, rational, moral, and immortal
creatures, you must use your reason, under the guidance, in
some things, of revelation, and in all, in dependance upon
the help and blessing of God. One of the purposes for
which this reason is given you, and for which it ought to be
exercised, is to prepare for life. It is to assist you of course
2
24 THE YOUNG MAN S FRIEND.
iji life, but it is also to prepare you for it. You must think
compare, choose, weigh evidence, and determine. You musi
prepare to live by taking up and fixing in your mind ii
early youth, certain great principles, which unquestionably
will not grow and establish themselves there spontaneously
Such, for instance, as that in all things and all events God
is to be obeyed — that there is an essential distinction be-
tween sin and holiness, in all conduct, both within the mind
and without ; and that sin, whatever temporal advantages or
pleasures it may yield, is absolutely a dreadful evil, and
ought to be avoided — that nothing ought to be done which
must be afterwards repented of — that judgment and con^
science must always prevail over inclination — that no good in
anything is to be expected without eflfort and labor — that we
must never put off till futurity what can and ought to be
done in the present — that what ought not to be done twice,
should not to be done once — that what should be done at
all, should be always well done — and that the future should
predominate over the present. Now, reason dictates all
these to be written in the very soul as the preparation for
life. And it is equally clear that reason dictates great cau-
tion in allowing practical conclusions to be drawn, and de-
terminations to be adopted, from mere impressions of fancy
or feeling) or from some casual situation into which a person
may be thro\Tn. In other words, you must judge of princi-
ples, whether theoretical or practical, good or bad, not by
adventitious circumstances, such as the persons by whom
they are held, or the fascinations or repulsions with which
they are set forth, but by themselves, apart from all these
things.
Remember that if God determines to continue you on
the earth for any considerable length of time, as in all rea-
PREPARATION FOR LIFE. 25
sonable probability he does, life, witb all its situations, duties,
trials, cares, difficulties, and responsibilities, will come, whe
ther you are prepared for them or not. You are in life, and
must go on. Childhood and youth must of necessity leave
you in manhood. The time of your entering upon all the
unknown solicitudes of man's condition on earth approaches
You must soon leave school, if you have not already ,
and come out of your apprenticeship, if you have not yet
done so. You must soon be as that young tradesman who
has entered upon the race of competition for a livelihood or
wealth. You must soon plunge into that vortex of care and
labor, which is whirling him round and round on the rapid
stream of human life, and life's manifold business. All the
perplexities which harrass his mind, must soon harrass yours ;
all the temptations which assail his integrity, must soon assail
yours; and, prepared or unprepared, you mast meet them
What ! enter into that conflict, unprepared by forethought,
by knowledge, by principle, by habit ! Alas, poor thought-
less youth, we pity you, and without a prophet's gift, can
foretel what terrible work you will make of life. Poor, de-
fenceless, untaught lamb, the wolves are before you, and
what is to become of you ?
That for which you are required to prepare, we repeat, i'
your whole life — not a particular situation — not a term of
years, however lengthened — not some contingent circum
stance, but your whole existence upon earth. You may dio
in youth, it is true, aaid therefore we admonish you by all the
earnestness in our power, to prepare by true piety for death
— and nothing else will prepare you for it. Should you die
young, I remind you that preparation for life is also prepaia-
tion for death. Eeligion, which meetens you to perform well
your part on earth, is your education, your training for hea-
26 THE TOUNG MAN S FRIEND.
ven. True, your secular education, your knowledge of busi
ness, may seem, in the event of your early death, to be use
less. But not so ; the habits of submission, self-denial, and
proper application of your mental powers, which even in
these secular things, were called forth under the influence
of principle ; all these go into the training of the soul for
the higher state of her existence. But in all probability,
most of you will live, some forty, others fifty, others sixty,
and some few of you will linger on to seventy or eighty years
— and it is preparation for all this term that is now urged
upon you. What a comprehension of scene, circumstance,
and situation, does that term include ! Imagine what may
happen, must happen, in sixty or seventy years. Through
what a variety of situations, temptations, difficulties, trials,
changes, even if there be nothing at all extraordinary
or out of the common course of man's history, you will
be called to pass. And should not all this be pre-
pared ^for } It is impossible for you now to imagine the
designs of Providence towards you. I would not excite
and influence your imagination *to anything that is ro-
mantic ; nor set you upon building castles in the air ;
nor lead you to leave oflF plodding, and in the exercise of
an unauthorised ambition, to seek by a leap or bound, to
reach an exalted situation, or by a stroke to grasp a large
fortune. Still it is impossible to conjecture what opportunity
you may have given you, by patient and successful industry,
to rise in life. In this happy country, there is no chain of
caste which binds a man down to the situation and circum-
stances of his birth. The very heights in social and com-
mercial life are accessible to all, from whatever low level they
commence the ascent. The grandfather of the late Sir Robert
Perl was at one time a journeyman cotton-spinner. He that
PREPARATION FOR LIFE. 2/
laid tba foundation of the greatness and wealth of the Ark-
wright family was a barber. Carey, one of the greatest
linguists and missionaries of modern times, was a cobbler.
Stephenson, the great engineer and first constructor of rail-
ways, was a mender of watches. No one knows what open-
ings God may set before him in life, and should he not be
prepared to take advantage of them ? Yea, this very prepa-
ration, in many cases, makes the opening. Ignorance, idle-
ness and vice can never rise. They will ever sink by their
own weight, and effectually close any door which Providence
might set open. "What a painful reflection is it for any man
to make in future life, when some rare and golden opportu-
nity presents itself for bettering his condition, " Alas, I can-
not avail myself of it. I am disqualified. I made no pre-
paration. With tolerable diligence at school and during my
apprenticeship, I could have fitted myself for it ; but my
indolence then, and my folly and sin subsequently, have put
it quite out of my power to seize the advantage thus offered
me."
Consider, again, if any great mistake, as to the end and
purpose of life, and the manner of spending it, should for
want of due preparation be made, there is ordinarily no such
thing as rectifying it. There is no going back, and begin-
ning again — no living life over again — no profiting by expe-
rience— no repetition of the opportunity for preparation.
" The wheels of time are not constructed to roll backwards ;"
nor can the hands retrograde on any man's dial. There is
but one life and one death appointed to any man, and there-
fore only one opportunity to prepare for death, and only one
to prepare for life. All depends on one cast of the die. How
momentous that is. How does such an idea deserve to be
pondered by every young man. Only one life in this world
28 THE YOUNG man's friend.
and only one in the next, (o be prepared for — what ! and
that one neglected ! Vain are the regrets and the wishes
of the man, who amidst his broken fortunes, poverty, misery,
and disconcerted schemes, has thus to reflect, and thus to
reproach himself, " It is my own fault — I have no one to
blame but myself. I was forewarned and admonished that
life's duties, trials, and happiness, required preparation.
Even from childhood I heard all this. At school I was inat-
tentive and idle. During my apprenticeship I loved pleasure
rather than business. In youth I sought bad companions,
rather than good books. I neglected all mental culture, and
I feared not God. I entered life without any preparation.
I have succeeded in nothing, for I was fit for nothing. My
one chance is gone. I am prepared for neither world, and
now I am miserable here, and may expect to be miserable
hereafter."
How many have we, who are older than you are, known,
whose history has verified all this painful self-reproach. You
are young, and have not yet seen much of life. Take our
testimony, who have. We will not deceive you. We speak
that which we have known, and declare unto you that which
we have seen. We have watched the docile scholar, the dili-
gent, industrious apprentice, and the pious youth, as he rose
and ripened into the successful, holy, and happy master,
tradesman, and Christian ; and thus became the joy of his
parents, the ornament of his family, and the blessing of so-
ciety. While, on the other hand, we have seen with grief
those who in their boyhood and their youth manifested an
idleness and a waywardness which no culture could instruct,
and no discipline correct — who hated knowledge and de-
spised reproof — who, in the spring-time of life, sowed the
seeds neither of piety nor of social excellence, — wa have, I
PREPARATION FOR LIFE. 29
say, seen many such, who made no preparation for lif», ex-
cept it were for an unholy, unfortunate, and unhappy one —
become their mother's shame, their father's grief, the dis-
grace of their friends, the curses of society, and their own
torment and dishonor. These are common scenes ; and yoik
will exemplify one or the other of them in your history.
Your own happiness, then, it is apparent, is deeply in-
volved in this preparation. You are created to be happy.
God wills your happiness, and has provided for it. Yow
ought not to be indifferent to it. Your happiness is in your
own hands. All the world cannot, and God will not, make
you happy, irrespective of your own conduct. Understand
at the outset of life this great principle, that happiness arises
more from disposition, character, and conduct, than from
possessions ; from what we are, more than from what we
have. Its springs, to a considerable extent, lie in your own
nature. It is a beautiful saying of Holy Scripture, " A
good man shall be satisfied from himself." — Prov. xiv., 14.
This deserves your attention, your study, your practical re-
collection. The happiness of life depends in a great mea-
sure upon youth. A bad boy seldom makes a happy man ;
though God sometimes changes him, and calls him in man-
hood to an entire renovation. Suppose, for instance, young
men, there were two kinds of seeds, one of which you must
by some necessity of nature, or compulsion, sow every
spring, and the fruit of which you must, by the same neces-
sity, live upon every winter ; one kind yielding that which
is bitter, and nauseous, and inflicting severe pain ; the other
that which was pleasant to the taste, and salubrious to the
constitution ; would you not be very careful which you se-
lected and cast into your garden, knowing as you would what
must be the inevitable result ? Why this is your condition
30 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
of existence and your employment. You are always
sowing in youth what you must always reap in manhood.
But, apart from its results, the very act of preparing for
life, is itself a part of the happiness of life. Diligence at
school — attention to business — mental cultivation — true re-
ligion, and good habits, independently of the consequences
they bring after them, are themselves the elements of enjoy-
ment. An idle man is the most miserable of God's crea-
tures, except it be he, who, as is often the case, adds vice
to indolence. Woe, woe be to him who brings upon himself
the pains and penalties of laziness.
It is not, however, your own happiness and well-being
alone^ that will be affected by your conduct and character,
but the well-being of others. Your own individuality is
something, yea, much to you^ and you are not to be indiffer-
ent to it. God, by his own authority, protects you against
yourself. He says, " Do thyself no harm." He will not
allow you to be reckless of your own happiness. He has
given you a capacity for bliss, and made provision for it, and
accounts it an opposition to his beneficent designs, if you do
not endeavor in bis way, and according to his purpose, to
be happy. But then you are a social creature — born in
society — intended for society — bound to promote the well-
being of society. Most of you will be husbands, fathers,
masters, neighbors, citizens ; and you ought to prepare to
act well your part in all these relations. You will contribute
something to the well or ill-being of the community. You
will be the nettles, the briars, and the brambles of the land ;
or its oaks, its myrtles, or its fig-trees — you will be your
country's strength or its weakness ; its beauty or its defor-
mity. Your country has claims upon you. You are there-
fore to prepare to serve it, and to serve it well. You must
FREPARilTION FOR LIFE. 31
by an intelligent and moral patriotism, implanted early in
your heart, seek to bless the land of your birth. Piety and
sound morality are a nation's strength, more even than its
armies and its navies ; its wealth more than its commerce ;
and its glory more than its literature, its science, and its
victories. Young men, you belong to the greatest nation
upon earth ; be worthy o,f your distinction. Cherish more
than a Roman's patriotism, without a Roman's pride. Let
your country's present welfare and her future destiny be near
your hearts. Let your youthful bosom swell with the noble
ambition of doing something for the land of your ancestors
and your posterity. Add by your prayers a stone to her
bulwarks, and by your personal excellence a ray to the glory
that beams around her head.
But this is, perhaps, too large a scale on which to view
your influence : too wide a circle for you to see yourself dif-
fusing happiness or misery. Consider, then, the family rela-
tionships you will sustain. Look on and anticipate what
kind of a husband, father, master, and tradesman, you are
likely to make ; and how you shall preside over the domestic
economy. Some woman's destiny fer life will hang upon
you, and the happiness of, perhaps, a iiumerous family ; and
then upon their conduct will depend by an onward succes-
sion, the destiny of others to descend from them. You will
thus commence a dark or a bright line of human existence
which will run onward through all futura generations, and be
still going forward when the last trump shall sound. Misery
or bliss, at the distance of centuries, or at the very antipodes,
may be traced back to you. It is not, therefore, permitted
you to be perfectly isolated and neutral. You are not to
dwell in a hermitage or a monastery ; nor in a cave of the
wilderness; nor on some solitary mountain, t^J^cc m« ej9
2*
32 THE YOUNG man's FRIEND.
will observe you, no ear hear you, — but amidst the busy and
the crowded haunts of men, where an influence to a greater
or smaller extent will go out from you, and you must be the
salt or the poison of the earth. You must, you do, touch
others, whose lot is to a considerable extent mixed up with
yours. Ought you not to think of this, and prepare for it ?
You are destined to light up the countenance of your fellow-
creatures with smiles, or to suffuse their eyes with tears — to
inflict wounds, or to heal them — to " break the bruised reed,"
or to " bind up the broken in heart." With what emphasis,
therefore, may I now say to you — Prepare to live — society,
futurity, your country, and the world, demand it of you.
But there is another reason — the last, the highest, and
most momentous of all — why you should prepare to live, and
that is — the life you live in this world is the preparation for
the life you are to live in the next. What the term and
purpose of school pursuits, and the apprenticeship, are to the
present life, that the whole of the present life is to the future
one beyond the grave. You are now, and ever will be on
earth, in a state of pupilage for heaven and eternity. Upon
the fugitive existence in this world hangs the everlasting exist-
ence in another. You are constructing a character, the form
of which, whatever it be, is to last forever. How momentous
an idea ! Yes, there is another world, an eternal world, a
world of everlasting and ineffable felicity or woe. Yes, you
are immortal beings, young men. Immortality, the highest
attribute of Grod, is yours also. In this, as in other things,
God made man in his own likeness. Before you lies the
shoreless ocean of eternity. Look over the vast expanse.
Meditate the wondrous theme. Human life is the preparation
time, the brief, the uncertain, the only one, for those ever-
rolling ages. Every step you take in this world is to heaven
PREPARATION FOR LIFE. 33
or to hell. This little span, this inch of time — our life, is
all we have to prepare for all that lies beyond. Take this
view of it, I beseech you. Learn at the outset of life, and
ever remember through all its future stages, that it is given
to you as a discipline and probation for eternity. You have
entered upon the trial ; the awful probation is going on.
Do not let the thoughtlessness of youth hide it from you.
Do not let pleasure lead you to forget it. Do not permit
eompanions to divert your attention from it — there it stands
before you — the dread, the glorious, the grand reality, of
man's existence — immortality. Look at it, ponder it, 1
be?'eech you. Let it possess you, literally possess you.
Feel as if you could not cast it out from your mind, as if
you would- not be dispossessed of the wondrous conception.
Repel with indignation the attempt to lead you into an
oblivion of this your noblest distinction, your richest birth-
right. Treat the man who would despoil you of this, your
highest dignity, or even of the right consideration of it, as
you would the thief that would rob you of your purse, or
the assassin that would destroy your life. Prepare then by
true religion for that life which is itself to prepare you for
immortality.
In conclusion, and to sum up all I have said — there you
are, a rational, sinful, immortal, accountable creature, just
about to start in the career of active life, with time and
eternity before you — heaven above you — hell beneath you —
dangers all round you — and many corruptions and imperfec-
tions within you. Does it becomo such a creature, in such
a position, to make no preparation } Whether you think
of it or not, two worlds, this and the next, are to be in-
habited by you. What your lot may be in the present one,
none but He who is omniscient can even conjecture. An
S4 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
impenetrable veil hides the future from your view, and not
the smallest rent or opening suffers a single ray of light to
reveal what is before you. Whether you shall die young
or live to old age — whether you shall fail or succeed in
business — whether you shall rise or sink in society — whe
ther you shall wear out existence in sorrow or in joy — no
one but God can tell us, and he will not. Much will depend
upon Him ; but let me remind you, much also will depend
upon yourself. Abandon the heathen notion of fate. We
believe in Providence, but not in fate, and we admonish
yoti to believe in it also, and by constant prayer to seek
its blessing — but do not forget that Providence never
blesses idleness, thoughtlessness, negligence, and extra-
vagance. Providence helps those that help themselves.
Everything, therefore, cries to you, " Prejpare for life.P
Your teachers, your parents, your masters, your ministers,
say to you, '-'• Prejpare to Ziye. " Your reason, your con-
science, your weakness, your ignorance of the world, say
to you, " Prejpare to live.'''' The prosperity of those who
have succeeded, and the poverty of those who have failed,
say, '•'■ Prejpare to livey The duties, the trials, the diflS-
culties, the dangers of earth, the felicities of heaven, the
torments of the bottoniL^ss pit say, ^'- Prepare to live ;''^ and
above all, the great God, who has given you existence,
who is willing to help you to live holily, usefully, and
happily — and who will call you into judgment for the man-
ner in which life has been spent — says to you, " Prepare to
live.'''' Can you — dare you — ^will you — turn a deaf ear to
voices so numerous, so solemn, so consentaneous ? — Will
you?
THE YOUNG MAN ENTERING LIFE.
" In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.'^—
Proverbs iii. 6.
This text may be called the poll-star of human life, placed
by the hand of God in the firmament of Scripture, for the eye
of man to observe upon earth ; and he that fixeth his atten-
tion upon it, and steereth his course by it across this troubled
and dangerous ocean, shall enter at length the haven of ever-
lasting peace. It is applicable to all persons, and to all situa-
tions ; but especially to those who are just entering upon the
duties, the dangers, and the perplexities, of man's terrestrial
course. As a rule of conduct it is brief, simple, intelligible,
and unmistakeable, easily remembered, and delightful in the
observance. It implies, rather than asserts, the existence
and operations of an all-comprehensive, all-wise, all-gracious
Providence, that appoints, directs, and controls the afiairs of
men — a Providence that is not only general, as guiding the
destinies of nations and worlds, but is particular and minute,
as shaping the history of individuals. There are some who
profess to believe in a Providential interposition in the great
events of history, but deny its regard to the minute afiiiirs of
individuals. But who can tell what, in fact, is gre?t, and
30 TTIE YOUNO man's FRTKND.
what is little, or how far great events are iiifin nc ;(] by
lesser ones ? The destinies of nations have soniL^times hung
upon a thought. But we need not reason upon this, sinco
Christ has asserted that " a sparrow falleth not to the
ground without the knowledge of our Heavenly Father.''
Without this view, the doctrine of Providence might be
grand as an object of contemplation, but it could yield little
consolation as a subject of faith. Individual trust, prayer,
hope, and praise, all rest upon the ground of individual Pro-
vidence. It is not what God is to the universe at large, but
what he is to me as an individual, that is the chief source of
my comfort, and the strongest motive to my duty. Now
the text proposes him to us as an oracle we may individually
consult ; and the injunction means, that, really believing
God by his Providence directs all things, we should consult
him by reading his Holy Word, where he has revealed his
will ; and that by sincere and earnest prayer we seek his
leave /or everything, his direction in everything, his blessing
njion everything, and his glory hy everything, we do. In
short, it means a devout and practical remembrance of God,
as the Disposer of all things, in all the varying circum-
stances and all the changeful situations of life ; and promises
us his wise and gracious direction in all our affairs. How
easy — how safe — how tranquil — how dignified a course of
action ! How vast the privilege of this access to an omni-
potent, omnipresent, omniscient, all-sufficient Friend, for
advice, direction, and consolation. Why a wise and benevo-
lent human counsellor ever at hand is a blessing, how much
more one that is Divine.
So much for the text. Wc now come to the subject of
the Sermon — The Young Man Entering upon Life: by
which we mean that period of his existence which follows
ENTERING LIFE. 37
his education and apprenticeship, when he usually leaves his
father's house, and becomes a shopman, clerk, or journey-
man— the intermediate stage between the youth and the man
of business. Yet it may be remarked that the periods and
situations intended to be described and distinguished as sepa-
rate, in the last sermon and this, run much into one another,
and extend onward to settlement in life and the commence-
ment of business.
This, young men, is the situation of those whom I now
address — you are most of you not in business for yourselves
but looking forward to it ; off from your parents, support-
ing yourselves by your own industry, and, therefore, just
stepping upon the stage of active life ; commencing your
part in the great drama, with the scenes already shifting
before and around you.
Let me, then, remind you, a little more at large, —
First, Of your actual situation.
It is one of deep and pressing solicitude to your parents
and other friends.
They have parted from you, and sent you forth, almost
with the feeling and the fear that it was as lambs among
wolves. They know, for they have passed through them,
the dangers of youth, and of a youth away from home. If
your good conduct and well-formed character at home, have
inspired them with confidence, their solicitude is somewhat
abated ; but even then an anxious father will exclaim, ^' What
if this fair blossom of parental hope, which grew so beauti-
fully and looked so lovely, when sheltered under the parental
roof, should now be blighted when removed to the ungenial
blasts of the world's temptations — the very possibility makes
my heart bleed — Ok, my son, my son .'" How intensely
aggravated is this painful solicitude, if unhappily his child
3S THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
is going forth undecided in religion, unconverted to God
with no " armor of righteousness on the right hand and on
the left," to defend him from the assaults of temptation ; and
if even at home portents have showed themselves of future
misconduct. " Oh," says the distressed father, " if the
wholesome laws, the firm, yet mild restraint of parental
authority and domestic order, could not repress the outbreaks
of youthful irregularity, what is to become of him, when
even these are withdrawn, and he is left to the unchecked
strength of his own corruptions, and the force of surround-
ing temptations — Oh ^ my son ^ my son r'* Young men, you
cannot know all a father's and a mother's agonizing solici-
tude for you, on your going out into the world ; but yuu
can conceive of it in part, by the scenes of that sorrowful
hour when amidst so many tears your mother parted from
you, and with a voice half-choked, your father grasped your
hand and stammered out, " Farewell, my boy. Behave
yourself well, and comfort our hearts by your good conduct."
How anxious are they to hear from you, and of you — to
have their fears dissipated and their hopes confirmed. How
eagerly, joyfully, and yet how tremblingly, they open every
letter to judge from its contents whether there are any signs
of incipient moral mischief in your character. Respect their
feelings ; reward their affection ; relieve their solicitude.
Call it not suspicion, jealousy, distrust. . No, no, it is love
trembling over its object ; affection agonizing for its loved
one. Many an hour is that mother kept waking at midnight,
thinking and praying for her absent son, who has recently
left her to enter upon the world's business ; and often amidst
other cares, does your father feel it to be one of the mightiest
of them all, to consider how his boy conducts himself in his
new situation. Let me plead then for the peace of those
ENTERING LIFE. 39
two hearts which throb so anxiously for you, and for the
peace of which, as it is in your keeping, your own ought to
throb most responsively.
But I now turn from your parents, and remind you of the
momentous and infinite importance of this period of your life
to yourselves. It is, in all probability, the crisis of your his-
tory— the hinge of your destiny — the casting of your lot for
both worlds — the formation of your character for time and
for eternity. Through every hour, almost every minute
of this term, and in every scene, your character is passing
from that state of fusion in which it was left by boyhood and
youth, into the cold, hard solidity and fixedness of manhood
and mediaeval life. Upon the time that is now passing over
you, it depends chiefly what you are to be, and to do
through all time and eternity. The next two years will
very likely determine the great question, concerning the
character of your whole existence. The observable ten-
dencies of boyhood and youth — the signification prognostica-
tion of the pupil and the apprentice — the declaratory signs
of earlier years, will now receive their full, and perhaps final
confirmation. Your character growing, like your body,
through the previous stages of existence, now like that,
arrives at its full shape and maturity, which it will hereafter
retain and exhibit. Can you be thoughtless and carelessly
indifi'erent at such a crisis ? Is it possible .'' Can you help
saying, " Is it so, then — am I really now, just at this period,
becoming my permanent, future self.? Am I determinincr
for all time, and for all eternity, what kind of moral, social,
and intellectual "being I am to be ? Am I now casting my
lot, forming my destiny, choosing my character ? What
thoughtfulness, seriousness, devoutness, and prayer for God's
Holy Spirit to assist me, ought I to manifest .? What W' aid
40 THE YOUNG MAN S FRI2ND.
I be in and through all future life, and through all eternity ?
What I am now, that in all probability I shall be. I am
entering upon life, and as T begin, so am I likely to con-
tinue." Yes, stand by that consideration. It is of immense
importance to start well. He that at the beginning of his
journey takes the wrong road, diverges at every step farther
and farther from the right path ; and though return is not
impossible, yet at what an expense of time and comfort is it
made ? Take care, then^ to begin well. Solomon says,
^' Better is the end of a thing than the beginning." Espe-
cially if it be a good end of a bad beginning. But how
rarely does a thing end well, that begins ill. The fruit is
better than the blossom — the reaping than the sowing — the
victory than ths battle — the home than the journey — the
reward than the service. But then all these better endings
depend on good beginnings. There can be no rich fruit in
autumn, without good blossom in spring — no plentiful reap-
ing without plentiful sowing — no victory without a well-
fought battle — no returning home without a journey along
a right road. So there can be no rational expectation of a
good end of life, without a good beginning.
Secondly. — I will now remind you of the dangers that
attend your entering into life. Yes, dangers : and I really
wish to excite your fears by the word. I am anxious to
awaken your apprehension by thus ringing the alarm bell.
Not indeed by raising spectres which have no real existence ;
not by calling up spirits from the vasty deep of a gloomy
imagination. No, there is no need of flitting before you, in
order to excite your fears, the dark shadows and the ghosts
of moral romance. The sober and dread reahties of day-
light, and of every-day existence, are sufficiently numerous
and appalling to justify the use of the most solemn, impres
ENTERING LIFE. 41
sive, and earnest warnings we can give. Young men, it is
a truth, and for you a dread and anxious one, that the moral
dangers of life stand thickest round its entrance. The
most perilous rocks and shoals in the voyage of life, are at
the mouth of the river where it enters the ocean ; and not-
withstanding the light-house beacon, which in the Holy Scrip-
tures and the faithful labors of authors and preachers, ever
keeps holding out its friendly warnings over these dangerous
places, more shipwrecks are made there than anywhere
else.
These dangers are so numerous that they must be classed.
I. There are some which have been thrown in your way,
perhaps, by the injudicious conduct of your 'parents. They
may have altogether neglected your moral training, and have
left you to go forth into the world without any fixed prin-
ciples, any good habits, or any rightly formed character.
Yea, by a system of false and weak indulgence, they may
have partially unfitted you for the trials, the difficulties, the
roughnesses, and self denial of life. We will not dwell upon
their conduct with the severity it deserves ; but be aware of
their mistake and call up your own wisdom to correct it.
They have left you something to undo, as well as to do.
Supply, by your own resolute will, the deficiency of hardi-
hood with which they have left you. Abandon the soft and
efi'eminate habits in which they have trained you, and deter-
mine to be men and to acquire a manly character. You can,
if you will, make up their deficiences — but it will require
much efibrt and more perseverance.
II. There are next the dangers that are inherent in your-
selveSy and these are the greatest of all. You not only go to
meet perils, you carry them forth with you.
1. Now at the head of all this class, I must place the
42 THE YOUNG MAN S FRIEND,
corruption of your own hearts. " Know thyself," was sup
posed by the ancients to be a maxim so replete with impor-
tant wisdom as to have descended from heaven. No man
can properly exercise self-government, without self-know-
ledge. False notions on this subject must of necessity lead
to practical errors of a most momentous kind. I cannot, I
dare not, I will not flatter you by speaking highly of the na-
tive goodness, the moral dignity of human nature. Scripture,
observation, and experience, must combine to prove to any
impartial mind, that man is in a lapsed condition, alien from
God, and estranged from righteousness. This is a first prin-
ciple, not only in all true religion, but in all sound philoso-
phy. Leaving out this, it is impossible satisfactorily to ac-
count for the present condition and general history of the
human race. Forgetting, or denying this, your whole sys-
tem of religion and morals will be wrong, and your whole
course of action defective and erroneous. You will not, can-
not know, the chief source of your danger, and that which
alone can account for the existence and power of other dan-
gers : nor will yoii know whence or how to begin, or how to
proceed in watching and guarding against them. There is,
you know it, you feel it, and perhaps some of you lament it,
a fatal propensity to evil, which — though inclining to what is
wrong, yet as by divine grace it may be resisted and removed,
and is therefore neither irresistible tendency nor invincible
necessity, but a voluntary choice — is no excuse for actual
sin, though it may account for it. It is not danger from
without only you have to fear, but also from within ; not
from others merely, but from yourself. You carry your
tempter in your own heart, you were your own tempter.
You will be surrounded with external seductions, and you
will also expose to them a nature too willing to be so-
ENTERING LIFE. 43
duced. There is in you " an evil heart of unbelief in de-
parting from the living God." You have more need to be
afraid of yourself than even of Satan or the world. These
cannot tempt you but through your own corruptions. Hence
the imperative need of your seeking first of all the entire re-
novation of your own hearts, and keeping evermore a constant
watch over yourselves. You will be most inadequately pre-
pared to grapple with temptation unless you know what it is
that gives it force.
But the corruption of our hearts assumes a different form
in different persons, and puts itself forth in a manner appro-
priate to our age, circumstances and temptations. In your
case there are those " youthful lusts,^^ from which by apos-
tolic injunction you are exhorted to flee. In addition to an
inflammable and prurient imagination — rashness and impetu-
osity of temper — the thoughtlessness and recklessness of dis-
position— the pride of independence — and the head-strong
waywardness, which are too common to youth — there are the
animal apjpetites aiid jprojpensities^ which are now coming out
in all their force : those promptings of licentiousness and im-
pulses of sensuality, to which there are so many incentives,
and which require so strong a restraint by reason and religion
— I mean, young men, the vices which form the drunkard
and the debauchee : those illicit gratifications which degrade
the man into the brute. The danger here exceeds all the
alarm I can possibly give. No warning can be too loud, no
entreaties too importunate, in regard to this peril. Voices
from the pulpit, from the hospital, from the hulks, from the
workhouse, from the lunatic asylum, from the grave, and
from the bottomless pit, — all unite in saying, " Young men,
beware of sensuality." Flee from them as from a serpent or
a lion. Kead what Solomon says, who could speak on such a
44 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
subject from his own unhappy and dishonorah/e experience
" The lips of a strange woman drop as an honey-comb, and
her mouth is smoother than oil ; but her end is bitter as worm-
wood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to
death, her steps take hold on hell : let not thine heart decline
to her ways, go not astray in her paths. For she has cast
down many wounded : yea, many strong men have been slain
by her. Her house is the way to hell, going down to the
chambers of death." Prov. v. 7. Read these chapters, and
in connection with them, Job xx. 11 — 14. 1 Cor. vi. 15 —
20. 1 Thess. iv. 2—5. Heb. xiii. 4. Rev. xxi. 8.
There is also another form which the corruption of our
nature assumes, and which the apostle calls " the deceitful-
ness of sin." " Exhort one another daily, lest any of you be
hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." Heb. iii. 13.
Deceit is not only one of the characteristics of sin, but is its
most dangerous one, and none are so much in danger of being
imposed upon by it as the young ; nor they at any period of
their life, so much as when just entering upon it. You have
never perhaps looked upon it sufficiently under this character
of deceit. You may have dwelt upon its exceeding sinful-
ness, but its deceptiveness has escaped you. Yet this
is what you have chiefly to guard against. It is a most
cunning and artful foe. Observe what pains it takes to dis-
guise itself, and conceal its hideous nature. It does not
appear in its own proper and genuine dress, nor call itself
by its own proper name. It puts the mask of virtue upon
the face of vice, and wraps itself in the cloak of dissimula-
tion, by calling sins virtues, and virtues sins : thus — excess
and intemperance are called a social disposition and good
fellowship : prodigality is liberality ; pride and resentment,
honor, spirit, and dignity ; licentious levity, innocent
ENTERING LIFE. 45
liberty and cheerfulness ; lying artifice, skill in business ;
sordid avarice, frugality. So in the opposite treatment of
virtue, it endeavors to degrade this into vice. True religion
is sour puritanisra, hypocritical cant ; tenderness of con-
science, narrowness of mind ; zeal for truth, bigotry. Now,
my young friends, do not be imposed upon by such shallow
artifices as these : recognize in such attempts, a wicked and
daring attempt to confound all moral distinctions ; and which
must, of course, bring upon itself the woe denounced against
those '' who call evil good, and good evil." Disdain this
cajolery, this attempt to impose upon your understanding by
merely changing the names of things, while the things them-
selves remain the same. Consider not only that your moral
nature, but your intellectual, is insulted by such a feeble effort
to mislead it. Take it with you as a maxim of great import-
ance to remember, and an evil to be avoided, — that the
generality of men are more governed by words and names
than by things, and never more so than on matters of moral
good and evil. Endeavor on the contrary to be governed
by things rather than names.
And then in tracing the deceitfulness of sin, mark the
excuses it makes for itself — the insensible degrees by which
it leads on the sinner in his course ; first tempting to little
gins — thus preparing him for greater ones ; first urging only
to single sins — afterwards soliciting a repetition ; first asking
for secret sins — soon emboldening him for open ones ; first
allowing him to sin in decent company — at length drawing
him into the society of the notoriously wicked ; first allowing
him to blush — then making him to glory in his shame ; first
leaving him content to sin himself — then prompting him on
to tempt others ; first telling him that if he does not choose
to go on, he can soon and easily retrace his steps — then cut
46 THE YOUNG MAN's FRIEND.
ting off his retreat bj involving him in such a complexity of
transgression, that he feels it almost necessary to go for-
ward, adding sin to sin ; first telling him repentance is too
soon, because his sins have hitherto been so trivial — then
Buggesting it is too late, because they have been so great ;
first assuring him God is too lenient to notice his beginnings
of sin — then declaring that he is too just to forgive his
crimes — thus leading him into, and keeping him in, the path
of transgression. Such is the true nature of sin — a horrid
practical lie — a deadly deceit — the greatest imposture in the
universe — the most destructive fraud ever perpetrated in the
world's history. And you, young men, are the selected vic-
tims of its wiles. The arch deceiver is more intent on you
than on all else. There the siren sits on the rocks of that
sea, which you are just entering, sending forth her dulcet
but deadly strains, enrapturing you to your destruction —
making you willing to be wrecked, and to die in the arms of
this fatal enchantress.
Your inexperience endangers you. Life is an untrodden
path. You are only just beginning to live ; its difficulties,
dangers, temptations, are all new to you. You are ignorant,
to a considerable extent, of the machinations of Satan, the
wiles of the world, and the devices of your own heart. You
are ignorant of your own ignorance ; and know not your
own weakness and instability. You have hitherto been in
some measure sheltered in private, now you are to be exposed
in public. Forms of iniquity of which hitherto you were
happily ignorant, will rise up with fascinating appearances
in your path. Scenes never anticipated by you, and for
wiiich, therefore, you could make no special preparation, will
open before you, and ere you are aware draw you by theii
Kpecious attractions into temptation. Sudden assaults, and
ENTERING LIFE. 4Y
altogether new ones, will be made upon your principles
before almost you can have time to buckle on your armor.
And what will greatly increase the danger is, your own self-
confidence, rashness, and impetuosity. You give yourselves
credit, perhaps, for a degree of sagacity to detect, resolution
to vanquish, and power to overcome evil, which you do not
really possess. You rush in, where others, possessing more
Jinowledge, caution, and experience, fear to tread ; you ad-
vance boldly to a contest from which it would be your wisdom
to retire ; and you are ready to resent it as a disparagement
of your strength of mind, purity of heart, and resoluteness
of purpose, to hear a suspicion hinted that you are in danger ;
and are, therefore, likely to add another proof and example
that " he who leaneth to his own understanding and trusteth
his own heart, is a fool.' Show me a young man setting out
in life with high notions of his own sagacity, virtue, resolute-
ness of will and inflexibility of purpose, and there^ without a
prophet's inspiration, I can foretel will be a sad illustration
of the Scripture which declares that, " Pride goeth before
destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.''
III. Then there are dangers from the corrwpt state of so-
ciety. With such hearts as yours, there is in the best state
of public morals, wickedness enough to constitute just ground
for alarm and for watchfulness. It may not be that your
country is worse than all others, or your times more profligate
— I think they are not — but it is enough to know that the
aboundings of iniquity, and the overflowings of ungodliness,
are such as to make all who have any regard for youthful
purity afraid. The undoubted fact of the growing prevalence
of infidelity in its most seductive forms — the multiplication,
as by a fresh inspiration of the wisdom from beneath, t)f all
kinds of sinful indulgence — the spreading desecration of the
3
48
Sabbath — the endless new stimulants to worldly pleasure — the
demoralized state of the public press — the new and ostenta-
tious zeal and spread of Popery — all combine to load the
moral atmosphere with the pestilence that walketh in dark-
ness, and to send forth the destruction that wasteth at noon-
day. Never were there so many malign influences combin-
ing and conspiring against the religion and virtue of our
young men as now ; and never was it more necessary for
them to be aroused to a sense of their danger, and to be put
upon their guard.
Young men, the world is full of temptations : and its im-
habitants are divided between the tempters and the tempted.
Buckle on your armor for you will need it — the helmet —
the breast-plate — the greaves — the shield. The enemies are
lurking around — the ambush is laid — the aim is taken — the
arrow is fitted to the string — the bow is bent. Beware ; there
are evil companions to be avoided. What saith the Scripture,
The companion of fools shall be destroyed; I repeat what I
have said, the workhouse, the lunatic asylum, the prison, the
hulks, the convict ship, the gallows, the bottomless pit, — all,
all, attest the truth of this, by the millions they have swal-
lowed up in the jaws of destruction. Evil companionship has
ruined more characters, more fortunes, more bodies, and
more souls, than almost anything else that could be named.
This is one of your first and most pressing dangers. It will
meet you the next day after you have entered into life. The
social instinct is in you, and it is strongest in youth. Man
is a gregarious animal. He is made for society, and will
have it. Beware, beware then, I implore you, to whom you
give your company, and whose company you accept in re-
turn.* You must take your character, to a certain extent,
from your company, as we:i as impart it to them. Youi
ENTERING LIFE. 49
companions will seek, at a time of life when your mind is
in a state to receive the impression, to stamp their image
upon you : and if they did not, you would insensibly, perhaps
designedly, copy it. As waters, however pure when they
issue from the spring, take the color of the soil through
which they flow — as animals transported from one region to
another lose something of their former habits, and degenerate
by little and little, — so character assimilates to that which
surrounds it. You may be forced to have bad coiiTiections —
bad acquaintance — for perhaps you cannot avoid them — but
you need not, and for your soul's sake, and the sake of every
thing dear to you, do not have bad co??ipanions. Men that
scoff at religion — ridicule the godly — that make light of sin,
and laugh at conscience — that are lewd in their actions, or
obscene in their conversation — that are Sabbath-breakers,
and lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God — that are
extravagant in their habits and loose in their moral princi-
ples— these are the fools of whom Solomon speaks, that will
bring their own destruction upon you, if you do not avoid
them.
With much the same emphasis do I warn you against bad
looks — the infidel and immoral publications of which such a
turbid deluge is now flowing from the press, and depositing
on the land a soil in which the seeds of all evil will grow
with rank luxuriance. Infidelity and immorality have seized
upon fiction and poetry, and are endeavoring to press into
their service even science and the arts. But besides these,
books that inflame the imagination and corrupt the taste,
that even by their excitement unfit the mind for the sober
realities of life, or that indispose it by everlasting laughter
for all that is grave, serious, and dignified, are all to be
avoided. In some resp'^^cts bad books are more mischievous
50
than bad companions, since they are still more accessible,
snd more constantly with us ; can be more secretly consulted,
and lodge their poison more abidingly in the imagination, the
intellect and the heart. A bad book is it bad companion of
tne worst kind, and prepares for bad companions of all other
kinds.
There are bad places also, which endanger you, as well as
bad companions and bad books ; where, if you have not
already formed bad companionships, you are sure to find
them. There b \he tavern, the resort of drunkards — the
brothel, the r'jsort of debauchees — and the theatre, the
resort of both. All these are the avenues to ruin : the
wide gates that open into the way of destruction. Many
who have been kept out of the way of these places at home,
on entering life have indulged in the first instance rather a
fjrurient curiosity than an inclination to sin, and have
Jiought they would go once to them, just to see what they
ire, and whether there is all the harm that has been repre-
sented. Fatal curiosity. Oh that once — that first wrong
itep — that slip ofi" from the summit of the inclined plane.
The door of evil was opened, never again to be closed.
(STever trust yourself even once in a place where you would
Dot feel justified in going habitually. Never go even once,
where you are sure you would not be followed with the
approbation of your father, your conscience, and your God,
and from which you would not be willing to go immediately
to the judgment-seat of Christ. In illustration of the
danger of a single visit to an anti- christian scene of amuse-
ment, I may here repeat the fact which I have given in
another publication, of one of the primitive Christians, that
for a long time resisted the importunities of a friend who
invited him to witness the gladiatorial fights in the amphi-
ENTERING LIFE. 5J
theatre. At lengtb he was suLdued, but determined that he
would sit with his eyes closed, and thus quiet his own con-
science, while he yielded to the solicitations of his friend.
An unusual shout of applause which followed some display
of skill or courage, excited his curiosity. He opened his
eyes, he was interested, could not again close them — went
again voluntarily — became a constant and eager attendant —
abandoned Christianity, and died a pagan. How many
more have been victims to one visit to forbidden places !
I mention also had habits — habits of extravagance in the
way of apparel, ornaments, and pleasure-taking. A love of
gay personal appearance, and sensual gratification, leads to
expense ; and as extravagance must have resources, if
honesty and industry cannot supply them, dishonesty will
create them. Be frugal, economical, prudent. Begin life
with a determination to live within your income. Have no
needless artificial wants — dispense with the cigar ; it costs
money, excites appetite for liquor, leads to evil company
and evil places ; and introduces other expenses and other
habits. Common and simple as this habit seems to be, it
does not always stop with itself. It is within my own
knowledge that young men have involved themselves in debt
and disgrace by this indulgence.
And then the, love, of jpleasure. Here again is danger,
imminent danger. Do you remember the words of Solomon
on this subject ? " He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor
man." Prov. xxi. 17. Never was there more occasion for
sounding this in the ears of the public, than now. Men
were never more bent upon pleasure, and never had the
opportunities for enjoyment so much at command. It is a
proof of human depravity that science and the arts never
give to society a boon, but man's wickedness turns it into a
52 THE YOUNG man's FRIEND.
means of sinning against God. What an incentive to Sab-
bath-breaking has the Railway system proved ! The sanc-^
tity of the Lord's-day is in danger of being trampled down
by the unholy foot of pleasure. Sunday excursion trains
have become not only a snare and temptation to multitudes,
but a source of annoyance to the quiet and godly inhabitanty
of several places on the line of our railways. But it is not
this only ; invention is racked by those who cater for the
public taste to find new pleasures, fresh gratification of sense
and appetite. High and low, rich and poor, young and old,
are all hungering and thirsting after pleasure, as if this
world was given to us for no other purpose than to be a
play-grouDd for its inhabitants ; to which the multitude are
rushing with the atheistic language which the apostle puts
into the lips of those who deny the resurrection of the dead,
" Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die. Young men,
we deny you not pleasure, but only say, let it be intellectual
and spiritual, rather than sensual ; individual and private,
rather than social and public ; economical, rather than ex-
pensive ; an occasional recreation and not an habitual pur-
suit ; and such as shall rather fit than disqualify you for the
business of life. No man will less enjoy pleasure than he
who lives for and upon it ; and paradoxical as it may
appear, it is true, — the way to cDJoy pleasure is not to love
it to a passionate excess, but to partake it ever in modera-
tion. Honey, and other luscious sweets, will do to taste,
but not to live or feast upon. Cyprian beautifully remarks
that, " The greatest pleasure is to have conquered pleasure."
I repeat the impressive proverb, '* He that loveth pleasure
shall be a poor man ;" for it is an expensive taste which
grows, like every other, by indulgence. It will make you
poor in youth, poor in manhooa, poor in old age ; and
ENTERING LIFE. 63
tills is a poverty wblch no one will pity, or be forward ta
relieve.
Thirdly. — I will now lay before you the state of mind
which befits you in this critical juncture of your history. I
deliberately select that phrase, critical juncture. It is such
whether you think so or not, — most critical ; and something
will be gained by this discourse, if it only bring you in sober
seriousness to respond to the expression, and say, " Yes, J
am now, I own it, feel it, and will reflect upon it, in the
crisis of my temporal and eternal destiny." Indeed this, I
will confess, is my main object and my largest hope in these
discourses. I have not touched upon controversy, as I have
already intimated ; nor is it my aim to suggest or supply
topics of abstract thought or speculative inquiry : neither is
it my purpose, if it were in my power, to gratify your curi-
osity by novelty, your imagination by taste, nor your love of
dialectics by logic. Time is too short, life too important, to
be all spent upon such things. I have other purposes and
aims — I want to make you morally reflective on your life
and condition — upon your character and conduct — upon your
present and future means and plans of action, usefulness,
and happiness. I am ambitious to check the levity and
thoughtlessness with which so many are entering upon the
most momentous period of their existence ; and without
producing an unnatural gravity or gloom, and without even
extinguishing the joyousness, happiness, and buoyancy of
youth — still to make you deeply feel how solemn and event-
ful is the period of entering life. Remember, that as the
hour of reflection increases with your years, so the habit
should strent^then also, and that if it should have awakened
eolemn thoughtfulness, to consider that you were ahont to
64 THE YOUNG IJAn's FRIEND.
enter life, it should excite no less apprebensiveness to con
sider that you have actually started in the eventful race.
But still this thoughtfulness should embrace some specific
subjects, determine in some active habits, and take some
practical form and direction. Nothing can be less likely to
be serviceable to you than a dreamy pensiveness — a moody
and morbid imaginativeness — a disposition to speculate upon
the probabilities of life — and to spend that time in creating
suppositious conditions, which should be employed in meet-
ino- the real ones. The thouo-htfulncss that I inculcate is not
that which supplants action, but prepares for it, incites to it,
and guides in safety through it.
I will now take up, and place before you, the only special
direction which the apostle Paul lays down for the guidance
of your conduct, " Young men exhort to be sober-minded."
The very injunction supposes that this is a state of mind not
only peculiarly necessary for young men, but in which they
are usually deficient. Now do not be alarmed at the expres-
sion, and " recoil from it as from something which could
come only from, and is suitable only to old time-worn people,
whose feelings are dried up into a kind of cold and stifiened
prudence, which they wish to have reputed as wisdom ;
persons who having sufiered the extinction of all vivacity in
themselves, envy the young for possessing what they have
lost. A dull, heavy, spiritless, formal, and calculating thing ;
almost mechanical in all pursuits and interests ; the type of
a persoUj narrow in his notions, plodding in his operations,
gloomy in his aspect, and placed wholly out of sympathy
with everything partaking of ardor, sensibility, adventure,
and enthusiasm, and at- the same time taking great credit to
himself for all this. No ; we may be quite si^re that Paul's
1!;NTERING LIFE. 55
^ sober-minded young men,' were not to be examples of a
sapient formality, of a creeping prudence, of extinguished
passions, of a cold aversion to animated interest,^ — in short,
not examples of the negation of everything that is really
graceful and excellent in youth."*
What then did he mean? What is sobriety of mind?
The predominance of true religion and sound reason over
vice and folly — temper and fancy — imagination and passion-
— absurdity and extravagance. It is, in short, the mastery,
by judgment, of the imagination, which is so apt to master
the young man. Imagination, in the minority of reason, is
the regent of the soul. Almost every thing is looked at,
judged of, and ruled by, this mis-calculating faculty, which
is rendered more dangerous by the ardor of passion. Things
thus seen through a wrons: medium are distorted and dis-
colored. Evils and dangers which to other eyes appear in
all their magnitude of mischief, appear to the young, if
indeed they appear at all, reduced to almost invisible spots ;
while little things on the side of good, are swelled out of all
proportion, and adorned with the brightest hues with which
fancy can invest them. Hope, untutored and unchecked by
knowledge of the world and experience, is ever building
castles in the air, and treating as certainties, what all besides
perceive to be absolute improbabilities. Now cobriety of
mind is reason attaining to its majority, sanctified by reli-
gion, ascending the throne of the soul to take the sceptre
out of the hand of imagination. It means a capability of
forming a right estimate of things as they really are. This,
young men, is what you need, but of which persons of your
age are often lamentably destitute.
But I will select one or two subjects which sobriety of
* Lectures by John Foster on Sober-mindedneics.
3*
56 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
mind will especially bring under consideration, and of which
it will lead you to form correct ideas.
— It will above all things lead you to a serious and devout
consideration of the supreme end of life, I say tha
supreme^ the chief end of human existence ; since there are
many subordinate ones arising out of our numerous and com-
plex relations. Pause and ponder this question then, " What
is the supreme end of existence ?" Mark well the subject ;
it is not what are all the ends of existence, but what is the
supreme end — life's great business — the one thing needful,
which being accomplished, whatever else we have missed, we
still have not lived in vain ; but which not having secured, we
have lived in vain, gain whatever else we may. What is it I
say ? Your errand, your object ? Surely, surely, if anything
be worthy of the attention of a living, rational creature, it
must be the object of life : and if at any time, at the begin-
ning of life. Proceed not another hour — take up no plan,
no purpose, no pursuit, till you have settled the question,
^' What is the supreme end of life .^" Whatever it be it must
combine all the following characteristics, — it must be some-
thing lawful, which God and your conscience approve — some-
thing appropriate to your character and circumstances, and
to all the changing scenes of life — something attainable —
something worthy your existence — something adapted to
satisfy the desires of an immortal mind, and make you con-
tented and happy — something which shall aid rather than
hinder you in accomplishing all the subordinate ends of
existence — something which shall combine your present with
your everlasting destiny — something, in short, which God
himself has fixed upon and proposed to you, as His supreme
end in your creation. Is not this true ? Must not the great
end combine all these characteristics 1 Answer me. Must it
ENTERING LIFE. 67
not ? "What then, I ask, can do this hut true religion ? And
this does. Here, then, is the great end of life — that religion
which leads to the salvation of the immortal soul, — to glory,
honor, immortality, and eternal life. " Compared with this,
the objects of earthly ambition, which engage the attention
and engross the affections of many in public life, are all vain,
empty, and unprofitable. The eager strifes and ephemeral
victories of political leaders ; the feverish dreams of the
wealthy capitalist and the commercial adventurer, seem little
better than toys and baubles. The sportive swarms of in-
sects floating in the sun-beams of a summer evening, appear
to be a fit emblem of our vast cities and their busy crowds."
Believe, then, that the only supreme end worth living for, is
an end which shall endure, an end which can never perish.
Don't squander so precious a boon as life upon secondary
objects. Throw not away your immortal soul, — a jewel
compared with which " the Mountain of Light," the noblest
production of the diamond mines, and the richest trophy of
our oriental conquests, is a thing of nought, — upon the poor
perishing objects of an earthly ambition.
Sobriety of mind will lead you also to consider the short-
ness and uncertainty of life, and the necessity of being ever
prepared to surrender the precious gift ; and prepared by
having secured that which is of the highest importance.
The man who has achieved the chief end, is prepared at any
moment to give up in death the subordinate ends ; while he
who has sought only the subordinate ones, is never ready to
give them up. He who has true piety, however young he
may die, has effectually accomplished the chief purpose of
his creation ; while he who neglects religion, whatever of
rank, wealth, honor, or even earthly usefulness, he may have
acquired, and however long he may live to enjoy them, has
58 THE YOUNG MAN S FRIEND.
missed the chief end of his being ; and if he were aware of
his folly, and confessed it, would say his life had been a lost
adventure.
Equally true is it, that such a state of mind requires the
adoption of the principles necessary to secure the end of
life — in other words, true religion. A strong habitual faith
in the Bible — in God — in Christ — in Providence — in judg-
ment— in heaven and hell. Faith not only expresses itself
in worship, in religious emotions, in zeal, in alms-deeds, but
in enlightened and tender conscientiousness both towards
God and man, and in a systematic and strong restraint upon
the passions, fancy, temper, and appetites.
In entering, then, upon life, take religion with you. This
will ensure you the protection of omnipotence ; the guidance
of omniscience ; the companionship of omnipresence ; the
supplies of all-sufficiency. It will fill your intellect with
the thoughts of God's own mind, and your soul with the joy
of God's own heart, and thus furnish you at once with the
supreme truth and the chief good. It will set before you
the most perfect examples and the strongest motives to the
practice of holiness and virtue. It will add the sanctity of
the Christain to the virtue of the moralist, and mingle its
own heavenly pleasures with the pure delights of earth. It
will prepare you either for success or failure in business, and
preserve you equally from the snares of prosperity and the
withering blasts of adversity. It will be your nurse in sick-
ness, your companion in solitude, and your preserver amidst
the corruptions of society. It will be your shield against
the temptations to sin, and the insiduous attacks of infidelity
end false philosophy. It will go with you across the sea,
and dwell with you in a foreign land, if called by Providence
to leave your native country, or make you honorable and
ENTERING LIFE. 50
useful members of the community, if you remain at home.
It will be the guide of your youth, the protector of your
mediaeval life, and the prop of your old age. It will prepare
you for early death, or for a multitude of years. It will
smooth the pillow of death, by giving you immortal hopes
amidst the dissolution of nature — will rise with you from the
grave in that day when death shall be swallowed up in
victory, and having put you in possession of glory, honor,
immortality, and eternal life, shall dwell in your soul for-
ever, as the chief element of your heavenly and immortal
felicity.
But still I would not forget that there are things on earth,
to be attended to as well as thino;s in heaven : and religion,
as we have already said, neither detaches you from them nor
unfits you for them : and next to this due regard to the
claims of God, and as a part of them, industry and diligence
in business are indispensable. Honesty to your employers
requires this. You have contracted with them for so much
stipend, to give them your time, the faculties of your mind,
and the organs and members of your body. That man who
does not serve his employer to the best of his ability, is to
all intents and purposes a thief, not by robbing his master's
goods, but his time ; and I would give nothing for his moral
principle who can defraud his employer even of this. It is
not, however, merely in this light that I speak now of indus-
try, but as your own safeguard :
" For Satan finds some mischief still
For idle hands to do."
Our idle days are his busy ones. An indolent young man
invites temptation, and will soon become a prey to it.
Indolence unmans the faculties, impairs and debilitates the
GC THE YOUXO man's FRIEND.
whole intellectual system. One way or other, be always
employed. An idle man is the most miserable of all God's
creatures ; a contradiction to nature, where nothing is at
rest. Among all other habits that you form, next to religion,
the most valuable acquisition is a habit of activity. This
must be got in youth, or never. Keep the ethereal fire of
your soul alive and glowing by action. The diligent man is
the protected man. Temptation comes and addresses him,
but he is pre-occupied ; he says, *' I am too busy to attend
to you." Not only have occupation, but love it. Let your
mind take a pleasure and a pride in its own action. Nature,
it is said, abhors a vacuum, and if nature does not, you
should.
Fourthly: — Let me now lay before you a few opposite
extremes^ which in passing through life, it is necessary you
should avoid ; and with which, when just entering upon it,
you should be intimately acquainted.
Avoid, then, on the one hand, a depressing solicitude, and
on the other, an utter carelessness and lethargic indiflPerence
about the future — a disposition to distress the mind by the
question, '* How am I to get on .^" or in the opposite ex-
treme, a total destitution of all forethought, or care about
the matter. The former is not only a distrust of Providence,
but it defeats its own ends, by wasting those energies of
mind in useless care, which should be employed in prepara-
tory productive action : while the latter casts away that
partial pre -science which is given to us for wise and gracious
purposes. Be hopeful, but not sanguine ; moderate, but not
indififerent. Let your expectations be sufficiently high to
encourage exertion, but not so extravagant as to bewilder
them.
Equally to be avoided, as connected with this, is inordinate
ENTERING LIFE. 61
ambition to rise in life, and the opposite extreme of that lo\v
and creeping satisfaction with thinojs as they are, which is
rather the result of an indolent and abject mind, than of a
contented one. The determination by any and by all mean?
to get on, and the lazy disposition to use none, are equi-dis-
tant from moral excellence. Determine to do all that skill,
industry, frugality, and honorable principle can accomplish
in the way of advancement, and nothing more. Set out in
life thoroughly convinced of the truth of the apostolic declar-
ation, " They that will be rich, fall into temptation and a
snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown
men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is
the root of all evil, which while some coveted after, they
have pierced themselves through with many sorrows."
Young men, guard against this low, sordid, mischievous
appetite — this coveting of wealth for its own sake : and
which is determined to get it — if by fair means, well, if not
by foul means. Begin your career of honest and honorable
industry, with the poet's prophetic, sarcastic aphorism, be-
fore your eyes,
"That loudest laugh of hell, the pride of dying rich."
Guard against the self-diffidence, distrust, and despond-
ency, which would lead you to form too low an opinion of
your own capability and resources, and the complacent self-
reliance, confidence, and canceit, which would lead you to
think you can do every thing. While you do not lean alto-
gether upon your own understanding, and trust implicitly to
your own heart, remember they can both do something for
you, and are both to be employed. Start upon the journey
of life with the conviction that you can, with God's help and
blessing do something — yea, much for yourself. Have f^iith
62 THE YOUNG MAN's FRIEND.
in God first of all — and next to this, have faith in yourselves
as God-sustained. Enter into the apostle's words — catch
their spirit — imitate their union of personal activity, and con-
fidence, and divine dependence, " Through Christ strength-
cnino^ me I can do all thino-s."
Take heed against flexibility of principle, purpose, and
character, in reference to what is right, and obstinate perse-
verance in what is wrong. Be master of yourself. Have a
will of your own. Be governed by your own convictions
Knowing what is right, do it, though you stand alone, and
though the world laugh in a chorus. Possess a due degree
of moral courage, which while it leaves you in possession of
a true shame of doing what is wrong, shall extinguish all
false shame of doing what is right. It is a noble sight to
behold a young man stand, with his back against the wall
of truth, and then with the shield of faith, repel the arrows
of a multitude of assailants. Be an oak, not an osier. Let
it be seen that you can resist the force of persuasion — the
influence of oratory — the contagion of sympathy with numbers
— the ridicule of the witty — and the sarcasms of the scorn-
ful. It is a great, and a good, and a glorious thing, to be
able in some circumstances to say, " No ;" and to stand by
it. On the other hand, it is no less great, and good, and
glorious, to say, " Yes, I am wrong," when charged with
an error, and convinced that we have committed one. An
obstinate perseverance in a bad course, to avoid the shame
and humiliation of confessing that we are wrong, is neither
dignity nor greatness of mind, but stubborn imbecility ; the
obstinacy of a brute — under the direction not so much of
the reason, as the will, of a man.
Avoid a total indiflference to the good opinion of others,
and equally a craving after admiration and applause. Seek
ENTERING LIFE. 63
to be approved rather than to be admired. Covet the
esteem of the wise and the good ; but do not hunger after
the indiscriminate praise of any and every one. Rather seek
to be excellent, than desire to be thought so. To wish,
however, to stand well with those whose praise is virtuous,
is lawful ; but to be ever anxious for the admiration of others
is contemptible. The former is itself an exercise of virtue,
the other an offering at the shrine of vanity. G-uard against
this vanity, it will make you far more solicitous about praise
than principle, and make you willing to sacrifice the one
for the other.
Avoid the extremes of credulity and suspicion in refer-
ence to mankind, of trusting every body, as if all were
worthy of your confidence, and of trusting nobody, as if all were
knaves. Be cautious whom you trust, but do not suppose
that every one will betray you. It is well to be reserved, but
not to be suspicious — to be prudent, but not misanthropic.
On the other hand, as the danger of the young lies rather
in being too frank, open and ingenuous, than too retiring and
exclusive, study well the character of every, or any one,
before you give them your confidence.
Fifthly. — Perhaps I cannot do better than add to all I
have said, a few maxims, which may be considered as con-
densing some parts of the substance of this sermon, and
which, as most easily remembered, may be of some service
to you in your progress through life.
Your future history and character will be in great mea-
sure of your own making — therefore pause and consider
what you will make yourself.
What you would be in future, that begin to be at once
for the future is not at a great distance, but close at hand ;
the moment next to the present is the future ; and the nex<
action helps to make the future character.
64 THE YOUNG- man's friend.
"While you consult your friends on every important step,
which is at once your duty and your privilege, rely less upon
them than upon yourself; and ever combine self-reliance
with dependence upon God, whose assistance and blessing
come in the way of your own industry.
If setting out in life in the possession of property, let
your dependence for success after all, be less upon this, than
upon industry. Industry creates capital, but capital to begin
with, has in many cases impaired industry and made a man
careless and improvident.]
Consider the importance of the first wrong step. That
first leads to many others, and may be more easily avoided
than every one that follows.
True religion, which means the habitual fear of God and
sin, is your best friend for both worlds ; multitudes owe their
all to it ; and multitudes more that have been ruined by
vice, folly, and extravagance, would have been saved from
all this, had they lived in the fear of God.
They who would live without religion would not die with-
out it ; but to enjoy its comforts in death, we must submit
to its influence in life ; and they who would have it in life,
should seek it in youth.
The perfection of human character consists of piety,
prudence, and knowledge. Make that noble trial your own.
Whatever specious arguments infidelity may put forth
in defence of itself, and whatever objections it may bring
against Christianity, hold fast the Bible till the infidel can
furnish you a more abundant evidence of truth — a better
rule of life — a more copious source of consolation — a surer
ground of hope — and a more certain and glorious prospect
of immortality. And remember that spiritual religion is a
better defence against the seductions of infidelity and false
philosophy than the most powerful or subtle logic.
ENTERING LIFE. 65
Enter upon life as you would wish to retire from it, and
spend time on earth as you would wish to spend eternity in
heaven.
I now leave the subject for your most devout and serious
reflection. Entering into life ! How weighty the
phrase — how momentous the consideration — how solemn the
anticipation ! A hundred million perhaps of your fellow-
creatures are at this moment like you entering into life.
What an infinity of weal and woe is bound up in the history
of that vast aggregate of human beings. But this, all this,
is of less consequence to you than that one life on which you
are entering. For in the history of our world — in the con-
vulsions of nations — in the revolutions of empires — in the
stream of universal history — yea, in the chronicles of all
other worlds than your own — there is less to affect your
happiness, than in that one life which is before you. You
are in life — you cannot go back — you must go on. Whether
you shall exist or not, is not left to your option, it is a
question settled — you are in being, never, no never, to go
out of it. What you have to determine is — and oh ! what a
determination — How existence shall be spent, and whether
it shall be an infinite and eternal blessing, or an infinite and
eternal curse. In view of such a career, let me, with an
importunity which words are too meaningless to express,
beseech you to take up the language of the text, as the rule
of your conduct, — " In all thy ways acknowledge
Him, and He shall direct thy paths."
THE YOUNG MAN ENTERING LIFE UNDECIDED
IN RELIGION.
" And Elijah came unto all the people, and said how long halt ye
between two opinions ? If the Lord be God, follow him ; but if Baal,
then follow him."— 1 Kings xviii. 21.
The scene to which the text refers, and of which it forms
a part, is one of the most sublime and the most important
to be found in the whole range of universal history — being
no less than the great trial between true and false religion
in answer to the challenge of Elijah, and which terminated
so gloriously in the complete triumph of the former. A
strange and almost incurable propensity to idolatry has ever
been evinced by the human race, obviously springing from
that depravity of their nature which made them crave after
deities congenial to their own moral taste. The spirituality
and purity of the true God offended them. They could not
be content with a religion of which faith was the great prin-
ciple of action ; but coveted objects of worship which could
be presented to the senses, and which would be tolerant of
their vices. Among the idol gods of antiquity, Baal sustained
a distinguished place,* Such is the power of example, espe-
* The name Eaal is a common appellative, and was originally em-
ployed to designate the true God ; but when idolatry arose, it was ap.
INDECISION IN IlELIGICUS CHARACTER. 67
cially when it falls in with our corrupt inclinations, that the
Jews, notwithstanding the revelation they had received froii
God, and the care he took to preserve them from the abomi-
nations of the surrounding nations, often forsook the worship
of Jehovah for idols, or attempted to incoporate idolatry
with Judaism. The kingdom of the ten tribes was in this
respect the most guilty. Ahab, one of the wickedest of their
monarchs, had married Jezebel, the daughter of the king of
the Zidonians, by whom Baal was worshipped. Through the
influence of this wicked woman, the worship of Baal was
patronized to a enormous extent in the kingdom of Israel.
pYied to the various objects of false worship. It is supposed by some
that as the worship of the heavenly bodies was the first departure
from the true religion, Baal was the representative of the sun. This
was the God of the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, the Assyrians, Babylo-
nians, and indeed of many other nations ; by whom he was variously
designated Baal, Belus, or Bel. This deity, under other names, was
probably the Chronos of the Greeks, and the Saturn of the Latins. It
is a little remarkable that we do not find the name Baal in use east of
Babylonia, but it was general west of it, to the very extremity ot
Europe, including the British Isles. The worship of Bel, Belus, Bele-
nus, or Belinus, in an incorporation with Druidical rites, was general
throughout the British Islands ; and certain of those rites and obser-
vances are still maintained among us, notwithstanding the establish-
ment of Christianity through so many ages. A town in Perthshire is
called Tilliebeltane, i. e., the rising-ground of the fire of Baal. In Ire-
land, Bel-tein is celebrated on the twenty-first of June at the time of
the sols-tice. A fire is kindled on the tops of the hills, and the mem-
bers of the families pass through the fire, which they account a sign
and means of good fortune for the year. Bel-tein is also observed in
Lancashire. In North Wales, a similar ceremony is now observed on
the first of November, when the people run through the fire and smoke,
each one casting a stone into the fire. If this be correct, we have still
the relics of Baal among us at the distance of more than three thousand
years. This is a curious fact in archaeology. See Watson's Biblical
Dictionary.
G8 THE YOUNG MAN S FRIEND.
Against this abomination the prophet Elijah, with the dauntlcsr
courage of a reformer, set himself in determined opposition
After reproving the monarch and rousing against him the
malignity of Jezebel who sought his destruction, he sent a
challenge to Ahab, to put the claims of Baal and Jehovah tc
a fair and decisive test. In an evil hour for the credit of
Baal, the challenge was accepted : the scene of contest was
the solitudes of Mount Carmel, overlooking the Mediterra-
nean sea : the decision was to be made by each party pre-
paring a sacrifice, and calling upon their God to answer by
fire. It was an august and awful spectacle ; the question to
be determined was to whom rightly belongs the throne of
Deity. There on one side were Baal's priests, arranged in
troops, to the number of four hundred and fifty, patronized
by the monarch and his wife, full of confidence, and flushed
with hopes of victory. On the other appeared one solitary
man — unaccompanied — unbefriended — unpatronized — un-
protected by a single individual that was visible to the eye
of sense. That solitary individual was Elijah, the prophet
of the Lord. Calm and undismayed : strong in the Lord
and in the power of his might ; assured of the triumph that
awaited him ; he surveyed the array of priests, the frown of
Ahab, and the malignant eye of Jezebel flashing fury and
revenge. What dignity in his looks, and what majesty in
his deportment. The congregated thousands of Jewish
spectators witnessed, in awful silence, the preparations.
Heaven, with serene confidence, and hell, with dread and
dismay, watched a scene, which not only for that occasion,
but for all time, was to decide whether Jehovah or Baal was
the true God. How much was at stake — what interests
were involved — what a question was to be decided ! One
can imagine all nature was hushed in dread suspense — that
INDECISION IN RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 69
the waves of the Mediterranean ceased to roll — that the
winds of heaven were still — that the forests of Carmel were
listening. In this critical moment of our world's moral
history, the prophet broke the solemn silence which reigned
for a while over the scene. Advancing to the assembled
multitude of Israelites, he said, " How long halt ye between
two opinions ? If the Lord be God, follow him ; if Baal,
then follow him. Ye are not yet in conviction, .quite alien-
ated from the Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abra-
ham, and Isaac, and Jacob ; but your allegiance is shaken,
and you are divided in opinion and practice between
Jehovah and Baal. Your irresolution is as guilty as your
suspense must be painful ; and your indecision is as uncom-
fortable as it is dishonorable and wicked. Ye worship
Baal. I worship God. I am here to prove which has the
rightful claim to your fealty and obedience* Upon that
which 1 now propose 1 will rest the issue of the present
contest. Let each party prepare a sacrifice, and call upon
his God ; and the God who answers by fire, let him be con-
sidered as the true God." You know the sequel;* and I
drop the narrative, only turning back for one moment to
dwell upon the indecision of the people : they halted between
two opinions. Yoio wonder at their indecision, and conJemu
them with language of severest reprobation ; and very
justly so. But do you not in this also condemn yourselves ?
Are not you undecided in a case which if not so palpable to
the senses, is no less plain to the judgment ?
* Iiifidel wits have flippantly asked, '' Where did the people get the
water to fill the trenches at the command of the prophet, since the
drought had caused all the water of the land to fail ?" They forget,
as they generally do, when they offer skeptical observations, the one
main fact of the case, that the scene of the contest was very near the
sea-shore.
70 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
But before I describe the nature, and pronounce the char-
acter of your indecision, let me set before you the opposing
parties in reference to which it is maintained. This house
shall be to you what Mount Carmel was to the assembled
Israelites — the place of challenge, of trial, and decision.
There on the one hand is the Lord God of Hosts, the
Jehovah of the Jews, under the fuller and clearer manifesta-
tion of himself, as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ — there is his minister, demanding the acknowledg-
ment of his claims — and there is laid down his service in the
faith, hope, and love of the gospel. On the other side is the
modern Baal, in all the various forms under which he presents
himself as the object of human idolatry. It is true you are
not called, invited, or disposed, to bow the knee to idols of
wood, stone, or metal, either graven or molten — either in the
fascinating forms of classic mythology ; the rude images of
barbarous worship ; or the grotesque and monstrous crea-
tions of Hindoo polytheism. These, however, are not the
only ways in which idolatry may be practised. What, in fact,
are most of the objects of false worship but the evil qualities
and passions of man's fallen nature — visible embodiments of
his own lusts and pleasures exalted to the skies, to be thence
reflected back with Olympian charms and splendors ; or
sent down to the infernals, to receive the stamp of their
authority and malignity, and to come from either place with
a sanction and a power to make men wicked .? Every one
has a god, and if man does not love and worship Jehovah,
he will make a deity of his own image, and this deity cannot
surpass himself.
Survey, young men, the idols which you are called upon
from many quarters to worship, and between which and the
only living and true God — O unutterable folly and sin ! — you
INDECISION IN RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 7l
are hesitatiDg. Among them, sustaining a high place, istho
idol of SENSUALITY,
" That reeling goddess, with a zoneless waist,"
decked out with all that can pollute the imagination, inflama
the passions, or excite the propensities of a youthful heart.
Before this image multitudes of devotees of both sexes bow
the kuee and offer the most costly sacrifices of property,
health, principle, and reputation. Near this is the bewitch-
ing and smiling image of worldly pleasure, with the sound
of music, the song, and the dance, alluring the giddy and
thoughtless to its orgies, and thus throwing the spell of its
fascinations over the imagination of multitudes who go
merrily to their ruin. Mammon, the sordid deity of wealth
is there, glittering with gold, and offering riches to its eager
followers as the rewards of their diligent and faithful adher-
ence. Its liturgy is the cry of *' money, money, money ;"
and its sacrifices — notwithstanding its large promises of
happiness — the time, the bodies, the soul, the principles,
and the comfort of its worshippers ; and its officials are the
greedy speculators and commercial adventurers of our
country and our age. There is also the Baal of infidel
SPECULATION, with falsc philosophy as its high priest to
conduct the ceremonial ; and by the promises of intellectual
freedom from the shackles of superstition, inviting the
youthful aspirants after mental liberty, to come into its
service. Near this is the shrine of general knowledge.
This, however, is evil only when it is raised into the place
of faith, piety, and virtue ; but which when it is thus exalt-
ed above the knowledge of revelation, is the Minerva of the
idolatrous Pantheon. Nor must we leave out the idols of
FALSE RELIGION, the chicf of wMch is Popery — the antir-
4
72 THE YOUNG MAN S FRIEND.
Christ of the Apocalypse — the Man of Sin" described by
the apostle, as " sitting in the temple of God and exalting
itself above all that is called Grod." This idol, taking tho
name of Christ as its designation, assuming the cross as its
symbol, and boasting of an apostle as its chief minister ;
enriched by wealth — venerable for antiquity — dignified by
learning — decorated by sculpture, architecture, and painting
— and which adding the profoundest policy, and most ser-
pentine craft, to all these other dangerous qualities, has
fascinated countless millions ; and notwithstanding the mon-
strous absurdity of its doctrines, the blood-stained page of its
history, and its hostility to the liberties of mankind — is now
putting forth the most arrogant claims, and making the most
audacious attempts, for the conquest of our country.
Such are the principal idols which oppose themselves to
the King, eternal, immortal, invisible, as the claimants of
your heart. Such are the objects which have induced an
iudetermination in your minds whether you shall serve them
or your Creator, Preserver, and Benefactor.
By the undecided in religion I do not intend the confirmed
infidel, profligate, or scoffer ; or those who live in total and
absolute rejection of religion. These are not undecided ;
they are in the fullest sense decided ; they have made up
their minds, though unhappily on the wrong side. They
have chosen their God, and are the determined and devoted
worshippers of Baal. They are decided irreligionists. They
have hardened their hearts, seared their consciences, and
perhaps outlived all misgivings upon the subject, except it
be an occasional qualm in a season of dying or of sickness.
They even congratulate themselves upon their having thrown
off all the weaknesses and fears of superstition, and upon
their being now enabled to pursue their downward course
INDECISION IN RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. /3
nnchocked by the restraint of conscience, unterrified by the
spectres of imagination. Unhappy men — blind, and glorying
in their blindness — benumbed in all their moral faculties,
and exulting in this dreadful paralysis — with every tie cut
that held them to a Life of piety and feeling, and accounting
it a privilege that they are drifting unobstructed to perdition
— determined to be lost, and rejoicing that nothing now
crosses their path to perdition.
The undecided inan, generally considered, is the irresolute
man — the man thinking of two things, but absolutely choos-
ing, with full and practical purpose, neither — the double-
minded man — the man who is like a light substance ever
floating between two objects, now carried by force of the
tide towards one, and then towards the other.
Perhaps tho subject of indecision will be better under-
stood if we consider its opposite, and show what is meant by
decision. By decision in religion I do not mean merely the
choice of a creed, or a decision between conflicting theories
of religious opinions. This is all very well, and very proper,
and to a certain extent is involved in the decision I am
recommending. A man ought not to be undecided either in
regard to religious doctrine, or ecclesiastical polity. It is
incumbent upon him to make up his mind on the question
at issue between the advocates and opponents of secular
establishments of religion ; between the unitarian and trini-
iarian views of the Scriptures, and other theological mat-
ters. These things are important, and his opinions should
be formed and fixed upon the ground of satisfactory evidence,
and his mind being once made up, he should hold fast what
he believes to be truth, nor allow his convictions to be
shaken by the difiiculties, sophistries, and plausibilities
brought against the views he has espoused. Religion
74 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
however, is something more than opinion — something more
than ecclesiastical relationship — something more than cere-
mony— it is not only light, but life — its seat is not only in
the head, but in the heart — it is a thing of the will, affec-
tions, and conscience, as well as of the intellect, and
memory, and bodily organs. It is deep conviction of guilt
in the sight of God — a humbling sense of corruption of
nature — true faith in Christ as the great atonement — peace
through belief in the gospel — supreme gratitude and love to
God — a spiritual and heavenly mind — and a holy life. It
is the mind of Christ — the image of Grod — the Bible lodged
in the heart as the rule of the inward and outer life — a
God-wrought, heaven- descended, eternally -living thing.
To be decided then, is the intelligent, deliberate, volun-
tary, entire and habitual yielding up of ourselves, through
faith in Christ, and by the aid of the Holy Spirit, to God ;
to enjoy His favor as the chief good, to make His will our
fixed supreme rule, and His glory the chief end of our ex-
istence. It is making God the supreme object — salvation
the supreme business — eternity the supreme aim. Not talk-
ing about it — wishing it — intending it — but conscientiously
doing it. Such a man says, " I have made up my mind — I
am resolved — I am for God — for Christ — for holiness — for
salvation — for heaven — for eternity — my heart is fixed."
To be W7idecided is to be in a state of hesitancy, irreso-
luteness, unfixedness. An undecided man is occasionally
impressed ; at other times in a state of total indifference.
His judgment inclines to religion, and sometimes nearly
draws round his heart. He goes out half-way to meet it :
then turns back again. Now he looks towards true Chris-
tians as the happiest people, then he hankers after the
company and amusements of the people of the world. He
INDECISION IN RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 75
cannot quite give up the suLject, nor can he fully embrace
it. He has occasional impressions and wishes, but no fixed,
deliberate choice. In this hesitating, undecided, irresolute
state of mind, very many are to be found. Yes — indecision
is fearfully common ; perhaps among those whom I now
address, the most common state of mind. Comparatively
few are decidedly pious — still fewer, I hope and believe,
decidedly infidel or immoral ; the bulk are mid-way between
the two — hesitating, halting, turning away/ro7?i the one, but
not turning to the other. How shall we account for this }
It is not for the want of adequate information on the nature
of the two claimants and the justice of their respective
claims. Of this you have all possible and necessary partic-
ulars in the Scriptures. You are not left to the dim twi-
light of nature and the deductions of your own weak and
fallible reason. The sun of revelation has risen upon you in
full-orbed splendor, and walking amidst his noon-tide glory,
you see on every hand the character and the claims of God
You know not only there is a God, but who and what he is
You are not destitute of natural ability — you are mit hin-
dered by Divine sovereignty — there is no invincible power
of natural depravity — you cannot plead a want of time,
means, opportunity — you do not justify and perpetuate it on
the ground of Scriptural difficulties — nor on the inconsisten-
cies of professors. Sometimes you may feel inclined to
plead these things, but the plea is soon given up.- No, the
causes subsidiary to the power of inward corruption, -are
these : —
Many do not properly consider the necessity of decision^
and the sin of hesitation. The subject has never seriously
engaged their attention. If so, it is high time it should.
Begin now — God demands it — reason demands it — the im
76 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
portance of the matter demands it. On what is decision s«
necessary as on religion ? This is the business of the soul —
of salvation — of eternity.
Not a few are wanting in moral courage^ — they knov*
what they ought to be and to do — but they have friends,
whose frown they dread, or companions from whose laugh
they shrink. This is very common : and thus multitudes
flee from the frown of man to take shelter under the frown
of God, propitiate their friends by the sacrifice of their souls,
— throw away religion and salvation to escape from a jest, —
and make themselves the laughing-stock of devils, to avoid
the ridicule of fools. Young men, will you be jeered out of
heaven and salvation } What, be turned from your eagle
flight to immortality, by the ridicule of owls and bats }
In many cases^ some one hesetting sin keeps from decision.
That one sin exerts an influence over the whole soul and all
its purposes — benumbing its energies, beclouding its moral
vision, bewildering its steps, and enfeebling its efibrts. Such
persons could give up all but that one sin ; but that they
cannot part from. How melancholy, how dreadful, to be
willing to perish for that one sin ! Rather than pluck out
that right eye, or cut ofi" that right hand, to suffer the loss
of the whole body ! How infinitely better and more noble
would it be, by one mighty struggle, aided by Divine grace,
to burst that chain and decide for God. Consider well, if
this is not, the cause of indecision in your case, and if it be,
perceive the necessity of your resolutely and immediately
directing your vigorous resistance against that hindrance.
When you have mastered that mightiest of your spiritual
foes, you may then hope that the greatest obstacle is sur-
mounted ; and that the subjugation of your other enemies
will be a comparatively easy conquest. But till that is done,
INDECISION INT RELIGIOUS CnARACTER. 77
nothing \nA be done to purpose ; and he that has been haU-
ing between two opinions, and wavering in his practice, will
be halting and wavering still.
There are some who^ like Fclix^ have trembledj and dis^
missed the subject for a more convenient season. They give
neither a direct negative, nor a direct affirmative, to the soli-
citations of judgment and conscience ; but put them aside by
saying, " I will think of it when I have opportunity, I am
busy nowy Here and there one goes further still, — they
intend, actually intend^ to be decided at some time or other*
They forget the uncertainty of life — the frailty of human
resolutions — the thousand incidents that are continually
rising up to occupy and divert attention — the ever increas-
ing improbability of coming to a decision if the subject be
postponed from the present moment — and above all, the
demand of God for immediate decision. Now is the accepted
time : now is the day of salvation. There is a world of
importance in that seemingly insignificant word, Now. Mil-
lions have been ruined for both worlds by overlooking the
momentous significance of the all eventful Now. Sermons
might be preached — volumes might be written — rhetoric
might be employed, to enforce the import of that mono-
pyllable Now. Remember " he that is now good will in all
probability be better — he that is now bad will become worse
— for there are three things that never stand still, vice,
virtue, and time."
Perhaps as a hindrance to decision might be mentioned,
mistaken views of what is requisite to come to this state oj
mind. Two opposite errors are indulged ; some persons
throwing out of consideration the free agency of man, and
others the sovereign grace of Grod. The former supposing
that man can do nothing, they attempt nothing, but wait
78 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEXD.
passively for the spirit of God : the latter, on the contrary
believing that man is and does every thing in religion with-
out God, never seek by prayer nor expect by faith, the aid
of the Divine Spirit. Both are wrong, and therefore both
fail. In all things, both in nature and in grace, God's doings
and man's doings go together. Man works, and God works.
Man's efforts are not superseded by Divine grace, nor Divine
grace superseded by man's efforts. This dualism which per-
vades all things, is especially conspicuous in the Bible, and
has its culminating point in the conversion and sanctifica-
tion of the human soul as set forth in that wonderful pas-
sage, " Work out your salvation with fear and trembling^ for
it is God that worketh in you to will and to do of his good
pleasure.'^
Having stated the causes of indecision, I now go on to
consider its characteristics.
1. Is it not IRRATIONAL ? What is reason given us for
but to examine all things that concern us, to weigh evidence
to discriminate things that differ, to prove all things, and hold
fast that which is good. When man uses his faculties thus,
he does what he was designed to do, and answers the end of
his being. When he does not, but suffers himself to be
swayed and bent different ways, and to float under uncertain-
ties, then he forfeits the great prerogative and most distin-
guishing advantage of his reasonable nature. The perfection
of man is to be like God in his attributes, and among others,
in some measure in this glorious one of immutability in that
which is good ; but to be irresolute and undecided in this, is
to live as much at random, and without hold, as if the breath
of the Almighty were not in us. " Indeed, unless reason
gives us a fixedness and constancy of action, it is so far from
being the glory and privilege of our nature, that it is really
INDECISION IN RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 79
its reproach, and makes us lower than ' the horse or mule^
which have no understanding :' for they without that, act
always regularly and constantly themselves, under the
guidance of instinct, a blind but sure principle." There are
two things equ; -distant from sound reason — to decide without
evidence, and to remain, in such matters, undecided amidst
abundant evidence. To be undecided in religion comes under
the latter condemnation. The irrationality of indecision is
also in proportion to the importance of the matter to be
determined. Young men, I appeal to your understanding
against this extreme folly. What, is religion the only
matter on which you will not make up your mind ? Religion,
which comes to you in God's name, and asserting his claims ?
Religion, which affects your own well-being for both worlds ?
Religion, which all nations have confessed generally by their
rites, ceremonies, and creeds, to be man's supreme interest ?
Religion, which relates to the soul and her salvation, eternity,
and its unalterable states ? Religion, your highest end of
existence, and noblest distinction of reason ? What this, the
matter to be left in a state of unsettledness and hesitancy .?
When such means and opportunities are furnished for coming
to a conclusion ? When the Bible, with all its evidences,
doctrines, promises, and precepts, is ever in your hand and
appealing to your intellect and heart, your will and conscience,
and even your imagination ? When the pulpit and the press
are ever calling your attention to the subject, and aiding
your inquiries ? Undecided whether you shall be saved
or lost for eternity ; whether you shall answer or defeat the
end of your existence ? Whether you shall run counter to
God's design in bringing you into being, or fall in with his
merciful purposes concerning you } Call yoi#thi3 reason ?
Talk not to me of your rationality ; boast not to me erf' your
80
high intellectuality in pursuing literature, science, or the
arts : I say, the man who remains undecided in religion — who
has not settled the question of God, the soul, salvation, and
eternity, is, whatever stores of knowledge he may have
acquired, or whatever opinion he may have formed of him-
self, a learned maniac, a philosophical lunatic, a scientific
idiot.
2. I go further, and say that indecision in religion is con-
tempiible. Whatever may constitute the heauti/ of character,
decision is its power. There is something noble and attrac-
tive in the spectacle of an individual selecting some one
worthy object of pursuit, concentrating upon it the resources
and energies of his whole soul ; holding it fast with a tena-
city of grasp, and following it with a steadiness of pursuit,
which the ridicule of some, the frowns of others, and the
ignorant surmises of all, cannot relax : clinging the closer to
it for opposition, gaining courage from defeat, and patience
from delay. Even where all this decision is displayed in a
bad cause, there is something terrifically grand about it.
Hence some have fancied that in this way Milton has thrown
too much majesty over the character of Satan. In opposi-
tion to this, how despicable is indecision. Foster, in his
inimitable Essay on Decision of Character, has set forth
this in a very striking manner. " A man without decision
of character can never be said to belong to himself ; if he
dared to say that he did, the puny force of some cause,
about as powerful you would have supposed as a spider, may
make a capture of the hapless boaster the next moment,
and triumphantly exhibit the futility of the determinations
by which he was to have proved the independence of his
understanding and his will. He belongs to whatever can
geize him : and innumerable things do actually verify their
^
INDECISION IN RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 81
claims on him, and arrest him as he tries to go along ; aa
twigs and chips floating near the edge of a river, are inter-
cepted by every weed, and whirled in every little eddy.
Having concluded on a design, he may pledge himself to
accomplish it, if the hundred diversities of feeling, which
may come within the week, will let him. As his character
precludes all forethought of his conduct, he may sit and
wonder what form and direction his views and actions are
destined to take to-morrow ; as a farmer has often to acknow-
ledge that the next day's proceedings are at the disposal of
winds and clouds."
True as this is in reference to anything, it is most true in
reference to religion. Never, no never, is it so supremely
contemptible as in application to this. In such a career and
in reference to such an object, to be the slave of imperti-
nences— the poor tame victim of every little incident that
can arise — the prey of every insignificant yelping cur that
can drive you hither and thither with his biteless bark ! O
shame, shame upon your understanding, to say nothing of
your heart and conscience, when with such a subject as reli-
gion to consider and settle, you can allow not merely the
most magnificent objects which the world can present, but
innumerable, contemptible, and sinful littlenesses, to shake
your resolution, to invalidate your purpose, and to keep you
halting between two opinions ! It is the last and lowest
degree of despicableness for a man thinking about glory,
honor, immortality, and eternal life, to allow himself to be
brought to a stand, and made to hesitate and halt, by mat-
ters of the veriest insignificance. What would have been
said of the man who in ancient times hesitated whether ha
should become a competitor for the Olympic crown, or for
gome paltry office in a Grecian village } Or what would alJ
82 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
the world have said of Julius Caesar had he halted betweeii
two opinions, and hesitated whether to pass the Rubicon or
give himself up to the celebration of the Saturnalia ? Or
what judgment should we have formed of Columbus, if, when
meditating the discovery of a new world, he hesitated whether
to embark on the Atlantic, or engage in picking up shells
on its shore r But what are these instances of folly and
littleness, compared with that of the man who halts between
the infinite and eternal blessings of religion, and the plea-
sures, acquisitions, and possessions of this world ?
3. Indecision in religion is uncomfortahle. If reason is
given us to decide upon modes of action, and if in this matter
of religion, revelation furnishes us with rules^ it is most
natural we should decide, and altogether unnatural we
should remain for another hour in a state of wavering and
unsettledness. What is natural is easy, and graceful, and
pleasant ; and what is unnatural is always awkward and
painful. The natural state for the mind to be ia, is first in-
quiry, and then decision. No mind can be serene and
peaceful in a state of suspense and incertitude. May I not
appeal to uni^^ersal experience for proof, that a man who is
acting backwards and forwards — ever divided in opinion —
now determining one way and now another — now fixed in
purpose, then unsettled and altering the plan — now resolute,
now hesitating — and who has thus found no bottom to rest
upon, cannot be happy. This is true in reference to every-
thing. A mind thus at odds with itself, even in little
things, cannot but be very troublesome — and he, therefore,
who would consult his own comfort, should by much self-
discipline endeavor to rid himself of this instability of action,
this infirmity of purpose. I would not, young men, incul-
cate the opposite evil of inconsiderate and reckless conduct
INDECISION IN RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 83
a headlong course of action begun without examination, and
continued without reflection ; and which even when discov-
ered to be wrong, is persevered in without alteration, merely
for the sake of perseverance, and an unwillingness to confess
we are wrong. This is not rational decision, but blind im-
pulse and unreflecting obstinacy. The decision I recom •
mend is a habit of patient investigation, united with a capa-
bility of weighing evidence, and followed by a prompt and
resolute determination to do, and to do immediately and
perseveringly, the thing which ought to be done. Acquire
an ability to say in matters of right, I must, — I can, — I
WILL. There is a wonderful potency in these three mono-
syllables. Adopt them as the rule of your conduct.
But 1 now consider the unhappiness of indecision in regard
to religion. I repeat the assertion made in reference to
other characteristics, the more important the subject is
about which this indecision is maintained, the greater must
of course be the uneasiness which it produces : and as reli-
gion is the most momentous of all subjects, so the uneasiness
resulting from it must be greatest. But even here the un-
easiness also varies with circumstances. An amiable youth
who had not fallen into vice, but has kept entirely within
the boundaries of virtue, and has not given his heart to God
and made religion his supreme business, may not, and can-
not have a poignant remorse for profligacies he has never
committed — but even he is uncomfortable ; he knows he is
not a Christian, in the spiritual sense of the term. His
conscience disturbs him — letters from home make him un-
easy— awakening sermons alarm him — in the company of
the righteous he is not at home — his neglected Bible, given
him perhaps, by a mother's hand, silently reproaches him.
He is not happy. How can he be in such circumstances ?
84 . THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
He resolves, breaks bis resolution, and adds to bis uneasi-
ness tbe guilt of broken vows.
In otber cases, tbis indecision is attended witb serious
aberrations from tbe patb of sanctity and regularity, tbougb
not perbaps of morality. In sucb cases, tbe mind of a
youtb wbose beart is not bardened, is often in a state of still
more painful disquietude and perturbation. It is an im-
pressive trutb, tbat ease of mind, quietness, or ratber insen-
sibility of conscience, belongs often ratber to tbe decidedly
wicked, tban to tbe undecidedly good : for tbe former may
bave bardened and stupified bis conscience so far, till it lets
bim alone : but be wbo sins, and repents, and tben sins
again, in a continued circle, is sure to be followed in bis
miserable rounds witb tbe reproacbes of bis memory and tbe
lasbes of bis conscience. " His good fits are but tbe short
intervals of bis madness, wbicb serve to let tbe madman into
a knowledge of bis own disease ; whereas it would in some
kinds of lunacy be much more for bis satisfaction and con-
tent if be were mad always " 0 tbe misery of tbat man
■whose life is spent between sinning and repenting — between
the impulses of conviction and the drawings of inclination —
between the difficulty of forming resolutions, and the guilty
consciousness of breaking them — in short, between hopes
ever frustrated by disappointment, and fears ever realized
by experience. Indecision is its own punishment.
4. This indecision is in the highest degree sinful. You
can see tbis clearly, at once, and impressively, witb regard
to the Israelites whom the projrhet addressed on Mount
Carmel. What a crime to hesitate for a moment between
Baal and Jehovah — to be undetermined whether to servo
that dumb idol, or tbe livinsr and true God. You wonder
at their stupidity— you are incensed at their impiety. Ycj
INDECISION IN RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 83
take sides instantly with the prophet against the people.
His zeal is not too burning — his indignation is not too
severe — his irony is not too cutting, for the occasion. How
horror-struck you would be to witness such senseless impiety
But how much less wicked is your conduct, though of course
far less gross and revolting, in hesitating whether you shall
serve Grod, or any of these mental idolatries — worldly plea-
sure, infidelity, Mammon, or sensuality. The idols of the
heathen are, as we have said, but the vices of the human
heart personified, embodied, and made visible to the senses.
Human lusts and passions are the archetypes of them all ;
the one being the abstract, the other the concrete form of
idolatry : and how much less guilty is it to bend the knee to
an idol, than to bow the heart to a vice ? Dwell upon
God's divine glory, his infinite majesty, his ineifable excel-
lence, his boundless, inconceivable beauty, and every attri-
bute of his glorious nature. " To him all angels cry aloud :
the heavens and all the powers therein. To him chei'ubim
and seraphim continually do cry. Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord
God Almighty. The glorious company of the apostles
praise him. The goodly fellowship of the prophets praise
him. The noble army of martyrs praise him. llie holy
church throughout the world doth acknowledge him," — and
there are you a poor frail child of man, halting between two
opinions, and hesitating whether you shall serve Him or
l^aal. O what an ineffable insult to God. Every Christian
on earth cries out — shame. Every angel in glory cries —
shame. Every page of Scripture cries — shame. While
God himself, indignantly and awfully, completes the cry of
reprobation, and says, " Be astonished, 0 heavens, at this,
and be ye horribly afraid." Consider, then, young men, the
crime against God you arc guilty of while undecided. He
86 THE YOUNG man's FRIEND.
desires and demands immediate surrender to his claims
Yield yourselves unto God, and at once, is his impera
tive injunction. To hesitate whether you shall serve him,
is to be undetermined whether you shall be the friend or foe
of Grod — the loyal subject of his government, or a traitor
against his throne : whether you shall love or ^hate him —
reverence or despise him — dishonor or glorify him. Every
attribute of his nature makes indecision sinful — every gift
of his hand aggravates the sin — every injunction of his word
carries on the aggravation.
5. Indecision is dangerous. The Israelites found it so ;
after hesitating and halting between two opinions, whatever
slight transient impression was produced by the scenes of
Mount Carmel, they went over to the wrong side, bowed the
knee to Baal, and as the punishment for their sin, were
carried into captivity, and rooted out as a nation from the
earth. Indecision on religion is a state of mind fraught
with most imminent peril ; for when long persisted in, it
generally ends in decision upon the wrong side. It gives
time for the wicked and deceitful heart to collect and con-
centrate all its forces of evil — emboldens evil companions to
ply with redoubled energy their temptations — encourages
Satan to multiply his machinations — and to complete all,
provokes God to say, '^ My spirit shall not always strive
with man. He is tied to his idols, let him alone. Woe be
unto him when I depart from him." Every hour's delay
increases the peril, and exposes you to the danger of being
loft of God. But there is a danger in another view of the
case : you are entering life and are exposed to all the hazards
enumerated in the last sermon ; and is indecision, I would
ask, a state of mind in which to encounter the dread array }
Is it in this halting and unsettled condition that you would
INDECISION IN RELIPtIOUS CHARACTER. 87
meet the perils of your path ? Why it is like a soldier going
into battle without having settled whibh army he shall side
with, and which sovereign he shall fight for. Even the
decided youth, who has fully made up his mind on the great
subject — who has put on the whole armor of God, and is
defended at all points with right principles, good resolutions,
pious habits, and well-formed character — even he finds it
difficult sometimes to stand his ground against the mighty
foes of truth, piety, and virtue. Even he who, grasping the
sword of the Spirit, and opposing the shield of faith to the
darts of his enemies, exclaims with heroic voice, •' I am for
God and religion^^'' and who by his very decision and firm-
ness drives back the assailants of his steadfastness — even he
is often sorely tried. How then can the irresolute — the
halting — the vacillating stand } What a mark is he for
every foe ! What a butt for every arrow ! His indecision
invites assault, and prepares him to become an easy prey to
whomsoever will aim to capture him.
But this is not all. There is a danger of dying in this
undecided state. Life is uncertain. Your breath is in your
nostrils. A fever — an inflammation — an accident — may
come upon you any day, and leave no time for reflection, no
opportunity for decision. Death often springs upon his
prey like a tiger from the jungle upon the unwary traveller.
Millions are surprised by the last enemy in an undecided
state. They are shot through the heart, with the question
upon their lips, " Shall I serve God or Baal ?" and are hur-
ried into the presence of the Eternal Judge himself to have
it answered there. Dreadful — most dreadful ! To meet
God, and in and hy his presence to have a full exposure of
the guilt and folly of hesitating between his service and that
of sin ! What a question to come from the God of Glory
P9 THE YOUNG MAN S FRIEND.
to thfi poor, naked, trembling, confounded soul — " Are Goa
and Baal so nearly alike, that you should have halted between
two opinions which you would serve ?'' Mark this — in God's
view there is no such thing in reality as indecision — this
word is used not to express things as they are, but as they
appear. In fact there are but two classes of men, morally
considered — the converted and unconverted. The unde-
cided belong to the latter class no less than the infidel and
profligate — only he may not have gone to such an extent of
actual sin, and may feel more the unhappiness of his situa-
tion, and the desirableness of changing it. But the choice
of God's service has not been made, and he will be dealt
with as belonojing to the class of those who are atijainst him.
Indecision is utterly inconsistent with the character of the
godly, the terms of salvation, and the hope of eternal hap-
piness. God will not allow of neutrality, and considers
every man who is not decided for him as decided against
him, and will treat him as such. No matter that such a man
feels the weight of sin's fetters, and the galling burden of
its yoke — no matter that he sometimes feels a desire to
escape from its bondage, and makes some feeble and occa-
sional efforts to effect his emancipation — nothing will be of
avail to his salvation, but an entire surrender of the heart
to God, and a complete and voluntary yielding up himself
to his service, as the supreme business of life. There is no
promise in all God's Word to the unstable and wavering —
no hope held out of his safety — no salvo provided for his
conscience — no middle condition in which he can take his
lot between the decidedly good and the decidedly bad.
And now what remains but that I call upon you to
renounce your indecision, and in the language of intelligent,
deliberate and settled purpose to say with Joshua : " I^it
INDECISION IN RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 89
others do what they will^ as for me I will serve the Lord.'''*
Reject Baal, and surrender to God, without comjproviise and
without delay. You cannot have two masters ; you cannot
have two Gods. You cannot harmonize sin and righteous-
ness, nor reconcile a life of piety and a life of worldliness
You must be one thinoj or the other. Religion, if not the
first and greatest thing with you, is nothing. To be unde-
cided in such a business is the most irrational state of mind
in the whole range of mental conditions. Look in upon
your own immaterial, immortal, wonderful spirit, craving
after appropriate and adequate sources and means of happi-
ness, and the question is whether you shall satisfy or mock
its insatiable cravings. Look up at the Eternal God, your
Creator, Preserver, and Benefactor, and the everlasting
Paradise of ineffable delights he hath prepared for them that
love him, and the question is — whether you shall submit to
his claims, enjoy his favor, bear his image, inhabit his high
and holy place, or wither away for ever under banishment
from his presence, and the effect of his curse. Look down
into that abyss of woe which divine justice hath made ready
for those who serve not Grod, and the question is — whethei
you shall escape that awful retribution upon sin and unbelief,
or endure its intolerable burden for ever and ever. Look on
to the ever-rolling ages of eternity — that interminable exist-
ence whose perspective no eye but the Omniscient one can
reach — and the question is whether that endless being shall
to you be an ocean of bliss or a gulf of torment and despair.
Undecided on such questions ! If such conduct is known in
heaven, how must angels wonder at the folly of mortals
hesitating whether they shall inherit their bliss : if it be
known in the abode of apostate spirits, how must those once
dignified, but now degraded beings, marvel with uttermost
90 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
astonishment, that sinful men, in danger of their misery^
should hesitate about escaping from it. Infidels, scoffers, and
men of profane minds, may scoff at these appeals to the awful
realities of eternity ; just as many a felon, who has expired
at the drop, once made himself merry and seasoned his mirth
with vulgar jokes about the gallows. Miserable wretch, he
found at last that execution was a dreadful reality, with
which the most hardened ruffian could no longer trifle. 1
believe, and therefore speak, and by arguments no less
weighty than such as are drawn from these eternal realities,
I conjure you to remain no longer undecided.
But clearly understand and bear in recollection what it is
I require. It is not, as I have said, merely the adoption of
any particular set of religious opinions — nor merely joining
any particular body of professing Christians — but Repentance
towards God — Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ — Holy Living
— a character formed and a life regulated by the Word of
God. Every known sin must be abandoned, and every Chris-
tian virtue practised. Evil companions must be forsaken and
your associates be chosen from the godly and virtuous.
If there be a loftiness and nobleness in decision, it is most
lofty, most noble in religion. You need not go for instances
of this, and for the admiration which they are calculated to
afford, to such examples as Foster brings before you in his
inimitable essay — to the examples selected from history, to
Marius sitting amidst the ruins of Carthage — to Pizarro — to
Richard Til. — .to Cromwell : nor even to those drawn from
the records of Scripture — to Daniel — and to Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego : nor to those supplied by Chris-
tian martyrology — to John Huss and Jerome of Prague ; nor
to those borrowed from the annals of philanthrophy — to
Howard, to Wilberforce, and Mrs. Fry — these are all grand
INDECISION IN RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 91
uupressive, beautiful, but they are not the only ones that
may be cited ; nor, with whatever lurid or milder radiance
they may be surrounded and emblazoned, are they those
which are the most appropriate for you to contemplate, or
which perhaps will have with you the greatest weight. Look
at that manly, pious young man, who has left the shelter and
protecting wing of his father's house and home, and is now
pla-ced in a modern establishment, and surrounded by fifty or
a hundred fellow-shopmen, among whom he finds not one to
countenance him in the maintenance of his religious profes-
sion, and the greater part of whom select him, on account of
his religion, as the object of their pity, their scorn, their
hatred, or their contempt. Among them are infidels who
ply him with flippant and specious cavils against the Bible—
pleasure-takers who use every efibrt to engage him in their
Sunday parties and their polluting amusements — men of light
morality who assail his integrity — a few lovers of science and
general knowledge, who endeavor to allure him from reli-
gion to philosophy. How fearful is his situation — and how
perilous ! Usually it would be better to leave it, for how few
can hold fast their integrity in such a situation. But there
he — this decided, this inflexible, this noble-minded youth
— stands firm, unyielding, decided. He is neither ashamed
nor afraid of his principles — he neither denies nor conceals
them. Before that laughing crowd he bends his knees and
prays — in presence of that jeering set, he open his Bible
and reads — from that pleasure-taking company he breaks off",
amidst their scoffs, to go to the house of God. He bears the
peltings of their pitiless storm of ridicule or rage, unrujffled in
temper, unmoved in principle, and only casts upon his perse-
cutors a look of gentle pity, or utters a mild word of expos-
tulation, or silently presents the prayer, " Father, forgive
92 THE YOUNG MAN S FRIEND.
them, for they know not what they do." He keeps, by hia
firmness, the whole pack at bay. Some are half subdued by
his wonderful firmness. A secret admiration is bestowed upon
him by others, while even they who hate him most, often are
astonished most at his inflexible resolution, and it may be
that one and another, at length, take hold of the skirt of his
garment and say to him, " We must go with you, for we see
God is with you." Talk of decision of character — there it
is in all its force, beauty, and utility. I know of no case in
God's world in which it is exemplified with more power than
in that. It is not martyrdom literally, but it is so in spirit :
and such a youth ranks with confessors, who bear witness
for Christ amidst " cruel mockings." In persecuting times
that noble youth would have died for religion upon the
scafibld or at the stake. It is a rich manifestation of
Divine Grace by which alone it is maintained. It is a sight
on which angels might look down with delight, and in respect
to which God is ever saying, " Well done, good and faith-
ful servant."
Young men, behold your pattern. This is the decision
for which I call upon you : and call upon you to copy it
without procrastination. You no more dare to delay than to
deny. Every moment's hesitation is a moment of rebellion.
Youiave no more right to halt than you have to refuse.
God's claim is upon you now, and your next business after
hearing this sermon, is to rise and yield yourselves to God.
When Pyrrhus attempted to procrastinate, the Roman ambas-
sador with whom he was then treating, drew a circle round
■him on the earth with his cane, and in the name of the Se-
nate, demanded an answer before he stepped across the line.
I do the same : the walls of this building in which you aro
now assembled, shall constitute the circle in which you are
INDECISION IN RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 93
placed, and before you cross that threshold, I demand in the
name of God an answer whether you will serve Him or Baal.
Put me not off with the excuse that it is an important mat-
ter and requires deliberation. It is important, most moment-
ous, and on that account requires instant decision ; and as to
deliberation — how much do you require ? A year ? A month ?
A week ? What ! to determine whether you shall serve God
or Baal? You have hesitated too long, and another mo-
ment's deliberation is too much.
Excuse not procrastination by the allegation that it is
God's work to change the heart. It is, but it is yours also.
The Spirit of God is striving with you while I speak and you
reflect. All the influences necessary for salvation are every
moment submitted to the appropriation of your faith.
Turn me not away with the purpose and the promise of
coming to decision at some future time. Future time !
Alas, there may be no future for you. Upon the present
hour may be suspended your eternal destiny. This night
may be the determining point, for to-morrow you may die,
or be given up by God to hardness of heart. I press you,
therefore, for immediate decision.
Oh ! what an hour is now closing upon you, and what a
service ! How solemn and how momentous ! In what trans-
actions— amidst what spectators — with what results and
consequences have you been engaged this evening. Three
worlds — heaven, earth, and hell — are at this moment feeling
an interest in you, as if your eternal destiny hung upon the
appeal now made to you. Amidst the prayers of anxious
parents — amidst the labors of an earnest minister — amidst
the sympathies of this vast congregation — and rising still
higher, amidst the eager hopes of angels, waiting to be
ministers to your salvation, and the jealous fears and dread
94 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
of demons no less eager for your destruction ; and above all
under the watchful notice of the glorious Redeemer waiting
to put you among his disciples, you have been urged to de-
cide for God and religion, against all and aught that can be
put in opposition — what shall be your decision ? It is recorded
of an American preacher that he was once urging similar
claims on his audience, and demanding who would be decided ?
He paused ; a solemn silence ensued, which was at length
broken by an individual who had been inclined to infidelity,
rising, and with strong emotion, simply aa,ymgj I will. The
point was that hour decided. From that moment he became
a determined, consistent Christian. Young men, who will
imitate this example, and say in the hearing of Him to whom
the audible voice is unnecessary, I will 1 That mono-
syllable, uttered in sincerity, will go up to heaven and engage
it in a chorus of praise over your decision — will go down to
the bottomless pit and exasperate the hosts of darkness with
the shame and the rage of a new defeat, — and go throuo-h
eternity with you as the source of infinite delight. — Let thi?
then be youi- resolution, "I will."
THE YOUNG MAN POSSESSING A DEFECTIVE
AMIABILITY.
" Then Jesus beholding hitn loved hinti." — Mark x. 21,
The narrative of which this forms a part, is thus gfycn.
*^ And when he was gone forth into the way, there came om
■runnings and kneeled to him^ and asked him^ Good Mastc-*'^
what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life ? And Jesuit
said unto him^ Why callest thou me good ? There is non^
good but one, that is God. Thou knowest the commandments,
Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not
hear false witness. Defraud not, Honor thy father and mother.
And he answered and said unto him^ Blaster, all these have 1
observed from my youth. Then Jesus beholding him loved
him, and said unto him. One thing thou lackest ; go thy way,
sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shall
have treasure in heaven ; and come, take up the cross and
follow me. And he was sad at that saying, and went away
grieved ; for he had great possessions. "^"^
The character of Christ as delineated by the pen of the
evangelists, is one of the brightest glories of revelation, and
one of the manj internal evidences of its divine origin.
Even the infidel Rousseau confessed, that if the Gospel were
a fable, he that invented the character of the Saviour, must
5
96
himself be greater than the hero of his tale. What an union,
without confusion, of the human and the divine — what an
exhibition of the awful and the amiable, of the stern and the
tender : at one time denouncing with terrific vengeance the
crimes of the Jews: at another, weeping over the approach-
ing fulfilment of his own predictions : now casting ouu
demons from the possessed, then, taking little children in his
arms ; and just after, looking with deep and tender interest
on a youth of attractive but defective amiableness. Young
men, study this sublime, beautiful and superhuman character,
and say if both this, and the book which contains it, must
not be of God. Could such a pattern of matchless truth,
purity, and benevolence, be the ofispring of delusion, false-
hood, and depravity, which it must have been, if it be the
production of imposture .'' To what page of uninspired
history can infidelity direct you for anything which even
remotely resembles it in greatness, goodness, and unearth
liness }
We now advert to a single incident in the life of Christ —
one of great instructiveness and interest to you. By con-
sulting the chapter from whence the text is taken, you will
find that a youth of rank, fortune, and office, came to Jesus
with deep solicitude to know what he must do to obtain
jternal life. The whole narrative shows that he was a moral
and amiable young man, and also concerned about religion,
but depending upon the merits of his own good doings for
acceptance with God ; and at the same time loving his
wealth far more than was consistent with his high preten-
sions of love to his neighbor, and concern about eternity.
Believing that Christ was a teacher sent from God, he wished
to know from him whether there was anything more which
he could do to strengthen the basis of hi« hopes, and to con-
A DEFECTIVE AMIABILITF. 9»
firm his assurance of salvation. It is important to remark ^
and to recollect, that in replying to him our Lord deals with
him on his own grounds. Christ neither disclaimed, in what
he said, his own divinity, nor preached to him the doctrine
of justification by works ; but merely asked him how with
his views of the person he then spoke to, he could address
him, and flatter him with a title which in its full meaning
belonged only to God. So also in telling him that if he kept
the commandments with absolute and unsinning perfection
from the beginning to the end of life, he would on the ground
of his own obedience be justified — his divine teacher did not
mean to say that such a thing as unsinning obedience would
be found in him or any one else ; but that if it really could
be found, it would justify the man who had it. Our Lord
soon showed to him, by the test he applied to his judgment
and conscience, that he was not so holy as he thought he
was ; for upon being commanded to go and sell his posses-
sions and give to his neighbors, which as he regarded Christ
as a divine teacher sent from God, he ought to have done —
he ^^ went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.''^
Thus proving that with all his professions of having kept the
law, he loved his money more than he loved God, or his
neighbor, and that the world was even then his idol. Now
we are not to suppose from this injunction of our Lord, that
no one can bo a Christian who does not dispose of the whole
of his property in alms-deeds. Christ laid down a general
principle, that supreme love of the world and earnestness
after salvation are incompatible with each other ; and gave
it such a special application and extent in this case as its
peculiarity required.
Still, we are told that, " when Jesus looked upon him he
loved him.'''' Love is a word of wide and comprehensive
98 THE YOUNG MAN's FRIEND.
meaning ; in some places signifying approval of, and com-
placency in, character ; in others, meaning nothing more
than a general interest and good will. There are sometimes
appearances in the character and conduct of those with
whom we have to do, that deeply interest us ; yet all the
while, there is much that we must condemn. This was the
case before us. The humanity of Christ partook of the
sinless instincts and properties of our own. His bosom was
susceptible of the emotions of friendship, and of all that is
honorable and graceful in our nature. On this occasion
there was something in the circumstances, character, and
manners of this young man, which attacted the heart of
Jesus to him — his youthful appearance was prepossessing —
his manners pleasing — his address courteous — his language
respectful — his disposition so deferential and docile that
Jesus beholding him loved him. He noticed, recognized, and
approved all the good qualities he possessed — he was inter-
ested in his youthful age, combined as it was with some
concern for religion ; he cherished benevolent wishes for his
welfare, and a friendly willingness to do him good This was
all ; his regard for what is holy and just and good, prevented
him from going farther His inward emotions all the while
amounted to lamentation, that so much seeming excellence
should be tainted with that which rendered it of no worth
in the sight of God, and of no avail to the young man's
salvation.
You see, my young friends, what was the defect in this
case — he possessed not the faith which overcomes the world.
He wished to unite two things utterly irreconcilable — the
love of God and the love of the world. He wanted to serve
two masters, God and Mammon. It was not vice and profli
gacy that kept him from true religion here, and from heaven
A DEFECTIVE AMIABILITY. 99
hereafter; it was the more decent and reputable sin of
supreme attachment to things seen and temporal. He could
give up many sins, but he could not give up his besetting sin
— supreme regard to wealth. He could do many things, but
he could not give up all to follow Christ. He could give up
vice, but he could not deny himself and take up his cross.
He had many good things, but he lacked that one thing
which alone could give holiness to them all. If vice had slain
its thousands, worldliness has slain its tens of thousands.
Of all the false gods mentioned in the last sermon, the
shrine of Mammon is most resorted to ; it is from that tem-
ple the broadest and most beaten path to perdition will be
found. In the crowd which press along that path, are to be
found not only the knaves, the cheats, and men of dishonor-
able character of every kind, but the men who follow what-
soever things are just, and honest, and true, and even lovely,
and of good report ; who yet withal rise to no higher grade of
moral excellence, and no more exalted character, than the
more just and honorable worshippers of this sordid deity.
Yes — even Mammon can boast of devotees, who though they
do not act from a principle of religion, yet scorn all that is
mean, dishonorable, and unjust. Consider the words of an
inspired apostle — " If any man love the world, the love of
the Father is not in him :" and begin life remembering that
in the broad road which leadeth to destruction, there is a
path for the lovers of the world, as well as for the lovers
of vice.
Before I go on to take up and consider the subject of
this discourse, there are a few remarks which may with
propriety be made upon the case of this young man viewed
in connection with our Lord's feelings towards him.
How much concern may in some cases be felt about reli-
100 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
gion, without the subject of that solicitude being truly reli-
gious. Here was some anxiety, earnestness, and inquiry — ■
yet no true, intelligent, and scriptural religion. A character
which is by no means uncommon. We sometimes see a tree
in spring so covered as to be one mass of flowers, beautiful
to the eye, and fragrant to the smell, and hopeful to the
owner ; and yet dropping all this upon the ground, and stand-
ing in autumn a collection of branches and leaves without a
single fruit. Alas, alas, how many persons resemble such
young trees, and excite the hopes of parents, ministers, and
others, by incipient appearances of religion, only to disap-
point them. Do not, my young friends, add to the number
of these promising, but deceptive appearances, and bitter
disappointments.
How much good and evil may be mixed up in the same
character ; requiring the most careful discrimination and
the most impartial exercise of judgment. Here were lovely
traits mixed, corrupted, and spoiled by others of an opposite
quality. In heaven and hell there are no mixed characters
— the former being inhabited by the purely good, and the
latter by the entirely bad. No speck is on the bright and
burnished surface of the former ; not a spot of brightness
relieves the black ground of the latter. On earth, however,
we frequently meet with a blending of apparently good and
really bad qualities. The fall of man, though it struck out
from the heart all that is holy towards God, did not extin-
guish all that is amiable towards man. Lapsed humanity is
not, indeed, as angelical as ignorant or false flatterers
would represent ; neither is it always as unlovely, diaboli-
cal, or brutal as its injudicious detractors would assert. If
no plant of paradise grows in man's heart till planted there
A DEFECTIVE AMIABILITY. 101
by grace, there are wild flowers of some beauty and pleas"
ant odor which relieve the dreariness of the wilderness —
" And waste their fragrance on the desert air."
Where this mixture exists, let us recognize it, and neither
allow the good to reconcile us to the evil, nor the evil to
prejudice us against the good. It is very disingenuous to
talk scandal in superlatives, as though every man who is a
sinner was a perfect villain.
The possession of some good qualities is no compensation
for the want of others ; nor any excuse whatever for the
possession of bad ones.. Nothing is more common than for
men to try to set up a sort of compromise between religion
and morality. Some imagine that attention to the duties of
the latter will release them from obligations to the former,
and the performance of their duty to man, serve instead of
what they owe to God ; while others seem to think the per-
formance of religious duties will exonerate them from their
obligations to truth, justice, and purity. So also in these
separate departments, attention to one branch of duty,
especially if rather strict and rigid, is thought to be a com-
pensation and atonement for the omission or violation of
others. It will not do. It is a deceptive and destructive
attempt. The Word of God repudiates this wicked com-
promise, and requires an absolute perfection, both of parts
and of degrees, both in reference to religion and morals. It
is one of the chief glories of the Bible, that it prescribes,
requires, and aids the acquisition of a complete character ; a
character in which piety towards God and morality towards
man ; the elements of heavenly and earthly excellence ; all
that is true, and beautiful, and good shall harmoniously
combine. Our Lord would not accept this young man'a
102
morality in excuse for his want of true piety ; nor his con-
cern about the future world as an apology for his love to tha
present one.
We should not fail to own and even love general excellence
wherever we find it, though it may not be in association
with sanctifying grace. It is good in itself and useful to
others, though it will not lead on its possessor to heaven.
An amiable youth, who is his parent's comfort, so far as
general excellence is concerned, even though he may not be
a partaker of true conversion to God, is not to be placed upon
a level with a profligate prodigal. We must not say of any
man, I hate him utterly and abhor him in all respects,
because he has not true holiness. Thus did not Christ act
towards this young ruler. He knew he was not holy, yet,
behold how he loved him.
Whatever general excellence we may see in those with
whom we have to do, and however we may admire and
commend it, we should still point out their defects, and
endeavor to lead them on to seek the supply of them.
This especially applies to a want of religion associated with
the possession of many excellencies. We are all too apt to
be thrown off our guard here, and to allow ourselves to
think there must be piety where there is so much besides
that is lovely : or if not, that it could add but little to such
excellence. It is to be recollected, however, that as long as
these general good qualities are associated with an unrenewed
and unsanctified nature, they are utterly destitute of that
only principle which can make them truly virtuous, which
alone can render them lovely in the sight of God, and which
alone can connect them with salvation. No false tenderness
to the feelings of such persons, no disposition to flatter
them, no regard to the opinions of others, should lead us to
A DEFECTIVE AxMIABILITY. 103
conceal from them what we know they are destitute of, and
which it is necessary they should possess in order to their
salvation. How faithfully did our Lord say — " One thing
thou lacked yet.''''
Our judgments in matters of morality and religion should
be formed by, and follow, that of God. The Bible is the
standard, and God the judge of true excellence. The con-
ventional opinions of men on these subjects are often very
different from those of God. He looks at the heart, while
man oftentimes looks no further than the outward bearing.
He looks at the state of the heart towards himself: man too
generally looks no further than the conduct towards society.
In reference to many a lovely specimen of general excellence,
man would ask the question — " What can be wanting here V
God replies — " Religion." Man asks further — '' What could
religion add to this ?" God answers — " The first of all
duties and excellencies, love to me." Man still q&estions —
" Would any one consign this to destruction .^" God re-
plies— " Is this what I demand for salvation ; or is it that
which constitutes a meetness for heaven .?"
It is important to remark the interest our divine Lord
takes in the welfare of the youngs and especially of young
MEN. There is nothing like this said of any other person
in all the Word of God. No other individual seems in the
same way to have called forth the sensibilities of our Lord.
That it was an exercise of his regard towards a particular
individual, is admitted ; but it may well be imagined it was
intended to be a type of his interest in a class, and that class
is yours, young men. Jesus looks from his throne of glory
upon you — addresses himself to you — is waiting for you — -
will receive you^ and that with special complacency. Go
6*
104 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND
back to the book of Proverbs, and see how conspicuous a
place you sustain in the attention of the writer.
But I go on now to discuss more particularly the subject
of this evening's discourse — a defective amiableness.
By amiableness we mean what in common discourse we call
good nature — a kindliness of disposition — a willingness to
oblige, sometimes united with a gentleness of manner, and a
lively frankness of conduct : that, in fact, which constitutes
general loveliness of character. Now this, so beautiful in
itself, may be, and often is, very defective in reference to
other important and necessary things.
First. — There are several general views that may be
taken of this defectiveness, which I will lay before you, be-
fore I come to that special case which is brought under re-
view in the text.
There is an amiableness, so called^ which is nothing better
than the Confounding of a good temper with an easy om
These two are very different : the former, as distinguished
from the latter, means a kindliness of nature — a disposition
to accommodate and oblige, which is under the regulation of
a sound judgment ; which is always watchful against the
undue influence of others, and can resolutely refuse to com-
ply with a request for any thing improper in itself, however
importunately solicited. Good temper may, and often does,
most firmly and even sternly say, "No." But an easy
temper rarely can or does. It has not the power to resist
entreaty, but allows itself to be persuaded by almost every-
body, and to almost every thing. Such a temper resembles
an osier, which any one that pleases can bend in any direc-
tion, and which in fact bends of itself before the gentlest
breexe. A good temper has eyes to see and examine, as
A DEFECTIVE AMIABILITY. 105
well as ears to hear — an easy temper is quick of hearing,
but stone blind : a good temper is self-moved and self-
governed — an easy temper is a mere automaton, which others
move and guide without any resistance of its own : a good
temper is a kind heart in association with a clear head — an
easy temper is all heart but no head. Such an easy temper is a
very dangerous one, and has led multitudes to their ruin.
Never surrender yourselves thus, even to your friends ; for
if you do, you may soon find yourselves in the hands of your
enemies. He is not your friend who desires to be your
master. Be a slave to no man. Never give away your
judgment ; and instantly dismiss from your society the in-
dividual whom you suspect of imposing upon good nature,
and who takes you for the poor dupe that has neither opinion
nor will of his own, but can be led to do anything by en-
treaty and coaxing. Acquire strength as well as beauty of
character. Learn to say, " No," as well as " Yes," and
how-to abide by it.
Sometimes we see much amiableness associated with much
ignorance. There is much that is really very kind and
obliging ; much to conciliate aflfection, but very little to
command respect. Hence the excellence that is in the
character does not do the good it might, for want of talent
or acquirement to give it weight. It is of such a person said
with a sneer, " Very good, but very weak." "VVe say, there-
fore, do not be an amiable fool — an obliging ignoramus — a
mere kind simpleton ; but cultivate your intellect, and let
knowledge recommend virtue. In this respect, as well as in
others, do not let " your good be evil spoken of."
It has not unfrequently occurred that amiableness has
unhappily been associated with infidelity and immorality
Perhaps more fre(|uently with the latter than with the former
106 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
Speculative infidelity has a tendency to make men cold, hard,
gloomy ; it freezes the genial current of the soul ; withers and
starves benevolence ; and petrifies the heart into selfishness.
But dissipation and vice are often frank and vivacious ; full
of mirth and merriment. Modern refinement in demorali-
zation has selected a term of some attraction to describe a
profligate, and he is said to be '"'' gay^ Colonel Gardiner
before his conversion was called " The Happy Rake." Of
all the characters on earth that are dangerous to you, and
should be shunned hy you, the amiable profligate is the one
most to be dreaded. The man of kind disposition, insinuating
address, polished manners, sparkling wit, and broad humor,
but of bad principles, or bad conduct, is the most seductive
agent of the Wicked One for the ruin of youth. It is the
fascination of the eye of the basilisk ; it is the glossy and
beautifully variegated skin of the serpent, concealing the fang
and the venom ; it is the golden chalice that contains the
poisonous draught ; or to reach the climax, it is Satan trans-
formed, if not into an angel of light, into a personification of
polished and attractive vice. Of such men beware.
Secondly. I now more particularly speak of amiable-
ness without religion.
I remark, that young men may^ and often do possess many
things that are lovely and interesting ^ while at the same, time
they are destitute of true piety. There may be a delicate
sensibility^ the heart may be susceptible, the imagination
glowing, and the feelings alive to whatever is tender,
pathetic, or heroic — and yet all the while there may be no
sense of sin, no gratitude to Christ, no love of God, no
delight in holiness, no aspirations after heaven. There may
be natural genius ; acquired knowledge ; large information ;
their possessor may be able to argue logically, to discourso
A DEFECTIVE AMIABILITY. 107
with ready conversational power, to the delight of friends
and the admiration of strangers — and yet one thing may be
lacking, for there may be no knowledge of God or of eternal
life : and over that mind which is so bright and so brilliant,
as regards the present world, may brood the darkness which
involves it in the shadow of death. You will sometimes see
a young man so eager in the pursuit of knowlege as to trim
the midnight lamp, and anticipate the dawn by his studies,
till his ey^e waxes dim, his cheek grows pale, and the seeds
of disease begin to spring up in his constitution, which has
become enfeebled by mental application ; and yet he cares
nothing for the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven — there
is one book he studies not, and that the best of books — and
one science he cares not to know, and that the science of
salvation. To such a man we say, in Foster's striking
language, " By what dexterity of irreligious caution did you
precisely avoid every track where the idea of God would
meet you, or elude that idea when it came ? What must
sound reason think of that mind, which amidst millions of
thoughts, has wandered to all things under the sun — to all
the permanent, or vanishing appearances of creation, but
never fixed its thoughts on the supreme reality, and never
approached like Moses to see that great sight." There may
be docility and meekness, gentleness of disposition, and the
utmost general loveliness of ckarader^ and yet none of tho
humility of genuine religion, nt»ne of the true poverty of
spirit, none of the meekness and gentleness of Christ, none
of the mind that was in Jesus. There may be unexception-
able sobriety — all the passions may be under the restraint.-?
of reason — all the propensities may be ruled by the nio.st
entire self-government — yet there may not be that holy
sober-mindedness, which is the subject of the apostle's
108 THE YOUNG MANS FRIEND.
exhortation, and which consists in keeping the great end of
life in view, and adopting such principles as are connected
with it. There may be the assiduities of an active benevolence
in young people, a willing co-operation in schemes of useful-
ness for the benefit of the nation or the world, or of some
particular class of objects of human compassion ; much labor
may be bestowed, much self-denial practised ; and yet all this
while there may be no working out their own salvation with
fear and trembling. There may be honesty and trustworthi-
ness as a servant, exemplary diligence and perseverance — and
yet there may be no giving diligence to the great work of
pleasing God, and no exercise of solicitude to serve the Lord
Jesus Christ, Yea, as in the case of the young man men-
tioned in the text, there may be some concern about religion,
a regular attendance on the ordinances of the sanctuary —
some occasional impressions and convictions — some transient
concern about -eternity — and yet there may be no entire
giving up sin and the world ; no complete surrender of the
soul to Christ ; no regeneration of heart ; no faith in Christ ;
no holiness. A man may know the truth and not love it :
he may hear the gospel and not believe it : he may contem-
plate the scheme of redemption and not improve it : he may
know something of the doctrine of the cross, and yet not
appropriate it for the salvation of his soul : and he may
speculate about the glory of the Saviour, and the suitable-
ness of his character and work, and yet not embrace the
Saviour, and receive his righteousness as the ground of his
everlasting hope.
It is most impressive and affecting to consider to what a
list of general excellencies, to what an assemblage of virtues,
in the same character, this sad declaration must be some-
times added, " Yet there is one thing lacking," 0 ! to look
A DEFECTIVE AMIABILITY. 109
successively upon the varied forms of unsanctified moral
beauty, as tliey pass before the searching eye of Christian
scrutiny, and to have to say to each as he goes by, " Yet
lackest thou the one thing needful !"
Thirdly. — Whatever may be possessed short of true
religion is, viewing man as an immortal creature, essentially
and ruinously defective. And in what other light than an
immortal creature can he be viewed, if we really include his
whole being, and his highest being } I will suppose, then,
the possession of many things, yea, I will carry the idea as
far as it can be carried, and will suppose the possession of
everything — except this one thing — true religion — and
in the lack of that, there is a chasm which all the rest can-
not fill up — a deficiency they cannot supply. To say of a
human being, a rational, sinful, and immortal creature, he
has everything — but religion ; is as if we should say of a
citizen, he has everything but patriotism — of a child, he has
everything but filial piety — of a husband, he has everything
but conjugal affection. It is just that want for which no
assemblage of acquisitions and other excellencies can be the
smallest substitute or -compensation. Collect a garland of
beautiful flowers, and wreathe them round the brow of a
corpse, lovely even in death, and ask, " What is wanting
here .^" And the very silence answers, — Life. This is a
just representation of the unsanctified excellencies of a
young person without religion. Look at this defect in
various relations.
1. To God. The other things may have no direct
reference to him, but this has, and this only. It is what he
demands. Some of the other things he leaves to your taste ;
but this he binds upon your conscience. He demands your
faith ; your love ; your submission ; your devotedness ; and
110 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
you are content with excellencies that have no reference
whatever to your Creator, Preserver, and Benefactor ! You
can be content to smile upon your fellow-creatures, and be
smiled upon by them, without ever asking, " Where is God,
my Maker, that I might enjoy the light of his countenance,
and reflect it back in gratitude and love ?" Is God just that
one being whom you might leave out of all consideration and
regard, and treat at least worthy of being acknowledged and
thought of? Is God just that one friend, whom it is quite a
venial sin to banish from the mind, and who is to be no
more regarded than if he were some idol in a temple of India ?
Is love to God just that one state of heart which can be best
spared from the virtuous affections, and by its absence make
no chasm? Shall you by civility, courtesy, good-nature,
seek to please and gratify every one besides, and not seek to
please God by religion ? Did it ever occur to you to ask,
" How must I appear in the sight of God himself, with this
one defect — a want of religion ?" How odious, indeed ! and
hateful, and desperately wicked, in his sight, must that one
defect make you appear I For him to see you the joy of your
friends, giving and receiving pleasure — but all this while no
communion with him maintained or even sought — no devout,
ennobling converse held with hiai — no sincere pouring out
the soul in the way of fervent desires for his illumination,
his compassion, his forgiveness, his transforming operations
— no earnest penitential pleading in the name of Christ, for
his favor ; no solemn, affectionate dedication of the whole
being to his service. Instead of all this, mere general
excellencies which give you good standing among your fellow-
creatures, but which have no more reference to him than if
he did not exist. Ah ! what a defect that one blank must
be in the sight of God.
A DEFECTIVE AMIABILITY. Ill
2. View it now in reference to the Bible , the book of Grod,
Itnd all the great subjects which it contains^ It was to
implant this one thing in your heart, that the Son of God
became incarnate, and died upon the cross — that the Holy-
Spirit was poured out — that the Scriptures were written —
that the law was given — that the Psalmist was inspired to
record his sorrows, confessions, aspirations, and devotions —
that prophets uttered their predictions — that apostles penned
their gospels and epistles. Heaven has opened and poured
forth its splendors and its revelations, not to make you
simply amiable, which you might have been without this
series of communications from the invisible world ; not
merely to bestow a few general ornaments upon the character,
leaving its substance unchanged, defective, and corrupt as
it is ; not merely to fit you to give pleasure in the circle
of your earthly friends, while still alienated from God and
holiness : Oh, no ! The Bible, that wondrous book, that
silent testimony for God and from him, was penned to bring
you under the influence of vital, experimental religion.
And yet you are content with amiabilities, with which you
might have been possessed, if this volume had never been
written ! The Bible, God's book, written by the inspiration
of God's Spirit, containing God's thoughts, expressed in
God's words, calls you then, not to mere general excel-
lencies, but to this one thing which you lack. Patriarchs,
priests, prophets, apostles, martyrs, all say to you, " Yet
lackest thou one thing." Every writer, every page, of the
holy book repeats the admonition.
3. View this defect in reference to yourselves. All other
things fall short of your faculties — your capacity — your
wants — your desires. Amiableness, intelligence, sprightli-
ness, do no^^ meet your cise, you noed something higher nnd
112 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
better. You want religion whether you desire it or not
You may to a considerable extent be ignorant of your neces-
sity in this respect, but it exists. It is the one thing which
you not only lack, but need. Religion is not to be viewed
as a thing which your Creator imposes upon you by a mere
arbitrary appointment, as if he would exact, simply in asser-
tion of his supremacy, and in requirement of homage from
his creature, something which in itself is foreign to the
necessities of your nature. It is not a kind of tree of know-
ledge of good and evil, a simple test of obedience. No.
*' By its intrinsic quality it so corresponds to your nature,
that the possession of it is vital, and its rejection, mortal, to
your felicity. From the spiritual principle of your soul,
there is an absolute necessity that it should be raised into
complacent communication with its Divine Original." It is
as much constituted to need this communication now and
for ever, as the child is to receive the nourishment which
Providence has laid up in the breast of its mother ; and it
seems as rational to suppose the infant could be satisfied and
fed, and made to grow by the ornaments that might be lav-
ished upon its robes, while the mother's milk is denied, as
that a soul formed to enjoy God can be satisfied with any
general excellencies of character, while religion which leads
to the fountain of true happiness is neglected : and if it be
not so exalted as to be placed in communion with God, it is
degraded and prostrated to objects which cannot by their
nature, adequately meet, and fill, and bless its faculties.
No matter what you are or what you have, if you have not
religion : for if you have not religion, you have not God :
you are without God. And what can make up for that
privation .'' Consider only one single view of such a situa-
tion, that of the loneliness of a human soul without God,
A DEFECTIVE AMIABILITY. 11.1
' ^ All otlier things are necessarily extraneous to tlie soul ;
they may communicate with it, but they are still separate
and without it, an intermediate vacancy keeps them for ever
asunder ; so that, till God, whose essence pervades all things^
comes in and is apprehended and felt to be absolutely in the
soul, the soul must be, in a sense, in an insuperable and
eternal solitude." But when religion comes into the soul,
then God comes to dwell in it, and thus " the interior, cen-
tral loneliness, the solitude of the soul, is banished by a
most perfectly intimate presence, which supplies the most
affecting sense of society — a society, a communion, which
imparts life and joy, and may continue in perpetuity."
Happy is the man, whose soul hath this one thing which
meets all its faculties, wants, and woes. What can the
other and lesser things do in time of sickness, of misfortune,
of bereavement, and of death } Will a sprightly disposition,
a merry temper, a humorous fancy, or even a well-stored
intellect, be of any service then ? What will these things
do in such circumstances } They may grow as flowers in
the path of life, but will they bloom in the valley of the
shadow of death } Infidelity indeed gives us one instance, I
mean Hume, who could find no higher or better employment
than playing cards, reading novels, or cracking jokes upon
Charon and his boat, in prospect of that eternity, which, with
his views, presented nothing but the shadows of eternal
night. Such levity ill comported with such anticipations ;
and was perhaps nothing better than the act of a timid boy
going through a church-yard at night,
" Whistling to keep his spirits up."
4. But view these defective things in reference to the day
of judgment and the scenes that follow. Yes, there is a daji
114 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
ordained, in which God will judge the world in righveous*
ness, by Jesus Christ. " Rejoice, 0 young man, in thy
youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth,
and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of
thine eyes ; but know thou that for all these things, God
will bring thee into judgment." Imagine that day were
come — that you heard the trumpet sound — that you saw the
dead rising from their graves — the world in flames — the
Judge descending — the great white throne fixed in the air —
the nations gathered round the dread tribunal, waiting their
doom. What an awful, ineffable, inconceivable scene — the
last day — the judgment of a world — the close of time — the
commencement of eternity — the opening of heaven and hell
to receive their everlasting inmates ! Conceive, young men,
conceive, if it be possible to grasp, to hold, to endure, the con-
ception, of your going up to the tribunal, to have your char-
acter scrutinized, and your doom pronounced, and when lis-
tening for the result, to hear only that dreadful sentence,
" Thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting.''''
Thy defective amiabilities are of no avail here. Thy good
nature — thy sprightly temper — thy varied intelligence — thy
attractive amenity — have not the weight of a feather, are
not the small dust of the balance, in which thy character is
determined. Thou hast lacked one thing — that one thing is
everything here. " Thoit, art weighed in the balances and
found wanting.''^ How, how will you endure that decision ?
It has been very strikingly observed, that " At the day of
judgment, the attention excited by the surrounding scene,
the strange aspect of nature, the dissolution of the elements,
and the last trump, will have no other efffect than to cause
the reflections of the sinner to return with a more over-
whelming tide upon his own character, his sentence, his un-
A DEFECTIVE AMIABILITY. 115
changing destiny ; and amidst the innumerable millions who
surround him, he will mourn apart. ''^
5. View it in relation to heaven. The loveliest of all dis-
positions, and the possession of the richest excellencies, apart
from faith in Christ, and the love of God, have no reference
to that state, and constitute no meetness for it. Heaven is
a holy place and state for holy people, and " Without holi-
ness no man shall see the Lord," whatever else he may have.
Will good temper, amenity of disposition, vivacity, wit, or
humor, alone prepare the soul for converse with God ? Are
these the things that meeten us for the communion of holy
angels and holy men in the presence of a holy God ? At
best such attainments are the flowers of an earthly soil, and
not the plants of Paradise. How completely would the
possessors of such qualities alone, without a holy, heavenly
taste and bias, find themselves out of their element in that
region of which holiness is the pervading character, an(?
which, while it attracts to itself all that is holy, rejects every-
thing else.
I now address myself to three classes of young persons.*
First. To those who have some things generally lovely
atul excellent in their character , bmt are destitute of true
religion, — to you that have sweet dispositions — or good talenta
— or acquired knowledge — or attractive wit and humor — or
vivacious temper — or all these together — but unsanctified b^
piety, unconsecrated to God, unemployed for Christ. Alas,
alas, what a wilderness of blooming weeds of various forms
and colors, but weeds still, 07ily weeds ; and as to any
influence upon your happy destiny in eternity, useless and
* Some of the sentiments and expressions in this conclusion, are
borrowed from Dr. Watts' Sermon on the same text, entitled, "A
nopeful Youth falling short o^ Heaven.
116 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
vain ; fbrming only a garland for the immortal soul on her
way to perdition, but no crown of amaranth for the glorified
spirit in heaven and eternity ; nor even any, the smallest
relief, under her miseries in that world of helpless despair to
which her want of religion must inevitably consign her.
With a fidelity which my regard to truth, to God, and your-
selves, alike require, I assure you that no amount of amiable
and interesting qualities, in the absence of religion, can by
possibility save you from the perdition that awaits ungodly
men. There is an infinite diversity both of kind and degree
in the sins to be found in the characters and conduct of unre-
newed and unsanctified men ; a difference as great as that
which exists between this amiable youth in the text, and
the blaspheming infidel and the vicious profligate ; and all
will be dealt with by a rule of proportion, but all must be
swept away together, the most beautiful weeds, and the most
noxious ones, with the besom of destruction ; and however
dissimilar and discordant while living and growing upon earth,
they will be blended in one common mass of irrecoverable
corruption. In unsanctified human excellence, that which
has no root in the love of God and the grace of the Holy
Spirit,- there is no imperishable principle ; no germ of divine,
heavenly, and immortal life ; it is, the very best of it, but of
the earth, earthy, — it must die in the soil from which it rises,
and can never be transplanted to the paradise of God. I pity
the young, the vigorous, the comely figures that neglect to
seek after divine grace, and that are ruined for ever by the
want of religion. I pity the man of sweet temper, without
sanctifying grace — of solid judgment, without sound piety —
of lively imagination, without a living faith — of attractive
manners, without himself being attracted to the cross of
Christ — of courtesy towards man, who yet cherishes enmity
A DEFECTIVE AMIABILITY. Il7
towards God — who is a polished gentleman, yet an uncon-
verted sinner — the admiration of his companions, and yet au
object of displeasure to his Creator. So much general
excellence infected by a deadly taint that corrupts it all !
How at the last day will such persons be mortified, enraged,
and tormented to see men preferred to themselves, whom
when on earth they despised as undeserving of their notice
— the men of ignorant minds, clownish manners, and rugged
exterior. Yes, but under all that outward repulsiveness were
concealed the principles of true religion — repentance towards
God, faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and a holy life. Much
that is amiable was wanting, but there was religious principle.
To see them owned by the Judge, exalted to his throne, and
crowned with his glory ; while unsanctified genius and irre-
ligious amiableness are rejected as reprobate silver — how
profoundly humiliating, how terribly exasperating to those
who then will be thrown aside by God as rubbish and refuse.
And following these rejected youths of unsanctified amiable-
ness onward to their eternal state, what miserable spectacles
do they present. You that were the life of every company
into which you came, and whose absence was mourned as
that of the charmer of the circle, — will your gay fancy
brighten the gloom of those regions of sorrow, or give airs of
gladness to those doleful shades to which you and they will
then be banished ! Will you by any of your present acquisi-
tions, be able to relieve yourselves or your companions of the
torture produced by the recollection that it was these very
arts of wit and humor, sometimes turned against religion,
that helped them on to that place of punishment } Will
sallies of wit, sportive jests, airs of merriment, playful
humor, beguile the dreadful round of the miseries of a lost
soul, and make the wheels of eternity move faster and lighter,
118 THK YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
as they did those of time ? How will you of soft and gentle
nature, of amiable disposition, bear the banishment to which
you will be condemned from the regions of peace and con-
cord, the paradise of love, the habitation of all holy friend-
ship ; and the imprisonment with demons and demon-like
men ? " How will your souls endure the madness and con-
tention, the envy and spite, of wicked angels ; you that
delighted on earth in works of peaee, what will you do when
your tender dispositions shall be hourly ruffled by the uproar
and confusion of these dark regions ? And instead of the
society of God and blessed spirits, ye shall be eternally vexed
with the perverse tempers of your fellow-sinners, the sons of
darkness ? 0 that I could speak in melting language or in
the language of effectual terror, that I might by any means
awaken your souls to jealousy and timely fear ! That so
many natural excellencies as God hath distributed among
you, might not be wasted in sin, abased to dishonor, and
aggravate your everlasting misery."*
I most earnestly exhort you to supply the defect to which
this sermon has directed your attention, and admonish you
to add to all that is amiable, that which is holy ; to all that
is lovely in the sight of man, that which is well-pleasing in
the sight of God ; to all that is earthly in the way of excel-
lence, that which is heavenly, divine, and eternal. Bear in
vivid recollection what it is you need. You have, or are
supposed to have, attractive endowments of mind, or heart,
or character — but not real, decided, spiritual religion. And
will that religion, if you have it, interfere with any of your
other excellencies ? Will it displace them to make room for
itself ; Will it pull up all those flowers and throw them
away, as inimical to its own nature, and prejudicial to its own
* Dr. Watts.
A DEFECTIVE AMIABILITY. 119
growth ? Nothing of the sort. Amiableness is homogene-
ous with religion — the former is loveliness in the sight of
man, and the latter is loveliness in the sight of God. When
the grace of Grod enters the soul of man, what it finds beauti-
ful it makes more beautiful. It comes not like the cold'chills
and dark shadows of evening or of winter to shut up the
flowers, and hide their beauties, and nip their strength ; but
like the rising sun, to open their petals, to reveal their beau-
ties, to brighten their colors, to exhale their fragrance, and
to invigorate their strength. Religion is itself the chief
amiableness, and the cherisher of all other kinds. Hence it
is that holiness is everywhere called beauty.
Secondly. There is another class I would briefly address,
I mean those who are as defective in amiableness as they are
in religion. Alas, how many are there of this character, who
have neither gentleness nor graciousness ; who are possessed
neither of the beauties of holiness, nor the attractions of
kindness, godliness, and courtesy ; but who are as unlovely
as they are ungodly ; and have scarcely any to take delight
in them either in heaven or upon earth. Morose, ungentle,
unaccommodating in their disposition, they are incapable of
enjoying happiness, and unwilling to impart it. They have
oven no external and tinsel ornaments to compensate for the
want of internal and substantial excellencies. They are like
flowers which have no beauty of color to divert attention
from their ofi'ensive color ; like fruits which are as bitter to
the taste as they are unsightly to the eye ; like "certain ani-
mals, whose outward characteristics are offensive to every
sense, and whose flesh is unfit for food. Unhappy young
men ! See them at home ; they are tyrannical, morose, selfish,
domineering, the troublers of domestic peace, the constant
cause of disquiet and disturbance. Even to their parents
120 THE YOUNG MAN's FRIEND.
thej are ungrateful, disrespectful, and wayward : unmelted
by a mother's gentle influence, unsubdued by a father's mild
authority, and unsoftened by the gentle fascination of a sister's
love And how often do they go still farther in this want of
amiableness, and by adding immorality and profligacy to
unloveliness, do much to break a mother's heart, and bring
down a father's grey hairs with sorrow to the grave ! Ah,
how many fratricides and matricides walk our earth, which
no law but that of God can arrest, and no justice but that of
heaven punish ! How many carry the heart of a savage
under the name of a son ; and the poison of asps under their
tongues and in their tempers, and towards even their parents
transvenom all emotions of filial piety into the wormwood
and gall of intense hatred of those to whom they owe their
very existence ! What an object of abhorrence must such a
youth be to that divine Saviour who evinced in the subject of
this sermon not only his sensibility to the beauties of holi-
ness, but to the loveliness of general excellence. Is there
such a youth attending to me at this moment — go, young
man, from this discourse to your closet, your Bible, your
knees, and your God, and implore that grace which has said,
" Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead
of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree."
Thirdly. I address those who are in earnest after reli-
gion^ and who really possess its essential principles, but
are somewhat deficient in the more lovely and ornamental
beauties of the Christian character. This is not a defective
amiableness merely, but a defective religion. And observa-
tion convinces us that it is no suppositious character. It
ought not to exist, but it does. Religion, in itself the very
type of all that is true, and good, and beautiful, should draw
after it every thing else that is beautiful. The supreme J Dve-
V DEFECTIVE AMIABILITY. 121
liness should command the subordinate, but it does not
always. It must be sorrowfully admitted that a mind en-
lightened by the Spirit of God — a heart renewed by divine
grace— -a life regulated by Christian principle — are not always
associated, in a proportionate degree, with the ornament of a
meek and quiet spirit, an amiable temper, and a courteous
demeanor. We have sometimes seen a form of distinguished
personal beauty disfigured by a want of cleanliness and a
slovenly attire. The exquisite symmetry could not be alto
gether concealed ; but how much more attractive would it
have appeared with other and more suitable accompani-
ments ! So it is with character ; there may be real beauty
of holiness, but in sad and slovenly attire of temper.
Changing the illustration, I may observe, the brilliancy of
the most valuable diamond may be hidden by earthly
incrustations ; the lustre of gold may be dimmed for want
of polish ; and the most majestic portrait be half covered
with dust or mildew. So religion, which is more precious
than rubies, more valuable than gold, and the very image of
God in the soul of man, may have its worth and its excel-
lence depreciated by infirmities of temper and a want of
amiable deportment. Religious young men, be amiable as
well as pious : not only your happiness, but your usefulness
requires it. You know that vice has not unfrequently its
attractions in the amiabilities with which it is associated,
and that some are reconciled to it on this ground. It is
equally true that religion may have its repulsions, and that
some may be driven from it by these partial deformities.
Be it then your desire, your endeavor, your prayer, to unite
the holy and the amiable ; let the diamond with its flashing
hues be thus seen in its most tasteful setting — the gold in
ita brightest polish — and the picture exhibiting the freshes*
122 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
colors, and surrounded by the richest frame. Win you!
companions to piety by the attractions with which in your
case it is associated. Make them feel that religion is not
the frowning and spectral form they have been accustomed
to consider it ; a gloomy spirit that cannot smile ; a vampire
that sucks the life's blood of joy from the soul of youth.
On the contrary, let them see that it is angelical and not
demoniacal in its nature, which with a seraph's sacred fervor
combines his sweetness, gentleness, and ineffable loveliness.
It is this which while it will prepare you to pass through life
blessing and being blest, happy in yourself and diffusing
happiness around you, will also prepare you for the immortal
felicities of the celestial world. " It is this which trans-
ferred to heaven will kindle with new and immortal lustre,
and will be set in that constellated firmament of living and
eternal splendors. Of that brilliant world, that region where
all things live, and shine, and flourish, and triumph for ever
and ever, the glory, the excellence, is eminently the union
of all that is holy and all that is lovely. There, all are
brethren, and all love, and are loved as brethren. All are
divinely amiable, and excellent friends. Every one possesses
in absolute perfection the moral beauty that is loved, and
the virtue which loves it. Every one, conscious of unmingled
purity within, approves and loves himself for that divine
image, which in complete perfection, and with untainted
resemblance, is enstamped upon his own character. Each
in every view which he casts around him beholds the same
glory shining and brightening in the endless train of his
companions ; one in nature, but diversified without end in
those forms and varieties of excellence by which the original
and eternal Beauty delights to present itself to the virtuous
universe. There, every one conscious of being entirely
A DEFECTIVE AMIABILITY. 123
lovely, and entirely loved, reciprocates the same love to that
great multitude^ which no man can number ^ of all nations^
kindreds^ and tongues, and which fill the immeasurable
regions of heaven. Out of this character grows a series,
ever varying, ever improving, of all the possible communi-
cations of beneficence, fitted in every instance only to
interchange and increase the happiness of all. In the sun-
shine of Infinite complacency, the light of the new Jerusalem,
the original source of all their own beauty, life, and joy, all
these happy nations walk for ever^ and transported with the
life-giving influence, unite in one harmonious and eternal
hymn to the great Author of all their excellencies and all
their enjoyments — Blessing and honor j and glory^ and wiS'
dom and thanksgivings he unto Him who sitteth on the throm^
for ever and ever. Amen
THE YOUNG MAN PERPLEXED BY RELIGIOUS
CONTROVERSY
'• What is truth ?'' John xviii. 38.
Such was the momentous question which Pilate proposed
to the illustrious and holy martyr who then stood as a
prisoner at his bar. It has been said there are two things in
the Scripture account of this circumstance which surprise
us — the silence of Christ, and the indifference of his judge.
It is surprising that Christ should not answer such a ques-
tion— and no less so, that Pilate should not press it till he
obtained an answer. One of these wonders is the cause of
the other, and if you consider them in connection, your
astonishment will cease. The levity of the querist was the
cause of the silence of the oracle. Truth in awful majesty,
though veiled and insulted, stood before him, and indignantly
refused to unfold its secrets and its glories to one who dis-
covered such frivolity on such a subject. It was the ques-
tion on his lips of idle curiosity, not of deep solicitude ;
which came from the surface, and not from the lowest depths
of the heart. If Christ had gratified Pilate's curiosity, well j
PERPLEXITY OF RELTGIOrS CONTROVERSY. 125
but he did not think truth of sufficient importance to inquire
after it a second time.
The conduct of Pilate to Jesus and of Jesus to Pilate is
repeated every day. Multitudes, by a little attention to re-
ligion and their Bibles, a^k, " What is truth .?" but it is in
such a careless and undevout manner, that Jesus Christ
leaves them to wander in their own dark and miserable con-
jectures. Hence so many prejudices ; hence so many erro-
nous opinions of religion ; hence so many dangerous delu-
sions, in what is called the Christian world.
Still there have been very many who in sober and solemn
inquisitiveness have asked the question, " What is truth ?"
Myriads of human intellects of the highest order have
engaged in the pursuit of this great object ; and as regards
scientific knowledge, have by demonstration and experi*
ment echoed in unison, and with something of the rapture with
which it was originally uttered, the Eureka of Archimedes.
But in reference to moral and religious truth, how multitu-
dinous, and how contradictory are the voices which answer
the inquiry ! If we may judge from the present state and
aspect of Christendom, the day is far distant when the
response to the question shall come forth in a grand uni-
vocal reply, " This is truth." Hence the perplexities of
many young persons at the outset of their religious life.
Many things, young men, will perplex you at the outset
of a religious life, and tend in the early stages of your
inquiry into this momentous subject, to embarrass you. The
mysterious nature of the whole subject of religion, so far as
it relates to divine, heavenly, and eternal truths ; the general
neo'lect of the subject in any earnest manner by the multi-
tude around you ; and the lukewarmness and inconsistency
of many of those who make a profession of it ; will all be apt
126 '.
to produce an unfavorable impression upon your mind, to
shake your resolutions, and render your steps hesitating and
faltering. There is also another cause of perplexity, which
is the subject of this evening's discourse ; I mean the number
of religious sects, the diversity of creeds, and the ceaseless
and yet unsettled controversies which prevail throughout all
Christendom. Amidst such diversity, you are bewildered ;
and amidst such contentions, distracted, and ready to aban-
don the subject in hopeless despair of arriving at the truth.
I sympathize with you, my young friends, in your difficul-
ties, and have met you this evening with a discourse which is
intended, by God's blessing, to extricate, relieve, and guide
you ; and which if it do not remove — for what can remove
the difficulty — may do something to lessen it.
First.— I will state particularly what if is that perplexes
you. I descend into the depths of your secret thoughts, and
I find there some surprise that on such a subject as roligion,
especially with a revelation from God, there should be any
controversy, or any room for controversy at all. You may
be ready to suppose that all would be so plain as to preclude
the possibility of diversity, controversy, or mistake. But, do
men think alike on any other subject ? Is there consenta-
neousness of opinion on any one topic that is sustained only
by moral evidence ? Was there, for instance, ever a statute
of law passed, which is usually so framed as to exclude if
possible all diflperences of opinion, about which lawyers might
not as to some of its clauses raise doubts and difficulties, and
express differences of opinion .? Is not a written revelation
from God, inasmuch as it relates to subjects foreign from our
ordinary matters, remote from our senses, and out of the
usual track of our thoughts, just that one thing about which
beyond all others, diversity of opinion might be expected '
PERPLEXITY OF RELIGIOtS CONTROVERSY. 127
Consider the thousands of propositions contained in the
Bible ; consider the ambiguities of language ; the mysterious-
ness of the subjects ; the endlessly diversified temperament of
the human mind and circumstances in which that mind is
placed ; and you will see at once that nothing short of an
astounding and constant miracle could produce absolute
uniformity of opinion. Nor is this all ; for such is the cor-
ruption of the human mind, that it is not only on this ground
likely to go wrong in its judgments, but it is actually opposed
with very strong dislike to many of the truths revealed, and
which on that account it really wishes and attempts to
pervert, as being too humbling for its pride, too pure for its
depravity, and too authoritative for its love of independence.
Here, again, we see reason to abate our surprise at this
diversity of opinion.
2. The young inquirer about religion is not unfrequently
scandalized and disgusted, by the bitterness of sectarianism,
and the rancor with which controversy is conducted. He
sees the evil passions of our corrupt nature, " malice, wrath,
and all uncharitableness," as rife in the writings, and there-
fore in the hearts, of religious polemics, as they are in those
of the fiercest political antagonists ; and he says in thought-
ful seriousness, '' Was not Christianity sent to produce
peace on earth, and good will to men 1 Is it not said that
love is its gardinal excellence ? Can these men, any of
them, really believe in the Christian religion, which places
charity at the top of the Christian virtues r" We say to you
without hesitation, all this bitterness is wrong, cannot be
justified, and is condemned by the volume about which they
contend. To speak the truth in love is one of its own
injunctions. But recollect that even the best of men are
imperfect, and that nothing so strongly appeals to oui
6*
128 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
imperfections, and brings them into such activity, as contra-
diction and controversy. It is not true to say there is more
bitterness in theological controversy, than in any other kind
— but it is true that there ought to be less. One thing
should not be forgotten, that the importance of the subject
naturally renders men more earnest than any other, and that
earnestness, it must be admitted, too generally degenerates
into unseemly violence and bitterness. There is in every
human heart, however morally excellent and holy, some cor-
ruption lying underneath its excellencies, which by contro-
versy is too often brought to the surface, just as the sediment
at the bottom of clear water, is stirred up by the agitation
of the vessel.
3. The equal mental power with which opposing systems
are maintained, is to a mind unskilled in dialectics, and
unable to detect the fallacies which lurk, and the sophistries
which abound, in erroneous ratiocination, often very trying.
It is admitted, for it is impossible to question it, that great
ability is. possessed and displayed by all parties, by the com-
batants for error as well as for truth, in the arena of religious
strife. And who can wonder, since the Father of lies has
perhaps the most wonderful intellect in the universe, next to
God and Christ. In contending armies upon the field of
battle, equal courage, skill, and prowess, are often displayed
for a long time by both sides, the wrong as well as the right ;
and a spectator of the awful conflict might be at a loss to
determine whfch would gain the victory, and which ought to
gain it. There is no error so palpable even to common sense,
but what may be defended with arguments so ingenious as to
defy ordinary minds in the attempt to detect their fallacies
and expose their sophistries. Truth is often with the weaker
party ; I mean weaker in the use of dialectic weapons.
PERPLEXITY OF RELIGIOUS CONTROVERSY. 129
A skilful polemic may often make error appear more
plausible than truth.
4. The apparent equality of moral excellencies in the
advocates of opposing systems of opinions, is sometimes per-
plexing ; and in some cases, even a superior amiableness may
seem to be with those who advocate error, as we consider it,
to those who contend for truth. It must not be forgotten
that religious truth is intended to produce two results, love
to God and love to man. In other words, morality and
piety. Remember this, and it is of vast importance you
should remember it. Penitence, faith, inward holiness, de-
voutaess, heavenliness, are all parts of religion, without
which the fairest morality, and most beautiful amiableness,
are in the sight of God, nothing worth ; and will be found
totally unavailing to salvation. There may be much general
amiableness without an atom of genuine piety. The only
true standard of moral excellence is the Bible, and that
places God before us as the first object of regard. Systems
as well as men are to be judged of by their fruits ; but then
we must always ask what kind of fruits they are designed to
produce. Bible truths must produce Bible fruits, and these
are something more than the moralities, amiabilities, and
courtesies of life, valuable, and necessary, and important as
these are.
5. The present unsettled state of controversy finishes the
perplexity. It would seem as if we were no nearer the
adjustment of our differences than ever. The sects are as
numerous, the creeds are as various and as diverse, and the
contests as eager as ever, after all the ratiocination which
has been employed, and the volumes which have been
written through so many ages. But surely this should not
Skdd. much to your difficulty, for if diversity of opinion exist
130 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
at any time, it may be expected to exist at all times. Men's
minds are constituted alike in all ages, and may be expected
to diiTer in all ages. That under the greater prevalence of a
more earnest piety, and the establishment of sounder canons
of criticism and interpretation, aided by the dispensations of
Providence, and a more copious effusion of the Holy Spirit,
greater approximation of sects and opinions will take place,
may no doubt be expected ; and for that state of things all
should devoutly pray and hope.
In looking at this prevalence of diversified opinion, and
seemingly endless coutroversy, let us inquire if while admit-
ting it to be an evil, we may not discover some good, which
by the ordering of Providence will not be and even now is
brought out from it :
Does not this diversity of sects, and sharpness of contro-
versy, effectually tend to preserve the purity of the sacred text
of the Bible ? Suppose there were in some large town one
public reservoir, from which all the inhabitants drew their
supplies of water ; and suppose further, there were some
considerable diversity of opinion as to the real quality and
properties of the water, which all, however, considered to be
necessary; would they not all watch each other that no
liberty whatever was taken with the common source, to
corrupt it by infusing into it anything which would make it
more agreeable to their views and tastes, or to diminish the
supply, or indeed to take any other freedom with this
common benefit ? They may sometimes dispute, and very
sharply too, about the quality of the water, and some bad
feeling might be generated in the course of their disputes,
but still their natural jealousies would make them jointly
protectors of the reservoir, and guardians of its purity and
preservation. Something like this occurs in the diversities
PERPLEXITY IN RELIGIOUS CONTROVERSY. 131
of sects ; they have the Bible common to them all, and on
which they all profess to be founded. They differ in opinion
as to its contents, but then this very difference makes them
keep a sharp look-out upon each other, to see that none of
them corrupt the text, either by way of interpolation,
emendation, or excision. Such attempts indeed in earlier
ages have been made, but they have been detected and
exposed. Copies multipled by millions, in various languages,
and held in the hands of various churches and denominations
prevent this now. The existence of sects and controversies
guarantees to us a pure and uncorrupted Bible^
Then does it not tend to make the Bible more examined
and thoroughly searched ? How little is this book explored
in Popish countries, where differences of opinion are re-
pressed and controversy forbidden ! How much more gold
is brought up in California, where any one may dig and ex
plore for himself, than in those places where the mines are a
royal monopoly, and none may dig but by authority ! What
additions are made to the stock of our scriptuial knowledge,
where the stern voice of the Church forbids the exercise and
right of private judgment, the publication of individual opinion,
and the existence and maintenance of controversy. Even if
error by this means could be shut out, how much of truth is
excluded with it .'* How little as compared with Protestant
writers have Roman Catholics added to our stores of Biblical
knowledge ?
Has not God overruled the zeal of party for the spread of
his cause ? Do not the sects quicken each other's zeal by
the power of rivalry } Is not this the case both at home and
abroad ? I acknowledge that in this zeal there is an infusion
of sectarianism, and so far it is a corruption, but there is
nothing absolutely pure in our world, and this very infusion
132 THE YOLNG MAn's FRIEND.
may stimulate the efforts of the zealot. A propagator of
Methodism ; or Church of Englandism ; or Presbjterianism ;
or Baptism ; or Independency ; may be stimulated in his
efforts to spread his particular opinions, by some sectarianism ;
but still with these he carries something more, and something
better, for he carries with him the gospel of salvation. I
have no doubt that sectarianism does add something to our
zeal even in our Home and Foreign Missions, and so far may
seem to corrupt it ; but on the other hand it prevents us from
sinking into a state of inertness and stagnancy. The Roman
Church tells us she can do this without the rivalry of sects.
This is not quite true. It is this very rivalry which has in
part enabled her to gain her wide extent and dominion.
Witness her various orders, and especially that of the
Jusuits, and the controversy between the Jesuits and the
Jansenists — between her various orders of monks — and her
Gallican and Ultramontane opinions.
The existence of this diversity gives occasion also — alas
that so few should be forward to avail themselves of it, —
for manifesting our forbearance towards each other ^ and
bringing into exercise that " charity which is the bond of
perfectness." It would be diflScult to say which would be the
most beautiful spectacle, a church uniform in opinion, or
somewhat multiform in sentiment, yet maintaining a unity
of spirit in the bond of peace.
We thus see that some good may be brought out of the
evil of controversy and the prevalence of sectarianism.
The entrance of moral evil into God's wise, benevolent, and
holy administration, seemed to he evil, and only evil ; yet how
has God overruled it for a brighter and completer manifesta-
tion of his character.
Secondly. I shall now advert to the wronor methoda
PERPLEXITY OF RELIGIOUS CONTRl VERSY. 133
which some adopt to relieve themselves of the perplexity
occasioned by this diversity. In some cases it may lead, or
tend to lead, either to general scepticism, or to a total aban-
donment of all religion, under a despair of ever finding out
the truth. Men are apt to say, " We will give it all up, for
who amidst such endless diversity can hope to find the truth ?
But is this rational ? Do men act thus in other matters
about which much diversity prevails ? Do they give up poli-
tics because of the numerous parties into which on that con-
troverted subject men are divided ? Do they abandon the
subject of finance, political economy, and metaphysics, on
this ground ? And why should they do it in religion ? How
many have found out what they conceive to be the truth, and
are reposing in peace upon their convictions ? And why may
not you ? Abjure then the idea of abandoning religion on
this ground. You will find this to be no excuse at the day
of judgment. God has given you an intellect capable of
investigating the subject and will hold you responsible for
the exercise of it in this particular. Men are divided in
opinion upon food and medicine ; upon the best means of
promoting health ; and will you therefore give up all care
about the best way to maintain your life, health, and comfort }
Truth is to be found somewhere, and it is an indolent dis-
position which leads us to give up the pursuit, because we do
not by a kind of intuition, or at any rate, a hasty first view of
the subject, know what it is, and where it is to be found.
You must search after it. Your salvation depends upon
your finding and embracing those truths with which it is con-
nected. Multitudes have found it, and so may you.
Some few persons, unable to decide upon the truth as
regards doctrines^ have contented themselves with observing
as they suppose, the 'practical parts of religion, and have
134 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
relinquished all care about what they call dogmas. They
have attempted to construct a religion which is irrespective
of the peculiarities of sect or creed ; and which shall consist
wholly of moral duties, with perhaps a few exercises of
general devotion. This is deism. It is true they thus get
rid of controversy, but at the same time they get rid of
Christianity also. The Scriptures are set aside entirely, and
all the great facts and truths of revelation are entirely repu-
diated. The Bible is not merely a code of morals to be
obeyed and practised, but a declaration of facts and truths to
be believed. Scripture ethics rest on Scripture doctrines.
Faith^ and not merely practice^ is the demand of revelation.
But the great and effectual relief from the perplexities of
controversy is supplied, it is alleged, by Popery. The
Church of Rome professes that it is itself, by its doctrine
and discipline, as set forth in its councils, canons, and creeds,
a living perpetual tribunal, to decide all matters of religious
faith and practice, and thus to prevent all controversy. All
doctrines are settled and determined for its members by
the church, as the authoritative and infallible expounder of
the truth. This is the lure it holds forth to those who are
without its pale ; who are perplexed with controversy, and
distracted by religious strifes, and the multitudes of religious
sects — " Come with us, we are the true church, possessing
authority and infallibility to decide upon doctrine, which is
thus ready provided for all its members, without the labor
of inquiry, the pain of suspense, the disquietude of doubt,
or the peril of mistake. Receive the faith of the church,
and believe as the church believes ; which guarantees your
safety in all that you receive with this implicit faith. You
will thus be taken out of the divisions, distractions, and
controversies of Protestantism, and find rest for your weary
PERPLEXITY OF RELIGIOUS CONTROVERSY. 13o
sciul in the lap and on the bosom of your Holy Mother, the
Church."
This is somewhat attractive it must be confessed, and if
it were true would be quite satisfactory ; but it is awfully
deceptive. Where in the Scripture is any church invested
with the authority to be a living umpire, and to decide all
controversies } Where is there any allusion to such a tribu-
nal } Is it not to the Scripture, and not to the church, we
are every where directed for settling the question, " What is
truth .?"
Even if the church were this living tribunal, we contend
that the Papacy so far from being the true church, is an
awful apostacy, and repugnant to every part of the New
Testament. Instead of being the judge of truth, it is a false
witness, whose testimony is a compound of the most palpa-
ble falsehoods, and soul-destroying errors ; whose continued
voice speaketh lies in hypocrisy. The claim of the Church
of Rome to infallibility, which is the basis of the living
tribunal, is repugnant alike to reason, to Scripture, and to
the facts of her own history. It acknowledges that infalli-
bility is not the attribute of its individual members, but
only of the collective body, assembled in a General Council.
But is it not an universal law of logic, that what is in the
genus must be in the species } If, therefore, the collective
body is infallible, so must be its individual members. How
can a collection of fallibles, multiply them as you will,
make up an infallible ? Besides, the Church of Rome is
not yet decided, and never has been, where this infallibility
resides ; whether in the Pope without a General Council — -
a General Council without a Pope — or a Pope and a General
Council. Thus the claim is repugnant to reason. It is
equally so to Scripture, which in a thousand places admits
136 THK TOITXG man's friend.
the liability of all men to err ; except such as are under a
Divine inspiration. Nor is the claim less contradictory to the
history of Romanism, which declares that Pope has been
against Pope; the same Pope against himself; and Council
against Council. There is scarcely a doctrine of Popery
which has not been the subject of controversy within the
bosom of the Papal community. The variations of Popery
have been almost as numerous as those of Protestantism.
Where then is its infallibility ?
The claim of the Church of Rome to be this living
tribunal, which is to settle once for all and for every body
what is truth, and to prevent all controversy by forbidding
the exercise of private judgment, is in direct contradiction to
the Word of God, which calls upon every man for himself to
"search the Scriptures," " to prove all things," and " hold*
fast that which is good."
To constitute the church the tribunal which is to decide for
us what is truth, without our examination of the Scriptures
for ourselves, is to make all its members believers in the
church rather than in the Word of God, and thus to put the
church in the place of the Bible as the object of faith.
This method of deciding controversies, and settling the
question what is truth, renders the Scriptures all but useless
for the people ; and therefore is very consistent with the
prohibited indiscriminate use of the Scriptures by them.
This scheme is an utter degradation of man's nature as a
rational being, and is a plan never adopted in reference to
any thing else. Who would endure such a method of deter-
mining questions of literature, science, politics, law, or art ?
Why, therefore, should man's own inquiry be debarred on
the most momentous of all topics, and he be exposed to the
PERPLEXITY OF RELIGIOUS CONTROVERSY. 137
consequences of eternal ruin by implicitly trusting to the
judgments of others ?
How is any man to know whether he really believes what
the church believes, and all it believes ? Who can search
the numberless folios which contain the faith of the church,
and be satisfied that he has not omitted something which
the church requires of him ? And though creeds drawn up
by Popes, and catechisms and manuals by learned doctors
and eminent bishops, may be put into the hands of the
people, yet as no individual man, however elevated, even the
Pope himself, is infallible, how is any one to be satisfied that
there is no error in these compositions ? Besides, as no one
can have access to the church except as it is represented
to him by some individual priest, who is in the place of both
God and the church to him ; how can any one be sure, since
that individual priest is fallible, but that he may err in the
views he may give of the church's doctrine ?
This living tribunal by suppressing controversy destroys
liberty, and turns the whole subject of religion into a matter
of slavish submission to human authority. And with liberty,
piety also to a considerable extent expires. The dull unifor-
mity produced by the compulsion of authority, would be no
compensation for the loss of that activity and spirit which
are kept alive by the neighborhood and zeal of rival sects.
" The Gallican Church no doubt looked upon it as a signal
triumph when she prevailed upon Louis XIV. to repeal the
Edict of Nantes, which by refusing toleration to the Huo-ue-
nots, suppressed the voice of controversy and the existence of
sects. But what was the consequence } Where shall we
look after this period, for her Fenelons and her Pascals }
Where for the distinguished monuments of piety and learn-
ing, which were tlie glory of her better days } x\s for piety,
]38 TnE YOUNG man's friend.
she perceived she had no occasion for it, when there >-d3
no lustre of Christian holiness surrounding her ; nor for
learning, when she had no longer any enemies to confute, or
any controversies to maintain. She felt herself at liberty
to become as ignorant, as secular, as irreligious as she
pleased ; and amidst the silence and darkness she had
created around her, she drew the curtains and retired to rest.
The accession of numbers she gained by suppressing her
opponents, was like the small extension of length a body
acquires by death ; the feeble remains of life were extinguish-
ed, and she lay a putrid corpse, a public nuisance, filling the
air with pestilential exhalations."*
Such then are the objections to a living and infallible
tribunal for the decision of controversy, as claimed by the
Church of Rome.
But, perhaps, it will be asked whether all denominations
do not put forth creeds, articles, and catechisms, which they
not only teach, but the belief of which is required by their
members. Certainly, as acknowledged symbols of their
views of the Word of God ; but these they allow every man
to test by the Scriptures, and to reject them if he sees fit.
They are held forth to guide, but not to compel. They are
proposed^ but not imposed. They are submitted for exami-
nation and instruction to the judgment, but they are not
made to bind the conscience.
• You see then, young men, that the perplexities of contro-
versy must not be avoided by surrendering up your judgment
into the hands of priests ; but you are to employ it diligently
for yourselves in coming to a conclusion upon the various
questions which divide and agitate the religious world.
Thirdly. The question, however, comes back — What
* Robert Hall on " Zeal without Innovation."
PERPLEXITY OF RELIGIOUS CONTROVERSY. 139
is to be done ? How is the mind to be relieved from its per-
plexity in listening to the contradictory views which reply
to the question, What is truth ? Is an inquirer to set about
to read and study the religious opinions of all the denomina-
tions in existence ? That would be an endless and needless
labor. It would be a useless consumption of time, and
would only end in still deeper and more painful perplexity.
Take the case of any other book than the Bible, — a legal
statute, or a history, or any other document, about which a
great diversity of interpretation existed, and which was in
your own hands, would you in order to know its true mean-
ing think it necessary to read all these clashing opinions ?
No ! You would say, " I will read and study the document
itself. I have it in my possession in the vernacular tongue,
and I will read and judge for myself." Act thus in reference
to the Bible and religious differences.
1. Study the Scriptures. Search the Word of God for
yourselves. Be intimately acquainted with your Bibles,
especially the New Testament. But there is a right and a
wrong way of doing this. The exhortation to search the
Scriptures is expressive of a particular state of mind, as well
as of an outward duty. Carry no preconceived nations to the
Bible., with which it is your previous determination to make
everything square. Read the Word of God with a simple
and sincere desire to know its real meaning. In reading the
Scriptures there must be no attempt to try what, by the aid
of a perverted ingenuity and a previous bias, they may be
made to say ; but a simple desire to know what they do say.
Read with entire and absolute impartiality, just as you would
the prescription of a physician who had given you directions
for food and medicine,- to restore and preserve your health.
Let there be a humble and teachable disposition. '' Receive
140 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
with meekness the ingrafted word." " The meek will h«
guide in judgment, the meek will he shew his way." " Ex-
cept ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall
in no case enter into the kingdom of God." And whatever
exercise of our intellect may be carried on, and however con-
vinced we may be that the intellect must be exercised, there
should be associated with this a humble and wholesome
distrust of our own understanding. In searching the Scrip-
tures we must consider their design as well as their meaning ;
that they are intended not only to communicate knowledge,
but faith and holiness. The Bible is a book to make us
wise unto salvation. It contains a " doctrine according to
godliness." " Sanctify them through thy truth," was the
prayer of Christ for his disciples. Divine truth is intended
to produce a divine life. To read in order to know, or to
support and defend a system, is a low and unworthy end.
To search the Scriptures aright, yoti, must give up and
abstain from all sinful indulgencies. " Laying aside all
filthiness, and superfluity of naughtiness, receive with meek-
ness the engrafted word," is the injunction of the apostle.
The lusts of the mind, — the pride of intellect, the love of
wealth, thirst after human applause, as well as the lusts of
the flesh, impair the mental vision, and smite the soul with
spiritual blindness, insomuch, that holy truth, however plain,
remains undiscovered.
There is another disposition to be carried to the Scriptures
in our perusal of them, and that on account of its import-
ance, I place by itself, that it might be very conspicuously
seen as seriously considered, and as vividly and practically
remembered ; I mean that suggested by our Lord, where he
says, " If any man will do his (G-od's)'will, he shall know of
the doctrine (which I speak) whether it be of God, or
PERPLEXITf OF RELIGIOUS CONTROVERSY. 141
whether I speak of myself." John vii. 17. A real obedi-
ence to the will of God, as far as we at present know it,
united with a sincere and hearty determination to do it in all
further discoveries of it, to whatever risks, sacrifices, and
inconveniences such obedience may expose us, is the best
way of coming to a right knowledge of the truth. We must
love truth not only for its own sake, but for its holy tendency
and effect : and he that is most anxious to obtain holiness
by truth, is most likely to know truth for the sake of holiness.
Right dispositions are the way to obtain right opinions.
Divine truth, unlike scientific knowledge, is intended, as
well as adapted to produce moral results, and if we are not
anxious to obtain these, we are not likely to come to a know-
ledge of the truths themselves.
There must also be very earnest 'prayer for the teaching of
the Holy Spirit. There are undoubtedly some things in the
Bible hard to be understood ; but in what pertains to salva-
tion, all is as clear as crystal. But if there be light in the
Bible, there is darkness in us. " The natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God^ for they are foolishness
unto him J neither can he know them^ because they are spirit-
ually discerned.''^ 1 Cor. ii. 14. The safe and proper, and
only safe and proper manner of approaching the heavenly
oracle, is that which David manifested, when he thus prayed,
" Open thou mine eyes that I might behold wondrous things
out of thy law." So, also the Apostle entreated for the
Colossians, " We do not cease to pray for you, and to desire
that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all
wisdom and spiritual understanding," chap. i. 9. It might
not strike some, that although we have the book, it is neces-
sary in addition to have the teaching of the Author : but it
it were not absolutely necessary, yet surely this would bo
142 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
considered a privilege, even as regards a human production.
But it is in this case necessary. How powerful is the influ-
ence of our inward corruption in blinding and bewildering
our judgments ! How liable are we to err ! How momentous
a matter is it on which to mistake ! How numerous and
how fatal are the mistakes that are made ! Unless there-
fore, we not only pray, but give ourselves to prayer for
divine illumination, we are likely, even with the Bible in our
hands to go wrong. That the Bible may be mistaken, and
z-5, no one can doubt. The subject of this sermon proves it.
How many errors are in the world on the subject of divine
revelation.
2. As your safest guide amidst the diversities of religious
opinion which exist, and as the best mode of relieving your
mind from the perplexity occasioned by controversy, acquire
the elements of decided personal godliness. These lie with-
in a very narrow compass, are common to many denomina-
tions of professing Christians, and with whatever other
sentiments they may be associated, will obtain the possession
of eternal life. Be sure to be right on great and funda-
mental points. Be upon the foundation, and then though
you are a little off the perpendicular, yet you will not fall.
And what are these grand essentials, without which no man
can be saved, and with which every man will be saved,
whatever in other respects may be his creed or his church ?
Repentance towards God, — faith in our Lord Jesus
Christ — and evangelical holiness. I do not mean to
say that these constitute all that God has revealed and
therefore all that we need concern ourselves about. By
no means. There are innumerable other matters which are
found in the Word of God, but these are the substance — the
great essentials to salvation. Personal godliness is the great
PERPLEXITY OF RELIGIOUS CONTROVERSY. 143
preservative from serious error. As in the animal economy
there are certain instincts which lead the irrational creatures
to select good and salubrious food, and to refuse and repel
such substances as are noxious, so in the spiritual economy
there is something analagous. There are certain sentiments
and systems which it is scarcely necessary to prove to the
spiritual mind that they are false, for the spiritual taste
pronounces them to be bad. The holy life within refuses and
repels them at once as repugnant to its nature ; and the
stronger and healthier that life is, the greater is the force of
this repugnance. Hence the necessity, not only of our being
possessed of true personal godliness, but of high degrees of
it. He who feels all the vitalising power of sound doctrine
in making him holy, heavenly, and happy, will be in some
danger of mischief from other doctrines, and feel little neces-
sity to inquire into other sentiments. The man who finds
his strength firm, his health glowing, his spirits buoyant, his
employment easy, by means of good, plain, nutritious food,
will have no need to study the various systems of medicine
and dietetics. He may let physicians wrangle on, without
troubling himself about their conflicting opinions. So the
man strong in faith, lively in hope, and ardent in the love of
God and man : he who has joy and peace in believing : he
who is able to mortify his corruptions, and invigorate his
graces, by those views of divine truth, which he has gained,
need not read through a book of religious denominations to
find out what is truth, for he has " the witness in himself."
3. It would be of material service, and a great help to
you in deciding for yourself in matters of controversy as to
what is truth, to gather from the Scripture, by a devout and
careful perusal, some hroad comprehensive views of its general
purport and design, in reference to doctrine^ ceremony, and
7
144 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
government. Broad and general views on any subject
greatly assist us in understanding its minuter parts and
details.
As regards what is usually called doctrines^ the Scriptures
every where assert the lapsed, the corrupt, and condemned
state of human nature ; in other words, that man is a guilty
and unholy creature, who has fallen from his original state
of righteousness, and who if recovered from this condition
and restored to the favor of God, must be saved by some
aid from without : that the design of the incarnation and
death of our Lord Jesus Christ is to effect man's redemption
from sin, guilt, or death, in a manner harmonious with the
perfections . of the divine character, and the principles of
God's moral government ; that the blessings consequent to
man upon this system of mediation, are pardon, peace and
holiness here, and eternal life hereafter : and that the con-
ditions on which, as a siTie qua noUj and not as a meritorious
cause, these blessings are bestowed — are repentance towards
God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ — in short, the union
of the salvation of sinners, and of the manifested glory of
God's moral character. Now this, one should think, must
be conceded by every one who has obtained the least ac-
quaintance with the Word of God. What a guide would
these views prove to the settlement of many controversies !
Through what labyrinths of opinion would these first princi-
ples of the Christian scheme lead you in safety ! How many
details would they include, and how many connected doc-
trines unfold, and establish, or render necessary ! Let these
then be deeply rooted in your mind as so many fundamental
truths, and be made to bear on all the controversies of
which you may hear or read. Bring all other sentiments to
the ordeal of this question, ' Do they profess or deny the
FERPLEXirY OF RELIGIOUS CONTROVERSY. 115
corruption of human nature so clearly laid down in the Word
of Grod, and its recovery from guilt and depravity by a
system of mediation through Christ, which unites the
redemption of man and the manifested glory of God ?"
A similar general reference to the ceremonial of the New
Testament will help you to settle many controversies on this
subject. You cannot possibly read the Gospels and Epis-
tles without observing the contrast presented in one striking
point 6f view, between Judaism and Christianity — the
former exhibiting so much that was ceremonial, the latter so
little : the one being eminently a ritual system, the other no
less eminently a spiritual one. When Christ suffered on
Calvary, and expired with that triumphant* shout " It is
FINISHED," he changed the whole aspect of revealed religion.
On one side of the cross you behold the Law, with its
priests, its sacrifices, and its rites, retiring from sight ; on
the other, you behold the Gospel, with its simple and spirit-
ual institutions, coming forward into view. From that hour
the great design of Christianity was to form a character, of
which a new, divine, and inward life should be the animating
soul, and holiness in all its branches and beauties, be the
external manifestation. Christianity was intended, if not to
put an end to ritualism, yet so to subordinate it to spiritual-
ism, conscientiousness, and holy love, that it should be but
as the fillet round the brow, or the bracelet on the arm of
piety. Christianity has left us nothing but baptism and the
Lord's supper in the form of ceremony, and has said so
little even about these as to lead us to suppose it considers
them of very inferior importance to what is moral and
spiritual. Just ask the question again, " What kind of reli-
gion does the New Testament chiefly design to teach, a
rituaf or a spiritual one .?" Here again you will be furnished
146 THE YOUNG MAN's FRIEND.
with a test of many a system. Connected with ceremony^ is
priesthood. Observe what is said in the New Testament
about this. How very little is said about religious officials
or functionaries of any kind, compared with what is said of
other things. Christ is our Great High Priest, and all real
Christians are the ^priesthood. No other priest is mentioned.
And as to bishops, pastors, or elders, their only functions
mentioned are teaching and ruling. A sacerdotal order, or
sacerdotal acts, are nowhere referred to. It nowhere seems
the design of the apostles to make much of man, and to
invest him with domination or ghostly authority in the
church. Even they disclaimed being lords of Grod's heri-
tage.
So again with regard to ecclesiastical -polity^ it will be well
to take a general view of this question, as furnished by the
New Testament. I say the New Testament, for the Old
was the code of law for Judaism, as this is for Christianity.
It would be no more proper to look to the constitution of the
Jewish Theocracy for the model of the Christian church,
than it would be to the temple, its priests, and sacrifices, and
ceremonies, for the regulations of Christian worship. The
same difference is observable in the ecclesiastical character of
Judaism and Christianity as is evident in their ceremonial.
The Divine Author of our religion has furnished by his con-
fession before Pilate — " My kingdom is not of this worW — ■
that which is the key to all social religion, and ecclesiastical
organization. The elaboration, complexity and secularity
of earthly kingdoms do not appertain to His church, of which
the characteristics are simplicity and spirituality. The de-
sign of church government is not so much the conversion of
men's souls, as the fellowship, edification, and comfort of
those who are already converted. The church of Christ
PERPLEXITY OF RELIGIOUS CONTPvOVERSY. 147
consisting of the company of believers, must in all its insti-
tutes be adapted to spiritual men, and have respect to their
order, harmony, and mutual helpfulness. It has nothing
worldly in its nature or design. It is in the world, but not
of it. The more spiritual and simple a scheme of ecclesi*
astical polity is, the more likely, upon this general principle
now laid down, does it seem to be that it is an approximation
to that set up by our Lord Jesus Christ. The more clearly
it exhibits the church as a separate community, like the Jews
amidst surrounding nations, dwelling apart by itself, governed
by its own laws, animated by its own spirit, and pursuing its
own objects, the more does it accord with all which the New
Testament teaches us on this subject.
An attention to these general aspects of divine revelation
will greatly assist us in coming to a conclusion upon most
points of religious controversy.
4. Having made up your minds, upon evidence, as to what
is truth, then have as little to do with religious controversy
as you can. Seek a practical rather than a polemical reli-
gion. Treat it rather as something to be done than talked
about. Be not fond of disputation. Be no religious knight-
errant, running a tilt against every one who differs from you.
A pugnacious disposition, whether it be from a natural com-
bativeness or a prevailing vanity, is a dangerous thing to
piety, which, like the dew, falls only in a still atmosphere,
and lies longest in the shade. Be too much taken up with
adding " to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and
to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and
to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness,
and to brotherly kindness charity," to have much time fo'r
strife and contention.
Let it be your great concern to eat of the Bread of Life,
148 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
pure and unadulterated, rather than mix up with it the grit
and thorns of controversy ; and to drink, and not trouble
and foul, the clear Water of Life. Avoid a taste for curi-
osity in things unrevealed — a speculative turn concerning
things mysterious — and a distempered zeal for what, if true,
is comparatively little. " There is," says an old author, '^ a
kind of intemperance in most of us, a wild and irregular
desire to make things more or less than they are in them-
selves, and to remove them well nigh out of sight by our
additions and defalcations. Few there are who can be con-
tent with truth, and settle and rest in it as it appeareth in
that nakedness and simplicity in which it was first brought
forth ; but men are ever drawing out conclusions of their
own, spinning out and weaving speculations, thin, unsuitable,
and unfit to be worn, which yet they glory in and defend
with more heat and animosity than they do that truth which
is necessary and by itself sufficient without this art. For
these are creatures of our own, shaped out in our phantasie,
and so drest up by us with all accurateness and curiosity of
diligence, that we fall at last in love with them, and apply
ourselves to them with that closeness and adherency which
dulleth and taketh oif the edge of our affection to that which
is most necessary, and so Icaveth that neglected and last in
our thoughts, which is main. As we read of the painter who
having stretched his phansie and spent the force of hig
imagination in drawing Neptune to the life, could not raise
his after thoughts to the setting forth the majesty of
Jupiter."
Love the closet of devotion more than the arena of con-
tention ; study the Bible more than the volume of angry
discussion ; and seek the company of the sons of peace,
vather than association with those who say " we are for
TERFLEXITY OF RELIGIOUS CONTROVERSY. 1 i'J
*ar." It is well of course, to make yourselves acquainted
j/enerally with the subjects of controversy, especially of th«
leading controversies of the day. No young man, for in-
stance, should be ignorant of the great principles of Evan-
gelical truth as opposed to Rationalism or Unitarianism ; or
of Protestantism and Popery ; in all their range and bear-
ing : it is the question of the day, and in order to contend
earnestly for " the faith once delivered to the saints,'' we
mubt know what the faith is, and both how it is assailed and
how it can be defended. Every man should know what he
believes and why he believes it ; and thus " be able to give
a reason with meekness and fear of the hope that is in him."
He should take his side and valiantly keep it. All this is
proper and necessary, but this is a different thing to our
reducing religion to a mere matter of controversy. How
many are there whose whole godliness is a mere contest for
a creed, or a church, without their having any true faith in
Christ, or their being members of the church which he hath
purchased with his blood. What multitudes are now fierce
for Protestantism, who have never embraced one great true
Protestant principle with their whole heart ! Oh that men
were but more anxious to practice Christianity than contro-
vert about it. That they were as zealous for holiness as
they seem to be for truth, and to imbibe the spirit and ex-
hibit the image of Christ in their temper, character, and
conduct, as they are to embody his doctrines in their creeds.
Young men, be ardent lovers of the truth, diligent seekers
after it, constant associates with it, and impassioned admirers,
valiant defenders, and zealous promoters of it ; but at the
same time, not pugnacious, restless, bitter, and bigoted dis-
putants for it.
5. Having received upon satisfactory evidence the system
150 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
of doctrine which you believe to be Scriptural, do not allow
your convictions to be shaken, or your faith to be staggered,
on account of any difl&culties with which it may seem to be
attended ; nor by any cavils and objections brought against
it, which you may not be able to answer.
It is of great importance for you to remember that there
is no truth, however evident and certain it may be, against
which an ingenious and dexterous sophist may not advance
some plausible objections, and in connexion with which, its
most assured believers may not see some difficulties they
may not be able to explain. Mathematical science is the
only department of human inquiry which excludes all doubt
and difficulty. Even the experimental philosopher some-
times finds many difficulties in his path which he is unable
to clear up ; some ultimate laws which perplex and confound
him : yet there, established by many and well-ascertained
proofs, is the baffling fact. What course does the philoso-
pher now take ? Does he disbelieve his experiments, dis-
credit the testimony of his senses, reject the evidence which
has come before him, and abandon himself to scepticism ?
Certainly not. He credits his proofs, he relies upon his as-
certained facts, and says, " I am puzzled, I see a difficulty
which I cannot yet explain, but I hold fast my conviction of
the truth of what I have proved, and wait for further light
to clear up what is now dark. I cannot forsake and give up
evidence, because of some yet unexplored difficulty, and thus
relinquish what I do know for what I do not know." Is not
this perfectly rational ? Entirely philosophical ? In this
way I am anxious you should act in reference to religion, its
doctrines, and its controversies. Receive whatever truth
revelation makes known, and because it makes it known, no
matter with what difficulty it may be attended, and wait foi
)
PERPLEXITY OF RELIGIOUS CONTROVERSY. 15
further light to enlighten what is now dark. By difficulty,
I mean something you cannot perfectly understand : some-
thing you cannot entirely harmonize with your own notions ;
something you cannot make quite to agree with some other
portions of divine truth ; something which may be objected
to by others, whose objections you feel yourselves in some
measure unable to answer. If the evidence convinces you,
let not the difficulty confound you, or shake your convic-
tions. It may be well sometimes, when startled and per-
plexed with difficulty on one side of a question, to look at
the difficulties on the other side. Suppose you reject a doc-
trine, or a system, because of something you cannot explain,
would .you not encounter difficulties far more formidable in
the opposite system } Have you not more evidence and less
difficulty on the side you have taken, than you would find if
you were to pass over to the other side } There is a one-
sided way of looking at these matters which is carried on by
some people, which you should avoid. In very many cases,
conviction must rest upon this balance of evidence and diffi-
culty. Each side has both some apparent proof and some
objection, and our business is to determine which has most
of the former, and less of the latter. I cannot, therefore,
give you a more important piece of advice than this, — never
abandon evidence to follow difficulty, for it is like turning
away from a lantern, somewhat dim it may be, but still a
steady light ; or from the moon, in a mist perhaps ; to run
after an ignis fatuus. And at the same time, do not allow
yourselves to be driven from your convictions, because you
cannot refute all the arguments, or remove all the difficulties,
or meet all the objections, which may be brought against
"them. There are men, I repeat, of such subtle minds, of
such logical power, and so clever in argument, as to maka
152 THE YOUNG man's FRIEND.
the worse appear the better cause ; who can by fallacy and
sophistry sustain the most palpable error, and make that
truth appear doubtful which has to you the luminousness of
the sun. Never be ashamed to say to such an opponent,
^' I cannot refute your arguments, nor meet your objections,
but I am unmoved by them." And here I would reiterate
the advice I have already given, — Avoid controversy. Hav-
ing found what you believe to be truth — believe it — love it
— enjoy it — practise it — but do not be eager to dispute
about it.
6. Whatever may be your convictions of the truth of the
religious opinions you have embraced, cultivate with a love
of truth, a spirit of charity. There is a medium which it
should be your anxiety to discover between indifference to
truth and a distempered zeal for it : between latitudinarianism
on the one hand, and bigotry on the other. There are some
who make truth every thing in religion, others who make it
nothing : the former are the advocates of an unsanctified
orthodoxy — the latter of an equally unsanctified charity : the
one are the worshippers of a creed — the other, the icono-
clasts of all creeds : the former say. No matter how well a
man acts, if he does not hold these opinions — the others
reply. It is no matter what opinions he holds, provided he
acts well. Both are wrong. There can be no right belief
of the truth which does not lead to holiness : and there can
be no holiness which does not spring from right belief of the
truth. Be you, therefore, an advocate for truth, for error is
sin. Error cannot sanctify. If a man may disbelieve one
truth, and be innocent, he may disbelieve two ; if two, ten,
if ten, half the Bible ; if half the Bible, the whole. Affect
no false candor, no spurious charity, as if all sentiments
were equally unimportant This is treason against truth,
PERPLEXITY OF RELIGIOUS CONTROVERSY. 153
and the God of truth. Let not all the various sects, and
denominations, and creeds, appear in your eye only as so
many beautiful colors of the rainbow. It is a false and bad
figure, and is the very germ of infidelity. But, at the same
time, guard against the opposite extreme of a want of charity
towards those who differ from you. It is not your business,
or mine, to fix that boundary-line of religious opinion which
divides those who will be saved from those who will be lost-
The Church of Rome, with an insufferable arrogance, and a
daring invasion of the prerogative of heaven, has fixed that
line in her communion. Imitate not this impious assump-
tion. And while you avoid this highest of all pretensions,
of determining who shall or shall not be admitted to the
kingdom of heaven, guard against the lesser mischiefs of
controversy ; I mean that bitterness of spirit, and exclusive-
ncss of feeling, which we are but too apt to cherish towards
those who in lesser matters differ from us. Charity is as
much a part of truth as doctrine. No man believes the
Bible who rejects charity. The want of charity is as truly
a heresy as a disbelief in the divinity of Christ. The want
of charity will as certainly exclude a man from heaven, as
the want of faith. " Now abide faith, hope, charity, these
three ; but the greatest of these is charity." With on©
hand, lay hoid of faith ; with the other, lay hold of charity
— then, and then only, may you cherish hope.
And now, Young Men, let me endeavor at any rate, to
impress upon you the infinitely, eternally, and therefore inef-
fably and inconceivably momentous nature of that subject
about which all these controversies are carried on. Oh, what
uterests and what issues, beyond the compass and the power
of any mind, but that which is infinite, to grasp, are com-
prehended in that one word. Religion '. Science, art, lite*
7*
154 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
rature, politics, law, medicine, all appertain to time, to earth, ||
to the body ; but religion relates to the soul, to heaven, to
eternity. What are all the questions which have been asked,
the parties that have been formed, the controversies which
have been carried on, in reference to the former of these
subjects, but matters of a momentary interest and trifles
light as air, compared with the latter. Of what importance
are all the questions, the sects, the parties, the controversies,
of an earthly nature, to " the congregation of the dead,"
the inhabitants of the unseen world — the spirits of just men
made* perfect — or the lost souls in prison ? What will they
all be to you a few years hence : what may they be to you
next week ? But the great controversy about religion has
interest in all three worlds — heaven — earth — and hell — and
will extend that influence through all eternity. This is a
controversy in which you, each one of you, are personally
interested. It involves your eternal destiny, and will be a
matter of infinite moment to you millions and millions of
ages hence. Surely, surely, this consideration, if anything
can do it, will throw over your mind an air of deep and
solemn seriousness. The levity and the frivolity you carry
to other questions ; the carelessness and half-heartedness
with which you regard other controversies, must be checked
here. With a mind looking up into heaven, down into the
bottomless pit, and abroad upon eternity, you must ask the
question, '' What is truth ?" and with a recollection that
your torment or your happiness for ever and ever will be
influenced by the answer you decide upon amidst all those
which are returned from so many quarters. Oh, could yoa
enter thus seriously, and anxiously, and prayerfully into the
subject, there would be little danger of your ^oing wrong on
this momentous topic.
PERPLIXITT OF RELIGIOUS CONTROVERSY. 155
Still you must expect, notwithstanding all your solicitude,
to be the subject of some perplexity, as long as you are an
inhabitant of this world. Be thankful, however, that what
is essential to salvation, is so plain, that he that runs may
read. Repent, believe, love, be holy : Is there any
mystery ' here ? How many sects agree in this ! Of how
many creeds is this the essence ! How much of the strife of
controversy lies outside of this circle ! How many minor
truths a man may not believe, and yet be saved, if he believe
these great fundamentals. How many lesser errors he may
have unhappily embraced, and yet not be lost, if he is in no
error here ! He that keeps his eye upon the pole-star and
the greater constellations, will steer his vessel safely, though
he may not be intimately acquainted with the stars of lesser
magnitude and brilliancy.
To adopt, in conclusion, the directions and words of
Saurin : "Buy the truth, which requires the sacrifice of
dissipation — of indolence — of precipitancy — of prejudice —
of obstinacy — of curiosity — of the passions. We comprise
the matter in seven precepts :
" Be attentive.
" Do not be discouraged by labor.
" Suspend your judgment. -r
" Let prejudice yield to reason.
" Be teachable.
" Bcstrain your avidity of knowing.
" In order to edify your mind, subdue your heart."
But what ! Shall we always live in shades and grope in
darkness ? Will there always be a veil between the porch
and the sanctuary } Will God always lead us amidst chasm a
and gulphs } Shall we ever dwell near the battle-field of
156 THE YOUNG MAN S FRIEND.
religious controversy, and be within sound of its artillery
and the range of its shot ? Shall we always hear the con-
fused noise of the warrior, and the cry of defeat mingling
with the shouts of victory ? Shall we always have to struggle
with argument from without, and with doubt and suspense
within ? 0, no. Presently this night of our ignorance,
this dark night, will end, and we shall enter into that blessed
world, where there is no need of the sun, because the Lamb
is the light thereof. In heaven we shall know all things by
a blessed intuition. We shall repose around the fountain of
celestial radiance, where neither the sound of controversy,
nor the din of arms, will be ever heard. In heaven, wo
shall understand all mysteries in nature, providence, grace,
and glory. All difficulties will be solved. All objections
will be silenced.. How will this perfect light fill us with
perfect joy. How delightful will it be to drink knowledge
for ever from its divine source, with the perfect assurance,
it is pure from any admixture of error. How blissful thus
to spend eternity. " This is the revelation of God to us,
and there is not in religion a more joyful and triumphant
consideration than this perpetual progress which the soul
makes in the perfection of its nature, without ever arriving
at<in ultimate period. Here truth has the advantage of
fable. No fiction, however bold, presents to us a conception
so elevating and astonishing as this interminable line of
heavenly excellence. To look upon the glorified spirit, as
going on from strength to strength ; adding virtue to virtue,
and knowledge to knowledge ; making approaches to good-
ness which is infinite ; for ever adorning the heavens with
new beauties, and brightening in the splendors of moral
glory, through all the ages of eternity — has something in it
PERrLEXITY OF RELIGIOUS CONTROVERSY. 157
SO transcendaat and ineffable, as to satisfy the most un-
bounded ambition of an immortal mind."
Young Men — have you this ambition ? If not, take it up
from this moment — it is the noblest which God can inspire,
or the ^f^man bosom receive.
THE CHARACTER OF JOSEPH A STUDY FOB
YOUTH.
*• How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God."
Genesis xxxix. 9.
The Bibie, viewed apart from its highest character as a
revelation of divine, eternal, and immutable truth, and from
its design as intended to make men " wise unto salvation,"
is the most instructive, entertaining, and interesting volume
of the world, uniting as it does, every species of writing, every
variety of subject, and every style of composition. Hence
the testimony of Sir William Jones, a man, who by the
exertion of rare intellectual talents acquired a knowledge
of arts, sciences, and languages which has seldom been
equalled, and scarcely, if ever, surpassed. " I have carefully
and regularly perused the Scriptures," says this truly great
man, " and am of opinion that this volume, independent of
its Divine origin, contains more sublimity, purer morality,
more important history, and finer strains of eloquence, than
can be collected from all other books in whatever language
they may have been written." Such a testimony, borne by
ft scholar who was intimately acquainted with twenty-eight
THE CHARACTER OF JOSEPH. loS
different languages and with the best works which had been
published in most of them, deserves attention, and must
carry weight with every considerate mind.
The page of holy writ on which we open this evening
justifies the eulogy we have just read : for where is the judge
of literary composition, who will not pronounce the history
of Joseph to be one of the most exquisitely pathetic narra-
tives ever written ?
Before I proceed to enter upon the character of Joseph,
I will point out what appears to me to be, next to the exhi-
bition of a splendid example of human excellence, the
design of God in preserving his deeply interesting and event-
ful history. This narrative is a representation of Providence
in miniature. Here we see God working out his wise and
benevolent schemes, by means and instruments the most
varied, the most unlikely, and seemingly the most opposite ;
and by a series of events, which as they arise singly and
separately, appear to favor the designs of the bad and to
oppress the interests of the good ; but which by a most
mysterious connection and operation are all made to terminate
on the side of virtue and piety. Here on a small scale, we
see a wonderful and complicated mechanism setting in motion
those numerous wheels, which, moving in opposite directions,
are all made to subserve one wise and holy purpose, and thus
to furnish an historical and beautiful illustration of the
reconcilinoj declaration, that " All thinsrs work together for
good to them that love God." In many parts of Scripture
we hear Providence speakings but here we see it acting ,
and making evil, without altering its nature or excusing its
agents, to subserve the good. Here we see that though
truth and holiness for awhile may be trodden down by the
iron heel of falsehood, vice, and power, they shall at length
IGO THE YOUNG man's FRIEND.
lift up the head with joj, and be crowned with glory and
honor.
But we now take up the other purpose of this beautiful
narrative — and that is, to exhibit for our admiration and
imitation an extraordinary pattern of human excellence.
Much of the Bible is historical and biographical. It is a
gallery of portraits, both of good and bad men ; some merely
sketched in outline ; others painted in miniature ; and some
drawn at full length. This makes the Scriptures at once
interesting and instructive. We see sin in living shapes —
depraved — leprous — beastly — diabolical, and learn to hate it.
We see holiness, fair and beautiful, though by no meana
perfectly angelical and heavenly, and we are by such examples
taught to love it, and helped to acquire it.
Let us then now contemplate the character of Joseph.
It is not my intention, for it is not in my power in a single
discourse, to enter very much at length into the details of his
touching history. I must take for granted your acquaintance
with this ; and can do nothing more than give you so much
of the narrative as shall help you in studying his character.
And first of all let us look at Joseph in that situatioik
where the germ of all his future excellences began to
develope, — I mean his father's house : for it is unquestion-
ably true, and of great importance for all parties to consider,
that the rudiments of character are formed in early life, and
at home. It is usually then and there those seeds of good
or evil are sown which bear in future years their appro-
priate fruits. He was the favorite child of his father, who
in a manner, most injudicious in itself, most dangerous to
to the object of his preference, and most destructive of big
own peace, displayed his partiality by " the coat of many
colors," and other marks of parental distinction. This par-
THE CHARACTER OF JOSEPH. 161
tiality, though unwisely manifested, was grounded in part on
Joseph's exemplary conduct. He was a most dutiful son
and one that feared God ; but at the same time he was the
object of hatred and envy to his brethren. This was caused
partly by his father's partiality, partly by his artless sim-
plicity, not perhaps untinctured by a vanity which had been
inflated by indulgence, in relating his dreams ; partly by the
information which he gave of the misconduct of his brothers ;
for all these things tended, doubtless, to increase and exas-
perate their ill-will ; but the enmity was produced chiefly
by his good conduct and blameless character. They hated
him because " their own deeds were evil and their brother's
righteous." It was the enmity of the wicked towards the
good. He was their constant reprover, by the silent re-
proach of his holy example. There, beneath the tent of the
patriarch of Canaan, in Joseph's seventeenth year, were laid,
in his filial piety and his true religion, the foundations of
that noble and lofty character which all nations and ages
have delighted to contemplate. I know few situations more
trying in themselves, or which require more firmness, humility,
meekness, wisdom, and caution, than that of a pious and
dutiful child, loved by his parents on account of his excel-
lence of character, and at the same time surrounded by
brothers of an opposite description. If any of you are in
that situation, pray earnestly to God to make his grace sufii-
cient for you.
With the murderous conspiracy of his cruel and unnatural
brotliers you are well acquainted. I shall draw no pictures
of Joseph's cries and entreaties, when like a lamb in the
midst of a company of hungry wolves, he was seized by his
brothers and cast into a pit to be left to starve ; but I will
Cor one moment suggest how, in that horrible situation lio
162
must have been sustained and comforted by the religion ha
had learnt at home ; and what else could meet the case ?
What a situation for one who had never till now been from
beneath the protection of paternal care and tenderness ,
whose face " the wind of heaven " had never, hitherto,
visited too roughly ; whose spirit mortification had never
galled ; whose heart affliction had never yet pierced. But
his gracious God and his easy conscience were with him
there ; and in those mournful and desolate circumstances he
found that he was not alone. 0 religion ! thou divine and
seraphic companion and comforter, thou wilt never leave us
however forlorn our condition or gloomy our prospects.
I also pass by the successful intercession of Judah for his
life, and the providential arrival of the Arabian caravan, and
follow Joseph down into Egypt to witness his conduct as a
servant in the house of Potiphar, to whom he was sold as a
slave. Instead of cursing his lot, yielding to sullen despon-
dency, and making Potiphar angry and wrathful by his hope-
less and paralysing misery, he by the power of religion
accommodated himself to his circumstances, and applied all
his faculties to serve his master, to secure his confidence,
and conciliate his kindness. And he was successful. You
see how wise it is, instead of giving up all for lost in unfavor-
able circumstances, and sinking into absolute despair, to
resolve by God's blessing to do all we can to improve our
condition Learn, young man, to bear up with patience, for-
titude, and hope, against adverse circumstances. It ia
always too soon to despair in this world. It was an old
Greek proverb, " "VVe ascend downwards." And in Bunyan's
inimitable allegory, the " Valley of Humiliation" lay in the
direct road to exaltation. If by any course you are brought
into a less favorable situation than you have been accustomed
THE CHARACTER OF JOSErH. 163
to occupy, go diligently and cheerfully to work, and deter-
mine by God's grace to make even this bitter experience
subservient to your future welfare. It may be necessary to
prepare you for something higher and better. Never aban-
don hope. The mainspring of exertion is broken when this
is gone.
Joseph's conduct in the house of Potiphar was so exem-
plary for diligence and fidelity, that it drew upon him first of
all, the favor of God, and next, the esteem of man, for he
was soon advanced to a high place of trust and honor in the
establishment of his master ; the reason of whose conduct
in thus promoting his Hebrew slave is given by the historian
in the following words : " He saw that the Lord was with him,
and the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand."
Here is one of the ten thousand instances which corroborate
the declaration of the apostle, that Godliness is profitable
for all things, having the promise of the life that now is, and
of that which is to come." True piety is the parent of
every virtue which is either useful to man or pleasing to God ;
and when confirmed and illustrated by a faithful life, is the
best recommendation a youth can offer to one whose confi-
dence he wishes to secure. Few men are so blind to their
own interest as not to know the value and to appreciate the
services of an able, diligent, and faithful servant, and rarely
does it happen that such a servant, where there is room for
it, is not promoted. Depend upon it, there is a buoyancy in
talent and virtue which will make them rise to the surface.
*' Seest thou," says Solomon, " a man diligent in business, he
shall stand before kings." " I," said Benjamin Franklin,"
" can attest the truth of that, for I have transacted with five
monarchs in my time." It was as a servant that Franklin
commenced his wonderful career, and by the fidelity and
164 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
diligence he displayed in that capacity, he laid the foundations
of his future fame. Innumerable instances have occurred of
eminent and excellent servants becoming partners and pro-
prietors of the establishments in which they once acted in a
very subordinate capacity.
In the sermon upon " Entering on Life," I reminded you,
that sincere, heartfelt, and very decided piety is necessary
to prepare for those sudden, violent, and unexpected temp-
tations which often beset the young traveller on life's event-
ful journey ; especially in circumstances of promotion and
prosperity. Joseph soon experienced the truth of this. He
was, we are informed, a young man of such personal appear-
ance as was likely to attract the attention and excite the
passions of an unprincipled and flagitious woman. Beauty
is the production of God, and as one of his gifts is, like
every other, to be considered good in itself, and to be received
with thankfulness : but how often does it prove a snare to
the possessor, and a temptation to others. This had like to
have proved more fatal to Joseph than even the envy of his
brothers. This last threatened only his body, but that en-
dangered his soul. His virtue was vehemently and persever-
ingly assailed. Every thing combined to give all but irre-
sistible force to the assault. Its nature — so adapted to the
passions of youth : its source — a person of high rank and
commanding influence, who by her favors could aid his pro-
motion, or by her malignity, sure to be roused by disappoint-
ment, self-reproach, and bitter resentment, could ensure his
ruin : its secrecy — which would cover the crime from every
spectator, but that One who is the witness of all deeds : its
repetition — carried forward from time to time : its violence
— as if she would carry her purpose by assault — all rendered
it every thing but certain that Joseph's integrity must yield
THE CHARACTER OF JOSEPH. 1G5
Who would not tremble for him ? Who would not tremble
more for himself ? His destiny is suspended upon the man-
ner in which he met that fierce assault. If he fall, he will
in all probability never rise — but if he stand, he will as
probably never fall. If he resist, he is safe for ever after.
If he consent, one criminal act will lead to another, till he
becomes an abandoned profligate. A first wrong step will
render all wrong afterwards, and be an entrance on the road
lo ruin. Yes, there are cases in most men's moral history,
when the whole character and destiny for all the future depend
upon the decision of the mind as regards one single act.
Joseph was victorious. Wonderful ! How was this triumph
of virtue over vice, of youthful innocence over all but irre-
sistible temptation, achieved } First, by a deep seme oj
honor. He replied to the seductress, " There is none
greater in this house than I ; neither hath he (my master)
kept any thing from be but thee, because thou art his wife :"
Shall I thus abuse his confidence and requite his kindness .''
Noble youth ! All generations since have done thee honor ^
But whence this delicate sense oi honor ! From infidelity ^
No — for David Hume taught that adultery was but a little
thing if known, and if unknown, nothing. Infidelity !
AA'here is the infidel who would not have laughed at the
squeamishness of a conscience, which would have hesitated,
in such a situation as this ? No : It was religion that made
Joseph virtuous in himself and honorable to his master ; for
he immediately added, " How shall I do this great wicked-
ness and sin against God ?" Yes, there was his shield. All
guards but one were absent, and that One, though invisible
to sense, now stood revealed to the eye of his faith in this
most perilous hour of his existence, and threw around liim
the shield of omnipotence, which averted the shaftp of
lG6 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
ricious pleasure, preserved his chastity unsullied, and inspired
a deep abhorrence of the sin to which he was now so strongly
tempted. Yes, it was his religion, his realizing sense of the
Divine presence, that in this crisis of his history determined
the purpose that saved him from ruin. He acted under the
potent and protecting influence of that impressive considera-
tion. Thou God seest me ; and thus endured as seeing
him who is invisible. How solemn a reflection.
u
Within thy circling power I stand,
On every side I find thy hand ;
Awake, asleep, at home, abroad,
I am surrounded still with God.
" O may these thoughts possess my breast.
Where'er I roam, where'er I rest,
Nor let my weaker passions dare
Consent to sin — for God is there."
Young Men away from home, removed from beneath the
vigilant eye of paternal superintendence, and exposed to
similar or other temptations, look at the power that preserved
him^ and that can also preserve you. See where your
strength, your safety, your happiness, all lie. There are
temptations so strong, so violent, so fascinating to our corrupt
nature, that all other restraints but those of true piety will be
swept away before them, like cobwebs or chaff" before the
force of a tempest. It is beautifully said of the good man
" The law of his God is in his heart ; none of his steps shall
slide." Seek that support, guidance, and protection, and
you will be safe and happy in dangers as imminent as those
which hung over this holy and honorable man.
Voluptuous and profligate youth, votary of licentious
pleasure, thou that deridest the prudish scruples of Joseph,
THE CHaKACTER OF JOSEPH. 167
and art giving truth and meaning to thy scorn by a course
of sensuality, place thyself in imagination on the bed of
death, at the judgment-seat, or on the brink of the fathom-
less abyss of punishment. Through the flames of the
bottomless pit seek those persons of whose crimes thou hast
been the witness, the accomplice, perhaps the author. Be-
hold the pleasures of a moment succeeded by the sufiorings
of eternity. Or look up into heaven, where the present
mortification of sin is followed by everlasting ages of holiness
without labor, and happiness without alloy, and say, which
thou wilt then wish thou hadst been on earth, — the lover of
sinful pleasure, or the lover of a holy God.
There is one lesson of momentous consequence for the
young, and indeed for all, to learn from the conduct of
Joseph in this assault ; and that is, that while some tempta-
tions are boldly to be encountered and resolutely overcome,
there are others only to be conquered by flight, and to be
disarmed by removing to a distance. Joseph fled from the
company and solicitations of this shameless woman. He
that carries gunpowder about him should not stay and en-
deavor to protect himself from the fire, but should instantly
get as far from it as he can. So should it be in many cases
of temptation — to parley is to be in danger — to listen is to
be in jeopardy — to linger is to fall. He that enters with his
eyes open into temptation, or remains in it voluntarily, is
already vanquished.
As Potiphar's wife could not corrupt Joseph's virtue, she
determined to blast his reputation and eifect his ruin, and
brought forward the memorial of her shame as the proof of
his guilt. Appearances were unquestionably against him,
and shew how even the most spotless purity may sometimes
be slandered amidst circumstances calculated to excite sus-
8
168 THE YOUNG MAN S FRIEND.
picion, and may for awhile lie under the imputation of a
crime. " And here again," saj;^ an author, " we have a
fresh instance of his greatness of mind. He chooses rather
to incur his master's groundless displeasure and to sink under
the weight of a false accusation, than to vindicate his own
honor hy exposing the shame of a bad woman ; and he leaves
the clearing up of his character, and the preservation of his
life, to that Grod with whom he had entrusted still higher
concerns, those of his immortal soul. And thus the le'ast-
assuming, the shamefaced, feminine virtues, temperance, and
chastity, and innocence, and self-government, are found in
company with the most manly, the heroic qualities, intrepid-
ity, constancy, and contempt of death." This is very
finely put, but it is not quite certain that the silence of the
historian proves also the silence of Joseph as to any defence
of hifoself ; nor is it quite clear that either chivalry or trust
in Grod should have made him willing to bow down to such
an accusation. Perhaps, however, he saw that as he could
bring no witnesses, and the matter rested wholly between
himself and his tempter, it was useless to reveal the fact,
and better to leave his vindication to the Providence of God,
who would bring forth his righteousness as the light, and his
judgment as the noon-day.
Joseph was indeed imprisoned, but was infinitely happier
there, with his smiling conscience, than was his slanderer
amidst all the luxuries of her mansion, tormented as she
must have been by her own reflections. No place is fright-
ful to a good man but the dungeon of an ill conscience.
Free from that Joseph is at large though in prison. Nor
can any place be pleasant to one tormented with remorse ;
this will convert a paradise into hell. Here again in this
seemingly hard condition, we see Joseph maintaining hi»
THE CHARACTER OF JOSEPH. 16(«
self-respect, his confidence in God, his benevolent activity,
his obliging disposition, and his general good conduct. By
this course of action, he subdued even his jailor, and concil-
iated the friendship and affection of one who may be supposed
from his occupation, not to have possessed the gentlest
nature. He made friends everywhere, and of every body,
but of her whose favors would have been his ruin. This
was accomplished by the union of piety, general excellence
of character, a cheerful disposition, and obliging demeanor.
The same course will be followed in other cases with the
same effects.
While suffering unjustly in prison, the inspiration of God
came upon him iii the interpretation of the dreams of two of
Pharaoh's officers, who after two weary years of ungrateful
and criminal forgetfulness on the part of one of them, led to
his liberation. In this very ingratitude of the chief butler
we see the Providence of God, for had he spoken before of
the poor captive whom he ought to have remembered — the
king might have given the patriarch his liberty ; but then
none of the events which followed would probably have
taken place, and the greatest honors to which he attained
might have been, to have been numbered among the wise
men of the land. How conspicuously Providence appears
in all these incidents ! The envy of his brethren ; the
lasciviousness of his mistress ; the misconduct and dreams of
his fellow-prisoners ; and the ingratitude of one of them — all
bad in themselves — yet all meeting, strange to think, in one
point — the elevation of Joseph to the throne. Remove one
link and the chain is broken. Grod is wonderful in counsel,
and excellent in working.
The dreams of Pharaoh, and their inspired interpretation
by Joseph, made way, not only for his liberation, but for his
t70
advancement to the highest dignity which the monarch could
bestow, next to the crown. Instead of the fetters which
bound him, he receives Pharaoh's ring of office. Instead of
his prison clothes, he was dressed in the fine linen of Egypt,
worn only by the great. Instead of the confinement of a
prison, he dwells in a palace. Instead of being the servant
of a jailor, he is first minister of a monarch, never appearing
in public but to be seen in a chariot of state preceded by a
herald, calling upon the people to bow the knee. A change
so sudden, a transition so great, an elevation so lofty,
usually intoxicates the mind, corrupts the heart, and mars
the character. It had not this efibct upon our moral hero.
Beware of the dangerous influence of sudden and -great
prosperity. Joseph's dignity, his courage, his humility,
his clemency, on this trying occasion, were astonishing, and
are all to be traced up to his piety, which dictated and pro-
duced all these virtues, and caused him to maintain the
same fidelity and prudence, as the prime minister of state,
which he exhibited in the house of Potiphar and in the
prison. His holy excellences, as the circle of his influence
widened, increased their power, and multiplied their effects,
till they replenished the greater circumference as completely
as they had done the less. Potiphar 's base and flagitious
wife — his tempter and calumniator ; the ungrateful butler ;
his own wicked and murderous brethren ; were all now at
his mercy : he had an arm long enough to reach, and strong
enough to crush, them all ; but with a generosity untinctured
by a single particle of malice or resentment, he determined
that the sun of his glory should shine forth without a spot.
*' Joseph was but thirty years old when he became the prime
minister of Pharaoh ; seventeen of which had been spent
under the wing of a fond, indulgent parent ; und the other
THE CHARACTER OF JOSEPH. 1*71
thirteen, at that period when the heart is most devoted to
pleasure, he had lingered away in all the variety of human
wretchedness, but in all the dignity of virtue, all the supe-
riority of wisdom, all the delights, pure and sublime, of true
piety ; and now, at an age when most men are only begin-
ning to reflect and act as reasonable beings, we see him
raised, not by accident, nor cabal, nor by petulance, but by
undisputed merit, to a situation which one part of mankind
look up to with desire, another with awe, and a third with
despair." See him, young men, now as a minister of Pha-
raoh, serving his royal master during the years of famine
and plenty, with a zeal surpassed only by his honesty.
What an opportunity did he now possess to amass for him-
self, by selfishness and peculation, incalculable wealth. But
his fidelity was as signal and illustrious as his situation. He
has been blamed by some for taking advantage of the
famine, first to impoverish and then to enslave the Egyp-
tians. I have not time to examine this charge at any length,
nor to enter minutely into the circumstances of this part of
his conduct : and perhaps we may not be able to come to
any satisfactory conclusion upon it, for want of more infor-
mation than is contained in the Scriptural account. There
are some expositors who are of opinion that there wag
nothing in this transaction which reflects discredit on
Joseph's character. That he had no selfish view is evident,
and as regards Pharaoh, it must be borne in mind, the
government of Egypt, both before and after the famine, was
much more despotic and arbitrary than we can approve. If
there were in this afiair nothing but a display of ministerial
adroitness, in ungenerously employing his superior skill and
address in planning and carrying out a system of despotism,
let it be viewed as a dark spot on the disc of his glory : but
172 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
it is bvilieved by many that this was not the case. It is clear,
it is said in his defence, that after the expiration of the
famine, he restored to the people their lands and their liber-
ties, upon condition of their paying to the king a fifth part
of their produce, which was a kind of corn-tax in lieu, it
should seem, of all arbitrary exactions, for the purposes of
government ; a tax which in that fertile country, they could
easily pay. That Joseph was not an oppressor is evident
from the sentiments of gratitude which the Egyptians
expressed — ^^' Thou hast saved our lives;'''' and from the
veneration and love with which his memory has ever been
cherished among them. Instead of enslaving the people, he
was the first, say his defenders, that in Egypt limited the
power of the crown, settling by a formal ordinance that
portion alone which the king could touch.
Before we pass on, let us just pause for a moment to
mark the changeful condition of man upon earth. Compare,
or rather contrast, the situation of Joseph now as prime-
minister of Egypt, and second only to Pharaoh himself, with
his condition as first the slave and afterwards the prisoner
of Potiphar. How soon may the most brilliant scene be
enveloped in the darkest clouds, and the calm be succeeded
by the storm ; on the other hand, how equally soon may
these dark clouds roll off and exhibit the orb in more than
previous splendor, and the storm give way to a brighter and
a sweeter calm. Amidst such vicissitudes, let us indulge
neither a careless and confident security in prosperity, nor a
settled and gloomy despondency in adversity ; but seek that
true piety and that humble trust in God, which shall preserve
us in a cheerful and tranquil equanimity of mind, and make
us feel as dependent in one condition a? we are hopeful iii
the other.
THE CHARACTER OF JOSEPH. 173
'^'"e now turn from Joseph as prime minister of state to
contemplate his conduct as a brother and a son. I do not
profess to he able to explain how it came to pass that all
this while he made no enquiries after his father and brethren.
There is a chasm here which we cannot fill up. That it
arose neither from resentment nor alienation seems evident
from his subsequent conduct. Perhaps he thought he could
not communicate the details of his history without inflicting
a deeper wound upon his father's heart, by an account of the
unworthiness of his other sons, than could be healed by the
information of his own life and elevation. Or perhaps, God,
whose counsel he sought in all his ways, might have given
him an express revelation, directing him at what time and
in what manner to make himself known to his family. For
the account of Joseph's conduct to his brethren you are
referred to the inimitably touching narrative preserved in
the book of Genesis. To many readers, doubtless, there
will appear to be a somewhat unseemly sporting with their
feelings — a want of sincerity in the disguise he assumed and
the accusations he preferred — and a degree of profanity in
the somewhat heathen language which in one or two in-
stances he employed. I will not contend that in all his
conduct he was perfectly blameless. There might have
been spots in his character, and after comparing it very
closely with Scripture, some might be discovered ; and we
must disapprove of what is wrong wherever and in whom-
soever it is to be found. Sacred history exhibits its charac-
ters just as they were, not what in all respects they should
have been. Dark spots are most easily discovered upon the
whitest garments, and foul blemishes in the fairest reputa-
tions. There were, however, obvious reasons for the gene-
ral conduct of Joseph. He knew the former wicked
174 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
character of his brethren, and had experienced theii
murderous cruelty towards himself; and as he very likely
foresaw that this interview and renewed intercourse might
lead to their coming down and settling in Egypt, he wished
to ascertain how far their present character would, from ita
improvement, warrant his encouraging such a step. What
might appear, therefore, to others as unnecessary cruelty,
was in his intention the wisdom and severity of love. It
was the test of fire to the metal, to prove of what sort it is.
He wanted to know how far they repented of their sin
towards himself, and he therefore placed himself in a position
to ascertain this, a position in which he could look into their
very hearts, without discovering his own. His love yearned
over them, and he longed to tell them how fully and freely
he forgave them, but with a prudence and strength of mind
which prove not only how good, but how wise and great he
was, he laid a stern restraint upon his feelings till the proper
moment of disclosure arrived, and the end of postponing it
had been fully answered. The whole scene is of such
exquisite pathos as is not to be equalled in the creation of
fiction.
At length the full evidence of contrition and amendment
having been obtained, and the purpose of the disguise having
been accomplished, his heart could endure no longer the
torture of concealment ; the pathetic speech of Judah, the
sight of his own beloved brother Benjamin, the frequent
mention of his father's name, raised such a torrent of the
tender and powerful affections of filial and paternal love in
his soul, that he suddenly lets fall the mask, and exclaims,
*' I AxM Joseph. Doth my father yet live ?" Who can
describe, who can imagine their feelings at this discovery ?
If they had in his early life actually put him to death, and
THE CHARACTER OV JOSEPH. 175
his ghost had now started up before them, they could not
have felt greatly different. A little mind might have enjoyed
the triumph which he had now gained over those who once
hated him. He saw their distress — he beheld them dumb
with amazement — petrified with terror — tortured with appre-
hension— and he instantly dispelled their fears ; calmed their
perturbation ; became their apologist, instead of their accu-
ser ; and directed their attention to that Providence which
had over-ruled their conduct not only to procure his advance-
ment, but also for the preservation of the lives of thousands.
A less generous, noble, and delicate mind, would have
talked much of forgiving theni^ but he entreats them to for-
give themselves, as if the other were settled.
Revengeful and implacable men, whom the least offence
inflames, — who never forgive an injury incomparably less
than that committed against Joseph — who, with a serpentine
cunning, and a blood-hound scent, and a leonine ferocity,
pursue the object of your malice, and at last take a demon-
like pleasure in his tortures as he writhes under the inflic-
tions of your revenge, how little, how contemptible, you
appear, when compared with this hero of fraternal love.
Pause, young men, upon this instance, and say if there is not
more moral greatness in this act of forgiveness than in all
the sanguinary heroes of history or romance ?
You have seen Joseph as a brother^ now contemplate him
once more as a son^ I sav once more, for we have seen him
already in his youthful days, the comfort of his father's de-
clining years. The boy has become a man — the man has
become illustrious — and the illustrious individual has become
the resident and the minister of a foreign court — and does
he still remember and love his father, the old shepherd of
Canaan ? Has filial piety outlived his injuries, his changes,
8*
] 76 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
his reverses, his elevation ? Or, has Joseph wished and
contrived amidst his brilliant fortunes to forget the hoary
patriarch ? Again I say, read the beautiful history and see
how this son of sons shall answer, by his own conduct, this
question. How abrupt the transition in that gush of feeling !
" I am Josejph^ doth my father yet live !" How beau-
tiful the exhortation, " Ye shall tell my father all my glory.'
How exquisite the admonition, " Haste ye, and go up to my
father and say unto him : Thus saith thy son Joseph, God
has made me Lord of all Egypt ; come down ; tarry not.
And thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt
be near unto me, thou and thy children, and thy children's
children, and all that thou hast, and there will I nourish
thee. Ye shall haste and bring down my father hither."
The joyful news being conveyed to Jacob, he immediately
removed with all his family to Egypt. I attempt not to
describe the raptures of that interview, when father and son,
clasped in each others' arms, found not only words, but tears
and sobs too weak to express the overwhelming ecstasies of
that scene and that moment in which Jacob could find
nothing better fitted to give utterance to his emotion than
this, '' Now let me die, since I have seen the face of my son."
Would you behold the greatest triumph and the richest trophy
of filial love, turn to that glorious spectacle, when the prime
minister of Egypt, the man next to Pharaoh himself, led the
poor old shepherd of Canaan, leaning upon his arm, into the
palace, and before the whole circle of courtiers, introduced
him to the monarch, exultingly exclaiming, " My Father."
*' 0 Nature, nature ! How honorable thy empire, how
glorious thy triumphs." There may, for aught I know, be
a more splendid example of filial love than this — but I know
not where to find it. While Joseph was indulging in all this
THE CHARACTER OF JOSEPH. 177
luxury of affection for his father, he did not forget hia
brethren, and though encircled with the splendors of a court,
and invested with its richest hcnors, he was not ashamed to
own as his brothers, those whose occupation was odious in
the estimation of the Egyptians, and to regard as his greatest
distinction, his descent from the herdsman, who was the
friend of God.
Here, young men, is the example of a son, which I com-
mend most earnestly and affectionately to your attention and
imitation. Be each of you a good son^ not only in youth,
but in manhood, and as long as the old man your father
lives. There can be no moral excellence where filial piety is
wanting. You cannot love your heavenly Father, if you do
not love your earthly one. In that sterile ground where this
virtue grows not, nothing good can grow, but only a few
miserable weeds. Let your conduct be all such as to carry
comfort to a father's heart, and let this be to you an object of
tender solicitude and constant vigilance. Ask how every thing
will affect his peace, and thus imbibe the spirit of that noble
Tbeban, Epaminondas, who being asked what he esteemed
the happiest circumstance of his life, replied, " That my
father and mother were living when I gained the victory of
Leuctra." Or if you want a more modern instance of strong
filial affection, take Dr. Samuel Johnson's example, borrow-
ing, in his extreme poverty, six guineas, to comfort the death-
bed of his poor dying mother, and paying the expenses of
her funeral with the proceeds of the sale of the manuscript
of Rasselas. And especially remember the solemn and in-
cumbent duty of maintaining this affection amidst every
change of circumstances. Some have dropped and lost
their relative affections as they rose in life from the humble
vale of poverty ; and having arrived on the summit of wealth
178 THE YOUKG man's FRIEND
and worldly honor have blushed to own the connections
which they left below. I can conceive of cases in which
virtue itself may make a son blush to own his father. I
mean when the wretched parent has by his misconduct not
only disgraced himself, but his family j but for a child to be
ashamed of a father simply on account of his poverty, is a
disposition of which it is difficult to say which is the greatest,
the meanness, the folly, the cruelty, or the wickedness — it
is however enough to say it is a compound of all these detest-
able ingredients.
We hasten to contemplate the closing scenes of Joseph's
history. He had welcomed his aged father to Egypt, and by
his dutiful and loving behavior had filled his latter days
with such consolation, and crowned his hoary head with such
glory and honor, as, during the seventeen years he enjoyed
his pleasing and instructive society, must have alu^ost oblite-
rated the recollection of his past deep sorrows. He had
settled his brethren in Goshen, and lived beloved and respect-
ed by them. Pharaoh and his court continued to him their
confidence, and the Egyptians their gratitude and veneration.
Jacob at length died, ^nd Joseph gave beautiful proof that
neither his sensibilities as a man, nor his piety as a believer
in God, had been dried up under the tropical sun of his
wonderful prosperity. He fell on the lifeless corpse of his
father, wept, and kissed him. It was Jacob's dying request
to be buried not in Egypt, but in the land of Canaan ; a
request that expressed his faith in the promise of God, which
ensured the possession of this country to his descendants.
This request was most scrupulously complied with by Joseph,
who to do honor to his father's memory, followed his re
mains to Canaan, accompanied in the funeral procession by
THE CHARACTER OF JOSEPH. lYS
a retinue suited to his high rank as the prime minister of
Pharaoh. 0 what a son !
It now remained to be proved, and so his brethren
thought, whether Joseph's forgiveness had been granted
to them out of mere respect to their father's feelings, or
from the generous impulse of his own. They first sent,
therefore, in the most supplicating terms to implore his
pardon, enforcing their request by the sacred name of his
father, and his father's God ; and then came and pros-
trated themselves before him, thus fulfilling the dreams ot
his youth, which had excited their envy and hatred. They
knew not, even yet, the depths of his generosity, and formed
their opinion of him from themselves. He wept over their
submission, cheered them with assurance of his continued
kindness, and said to them, " Fear not — for am I in the
place of Grod. But as for you, ye thought evil against me,
but God meant it unto good. Now, therefore fear ye not ;
I will nourish you and your little ones. And he comforted
them, and spake kindly unto them." Noble-minded Joseph.
What a brother ! What a beautiful example of holy charity !
Joseph lived fifty-four years after this. The principal
interest of his eventful life was gone ; the chequered scene
of cloud and sunshine was over, and year succeeded to year
of unvarying splendor, and the remaining history is com-
prised in a few sentences. He difi'used happiness around
him, and saw his father's house and his own descendants
greatly multiplied. But as neither station, nor power, nor
wealth, nor piety, nor all these combined can preserve from
the stroke of death, Joseph laid down his honors at the
feet of the King of Terrors, and was gathered to his fathers,
" Grief finds a cure — usefulness a period — glory a decay —
and pride a destroyer — in the grave." So he found it
180 THE YOUXG man's FRIEXD.
The piety which had been the guide of his youth, the guard
of his middle life, and the prop of his old age, sustained him
to the last, and he died in faith of the promise of God,
requesting that his remains might be preserved and his bones
carried to Canaan, whenever the Lord should visit his people,
and restore them to the Land of promise. This request,
similar in nature and design to that of his father, like that
was sacredly fulfilled ; for when the Israelites, nearly two
centuries afterwards, left Egypt, notwithstanding the hurried
circumstances of their flight, they repaired to his sepulchre,
exhumed his bones — which as a precious legacy they carried
with them amidst all their wanderings in the wilderness—
and at length interred them in that sacred spot where already
reposed the dust of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
It is scarcely necessary to remark, that the character of
Joseph is a deeply interesting one, which combines the
sobriety of truth with the charms of fiction. The variety of
incident — the scenes of true pathos — the constant vicissi-
tudes— the vivid contrasts of character — the unexpected
turns of fortune — the struggles of exalted piety with temp-
tation, and the signal victories of truth and virtue — the
working of the various passions and the play of the diversi-
fied afi"ections of humanity — together with the intermixture
of supernatural interposition with the ordinary courses of
nature and events which it contains — all invest this history
with a fascination which nothing can surpass. Every one
who has ever read it has confessed its power. The peasant
and the philosopher — it has been truly said — the child and
the adult — the believer and the infidel — the men of all
nations and all ages — have admired, delighted in, and been
edified by, a story, which clothed with all the graces of
THE CII.^.IACTER OF JOSEPH. 181
eloquence, conveys the purest and sublimest lessons of pietj^
and morality.
This is a real history and not a fiction. I do not deny that
even those examples which are merely the creations of genius
and the ofispring of imagination, have some power over the
mind, or that truth and holiness even in fabh , may inspire
affection and stimulate imitation ; but it is with a power far
less commanding than that of fact. Whatever effect such
exhibitions of virtue and vice may have, it is weakened both
at the time and in recollection, by a secret whisper, "It is
all unreal." The perusal of such descriptions, however
strongly it may excite the imagination, has little hold upon
the conscience, and is rarely followed by any lasting results
upon the character. The effect of moral faUes and moral
facU upon the mind is respectively not unlike that of a
picture which is a work of pure fancy, as compared with a
panorama of a real scene. Now the character of Joseph is
a reality.
It is a scriptural character, on which the hand of God
has been specially employed, both in its production and in
its exhibition. God has not only lavished upon it the riches
of his power, wisdom, and grace, in forming and finishing it
as one of the most beautiful specimens of his divine art and
workmanship, but he has also set it in the gorgeous frame of
inspiration, and suspended it in his own Scripture gallery of
portraits of holy men of old, where he exhibits it for admira-
tion, and also for imitation, and which though now nearly
four thousand years old, is as fresh as when it was just finish-
ed by the pencil of the Divine hand.
It is a character which countless millions have beheld
with admiration, and multitudes of them with anxious,
studied, and successful imitation. It has been held up before
182
the youth of all nations, and all ages, whither the Bible has
gone. How many have been fortified in their struggles,
against sin, and made victorious over temptation by the holy
exclamation of this noble youth, " How shall I do this great
wickedness and sin against Grod ?" It comes therefore to
you recommended and sanctioned by the experience of
numbers.
The basis of this beautiful specimen of sanctified humanity
was laid in true religion. All that lofty and noble structure
of excellence which this history exhibits, rose upon the
foundation of the belief and fear of God. It began in the
house of his father Jacob, while he was yet a boy, and it
was on this account that the patriarch cherished the partiality
which he so unwisely displayed. Joseph " remembered his
Creator in the days of his youth." The fervent, consistent,
and triumphant piety he manifested abroad, he gained while
under the parental roof. Those seeds of excellence which
grew up, and protected, and adorned the young man from
home, were sowed by the hand of his father at home. What
security is there for moral excellence without religion, and
what security for religion except it be taken up in youth }
It was religion, I repeat emphatically, that was the sub-
stratum of all Joseph's excellence.
The character of Joseph is as symmetrical as it is well
based. There is a beautiful harmony and proportion in it.
You do not see one excellence flourishing amidst many im-
perfections, like a flower amidst many weeds in a wilder-
ness— but a garden of beautiful plants^ all exhibiting their
colors and mingling their fragrance ; nor like a single column
rising amidst ruin and surrounding desolation — but a majestic
temple, with all its parts in all their orderly arrangements
and all their exquisite proportions. Here we see the son,
THE CHARACTEP OF JOSEPH. 183
the brother, the servant, the master, the ruler — each in ita
single and separate excellence, and all combined and har-
monized in one glorious and lovely character. Here are no
eccentricities — no anomalies — no distortions — no extrava-
gancies ; no attempt to excuse great irregularities in some
things, by as great excellencies in others — no balancing of
virtues against vices — no compensative processes — but admi-
rable consistency — beautiful uniformity — in short, that ex-
quisite completeness which strikes the eye of the observer
from whatever point of view it is contemplated. How inflex-
ible in temptation — how cheerful and active in adversity —
how modest, humble, dignified, and holy, in prosperity. In
him were united the sagacity of the statesman, the penetra-
tion of the prophet, the firmness of the believer, and tho
purity of the saint. Goodness came first, greatness followed ,
and the former remained fixed in the latter, like the jewel
set in gold.
Young men, what a character is here ! how worthy of your
study — in which you see set forth tke, dangers you may have
to encounter from excessive parental indulgence — from inju-
rious treatment — from living away from home in a corrupt
state of society — from violent and unexpected temptation —
from being entrusted with the interests of others — from
coming into possession of great wealth, exalted station, and
public honor. What a host of perils ! And here you learn
in his piety — meekness — integrity — diligence — economy —
dignity — sympathy — forgiveness — filial regard — and depend-
ence upon God — the many excellences you should imitate ; and
the means by which these perils are to be vanquished. Nor
less strikingly do you see in his end the rewards that crown
a holy and virtuous life — you see Tirtue crowned with safety
184 THE TOUNa man's friend.
— with peace — with riches — with honor — with usefulness—
with heaven.
It is possible that curiosity may lead some of the parents
of the youths who may purchase this sermon, to look through
its paf^es, and should this be the case, let the following
remarks arrest their attention.
How momentous a duty is it on their part, to give sound
religious instruction to their children at the earliest period
in wliich they can receive it, and endeavor by the most judi-
cious, affectionate, and persevering methods, to form the
religious character.
Of what great consequence it is in order to promote the
peace of families to avoid the manifestation of partiality for
any one child, by any unwise marks of distinction.
Parents, you know not how early your children will be
removed from you, which is an additional motive to train
them up in the fear of Grod, that they may leave home forti-
fied by true piety, to encounter the temptations of the world,
and to endure the trials of life.
It may be that the child long lost to you may be restored
under circumstances of such delight as more than to compen-
sate for his absence, and the suspense concerning him. The
pious son who is removed from your family at a tender age,
and for a long time has no interest in your affairs^ may prove
to be the main pillar of your house, when there is no other
person to prevent its fall.
It is possible, and even probable, that the piety of one
pious child may become in following years the means of
reformation and conversion to many others in your family,
who had abused pious intructions in their early years, and
fallen into the ways of vice and wickedness.
Many a parent whose heart was at one time well-nigh
THE CHARACTER OF JOSEPH. 185
broken by the circumstances of his family, has lived to see
the tide of his domestic sorrow turned, and has ended a
cloudy and stormy day, with a calm and beautiful sunset.
A pious child is a father's best companion, next to God
himself, amidst the infirmities of old age, and in the chamber
of sickness and death.
But it is you, my young friends, and you especially. Young
Men, who should consider this history. Give yourselves
time to study it, and seek grace to imitate it, as far a^s the
principles on which it is founded and the virtues which com-
pose it shall apply to your own circumstances. And when
you have thus studied it for its importance, admired it for
its beauty, and copied it for your own advantage — ascend
from it to the contemplation of that still more glorious, per-
fect, and august example which is given us in our Lord
Jesus Christ, of whose personal history it furnishes, though
not perhaps a type, yet a parallelism, which is most singu-
larly striking. Joseph envied by his brethren ; sold into
Egypt ; degraded to the condition of a servant ; exalted from
the dungeon to the neighborhood of the throne ; invested
with power ; drawing his perishing kindred to him ; and
bestowing upon them a possession in the best of the land, at
any rate reminds us of Him, if it does not actually prefigure;
Him, who was hated by the Jews ; sold by one of his
apostles ; crucified by the Romans, and thus was made of no
reputation, but was afterwards raised from the cross to a
throne above the skies. Behold him ascending on high ;
receiving gifts for men ; attracting millions to him for salva-
tion ; and conferring upon them an inheritance incorruptible
undefiled, and that fadeth not away. Thus unite the Old
and the New Testament histories, and combine in yourselves
the character of Joseph with the mind of Jesus.
THE STUDY OF THE BOOK OF PROVERBS RECOM-
MENDED.
'• The Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, King of Israel.
" To know wisdom and instruction ; to perceive the words of under-
standing :
'' To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and
equity ;
" To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and
discretion."
Peoverbs i., 1 — 4.
In the subject we are to consider this evening, we have
another proof and a fine illustration of the opening senti-
ment of the last sermon— I mean the variety, beauty, and
usefulness of the Holy Scriptures. In that discourse we saw
and felt the fascination of sacred narrative ; in this we shall
see no less prominently, and feel, 1 hope, no less powerfully,
the value of Scripture proverbs : and if that presented to us
a chain of gold, in which each event was a distinct link, yet
all were so conjoined as to form a splendid whole ; this will
present a string of the richest pearls, of which each by itself
is a separate and valuable whole.
Proverbs are short sentences containing a maxim of wis-
THE BOOK OF PliOVERBS. 187
dom, or expressing a well-known truth or fact ascertained
by experience or observation. These have ever constituted
a method of human teaching, especially in countries of little
civilization, where books were few or unknown, and men
depended for their knowledge upon tradition. Among such
people this method is more likely to produce effect than any
other, if we except the allegorical, for it professed, as Bishop
Lowth remarks, not to dispute but to command ; not to
persuade but to compel. It conducts men, not by a circuit
of argument, but leads them immediately to the approba-
tion and practice of integrity and virtue. In order to render
it more pleasing, as well as more powerful, the instructors of
mankind added to their precepts the graces of harmony, and
illuminated them with metaphors, comparisons, and other
embellishments of style. It prevailed much among the
Hebrews, and continued to the latest ages of their literature.
But it has also been adopted by people far advanced in
refinement, yea, by all the nations upon earth. ^ The prevail-
ing characteristics of a good proverb, are brevity, that it may
be easily remembered — point, that it may stimulate — and
elegance, that it may please. And how all these apply to the
Proverbs of Solomon you know full well.
Let us now then enter on a consideration of this admirable
portion of Holy Scripture.
First. We will consider its Author. It opens with
ascribing this honor to Solomon. The tradition of the
church ascribes the Canticles to him, as'its author, when a
young man — the Book of Proverbs when he was in the mid-
dle of life — and the Book of Ecclesiastes it considers to be
his confessions as a penitent, mourning over his dark and
winding aberrations from the path of truth and holiness.
Several of the early sages, or wise men, of Greece, were
188 THE YOUNv& man's FRIEND.
rendered illustrious by a few well-known maxims : but how
limited was their wisdom in this respect, though posterior to
Solomon, to that which blazed forth from his wonderful
genius, " to whom God gave wisdom and understanding
exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand
that is on the sea shore. And Solomon's wisdom excelled
all the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and
all the wisdom of Egypt : — and his fame was in all nations
round about j and he spake three thousand proverbs, and his
songs were a thousand and five " 1 Kings, iv. 30-33.
Considering the early age of the world in which he lived,
he was probably the most extraordinary genius that ever
appeared on our earth. " Magnificence was his identifying
attribute. And alas, alas, for the weakness of humanity —
the dangers of knowledge — and the pride of intellect, wealth,
and power — even when he sinned, as most awfully he did, it
was with a high hand, on a large scale, and with a kind of
royal gusto :• he did not, like common sinners, sip at the cup
of corruption, but drank of it, ' deep and large,' emptying it
to the dregs : and when he suffered, his groans seemed to be
those of a demi-god in torment. He stood like a pyramid,
the shadow he cast in one direction was equal to the light
he received in the other. An example his which proves that
any great disproportion between gifts and graces, renders
the former as fatal as a knife is to the suicide, or the power of
writing to the forger. We ardently hope that Solomon
became a true penitent. But if he did not, his writings so
far from losing their value, would gain new force ; the figure
of their fallen author would form a striking frontispiece, and
these solemn warnings would receive an amen, as from tho
oaves of perdition. A slain Solomon ! — since fell Lucifer
THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. 189
the son of the morning, what more impressive proof of the
power of evil."*
It is clear from information contained in the book itself,
that Solomon did not publish the whole during his life.
The latter part, from the twenty-fifth chapter, forming an
appendix, was collected after his death and added to what
appears to have been more immediately arranged by himself.
What a production for one mind ! and when we add to
this the Book of Ecclesiastes, we stand amascd at the intel-<
lect which could have poured forth such a fund of practical
wisdom.
Of the DIVINE AUTHORITY of this book as a part of the
inspired Canon there can exist no doubt. It is frequently
quoted in the New Testament, and was evidently considered
by the apostles as a treasure of revealed morality. Such
indeed it is — a mine of divine wisdom which may be ever
explored and worked without being ever exhausted. What
Cicero said of Thucydides applies far more truly to this work
of Solomon, is is so full of matter that it comprises as many
sentences as words.
Secondly. It will help you, my young friends, better to
understand this book if you consider its scope and design.
" All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profita-
ble for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness, that the man of God may be thoroughly
furnished unto all good works." 2 Tim. iii, 16. But this
is a description of the Bible as a whole, and not of each
separate part. One portion may be more full in doctrine,
and therefore more important in reference to this, than some
others. Another portion may relate more specifically to
* Giifilian's " Bards of the Bible." A splendid book, which I most
cordially and earnestly recommend to the young.
190 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND
practice, and have more value as a ri^e of conduct, than
those which speak only of doctrine. We go for information
concerning the person, mission, and work of Christ, with
the way of pardon and salvation, to the prophecies of Isaiah
in the Old Testament, and to the Gospels and Epistles of the
apostles in the New Testament ; but the Book of Proverbs,
while it supplies us with no information, or but a dim light
on these momentous topics, furnishes us with invaluable rules
for our conduct in life. The beauty, force, and value of
these admirable maxims lie in their pradical design and
character. If we had no other book of Scripture than this,
in vain should we seek here for a solution of that problem,
" How shall man be just with God," or for an answer to that
question, " What shall I do to be saved .?" But, thanks bo
to Grod, we have other portions of Holy Writ, and having
learnt in them how as sinners we are to be justified, and our
peace with God is to be obtained, we come back to this, as
well as to others, to learn how the pardoned and regenerated
man is to conduct himself in all his various relations, situa-
ations, and circumstances. It is wholly a practical book,
and teaches us " to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and
to live soberly, righteously, and godly, in the present evil
world." Nor is this to be thought a low grade in the Divine
scheme of revelation. The truth as it is in Jesus is " a
doctrine according to godliness." Holy living is the end
of all truth — " Sanctify them," prayed our Lord for his
apostles, " by thy truth." The grand scope of the Prov-
erbs then is, and can God propose, or man conceive, a
higher ? to explain the nature of true wisdom — to shew its
importance — to demonstrate its necessity — to urge its acquisition
— and to enforce its practice.
How lofty a place among the objects of human pursuit ha»
THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. 191
been assigned to wisdom. What a stir in the world of
mind has that word made through all ages, from the history
of Egypt to that of Greece. All the most gifted intellects
of antiquity have started in quest of this most precious
acquisition. Every country has been visited — every oracle
consulted — every source of information explored, to find out
wisdom. Yet all have been searched in vain, as long as the
inquiry was conducted by unaided reason. When Pythagoras
was complimented by the tyrant of Syracuse as the m^eman,
he modestly refused the flattery, declaring that he was not
the possessor of wisdom, but only its lover seeking after it —
a philosopher. You may see this subject finely illustrated in
the Book of Job, where in that wonderfully sublime portion
of Scripture and in one of the sublimest of its chapters, the
twenty-eighth, we find the question proposed for the solu-
tion of the universe, " W/iere shall wisdom he founds and
what is the place of understanding ?" And when man
through ignorance is silent — and the depth says, It is not in
me — and death and destruction reply that they have only
heard the fame thereof — then cometh forth God from his
pavilion of darkness as the divine teacher of wisdom : and
what is it that, after all the researches and opinions and con-
flicting systems of philosophers, He proclaims to be true
wisdom ? Not some profound secret of nature which had
baffled the inquiries of philosophers. Not some great prin-
ciple of political science which was to regulate the affairs and
change the destinies of empires. Not some new theory of
economic potency, which was to direct the stream of com-
merce and open new sources of the wealth of nations. No :
these were not the sort of communications most suited to the
grandeur of his nature or the exigencies of ours — " To man
he saith — Behold the fear -f the Lordj that is wisdom^ and
9
192 THE YOUNG xMAN S FRIEND.
to depart from evil^ that is understanding.'''^ It required
the revelatioa of God to settle this quention, " What
is wisdom ?" — and he has settled it once and for ever.
This wisdom is Religion. This is man's highest wisdom as a
rational, moral, and immortal creature. It is his wisdom on
earth and will be his wisdom in heaven. It is his wisdom in
time and will be his wisdom through all eternity. Philosophers
of every country, hear it ! Shades of Pythagoras — Socrates
— Plato — hear it ! Divines and moralists, hear it ! And ye,
young men, the objects of my solicitude and my address,
hear it ! The fear of the Lord that is wisdom^ and to de~
part from evil, that is understanding.
This is the subject and design of the Book of Proverbs,
It opens with this glorious theme, and continues it through-
out the book, where wisdom herself, by a beautiful personi-
fication, is represented as disclosing her own nature and
teaching her own lessons, in piety towards God — and all the
moralities — the charities — the amenities — and courtesies of
social and domestic life. Here the basis of all sound morality
is laid in the fear of God. On this broad, deep foundation of
religion, is raised a superstructure of morals, which combines
the duties and the excellencies of the good monarch — the good
subject — the good neighbor — the good master — the good
husband — the good son — the good servant.
Thirdly. It may help you better to understand thia
extraordinary book if you are enabled to perceive the parts
into which it is divided ; and which though not very notice-
able by a superficial glance, yet really exist. These parts are
three. The first includes the nine first chapters, in which
wisdom, or the practical knowledge of God, is setfoitb with
great copiousness and variety of expression as the Oiily source
and foundation of true virtue and happiness. Thiy. portion
THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. 198
seems to be principally addressed to, and intended for, youth.
The sins, temptations, and dangers, incident to this period
of life are exhibited in the most striking descriptions — the most
glowing colors. All the beauties of diction and of metaphor
—all the charms of eloquence and the ornaments of poetry
— all the persuasions of tenderness — all the expostulations of
love — and all the commands of authority, are employed to
induce the young man to turn away from sin and to practice
holiness.* This part may be designated " A manual for
youthy
The second part extends from the tenth to the end of the
twenty-fourth chapter, and comprises precepts which seem
intended for those who have advanced from youth to man-
hood—precepts relating to all the details of social life. Here
the transactions of secuUr business are alluded to, and the
whatsoever things are true, and just, and honest, and pure,
and lovely, and of good report, arc stated with a minuteness,
and enforced with an earnestness, that are most edifying and
impressive. This may be called " TIi£, tradesman^ direc-
tory.'*'^
The third part begins at the twenty-fifth chapter and goes
on to the end of the book, and contains the appendix of mis-
cellaneous Proverbs, collected after Solomon's death. The
two last chapters having been written very probably by
separate hands, but preserved by Divine care, and under
Divine inspiration were added to the sacred canon. And
* Mr. Bridges, whose admirable exposition of the Proverbs supplies
a few of the remarks of this sermon, has published the first nine chap-
ters of his work, separated from the rest, which he entitles " A Manual
for Youth," which I most strenuously recommend as an admirable
guide for young men.
194 THE YOUNG man's FRIEND.
this may not inappropriately be called " JL mirror for
females.''^
Fourthly. But let us now enter upon a general, and it
can be but general, examination of the conteiits of this book.
1. I would direct your attention first of all to the very
appropriate and impressive terms which Solojnon has selected ^
nnder the direction of the Spirit of God^ to set forth the prin-
cipal subjects of the book, — I mean folly and wisdom.
These two words are of course to be understood in a practical
sense, as referring to moral rather than intellectual subjects,
— as designating indeed, sin and holiness. By the fool we
are to understand not the man of weak understanding, but
of bad heart and vicious conduct : and by the wise man,
not the individual of large knowledge, but of genuine religion.
It is true in many places wisdom and folly are employed by
the writer to denote the deficiency or the exhibition of general
excellence, in their specific branches and details : but their
generic meaning is sin or wickedness. This is plain from
that admirable definition, "The fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom," and from that other text of an oppo-
site nature; "Fools make a mock of sin," All sin is not
only wicked, but it is foolish ; and every sinner, whatever may
be his intellectual attainments, is not only a transgressor, but
a fool. Nothing is considered more reproachful than this
appellative ; hence many, more jealous for their intellect than
for their heart, would rather be called a knave than a fool.
Sin then is folly — it is declared so by God — it is thought so by
all holy angels and men, and is proved to be such by the expe-
rience of mankind in the consequences of poverty, disease,
shame, and misery, which it often brings after it in this
world, and the certain destruction with which it is followed
in the world to come. Look at the prodigal, wasting his
4
THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. 193
substance among Larlots and in riotous living — the idle profli-
gate— the extravagant spendthrift — the besotted drunkard —
the diseased debauchee — the dishonest servant — the mad-
dened gamester — how wicked is their conduct — yes, but how
foolish also ! Is it not folly to wage war against heaven —
to contend with the Almighty — to barter away the joys of
immortality for the pleasures of sin, which are but for a
season ; and for the gratification of a moment to incur the
bitter pains of eternal death ? On the other hand, if there
be holiness in religion, there is also wisdom. To secure the
favor of Grod — to be saved by Christ — to have a title to
eternal glory — to have peace of conscience — to control the
passions — to be comforted in sorrow — to secure the germ of
every virtue, and the death of every corruption — in short to
be wise unto salvation hereafter, and to have that which will
best promote all our interests here — is to be wise indeed.
This is the truest, the noblest, the only wisdom. What is
the wisdom displayed in amassing wealth, acquiring fame, or
gratifying appetite, compared with this } Surely that must
be the deepest of folly which ruins estate, body and soul —
and that the highest wi:sdom which saves all.
II. I next select a few single Proverbs for the sake of
holding them up and showing their beauty and their value.
And here I can but pluck a few flowers at random from a
garden which is enlivened by the bloom, and perfumed with
the odor of a thousand others, as beautiful and as fra-
grant as those I gather. How tender and how lovely are
such sayings as these. " The path of the just is as the
shining light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect
day." " The memory of the just is blessed." " The mouth
of the righteous is a well of life." " Hope deferred maketh
the heart sick." " The heart knoweth its own bitterness,
196 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
and a stranger intermeddleth not with its joy." A merry
heart doeth good like a medicine." " Even in laughter the
heart is sorrowful, and the end of that mirth is heaviness."
" Better is a dinner of herbs, where love is, than a stalled ox,
and hatred therewith." "The beginning of strife is as the
letting out of water, therefore leave off contention before it
is meddled with." " Faithful are the wounds of a friend,
but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful." " As a bird that
wandereth from her nest, so is the man that wandereth from
his place." " As iron sharpeneth iron, so doth the counte-
nance of a man his friend." " A foolish son is the grief of
father, and bitterness to her that bare him." " Open rebuke
is better than secret love." Such are but specimens, taken
almost at random from this vast and all but inexhaustible
storehouse of wisdom. What mind of the least perception
or taste must not, does not, admire the point and the
elegance of these beautiful aphorisms.
1 can only allude to the principal topics on which the
wisdom of Solomon was employed in this collection of golden
sentences. Here are innumerable sayings on all the duties of
religion towards God, on filial affection, on the right use of
speech and the government of the tongue — on ability, dili-
gence, industry, honesty, and honor in trade — on prudence
in domestic affairs — on friendship and companionship — on
forethought and anticipation of the future — on covenants
and suretyship — on the obligations of kings and subjects, of
husbands and wives, of masters and servants — ^yea, on what
subject connected with social existence, not only in its
greater concerns, but in all its minute and delicate ramifi-
cations, may we not find some sententious remark, some
pithy saying, which remembered, would be of vast service to
U8. Rules for the house of God, for our own habitations,
THE BOOK OF I'ilOVElinS. 19*7
for the shop, the pailoi", and even ihe kitchen, may all be
found here. The character of every individual, whatever be
his rank, station, or social relation, may find a mould here in
which it may be cast, and from which it would come forth
beautiful, useful, and admirable.
III. But leaving particular and isolated proverbs, I go on
to select and exhibit a few of the beautiful allegories^ or
yerha'ps more properly, personifications, which are scattered
over this wondrous hook. Metaphors and similes abound, in
seemingly grand and endless confusion, like the single stara
of the firmament ; while allegories which are but extended
metaphors, are to be seen here and there standing out like a
magnificent constellation amidst the single stars.
I can mention only two or three of these, for they are too
numerous to be all of them considered. Solomon seemed to
delight in the use of the allegory. And first of all, let me
direct your attention to the personification of religion in the
first chapter. " Wisdom crieth without, she uttereth ber
voice in the streets ; she crieth in the chief place of con-
course, in the openings of the gates : in the city she uttereth
her words. How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simpli-
city, and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools
hate knowledge ^ Turn ye at my reproof ; behold I will
pour out my Spirit upon you, I will make known my words
to you." — Chap. i. 20—23. How finely is this wrought, when
religion is thus seen, not retiring to the cloister or the cell,
not even confined to places of worship — but going through
the streets, standing in the gates, entering into public assem-
blies, and delivering her instructions, breathing out her
expostulations, urging her counsels, administering her re-
bukes, and denouncing her threatenings, to the congregated
multitudes — ihe ma.ss of the people.
108 THE YOUNG MAN S FRIEND.
Nothing can be conceived more apt, or more beautiful, ot
more sublime, than that personification of Wisdom, which he
introduces in the eighth chapter, exhibiting her not only as the
director of human life and morals, as the inventor of arts, as
the dispenser of wealth, of honor, and of real felicity, but
as the immortal offspring of the Omnipotent Creator, and as
the eternal associate in the Divine counsels.
" When he prepared the heavens, I was present ;
When he described a circle on the face of the deep :
When he disposed the atmosphere above ;
When he established the fountains of the deep ;
When he published his decree to the sea,
That the vi^aters should not pass their bound ;
When he planned the foundations of the earth;
Then was 1 by him as his otfspring ;
And I was daily his delight ;
I rejoiced continually belore him.
I rejoiced in the habitable parts of the earth,
And my delights were with the sons of men."*
"It is a difficult thiug to personify an attribute well ; and
to sustain it through a simile or an apostrophe is not easy ;
but to supply a long monologue for the lips of Eternal
Wisdom ! This has Solomon done, and not degraded the
mighty theme. ""f
Turn now to another of these beautiful personifications,
to one which will come more home to your own condition
and circumstances.
"Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth
understanding.
* Proverbs viii. 27-31, Lowth's Translation. I must express my
entire conviction that this chapter is intended as a personification oi
wisdom, and not as a prophetic desc-iption of our Lord Jesus Chiist
t GiJfillan.
THK BOOK OF TROVERBS. 199
"For the merchandize thereof is bet-^^r than the merchandize (A
silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold.
" She is more precious than rubies, and all the things thou canst de-
sire are not to be compared unto her.
'' Length of days in her right hand, and in her left hand, riches ana
honor.
" Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths peace.
" She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her ; and happy is
every one that retaineth her." — Chap. iii. 13-18.
Such, Young Men, is religion, — for wisdom you know is
religion, — as here set forth by a striking mixture of metaphor.
She is represented as a queen coming forth from her palace
and her treasury, with both hands full of blessings, which
she is holding out, ready to drop them into the lap of those
who will submit to her government, and become her subjects.
To represent the influence of religion, even on the interests
of earth and time, she holds in one hand health, and in the
other riches and honor, which often are the fruits of that
godliness which is profitable for all things, having the pro-
mise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to
come. But what are her ways ? A lonely rugged path
across sandy deserts, or through gloomy passes and frowning
precipices, where no verdure springs, no sun-beams play, no
birds carol, and where neither streams nor fruits are found ?
So the enemies of religion, the men who dwell in the fools'
paradise, would represent : but how difi'erent the description
in this lovely passage ! This tells of " ways of pleasant7iesSy
and paths of peace. "^^ It is indeed a narrow and somewhat
toilsome way, but every step is lighted by the bright shining
of the Sun of Righteousness ; is strewed with the promises
of God ; is a step of happiness ; and a step to heaven. Yes,
even what are called the austerities of religion are more joj-
9*
200 THE YOUNG man's FRIEND.
ous than the pleasures of sin. The yoke of Christ is far
lighter than that of Satan.
And then, the tree of life — there, in that wonderful
ornament and glory of the garden of Eden, in the branches
of which sung the birds of Paradise ; whose roots were
watered with the rivers of God ; in whose shade Adam basked,
and of whose fruits he ate as the sacramental pledge of im-
mortality— there, I say, is the emblem of heavenly wisdom.
She is a tree of life, growing up from a branch brought out
of Eden, when sin had barred our access to the original
stock, and caused it to decay , a tree whose branches bend
down upon this world of sin and misery, and whose clusters
hang within the reach of even the youngest child. Young
Men, what think you of this beautiful description of wisdom's
blessings ? It is no fancy picture — no mere creation of
human genius — no mere poetic garniture of the page of
revelation. How many that hear me now have proved all
this to a Divine reality ? 0, come, come, to this tree of
life, and take of its twelve manner of fruits, and live.
I pass by with only one glance at it, the personification of
wisdom in the ninth chapter, building her house, preparing
her feast, and sending out her invitations to collect her
guests. A beautiful representation of the blessings of true
religion.
IV. We will now turn to a few of those grajphic sketches
of character with which the book abounds.
1. Scarcely has it opened, before we find the character of
the Tempter described in the following language : " My son,
if sinners entice thee, consent thou not: if they say, Come
with us, let us lay wait for blood ; let us lurk privily for the
innocent without cause ; let us swallow them up alive
as the grave, and whole as they that go down to the pit : we
THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. 201
sLall find all precious substance, we sball fill our houses
with cpoil. Cast in thy lot among us, let us all have one
purse." — Chap. i. 10. How true this is to the life, as a
description of the conduct of those who tempt others to evil.
The earnest invitation, the secresy of the plot, the prospect
of advantage, the promise of a share in the booty. How
accurate ! It is true that in your situation and circum^
ctances the temptation will not be to deeds of blood and
rapine — but there will be much the same urgency of entice-
ment, the same promise and prospects of gain, and the same
ensnaring representation of companionship. Sinners are
ruthless and zealous in the dreadful work of temptation —
they want companions to assist them in accomplishing their
evil deeds, and sometimes they equally need and earnestly
seek associates to maintain their courage. Guilt, till its
subject becomes hardened and desperate, is cowa»rdly, and
gets rid of its fears by multiplying its companions. If
sinners then entice you, do not yield, or even hearken to
their solicitations. Consent constitutes the sin. Turn a
deaf ear to every entreaty. Let no prospect or promise of
gain or pleasure, induce you to listen for a moment to their
solicitations. Flee from them as you would from a serpent
or a lion. You need not yield. You cannot be forced to
sin. Repulse the tempter at once and with a frown. Do
not parley with him for a moment. His look is the fascina-
tion of the basilisk's eye — his words are snares — his breath is
pestilence — his presence is destruction. The moment he
asks you to sin — flee — instantly flee. And while I warn you
against being ensnared by the tempter's arts, let me with
gtill more emphatic importunity, entreat you never to em-
ploy them. No character is so like that of Satan, who is
called by way of eminence the Tempter, as he who en.tices
202 THE YOUNG MAN S FRIEND.
another to sin. This is the most truly diabolical act ever
perpetrated in our world. Turn with horror from the
thought. If you must and will sin — sin alone — have no
partner in your crime. If you will sink to the bottomless
pit, drag no others down with you into that fiery gulf.
Emulate not the fate of Achan, of whom it is said, " This
man perished not alone in his iniquity." What an eternity
of torment is that man preparing for himself as well as for
others, who is ruining the souls of his fellow-creatures by
solicitinor them to sin. How will those victims of his wiles
avenge themselves upon him by their execrations in the
world of woe.
Next I direct you to a very striking description of the
Tempted.
I can only allude, delicacy forbids more, to the vivid
description of the unwary youth caught in the snares of the
abandoned woman, contained in the seventh chapter. This
picture is to be looked at with half-averted eye, for warning,
but not for gratification. It is painted with a master's hand,
and with exquisite fidelity of color. Was ever the harlot's
likeness more accurately taken ? The late hours of the
evening for her sallying forth in quest of her prey — her
position at the corner of the street — her meretricious attire
— her tempting speech — her plausible suggestions — her im-
pudent face — all show the harlot's brazen forehead. There
is no vice against which you have more need to be warned
than sensuality. It is that to which your age, your situation,
and your temptations expose you. Imitate the conduct of
that noble youth whose character we contemplated in our
last discourse, and say, when tempted to sin, " How shall 1
do this great wickedness and sin agaiiist God ?
How true is human nature, even in its corruptions, tc
THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. 203
itself. The corners of the streets of our modern towns and
cities, as others did in Solomon's time, exhibit the same
night scenes now. Three thousand years with all their
warnings and experience have not banished the " strange
woman" from society, nor driven the female tempter from
our streets. Everything in the description of this case is
impressive and instructive. Trace the sad end as set forth
here to its beginning. Was not idleness the parent of tim
mischief.? The loitering evening walk — the unseasonable
hour — the vacant mind — all bringing the youth into contact
with evil company, was not all this courting sin — temptino'
the tempter ? How awfully true the representation of the
tempter's success, " He goeth after her straightway as an ox
goeth to the slaughter," unconscious of his fate ; perhaps
dreaming of rich pasture ; or, " as a fool to the correction
of the stocks," careless and unfeeling, " till the dart strike
through his liver," or " as a bird hasteth to the snare and
knoweth not that it is for his life." Young men, set a guard
upon your senses. Go not in the way of sin. Enter deeply
into our Lord's beautiful petition, " Lead us not into temp-
tation." He that would not fall into sin, must not go into
the way of temptation. Keep from the harlot's company,
and speech, and private haunt, and public walk, as you
would from contact with a person infected with the plague.
I now direct you to the description o^ the end of the pro-
fligate ; who after running his course of dissipation, looks
back with remorse and regret, anjidst poverty and disease,
upon his polluted and ruinous career : " And thou mourn at
last lohen thy flesh and thy body are consuvied^ and say. How
have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof ;
and have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined
mine ear to them that have instructed me. I was in almost
204 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
all evil iu the midst of the congregation and assembly."
Chap. V. 11-14. Here is the fruit of sensuality sot forth in
awful terms. Disease preying like worms upon the body,
and remorse, like a vulture, gnawing at the heart. Yes,
there are sins which set their loathsome brand upon the outer
man, while they fill with the poison of their guilt the inner
one : sins which pollute the blood — disfigure the countenance
— destroy the health — and turn the whole frame into a mass
of corruption. How many martyrs of intemperance and
licentiousness prove by a bitter experience the truth of the
apostle's words, '* He that soweth to the flesh shall of the
flesh reap corruption ;" and realise the description of Zophar,
"His bones are full of the sins of his youth, which lie down
with him in the dust." Oh, to sit down amidst wasted
fortunes, with a body half murdered by profligacy, and the
voice of conscience telling of slighted opportunities, abused
privileges, stifled convictions. Young men, think of this
" mourning at last," when it will be too late to mourn, and
when the mourning will be the more bitter, the longer it is
delayed. Impenitence does not put away sorrow, but only
postpones it to a future period, when mercy shall have fled
for ever, and nothing remain but a fearful recollection of
past sins and a still more fearful foreboding of wrath to come.
How will neglected warnings, despised sermons, and slighted
oounscls, then rise like spectres from the grave of oblivion,
each repeating that dreadful sarcasm, " Son^ remember.''^
I hold up now another portraiture, I mean that of the
Drunkard. " Who hath woe ? Who hath sorrow ?
Who hath contentions ? Who hath babblings } Who hath
wounds without cause ? Who hath redness of eyes ? They
that tarry long at the wine ; they that go to seek mixed wine.
Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth it?
THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. 205
color in the cup, when it movoth itself aright. At the last
it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. Thine
eyes shall behold strange women, and thine -heart shall utter
perverse things. Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down
in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a
mast. They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not
sick ; they have beaten me, and I felt it not : when shall I
awake ? I will seek it yet again." — Chap, xxiii. 29-35.
This is perhaps the most graphic and vivid description of
inebriety ever yet given to the world. The drawing is
perfect, and not less so the coloring. It has been often
called, and with great truth and justice, '' the drunkard's
looking-glass,. in which he may see his own face." It is said
that amidst all the splendid furpiture and ornaments of our
gin palaces, the mirror is not found : the vendors of poison
not being very willing that the miserable victims should see
their own suicidal act, in gulping the fatal dram, reflected.
In default of a looking-glass, I wish they could be compelled
to have this passage painted in large and flaming characters,
and hung up in the most conspicuous place of these human
slaughter houses. Observe the description of the drunkard.
The quarrelsome temper which liquor produces — the fights in
which it involves the man who quaffs it, and the wounds he
gets in his afi'rays — his babbling discourse on subjects which
he does not understand and is then unfitted to discuss, when
blasphemy is wit, treason courage, and ribaldry eloquence —
his going on, when inflamed by wine, to the gratification of
other lusts, and the commission of other sins — his insensibi-
lity to injury and danger when his brain is stupified — his re-
turning to the indulgence of his vicious appetite when awak-
ening up from his drunken slumber — his intense misery and
woe produced by his remorse of mind and wretchedness of
206 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
body — these are all set forth in this wonderful passage with
a graphic power that nothing can exceed.
Begin life, Young Men, with an extreme dread of this
vice. There is ground for alarm. Drunkenness was never
more prevalent than it is now. Myriads and myriads sink
every year into the drunkard's grave, and lower still, into the
drunkard's hell. One half of the lunacy — two-thirds of the
pauperism — and three-fourths of the crime of society, are
said to spring from this desolating habit. Beware then of
this dreadful appetite and propensity. Be afraid of it. Con-
sider yourselves liable to it. x^bandon all self-confidencee.
Avoid everything that leads to drinking. Abjure tobacco in
every shape — shun bad company — never cross the threshold
of the tavern for the purpose of conviviality. Practise total
abstinence. All the drunkards that are, or ever have been,
were moderate men once. I do most earnestly entreat you
to abstain from all intoxicating drinks. You do not need
them for health, and to take them for gratification is the
germ of inebriety. Total abstinence will conduce to health
—to economy — to prosperity. You will one day bless me if
this discourse should lead you to adopt this practice. I do
not say that this will ensure the practice of every virtue and
the enjoyment of all prosperity, but 1 know nothing in the
order of preparatory means more likely to be followed with
such results.
And now I ask, what is it that leads to all other sins }
Idleness — and I therefore now direct you to the last picture
which 1 shall present this evening. " I went by the field of
the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of under-
standing, and, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and
nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall
thereof was broken down. Then I saw and considered it
THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. 207
well ; I looked upon it and received instruction Yet a little
sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep ;
so shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy
want as an armed man." Chap. xxiv. 30-34
This, too, is fine painting : the late riser, the lover of
deep, the drowsy drone, lifting up his half-opened lids
weighed down with sleep — grumbliug at the person who has
disturbed him, turning away from him on his bed — and then
settling himself down again to slumber. And then the
broken fence left without repair — the thorns and nettles
covering the field and choking the vineyard. How true to
life. Idleness is a complicated vice — yes, I say vice. First
it is a most wasteful habit — it wastes time, which is more
precious than rubies — it wastes a man's mental faculties, and
dooms the noblest machine on earth to stand still — it wastes
property, and should compel the sluggard to put down in his
expenses a large sum per annum lost by neglect. It is dis-
graceful, for how reproachful is it in a being made to be
active, to spend life in doing nothing, and to throw away his
mental powers in sloth. It is criminal^ for God has com-
manded us to be active ; and will call us to account for
the sin of killing time. It is dangerous^ doing nothing
is next to doing ill, and is sure to lead to it. From its
very inaction it ultimately becomes the active cause of all
evil ; as a palsy is more to be dreaded than a fever. The
Turks have a proverb which says, " The Devil tempts all
other men ; but the idle man tempts the Devil.'''' Idleness is
the stagnant pool that deposits mud and breeds all kinds of
vermin ; but running water is clear, sweet, and wholesome.
Idleness is wretchedness. An idle man, as I said in a former
discourse, is the most miserable of all God's creatures : and
woe be to the man who is doomed to bear the pain and
208 THE YOUNG man's FRIEND.
penalties of a slothful disposition. Employment is not onlj
a source of excellence, but of enjoyment. Young Men, bo
industrious. It will be a source at once of pleasure and
profit. If you study the Book of Proverbs for nothing else,
study it for the purpose of promoting industry. I give it as
my decided opinion, that no man who ever made this book
the subject of his study and the rule of his life, failed to
ensure a competency ; while multitudes who have acted thus
have attained to respectability, honor, and wealth.
Let me now, in conclusion, enumerate a few general
points, which are suggested by a consideration of this inte-
resting portion of holy Scripture.
I. We see the benevolence of God^ in not only providing
the means for our glory, honor, immortality, and eternal life
in heaven, through the mediation of our Lord Jesus Christ,
but in giving us in this valuable book, the most minute
directions for all the details of our earthly abode. He not
only wills our salvation hereafter, but our convenience and
comfort here. He acts like a good and rich father, who,
while he makes his son heir of all his estate, consults in the
minutest particulars all his well-being and enjoyment through
the period of his boyhood and education. How exquisitely
beautiful is it to see God thus managing our mean affairs —
intent even upon our success in trade — promoting our plea-
sant intercourse with our neighbors — providing rules for our
conduct every where — and supplying us with the means to
secure a thousand little enjoyments, and to protect ourselves
from a thousand little annoyances on our road to our
Father's house in heaven. To me the Book of Proverbs
proves the minuteness and delicacy of God's goodness, while
the Gospels and Epistles of the New Testament, exhibit its
grandeur and sublimity.
THE BOOK OF TUOVEUBS. 20S
II. Arising out of this, I would observe, what an inesti-
mable voluvie and priceless treasure is the Bihle, which thus
'proclaims to us the goodness of God^ and carries out His
gracious purpose towards us. I want, young men, to endear
to your hearts this book of books, and therefore will embrace
every opportunity presented by these lectures, to commend
it to your attention and regard. I want to fortify you
agaiust the seductions of infidelity and false philosophy. I
want to show you the injustice to yourselves, as well as the
wickedness towards God, and the hypocrisy, as well as the
cruelty, of those who under the pretext of liberating your
mind from thraldom, and exalting you to the dignity of men
of reason, would deliver you from what they call the domi-
nion of superstition and the trammels of the Bible. It is
their delight to represent the Bible as teaching only a system
of priestcraft ; as prescribing only a round of religious
ceremonies ; and forming a character fit only to dwell in a
monastery, or to worship in a church. Ask them if they
have ever deigned to read the Book of Proverbs. If not,
they are unfit to pronounce an opinion upon the Bible — and
if they have, tell them that by such u.isrepresentations they
lie against their own knowledge — for here is a part of the
Bible which, they must know, follows us into the social
haunts of men — to the family — to the shop — to the market
and exchange, to dictate truth, kindness, and meekness, to
our words ; justice, honesty, and honor, to our transactions ;
which regulates all sales and purchases upon the principles
of equity : gives validity and force to all contracts ; prohibits
all wrong, and sustains all right. A single perusal of this
book would convince them that if it were universally possess-
ed, believed, and practised — human laws would be almost
unnecessary, courts of justice would be forsaken, and jails
210 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
untenanted. Take up this volume with the simple question,
" What kind of man shall I be if I follow the rules herein
contained." Hold fast your Bibles then, till infidelity can find
you a better rule of conduct for this life — a brighter levela-
tion, and a surer hope for another. Ask it what it has to
ofier you in exchange for doctrines so sublime — morality so
pure, precepts so wise — promises so precious — prospects so
grand. And what has it to oficr } A dreary, blank, and
hideous negative — no Grod — no Redeemer — no salvation — no
heaven — no, nor anything even in this world to save you
from the dominion of vice, or to guide you to the practice
and enjoyment of virtue — this is all that infidelity has to give
you as a substitute for the Bible. Say to it with surprise, in-
dignation, and abhorrence — " Avaunt, lying spirit. Curse not
me with your discoveries of nothing. Is this all you have to
give me in exchange for that volume which is profitable for
all things, having the promise of the life that now is, as well
as of that which is to come .? You have nothing by which I
may steer my course across the stormy ocean of this life : and
nothing at the end of the voyage but the black rocks of an-
nihilation on which I must dash, and be for ever lost. Be
gone with thy creed of wretched negations, to him who is
fool enough to be cajoled out of his Bible by thy miserable
sophistries." Sometimes the mind is more impressed with
the atrocity of an intended felony, by examining the articles
one by one, which it would purloin, than by looking at the
whole in mass. So it is judging of infidelity — take up book
by book of Scripture — examine each separately, and say,
'• The felon infidel would rob me of this, and this, and
this." Yes, Young Men, he would cheat you, among the
rest, out of this Book of Proverbs. He would tell you that
this is imposition, and no revelation from Grod at all. Or if
THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. 211
he consented to leave this in your hands, he would, by taking
away its divine authority, deprive it of all power to bind
your conscience as law, and merely submit it for your adop-
tion as advice, which you are still at liberty to reject if you
do not like it.
III. This book shows us the connexion between true reli-
gion and general excellence of character. This was noticed
in the last sermon, when we contemplated the character of
Joseph, and is now repeated in this general analysis of the
Book of Proverbs. It lays the foundation, broad, deep and
strong, in that wisdom which is the fear of God. It antici-
pates the apostolic injunction — " Add to your faith^ virtue."
The foundation of the temple of virtue is religion — its
golden ornament upon the dome is all that is gentle in
spirit and graceful in demeanor. From hence is to be
derived that completeness of character which this book is
intended and calculated to form. It begins with the heart ;
and forms a holy mechanism there, which guides the hands
of the clock in regular movements round the dial-plate of
life. It implants right principles of action. It communi-
cates a hidden life — it sanctifies the inner man, and thus
fashions the outer man — and does not merely paint a picture,
or carve a bust. Here man in all his relations and all his
interests is consulted — as a creature of God — as a citizen of
the state — as a member of society — as an inmate of the
dwelling — as a creditor or a debtor — as a buyer or a seller
— in each and all these, he is contemplated, directed, and
encouraged. It has been beautifully observed, that " we
want religion to be to the character, what the soul is to the
body — the animating principle. The soul operates in every
member. It sees in the eye — hears in the ear — speaks in
the tongue — animates the whole body, with ease and uuifor-
212 THE YOUNG MAN S FRIEND.
raity, without ostentation or effort." Thus let the good con-
duct of the citizen, the son, the husband, the father, the
brother, the tradesman, be only so many operations of truo
piety, so many acts of this animating soul — so many devel-
opments of this hidden life.
lY. Though there is much in this book which, properly
understood and followed, would, in connexion with other parts
of Scripture, guide the reader to heaven and prepare him for
its enjoyment, it must be confessed and remembered, that it
principally aims to form the social character for the present
world. What we have already said on this subject we repeat,
that for a clear and explicit knowledge of the way of pardon
and eternal life, we must read the New Testament. There
we learn how Christ is made of God unto us " Wisdom, and
righteousness, and sanctification and redemption. " And even
there also we learn the great moral principles on which all
the transactions of this world's business should be founded :
but it is in this extraordinary book that all the details of
social life are given with a minuteness that is really extraor-
dinary. It is the tradesman's vade mecum. It might lie on
his desk by the side of his ledger, and even that in a thousand
instances would have been in a better state, had this been
more constantly consulted. It is my firm belief that no man
who reads this book through with close attention and earnest
prayer, once a year, will fail, either in this world, or in refer-
ence to that which is to come. It is designed and adapted
to form the industrious, prudent, honorable, and successful
tradesman, and is therefore eminently suited to this great
commercial country. Napoleon Bonaparte, when in the
zenith of his power and pride, called this country, more in a
spirit of mortification and envy than of contempt, a nation of
shopkeepers. If by that term he comprehended our mer*
THE IJOOK OF PROVERBS. ii]3
cliants and manufacturers, he did not inaptly describo us
AVo are not ashamed of our commercial character and great
ness : and provided our merchandise be carried on upon the
principles of this book, and we thus inscribe upon itj
Holiness to the Lord^ it is our glory and defence.
V. In this book is disclosed the secret of true happiiiesSy
aud which indeed if possessed will make happy individuals,
happy families, happy neighborhoods, happy nations, and
a happy world. All the errors which men have fallen into on
this subject ; all the delusive shadows, the polluted springs, the
deleterious ingredients, which have misled so many, are here
detected and exposed ; while the nature, the source, and the
means of true felicity, arc as clearly pointed out. Here, in
the favor of God ; in the mortification of our corruptions ;
in tne restraint of our passions ; in the cultivation of our
graces ; m the performance of our duties ; in promoting the
good of our neighbors, and in the hope of immortality — are
the materials of human blessedness. Here, happiness is set
ferth, not in the heathen forms of Bacchus, Yenus, or Momus ;
not by such descriptions as those of Horace, Ovid, and Ana-
creon ; not by such rout and revelry as the lovers of pleasure
in every age would recommend. Quite the contrary. In
this book, happiness is seen descending from heaven, her
native place, and lighting upon our orb in the seraph form
of religion. She is clad in the robe of righteousness, arrayed
in the garment of salvation, and adorned with ine ornament
of a meek and quiet spirit. Like the king's daughter of old,
she " is all glorious within, her clothing is of wrought gold.''
Joy sparkles in her eye, and peace reposes upon her brow.
Her conscience is easy by pardon, and her heart is lio-ht
through purity. The song of the seraphim is upon her lips.
Her hand is alternately lifted up in adoration to God, and
214 THE rouNG man's friend.
stretched out in mercy to "his necessitous creatures. Her
foot cvor carry her with joyful steps, either to . the house of
prayer, or the abodes of sorrow. Her excellencies are de-
scribed and her praises are sung, not in the odes of licentious
poets, at sensual orgies, in strains inspired by lust and wine ;
but in the hymns composed by prophets and apostles, resound-
ing in the temples of devotion, or chanted by good and holy
men in the circles of their friends, or the homes of their
families. Such is the happiness set forth in this book — the
only thing which deserves the name ; the only thing that can
prove itself worthy of the name. That seraph form lights,
Young Men, in your path, and with her own angelic, divine,
and heavenly smile, beckons you to follow her to the well-
spring of delight, repeating at every step, the beautiful lan-
guage of this book, " Happy is the man that findeth
THE YOUNG MAN SUCCEEDING OR FAILING IN
BUSINESS.
" He becometh poor that dealeth with a sJack Land ; but the hand ci
the diligent maketh rich." — Proverbs x. 4,
*' In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity con
sider." — Ecclesiastes vii. 14.
Think not, Young Men, that in selecting two subjects
consecutively, and one before, from the books of Proverbs and
Ecclesiastes, I am drawing your attention away from the
New Testament to the Old, and investing the latter with an
importance superior to that of the former. By no means.
Both these portions of the sacred volume belong to the one
divine system of revealed truth, and they stand related to
each other as the two great lights of the moral world, the
sun to rule the day and the moon to rule the night. The
Old Testament, with lunar effulgence borrowed from the
yet invisible orb of spiritual day, shone forth upon the
Jewish Church during the night season of its existence ;
while the New, with its own brightness, constitutes the day of
our Christian dispensation. !3ut though the Sun of Righte-
ousness has risen, the moon is still a valuable member of our
spiritual solar system. Let us then hold fast both parts of the
10
216 THE YOUNG MANS FRIEND.
Bible, not neglecting the books of Moses, David, Solomon,
and the prophets, but delighting most to study the gospels
and epistles because of their clearer revelation of every
thing that stands connected with the moral character of God
— the person and work of Christ — the way of salvation — and
the glories of immortality.
The book of Ecclesiastes, when properly understood, is an
important portion of sacred Scripture. It is on good grounds
ascribed to Solomon, and is supposed, as we stated in the
last discourse, to have been composed after his recovery
from his deplorable apostacy, and was intended by him
to be a record of his own experience, and a warning,
or at any rate an instruction, to mankind. Its chief design
seems to be to answer that momentous inquiry, prompted
at once by the misery and the ignorance of fallen humanity,
" Who will show us any good." Man is made for
happiness, and is capable of it ; but what is it, and how
is it to be obtained ? To possess and enjoy it, he must
be furnished with some good, which is suited to his nature,
adapted to his condition, and adequate to his capacity and
desires.
The nature of the chief good has been, in every age, the
most earnest and interesting subject of philosophic inquiry.
But how various and opposed have been the conclusions to
which, on this important subject, the inquirers have arrived.
Varro, a very learned Latin writer, who died about thirty
years before Christ, reckoned up more than two hundred dif-
ferent opinions on this subject ; thus plainly evincing the igno-
rance of man of his own nature, circumstances, and wants.
Not perceiving what it is that has made him miserable, he can-
not know of course what will make him happy. Unacquainted
with or rather overlooking the disease, he cannot know
SUCCEEDING OR FAILING IN BUSINESS. 21*7
the remedy. He feels an aching void within, an unsatisfied
craving after something, but knows neither the nature nor
the source of the food which is to meet and satisfy his hungry
appetite. What human reason is thus proved to be too
ignorant and too weak to decide, the Bible undertakes to
settle : that which no human authority could adjudicate
upon, the oracle of God, explicitly, imperatively, and infal-
libly determines for ever and for all. Precious Bible, if
only for this ! The vagrant spirit of man is seen wandering
from God the fountain of bliss, roaming through " this dry
and thirsty land, where no water is ;" anxiously looking for
happiness, but never finding it ; coming often to springs that
are dry, and to cisterns that are broken, till weary of the pur-
suit and disappointed in its hopes, it is ready to give up all
in despair, and reconcile itself to misery, under the notion
that happiness is but a name. In this sad and hopeless
mood, the victim of grief and despondency is met by the
Bible, which takes him by the hand, and leads him to the
fountain of living waters. Such is the design of this extra-
ordinary book — to show first of all what will not make man
happy, and then what will. Upon all the most coveted pos-
sessions of this world, it pronounces the solemn and impres-
sive sentence, " Vanity of vanities — all is vanity.''^ It
interrogates singly every coveted object of human desires, and
asks, *' What are you .?" only to receive the melancholy
answer, '* Vanity.''^ Or if, deceptively, they return another
answer, it turns to the man who has possessed and proved
them all, and who contradicts their testimony, and mourn-
fully cries, '' They are vanity y
In the beginning of the book, Solomon gives this out as
the first part of his subject, and then twenty times repeats it,
and oftener still alludes to it in the course of his details ; and
218
when he had finished his proofs and illustrations, he formall;^
re-announces it in his peroration. He does not by this
sentence intend to pass any censure on the works of nature^
the dispensations of Providence, or the arrangements of
man's social existence. As God originally made them, all
things are good in their nature, relations, and designs ; but
man's sinfulness corrupts all to himself — he makes those
things to be ends which were only intended to be means —
rests in what is subordinate instead of going on to that which
is supreme — and abuses that which is granted him only to
use. Now Solomon shows in this book, that nothing on
earth can satisfy, as the supreme good, the soul of man.
Three thousand years nearly have passed away since then.
Science has multiplied its discoveries, art its inventions,
and literature its productions — civilization has opened new
sources of luxury, and ingenuity has added innumerable
gratifications of appetite and of taste, unknown even to
Solomon — every domain of nature has been explored, and
every conceivable experiment been made, to extort from her
new means of enjoyment, and new secrets of happiness — but
still the heart of man confirms the testimony of the king of
Israel, and the experience of the human race prolongs the
echo of his words, " Vanity of vanities — all is vanity."
This, however, is only the negative view of the subject —
if all these are vanity and not good — what is good — and is
there anything which really deserves the name .'' There is
— and it is the design of this portion of Scripture to reveal
and declare it. What is it ? What — that is to settle the
question, and reveal to the children of men the nature and
the source of happiness 1 What — that is to terminate the
weary pursuits, to revive the languid hopes, and to gratify
the anxious desires of the destitute and sorrowing children
SUCCEEDING OR FAILING IN BUSINESS. 219
of men, hungering and thirsting after bliss ? What ?
Wisdom. That wisdom of which we spoke in the last
sermon, as constituting the subject of the Book of Proverbs ;
between which portion of Scriptures and this book of Eccle-
siastes there is so close a resemblance of design and con-
struction. But what is wisdom ? He himself declares in
the last chapter, where he sums up the whole of what he
had said, " Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter :
Fear God and keep his commandments: for this
IS THE whole duty OF MAN." The fii'st six chapters of
the book are devoted to the negative view of happiness, and
are intended as illustrations of the declaration, '^ All is
vanity ;" the remainder to an illustration of the nature,
excellence, and beneficial effects of true wisdom or religion.
This, then, after all the enquiries of philosophers, is the
chief good — true religion. This suits the nature — meets
the wants — alleviates the sorrows — satisfies the desires, of
the human soul, and is its portion for ever. This finds him
depraved and makes him holy — finds him little and makes
him great — finds him earthly and raises him to heaven. This
leads the human spirit, through the mediation of Christ,
into the presence of the infinite, eternal, omnipotent, and
all-sufficient Author of its existence, and by the teaching
and aid of the Holy Spirit, impels and helps him to say,
" Thou art my 'portion^ O my God. Thy favor is life., a7id
thy loving -kindness is better than life. Thou art the centre —
the rest — the home of my heart. "^"^
Perhaps we shall better understand this book ^' if we
suppose that the author at every step is meeting the argu-
ments of an objector, who contends that appearances are
Buch in the present world as to exclude the idea of a super-
intending Providence — to confound together, without dis-
220 THE YOUNG MANS FRIEIsD.
crimination as to their fate or fortunes, their merit or desert
the wise and the foolish, goodness and sin — thus destroying
all rational hope for the future, and leaving nothing better to
man than that he should eat and drink, and enjoy himself
here as well as he can. The author meets, examines, and
answers these objections, by exposing the unsatisfactoriness of
mere pleasure, and insists on the regality and supremacy of
Duty.^'' This view of the design and the construction of
the book will remove that appearance of an atheistic spirit
which seems in the view of objectors, to characterise some
passages.
Having considered the design of the book from which the
text is selected, and thrown, I hope, some light upon what
appears a little enigmatical, I will proceed to take up the
subject of this discourse, and consider the young man
SUCCEEDING OR FAILING IN BUSINESS.
I will suppose the case of two young men setting out in
life with equal advantages as to capital, connections, and
prospects. They have gone through their term of appren-
ticeship, and the intermediate stage of the shopman or the
clerk, and have commenced business for themselves. One
of them succeeds — a propitious gale seems to fill his sails,
and a favorable tide to flow in, to help him onward in his
course from the very time of sailing. He makes a pros-
perous voyage and enters safely into harbor with a rich cargo.
His business flourishes — his capital increases — he rises to
competency, to respectability, perhaps to wealth. His
influence and his rank in society keep pace of course with
the accumulation of his opulence. Such cases often occur
in this trading and commercial country. It is only a few
days since I was visiting at the house of a friend in a town
not very remote, who has recently taken a large house and
SUCCEEDING OR FAILING IN BUSINESS. 221
beautiful grounds, wlio came to the town with only a fe\f
shillings in his pocket. While in this humble situation, one
day passing the premises he now occupies, when the gates
being opened, he felt the kindlings of desire and ambition
in his soul, and said to himself, "I will one day possess such
a place as tha.t if I can. He was an industrious young man,
got on in life ; became a true Christian — a prosperous trades-
man— and now is dwelling in elegance in the house and
enjoying the grounds which excited his desires ; and what is
still better, is giving God the glory of all, and sanctifying
his prosperity by Christian liberality. He is also the deacon
of a Christian church. I might mention another pious
individual — of large fortune — who is now a Member of Par-
liament, and was once a boy in a Sunday school.
There is, however, a dark reverse to all this, which some-
times occurs, I mean an early failure. In this case the
vessel has no sooner left port than it encounters unfavorable
winds, is tossed upon the billows by tempests, and dashed
upon the rocks, or stranded upon the shore, becomes a
wreck. The business commenced with hope terminates in
disappointment, and the young tradesman is soon converted
into the young bankrupt. This, in such a country as ours,
is no uncommon case. May it, young men, never be yours.
It may now be of importance to inquire into the causes,
if any can be found, for this difference of result.
We put aside the idea of chanct. There is no such thing
in our world — none in nature — none in human affairs. We
must not explain the matter by saying, " It was just as it
happened. One was a lucky man, and the other an unlucky
one." Luck, if it mean nothing more than an event
of which the cause is not apparent, is a term that may be
employed without error ; but if it means, as it generally does,
222 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
an event which has no cause at all, a mere chance, it is a bad
word, a heathen term. Drop it from your vocabulary.
Trust nothing to luck, nor expect anything from it. Avoid
all practical use or dependence upon this or its kindred
words, fate — chance — fortune.
True it is, that success or failure in business, as in other
things, depends often upon a concurrence of circumstances,
which no human prescience could foresee, nor any human
sagacity arrange : but this is not chance, or luck, or fate, or
fortune, — but Providence. There is much of Providence in
every man's history, and more of a favoring Providence in
some men's history than in others. " The lot is cast into
the lap, (or urn, the usual way of drawing lots,) but the dis-
posal thereof is of the Lord. Providence no doubt gives
advantages to some which it does not bestow upon others.
Scripture is full of instances of this kind. How conspicuous
was Providence in the history of Joseph ! How manifest in
the life of Moses ! How remarkable in the advancement of
David and Mordecai ! In ordinary life we see the same kind
and unexpected interpositions on behalf of some favored indi-
viduals. Throughout the whole range of Scripture, pros-
perity is spoken of as the gift of God — as matter of prayer
where it is desired, and of grateful acknowledgment where it
is possessed. " The rich and the poor meet together, but
the Lord is the maker of them all j" not merely as men,
but as rich and poor. Therefore believe in Providence.
'* In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy
paths." " It is the blessing of the Lord that maketh rich."
Look up for that blessing by constant, earnest, believing
prayer. Enter upon life devoutly believing in Grod, as the
God of Providence. Do nothing upon which you cannot ask
his blessing, and then seek his blessing upon everything you
SUCCEEtJiNG OR FAILING IN BUSINESS. 223
'do. Never forget your dependence upon liim. He can
exalt you to prosperity or sink you into the lowest depth of
adversity. He can make everything prosper to which you
set your hand, or everything to fail. Devoutly acknowledge
this. Abjure the infidelity that shuts God out of his own
world.
There is a passage, however, which, as it seems to favor
an opposite view to this, I will explain. " I returned, and
saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the
battle to the strong ; neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet
riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of
skill ; but time and chance happeneth to them all." Chap.
ix. 11. The obvious meaning of this verse is, that while
there are some so timid and desponding as to expect nothing
from their exertions, there are others so sanguine, bold, and
self-confident, as to feel almost sure to succeed in every
thing : and while the preceding verse is intended to stimu-
late the energies of the former, by showing the benefit of
exertion, this verse is designed to check the proud confidence
of the latter by reminding them that the success of human
efforts is not always in proportion to tlieir ability. " Time
and chance happen to all." There are times propitious
and unpropitious in the history of all, for the accomplish-
ment of our purposes, over which we can have no command
or control : and an endless variety of ciicumstances, which
as they could not be foreseen and cannot be controlled, may
appear like chance, and which may frustrate the wisest
plans, and render nugatory the most industrious exertions.
All is Providence in determining results- So that from this
w^'U-kuown and frequently quoted passage, we are not to con-
clude there is no adaptation of means to ends- -no tendency
in proper qualities and actions to the desired events — tha^
10*
224 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
there is in fact no superior probability of success to the swift
more than to the slow — to the strong more than to the weak
— to the intelligent more than to the ignorant — to the skilful
more than to the foolish. Far from it. For if this were the
case, forethought, intelligence, industry, were all useless, a
large portion of Scripture would be contradicted by itself,
and the passage be proved false by a reference to the examples
which are constantly occurring before us. The meaning evi-
dently is, that though these qualities teiid to success, they
cannot actually ensure it. Such a passage is not intended to
discourage industry, but only to check a spirit of proud self-
reliance : not to repress the energies and the chastened con-
fidence of the rational man, but to call into exercise the
caution and the piety of the dependent one.
It is ever to be remembered that Providence works by
means, and the means employed are those which possess an
adaptation to produce the end contemplated. And since
God has appointed means to be employed, we do as much
homage to him in using these, as we do in depending upon
him for their success — in the one we honor his wisdom, and
in the other his power. Hence therefore, we must in ordi-
nary cases look for the means of success^ and the causes nf
failure^ in men'^s own conduct. This is true both in spiritual
and temporal things ; and is as true in one as the other, for
the God of nature and providence is the God of grace, and
there is an analogy between the method of his procedure in
all these departments of action. In each, second causes are
employed ; and in each, the means are adapted to the end.
Let us then examine into the causes of the two different
results of success and failure.
1. The possession or want of ability j cleverness, and
good judgment, or what is called tact, in trade^ will ofteq
SUCCEEDINU OR FAILING IN BUSINESS. 225
account for success or failure. Success in any department
of human action without a competent knowledge of the
means of obtaining it, cannot be expected, and ordinarily
never is obtained. It is true an unusual concurrence of
what are called fortunate circumstances may in some cases
contribute to results not otherwise to be looked for ; but
these are the exceptions, not the rule. Unhappily, some
young persons are acq;uainted with these, and receive from
them an unfavorable influence, and trust to what they
call luck rather than ability. It is in the order of nature
for intelligence combined with industry to succeed, and we
should not let an occasional instance now and then of pros-
perous ignorance shake our conviction of the necessity of
skill. Though in these cases the element of knowledge was
in small proportion, the other elements in some measure
compensated for the deficiency by their abundance : a com-
bination not to be expected in your cas-e. A man must at all
times, especially in this age of competition, thoroughly know
not only his own trade, but the principles of trade in general
Business is an art and a science too, and to succeed he
must be acquainted with both. He must know how to
buy and how to sell. He must be a judge of articles and
prices. He must know the markets and the times. In order
to this, young men, you must be thoughtful, observant, and
diligent, as an apprentice and shopman. You must be no
lovers of pleasure, nor companions of those that are. Next
to relio-ion, it should be your aim to gain a complete mastery
of your trade. Who are the men that usually succeed !
Not the dolts, the ill-informed, or the half-informed — but
the well-informed. Who are the men that fail ? Usually
you will find them, not the well-informed, but the half-
informed or the ill-iuformed. Even rzligion itself, however
226 THE YOUNG MAN*S FRIEND.
eminent, cannot stand you in the stead of a knowledge and
the habits of a good tradesman. Godliness, it is true, is
profitable for all things, having the promise of the life that
now is and of that which is to come. But then it is not
godliness without other things, but with them. A good and
holy young man is not to expect to succeed by the favor of
God, without either industry or ability. God's blessing is
not to be looked for as a substitute for these. He does not
bless pious dolts, where this want of ability is the result of
neglect. God will not set aside the general laws by which
he governs the social world in favor of religion, any more
than he will those of the natural world. Even a seraph,
were he incarnate upon earth, would, if he had no acquaint-
ance with earthly affairs, make a bad farmer or a bad manu-
facturer. Nor will the countenance and support of friends
lead to success, without the tradesman's own skill. Who
can help an incompetent man ^ What foreign aid can be a
substitute for personal ability ? There are some cripples too
feeble to walk, even by the help of others. So there are
some persons too ignorant to be helped ever to succeed.
Capital will not do without knowledge. The largest amount
of this will be soon dissipated, where there is no skill to
direct its employment. Beware of overstocking, and trading
beyond your capital. A friend lately told me he knew
several young tradesmen ruined by allowing travellers to
force upon them too large purchases.
2. Success and failure depend a great deal upon a favor -
able commencement — a good starting. This is true, as a
general principle, in application to all things. Bad begin-
nings 7nay be repaired, but are not usually, A first wrong
step is often if not always the beginning of a scries of steps :iil
wrong Great care, caution, circumspection, and forethought
SUCCEEDING OR FAILING IX BUSIXiiSS. 227
therefore, are necessary here. Many begin too soon, befora
they have sufficient capital or competent knowledge. They
are impatient to be masters, before they are prepared for it
They are unwilling to " bide their time," and they also
miscalculate their ability. They are better fitted to obey
than to rule. It is not every good servant that will make
an able master, though unquestionably the best preparation
for the latter, is the former. He that begins with little
capital and less experience, commences with fearful disad-
vantages, and failure has often been the result. Our mo.-t
successful tradesmen have been cautious, as well as able, men.
They have begun, perhaps, with limited capital, but they did
not over-trade with it. They were willing to creep before
they walked ; to walk before they ran ; and to run before
they fled. There is an old Latin proverb, which being inter-
preted is, " IVe hasten by being slow.'''' Beginning well is a
great thing, next to ending well ; and the one leads on to the
other. Let there be much reflection — much counsel — much
prayer then, in such an important step as commencing busi-
ness for yourself. As this, like marriage, is a step for life, let
it be taken with care, and think no time lost, or too long,
which is necessary, to enable you to tread firmly and steadily
at the outset. For one that repented of beginning too late,
ten have repented they began too soon. Next to seeking
counsel from God, by earnest and believing prayer, seek the
advice of disinterested, wise, and experienced men. A young
man came to me some years ago, to get an introduction to any
friend whom I might know in the neighborhood in which he
wished to engage in business, and who would be willing to
give him counsel on the probable success of a concern, which
he had some thoughts of taking. I gave him a letter to one
of the most capable men in the country, who very kindly
'328 rilE YOUNG MAN S FRIEND.
received him, and very wisely and earnestly advised him to
abandon the project. But he had set his heart upon it, and
in opposition to the counsel which had been given him,
entered upon the concern, from which he was very soon glad
to escape without being utterly ruined. Do not first make
up your mind, and then ask advice afterwards. Reverse this
order, and go to the oracle first, and defer to its responses.
3. Success and failure are dependent upon diligence on
the one hand, or neglect and indolence on the other. For
proofs of this, I refer you to that invaluable book which was
the subject of my last discourse, and to your own reason and
observation. We have already quoted one passage from
the Proverbs, which says, " The blessing of the Lord maketh
rich.''^ We now add to it another, " The hand of Ifie
diligent mahelh rich?'' Both are true, and they stand related
to each other, as the instrumental and the efiicient cause.
Man's industry cannot be successful, without Gud's blessing,
and God's blessing is not bestowed, without man's industry.
The Lord's providential visits are never granted to loiterers.
Moses, David, and the shepherds at Bethlehem, were all
keeping their flocks, and Gideon was at his threshing-floor,
when God's revelations were made to them. How is sloth-
fulness exposed, condemned, branded, in God's book. Let
a man have ever so good a knowledge of his business — let
him begin with all the advantage of capital, connexions, and
situation — yet if he be of an indolent or self-indulgent habit
— a late riser — a lover of pleasure — a gossiping neighbor — •
a zealous political partizan, more busy in improving the state,
than in minding his own concerns : — he will soon furnish
another evidence of the truth of SDlomou's words, " He he-
comelh yoor that dealeth with a slack hand.^"* Weigh well,
then, young men, the import cf that momentous word, Dil-
SUCCEEDING OR FAILURE IN BUSINESS. 22t
IGENCE. You remember the anecdote of Demosthenes,
who, on.beinfi; asked the first grace of elocution, replied,
" Action." The second ? " Action." The third ? " Ac-
tion." So if asked, Whatis the first qualification of a suc-
cessful tradesman t I answer, " Diligence." The second }
"Diligence." The third .^ "Diligence." Write it upon
your hearts. Keep it ever before your eyes. Let it be ever
sounding in your ears. Let it be said of you, as was affirm-
ed of that admirable and holy missionary, Henry Martin,
ivhen he was at college, " That he was known as the man
who never lost an huur.'^''
4. Method and system have much to do with failure or
success. In this I include 'promjptness as opposed to pro-
crastination. No habit can be more fatal to success than
that wretched disposition of postponing till another time
that which ought to be done, and can be done, at once.
Procrastination has ruined millions for both worlds. There
is a class of adverbs which some men appear never to have
studied, but which are of immense importance in all the
affairs both of time iind eternity. 1 mean the words, " in-
stantly ;" " immediately ;" " at once ;" " now ;" and for
which they have unhappily substituted, " presently ;" " by
and bye ;" " to-morrow ;" " at some future time." Young
men, catch the inspiration of that weighty monosyllable —
" now." Yield to the potency of that word — " instantly."
But to use a still more business-like term, acquire a habit of
" despatch.''^ And in order to do this, do not only something
immediately, but do immediately the thing that ought to be
done next. I^unclualiiy is of immense conseciucjice. It
has been rather ludicrously said, " iSome people seem to have
been born half an hour after their time, and tluiy never fetch
it up all their lives." In the present busy age, when busi-
THE YOUNG man's FRIEND. 230
ness is so extended and complicated, and when of course
one man is so dependent upon another, and oftentimes many
upon one, a want of punctuality is not only a fault, but a
vice, and a vice which inflicts an injury, not only upon the
transgressor himself, but upon others who have been waiting
for him. " You have caused us to lose an hour," said a
gentleman to another, for whose appearance twelve persons
had been waiting. " Oh, that is impossible," replied the
laggard, " for it is only five minutes after the time." " Very
true," was the rejoinder, " but here are twelve of us, each
of whom has lost five minutes." He who keeps servants,
customers, or creditors waiting, through his want of punc-
tuality, can never prosper This is as irreligious as it is in-
jurious, inasmuch as the apostle has commanded us to " Re-
deem the time." Order is no less essential to system and
success than promptness and punctuality. Order, it is said,
is heaven's first law, an aphorism as true of earth as it is of
heaven, and as applicable to the movements of trade, as of
the stars. A place and a time for everything, and every-
thing in its place and time, is the rule of every successful
tradesman. A disorderly and irregular man maybe diligent,
that is may be ever in a bustle, a very different thing from
a well-regulated activity, but his want of order defeats every-
thing. The machinery of his habits may have velocity and
power, but its movements are irregular and eccentric, and
therefore unproductive, or productive only of uncertain,
incomplete, and sometimes mischievous, results, A disorder-
ly man wastes not only his own time, but that of others who
are dependent upon, and waiting for him — nor does the
waste stop here, for what a useless expenditure of energy
and a painful reduction of comfort, are ever going on.
5. Economy has a most powerful influence in determining
SUCCEEDING OR FAILING IN BUSINESS?. 231
the failure or success of a young tradesman. This applies
to per^nalj trade, and domestic expenses, and the man who
would succeed in life must reduce them all to the lowest
prudent level. In order to keep down the expenses of trade^
he must do with as little purchased help as he can, and to
accomplish this, he must be a hard worker himself, till he
has attained to that pitch of prosperity, when he can do more
with his eyes and his ears, than with his hands and feet.
As to pefsonal expenses, let him avoid all unnecessary con-
sumption of money in dress and ornaments. Let it be no
part of your ambition, young men, to be noticed and admired
for matters of this kind. It is a very grovelling ambition to
be complimented for that with which the draper, the mercer,
and the jeweller, may bedizen the veriest fool in existence.
How mean and petty is foppery compared with an enlight-
ened mind, a dignified character, and the beauties of holi-
ness. I am not an advocate for either meanness or sloven-
liness. Cleanliness and neatness border upon virtue, as
excessive foppery and expensiveness do upon vice. It is
unworthy of a female to be inordinately fond of dress — but
for a man to love finery is despicable indeed. Avoid also
the love of pleasure, for '^ he that loveth pleasurf
SHALL BE A POOR MAN." Ncvcr wcrc trucr words uttered.
The man who is bent upon what is called " enjoying him^
self^'''* who will have his ^.jon companions, his amusements,
and his frequent seasons of recreation : who is fond of par-
ties, entertainments, the gaming table, the ball room, the
concert, and the theatre — is on the high road to poverty in
this world, and to hell in the next. Let the lover of plea-
sure read the history of Samson in the Old Testament, and
of the Prodigal in the New — and also let him turn back to
the illustrations contained iu the last sermon. If you would
232 THE YOUNG MANS FRIEND.
have oconomical habits as a master, cultivate them as a ser
vant. Begin now and persevere. But you must carry out
the principle of economy into your domestic estahlishment.
Frugality in the house is a virtue, and extravagance a vice.
If you would have elegance and luxuries at the close of life,
he content with necessaries at the beginning of it. He that
must have superfluities at the beginning, will in all proba-
bility have scarcely comforts at the end. Let your furni-
ture, your style of living, your whole domestic establishment,
be all arranged upon the principle of a rigid, though not
mean economy. Never aim to cover over poverty by ex-
travagance, nor adopt the false principle that style is neces-
sary to success. Such conduct often defeats its own end, by
exciting suspicion and undermining credit. Wise creditors
have keen and vigilant eyes that look not only at the shop
but penetrate into the dining and drawing room, and that
watch the mode of living as well as of doing business. They
deal more readily and upon better terms with the frugal
man, than with the extravagant one. The basis of credit is
laid in economical simplicity and plain living, not in unsub-
stantial splendor,— -just as the foundation of a house consists
of unadorned bricks and unsculpturcd stone, and not in
carved and gilded wood. It is the diligent and frugal man
who is considered to be the trustworthy one. But while I
recommend economy, I woula with equal force condemn
meanness, and reprobate with stronger language still, a want
of principle. There have been men of fine talents, and
otherwise excellent character, who have well-nigh ruined
themselves by a spirit of mean and starveling economy,
which grudged the very means of success. There have been
even professing Christians and some of great benevolence
too, who from education or hab't have been so mean in their
SUCCEEDING OR FAILING IN BUSINEsrSS. 233
pecuniary transactions, as to throw a dark shade over their
character. Economy, when rigid, has not unfrequently de-
generated into a sordid avarice. Hence the necessity of
your being on your guard against the meanest of all vices,
the most despicable of all passions, and the most insatiable
of all appetites — an excessive love of money. It is very
striking to observe how seemingly opposite dispositions are
balanced in the Word of God. How is industry commended
and slothfulness condemned in that precious volume, and yet
in that same Book is it said, " Labor not to be rich ;" " La-
bor not for the bread that perisheth ;" " Lay not up for
yourselves treasures on earth ;" " They that will be rich fall
into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurt-
ful lusts which drown men in destruction ; for the love of
money is the root of all evil, which while some have coveted
after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves
through with many sorrows." Does not this look like con-
tradiction .'' If it does — it is not so in reality. These
seemingly opposing passages are intended to teach us that
we are neither to despise money, nor to be fond of it. Diffi-
cult I know it is to define covetousness — to draw the line
with precision between idolatry and contempt of wealth —
and to state that exact regard to money which industry re-
quires to stimulate and reward its energies, and which both
reason and revelation justify. When, however, wealth ia
considered as the chief end of life, and is exclusively sought,
to the entire neglect of religion — when it is pursued at the
expense of principle and honor — when it is the first thing
coveted, and the last thing relinquished — when it is loved
for its own sake, instead of its uses — when it is hoarded for
the sake of mere accumulation, instead of being diffused for
God's glory, and man's benefit — when it is regarded as tha
234 TUE YOUNG man's FRIEND.
standard of individual importance both for ourselves and
others — it has then become the tyrant of the soul, which it
has enslaved, it may be with fetters of silver and gold, but
which is not the less a miserable bond slave because of the
splendor and value of its manacles.
7. Perseverance is also necessary to success. Without
this nothing good or great can be achieved in our world.
Success is not so much a creation, as a gradual formation —
a slow deposit. In business it usually proceeds on the prin-
ciple of arithmetical progression, till at a certain stage, and
and in some few instances, it changes its ratio of increase to
that of geometrical progression. The ascent in life is usually
the reverse of that of a mountain. In the latter case the
steepest part is near the summit ; in the former at the base.
Both, however, require, perseverance. He that would suc-
ceed must not expect to reach his object bj/ a light, easy, and
elastic bound., but by many a successive and weary step, and
occasionally perhaps, by a step backwards. He must go on
sometimes amidst discouragement, and always with labor.
There are some who cannot succeed, because they will not
wait for it. If success does not come at first they will not
follow after it. They are as impatient as the foolish child
that sowed his seed in the morning, and went to bed hopeless
and crying because he did not see it springing up beforo
sunset. Be ever hopeful — prayerful — and persevering.
" In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold
not thy hand, for thou knowest not whether shall prosper
either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good."
" Behold the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of
the earth, and hath long patience for it. Be ye also
p.'itient."
8. The possession or the want of religion^ will have con-
SUCCEEDING OR FAILURE IN BUSINESS. 235
jiderable influence upon success or failure. Not that I
mean to say all religious persons will be prosperous, and that
all irreligious ones sink to adversity. But of this we may be
sure, that piety contains most of those qualities which tend
to success, while sin, where it leads on, as it frequently does,
to vice, tends, to ruin. God has some better promises than
of wealth and honor for his people, even glory everlasting ;
but then godliness, as we have often said, has the promise
of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come.
Wisdom, as we saw in the last sermon, has riches and honor
in her right hand, for those who submit to her sway. It is
quite certain that many who have come to poverty and ruin
have been dragged down by iniquity, while many have suc-
ceeded who owe their prosperity to their piety. We have
examples of this in Holy Scripture. Religion made Joseph
prosper in the house of Potiphar, and raised him to the
eminence he obtained in Egypt. Religion elevated David
to the throne of Israel. Religion made Daniel prime minister
of Babylon. Religion made Nehemiah governor of Judea. —
And though we may not expect such and so great rewards, it
may still bring prosperity. It is the parent of virtue, the
protector of health, the nurse of economy, the patron of
industry, the guardian of integrity, the promoter of know-
ledge, and thus the guide to success and the helper of
prosperity.
And now let me set before you the two young men whom
I have supposed to set out in life together, the one actually
failing, and the other as really succeeding, in business.
Failure is a word, in such an application of it, pregnant
with terrors. What a variety, complication, and depth of
sorrows are there in that very simple and not uncommou
expressiin, " He has failed in business.'''' You are happily
236 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
unable by reflection, may you never be able by experience
to grasp that comprehension of wretchedness.
Now, young men, I present the fearful subject, the dread
ful possibility to you, first of all, to excite a desire, an anxiety,
an earnest solicitude, that in your case it may never be
realized. Prevention is better than cure. It is easier to
avert ruin by industry and economy, than to bring back pros-
perity when it has once retired. Be this easier task then
your first care and endeavor. For you, ruin is yet happily
only in picture ; a scene for the imagination to contemplate :
except, indeed, as the reality is seen in the history of some
acquaintance. Though it were not well to fill your mind
with dark imaginings and gloomy forebodings, lest such
thoughts become predictions, and the predictions verify by
fulfilling themselves, — yet is it well to look at the dreadful
picture, in order not indeed to quail before it, but to bring
up your mind to the determination, " By God's grace upon
my own intelligence, industry, economy, and perseverance,
this shall never be my lot , but if, in the mysteries of Provi-
dence, it should befal me, it shall not be made more dreadful
by the venom of self-reproach — it shall come from the ordi-
nation of God, and not from my own misconduct."
Still I will suppose that you may^ and that some of you
wUl fail. What then ? The answer to this depends upon
the causes of the disaster. 1 will not deny that this in some
cases is to be traced entirely to the dispensations of Provi-
dence, without any blame to the individual himself. I would
not break the bruised reed by heaping censure upon one
who is an object of pity and sympathy. I would not pour
vinegar into the wounds of his lacerated heart, and quite
crush his broken spirits, by telling him that his misfortunes
a,ie his faults. If, after exercising the abilities and virtuef
SUCCEEDING OR FAILING IN BUSINESS. 237
(K {*^tOL traieRmaa, after struggling hard and long, it should
bo j'O^ir iot to he compelled to yield to difficulties utterly
in&tipeycUe by skill and labor, — in that case, first of all,
bow with submission to the will of God. Indulge no hard
thoughts of God. Keep down a gloomy hopelessness a
sullen despondency, a comfortless grief. Call in religion to
your aid. Open your Bible. Pour out your heart in prayer.
Believe in God, in Providence, in Christ. Take it as matter
to be relied upon, that there is some wise and merciful end
to be answered by these painful events. Perhaps you were
setting out in life, forgetful of God. You were striving to
make yourself happy without him. You were entering upon
your career in a state of practical atheism. Success in busi-
ness would have been your spiritual ruin. The gain of the
world would have been tho loss of your soul. God spake
unto you in what you thoughi. was your procperity and you
would not hear : and now he eslh to you in harsher tones,
and says to you in the language of the text, consider.
Consider the author of your troubles — that they come from
God : their cause — that sin is the bitv'er fountain of every
bitter stream : their design — to do you good : and their im-
pressive lesson — to teach the vanity of all things earthly,
and the necessity of a better portion for man's heart. Ah,
young man, you have indeed sorrowfully proved the uncer-
tainty of all things earthly. How soon and how suddenly
has the beautiful prospect, which expanded its varied land-
scape before your admiring eyes and glowing heart, been
covered with mist and gloom. How have all those ardent
hopes which such a scene inspired, withered in your soul and
left it bleak and desolate. Well, amidst the fragments of
your broken cisterns, now look up to the great fountain of
happiness, pouring out its never failing streams before you
238 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
Earth has failed ; now turn to heaven. The world has dio-
appointed you, now turn to religion. The creature has for-
saken you ; now turn to the Creator. All is not lost.
Besides, you may yet recover. You have failed — but it is
in early life, not in its decline. You have the main portion
of existence yet before you, and have health and vigor on
your side and in your favor ; and in the case I am supposing
with your character unimpaired and your principles unsuspec-
ted. It may be only a step back to spring forward with
greater vigor. It may be prosperity postponed, not put off
for ever. This painful experience might be necessary for
you. It may be to prevent a sudden plethora which would
have been fatal to you. Abandon not hope then. Do not
let the mainspring be broken. Give not youself to despair.
The sun is not gone down, but is only veiled with a cloud.
Begin afresh — make good use of your experience. Look
up for God's blessing ; and you will have it.
But where the failure is the result of blame-worthy con-
duct, what shall be said ? Even here I would not be harsh,
severe, and reproachful ; but would blend tenderness with
fidelity. Be humble before God. Your want of attention,
industry, and economy, is a sin to be confessed to Him, as
well as a matter to be bewailed on your own account. You
have neglected God's commands, as well as your own inte-
rests. You have abused the gifts of Providence, as well as
trifled with your own happiness. And you cannot be in a
right state of mind unless there be penitence, humiliation,
and confession. God is displeased with you ; and you must
seek his forgiveness through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
You must take care to blame yourself, not God, for your
present situation. Especially must you be careful not to
apply to wrong sources of relief. Misfortune and miscon-
SUCCEEDING OR FAILING IN BUSINESS. 239
duct have led, in thousands of instances, to drinking. Broken
in fortune, and equally broken in spirits, men have endea-
vored to gain a momentary oblivion of their sorrows in tho
exhilaration or stupefaction of intoxication liquor. Dread-
ful resort. What is this but to add crime to misery, and
when the effect of the poisonous draught is over, to over-
whelm the miserable dupe of intoxication with sorrows
envenomed by the stings of remorse ! It is indeed a horrible
idea, but one that is often realized, that drunkenness should
select some of its many victims from the ranks of misfortune,
and thus complete the ruin which incompetency or indolence
had begun, by depriving the subject of it of all power and all
disposition to repair the mischief which his vices had entailed.
But I now, in contrast, take up the case of those who
succeed ; a happy, and I rejoice to think, not a very small
class. It is a delightful, and to you my young friends, an
encouraging thought, that success, varied of course in
degrees, is the rule, and failure the exception. Conceive
then of the man who by the blessing of God upon his ability,
industry, and economy, makes good his ground, and advances
in life to respectable competency, perhaps to affluence. The
text calls upon him to be joyful ; a state of mind, in which
without such call, he is likely to be found. A Christian
is to be joyful not only in^ but /or his prosperity. His joy,
however, should be a religious, not a sensual joy. He is not
to express his delight by conviviality, extravagance, splen-
dor, and all the other delights of sense and taste. He is
piously to trace up all his prosperity to God. He is not
boastfully to look round upon his possessions, and say, " My
own hand hath gotten me this ;" and thus, to use the lan-
guage of the prophet, " Sacrifice unto their own net, and
burn incense to their dragy because by them their j^ortion is
11
240 TliE YOUNG MANS FRIEND.
fat^ and their meat plenteous.'^'' Hab. i. 16. let your joy
be subordinate to a higher and nobler felicity. I mean the
felicity derived from true religion. Prosperity, if it has its
joys, has also its snares. It is, as regards the moral char-
acter— the interests of the soul, and man's eternal destiny —
a most perilous condition. " How hardly shall they that
have riches enter into the kingdom of God. It is easier for
a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich
man to enter into the kingdom of heaven." " The prosperity
of fools shall slay them." Multitudes have lost their souls
in gaining a fortune. Their wealth has been their curse.
Their gold, the weight that dragged them down to perdition.
And after all, " What shall it profit a man, if he gain the
whole world, and lose his own soul.^" The whole world is
no more compensation for the loss of the soul, than a feather
or a grain of sand. " Seek first the kingdom of Grod and his
righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you."
Be made happy by religion. "Hejoice in Hit Lordj and
again I say, rejoice."
But the best way to use, to enjoy, and even to preserve
prosperity, is to sanctify it by true religion and to employ it
for Christian liberality. Set out in life with the intelligent,
deliberate, and fixed determination, that if you should suc-
ceed in business, your prosperity shall in due measure be
consecrated to the cause of Grod and man. Already make up
your mind to this opinion, that the chief design, and highest
enjoyment of wealth, is diffusion, rather than accumulaticu.
Instead of admiring the men whom you see living in splendid
houses, rolling about in gay equipages, and faring sumptu-
ously every day ; but who all this while are known by their
grandeur, but not by their public spirit, liberality, and good
works — fix your delighted gaze upon those nobler spirits^
SUCCEEDING OR FAILING IN BUSINESS. 241
who while sustaining with propriety, yet simplicity, the rank
which Providence has assigned to them in society, are
economical that they might be liberal, and are redeeming
time from business, ease and elegant retirement to glorify
God and bless their species. Look at the Howards, the
Wilberforces, the Thorntons, the Wilsons, the Reynolds' —
men who gave their talents, their influence, and their lives,
to the slave, the prisoner, and the debtor — who renounced,
in some cases, the gains of business for the pursuits of be-
nevolence ; and in others, carried it on, to have larger means
to assist the cause of humanity and religion — who lived for
others rather than for themselves — and who had far more
enjoyment while they lived, and will ever have far more
honor after their death, than the sordid and selfish, whose
wealth, while it did little to make them happy or respected
upon earth, will neither preserve their names from oblivion,
nor yield them a fragment of reward in heaven.
Wait not till you are rich before you begin to be benevo-
lent. Let the beginnings of your success be consecrated by
the beginnings of your devotedness. I knew a Christian
philanthropist who set out in life by consecrating a tenth of
his income to God. He did this when he had but a hundred
a year. He became at length possessed of eight thousand a
year, and having no children, he did not then satisfy himself
with the tithe, as he had commenced, but spent less than
two thousand a year on his own simple and elegant estab-
lishment, and gave all the rest away. How much happier,
as well as holier, was that Christian man, than those who
hoard for they know not whom — or than those who lavish
their wealth on splendor, luxury, and pleasure : and, 0, the
different reception he will meet with at the bar of God,
where wealth must be accounted for — and in eternity, where
242 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
the successful, but irreligious worldling will remember and
be punished for his unsanctified prosperity !
And now, in conclusion, let me remind you of another
reference of this alternative of failure or success — I mean to
the great trial ever going on in this world, and which must
issue in the ruin or the salvation of your immortal soul.
You are here upon a probation for eternity. Your chief
business is religion — your supreme object should be immor-
tality. He that is enabled to repent, to believe, and to lead
a holy life, notwithstanding the temptations by which he is
surrounded — who thus obtains the salvation that is in Christ
Jesus, with eternal glory — though he should fail in every
thing else, may look round upon the wreck of all his hopes,
prospects, and fortunes, exulting even now in the greatness
and the grandeur of his success — and shall stand, at the last
day, upon the ashes of the globe, after the general conflagra-
tion, exclaiming, '"'' I have lost nothing.''^ While he, who so
far succeeds as to gain every thing else that is dear to ambi-
tion, to avarice, and to sensuality, but fails to obtain the one
thing needful — the salvation of his soul — stands now amidst
all his prosperity, a miserable instance of failure in all the
great objects of man's immortal being — shall be seen in the
day of judgment, a ruined and lost immortal, — and shall
wander for ever through the universe, with this awful ex-
clamation, " 1 HAVE VOLUNTARILY, DELIBERATELY, AND
IRRECOVERABLY INCURRED A FAILURE, WHICH WILL RE-
QUIRE AN ETERNITY TO UNDERSTAND, AND AN ETERNITY TO
THE YOUNG MAN EMIGRATING TO A FOREIGl
COUNTRY.
"Whither shall I go from thy Spirit ? Or whither shall I flee frojn
thy presence ?
" If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there ; if I make my bed in
hell, behold thou art there.
" If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts
of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall
hold me." — Psalm cxxxix. 7-10.
God made this world to be inhabited, and did not intend
that it should ever remain an untenanted bouse, or be occu-
pied only by beings who have no minds to understand his
nature — no hearts to love him for his favors — and no tongues
to speak his praise. To man as well as to the inferior crea-
tures he said, " Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the
earth." And yet at this period of our planet's history, nearly
six thousand years after the fitting up of the globe for man's
residence, there are vast tracts of the earth, amounting to
islands and continents, occupied only by birds, beasts, and
reptiles. Yet even the fact of these desolations subserves a
moral purpose, inasmuch as they corroborate the chronology
of the Bible ; for, upon the acknowledged principles of the
increase of population, the date of the commencement of
244 THE YOUNG MAN S FRIEND.
our race could not be much otherwise than that assigned to
it in revelation. These now unpeopled regions must have
been long since filled up, had the world been much older
than is asserted in the Mosaic history of creation. Upon
the same principles it is evident that this world cannot con-
tinue an indefinite period, at least without some depopula-
ting process with which we are unacquainted in the world's
history.
Our earth is yet to " yield it's increase," — the Trans-atlan-
tic world, capable of sustaining half the present population
of the globe, but till lately tenanted only by savages in
the north, and a half-civilised race in the south — yea, till
within four centuries unknown to all the other people on
the face of the globe : the island continent of New Holland,
with only a scattered sprinkling of savages for its aboriginal
inhabitants : the Polynesian groups of insular abodes of our
race : with all other yet uninhabited spots of earth wljere
means of support and occupation for man can be obtained,
are to be covered with an intelligent, busy population ; and
where now the forest throws its dark shadow over its innu-
merable flying or creeping tribes — or where the wilderness is
the range of herds of untamed beasts — or where the jungle
afibrds a shelter to the tiger, the elephant, or the serpent —
there shall the dwellings of men and the sanctuaries of God
be seen ; and the hum of commerce, and the anthems of
religion be heard.
The replenishing of our earth is going forward : never
more rapidly than in the day and from the country in which
we live. Colonization and emigration are two of the grand-
est features of our age. Infant kingdoms are being born to
Britain, and our country is becoming the mother of nations.
Myriads and myriads, year after year, are wafted not only in
EMIGPvATIXG TO A FOREIGN LAND. 245
ships, but we might almost say in fleets, to the shores of
America, Australia, and New Zealand. The vast tide of
population is flowing westward to relieve our somewhat over-
crowded towns and cities, and to found new towns and cities
in the wilds of those distant realms. Thus are the plans of
Providence carried out, to have a peopled world instead of a
wilderness : and thus are the predictions of holy writ accom-
plished, which assure us that the knowledge of the Lord
shall cover the earth. Every thing falls into the current of
God's gracious purposes towards our dark disordered world — ■
every thing indicates human improvement and the progress
of social existence — every thing flows in the direction of the
Bible and harmonises with its tendency, design, and announce-
ments— every thing is making way for the universal spread
and triumph of religion, for the reign of Christ, for the
millennial glory and the jubilee of the world.
You, my friends, some of you at least, may by joining the
multitude of emigrants be instrumental in this great work of
replenishing the earth with people, and by true religion, of
carrying the light of divine truth to the ends of the earth.
This then is my subject on the present occasion, —
The Young Man eviigrating to a Foreign Land.
In treating this subject, I shall consider
First, his decision. 1 will suppose the resolve is taken —
the plan laid — the purpose unalterable. But what has led to
it ? There are various and very different motives and grounds
for such a step. In some cases it is obedience to the stern
dictate of necessity. Misconduct at home renders it matter
of compulsion rather than of choice, to go abroad ; it is a
flight rather than a voluntary departure. Reputation may
have been lost, and lost also the hope of retrieving it here.
This is a painful case — but not a hopeless one. If this be
246 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
your condition, you will have abundant and most favorablo
opportunities for rectifying what is amiss, without being sub-
ject to the suspicion, neglect, rebukes, and frowns of those
who knew you in your better days. On your voyage reflect
upon your conduct, review the past. Dare to look back.
When pacing the deck at night, or lying in your hammock,
or listening to the awful roar of the tempest, not knowing
but you may be soon .swallowed up in those billows which
are raging around you, and which every now and then are
breaking over your trembling vessel, repent before God —
seek his pardoning mercy through Christ — and implore his
Holy Spirit to help you first to resolve upon amendment,
and then to carry out your resolution. Determine to begin a
new life in a new world. Resolve to set out afresh. There
is hope for you yet. Carry a Bible with you — read it — and
make it your counsellor, comforter, and companion. You
have neglected religion and your sins have found you out.
You are in imminent danger of becoming worse instead of
better for the change. Bad companions may have been your
ruin. You will now be broken off from their circle — but
then, unless you are firm, you will find worse where you are
going. You have neglected religion and this has been your
bane. Now take it up, and it will not only reclaim and
reform you, but it will be your friend in reference to things
seen and temporal as well as things eternal. If you are wise,
you will turn this dire necessity of leaving your country
into a means of obtaining the signal blessing of the salvation
of your soul. I knew a youth, the son of an eminently holy
minister, who ran a profligate course till his crimes cast him
as a convict upon the shore of a foreign land, where he
reflected upon his course — became a penitent — and died,
we hope, a sincere Christian. Nor is this the only case oJ
EMIGRATING TO A FOREIGN LAND. 247
the same kind I have known. Even our penal colonies,
notwithstanding the enormities of the transportation system,
have thus furnished instances of reclaimed convicts, who have
risen to respectability and wealth. The veriest outcast ot
society may recover. Reformation is not impossible in the
worst of cases.
But there may be another kind of necessity that is driving
you away from your native shores — you have failed at the
outset of life. Your prospects have faded — your fortunes
have been broken, and now with the hope of repairing them,
you are going to a foreign land. If this has happened
through your own misconduct — you too must be humbled
before God, and invoke his forgiveness ; and when you have
done this, but not till then, you may seek his blessing upon
the step you are taking. Employ much of your time also in
a severe inquiry into your habits. Detect, as you easily
may, the cause of failure, and determine to remove it. The
same cause, if carried to a distant land, will produce the
same effects there. Change of country will not be of the
slightest benefit to you without a change of conduct Indo-
lence and extravagance will as certainly bring ruin in Austra-
lia as in England. You must alter, and may. A new sphere
of action will present a new opportunity for alteration, and a
new motive. But should your failure be the result of no
fault of yours, trust in God. Earnestly pray for his help and
blessing. Leave your country with hope. It may be that
you too neglected religion in your happier days. If so, now
take it up. I say to you also, carry with you a Bible, and a
few religious books. Have the moral courage not to be
ashamed of being seen with these silent companions. You
will find many on board who will ridicule you, but then shall
they laugh you out of your convictions } Will you be afraid
11*
248 THE YOUNG man's FRIEND.
of a sneer, when your soul and salvation are at stake ? Do
not put oflf the subject of religion till you land. This will be
to ensure the neglect of it. Your mind will then be so hur-
ried in seeking employment, and be so taken up with the
novelties of a foreign country, as to have little leisure or
inclination for attending to spiritual things. With religion
in your heart, you may step ashore in New Zealand or in
America, with the hope that Grod will befriend you in the
land of your adoption ; and that the tide of your affairs will
there turn in your favor.
But by far the greatest class of emigrants is composed of
those who go out with a spirit of adventure — with the hope
of doing better for themselves abroad than at home. Every
department of action is here so crowded — competition is so
fierce — and situations of advantage are so rare, that they
have little hope of success at home, and turn their attention
to one or other of our rising colonies. I know not that such
persons arc to be blamed ; and yet it is a step to be taken
with much deliberation, caution, and prayer. Where a young
man has an opportunity of doing well for himself in his own
country, there seems no reason, except it be an inordinate
ambition or a love of adventure, that leads him to another
land. Neither of these impulses is a very sufficient one for
expatriation. There will always be found an adequate num-
ber of those who really are not doing very well here, and
could do a great deal better abroad, to keep up the stream
of emigration, without their going who are doing well at
home. There is great wisdom in the advice, to " let well
alone." A love of change is a dark portent in the character
of any young man. He that goes abroad for this, will soon
come back again from the same impulse. There is nothing
which a young man should more earnestly dread, nothing
EMIGRATING TO A FOREIGN LAND. 249
he should more assiduously watch against, nothing ha
should more resolutely resist, than this versatility : it will
be fatal to all his hopes and prospects. Still there are very
many cases in which it is not only justifiable, but even com"
mendable, to emigrate : and when the character and conduct
are good ; where there are those qualities of mind which are
likely to make the individual a blessing to the land to which
he is going as well as a benefit to his own family and fortune,
we cannot but approve the decision.
Secondly. Having thus distinguished between the difierent
classes of emigrants, I now shall speak of their trials.
In most cases there is the separation from friends. Not
unfrequently the emigrant has to tear himself from the arms
and fond embrace of a loving and beloved mother, and from
the warm grasp of an affectionate father ; and he who has
outgrown or outlived all sensibilities of this nature, gives
poor evidence of right feeling of any kind, and holds out
faint hope of being likely to obtain God's blessing upon his
future course. Adieu, is always a sad sound, when parents
and children — brothers and sisters, are parting ; but especially
when in all probability, thoy are parting for ever. And
besides this, is it nothing to expatriate ourselves from our
native land .? Why the irrational creatures love the spot of
their birth, and their early dwelling ; and this is an instinct
which man shares with them. It is long before the charms
of those expressions cease to be felt, " My country and my
father's house." I can fancy the thoughtful emigrant
watching from the deck of his vessel, with tearful eyes and
intense feeling, the receding shores of his native land — seeing
her green fields and white cliffs ; her steeples and her houses ;
becoming more and more dim — straining his eyes still to see
the last speck of land that is distinctly visible — and then
250 THE YOUNG MANS FRIEND.
looking upon the mighty waste of waters, till in an agony he
exclaims, " Land of my fathers, and art thou gone r" Then
the voyage — its length — its inconvenience — its hard fare and
want of accommodations — its sea-sickness, and other inde-
scribable annoyances — its often disagreeable companions and
uncongenial society. These things end, but only to be
exchanged in many cases for trials of another kind. Oh, to
light upon a new world, alike unknowing and unknown — to
be a stranger in a strange land with no one to recognize or
smile upon him — to be informed that some whom he expected
to welcome him on these distant shores, arc either dead or
removed to. another place ; and to meet no one to stretch out
the hand of friendship, or to impress the seal of love — to
have to seek employment where perhaps the labor market
is overstocked, and to be long without finding occupation —
to see the little stock of money well nigh spent, without any
means of replenishing it — to find all the dreams of colonial
prosperity nothing but dreams, and see all the hopes of im-
mediate success, so long and so confidently cherished, vanish
like the baseless fabric of a vision — to discover too late, or at
any rate to begin to think, he has made a mistake in leaving
his native country — these, all these, are among the trials
which many of our emigrants have to endure. And even
where they are not altogether of so dreary an aspect as this,
yet are they, except in rare cases, many more and far greater
than the most sober calculation had expected. A very large
proportion of the settlers have their location in such thinly
peopled spots as to be miles apart from their nearest neigh-
bor— and have to endure so many privations as to be almost
reduced to the barest necessaries of existence.
If the man be a Christian who loves the house of God — .
the means of grace — the ministry of the Word — the over*
EMIGRATING TO A FOREIGN LAND. 25'
sight and conversation of a faithful pastor — and the fellow-
ship of saints, he feels in addition a deprivation of all these
He dwells perhaps, in a spot of which he may say,
" The sound of the church-going bell,
These valleys and rocks never heard ;
Never sighed at the sound of the knell,
Nor snniled when the Sabbath appeared.'*
To hear a sermon, he must travel perhaps miles, and to
break the bread of communion with the saints, he must
travel still farther. Such are but a few of the trials of an
emigrant's life. I could tell a tale of woe connected with
some who have gone out from my own church, which would
harrow up your feelings to a degree of intense suffering.
Not however that affliction often falls with such weight as it
has done in the case to which I now allude.
Such things should make you cautious how you determine
to encounter them, and should prepare your mind for the
struggle, by laying up a good store of consolation for the
evil day. And what can this be but religion ? The trials
of very many emigrants are fewer and lighter than I have
described ; and I have drawn the picture thus darkly, not to
prevent expatriation nor to fill the emigrant's mind with
dark misgivings, but to check that proneness to think a
foreign shore a fairy land, in which so many indulge. The
danger lies on the side of thinking too lightly of the trials
of such a life, and not preparing for them, rather than on
the side of having too gloomy an apprehension of them.
Thirdly. It is a part of fidelity to remind you of your
DANGERS. It would not bc kind to attempt to fill your
mind with the perils of the ocean, and the dangers of ship-
wreck, or the other casualties of a voyage. Nor is it probabla
252 THE YOUNG NTAn's FRIEND.
that you will be called to a calamity so fearful. I know not
the proportion of fatal voyages to successful ones, but 1
should suppose they are not as one to a hundred. So that
apprehension of this kind need not greatly alarm you.
Still, your vessel may founder at sea, or be wrecked on some
foreign shore, and it is well by sincere and humble piety to
be prepared for the worst. Religion will enable you to meet
death at sea in the storm, as well as in the calm on dryland.
An eminent Christian minister, in the prospect of a voyage,
when contemplating the possibility of shipwreck, recorded
thus his feelings under the possibility of such a catastrophe,
" How willingly should 1 embrace that wave, which instead
of landing me at Liverpool, should land me in heaven."
The Rev. Mr. M'Kenzie, who was lost in the Pegasus^ on his
way from Leith to London, was seen when the vessel was
sinking divested of all fear for himself, calmly directing the
minds of his perishing fellow-passengers to look by faith to
Jesus, and thus prepare for that eternity on which in a few
moments they were about to enter. See what religion can do
for its possessors amidst the roar of the tempest, or when
the ocean is opening its mouth to swallow him up. Could
yoji thus hopefully and peacefully descend into a watery
grave .''
But death sometimes comes on board an emigrant ship
which escapes the tempest. To die at sea is no uncommon
thing. Death, like its Omnipotent Lord and Conqueror,
often walks the waves, and approaches the affrighted mari-
ners, and steps aboard the vessel, not however as in the case
of Jesus on the lake of Gennesaret, to relieve, but to confirm
the fears of those who watch his approach. To a good man
there is nothing very terrible in this. True it is that the
ocean is not the house, nor a ship the chamber, in which any
EMIGRATING TO A FOREIGN LAND. 253
one would choom to endure his last sickness and meet the last
enemy. But a believing sense of God's presence and lovo
— a peaceful repose on the bosom of Christ's mercy — and
the prospect of a glorious immortality — can make a death-
bed easy even there. And the real Christian can endure
without dismay the thought of sleeping in the bottom of the
ocean, amidst the monsters of the deep, instead of a sepulchre
on dry land — assured that at the resurrection morning, " the
sea will give up the dead which are in it."
These, however, are not the greatest or most imminent
dangers to which you will be exposed ; or those of which you
should be most afraid ; or against which you need to bo most
impressively and anxiously warned by your friends. Perils
of a moral kind, and fearful ones too, will beset your path.
What Ob mixture of society is to be found in every emigrant
ship that floats its living cargo to a distant shore. There
you will probably find the vicious of both sexes — the infidel,
the debauchee, the gambler, the drunkard — the men of al'
principles and of no principle — the men of bankrupt for-
tune, and what is worse, of bankrupt character. And not
unlikely will " the strange woman" be there, " whose lips
drop as a honey-comb, and whose mouth is smoother than
oil, but whose end (to you as well as to herself, if you are
ensnared by her) is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-
edged sword ; whose feet go down to death, and her steps
take hold on hell," with those also whom she inveigles. In
the best appointed ships will be found society, with which if
you associate, it may imperil your morals and ruin your cha-
racter and your hopes for both worlds. An association of
this kind being once formed, you cannot avoid its contami-
nating influence for a single day. You cannot get away
from it, if you wou^d. The tempter is ever in sight — evoi
254 THE YOUNG MANS FRIEND.
at your elbow and your ear. There is no wider range for
you to move in than the vessel which contains you both.
The danger is thus greater than can be described or
imagined. It will follow you ashore — it will aflfect your cha-
racter and conduct when you land, and influence all your
future destiny. If then you have the least regard to your
welfare, be vigilant, be cautious. Go to the scene of danger
aware of it, and look up to God to preserve you. Pray to
him to spread over you the shield of his omnipotence.
Should you however escape this danger on board ship, it
will meet you on your landing. Our colonies are not only a
field of enterprise for adventurers whether they be the sober
and industrious, seeking a legitimate and ample scope for
their energies and their hopes, or for the reckless and despe-
rate, throwing the dice for their last chance ; but also the
retreat of the prodigal and the. profligate, where they may
hide their shame and pursue their vicious career, unknown
and unobstructed. In addition to this, there is in our penal
colonies the infection difiused by the ship-loads of moral
feculence which are landed from the ships that convey thither
our convicts. In these situations a young man viciously
disposed will have every opportunity for gratifying his animal
appetites, unrecognised by friends,- and unrestrained by
strangers.
But there are also dangers of another type than these.
In a country, the population of which even as regards its
better portions, are to a certain extent a vast company of
adventurers, who are all beginning life afresh and struggling
hard amidst many difficulties to root themselves in the land
of their adoption, there is likely to be acquired a peculiar
hardness and selfishness of character^ very unfriendly to the
tender afi"cctions of the heart, the amenities of life, and the
EMIGRATING TO A iTOREIGN LAND. 253
spiritual exercises of true religion. The thorns of worldl_y
cares, and the stony ground of earthly-mindedness, are but
too common everywhere, but especially there, and prevent
the growth of the good seed of piety and virtue. Failures
are common, and sound principle is soon undermined ; and
ia the hard struggle and anxious effort for success, every
object but those which pertain to the present world, is lost
sight of. The flattering pictures of colonial life and prospe-
rity, which the imagination of many had drawn, in which
they dreamed of immediate and certain success without fear
and almost without labor, are all found to be illusions of the
fancy, and they are ready to lie down in despair, or to adopt
any course, however dishonorable or even dishonest, not
indeed, to gain a fortune which was once their expectation,
but a bare living, which is now their highest, yea only hope.
How unfavorable is such a situation to the cultivation of
piety or even of virtue.
What carries the danger of all this to the highest pitch is
the absence in many parts of our colonies of the means of
grace, the ordinances of public worship, the fellowship of
saints, and the oversight of ministers. How difficult is it
here even, in this highly favored land, by the aid of all these,
to keep down sin and to maintain a due regard to the claims
of religion and mortality. But how much worse would things
be without this. There can be no question that the obser-
vance of the Sabbath, the power of the pulpit, and the re-
straint of Christian example, tend greatly to moralize and
purify the life even where they do not renew the heart — to
restrain the sinner where they do not convert him, and to
keep down the overflowings of ungodliness where they do
not spread out the beauties of holiness. It is true that
through the voluntary energies of almost all denominations
256 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
of professing Christians, the deficiency of the means of grace^
in our principal colonial establishments, is being in some
considerable measure supplied. But still how many emi-
grants are there who go out into the wild, who are not witfe
in a days' journey of a place of Christian worship, and
scarcely bear a sermon in a year.
" Oh, think of those who pine to hear,
Far from their native shores exiled,
A pastor's voice amid the wild."
What is there in such circumstances to aid the struggles of
the soul after good principles and habits here, or salvation
hereafter ? And even where the means of grace are, within
reach, they are it must be confessed too often of that feeble
and ineffici3nt character, so unhappily a contrast with those
once enjoyed in the mother country, which renders them
neither attractive nor influential.
Such then are some of the dangers to which the emigrant
is exposed : and I now proceed,
Fourthly. To offer him some counsels and direc-
tions. There are, as regards religion, two distinct classes
of emigrants.
There are some who are not living under the influence of
true religion. Some of you who shall read these pages
answer too justly to this description. You know you are
not yet brought to repentance towards God, and faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ : that you are not yet led to acknow-
ledge God in all your ways, to live habitually in his fear and
favor, and to enjoy the comforts of the Holy Spirit. Going
out from your own country to a foreign land — without the
guidance of religion ! Going to encounter the perils of the
ocean and the dangers of shipwreck — without the presence
EMIGRATING TO A FOREIGN LAND. 25'?
of religion ! Going to quit the home of your fathers and
sojourn in a strange land — without the companionship of
religion ! Going to encounter all the trials, the perplexities,
the difficulties of an emigrant's life — without the consolations
of religion ! How forlorn a condition ! How desolate a lot !
No acknowledgment of Grod — no trust in him — no prayer to
him — no communion with him — no expectation from him !
No preparation of mind to see his immensity shadowed forth
in the boundless expanse of the ocean — to hear his awful
power, grandeur, and majesty proclaimed in the tempest,
the thunder-storm, and the water-spout — to trace his wisdom
and goodness in the varied products of new countries — to
contemplate his glory and realise his presence every where !
Unhappy man ! You are indeed to be pitied. The world is
all before you, but no Providence to be your guide, and
direct you where to choose. Oh, pause and ponder upon
your condition, and the ways of your feet. Will you, dare
you, can you go out without God ? Without God to guide
and protect and bless you ? And if without God as a friend,
with him as any enemy !
Do you forget it is God's world you live in, and God's
country to which you are going ? And how can you think
of going to it without asking his leave, imploring his
guidance, and seeking his blessing ? Recollect you are
dependent every moment upon him, and all your future
destiny is to be decided by him. He can raise you to pros-
perity or depress you to the lowest adversity. He can
frustrate or promote all your schemes ; disappoint or realise
all your hopes.
Before you quit your native shore then, yield yourselves
unto God, " Remember your Creator^ now^ in the days of
you? youth J before thi evil days co?/ie." You are busy in
258
preparing for the voyage, and are engaged in the solicitudes
of the outfit. Religion, true, vital, experimental, decided
religion is the best preparation, the most important outfit.
Determine by God's grace not to leave your country an
enemy to him, lest He send the whirlwind as his messenger
to arrest you on the sea, or ruin to overtake you on the dry
land. Go forth rather as his servant, his friend, and his
son, that to you may be applied the beautiful language of
the poet,
" His are the mountains ; and the valleys his ;
His the resplendent rivers ; his to call
With a propriety that none can claim,
But he who lifts an unpresumptuous eye,
And smiling says, " My Father made them all.' "
Let the voice of friendship prevail, and the anxiety of
ministerial fidelity be successful, in persuading you imme-
diately to be reconciled to God through faith which is in
Christ Jesus. Present in sincerity and earnestness the
prayer of Moses, " If thy presence go not with me carry me
not up hence." You shall not ask in vain, for the answer
shall come, " My presence shall go with thee, and I will
give thee rest." Exodus xxxiii. 14-15. You will leave all
other fiiends behind you, but your best friend will go with
you, and he will be more to you than father, mother,
brothers and sisters. Should you determine to act upon
this advice, then all which will now be addressed to the next
class of emigrants will also appertain to you.
Many emigrants are already true Christians, and will go
out as such. To this class I now address myself with affec-
tionate solicitude for your welfare in both worlds.
First of all I would make a few remarks in the way of
CONSOLATION. In your present circumstances you need it,
EMIGRATING TO A FOREIGN LAND. 2L9
and you may have it. I trust you have the peace which
arises from the testimony of your conscience, that in leaving
your country, you are following the leadings of Providence,
and that you see the cloudy pillar moving before you : that
it is a lawful object you are pursuing, and one on which you
may confidently ask Grod's blessing. This settled, you have
in that one thought, " I am where God led me," a world of
consolation. In the wreck of either your vessel or your
fortunes, you may then be calm and satisfied, for no remorse
will increase your terrors or aggravate your sorrows.
Next you may, and should, reflect with comfort upon the
omnipresence of God. This is one of the main props of all
religion, whether in the way of holy fear or sacred pleasure
— whether with angels in heaven, or with man upon earth.
It was the saying of a Jewish Kabbi, " If every man would
consider God to be the great eye of the world, watching
perpetually over all our actions, and that his hand is inde-
fatigable, and his ear ever open, possibly sin might be
extirpated from the face of the earth." This is going too
far, but it is impressive. Yes, God is everywhere present,
though invisible to us. Were the emigrant to leave his God,
when he left his country, what crowds of sinners would flee
from the presence of the Lord, and escape from the vigilance
of his watchful eye — but what Christian would go 1 Pious
youth, God goes with you — wherever you go, he is there
before you in all the glory of his attributes, in all the tender-
ness of his love, in all the faithfulness of his promises, and
in all the watchfulness of his providence. Be this your
comfort, you cannot flee from his presence. And as God
goes with you, so does your gracious Kedeemer, in all his
offices, characters, and endearments. So does the Holy
Spirit, with all his influences — so does your Bible — so does
260 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
the throne of grace — so does the fellowship of saints, at least
to most places. You thus carry your best friends, your
richest treasures, your dearest comforts, your safest protec-
tion with you. Without these no sun would be lyi'ight ; no
scenery beautiful ; no air balmy ; no society agreeable ; and
no success joyful : but with these, consolation might bo
found on the most desolate shores, and in the most dreary
scenes of nature or of Providence, All places are equally
near to heaven, and all equally accessible to the falling rays
of its glory now. On board the ship ; amidst a wicked
crew and noisy passengers, he can be with you ; and equally
so in the rising population of some colonial town, or in the
dreary wild of some colonial desert. In the deepest solitude
you may use the language which the poet has put into the
lips of Alexander Selkirk, when dwelling alone on the island
of Juan Fernandez.
" There's mercy in every place,
And mercy, encouraging thought,
Gives even affliction a grace,
And reconciles man to his lot.
The sea-fowl is gone to her nest,
The beast is laid down in his lair,
Ev'n here is a season of rest,
And I to my cabin repair."
You remember perhaps the anecdote of Mungo Park, the
African Traveller, which I have given in my work entitled,
" The Young Man from Home." He was in the heart
of Africa, alone and unprotected. He had just been robbed
and stripped by a ferocious banditti, and the following is the
account he gives of his feelings, and his relief: " After they
were gone, I sat for some time, looking around me with
amazement and terror. Whichever way I turned, nothing
EMIGRATING TO A FOREIGN LAND. 261
appeared but danger and difficulty. I saw myself in the
midst of a vast wilderness, in the depth of the rainy season,
naked and alone, surrounded by savage animals, and men
still more savage. I was five hundred miles from the near-
est European settlement. All these circumstances crowded
at once on my recollection, and I confess that my spirit
began to fail me. I considered my fate as certain, and that
I had no alternative but to lie down and perish. The
INFLUENCE OF RELIGION, howtvtr ^ aided and supported me.
I reflected that no human prudence or foresight could
possibly have averted my present sufferings. I was indeed
a stranger in a strange land, yet I was still under the pro-
tecting eye of that providence who has condescended to
call himself the stranger's friend. At this moment, painful
as my reflections were, the extraordinary beauty of a small
moss, in fructification, irresistibly caught my eye. I mention
this to show from what trifling circumstances the mind will
sometimes derive consolation ; for though the whole plant
was not longer than the top of one of my fingers, I could not
contemplate the delicate conformation of its roots, leaves,
and capsule, without admiration. Can that Being, thought
I, who planted, watered, and brought to perfection, in this
obscure part of the world, a thing which appears of so small
importance, look with unconcern upon the situation and
suffering of creatures formed after his own image ? — surely
not ! Reflections like these would not allow me to despair.
I started up, and disregarding both hunger and fatigue,
travelled forwards, assured that relief was at hand : and I
was not disappointed. In a short time, I came to a small
village, at the entrance of which I overtook the two shep-
herds who had come with me from Koama. They were
much surprised to see me j for they said, they never doubted
262 THE YOUNG MAN's FRIEND.
that the Foulahs, when they had robbed, had murdered
me."
But let me now offer you some counsels. Taken away
from the means of grace, to which you have been accustomed,
you will be in danger of resembling a child weaned at too
early an age, and which droops and sickens for want of its
mother's milk. On your voyage you will find nothing around
you to sustain your faith and godliness, but every thing
adverse. For months your Sabbath exercises will perhaps
be nothing more than listening to a few prayers, or a sermon
formally, coldly, and carelessly read. You will perhaps meet
with no one who can talk with you the language of Canaan,
and fan by his conversation and prayers the languid flame of
your devotion. You will therefore be in imminent peril of
losing much of your religion on the voyage. To guard
against this, it is well you should take a calm and intelligent
view of your situation. In this case, as well as in others,
to be fore-warned is to be fore-armed. Be much in prayer,
in earnest, wrestling, and believing prayer, before you step
on board. Intensely long to be kept, and then you will be
kept. God can and will make his grace sufficient for you
H6 can preserve you, and will if you desire it, though there
is not another Christian in the ship. He will be the lifter
up of your head, will sustain you by his power through
faith, and will put his glory upon you.
Do not he ashamed of your religion. Much of future
annoyance and embarrassment will be prevented by a bold
and honest, yet meek and humble avowal of your principles.
The j^rs^ check given to a new phase or aspect of life is that
which is most to be dreaded. Decision, maintained with
firmness but gentleness, will soon subdue opposition. Your
persecutors, if such you should have, will not be slow to
EMIGRATING TO A FOREIGN LAND. 263
find out that it is a bootless expenditure of their ridicule on
one who is not affected by it, and who always returns good
for evil. But for this moral and spiritual courage, you must
be much in prayer. " Of the ichneumon it is stated that
when wounded by the serpent with which it is in conflict, or
previously to renewing the conflict, it retires by instinct to
a particular herb, for expelling whatever venom it has re-
ceived, and to be invigorated with fresh strength for obtain-
ing the victory. Sanctify the thought by your frequent re-
tirement to God for aid iu the war- strife in which you may
be engaged with sin in its various forms around you, and its
most subtle insinuations in your own breast."*" Fear not
then to be seen with your Bible and other good books. Let
your piety be neither ostentatiously obtrudeH, nor timidly
concealed. At first it would be well to say little about it to
others, till you have gained their confidence and affection.
Let there be no bustling and officious zeal — no attempt to
take the ship's company by storm — nothing like parading
your religion and proclaiming your intention to convert all oa
board. This will defeat your purpose by raising up resist-
ance. Your light must shine before your fellow-passengers,
by your good works, and your religion must be seen in all its
loveliness and consistency before it is heard. Be known as
the humble, meek, and gentle follower of the Lamb, the
friend of every one, the enemy of none. If you can find
men of like mind on board, cultivate their acquaintance, and
live in sweet fellowship with them. If they have their pe-
culiarities, as probably they will have, bear with them in
love. Let there be the best understanding between you and
* " The Christian Emigrant," by Dr. Leifchild. A little volume
of which I earnestly advise every emigrant to possess himself. It is
a beautiful combination of general knowledge and piety.
12
204 THE YOUiNG MANS FRIEND.
them ; for the quarrels, or even the coolness, of professing
Christians will do immense harm.
Take especial care that your conduct be uniformly consis-
tent. When it is known, and known it ought to be, that
your are a religious man, you will be watched by the malig-
nant eyes of those who wait for your halting ; and whose
ingenuity will be taxed to lay snares for your feet. One
step will destroy all your influence, by defacing the .beauty
and impairing the strength of your example, and will subject
not only yourself, but all religion, to the suspicion of hy-
pocrisy.
Acting in this blameless and harmless manner, you may
hope to be the means of doing good to some of your fellow-
emigrants. You may discover some pensive and sorrow-
stricken heart, prepared by deep sorrow to receive the conso-
lations of the gospel. Or you may find some prodigal already
beginning to ponder with remorse on his wanderings, in
whose relenting heart you may fasten conviction, penitence,
and faith. You may be honored of God thus to " convert
a sinner from the error of his ways — to save a soul from
death — and hide a multitude of sins."
Should you escape the moral dangers of the voyage, and
land upon the distant shore unharmed in soul, you must not
consider that all, or even the greatest, perils are over. There
still remain all the trials to which you will be exposed in
the struggle to be carried on for establishing yourself in the
colony. Many have escaped the shipwreck of the sea, only
to incur the more fearful one not only of their fortune, but
of their character. Professors who have stood well at home,
have miserably failed abroad. In the eager strife which you
will, perhaps, carry on for success in your new locality,
where so many are striving with you and like you, there is a
•EMIGRATING TO A FOREIGN LAND. 205
fear lest the ardor of religious affection should be quenched
in a flood of earthly-mindedness ; and lest the sternness of
religious principle should be subdued by the love, and the
prospect of Mammon's pelf. It has been said, with what
truth I will not take upon me to determine, that the princi-
ples of a very lax morality enter deeply into the trade of
some of our colonies ; and that many professing Christiana
are carried away by the stream of commercial dishonor.
Doubtless many have therefore damaged their characters,
however they may have improved their circumstances. " The
transplanted tree may exhibit as flourishing a foliage in the
new soil where it is fixed ; but if its fruit become dwarfed,
insipid, and tasteless, the change is one that will ever have to
be deplored. Let your piety, on the contrary, take a deeper
root, and strike out wider its fruit-bearing branches in the
locality where you may be destined to spend the remainder
of your days."
A Christian ought to be anxious to promote the moral
and spiritual well-being of the colony to which he emigrates.
The best way to preserve his own religion is to keep it in
action. Still water, as we have already remarked in a for
mer sermon, breeds filth and vermin, but the running stream
is clear and pure. Neither our soul's health, nor our body's,
can be preserved without exercise. But there is another
reason, my young friends, which I press upon your attention,
as an additional reason why you should be active in diffusing
religion where you go, and that is the future destiny of the
colonies. What is a colony ? Now, indeed, the collection
from various parts of the earth of a comparatively few adven-
turers settling down upon the coast with a view to retrieve
their fortunes or their characters, or to start in life with
advantages there which they could not command at home j
260 THE YOUNG man's friend.
but what will it be a century or two hence ? It is now an
infant kingdom — an empire in boyhood — of which the full-
grown man may be a rival of the land that gave it existence.
A little more than two centuries ago, a few outcasts and
fugitives from this country, who had fled from the demon of
persecution, landed from the " May-flower," on a bare and
barren rock on the northern coast of America. The coun-
try all around was bleak, desolate, and wild, and inhabited
only by tribes of Indians. There was a colony. What is it
now ? The greatest, the strongest, the most flourishing
republic ever founded upon earth — a republic which is
already a rival in trade of the Father-land, and which has
more than once been engaged with it in successful war. It
is thought by some that this land has passed the zenith of
its glory, and that a long decay is destined to precede the
fall of the British Empire ; that its population will then
remain stationary or recede — its courage abate — its wealth
diminish — and its ascendancy disappear ; till at length the
Queen of the waves will sink into an eternal, though not
forgotten slumber. And the question has been asked,
whether at some future period in our world's history and
amidst the changes which take place in its affairs, some
traveller from New Zealand or Australia may not sit down
upon a broken arch of London bridge to depict the ruins of
Sf, Paul's Cathedral ; or place himself where he shall deline-
ate " the towers oPYork Minster, rising in dark magnificence
amid an aged forest ; or go and trace the red deer sporting
in savage independence round the Athenian pillars of the
Scottish metropolis." All this is not very probable, but if it
should be in the decrees of heaven and the destinies of earth,
let it be your care who go as Christian emigrants to these
future kingdoms which are to be exalted in majesty over the
EMIGRATING TO A FOREIGN LAND. 2G7
ruins of their parent country, that thej shall be so educated
in their infancy as to rise up Christian empires in their man-
hood. Go out with the holy and noble ambition of carrying
on the work of evangelization, civilization, and refinement.
Be the patriots of your new country : and have your names
enrolled among those to whom future generations shall look
back with gratitude and respect. Carry out the principles
of civil and religious liberty, and never forget that as you
are joining with others in laying the foundations of empire,
it should be done with care and skill, so as they shall bear a
superstructure in which God shall dwell with man upon the
earth. It is a high and holy object of ambition which is
thus presented to you. Seize the conception in all its gran-
deur and extent, and let not even the modesty and humility
which are the natural result, and should be the accompani-
ments of your comparatively humble circumstances in life,
dispossess you of it — that you are assisting in constructing
the basis of future nations. Even the day-laborers who
worked at the foundations of the Pyramids had a share in
raising a fabric which has been the admiration of all ages,
and will probably last till the end of time. So the humblest
emigrant that lands on the shore of Australia, if he be a man
of piety, virtue, and active benevolence, is doing something
towards the wealth, the power, and the moral glory of the
future kingdom that may rise on that now comparatively
unpeopled wilderness.
In connection with all this, and indeed for it5 realization,
it is necessary you should attend to some other things. I
refer you to the last sermon for what you will need as a man
of business, and what is essential to your success. The
knowledge, industry, economy, system, r.cd perseverance,
there recommended, necessary for all, are pre-eminently for
2G8 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
you. Without determining to act thus, there is not the
remotest hope of your success. If you expect to do without
these in a foreign land, you are mistaken. Give up at once
all notion that less qualification for success is necessary in
the colonies than at home. The earth does not bring forth
her fruits spontaneously, there even in a virgin soil, any more
than here. The ground is cursed for man's sake all over the
globe : and to earn your bread by the sweat of your brow is
the condition of your existence in Australia and New Zea-
land, as well as in England.
You must make up your mind to hardships^ unknown
at home. He that expects to carry to a new settlement, at
least in some parts of the world, all the luxuries or even
comforts he may command here, and who is not prepared to
endure much self-denial, had better remain where he is. It
is true in the towns already formed in some of the colonies,
most of the usual comforts of life may be commanded, as well
as in this country ; but an emigrant cannot always choose
his abode, and may be called to go beyond the circle of a
living population to construct his own dwelling, to make his
own furniture, to cook his own meal ; and you are to con-
sider well whether this will suit you, or you it. A spirit of
adventure, where this exists, a buoyancy of spirits, a love of
enterprise and a hope of success, will carry a man through
all these difficulties — but have you these qualifications .?
Guard against a reckless spirit of speculation. Do not
make haste to be rich. This is one of the dangers of colo-
nial life — dangerous alike to moral principle and to com-
mercial prosperity. There is great room for it abroad, and
many temptations to it. It has made a few, but it has
ruined many. Some have endeavored to leap the chasm
or ford the river, without patiently going round by the
i
EMIGKATIXG TO A FORETOX LAND. 269
bridge, and have succeeded ; while others in making the
Bame attempt have been dashed to pieces or drowned. Spe-
culation is a game at hazard. Do not play it. One throw
of the die may win a fortune, but the next may lose it. Bo
contented to plod on slowly, but certainly. What is gained
by patient industry usually wears better and lasts longer
than that which "is won in a lottery.
Especially watch against a loant of commercial 'principle.
In the fierce conflict for success in a young settlement, this is
one of the dangers to which all who enter into it are exposed.
Go out determined to follow the whatsoever things are true,
honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report. Make up your
mind to the truth of God's holy Word, that, " Better is the
little that a righteous man hath, than the riches of many
wicked." Failure is to be infinitely preferred, when it comes
with a good conscience, than success procured by iniquity.
As a general principle it will be found true that honesty is
THE BEST POLICY. -"
Keep lop a correspondence with your native country^ espe-
cially if you have left friends in it who take an interest in
your welfare. There is something immoral and unchristian
in its tendency, is a disposition to forget the home and the
friends of your childhood, besides something positively cruel
in keeping parents, or brothers and sisters, ignorant of your
circumstances. This is sometimes not sufficiently thought of
by those who leave their country. The soil in which early
and home affections all wither and die, cannot be favorable
to the growth of piety ; it is cold and stony.
Be very cautious about choosing your companions. Cha-
racters of all varieties, and many of them of the worst
kind, are to be found in the colonies. How many are ohligea
to emigrate and find a shelter in those distant retreats from
270 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
the finger of scorn, the tongue of reproach, and in some
cases, the visitations of justice — men who go out unreclaimed,
and who carry all their bad principles and evil dispositions
with them. Many of these are clever, specious, and plau-
sible— but they carry the serpent's cunning and venom undei
the variegated colors of his skin. Never give your company,
or your ear, or your hand, or your confidence, to any one, till
you have proved he is worthy of them. A stranger in a
strange land, you will feel your loneliness, and in your craving
after social intercourse will be in danger of falling into the
snares of those who lie in wait to deceive. One of the
members of my church who carried out with him a consider-
able sum of money, gave his confidence, and with it a con-
siderable portion of his property, to one who professed for
him great friendship ; and but for a most determined process
would have lost it. Men prowling about society to pre;y
upon the unwary are to be found everywhere, and they are
not wanting in the colonies.
And now in conclusion, let me direct your attention U
what the apostle has said of the holy patriarchs of Canaan,
" These all died in faith, not having received the promises,
but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them
and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers
and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things
declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they
had been mindful of that country from whence they came
out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But
now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly : where-
fore God is not ashamed to be called their God ; for he hath
prepared for them a city." Hebrews xi. 13-16. Be this the
view you take of your earthly sojourn — as a pilgrimage to
the skies ; and this the spirit you cherish in reference to it.
EMIGRATING TO A FOKEIGN LAND. 271
Your circumstances forcibly remind you of it. By faith in
God's blessed Word look up to that better country which is
above and beyond the boundaries of earth and time : the
land of the holy, the good, and the blessed — where there is
no more sin — and there shall be no more death, nor sorrow,
nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the for-
mer things are passed away — where the fears, the anxieties,
and the labors of this world have no place, and the turmoil
of life, and the strifes of business are unknown — where the
wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest —
where temptation will be over, and conflict will cease. Bless-
ed country ! Be it your chief solicitude to emigrate to that
joyful and glorious laud. From this world you must depart.
No choice is left you here. And the hour of departure draws
on ; but whether it will be in youth, in manhood, or old age,
is known only to God. Shall there be no preparation for
that voyage and settlement } How much are your thoughts
now occupied about the new country to which you are going,
and how anxiously busy are you in preparing for the voyage
and your future residence — What ? and less thoughtfulness
— less preparation — less anxiety be given to the emigration
to eternity ? You have exercised much thought in choosing
the colony where you mean to settle for life. There are
but two places of settlement beyond the grave — heaven and
hell — between these lies your choice — to one or other you
must soon depart — which will you choose ? Which ?
12^
THE YOUNG MAN DISAPPOINTING OR REALISING
THE HOPES OF HIS PARENTS.
" And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a
son : And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort
us concerning our work and toil of our hands." Genesis, v. 28-9.
"And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber
over the gate and wept : and as he went, thus he said, O my son
Absalom, my son, my son Absalom ! would God I had died for thee,
O Absalom, my son, my son !" 2 Samuel xviii. 33.
When Lamech, one of the few antediluvians mentioned in
this chapter, selected a name for his son, he determined to
call him Noah, which signifies " rest ;" for he said, this same
shall comfort us concerning our labor. The history of
Lamech is involved in deep and impenetrable obscurity,
which no criticism or conjecture can remove or illumine.
You are not to confound the Lamech here spoken of with
the one mentioned in the preceding chapter. That was a
descendant of Cain ; this of Seth. Still one should suppose
that in the selection of the name of his son, he was guided
by a reference to some circumstances of disquiet and dis-
comfort connected with his own life, of which no mention is
made in the sacred Scriptures. Whether this selection of
the name o f his son was the result of a prophetic inspiration.
I
DTSArPOIXTIXG Oil REALISING THE IIOrES OF PARENTS. 273
or merely of parental solicitude and hope, we cannot tell
The event, however, justified the selection. The life of
Noah answered to his name. "With his early history the
Author of revelation has left us almost entirely unacquainted.
All that is said of him before he is introduced to us as the
preserver of the seed of a new world's population, is, that
" Noah walked with God, and was perfect in his generation."
In the midst of a corrupted age he dared to be singular, and
was not ashamed or afraid to avow his piety amidst the scoffs
of the impious. For five centuries his parents lived to
witness his holy conduct, and his high calling to be the
preacher of righteousness, and the preserver of the human
race from utter destruction. What a lengthened period of
parental enjoyment.*
A melancholy contrast is presented to all this, in the his-
tory of Absalom. His name signifies, " the father's peace."
Alas, alas, what a contradiction was there between his his-
tory and his name. He was evidently his father's favorite
son. We discern and condemn the weakness of David,
* We are not permitted to know all the divine reasons for the
extreme longevity of the Patriarchs of the Antediluvian world. It
was not merely for peopling the earth more rapidly, but also for pre-
serving uncorrupted, by oral tradition, the original revelation made to
our first parents in Paradise. At that time in all probability, alpha-
betic writing was unknown ; and it was therefore important that the
transmission of ihe account of creation ; the origin of the human race ;
the first prophecy concerning the seed of woman ; and the divine insti-
tution of sacrifices, should pass through as few hands as possible.
There may have been other reasons for this extraordinary length of
human life before the flood, with which we are not acquainted. This
is one of the many things of revelation, which we must take upon its
own well-accredited testimony, without making our own experience
or observation the standard by which to +ry them, or a reason for
rejecting them.
2*74 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
whose partiality was in all probability called forth by an
unworthy motive, the extraordinary beauty of Absalom.
He gave him a name expressive of his fondest wishes and
affections. He watched, with more than ordinary interest
and regard, the development of his beautiful form — the
increasing attractions of his winning and fascinating manners
— the nobleness of his bearing — and the displays of his
genius. Even Solomon was at that time little thought of
compared with Absalom. In this favorite David's hopes at
one time centred more than in all his other children. But
this bright blossom of parental hope soon discovered signs of
mildew and of blight, and the sequel exhibits another
instance and proof of the effects of injudicious and mis-
directed partiality. With Absalom's personal beauty, which
perhaps had made him proud, vain, and profligate, was
associated a most vicious character, that wrung the father's
heart with anguish. He manifested one enormity after
another, till his misconduct rose to its climax in crime, by
rebellion and intentional parricide, and led its guilty subject
to an untimely end. What a bitter and cruel disappoint-
ment of parental hopes was here ! The darling, the beau-
tiful Absalom proved a libertine — a murderer — a rebel :
which, notwithstanding all his father's lingering affection
and fond precaution, brought him down to the grave in
infamy and blood. Instead of his remains reposing in that
splendid mausoleum which his vanity had constructed, and
by which he ambitiously hoped to send forward his renown
through future generations, they were buried under a heap
of stones, with no funeral obsequies to do honor to his name
and rank, and no inscription to perpetuate his memory.
How much does it take to wear out a father's love and to
quench his partiality for a favorite child ! No sooner were the
DISAPPOINTING OR REALISING THE HOPES OF BARENTS. 2*75
tidings announced that Absalom was dead, than all his crimes
were forgotten, and the poor afflicted father rushed into his
chamber, and in one of the most simple and pathetic lamenta-
tions which grief ever dictated, or language ever expressed,
he uttered these moving words, " 0 my son Absalom, my
son, my son Absalom ! would Grod I had died for thee, O
Absalom, my son, my son!" With these two cases, as an
historical introduction, I enter upon the consideration of my
subject : " The Young Man disappointing or realising ike
hopes of his Parents.
I shall reverse the order of the texts, and dwell first
upon the conduct of him who defeats the expectations which
have been indulged by those who were the instruments of
his being.
Parental hopes are usually strong. The words of our
Lord are according to nature, " A woman when she is in tra-
vail hath sorrow, because her hour is come ; but as soon as
she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more her
anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world." Who
but a mother can tell the feelings of that moment when her
new-born babe is first laid in her bosom ; and who but a
father can know the emotions which are excited when he sees
for the first time his own image reflected from the counte-
nance of that little unconscious creature, whose infant cry
as he takes him in his arms, seems to say in inarticulate
language, " My Father !" From that moment parental hopes
begin. The child brings them with him into the world.
How fondly the parents watch their treasure as he is dandled
in a mother's lap, or sleeps in the cradle. How oft they
muse together over his future destinies, saying to each other,
'' What manner of child shall this he ?" As the babe
grows to a child — the child to a youth — the youth to man-
276 THE YOUNG man's FRIEND.
hood, what expectations are raised, what conjectures aro
forme i — what prognostications are uttered. The mother
hopes her son will be her comfort, and the father his help,
and both together their boast. As his faculties develop
they see, or think they see — -and the fond illusion can be for-
given them — the marks of genius and the traits of excellence.
Freaks of childish passion, instances of waywardness of
temper, and not unfrequent acts of disobedience, which to
others hold out painful portents, are either unnoticed, or do
not disturb the pleasing vision, nor lower the expectations of
future excellence, if not of eminence. Hope is predominant
in the parent's heart — all children, he says, have their follies
and fiiults, and his not more than others. He sends them to
school, where he trusts they will improve their minds and
prepare for future life : apprentices them to some trade or
profession by which he expects they will do well in the world :
he starts them in business, and thus enables them to provide
for themselves and a family. How many hours of his pri-
vate conversation have been spent with his wife over this son
of theirs. What pictures have been drawn of his future
career. Surely such talents — so cultivated, and with such
advantages, must succeed. Under the burdens of life, and
the cares and labors which their family brings upon them,
they look forward during the infancy of their children, to
future years, anticipating the pleasures to arise from the
obedience, gratitude, and usefulness of those who they think
will be the prop of their old age, and the supporters of each
other when they are gone to their rest. Pleasing reflections !
Joyful anticipations ! And in many cases, vain illusions !
How wisely is it ordered that man should not be able to lift
up the veil of futurity and foresee the history of himself and
of his children. It is enough to know the ills of life as thoj
DISAPPOINTING OR REALISING THE HOPES OF PARENTS. 277
arise, without contemplating them in the distance. "What a
misery to have all these hopes end in bitter disappointment,
and become like beautiful blossoms cut off by a nipping froet.
And what is it that will frustrate the hopes of parents ? I
speak not now of that disappointment which is occasioned
by the dispensations of Providence, in the early death of
children. This often comes, but how many are there who,
under a bitterer disappointment still, live to wish their chil-
dren had died in infancy. How many who amidst the sins
and follies of the after-years of their children's lives, have
mourned with grief of heart, and exclaimed, " Oh, that my
son had died from the womb, and that the cradle had
become his coffin, rather than that he should have lived to
distress and dishonor me as he has done."
But what is it that will disappoint parental hopes .-*
Uudutifulness^ and want of affection^ will do this.
Parents have a right granted by nature, confirmed by reason,
and enjoined by Scripture, to the obedience, honor, grati-
tude, and love of their children. They look for their due,
and expect everything from their offspring that can thus con-
duce to their comfort. To receive rudeness instead of re-
spect— disobedience instead of submission — contempt instead
of esteem — and cold indifference or manifest dislike, or cruel
unkindness, instead of affection and gratitude : how cutting
is all this ! Well did Solomon say, " A foolish son is a grief
to his father, and a bitterness to her that bore him." " Oh,
how often," do they say together, " has our authority been
affronted and our love slighted for a mere trifle. We expect-
ed better things, and naturally supposed that so much love
as we have lavished upon him would have brought us back
some love in return. Is this the reward of all our study and
2*78 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
efforts to make him happy and do him good ? Oh, who can
tell,
" How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is
To have a thankless child."
I believe that a deep filial reverence is often the basis of that
higher principle — the fear of God ; and that on the contrary,
a manifest want of good disposition and good conduct to-
wards parents, must ever be attended with, or lead to, irre-
ligion, and many other criminal states of mind and conduct.
Indolence^ a want of application, and carelessness about
genei'al improvement, must, of course, produce the disappoint-
ment! now speak of. After the best school has been selected
for education, and also a suitable situation for acquiring a
knowledge of business ; when of course improvement in gen-
eral knowledge, and especially in the knowledge of secular
matters, is naturallly looked for, then to see nothing but in-
dolence, ignorance, and stupidity — money, time, exhortation,
all wasted ; the youth going forth into the world ill-informed,
unskilled in matters of trade, unfit for any situation of impor-
tance as a servant, and equally unfit to manage a business as
a master ! How mortifying, how disappointing, is all this to
a father ! How distressing to find all bis schemes thwarted ;
all his anticipations frustrated ; and while other young men
are making their way in life, to see his son neither able nor
willing to do anything for himself ! He may not be vicious
— but he is idle, which is next to actual crime, and generally
leads to it.
Versatility of disposition is another defect of parental
hopes, wherever it exists. It was very wise counsel which
Solomon gave, where he says, "Meddle not with them that
are given to change." To change, when it is from bad to
DISAPPOINTING OR REALISING THE HOPES OF PARENTS. 279
good, is always right ; and it is a part of wisdom to know
when and how to change for the better. This is a diflferent
thing from being " given to change." I repeat what I said
in the last sermon, that there is nothing against which a
young man ought more assiduously to guard than versatility
of disposition. There is as much truth as beauty in the
proverb, " A rolling stone gathers no moss." Reuben's
character should be a beacon to all young men, " Unstable
as water, thou shalt not excel.'^^ The man who tries many
things, without abiding by anything, is absolutely certain to
do nothing. A tree may sometimes be better for one removal,
but it can never flourish under a frequent transplanting.
How annoying is it to a father to find that he has scarcely
introduced a son into a good situation ere the youth grows
tired of it and leaves it, and comes back again a dead weight
upon his father's hands, till tired out with his perpetual
changes, the good man is compelled to throw him upon his
own resources, when he generally comes to ruin.*
* There is a very lamentable instance of the disappointment of paren-
tal hopes, occasioned by an unsettled and roving disposition, recorded
in the memoir of that distinguished theologian, the late Andrew Ful-
ler. His eldest boy was a youth answering to this character. His
father obtained for him a situation in London. He at one time thought
of the work of the ministry, and was then of course, a moral, and ap-
parently religious young man. His father, however, soon recorded
this remark in his diary : •' Alas, alas, I have seen that in the conduct
of my poor boy which has almost broken my heart, whose instability
is continually appearing. He must leave London, and what to do with
him T know not." Another situation was procured in his native town,
but his restless disposition soon discovered itself, and he enJisted into
the army. In a little time, being understood to be an apprentice, he
was discharged. Another situation was found for him, but in vain ;
for he enlisted a second time, then into the marines. His father in
compliance with his wishes procured his liberation ; and in about 9
280 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
Failure in Business, however it occurs, must of necessity
prove a very painful disappointment to parental hopes.
When a father has started his son in business, and advanced
capital for that purpose, and had expected to see him pros-
month he left his new place and his friends. Perceiving there was no
hope of his settling to business, his sorrowing parent procured him a
situation in a merchant ship ; but being on shore one Lord's day, before
he joined the ship, he was laid hold of by the press-gang and was car-
ried to sea. It was soon reported that the poor boy had been guilty
of some misdemeanor ; had been tried, and sentenced to receive three
hundred lashes ; that he received them, and immediately expired.
Under this trial Mr. F. thus wrote to a friend : " Oh : this is heart's
trouble ! In former cases my heart found vent in tears ; but now I can
seldom weep. A kind of morbid heart-sickness preys upon me from
day today. Every object round me reminds me of him ! Ah, he was
wicked and mine eye was not over him to prevent it, — he was detect-
ed, tried, and condemned, and I knew it not — he cried under his agonies ;
but 1 heard him not; — he expired without an eye to pity or a hand to
help him. Oh, Absalom, my son, my son ! would I had died for thee,
my son !"
The report however was incorrect, yet some time afterwards he de-
serted, and suffered so severe a punishment as to be totally unfitted for
servicje, by the effect it had upon his health. He was again discharged.
He in some measure recovered his health, and a situation was about
to be provided for him ; but he again absconded, entered a second time
into the marines, went to sea, and his friends never again saw him.
He died off Lisbon after a lingering illness : and there is some reason
to hope, confessing and lamenting the error of his ways.
''This narrative," remarks Mr. Fuller's biographer, " contains many
things painful to surviving friends, which they would gladly have
buried in oblivion, and which I would never have inserted had they ab-
solutely forbidden me. But the strongroom there seems to be to hope
that so affecting an account may be, under the Divine blessing, the
means of reclaiming some unhappy youth under similar circumstances,
or of deterring others from rending a parent's heart with anguish, and
involving themselves in misery, has induced them to yield to my wish
ils not being suppressed."
DISAPPOINTING OR REALISING THE HOPES OF PARENTS. 281
per, it must be a source of very great distress to find that ali
his efforts to serve him are abortive. Where this is the effect
of causes over which even industry and ability could have
control ; which involve no blame ; and which therefore must
be resolved into the dispensations of Providence, there is
not the aggravation of sorrow which is produced by incapa-
city, indolence, or extravagance. In the former case a judi-
cious and kind father will comfort his unfortunate son, and
cheer him onward, by sympathy and promises of assistance,
])iake other efforts. It is of course a trial, a heavy oiae :
but how much heavier when it is the result of misconduct.
When this has led to the sad result, how bitter is the cup of
parental sorrow ! For a father to occupy the dreadful post
of observation, darker every hour, as he watches the down-
ward progress of a son negligent of his business, and giving
himself up to habits which must end in his ruin ! Oh, misera-
ble son, and miserable parent. He who should, and might,
have been a flourishing tradesman, becomes a bankrupt, and
instead of rising to respectability, sinks to indigence and coa-
tempt. How many fond anticipations are terminated — how
many bright visions are dispelled — how many joyous expec-
tations are prostrated by that wreck ! And as the hopes of
past times are defeated — none for the future can be indulged.
Had it been the result of misfortune, the son might have
recovered himself; but as the ruin came by misconduct, what
ground, for hope is left to the disconsolate father ?
Profligate conduct is the bitterest disappointment of
all. To see a young man who has perhaps been reli-
giously educated, and brought up in the fear of God, so
far forgetting the instructions, the prayers, and example of
his father, and the tears and affectionate entreaties of his
mother, as " to walk in the counsel of the ungodly — to stand
282
in the way of sinners — and sit in the seat of the scornful :"
to see him forming bad associations — neglecting business — ■
indulging his evil propensities — wandering off like the prodi-
gal into the paths of vice and profligacy, the slave of lust
and wine — how distressfully disappointing is all this ! Oh,
unhappy parents ! You who have been called to endure this
trial, and you only, can tell what this means ; and even you
can rather know than tell it. " Oh," says the Christian
parent, " is it then come to this — all my solicitude, my prayers,
my tears, for my son, ending in his profligacy ! All my desires
and expectations that he would become a child of Grod, ter-
minated in his being a prodigal ! All my hopes of his being
a servant of Christ disappointed in my seeing him a slave of
Satan ! Oh, how carefully have I watched him — how dili-
gently have I instructed him — how earnestly have I prayed
for him — how anxiously have I waited for his yielding him-
self up to God and coming into the fellowship of his church.
And are all my prayers and tears as water spilt upon the
ground ? In all I have done for his conversion and salvation
have I been laboring in vain and spending my strength for
naught — yea worse than in vain : for every instruction, correc-
tion, and reproof, has aggravated his guilt here, and will in-
crease his misery hereafter ; so that while as to intention I
was acting the most kind and tender part, I was, as to result,
only treasuring up for my son wrath against the day of wrath.
Alas, alas : Woe is me. ^ 0 my son, my son !' "
How tenfold more dreadful are these reflections if the
son has died in his sins ; a case by no means uncommon.
How painful are the father's fears that his child has fallen
into a state of everlasting ruin. " Oh," will the afflicted
parent say, " how comparatively light would be my sorrows,
if while lookmg on his breathless corpse, and mourning tha
DISAPPOINTINa OR REALISING THE HOPES OF PARENTS. 283
disappointment of my hopes as to the present life, I could by
faith look forward to a world of glory, and see the branch of
my family which is cut off from earth, transplanted thither
and flourishing there. Joy would then mingle with my
parental sorrows and praises with my tears. But alas, I
have reason to fear that it was cut down that it might be
cast into everlasting burnings. On the former supposition I
might have comforted myself with the thought of meeting
my child again, and of meeting him on terms of infinite ad-
vantage, to be no more separated from him. But alas, now
I have lost my child, and lost him for ever. Nor is this all.
It would be mournful to me to think I should meet him no
more ; yet as the matter now stands, even that would be
some alleviation to my distress — but the immutable decrees
of God forbid it. I must meet him at the bar of God, and
0, what a dreadful interview will it be. Must I be a wit-
ness against him .? How terrible an office ! To bear my
testimony for the condemnation of one whom I tenderly
loved, of one whose soul I would have died to deliver. Oh,
that if no shelter must be allowed him, Grod would hide me
in the grave till this tremendous scene of His indignation be
overpast ; lest the anguish of a parent mingle with the joys
of a rising saint, and to me overcast the triumphs of the
day."*
This disappointment may, however, take place where none
of the former causes exist — there may be no profligacy — no
versatility — no indolence — nor want of cleverness in business ;
but on the other hand, there is the very opposite of all this.
Still there may be, as we have seen in a former sermon,
« defective amiability — the possession of all other good
♦Doddridge's " Serrror. on the reflections of a Pious Parent ovex an
(Jngodly Son.
284 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
things, yet the want of the one best thing — true religion.
To a really Christian parent, the want of this in his qhildren
is a severe trial — a heavy afliction. This is the chief object
of his desires, his prayers, his efforts, and his hopes. Till
they are savingly converted to God by his grace, and they are
brought to live a life of faith in God — in Christ — in heaven
— he is, and must be disappointed. He longed above all
things for their salvation, and hoped to see them members
of the church of Christ and useful in setting up his kingdom
in the world : and in the absence of this, though they should
gain wealth, rank, or fame, he is a disappointed father. He
cannot but rejoice and be thankful that his sons are not pro-
flio-ates — but as long as they are not true Christians, his chief
joy is not fulfilled. He looks upon their success, their re-
spectability, their worldly comfort — with the inward reflection,
"Ah, this is all very well, and I am truly thankful for it,
but it reaches no farther than the grave ; and what I have
coveted for them, prayed for, and sought, is, ' Grlory, honor,
immortality, and eternal life.' I wanted them to be united
with me by ties which would last for ever and make us one
in heaven as well as upon earth. Notwithstanding their
worldly prosperity, then, I am by their want of personal
religion a disappointed father."
This disappointment of parents in regard to their
children is aggravated by several circumstances that may
be glanced at. Where unusual care has been bestowed
upon their education, and it might have been expected
that a proportionate degree of excellence would have been
the result : — where considerable talents have been possess-
ed, and early indications of genius have exhibited them-
selves so as to awaken expectations : — where virtue at one
time began to bud, and piety to blossom : — where friends
J
DISAPPOINTING OR REALISING THE HOPES OF PARENTS. 285
congratulated the parents, and the parents felicitated them-
selves on the promising appearances of their children : —
whertt, in short, for awhile all seemed to hold out the most
auspicious omens, and justify the most favorable conclu-
sions : — oh, in such cases, to have all these hopeful begin-
nings terminate unhappily, and the anticipations raised upon
them disappointed ; how bitter, how painful, how overwhelm-
ingly cruel ! Think of a parent mourning over the wreck
of such hopes, and bewailing such a failure.
Young men, let me plead with you on behalf of your
parents. If they are here, and of course many of them are,
and hear me with hearts bleeding while I speak, oh, let
them be silent witnesses against you ; are there not some of
you who are thus disappointing every hope which they have
formed cuncerning you } Does not the reflection grieve and
shame you, and ought it not to overwhelm you ^ Let me
appeal to your sense of obligation. Ungrateful youths !
Have you no idea of what you owe to them 1 Are these the
returns you make them for all their bounty, tenderness, and
care, to be a sword in their bowels and to pierce their very
hearts ? Did they expect such scenes as these when you
hung upon your mother's breast, reposed in her lap, and
grasped, in childish fear, her hand to protect you from dan-
ger : when you returned their smiles with your own, and
cried with your faint accents of endearment, " My father,
my mother ?" How can you endure the thought } How
without embarrassment can you converse with them, and still
daily receive unnumbered favors at their hands, when you
are behaving in a manner that looks as if the more they love
you, the more they must be afflicted and terrified by you :
Oh, that you would have compassion upon them ! Or if
that will not move you ; oh, that you would have compassion
286 THE YOUNG man's friend.
on yourselves — for your own interest is much more nearly
concerned than even theirs.
It is not yet too late, even though till now you have pur-
sued this course of disappointment. There is time to repair
the mischief. Repentance and reformation will yet heal the
wounds which misconduct has inflicted, and the joy of re-
ceiving back the prodigal will almost compenisate for the
sufferings occasioned by his wanderings and his errors. Say
then, and say it at once, " I will arise and go to my father,
and say, ' Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy
sight,' forgive and receive thy once sinning and ungrateful
but now penitent child." Such a confession, followed up
with fruits meet for repentance, will bind up hearts all but
irreparably broken, and will transfer you to the class I am
next to describe, when I speak —
Secondly. Of the young man realising the hopes of his
parents. And it will take very much to do thii. Much, to
reward a mother's pangs in child-birth ; her months of anx-
ious care by day, and often sleepless vigilance at night, all
which involuntarily prompted her to say " Surely I shall have
a rich reward one day for this." Much, that will be ac-
counted an adequate reward for a father's incessant toil to
provide for his family — his deep concern to select the best
school and the most suitable situation of business — his wake-
ful and ceaseless solicitude for the welfare of his sons. How
often when bearing the heat and burden of the day has he
wiped away " the sweat of his brow," and exclaimed with
the smile of hope, " Well, my boy will one day reward me
for all this. I am now sowing in hope to reap one day in
joy !" And there are sons who realise all these expecta-
tions. How ?
1. By their dutiful cotiduct. " There," said a father who
J
DISAPPOINTING OR REALISING THE HOPES OF PARENTS. 287
was once an inhabitant of this town, " is a son who never
gave his father's heart a pang." I knew the son while he
lived, till full of years, and Christian experience, and public
esteem, he no long time since ascended to glory, and left
behind him a name never to be repeated but with esteem.
Other sons of the same family had wrung their father's
heart with anguish, but he, by his uniform obedience, gene-
ral good conduct and amiable character, was nothing but a
delight to his parents. How sweet is it to a parent's heart to
see a child so tender of his comfort as to be ever studious to
avoid every thing that would for a moment distress, and to
do any thing which would yield the smallest pleasure. A
parent does expect, has a right to expect all this ; and how
ineffably sweet is it to his heart, to be able to say, " In all
that is dutiful, obedient, reverential, respectful and attentive,
my son is all a son should be or can be. He has equalled
all the ideas I had formed in my most sanguine moments of
filial excellence. My hopes are more than realised."*
2. High mental culture and attainments will do much to
realise parental hopes. The most affectionate and amiable
disposition, coupled with the most dutiful conduct, will not
answer parental expectation if at the same time there be a
* A beautiful memoir of that most saintly man and eminent clergy-
man, the late Mr. Bickersteth, has just appeared from the pen of his
son-in-law, Mr. Birks, and among the other virtues for which that
holy servant of Christ was distinguished, filial reverence sustained a
very high place. The ea^ly history of Mr. Bickersteth exhibits one
of the most lovely and striking exhibitions of this excellence, which I
have ever met with. One scarcely wonders at the eminence he at-
tained to as a Christian and a minister, when we read of his exqui-
sitely beautiful conduct as a son. I am persuaded that much of the
neglect of the fear of God by which so many of the young men of the
present day are notorious, may be traced to a defect of filial reverence.
13
288 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
want of application to mental improvement and geit , t'al know-
ledge, and also a stolid ignorance, a deplorably low and
grovelling taste. In this extraordinary age, ev<yj man is
expected to fill up his place with credit to himsdf and ad-
vantage to others. Society never had stronger c!dims upon
young men than it has now. It is a high satisfaction to a
parent blessed with a promising son to be able to say,
" There is one who has repaid all the expense incurred by
his education. While at school, he received the rjiost honor-
able testimonials for diligence and acquisition. He scarcely
ever returned without a prize. He has assiduously improved*
himself since then, by reading and thinking, and low that he
is entering upon life, be is evidently qualified to take a high
standing for respectability and usefulness. He will not be
one of the multitude who are ciphers. I certainly feel some
glow of heartfelt delight, occasionally rising, unless, well
watched, into pride, as I see how he is acquitting himself
already, and is noticed by others ; and can predict the circle
in which he will move, and the sentiments and manner with
which he will be regarded."
Next to this come industry, cleverness^ and success in
business. For even the other two will not be sufficient to
satisfy parental desire. A son may be dutiful and intelli-
gent, but if there be not an aptness for trade, a habit of in-
dustry, and a preparation for conducting business with suc-
cess, there must be disappointment. Happy is the father
who sees in his son a constantly expanding germ of the dili-
gent and thriving tradesman. With what pleasure does ho
mark the indefatigable application — the growing skill — the
sharpe'ning sagacity — the increasing tact, of his boy, in refer-
ence to business. "Ah," says he with gratitude, " I see he
will make a good tradesman. He will make his way, and if
J
DISAPPOINTING OR REALISING THE HOPES OF PARENTS. 289
I am not mistaken, will rise in life. He will be somethino^."
The youth rises into the man, and having learnt his business
or profession, commences it, and displays as a master, tho
qualities he learnt and exhibited as an apprentice and a
shopman. Success crowns his efforts. He is a thriving
tradesman. His father follows him through his successful
career with secret delight. He is never afraid to visit his
son lest he should find him playing truant from his shop,
neglecting his business, with all things in confusion, and ruin
looking in at the window. It is always a pleasure to him to
go and see the beautiful order, the established system, the
well-formed habits, the crowded resort of a well conducted
business. How gratifying to hear from himself the report of
his continued success — of trade extending — capital accumu-
lating— and property gradually increasing. The father's
solicitude is over ; his son is thoroughly established and has
attained a degree of prosperity which at one time he could
never have looked for. How peaceful and pleasant are the
reflections of the parents of such a son in their private inter-
course ; *' We are happy on being released from the pressing
and painful anxieties of some families. Our dear son
is obviously doing well. We never had much fear of his
success ; his steadiness and ability forbade this ; but what
little anxiety we felt is all gone. Prosperity has begun to
dawn upon him, and promises to shine more and more.
We have have but one anxiety now, and that is that he may
settle well in marriage." This anxiety is natural and wise.
It is God's arrangement and intention that man should
marry, for he sees that it is not good for him to be alone.
It was not good in Paradise — it is not good now. It is not
good for his morals, his comfort, or his prosperity : and all
judicious parents have a wise solicitude that their children
290 TUE YOUNG man's FRIEND.
should in proper time marry, and always marry suitably
Indiscreet and unsuitable marriages by children, are a source
of unutterable grief to parents. Hence the joy which is felt
when others of an opposite nature are contracted.
That anxiety, in the case I am supposing, is soon relieved.
The prudence and propriety that have characterised the
conduct of this good son in other things, do not forsake him
in this. He is cautious and wise : selects a woman who by
her sterling excellence, good sense, and amiable qualities, is
worthy of him. She is one of whom the wise man saith,
*' She looketh well to the ways of her household. The heart
of her husband doth safely trust her, so that he shall have
no need of spoil." The parents see with delight a prosper-
ous business, a rising family, a happy home, ♦
But still we have not reached the summit of a good man's
wishes, for though all this is very pleasant, and to a worldly
man would be quite sufl&cient to realise his uttermost expect-
ation and fulfil his richest hopes, yet it is not so with the
Christian. He has learnt that, for himself, religion is the
" one thing needful," without which he neither attains to
true happiness on earth, nor answers the great end of exist-
ence, nor is meetened for the felicity of heaven : and what
he is supremely anxious for on his own account, he desires
above all things for his children It would be unnatural and
cruel if he did not. If religion be all important to him, it
can be no less so to them. Hence whatever else they may
gain, if they neglect this he is, as I have already said in the
other divisions of the sermon, and I now repeat by way of
emphasis, still sad at heart.
But I am now supposing a case in which the Christian
parent sees his deepest anxieties relieved, and his fondest
hopes realized, in the religious character of his sons. Aware
DISAPPOINTING OR REALISING THE HOPES OF PARENTS. 29^
that they are exposed to greater temptations that his dauo^h
ters, and much more in danger of neglecting religion, he ia
proportionably thankful when they become decidedly pious.
The first symptoms of a serious attention to the momentous
concerns of eternity, awaken the liveliest emotions of delight,
not unmixed with solicitude, lest it should be only, as " the
morning cloud, or early dew, which passeth away." He
prays more intensely than ever, and watches more anxiously,
for decision of character, and shields the bud of hope by his
most assiduous care. As the bud expands into the blossom,
and the blossom sets in fruit, his hopes and fears alternate,
till at lenorth the doubtful case is decided, and his child
becomes first a Christian, and then a professor. TVhat a
load of parental anxiety is removed ! What an accession to-
parental delight is made ! If the youth has been away from
home, and the intelligence of his conversion is conveyed by
letter, the good man's heart is too full to hold, and weeping
over the welcome tidings, he hastens to his chamber to pour
out his gratitude to God, the author of this new rich mercy,
a mercy in his esteem far greater than the appointment of
his son to a lucrative and honorable situation, or his success
in some concern of business. And the gratitude of the father is
equalled, if not surpassed, by that of the mother. "What, my
son a true Christian ! My boy for whom I have suffered so
much deep and painful solicitude — who when he left home
wrung my heart with agonizing fears, because he was going
forth as a lamb among wolves — what — he become a sincerely
religious man, a child of God ! May I indeed believe the
blissful intelligence ! A happy woman am I now become, to
be the mother of one who shall glorify God and enjoy him
for ever.
The religion of this young man proves itself sincere,
292 THE YOUNG man's FUTEXD.
consistent, and active. It preserves him from the snares to
which a youth away from home is ever exposed, and affords
another illustration of the declaration that " godliness is
profitable for all things, having the promise of the life that
now is, as well of as that which is to come." He connects
himself with the schemes of usefulness which are so nume-
rous in this day of Christian activity, and becomes a blessing
to the church and the world. His religion goes with him
into his future character, situation, and circumstances, as a
husband, a father, a master, and a tradesman. He is seen
habitually among the Christian philanthropists of the age,
uniting his influence and energies with theirs to bless his
species and glorify his God. His assistance is earnestly
sought, and willingly granted, to all that is going on for the
moral renovation of the world. By his prayers, his example,
his property, his intelligence, and his labors, he acts up to
the metaphorical description of the righteous, where our Lord
says to his disciples, " Ye are the light of the world ; ye are
the salt of the earth." His family are brought up in the
fear of the Lord, and are likely to be his imitators in all
good things, and thus hand forward religion as a heir-loom
to his descendants.
What a beautiful scene is this for Christian parents to
witness, if indeed, they are still alive to watch the growing
piety, prosperity, happiness, and usefulness of this their son.
How blissful are the feelings, how delightful the intercourse
of the happy couple as they sit and talk of this their beloved
and holy child. If he live dt home with them, how uninter-
ruptedly agreeable is their intercourse with him. They have
nothing to complain of or to reprove ; and he nothing to ex-
plain, defend, or excuse. They have common objects com-
mon sympathies, and common topics. Their spiritual tastes
DISAPPOIXTIXG OR REALISING THE HOPES OE PARENTS. 293
their highest and most momentous pursuits and pleasures,
are alike. How it rejoices them to be the witnesses of his
pietj and activity, and to hear the testimonies of others to
his respectability, importance, and usefulness. How many
congratulations they receive on the character and conduct of
this their son. They see old age coming on upon them, but
here is the bright star in the evening sky of their life. Here
is no disappointment, but on the other hand, the fulfilment
of their brightest hopes. Here is the rich reward of all
their parental labor and anxieties — the abundant answer of
all their prayers.
Tt may be that these parents are called, according to tho
order of nature, to descend first to the tomb. During a lon^^
decay, they are cheered and comforted, if their son \we at
home, with his presence, his prayers, and his conversation.
If he live away from home, they are refreshed by his letters,
and by his occasional visits. His conduct has planted no
thorns in their dying pillow, but has softened it till it is
rendered even downy. They feel that separation from such
a child is, indeed, to nature bitter and painful : but then hia
piety assures them they are not parting for ever. As he
comforts them by his holy suggestions and devout petitions,
they are ofttimes in a strait, like the apostle, desiring to
depart to be with Christ, and yet on the other hand,
desiring, for the sake of those they are leaving, to remain.
No painful but necessary warnings issue from their lips,
wringing their hearts with anguish, as they solemnly adjure
an ungodly son to forsake his ways. No bitter tears roll
down their cheeks as they grasp his hand and entreat him to
repent, and thus mitigate the sorrows of death, the only
sorrow they know. On the contrary, all are words of conso-
lation, expressions of gratitude, and efi'usions of joy, that
294 THE YOUNG man's frtexd.
they shall soon meet again. They are ready to repeat the
words of Simeon, " Lord, now lettest thou thy servant
depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, not
only upon myself, hut upon my children also." Happy,
happy parents, and happy son.
But if on the other hand, this son after his father's own
heart should, by an inversion of the order of nature, he
called first to descend to the grave, with what different feel-
ings do his pious parents hang over his couch of sickness
and watch the progress of decay and the advance of death,
from those of parents who have to wait around the death-
bed of an ungodly son. True they are disappointed by his
early removal from our world. To see such a blossom, yea
fruit, of parental hope cut off, and sent to the grave, is
indeed a trial — oh, to lose such a son ! One so dutiful, so
good, so holy, so promising, so useful, to be carried off from
them, from the church, from the world ; — how mysterious an
event — how great a calamity. Yes, but then his deep sub-
mission— his strong faith — his joy unspeakable and peace
that passeth understanding — his holy converse — his words
of consolation to them — how tranquillising all this ! No
agonizing fears about his spiritual state distress their minds.
All is safe for eternity. He dies — but they can trace him
to the realms of glory. To lose such a son is of course a
severe trial of their faith and patience : but the recollections
of his past character and conduct — the soothing influence
of his dyincr testimony — the assurance of his heavenly bliss
— the anticipations of their final meeting and everlasting
association, reconcile them to the stroke, and enable them to
feel that after all this^ disappointment is inconceivably lighter
than that of many who are afflicted by the conduct of a
living profligate. In one case the affliction brings its own
DISAPPOINTING OR REALISING THE HOPES OF PARENTS. 295
comfort with it — but in the other it is unmixed wormwood
and gall. To the language of condolence which they receive
from sympathising friends, they are ready to give the answer
which the Duke of Ormond did in similar circumstances, *' I
would rather have my dead son than half the living sons of
all Christendom."
There have been cases where the realisation of parental
hopes has come after a season of protracted, anxious, and
even agonising fear and disappointment. The exquisitely
beautiful parable of the prodigal son, in its close as well as
in its beginning, has in a few instances, and perhaps but a
few, received its accomplishment in the children of the godly.
There have been youths whose erratic career of folly and sin
has half-broken a father's and a mother's heart, but whose
ultimate recovery came just in time to save them from being
entirely crushed. I heard of one young man of this descrip-
tion who, though the son o-f religious parents, and therefore
the child of many prayers and much instruction, had wan-
dered far, and wide, and long, from the path of piety and
morality. Through his dark and winding course he was
followed by a father's prayers and a mother's tears. Every
means which holy and agonising ingenuity could suggest,
had been tried to reclaim him, but in vain. To parental
remonsti-ance while under his father's roof he was deaf, and
to all letters sent to him in his distant vagrancies he was
insensible. As a last means of restoring him, after a long
suspension of intercourse, his father, who could ncjfc forget
his truant and wicked son, nor alienate his heart altogether
from him, called together in the vestry of the chapel where,
if I mistake not, he labored as a minister, a few friends to
pray for his penitence and restoration. After several had
poured out their hearts in fervent supplication, the father gavo
13*
206 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
utterance to his own feelings, in a strain of most tender sup-
plication, which melted all present to tears. During thesa
exercises a poor wretched creature was seen wandering round
the window and listening at the door of the vestry ; and no
sooner had the prayer of the good man for his son ended, and
when the meeting was about to break up, than the listener,
who was indeed the subject of all these prayers, entered,
fell upon the neck of his father, and simply sobbed out, "0,
my father, forgive me." It is unnecessary I should describe
the scene that followed, you have it in the parable of the
prodigal son, — " Kejoice with me, for this my son was dead
and is alive again, he was lost and is found." He lived a
new life, and realised in the end, after long disappointing
them, the hopes of his parents. What an encouragement to
parents to continue instant in prayer. And what an encou-
ragement to prodigals to say, " I will arise and go unto my
father, and say. Father, I have sinned against heaven, and
in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son."
If any whose eye shall glance over these pages, shall be still
in the land of their wanderings, to them would I say,
" Return, return." It is not yet too late. You may still
realise the hopes of your parents. You may still repent,
reform, and lead a new life. The grace of God which
bringeth salvation may teach you to deny ungodliness and
worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in
this evil world. You may be respectable, happy, and useful
even yet. Abandon despair. There is no need of it even
in your case. If returning prodigals are few, be you one of
the few. Let me recommend, earnestly recommend you to
read the fifteenth chapter of the gospel by Luke, which is
one of the most beautiful and touching portions of the whole
Bible. It is full of instruction, of tenderness, of encourage-
DISAPPOINTING OR REALISING THE HOPES OF PARENTS. 297
nient ; and will, if you have not pressed out every spark of
feeling from your soul, melt your heart to compunction and
your eyes to tears. It describes your character, suits your
condition, represents your father's heart towards you, and
will perhaps by God's grace, recover you from your present
condition. Read it, read it till this blessed effect is produced.
Kead it with earnest prayer, that you may be indeed a
reclaimed, restored prodigal, and even yet bind up the heart
you have nearly broken, and not bring down a father's grey
hairs in sorrow to the grave. Or if your parents have gone
to the world where " the wicked cease from troubling and
the weary are at rest," and have perhaps been hurried to
their grave by your misconduct ; if they left our earth with
hearts broken by disappointed hopes, and breathed out their
last feelings for you, exclaiming, " O my son^ my son, must
we part for erg?-," if in this world there was no reward, by
your good conduct, of their prayers, their tears, their
example, and their labors — carry it to them, by your present
repentance and reformation, and by your thus following them
thither when you die. If nothing but disappointment was
felt by them here, let fruition be granted to them there.
Though they left you in your sinful wanderings when they
ascended to their glory, and feared they had lost you for
ever, let them by your forsaking your evil courses, find you
in Paradise. What a meeting will you then have in that
happy state ! How will it enhance even their heavenly
felicity, after having given up all hope of your salvation upon
earth, to have the assurance of your salvation by seeing you
in heaven. Richly will it reward them for all their sorrows
ajid anxiety, and infinitely more than compensate for all they
have endured on your account.
And now, young men, let me close this discourse by a few
298 THE YOUNG man's FRIEND.
more words of affectionate yet earnest expostulation and per-
suasion. It is cruel under any circumstances to frustrate
wilfully and wantonly, by any part of our conduct, the hopes
of our fellow-creatures ; and the cruelty is in exact propor-
tion to the strength^ the propriety, and the justness of the
expectations which are so defeated. If persons who have
no right to expect anything from us, make us, out of mere
choice, the subject of foolish and unwarranted anticipations,
we have no great need to concern ourselves about the matter,
and any disappointment we may occasion is rather a punish-
ment for their own folly than a reproach upon ourselves. But
where by a kind of necessity we become to others the objects
of their well-founded and rational expectations — where these
expectations are by every consideration authorized, and are
very large — where the alternative of disappointment or frui-
tion must be followed with great happiness or misery — and
where it is in our own power to occasion one or the other of
these alternatives, it is most cruel wantonly to sport with
those hopes which are thus suspended upon our conduct
A generous and sensitive mind does not like to occasion dis-
appointment even to a dumb animal. Think, then, of the
hopes of parents in reference to their children. I appeal to
your generosity on their behalf. Have they not a right to
entertain hope concerning you } Does not the very relation-
ship give them this right } Fancy your mother thus ad-
dressing you, — " I am a mother, and have all a mother's
affections, anxieties, hopes, and rights. Next to God and
my husband, in whom should I hope so justly as in my child,
whom I have borne in my womb — nursed at my breast —
fondled in my arms ? FOr whom I have given the sleep of
countless nights, and the labor of countless days. Whom I
have taught to walk, to speak, to think, to act Whom J
DISArPOINTING OR E£ALISING THE HOrES OF PARENTS. 299
have loved with a mother's love — watched around his couch
in sickness — wept when he wept, and smiled when he smiled
— heard his complaints, and soothed his sorrows — borne with
his waywardness, and gently reproved his faults. Whom as
an infant, a child, a youth, a man, I have anxiously cared for,
as I have watched with solicitude each successive develop-
ment. Whom I have prayed for, instructed, warned, en-
couraged. 0, my son, my son, had not thy mother a right
to hope that all this would be rewarded at some period when
it should be all understood ? I saw thy infant smiles as
thou turnedst thy eyes upon her that fed thee from her
bosom, and which seemed at that time silently to thank me
Tor thy sustenance. I heard thee call me thy ' dear mother,'
as thou madest thy first essays at articulate language. I
beheld thy opening talents and virtues, as they appeared to
be then, and interpreted them into signs of future excellence
- and had I not a right to hope for much at thy hands — and
wilt thou disappoint it all, and thus reward thy mother's
care .-' Shall hopes so early awakened — so fondly cherished
— so long sustained — so justly founded — that rose so high,
and anticipated so much, be all doomed, by thy misconduct,
to disappointment? 0, my son, my son."
And then your father too — think of him : that kind good
man, who when he first took you in his arms, felt the new
and strange emotions of that rapturous moment all kindle
into hope : as he looked upon your face and for the first time
cried, " My child." How did that hope grow with your
growth, and strengthen with your strength ; rising higher and
sinking deeper at every advanced stage of your life. His
hope of your future excellence was his prospective reward for
all the labor he sustained to support, to educate, and pro-
vide for you. Often as he wiped away the sweat of his brov-
300 THE YOUNG MAN-S FRIESD.
amidst the heat and burden of the day, and began to think
his labors almost too severe — his hope of thy future good
conduct checked the rising feeling of hardship, and com-
pelled him to say, " It is for my wife and children and it is
my hope that they by their affection and general good con-
duct will one day make me as thankful that I endure all
this for them, as their mother already does."
Young men, have you generosity, gratitude, nobleness of
soul ? If so, let me ask you, what do such ties, such bene-
fits, such feelings, and such conduct deserve at your hands ?
Can you be insensible to such an appeal ? One should
imagine it would be your study and delight to acknowledge
and discharge, in the most effectual and satisfactory manner*
obligations which you were contracting before you had the
ability to understand and appreciate them ; and which from
that time to the present have never ceased to accumulate.
Above all beings on earth your parents have the largest
claims upon your consideration, and though there are higher
motives to the cultivation of all moral excellence, than even
a regard to their happiness, yet this ought never to be left
out of view, and never will be by any generous, dutiful, and
affectionate son
THE YOUNG MAN IMPRESSED WITH THE IMPORT
ANCE OF THE AGE IN WHICH HE LIVES.
" And of the children of Issachar which were men that had under-
standing of the times, to know what Israel ought to do."
1 Chronicles xii. 32.
" Can ye not discern the signs of the times ?"
Matthkw xvi. 3.
In the first of these passages, the Israelites who were of
the tribe of Issachar, in the time of David, received a high
encomium for understanding the times, and their know-
ing what it became the inhabitants of the kingdom to do.
They were thoughtful, intelligent men, who studied and who
understood the signs of the times ; were well versed in public
affairs ; knew the character of the age that was passing over
them, and what was best to be done in all the exigences of
human life ; and perceived that it was the duty and the in-
terest of Israel to advance David to the throne.
In the second passage, our Lord reproves the Pharisees
for their not being able to discern the signs of their times.
The signs of the times are the character and aspect of the
passing age. Every age has its characteristic signs impressed
upon it by the hand of God. To discern these is to mark
and comprehend them. Such attention and discri^Jiination
302 THE YOUNG man's FRIEND.
are our duty, the neglect of which subjects us to the rebuke
of Christ.
Among many kinds of extremes to be avoided, there are
two which are suggested by the subject of the present dis-
course— I mean a predominance of individuality of feeling
on the one hand, and of catholicity on the other ; or put in
other words, of too selfish a regard to our own personal
affairs, or a too absorbing interest in the concerns of others.
There may be some persons, though they are not many,
whose whole world is self. They have surrounded them-
selves by a very narrow boundary, within which they endea-
vor to keep their attention closed in, and to occupy them-
selves strictly in their own business, with as little inquisi-
tiveness about, or connection or sympathy with, the great
world without as possible. Now this is wrong, for as they
are members of the community they owe it some duties
which they cannot rightly discharge without knowing its
condition. It is foolish, because their individual lot is in-
fluenced by the general one. It betrays a gross insensibility
not to. look up when Providence is passing by, and notice its
stately goings. It prevents their getting good, as well as doing
good, for God is ever teaching us lessons by public events.
It is very true, there may be the opposite extreme of being
so occupied by watching the progressive development of the
great drama of Providence, as to forget and neglect our own
individual concerns, and our immediate duties. We are
placed in a very busy world — full of men and ivorks — of
transactions and events — and of vast varieties of human cha-
racter and action. We witness all that is going on through
the medium of the press, ^nd conversation, and observation.
We are in the midst of the throng, and are moving on with it.
We think, talk, debate. Now it is of vast importance then,
t
IMPRESSED WITH THE IMPOItTANCE OF THE AGE. 303
to attend to two things : first, not to let out attention be too
much drawn off from our private to public matters ; and
secondly, to take care to let our notice of public events be
carried on wisely, so as to turn what we observe to profitable
account.
A total disregard to passing events, is condemned in per-
petuity by our Lord's reproof to the Jews contained in the
text. But there are times when it is still more to be con-
demned. Providence is always at work, and it may be that
we, after all, are poor judges of the comparative importance
of its operations, since preparations may be going on in its
secret recesses, of which the stupendous dispensations that
we witness are but the external manifestation. Still there
can be no doubt of the wonderful character of our acre, nor
any danger of our unduly magnifying its importance. It is
obvious that the world is becoming a far more active, agita-
ting, changing, tumultuous scene, than formerly. Discoveries
and inventions ; intelligence and events ; omens and alarms,
come upon us not singly, but in troops ; not in showers and
streams, but with the rapidity, the copiousness, and the
force, of an inundation. In such an age, to be swallowed
up in our own individual concerns, and to be either such
religious recluses, literary solitaires, mercantile devotees, or
domestic exclusives, as to have no sympathy with the actors
and operations of the age, is neither rational nor religious,
but contrary to both.
Let us then now First of all inquire into the cha-
racteristics OF THE AGE IN WHICH WE LIVE. AllUOSt
every age has something in common with other ages, and
something peculiar to itself. What then are those peculi-
arities of the present times which should be pointed out to
the inquiring and observant mind .? If we speak of the agr
304 THE i'OUA'G MAn's FRIEND.
as regards its iiitelleduac character, we cannot fail to notice -
an intense excitement and iuquisitireness. The human
mind was never so active, and explorative in all the regions
of thought as now. The discoveries of science are wonder-
ful, and as may be rationally expected, the inventions of art
are proportionate. These two must ever move together,
being reciprocally helpful to each other. What sui-prising
disclosures of the secrets of nature are going on under the
scrutinizing researches of experimental philosophy. Men
seem to feel as if there were no limits to rational inquiry,
and as if there was nothing knowable which they would not,
and could not know ; as if nothing would satisfy them till
they had reached the farthest boundary of knowledge. How
rapidly and how widely is the circle of universal knowledge
expanding. We are grown so familiar with the wonders of
the human intellect which have been of late years achieved,
that we now do not think anything too wonderful for man to
attempt or expect. Hence the magnificent, but somewhat
presumptuous title of his last publication by Humboldt,
" Cosmos," " THE WORLD ;" as if he had laid open all the
globe to our knowledge, and not only our planet, but the
great universe itself with all it comprehends.
If we regard the age in its social aspect, we see the same
proof of its extraordinary character. " The pervading,
connecting principle of community^ throughout mankind as
one immense body, has become much more alive. It is now
much more verified to be one body, however extended, by
the quicker, stronger sensations which pervade the rest of it,
from what affects any particular part." Intercourse is so
facilitated, quickened, and extended, that men begin to feel
less and less the interposing geographical and political
barriers which sepai-ated them from each other, and are ap-
IMPRESSED WITH THE IMrORTANCE OF THE AGE. S05
proximating to a universal neighborhood. Then, great
social principles are also in operation which are breaking
down national prejudices and antipathies. The evils of war
are being denounced in loud and emphatic term, and schemes
of universal brotherhood are put forth, which, if not likely
to be immediately successful, are the harbingers of the ap-
proaching reign of love, and the shadows which coming
events cast before them. The subject of slavery — the treat-
ment of criminals — the foundation of government — the
theory and practice of law — the physical condition of the
people — the Temperance Reform — national education — the
principles of international trade — the grand question of
civil and religious liberty, are all agitated and discussed with
an inquisitiveness and an eagerness which look as if society-
were absolutely aud resolutely bent on self-improvement,
and was going on towards a point immeasurably in advance
of anything it has yet reached. Nor should we forget the
extarordinary impetus that has been lately given to coloniza-
tion and emigration, by which new additions are being made
to the great family of nations, and new experiments insti-
tuted in the principles of human government.
The 'political character of the age, especially if we take
in the whole of the present century, is almost unparalleled
for the number, rapidity, extent, and magnitude of its revo-
lutions. In what a state has Europe existed during this
period. Almost every kingdom but our own has been the
seat of war, and most of them the scene of changes of
dynasty and government. We have seen monarchs driven
from their thrones — sceptres broken — and crowns rolling in
the dust. And though these great national earthquakes
have at present ceased, and there is a lull in the tempests
that have boen raging ; yet with four millions of men under
806 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
arms at this moment, and nations jealously watching each
other ; with France uneasy and restless within itself, and
containing the elements of mischief fermenting both in its
capital and in its provinces, who can say how soon the spaik
may fall which may cause another explosion — and depend
upon it the next convulsion, come when it may, will be more
tremendous than any that have preceded it. The liberti(>s of
Europe have yet to be established- by the subversion of many
of its old governments, who seem not disposed to gain wis-
dom by experience. The nations arc panting for freedom —
and the despots are resolved they shall not be free — and ere
long the slaves will break their fetters and the scepters of
their tyrants, in the same furious struggle and in the same
awful scene. Young men, you know not and cannot con-
ceive what you may be called to witness. Happily you live
in a country where whatever the many have yet to gain from
the few, it will be won by reason and not by force.
The moral aspect of this age is no less impressive than
either of the preceding. If asked to describe in one or two
words this aspect of the age, I should say first of all, it is
the age of conflict. The struggle always going on in
our world between truth and error — good and evil — has
assumed a character of earnestness, not to say fierceness, as
if both parties were preparing for a last and decisive battle.
The four great religious controversies are becoming more
and more determined. There is the conflict which is main-
tained by infidelity in all its forms, including atheism, pan-
theism, and theism — against Christianity. That which is
carried on between heresy and orthodoxy. That which in
sustained by the advocates and opponents of State-establish-
ments of religion. And that mighty struggle which is
becoming more determined every day between Popery and
IMPRESSED WITH THE IMPORTANCE OF THE AGE. 807
Protestantism. Never, no never was the war of opinions
so general and so arduous as it is now. To a contemplative
mind it is a somewhat awful exercise of thought, to look over
this vast field of conflict, where such forces are contending
for the moral destinies of the present and all future genera-
tions of mankind, and to watch the movements of the armies,
and their alternate victories and defeats.
Happily there is also another feature of the agt , which
though in one sense it bears the aspect of conflict also, is
sufficiently distinct from it to admit of separate considera-
tion— I mean the evangelising spirit, now manifested by
professing Christians of all denominations. This, though it
may be unpraised, and even to a considerable extent unnoticed,
by " the children of this world," wise as they are in their
generation, is the grandest and most hopeful sign of the
times. If then asked for a second word to characterise the
moral aspect of the times, I reply without a moment's hesi-
tation— BENEVOLENCE. Ygs, and that not a mere senti-
mental compassion — the benevolence that can weep before
the pictures of imagination, but can do nothing to relieve
the miseries of real life. Nor is it the benevolence that
only builds alms-houses, hospitals, dispensaries ; which would
combat with all the ills that flesh is heir to — disease, poverty,
and hunger — though we do not think lightly of this, nor
is the age wanting in it ; but the benevolence which
characterises this age, and in which we most delight, is that
which lighted upon our orb from heaven in the person of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who came to redeem man from sin — and
death — and hell. That which lived and moved and had its
being in apostles, when they went everywhere preaching the
gospel, '' to turn men from dumb idols to serve the living ana
the true God." That which in modern times is embodied in
808 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
the character of the devoted and self-sacrificing missionary,
who for the love of Christ and pity for immortal souls, quits
the comforts of civilized society to dwell among savages,
amidst the deserts of Africa or the ices of the polar regions.
That in short which aims at the salvation of souls — the rescue
of the human mind from the chains of ignorance, and the
emancipation of the heart from the bondage of its lusts.
This, this is the noblest characteristic of our age, a religious
zeal to diffuse the blessings of the gospel over the face of the
whole earth, more intense, more active, and more compre-
hensive than any which has existed since the apostle's days.
The missionary spirit, as manifested in the various organ-
izations which it has called into existence — the numerous
missions it has established — and the triumphs over barbarism,
idolatiy, vice, and cruelty, which it has achieved — stamp
upon this age its most beneficent, most important, and most
sublime character. Christianity is the world's best friend.
Apart from its being the means of eternal life in another
world, it is the best benefactor of man in all his relations to
the present world. " It maintains an incessant struggle
against all that is selfish, barbarous, and inimical to human
happiness, and comprehends in itself the seeds of endless
improvement ; and it is this which rising upon us like a finer
sun, has quickened moral vegetation, and replenished our
country with talents, virtues, and exploits, which in spite of
its physical disadvantages, have rendered it a paradise, the
delight and wonder of the world." How great then, and how
noble an enterprize is that which attempts to make the
religion of the world, and thus to supplant all those moral
monstrosities which degrade the intellect, pollute the heart,
deform the character, and fill the life with misery
Such then, young men, is the age in which you are Q-Ahd
IMPRESSED WITH THE IMPORTANCE OF THE AGE. 30«
to exist ; and such the signs, the omens, and the portents hy
which it is distinguished : and to which, as giving the consid-
eration its most intense force and importance, may be added
the reflection, that your lot is cast in a country that is placed
by Providence at the very centre of the intellectual, social,
and moral interests of the world. It is something more than
an effusion of national vanity, to affirm that England beyond
all countries on the globe, is at present the temple of religion
■ — the hall of science — the school of learning — the citadel of
liberty — the refuge of distress — the mart of commerce — the
seat of power — the glory of history. On her depend more
closely than on any other nation, the intellectual, social, and
moral destinies of the world. The nations of the earth and
all coming ages and generations have more to hope from her,
than from any other people under the sun. Her decadence
would be more their loss, as her continued glory and great-
ness would be more their gain, than the adversity or pros-
perity of any other people on the face of the globe. It is
not then allowed to you to look on from afar upon passing
events, without being permitted to guide or influence them.
You are in the midst of them, and can touch the springs of
activity which are in motion around you. You are not only
permitted, but invited ; and not only invited, but commanded
to bear a part in all that is going forward for the world's im-
provement ; and I therefore now,
Secondly^ consider the character of the men that
ARE wanted for THE AGE. This will lead me to state
what you should be. What .? Men of the age — and/<9r it.
Men worthy of it — that can avail themselves of its oppor-
tunities for getting good, and doing good — that catch its
spirit, and receive its impress — that can even do something
to improve it, as well as be improved by it — that arc wiser
310 THE YOUNG MANS FRIEND.
holier, more benevolent, more active, than their fathers — ■
til at like those of the tribe of Issachar, " uTiderstand th6
times, and know what Israel ought to doV
As the basis of everything else — of all the talents and the
virtues by which you can act most beneficially, I mention, of
course, -personal religion. Maintainfng, as I do, that real
religion is the chief element in the world's well-being, aa
well as in the happiness of each individual, I ought to men-
tion this as the first thing essentially necessary in him who
would benefit the aoje in which he lives. I do not yield to
any one in my views of the value and importance of the
sciences, literature, and the arts ; I am as strenuous an
advocate of liberty as can be found ; but then I contend that
these will never renew the human heart, nor restore it to
peace. It is religion more than these things, or than all
other things, that the nations want for their repose and feli-
city ; and he that would do most to bless his species, must
seek to spread the blessings of Christianity. When I speak
of religion being the world's best friend, I mean religion as
we have it pure in the Bible, and in the hearts and lives of
its true believers ; and not as it is presented in the corrupt
organic forms which it has assumed in the creeds, in the
churches, the constitutions, and the professions of some that
call themselves Christians — I mean the religion of repentance,
truth, holiness, and love : the subjugation of the heart and
life to the law of God : " the wisdom that is first pure, then
peaceable ; full of mercy and good fruits ; gentle, and easy to
be entreated ; without partiality, and without hypocrisy."
I see with pleasure the ever rising and advancing tide of
knowledge ; but I am quite sure it is not upon this, but upon
the stream of religion that men must float into the haven of
sound morals, and permanent peace. The best benefactor of
IMPRESSED TVITH THE IMPORTANCE OP THE AGE. 311
his race, is not he who teaches them something they did not
before know, though even he is entitled to their gratitude,
but he who delivers them from the dominion of their pas-
sions, and the slavery of their vices. Hence, no man can
serve his age so effectually as he who fears God, and under
the influence of such a principle seeks to benefit his fellow-
creatures by implanting in their hearts the principles that
sway his own. The worshippers of knowledge award that
palm to the philosopher, which is due to the Christian phi-
lanthropist, as the world's best friend. Hence, my young
friends, 1 tell you that you are not men for the age, if you
are not religious men. Neglect religion, and you may become
the world's bane and curse by your vices. Possess this, and
you not only promote its moral interests, which are its high-
est ones, but you give also the best guarantee, yea, and use
the best means too, of serving the age in every other way.
It becomes you to be observant — thoughtful — reflective :
for who in such an age as this can be in harmony with the
times without such a disposition .'' Rise above the folly of
those young men whose frivolous spirits, taken up with the
levities, trifles, and petty impertinencies of little minds, seem
incapable of serious reflection ; men who would wonder what
strange, mysterious power was operating upon them, if at
any time they found themselves in pensive mood, and in ever
so slight a manner, moralising on passing events ; men who
seem to think they are born to talk, and smoke, and laugh,
rather than to think. Despise such men. From these gay
and thoughtless triflers, society has nothing to expect. They
may have thoir brief day of sunshine and pleasure : they will
then die, vanish, and be forgotten, as though they had never
been. Belong, my young friends, to the class so character-
ifitically described as " thoughtful men ;" — men who know-
14
312 THE YOU-VJt MANS FRIEND.
ing they were made for thought and reflsction, fix their eyes
on the current of events, to see which way they are flowing ;
— who not only make them sel res acquainted with the surface
of things, but who look beneath, and endeavor philosophi-
cally to trace events backward to their causes, and forward
to their consequences ; — who not only exercise their curiosity
to know what is taking place, but their reason in judging of
tendencies and influencies ; — wh 'ead the histories of past
times, as well as the records of the present age, to form
opinions founded upon examination, comparison, and legiti-
mate deduction. Endeavor to discern the connexion of
events, and their influence upon the great interests of socia^
happiness, liberty, and religion. And v3Specially let the spec
ulative contemplation of human life and passing events ha
combined with the practical. Let observation constantly
turn into reflection, and reflection into action. Let your
thoughtfulness be something more than musing. Be not likf
one who watches the swelling tide in a dreamy mood, an(?
sees it rise and fall as a mere object of curiosity ; but be as
one who is waiting for it to reach a certain elevation, when
he shall throw in a net or embark in a boat. Stand amidst
passing events, asking the question " What does all thir
mean generally, and what does it require of me to do ?
What practical teaching is there in all this ? What must J
rise from this scene to perform ? For myself ? For society ?
For the Church of God ? What is it that Providence, by
what is DOW passing before me, calls me forth to attempt ?"
I do Bot by all this mean to impose upon you a premature
gravity, an unnatural solemnity and taciturnity. I do not
mean to depress the buoyancy, and check the sprightlincsi
of youth, to stiffen the manners into a repulsive formality^
and to transform the modest, humble youth, into " Sir
IMPRESSED WITH THE IMPORTANCE OF THE AGE. 313
Oracle. ' Nothing of the sort, but I still entreat young
men to be sober-minded.
Here asjain I brino; in mental cultivation and robustness
of intellect, as of great importance. Throughout the wholo
of these sermons I have insisted much on this, being well
assured that though religion is the fii'st thing, as an object
of human pursuit, it is not everything ; and that other things
being equal, he is likely to be the most useful and happy
man, who is the best educated one. I say to you most
emphatically, " Seek ye first the kingdom of Grod and his
righteousness," but I then add, Seek next a vrell-informed,
well- cultivated mind. In an age like the present, s» culti-
vated, so enlightened, no man can make way in the world,
so as to gain respect, influence others, and do good, who has
not some power of character, and some store of intellectual
wealth. Character does something I know, even where the
jewel is not set in the gold of brilliant knowledge : but how
much more when it is. He who is ambitious to be useful —
and it is a noble ambition wherever it exists, and which
ought to exist in all — must not neglect to improve his mind.
Who in such an age as this will hearken to the talk of igno-
ranee, or bow to the puerilities of weakness, or revere even
holy excellence if it be associated with imbecility } One of
the characteristics of the age is, as we have considered, an
active benevolence ; and another, a diffusion of knowledge.
Many have fallen in with the former, without being careful
to fall in with the other, and thus have failed in doing al]
the good they wished.
I now recommend the adoption of certain great principles,
which ought ever to be present with you when looking
abroad upon the course of events and the general history of
314 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
mankind ; and which every one who can discern the signs of
the times will assiduously cherish.
Recognise^ in the current of human affairs, the scheme and
operations of an all-wise^ all-controlling Providence. Behold
in all events the permissions or the appointments of God
Kenounce not only the atheist's creed, but his mode of think-
ing and speaking of passing events. The transactions and
affairs of the times, though brought to pass by a vast multi-
tude of free and accountable agents, fulfil God's counsel and
contribute to the perfecting of his plan. Be the signs of the
times, therefore, what they may, they are such as he has
stamped upon them, and are significant of something pertaining
to him and his purpose. Believe, which you o^tainly may and
ought, that Grod is in all history. In looking over the land-
scape of history, as well as that of nature, realise the thought
that all you are looking upon is the result of mind — of infi-
nitely wise and benevolent design. This gives additional
interest and grandeur to the scene. There is no beauty —
no interest — no pleasure — in the idea of chance. It is not
only an irreligious, an unphilosophical, but it is also an
unpoetical thing — a repulsive negation — a sterile, hideous
conception. On the contrary, how delightful is it to look
upon the revolutions of empire — the discoveries of science —
the inventions of art — the conflict of systems — the progress
of society — and realize in all these, the operations of an
ever-present, omniscient intellect: and thus to feel our-
selves in the great workshop or laboratory of the all-wise,
all-good, all-powerful Artificer — and surrounded with the
glorious, though as yet unfinished, productions of his con-
sum mate'skill.
Another great principle to take with us to the events of
the age, is the superior excellence ana importance of mvral
IMPRESSED WITH THE IMPORTANCE OF THE AGE. 315
truth over that which relates to the material world : in other
words, the superiority of religion and virtue to the well-being
of man, over science, literature, and the arts. All truth is
important ; but all truth is not equally important. Man's
moral nature is above his intellectual. His intellectual is
for the moral, rather than the moral for the intellectual ; and
as the intellectual is for the moral, so the moral is for the
eternal. We have glanced at this I believe, in a former
sermon ; we renew it here for its importance. It is, as we
have already said, as a moral agent that man is furthest
removed from the brutes that perish, and approximates
nearest to God. The lower animals have glimpses of reason
but they have no susceptibility of moral ideas. Piety and
virtue are loftier qualities of character in themselves, and
far more productive of happiness, than merely intellectual
acquisitions — they alone fit the soul for communion with
God now, and for his presence hereafter in heaven. The
extension of knowledge alone, even though every barbarian
in existence were made a philosopher, would fail, without
religion and morals to make men happy — but moral qualities
will make man happy in any state of society, in any condi-
tion of life. The Greenlander amidst the polar ices and
long nights of Arctic regions — the Red Indian amidst his
boundless prairies and interminable forests — the Hottentot
amidst the vast African deserts — or the Negro subjected to
the yoke of slavery, may by the external blessings of the
gospel, and the internal graces of a holy mind, be happy.
In the present age, one would imagine from much that is
said and done, that knowledge were the bread of life for the
soul hungering after bliss, which would satisfy every desire—
the panacea for diseased humanity which would heal every
wound — the crown of glory upon our nature — the chief feli-
31C
city of our present existence — and all we need for our happi-
ness in another world. It is however a profound mistake, a
lamentable and fatal error, and it is a mistake in which nearly
the whole world is involved. Education, apart from religion,
is, it seems, to do everything for man. Ideas, ideas, ideas,
are all that is needed to renew, reform, and bless the human
race. Let but the species be admitted to the tree of know-
ledge, and they will find nothing but good to be the result.
It is the darkness of the intellect only, that is the cause of
the depravity of the heart ; and only let in the light of science,
and it will set all right. Such is the deplorable error of the
moral quacks of the age, whose nostrum for the cure of all
diseases is knowledge. Deluded men ! They would rectify
society without religion, and govern it without God. Have
they forgotten all history, especially that of Greece and
Rome ^ Have they ever read what the apostles says, " For
after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom
KNEW not god, it pleased God by the foolishness of
'preaching to save them that believe. '''^ 1 Cor. i. 21. It is
something for his moral nature man needs for his happiness ;
and you may as well offer science to a man whose limbs are
dislocated or whose flesh is corroding by disease, to give him
health and enjoyment, as to an unholy soul, when you offer
it nothing else, to give it holiness, ease, and contentment.
While then you concede to knowledge all that is contended
for on its behalf, short of its being the supreme good, and
the supreme means of good ; and while you go on seeking it
for yourself, and diffusing it to others, ever remember that
religious and moral truth is infinitely more important than
science and the arts ; and give your most zealous interest to
those institutions which promote it. You see on every hana
restlessness and dissatisfaction. Amidst the advances of so-
IMPRESSED WITH THE ^utlPjUTANCE OF THE AGE. 3l7
ciety in all that can exaV and dignify man as an intellectual
being, — amidst the teeming wonders which his still noble in-
tellect is producing, — amidst the homage he is ever receiving
from his fellows and from himself, he is still as far from hap-
piness as ever, and still lifting up the anxious inquiry, '' Whe
will show me any good ?^^ The nations of the earth, not-
withstanding their marvellous advancement in physical know-
ledge and refinement, are still as ignorant of the nature, and
as short of the attainment of true bliss as ever. Yes, and
ever must be, as long as general truth is set above that which
is divinely r'evealed in the Word of Grod, and as long as the
seat of happiness is supposed to be the intellect rather than
the heart. Young men, be it your felicity to discover what it
is that man needs to make him happy, and then to join those
who are laboring to diffuse the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ, which by renovating the moral nature, roots out
all that can degrade and disturb ; and plants all those seeds
of piety and virtue, which can elevate, adorn, and bless.
As another principle, which will guide you in your views,
conduct, and relations in this important age, let it be your
conviction that all social changes are subservient to the
kingdom of Christ. In all difficult problems, and compli-
cated schemes, it is a vast advantage to be furnished with a
key to unlock the whole. Now this advantage we possess in
the knowledge furnished by the Bible, concerning not only
the tendency, but the actual design, and final result of all
events to promote the advancement of Christianity on the
earth. To those whom I am addressing, it is not at all ne-
cessary to prove that the universal diffusion of the Christian
religion in its purity, would be a great blessing to the human
race. What curses ar.e Paganism, Mohammedanism and
Popery ! What a withering blight has come from these
318
sourees over the moral interests of the globe ! What a juhxlee
for the world would be the universal reign of our Lord Jesus
Christ ! How many evils would flee before him ; war, sla-
very, tyranny, anarchy, and vice, in all its branches ! How
many blessings would follow in his train, — peace, liberty,
good government, just laws, universal brotherhood ! Now
the diffusion of Christianity is a great thing, the greatest that
can happen in and to our world. Nothing can for a moment
be put in comparison with it : nothing can be conceived more
worthy of the Divine Being, as the supreme end of his
government. Hence it is very delightful to know that all
which is taking place is subservient to this end. How grand
is the position of a true Christian — a believer in revelation —
he stands upon the mount of prophecy, and sees all the
various operations of science, literature, art, history, com-
merce, navigation, all widening the channel and deepening the
bed of the " Eiver of Life," which is flowing from the throne
of God and the Lamb, for the salvation of the world. He
sees statesmen, warriors, travellers, philosophers, merchants,
mechanicians, engineers, while pursuing their own separate
objects, and never dreaming of promoting Christianity, actu-
ally carrying on this great work. Is it not an immense
advantage in looking abroad upon the millions of events of
all kinds that are ever occurring ; events which seem to have
no connection with each other, nor with any one common
end and design, to be furnished with the knowledge of a
centre at -woich all these lines meet and convergre. We
are told tnat Christ is head over all things to his
CHURCH. There is the secret — the grand, glorious, and
blissful secret. In looking upon the progress of science
and the arts, the question is often almost involuntarily askedj
" Where will it all end .? What will it all come to .?" The
IMPRESSED WITH THE IMPORTANCE OF THE AGE. 319
Hible answers the question : — Tht setting up in our world
of Ckrisfs kingdom of truth^ holiness^ and happiness.
Take this conviction with you through life. Look abroad,
upon this wonderful age, with the knowledge of this still
more wonderful and glorious fact ; and while the unreflecting,
the irreligious, the sceptical, or even the atheistic philosopher
is revelling in the discoveries of science, but stopping there,
do you go on to that nobler cause — to which he himself
though he knoweth it not, nor doth his heart think so, is bu'
an unconscious instrument, and all the sciences are but hana-
maids — the universal diffusion of religion.
A last principle I would request you to take up and apply
to the age, is this — Social reform must be brought about by
individual regeneration. This principle is as weighty as it
is true. We hear a great deal in various directions, about
the improvement of society, and a noble idea it is, whether
politically or morally viewed. Social evils are so numerous,
so deeply seated, and so pernicious, that it is desirable and
important they should be removed by extensive reformation.
But it is forgotten even by those who declaim most loudly
against them, and call most earnestly for a bet! r direction
to be given to the masses, that the best way, the only way,
to improve the whole is by seeking the improvement of each
part. Individual regeneration is the only way to general
reformation. It is all well enough to talk about the latter,
and to join in associate efforts to promote it ; but it will end
in talk, as long as there is no concern for each man to im-
prove himself. Public and conglomerate evils must, I know,
be publicly and jointly attacked ; but the assailants must
begin with themselves, and come to the assault with clean
hands and pure hearts. It is of vast importance to set out
in life with this view of things. He is the best reformer wh«
14*
320 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
begins with the reformation of himself ; and' no systems will
be effectual for public amelioration which leave out of con-
sideration the necessity of individual excellence. A deep
sense of personal responsibility should lie on every man's
conscience. Every man is a part of the existing generation,
and does something by his own character and conduct to
form the character of the age. Each ought therefore to
ask, What would I have the age to be ? That let me en-
deavor to be.
No man can rightly appreciate his age who does not
cherish Public Spirit. This, at all times incumbent, is
especially so in the present day. By this I do not mean a
noisy, obtrusive, and restless desire to obtain notoriety by a
seeming zeal to rectify public evils, and promote the public
good — a disposition to meddle with those who are given to
change — a would-be reformer of abuses, but a determination
founded upon conscientious conviction, associated with deep
humility, and modestly expressed, to do all the good you can
and to leave the world the better for your having lived in it.
No man " liveth to himself is the dictate of reason, as
well as the command of revelations. As a member of society,
and not like Alexander Selkirk, the solitary inhabitant of a
desolate island, each man is a debtor to the community from
which he receives benefits, and to which he owes correspond-
ing obligations. Every man can do something to benefit
other men, and what he can do he ought to do. If this is
his duty at all times, it is especially so in these. Benevolenct?,
as we have already considered, is one of the noblest and
most identifying moral features of the age. Never was so
much doing for the well-being of mankind. It is a glo-
rious thing, and makes one grateful for the present, and
hopeful for the future. Men are every where stepping
IMPRESSED WITU THE IMPORTANCE OF THE AGE. 321
«fut of the circle of selfishness into the broadest circum-
ference of the general good. It is an age of action — of
action in the cause of God and human happiness. Public
spirit is become with multitudes a principle, and with multi-
tudes more a fashion. Selfishness acquires at such a time
peculiar enormity, whether it be the selfishness of avarice,
which will give no money for the public good — of indolence,
which will give no labor — or of literary or scientific taste,
which will give no time. Under the influence of public
spirit the world is improving — ignorance, vice, and misery
are yielding to its influence — and knowledge, truth, holiness,
and happiness are bringing on the millenium. The religious
institutions of this age are its own glory and the hope of
every other yet to come. They are preparing the earth for
its emancipation from the thraldom and misery under which
it has been groaning for nearly six thousand years, and for
the glorious liberty of truth, holiness, and happiness. At
such a time will you be torpid at the centre of universal
activity } Will you now refuse to sympathise with philan-
thropist?, reformers, and evangelists } Never, no never,
were the youth of any preceding generation called to such
a work, so great, so noble, and so benevolent, as is presented
to the young men of this generation. Never had our youth
such an opportunity of signalising themselves by active
benevolence, or disgracing themselves by selfishness and in-
dolence, as those of the present day.
" Begin early then to cherish a public spirit, because if
you do not possess this disposition in the morning of life,
you probably never will. This is a virtue that rarely springs
up late in life. If it grow and flourish at all, it must be
planted in youth and be nourished by the warm sunshine
and rain of the spring season of existence. He who cares
822 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
only for himself in youth will be a very niggard in manhood,
and a wretched miser in old age."*
A young man rightly impressed with the circumstances
of the age will guard assiduously against its evils, for every
age has its appropriate dangers, and the present one forms
no exception to the general rule. I can only briefly enu-
merate these.
He will check and restrain an excessive love of pleasure,
which in many cases leads to dissipation — in others unfits
for business — and in far more altogether indisposes the
mind for sober thought, mental culture, and true religion.
This is one of the prominent tendencies of the day in which
we live, and threatens infinite damage to the present and
eternal welfare of mankind, by bringing on an age of frivol-
ity, sensuality, and practical atheism. Find your pleasure,
young men in the improvement of your mind — in attention
to business — in true piety — and in active benevolence. Is
there not scope enough for enjoyment here .'' " Wisdom's
ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace."
Excessive worldliness is another of the dano-ers of this acre.
In a country, compared with which Phojnicia, Tyre, Carthage,
and Corinth, viewed as commercial nations, were mere ped-
lars,— and in an age, compared with which every other that
preceded it, even in this land, was a time of stagnancy —
there is most eminent peril of sinking into the mere world-
ling, and living only to get wealth. Never was competition
so fierce, and never the danger so great of having the con-
science benumbed — moral principle prostrated — the heart
rendered callous, and even the intellect rifled of its strength,
or sharpened only into cunning and duplicity by the love of
money, as in the age in which we live. Wealth is the god of
* Dr. Hawes' Lectures to Young Men.
IMPRESSED WITH THE IMPORTANCE OF THE AGE. 323
Britain's idolatry just now ; and you without watchfulnesss
and prayer, are in danger of bowing devoutly at its shrine,
becoming its worshippers, and immolating your souls as a
burnt offering on its altars.
Pride of intellect^ leading to scepticism and infidelity
forms a most fearful peril in this age. "We have already
spoken of the conflict which is now going on between the
various forms of unbelief and Christianity. The struggle is
eagerly maintained by both parties, and though to the sin-
cere believer in Christianity there is no doubt how it will
terminate, yet in the mean while there is great reason to
fear, from the boldness and subtlety of the attacks of infi-
delity, that some, and even not a few victories will be gained
by the opponents of Christianity, The natural bias of youth
is almost always to infidelity. And such is the case, not
merely because, as Bacon says, " a little philosophy inclines
us to atheism, and a great deal of philosophy carries us back
to religion ;" but youth has an intellectual bias against reli-
gion, because it would humble the arrogance of the under-
standing ; and a moral bias against it, because it would check
the indulgence of the passions ; and it is these two causes that
will account for the prevalence of infidelity among so many
young men of the present day. In an age when the mind
of man is pouring out its prodigies in such profusion, there
is imminent peril of believing it almost omnipotent, omni-
scient, and all-sufficient, and of man's accounting himself his
own Grod, and feeling as if he needed no other. The ten-
dency is to that Pantheism which instead of saying nothing
is God. says everything is God. Man-worship is the idolatry
of the day, as well as monev-worship. And yet notwith-
standing the prodigies of intellect which man can and does
accomplish how little way does all this go to make him
324 THE YOUNG man's FRIEND.
either holy or happy. The profoundest philosopher and the
noblest son of science as much need a revelation from God
to guide them in matters of religion and morals, as the
peasant or the child.
Superstition, leading to formalism in religion, instead of
the religion of the intellect, the heart, the conscience, and
the life, is with some, though not so much with you, a danger
of the age. Yet though it is chiefly among that portion of
our race most under the influence of passion and imagina-
tion, that superstition gains its victories, it is evident from
many facts that even the more masculine minds of your sex
are not quite proof against the seductions of Popery and its
cognate systems. And when we see over what mighty intel-
lects this dreadful system has cast its shade or thrown its
spell, and what gifted minds it has induced to drink of the
Circean cup of its enchantments, we must not speak too
strongly on the probability that none but the feeble or the
imaginative will yield to its sorceries.
Young men, study then, seriously consider, and be duly
impressed with, the dangers that characterise the age in which
you live, dangers by which you are surrounded. I speak
not now of the ordinary perils which apply to every age
alike — the dangers arising from the ardor of passion — the
puriency of imagination — the influence of example — the love
of companionship — the temptations to sensuality, to intem-
perance, to dishonesty, to extravagance, which beset the
young man's path at all times : these have been already con-
sidered in previous discourses. But I now speak of those
which appertain to the age in which it is your lot to live.
Do not be ignorant, insensible, or indifi'erent, in such a situ-
ation ; nor treat the subject with carelessness or levity
Ponder, devoutly ponder, tlie subject. As your protection
IMPRESSED WITH THE IMPORTANCE OF THE AGE. 325
f^ n these perils — possess yourselves of personal religion.
Tl ^, and this only, is your adequate defence. Here is your
shiiyM and buckler. Watch and pray that you enter not into
temptation. Put your trust in God. With his fear before
your eyes and his love reigning in your hearts, you are safe,
and will escape unscathed from all these perils to which you
are constantly exposed.
Reflect then upon your condition. Here you are ia
being, existing not by your own choice but by the appoint-
ment of Providence, in one of the most eventful eras that
ever elapsed in the history of the world or the flight of time.
For you, all preceding nations, and ages, and generations,
with all their mightiest men, and all their greatest disco-
veries, events, inventions, and exploits, have existed. What-
ever valor has won — science explored — art contrived —
labor achieved — suff"ering produced — has come down to you.
For you, heroea have bled in the field — martyrs sufi'ered on
the scaffold or at the stake — philosophers studied in the
closet — monarchs rei^-ned on the throne — statesmen lesjis-
lated in the senata — and travellers crossed the desert and
the ocean. All the light and experience of nearly six thou-
sand years concentrates in your history. You receive the
full benefit of the art of printing — the revival of letters —
the Reformation of the sixteenth century, and the Revolu-
tion of the i^eventoenth. For you, the resurrection of
America from the tomb of the Atlantic — the establishment of
the British Empire in Asia and in Africa — have been effected.
For you, civil and religious liberty has been matured in its
most unrestricted form. For you, Bible Societies — Mission-
ary Societies — Tract Scrcieties — and all the otner institutions
of Christian benevolence, have been established and made
ready to your hands All nations — all ages — all generations
326 THE YOUNG MAn's FR[END.
have labored, and you have entered into their labors. You
stand surrounded will these spoils of time — the wealth of
nations, the achievements of humanity — and the ^ifts of
Providence. And I now ask, " What manner of men
OUGHT YOU TO BE ?"
So much for the past and the present, and then the
future. What a future ! What a seal is breaking for the
next century ! All men are fixing an eye of inquisitive
curiosity and anxious expectation upon the unfolding of the
scroll which contains the history of the next century. What
may we not expect from and for humanity within that
period ! What may not be hoped for from science, the arts,
learning, and religion ? All, all under God depends upon
you and your class. Into your hands, as the next generation
that is to be, must come the destinies of futurity. You, and
others of your age, must cause the wheels of the world's des-
tiny to roll backward or forward. You, you, are to deter-
mine the character of the next age, for you are to form it.
Look over the world's intellectual and moral condition,
its civilization and evangelization — look over the civil and
religious interests of your country, its government, its laws,
its liberties, its institutions, — look over the state and extent
of the Church of Christ, the world's illuminator and regene-
rator, and recollect that all these destinies are soon to be in
your hands. You cannot escape from this trust and the
responsibility which it involves. Providence has fixed it
upon you, and you cannot throw it ofi". For the manner in
which you sustain these interests you are held accountable
not only to futurity, but at the bar of God. " You must
exist ; you must exist in the midst of society, burdened with
the weighty responsibility that grows out of the relations you
sustain to the living beings around you, and to the generations
IMPRtlSSED WITH THE IMPC\ITANCE OF THE AGE. 327
that are coming after you ; and you must take the eternal
consequences of living and acting in these deeply interesting
circumstances."
Young men, is there nothing here that deserves and
demands reflection ? Perhaps you have never thought of
this as you should. You have never seriously considered
the obligations imposed by the peculiar features of the
age. You have never revolved the fact that the value,
importance, and accountability, of human life are to be
measured not by a fixed, but a variable scale, and that
they rise and fall according to circumstances. In innumer-
able cases, one man now can do in the common arts and
manufactures, what ten or twenty men could not do a
century ago ; and this is as true in regard to the operations
of benevolence, as it is to those of trade — and thus the value
of existence, and the importance of individual existence, are
far greater than they once were. A man is a man at all
times, but he is more of a man as regards power and achieve-
ment at one time than another. In such a day as this, then,
not only as related to the past but to the future, I again ask,
and with all possible emphasis. What manner of men ought
you to he ! I want you to be worthy of what the past has
done for you — of what the present confers upon you — and of
what the future will demand from you. I am solicitous that
you should not prove ungrateful to the one, or unfaithful to
the other. I tremble lest the current of improvement which
has flowed so strongly to you, should flow languidly from
you. I press again and again that question. What manner
of men ought you to he ? Yes — and I add to this question
the apostle's words — " in all manner of holy conversation
and godliness V For this, and only this, can prepare and fit
you to become blessings, in the highest sense of the term, to
328 THE YOUNG man's FRIEND.
the age in which you live or to those which follow. It is this
you need for yourselves above all arts and sciences. Religion
has done more to exalt human nature — and does exalt it more
wherever it is possesse-d — than all other subjects combined.
It is the noblest element of mental and moral growth, both
in heaven and earth. Indeed no man can he truly great,
unless his mind is enlarged and his heart purified by its
sacred power. This was the grace and glory of our first father
when he came glowing in moral beauty from the hand of his
Creator. It gave elevation and grandeur of soul to prophets
and apostles; sacred heroism to martyrs ; and in modern days
it placed high in the scale of being such men as Newton, and
Milton, and Boyle, and Locke, and Pascal. And while it is
your own highest dignity, and richest happiness, it will prove
your mightiest instrument of power, for the well-being of
others. That which makes you Christians, is that which
would make you philanthropists. Do you wish to benefit
and bless the world in the most extensive and most lasting
manner, aim at its subjugation to the power of religion.
The world is to be converted to Christ, the beauties of holi-
ness are to cover every region, and the song of salvation is
to float on every breeze. It is not science that is to hush the
deepest groans of creation, nor the arts that are to wipe
away the bitterest tears of humanity : this is reserved for
religion. Many a humble follower of the Lamb that shall pace
the walks of the Crystal Palace, and survey with but partial
knowledge of its teeming wonders and indescribable beauties,
shall do more to bless his species in the way of direct
moral and religious benefit than many of the mighty artificers
whose productions attract the eyes and excite the admiration
of gazing millions. One human soul comprehends a value
compared with which the unrivalled glories of that wonderful
IMPRESSED WITH THE IMPORTANCE OF THE AGE. 329
collection are but a thing of nought : the loss of one such
soul would be an infinitely greater calamity than the de-
struction of that whole building and all its contents by fire :
while its salvation would be to him who obtains it a greater
treasure than his possession of all that wealth of nations —
and to him who achieves it a greater honor in the world of
spirits than to have contrived the palace and to have crowded
it with its matchless and innumerable wonders. What a
motive to seek our own salvation first of all, and then to
comply with our high and noble calling to seek the salvation
of our fellow-men. Rise, my young friends, to your high,
your holy, and your beneficent calling — live for the present
age, and send forward an influence through all future ages.
Live for glory ^ honor ^ and immortality^ and let nothing
satisfy you either foi yourulf or others — but whM is
ETERNAL.
THE YOUNG MAN DYING EARLY, OR LIVING TO
REVIEW LIFE IN OLD AGE.
*' One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease, and quiet."
Job xxi. 22.
" Now when he came nigh unto the gate of the city, behold, there
was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was
a widow." — LvKE vii. 12.
" We spend our years as a tale that is told. The days of our years
are threescore years and ten : and if by reason of strength they be four-
score years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow : for it is soon cut
off, and we fly away." — Psalm xc. 10.
You remember, perhaps, the incident that is recorded of
Xerxes, the Persian monarch — that when reviewing the
mighty host, numbering more than two millions of men,
with which he was then invading Greece, he burst into tears,
upon the reflection that within far less than a century not
an individual of all those teeming multitudes would be alive.
Pity he had not thought how many myriads of them his mad
ambition was hurrying to the grave by the devastations of
war. With like pensive, but more practical feelings, let us
look over the population of our globe, and consider that
DYING EARLY, OR LIVING TO REVIEW LIFE. 331
according to the average term of human life, nearly a thou-
sand millions of immortal beings pass from our world to
their eternal doom every thirty years. What a conqueror
is death ! What an evil is sin that is the cause of this mor-
tality ! What a world is that beyond the grave, where all
these countless millions re-assemble ! And what a being is
God, who is the Author of their separate existence, pursues
each one through his whole individual history, and will not
suffer one to be left forgotten in the grave, nor overlooked in
*.he judgment, nor left without his just and appropriate doom
'n the retributions of eternity ! Are you in want of subjects
for reflection and useful moralising, what themes are these !
Man is born to die : death is ever doing its work : and the
Mde of mortality is ever setting in upon the shore of eternity,
'■^earing with it all that belong to the human species. In
booking at the race of Adam only in this aspect of it — in
'jeeing one generation follow another to the grave in end-
less succession, like the various vegetable and animal
bribes, — we are ready to ask the question of the Psalmist,
'' Wherefore hast thou made all m.en in vain ?" And truly
'sf there were no other state of existence than this, there
would be reason in the inquiry, for apart from immortality,
■ife is a dream, and man a shadow. Comparing the noble-
ness of his faculties, with the shortness and uncertainty of
ais life, and the vanity of his pursuits, he would, if this world
9nly were the sphere of existence, seem to be a reflectioQ
upon the wisdom of his Creator, who had invested him with
the powers of an angel, and the yearnings after immortality,
merely to mind earthly things. But with the eternal world
thrown open to our view, and its state of rewards and punish-
ments disclosed to our faith, how momentous are that term
and condition of existence which are granted us as a discipline
332 THE rouNG man's friend.
and probation for immortality. With far other feelings
than those of contempt or complaint, we now echo the
inquiry, " What is your lifeV Death is an agent that
works by no rule or order with which we are acquainted ;
sometimes passing by the aged to take the young : leaving
the sickly to seize upon the healthy : removing the useful
and sparing the worthless.
This brings me to the subject of our evening's discourse,
The Young Man dying early, or living to review life
in old age.
I. Let us consider the first alternative. Yes : the young
man may die early. The fact recorded in the text is often
repeated. It is in the order of nature for the aged to die,
and for the young to live : but this order is not always
observed. More deviations from it take place in the human
race than in any other tribe of creatures. How few of the
young of the inferior animal die, compared with those of
the human race. Life seems to be precarious in proportion
to its value. What multitudes of young people die annually
in this country of consumption, that bane of English youth.
It is to me somewhat mournful to recollect how many beau-
tiful flowers I have seen thus cut down in spring. I have
followed to the grave during my ministry, young persons in
suflficient numbers, had they all still lived, to form a congre-
gation of no inconsiderable size. What has been, still is,
and ever will be — I mean, the mortality of youth.
There is always something affecting in the death of a
young man. In some cases it realizes the scene described
by the evangelist in the text, " Now when he came nigh to
the gate of the city, behold there was a dead man carried
out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow."
Her only comfort is removed, and the last light of her
DYING EARLY, OR LIVING TO REVIEW LIFE. 333
tabernacle is put out — her solitary tie to life is cut, and
she feels left alone upon a bleak and desolate shore. In
other cases it is the son of wealthy parents whose brightest
prospects hung suspended upon that one precious life, the
termination of which causes their, to repeat in sorrow, not
perhaps unmixed with complaint, the words of Job, " He
destrojeth the hope of man." In other instances it is the
death of a youth of great promise ; he had finished his edu-
cation, served his apprenticeship, and with talents that excited
the liveliest hopes of success, and with virtues that had
already ensured admiration, was just about to step upon the
stage of active life. He had formed, perhaps, a connection
of chaste and tender love with one that was worthy of him,
and with whom he expected soon to share the cup of connu-
bial happiness •, and then, when all was smiling around him,
and he was returning so joyously its smiles, he is smitten
down by death. Oh, to see that noble flower, when nearly
full-blown, droop its head upon its stalk, wither, and die.
How many tears are shed, how many hopes are disappointed,
how many sorrowful voices exclaim, " What would he not
have been had he lived .^" When the aged man, who has
lived out his term, expires, we are not surprised ; we expected
it, and were prepared for it. But for the young to die, for
whom no fears nor dread anticipations were cherished ! It
comes upon us not only with grief, but with astonishment.
Now I will put a double supposition : —
First. That of the young man who dies a true Chris-
tian. He has remembered his Creator in the days of his
youth, repented of sin, believed in Christ, lived in the fear
of Grod. He has not forgotten nor neglected religion. This
was his mode of life, when death came upon him. The king
of terrors pays no more respect to piety than to talent.
334 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
Many a briojht blossom of the church as well as of the world
is nipped off by his relentless hand. The Christian youth
has been often removed, as well as the irreligious one. In
such a case, when he found he must die, he felt serious,
solemn, and at first somewhat sorrowful, on looking round
on all he was parting from — on seeing the mists of the dark
valley rising over the landscape which he had been accus-
tomed to survey with so much delight ; and witnessing all
his prospects suddenly fading before his eyes. But when
his faith came to his relief, bringing with it the " everlasting
consolation" of the gospel, and "a good hope through
grace, a hope full of immortality," he recovered his tranquil-
lity, and in the prospect of that glory, honor, and eternal
life, to which he believed he was going, he could then
serenely look
" Oil all he's leaving, now no longer his."
We are ready to say, what hopes are buried in his tomb —
his own, his parents', his friends', and his country's expecta-
tions. He was permitted to see and even to touch many
things that were attractive and alluring, but to grasp nothing.
He was conducted to an eminence whence he could survey a
beautiful prospect as his seemingly destined possession, and
then closed his eyes in death. He had but a fragment of
existence, and what made it all the more mournful is that the
fragment indicated how precious the whole would have been,
had it been spared. Did he not live in vain ?
No, he did noi live in vain. He answered the highest
end of existence, as certainly as if he had lived out the three-
score years and ten, or four score years of man's existence —
as if he had entered upon business and succeeded in obtaining
wealth — as if he had married and had raised a numerous and
DYING EARLY, OR LIVING TO REVIEW LIFE. 335
respectable family — as if he had obtained rank, station, and
influence in society, or renown. For what w the highest end
of human life ? The salvation of the immortal soul, — a pre-
paration and a portion for eternity, a meetness for heaven.
As in a former discourse T have shown, man's chief end is to
glorify God and enjoy him for ever. Now, the truly pious
person has accom'plished this end — has secured this object
as completely, though he die at the age of twenty, as if he
had lived to that of seventy. He says on his death-bed,
" True, there are some things I could have wished to live
for, and I feel that in not being permitted to remain and
accomplish them, I am giving up some of the secondary and
inferior ends of exist«nce — but I have fulfilled the one great
end of life. I have obtained the one thing needful, even the
salvation of my soul. I have accomplished the loftiest and
most benevolent purpose of God in sending me upon earth.
I have not lived in vain. He who is made for immortality,
and has everlasting ages of pure delight before him, need
not regret the loss of a few years of pleasure mixed with
pain. I am upon the threshold of eternity, and have at-
tended to that which will prepare me for an eternity of bliss.
I am disappointed in the hope of some little things, but I
am not disappointed in the pursuit of far greater ones, and
in the sublime fruition of the latter I shall soon forget the
momentary pains of the former. I am parting from friends
dear as life, but I am going to others still dearer. I am
turning away from bright prospects, but infinitely brighter
ones are opening upon my view. I am going away early
from earth, but am going as early to heaven ; and my dura-
tion in the former is shortened only that my duration in the
latter might be extended. The connections whom I am
leaving pity me for my early death ; the angels in Paradise
15
336 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
congratulating me on so soon quitting a vale of tears, and so
early retiring from all the trials, temptations, and dangers,
of this scene of conflict. I am now within sight of glory,
and am all but absolutely certain of being safely brought to
it. Who can tell but I am taken home to escape perils
which might have been too great for my strength. I there-
fore die without murmuring, and depart with cheerful sub-
mission, though I die in youth, since it is to be with Christ
which is far better."
Happy youth ! Yes, happy, to have thy warfare thus
early and successfully accomplished — to win the victory at
the very commencement of the battle ! So soon to gain and
wear the crown.*
* I will give an illustration of this by a scene, part of wmch I
witnessed myself. A few Sabbaths since, after the morning service, I
was requested to visit a gentlenaan then alarmingly ill, at one of our
inns, on his way to Scotland. It is not my custom, for want of strength,
to visit the sick on Sabbath-days, but this case was urgent, and I went
to the hotel. I w^as introduced to the sick-chamber of a remarkably
fine young man, of considerable worldly respectability, who was at-
tended by two anxious sisters and a brother. They were bearing him
home with many apprehensions that he would die on the road. My
visit was one of solemn and mournful delight, for I found him a real
Christian, expecting death hourly, but expecting it in the most serene
and hopeful frame of mind, as his kind deliverer from the burden of
the flesh. Since then I received from one of his sorrowing sisters the
following account of his peaceful dismissal :
" * * # He suflfered greatly the last three weeks, but was en-
abled to bear all with much patience, feeling it came from the hand ot
a loving Father. His growth in grace was very rapid ; he seemed to
enjoy largely the teaching of the Holy Spirit. The Lord was most
gracious in the support and comfort he vouchsafed to him. He often
seemed lost in adoring wonder, contemplating the amazing love of God
in Christ Jesu.s. Although he had much to make life to be enjoyed,
he left earth without regret; indeed.he said he would not like to re-
DriXG EARLY, OR LIVING TO REVIRW LIFE. 337
Secondly. But I must now turn to a class of young per-
sons the reverse of all this : I mean those who die in youth,
but die without religion. Alas, alas, what an idea ! How
sad, how mournful, how awful is this ! To die without reli-
gion ! To go out of the world without comfort in death and
without hope beyond it ! And usually they who live with-
out religion, die without it. Death-bed repentances are in
most cases little to be thought of, and less to be depended
upon. True repentance is never too late, but late repent-
ance is rarely true. Religion is not like the act of a man
who in a shipwreck is cast into the sea, and there in the
greatest alarm, as a matter of necessity, lays hold of and
grasps a plank as a means of saving himself from being
drowned. But on the contrary, it resembles the conduct of
one, who deliberately and by choice steps on board a vessel
or a boat, to convey him on some painful or pleasurable
voyage. And, therefore, they who live without religion, I
repeat, generally die without it.
Everything renders the dearth of a young man who dies
without religion peculiarly melancholy. He has no comfort
in death ; on the contrary, he has most melancholy reflec-
tions. Comfort in death can come only from religion. The
pretiifying process of a stoical philosophy, or of a hardening
infidelity, may, and sometimes does, so turn a man's heart
into stone that he may acquire a stupid insensibility even in
d ath ; but actual comfort can come only from religion.
turn again to the world, except from one desire, that he might be
honored in doing something for the Saviour. When in much suffering,
some hours before his death, it was said to him, '• Soon will this be
ended, and then, happy, happy spirit ;" he faintiy replied, "Happy even
now." Amongst his last words were, " Peace, peace." *
Are you preparod. if called to die in youth, To die thus happy?
338 THE YOUNG MAm's FRIEND.
It is the hope of immortality alone which can be as a lamp
in the dark valley of the shadow of death, and the man with-
out this passes through the gloomy region either in pertur-
bation and mental agony, or in sullen indiJerence.
In this case, there are also the vexation, disappointment,
and distress, at giving up life so early. A feeling of mortifi-
cation springs up in his heart, akin to that, though infinitely
more dreadful, of a person who is reluctantly called away at
the commencement, from the midst of a most pleasurable
scene, which he intensely wishes to see completed, while
numbers are left behind still to enjoy it long after his depar-
ture. For awhile he resists and resents the thought of
dying. He clings to life with a tenacity which looks as if
he could not, would not, dare not, die. He sends for his
companions, who endeavor to cheer him, and persuade him
he shall yet do well, and he talks with them of plans of
future enjoyment, when he shall recover. Disease, however,
progresses, and extinguishes these hopes ; and at last comes,
first the dreadful fear, and then the still more dreadful cer-
tainty, that he cannot live. Thoughts such as these are in
his mind, although he may be afraid to give utterance to
them in language, " It is really a very hard case to die so
young. Before I have scarcely tried what life is, to be thus
hurried out of it ! To have ties so tender, and only just
formed, severed. To see all my hopes so soon, and so sud-
denly cut off, and all my prospects shut up. To have the cup
of pleasure dashed from my lips, just as I had begun to sip it,
and before I had taken one full draught ! To see others of
my own age in full health, pursuing their schemes, and likely
to live and prosper, while I am dying and going down to the
grave. How cruel is inexorable fate. How I almost wish I
had never been born, for what has this short life proved to
OR LIVING TO REVIEW LIFE. 339
me, but a disappointment ? Mj existence has been rather a
shadow than a substance — a mockery, rather than a realiza-
tion, of hope. I have lived only for this world, which I am
now leaving for ever, and have made no provision nor pre-
paration for that on which I am about to enter. I have
neglected my soul and have forgotten God. I am wrecked
at the commencement of the voyage of life, and shall perish
with all that belongs to me, both as a mortal and immortal
creature." How distressing to meet death in such a frame i
as this ; so cold, so hopeless, so comfortless and cheerless !
A young man dying without religion is, according to his
own views and reflections, cut off, without having seen, known,
or enjoyed much of life. He has not had his share of life's
business, enjoyments, and possessions. His views of his
case are quite correct. He is withdrawn from the gay circle,
and the scenes of business, as soon as he entered them. And
as he has lived without religion, and secured the possession
of nothing else, he has lived in vain. His case is the very
opposite of that which we have considered in the former part
of this discourse. He has not sought the one great end of
existence — the salvation of the immortal soul — and all the
secondary and inferior ends are failing him. The supreme
objects of being which Grod proposed to him, he turned away
from, and those inferior ones, which he proposed to himself,
are turning away from him. He lived only for this world,
and the deity to which he consecrated his life has left him
almost immediately after the surrender. He has had no
time to gain worldly wealth or distinction, and has wilfully put
away from him^ the opportunity which he certainly once
possessed to ky up treasures in heaven ; and there he now
lies, with all his hopes of earth and time a wreck, and no
hope of heaven and immortality rising up in their place.
540 THE YOUWG man's FRIEND.
Follow him on to eternity. No compensation is found
there for what he has lost here. It is not in his case as it
is in that of the religious young man, whose early death is
so much taken from earth to be added to heaven ; for ht has
not sought heaven, and has no portion there. He has lost
the possession and enjoyment of both worlds at once ; his
few fleeting pleasures on earth are not followed with the ful-
ness of joy which is at Grod's right hand, and the pleasures
that are for evermore in his presence. He has been suddenly
hurried away from the springs of earthly delight, and no
fountain in heaven, nor " river of water of life, clear as crys-
tal, proceeding from the throne of God and the Lamb,"
comes in to supply their place. Earth rolls from beneath
his feet, and heaven stoops not to sustain and receive his
sinking spirit. He rises not at once to glory as does the
young departing Christian, exulting as he looks on the fading
scenes of terrestrial beauty, and exclaiming, " I have lost
nothing." It is his on the contrary, as he resigns his spirit,
mournfully to confess, " I have lost everything. I am early
driven out of earth, and the portals of heaven open not to
receive me."
Nor is this all ; for the death of an irreligious young man
reaches the climax of its distress and misery in the consi-
deration that his early removal is so much time taken from
the occupations, possessions, and pleasures of earth, to be
added to the bitter pains of eternal death, the inconceivable
torments of the bottomless pit. To the religious man who
dies in youth, whatever he may part from, still death is gain.
He gains infinitely more than he can lose ; but the in-eligious
young man not only loses all he had, and all he hoped for
on earth, but gains nothing in return but the loss of his
Boul's salvation with it, and has in his miserable condition the
DYING EARLY, OR LIVING TO REVIEW LIFE. 3'il
Bgonj of contrasting what he left on earth with what he has
gained in the dark world of hell. He will not have the poor^
wretched, meagre satisfaction, if such it can be called, of re-
flecting that on his way to perdition, he had his fill of earthly
pleasure and business ; and like the rich man, lived long and
fared sumptuously every day, before he descended to that
place of torment. On the contrary, he will have through
eternity to reflect that he received nothing in exchange for
his soul but the vices and follies of youth, and sacrificed his
immortal interests for the pleasures of sin confined, as in his
case they were, to the brief season of his short life. 0, how
mean, how insignificant, a price this, for which to barter
away immortal bliss ! How far below the folly and impiety
of that profane man who sold his birthright for one morsel
of meat.
These things, Young Men, are submitted for your most
serious consideration. Presume not upon long life. Mil-
lions die in youth every year. How know you that you will
not be included in the millions of this year } You are in
robust health. What says the patriarch Job } " One dieth
in hu full strength^ Accident may crush you in a mo-
ment. Fever may seize you, and after a few days' delirium,
during which no place may be found for repentance, may
send you to the bar of God. Or the seeds of consumption
may already be sown and germinating in your frame. Death
may have selected you for his victim — the arrow may bo
fitted to the string — the aim taken — and the shaft about to
fly to its mark. Should you die as you now are, will yours
be the death of the religious or the irreligious young man .'*
Which } Let that question sink deeply into your heart.
H. Still it must be conceded to you that you may live ta
old age ; and we will now take up the other alternative, and
342 THE YOUNG MAN's FRIEND.
suppose that this privilege, if privilege it may be called, will
be granted you. It shall be imagined that by the ordina-
tions of Providence you will number threescore years and
ten, or fourscore years. You will then have to review
LIFE. Memory will naturally revert to the past. Who
arrives at the top of a hill without turning to look back }
Who ends a long journey without reconsidering its incidents ?
And who comes to old age without some thoughts of the
years that have elapsed, and the scenes that have inter-
vened between infancy and senility } Memory cannot be
inoperative, unless indeed it has altogether perished amidst
the wreck of the faculties which old age sometimes produces.
It will look back — it must. What kind of an old age would
you like to have .'' How, and with what reflection and remini-
scences, would you wish to spend the close of life ? Would
you have it bright and serene, with pleasant and peaceful
recollections, and calm as summer evenings be ? Or cloudy,
dark, and stormy, by a painful retrospect, and a troubled
conscience.^ I am aware that there are some persons so
little given to reflection ; others so stupified by the paralysing
influence of old age ; and some so fully occupied to the last
with the pursuits and cares of this world, as to go out of life,
even at its most advanced period, without serious considera-
tion of either the past or the future. But what a melancholy
spectacle is an unreflecting old man — a human being coming
to the close of a long earthly existence, and yet not looking
back with the question, " How have I lived, and what have
I done with all those years which my Creator has given to
me !" These cases, however, one would hope, are compara*
tively few.
The retrospect of life is in every view of it a solemn affair ;
indeed, the most solemn this side the nccount to be rendered
DTTNG EARLY, OR LIVING TO REVIEW LIFE. 343
at the judgment-day. Each portion of existence as it passes,
every year, month, week, day, demands a restrospective
survey, with the question, " How has it been spent ?" How
much more a whole life ? Man has but one life on earth,
and that one can never be recalled, whatever mistakes may
have been made. Oh, what momentous interests are bound
up in that one life — and then it must all be accounted for to
God ! What an impressive spectacle is that of an old man
spending the evening of life in turning over the leaves of his
history, as they have been written on his memory, and read-
ing those records which are to be the ground of his condem-
nation or acquittal at the bar of God ; before which he must
soon take his stand. How solemn a position is it to be
placed where childhood, youth, manhood, and old age, with
all their good or evil, will pass before, not only the memory,
but the judgment and the conscience, in a series of dissolving
views.
Oh, how much is comprehended in the term of only one
man's lengthened existence ! How many, and what various,
and what momentous things, scenes, and events, pass before
the mind of the aged, in the review of earth's pilgrimage.
There is time, with all its scores of years, it hundreds of
months, its thousands of weeks, its myriads of days, to say
nothing of its minutes and moments. There is the end and
'purpose for which the whole was granted. There are all the
means of grace and the opportunities of salvation which have
been granted him ; the Bible, with all its doctrines and du-
ties, promises and precepts, invitations and threatenings ;
the thousands of Sabbaths, and sermons, and sacramental
secsous ; the instructions of parents, the counsels of friends,
the ministrations of the pastor, and the k oks cf the author ;
15*
344 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
the strivings of God's Spirit, and the remonstrances of con-
science. There are all the opportunities of doing good and
getting good neglected or improved : all he has done, and
all he has not, which he might have done. There are the
sins or virtues of childhood, youth, manhood, and old age.
There is his conduct as a tradesman in getting money, whe-
ther by good or bad means. There is the manner in which
the relations of life have been discharged, and the behavio!
of the son, the brother, the husband, the father, the master,
or the servant. There is the use that has been made of
prosperity or adversity. There is his kindness or cruelty to
others. There is the manner in which he has disappointed
or realized the expectations that were formed concerning
him. There is the recollection of the temptations he has
thrown in the way of others, or that he may have been
exposed to himself, and which he has resisted or complied
with. What a landscape to look over — what a road to turn
back upon — what a scene to survey — what a history to be
read ! How much of all this is crowded into threescore
years and ten ! What an employment is the review of life !
To spend the long evening of old age in conference with our
conscience over our past existence of probation, and our future
state of retribution ! What a life that ought to be, needs
be — how upright, holy, and useful — which is thus to rise up be-
fore us in old age, and which must according to its character,
be a source of comforting or tormenting recollections. Oh, lo
see the unrepented, unforgiven sins of threescore years and
ten occupying the lengthened space, and to hear voices
from witfein and from without, saying, " You have lost your
life — your soul — your Grod — your all !"
In that situation there will be many things that will
DYING EARLY, OR LIVING TO REVIEW LIFE. i 45
appear to all alike. All will be impressed with the brevity
of life. All will echo the language of the apostle, " What is
our life ? It is even as a vapor that appeareth but a little
while, and straightway vanisheth away." All will lookback
upon a chequered scene of light and shade, though some
have had more light, and some more shade than others. All
will have proved more or less the uncertain and unsatisfying
nature of what is earthly, though some have made better use
than others of their knowledge. But still there is a strange
and melancholy diflference of character and of feelino- with
which the impressive survey of life is made.
Consider the infidel reviewing life : if indeed there be
a man who can persist in his creed of negations till he has
reached threescore years and ten. What has he to look
back upon ^ He has cut himself off from the prospect of
immortality, and reduced himself to the idea of a mere
ephemera, which having fluttered through his brief day, is
about to sink into the darkness and the sleep of eternal nif^-ht
— in short, into nothing. Behind him in the past is mere
animalism : before him in the future is annihilation. He •
has lived without faith, and is dying without hope. He
would have no God, and he will now have no heaven. Life
with him has been spent, 0 what a vocation ! in persuading
himself, and endeavoring to persuade others, that man is
only a rational brute. He has worn out a long term of years
in hostility against the Bible, and in enmity to religion. He
has ever been at war with that which others have counted
their richest honor and their dearest bliss. His business,
delight, and endeayor, have been to oppose the Bible, to
dash the cup of consolation from the lips of the mourner —
to rob the widow of her last possession — to take from youth
346 THE YOUNG MAN S FRIEND.
its safest guide, and from age its strongest prop. Hunn»iie
and beneficent purpose ! Admitting his infidelity were true,
it had been infinitely better it had been false. Miserable
man, to have grown grey in attempting to put out the light
of the moral sun, and to die after all in despair of accom-
plishing the object ; and to die, not without occasional and
horrible fears, and still more horrible forebodings, that he
has been fighting against God. May this dreadful retrospect
never be yours !
Now contemplate the aged man of pleasure. And
here the picture shall be drawn from life, and shall be no
imaginary portrait. "*" You shall hear the testimony of one,
*' by whom the world with its fashions and its follies, its princi-
ples and its practices, has been proposed in form to English-
men, as the proper object of their attention and devotion.
Lord Chesterfield has avowed as much with respect to him-
self, and by his writings said in efiect to it, ' Save me, for thou
art my God.' He has tendered his assistance to act as priest
upon the occasion, and conduct the ceremonial. At the
close of life, however, his God he found was about to forsake
him, and therefore was forsaken by him. — You shall hear
some of his last sentiments and expressions, which have not
been hitherto, so far as I know, duly noticed and applied to
their use ; that of furnishing an antidote, and they do furnish
a very powerful one, to the noxious positions contained in
his volumes. They are well worthy your strictest atten-
tion. ' I have seen,' said this man of the world, ' the silly
rounds of business and pleasure, and have done with them
all. I have enjoyed all the pleasures of the world, and con-
* This has been given in one of my other works, but it is so appro-
priate and so striking, that I introduce it again here.
DYING EARLY, OR LIVING TO REVIEW LIFE. 34?
sequently known their futility, and do not regret their loss. I
appraise them at their real value, which is in truth very low
whereas those who have not experienced always overrate
them. They only see their gay outside, and are dazzled with
their glare : but I have been behind the scenes. I have seen
all the coarse puUies and dirty ropes which exhibit and move
the gaudy machines : and I have seen and smelt the tallow
candles, which illuminate the whole decoration to the astonish-
ment and admiration of an ignorant audience. When I reflect
back upon what I have seen, what I have heard, and what I
have done, I can hardly persuade myself that all that frivolous
hurry, and bustle, and pleasure of the world had any reality ;
but I look upon all that has passed as one of those romantic
dreams which opium commonly occasions ; and I by no
means desire to repeat the nauseous dose for the sake of the
fugitive dream. Shall I tell you that I bear this melancholy
situation with that meritorious constancy and resignation
which most people boast of.? No, for I really cannot help
it. I bear it because I must bear it, whether I will or no.
I think of nothing but killing time the best way I can, now
that he has become mine enemy. It is my resolution to
sleep in the carriage during the remainder of the journey.'
" When a Christian priest speaks slightingly of the world,
he is supposed to do so in the way of his profession, and to
decry through envy, the pleasures he is forbidden to taste.
But here I think you have the testimony of a witness every
way competent. No man ever knew the world better, or
enjoyed more of its favors, than this nobleman. Yet you
sec in how poor, abject, and wretched a condition, at the
time when he most wanted help and comfort, the world loft
him, and he left the world. The sentences above cited from
him compose, in my humble opinion, the most striking and
348
affecting sermm upon the vanity of the world, ever yet
preached to mankind."* Such was the confession in his old
age, to a son, that afterwards died by his own hand, of Lord
Chesterfield, the oracle of English gaiety and manners
Would you spend the evening of life thus ?
You may now turn to the old age of the unreclaimed
PRODIGAL. He who in youth settled to no business, exer-
cised no virtue, feared not God, nor regarded man ; but
bursting through the restraints of parental authority, tramp-
ling under foot the laws of prudence and morality, gave him-
self up to the indulgences of passion, and plunged into the
depths of vice. Such was his youth. His manhood was
little better, and with the addition of being a constant struggle
against the poverty and want which were the consequences
of his misconduct. The wonder is that he lived so long ;
that human nature could sustain and survive what he had
passed through. The wintry season has come upon him,
and oh, what a winter — how bleak and desolate ? In his cir-
cumstances, how deplorable necessitous — in his mind how
intolerably wretched ! In some cases the poor creature is
dependent upon the bounty of friends — bounty never bestowed
liut with rrductance, because bestowed upon one so unworthy,
and rather flung at him in anger, than given with courtesy
;md kindness : in other instances, he is driven to the neces-
sity of picking up, by various mean and discreditable artifices,
a haid and precarious living. Destitute of all but necessa-
ries, and having few comparatively of these, his miserable
existence seems protracted for no purpose but to show what
a wtetched old age is made by vicious youth. To him
appertains the language of one of Job's friends, " His bonoa
are full of the sins nf his youth, which shall lie down with
' Bishop Home's Sermons.
DYING EARLY, OR LIVIXJ TO REVIEW LIFE. 349
him in the dust." Job xx. 11. But his poverty is the least
part of his misery, for he has, and can have, no peace of
mind. When he reflects at all, his thoughts prey like vul-
tures upon his peace, which he is unable to drive away from
their dreadful meal. For him the retrospect is indeed most
painful. Life with him has been worse than a blank. On
what a dark and windino; course has he to turn his afFi iijhted
gaze. What follies and what sins meet his eye at every
turn. Childhood, youth, and manhood, are all alike distress-
ing in retrospect. Not one bright and verdant spot presents
itself to his survey in either. Oh that some oblivious draught
could blot the whole from recollection, and that with the
recollections of the past, could be extinguished the anticipa-
tions of the future. He is as little respected by others as he
respects himself. No eye beams upon him with affection, no
countenance greets him with a smile, no voice addresses to
him the language of respect, no heart yields to him its sym-
pathy, no door is thrown open to welcome him. He is an
outcast from society, a burden to his friends, if he has any
left, a torment to hiuiself, and a nuisance to the earth on
which he walks. He is one of sin's most miserable slaves — -
one of Satan's most degraded vassals, — and one of hell's
most legitimate victims. Of all the spectacles upon earth,
the most melancholy, therefore, is such a wicked old man.
Look at it, my young friends, and tremble.
I next exhibit the aged worldling, the man who has lived
exclusively for wealth, who has realized his wishes, and who
spends the evening of his life in thinking upon his treasures,
and the toil and anxiety it has cost him to acquire them.
And what are his reflections. In some cases, I have no
doubt, there is a feeling of gratification at his success. He
350 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
traces his gradual rise and prosperity in life with gleeful
delight, and compares himself with other less happy adven-
turers. His imagination revels in his wealth, and he thinks
how much he is leaving to his heirs. Poor creature, and
this is all ! No gratitude to God — no recollection of money
got by his blessing, or spent for his glory — no testimony of his
conscience, that he has honored God with his substance —
no pleasurable reminiscences of the good he has done with
his property — no expectation of hearing God say to him,
"Well done, good and faithful servant." No, nothing but
the reflection that he has been what the world calls a fortu-
nate man, and has amassed so many thousand pounds. 0
what a bald, meagre, and wretched retrospect — that he has
scraped together so much money, and will be said whenever
he quits the world, to have died rich !
But there are others whose thoughts go deeper than all
this, and who can be scarcely said to be privileged with so
much insensibility. Their review is far more painful, when,
as is sometimes the case, their folly in living only to get
money comes out to view. " 1 have been successful," they
say, " I have worked hard, even as I have lived long ; and
have been a thriving man. I shall certainly leave much
behind, but what is it now to me. I am an old man, and
must soon be a dying man. I am not permitted to remain
with it, nor can I take it with me. The only pleasure now
left me, is to say whose it shall be when I am gone. Is it
for this I have lived and labored ? Have I not been tab
busy in getting wealth, either to enjoy it, or to employ it ?
Have I not laid up treasure on earth, instead of heaven ?
Have I not been so much taken up for myself, as to forget
jod and my fellow-creatures ? Am I prepared to give an
DYING EARLT, OR LIVING TO REVIEW LIFE. 351
account of this property ? Have I not too much reason to
ask the solemn question, ' What shall it profit a man if he
gain the whole world and lose his own soul, or what shall a
man give in exchange for his soul ? Can I not, do I not
enter painfully into Solomon's experience, when in disgust
and penitence he looked backed, and seeing the sins, the
follies, and pleasures of his apostacy, exclaimed, ' Vanity of
vanities', all is vanity.''''
Would you spend old age in indulging such reflections.?
Is this the retrospect you would have ?
We present one more character looking back upon life's
eventful journey, and that is — the aged Christian. He
too reviews life, and with adoring wonder, gratitude, and joy.
He has no fear of the past — no dread of the future. How
calm and how peaceful are his reflections. How pleasant is
the retrospect, and how much more bright and glorious the
prospect, " Blessed," he exclaims, " be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath led and guarded me all
my life ; who was the Gruide of my youth, the Benefactor of
my manhood, and is now the Supporter of my old age. I
adore him with unutterable gratitude for calling me early by
his grace, to be a partaker of true religion, which has been
a source of happiness, a means of prosperity, and an instru-
ment of usefulness to me through a long and chequered life.
Through Divine goodness, I have been kept from vice and
folly, and have risen to respectability and usefulness ; and I
owe it all to religion. I have corrupted none by infidel
principles, nor seduced any from the path of integrity by
immoral conduct ; but on the contrary, while I am deeply
humbled that I have not better improved my opportunities
and my talents, I hope I have done some good by my ex-
ample, my property, and my prayers. Life with me has ni>t
352 THE YOUNG man's friend.
been a blank either as regards myself or others. I kno^
that as a man, and a sinful man, I must rely for salvation
exclusively upon the infinite merit of the Saviour — but still
as a Christian I rejoice to be able to say, * I have fought a
good fight ; I have finished my course ; I have kept the
faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of life
which God the righteous Judge will bestow upon me in that
day.' Providence has given me a long life, and grace has
mfide it a comfortable and, I hope, a useful one : and now I
can lay it willingly down under the influence of a hope full
of immortality." Venerable saint. " Thy hoary head is a
crown of glory, being found in the way of righteousness."
" Time that doth all things else impair,
Still makes thee flourish strong and fair,"
How cloudless and majestic is thy setting sun. Recollecting
thy holy, blameless, and useful life, all respect, and many
love thee. The young delight to show thee reverence, and
the aged, to manifest esteem.
My young friends, which of these characters would you
be in the evening of life } What kind of old man would you
be .? With what class of these reflections would you survey
life from the extreme verge of your terrestrial existence ?
How would you look forward to eternity at the close of a
protracted existence } With the dread of punishment for all
the unpardoned sins of threescore years and ten ; or with
the anticipation of the gracious rewards for all the holy
actions of that long period .?
Life is before you now. Ask the question seriously,
solemnly, frequently, " What is my life? Soon it will be
behind you. Consider it well — its chief purpose — its brevity
— its uncertainty — the smallness of its available portion for
BYING EARLY, OR LIVING TO REVIEW LIFE. 353
any useful end — its relative proportion to eternity, and its
moral influence and bearing wpon eternity. Life is froba,'
tionary^ and the ichole of probation. All that follows be-
longs to retribution. It is the causal period, and the only
period of causation. Every thing beyond is effect. It is
the little pivot of existence, on which turns the immense and
immeasurable whole. It is ;pre'paratory. Here we sow —
here we are always sowing — and we sow only here. Here-
after we reap, and shall for ever do nothing but reap. It is
an accoimiable term — the basis of judgment — the only part
of duration that is to be specifically accounted for. Though
we shall be accountable beings as long as we exist, yet it is
this short prefatory portion of our accountable existence
that is to determine the character of all the rest. The actions
of this little life are empowered to decide for eternity. This
is a consideration of unparalleled power and weight. Let it
be contemplated and felt. We a.re acting for eternity.
Ages of retribution answering to this hour of -probation.
How circumspectly then ought we to live ! If such be the
consequences of life, how frugal ought we to be of its mo-
ments, A little care and effort now, and all will be safe for
ever. A little providence and painstaking, through the
short period of your earthly existence, and you will hav«
made your fortune for immortality.
How momentous then is life ! How important to think
of this when it is commencing. Who should not prepare to
live .'* What a solemn exercise to review life at its close.
Life — the day of salvation — the harbinger of death — the
season of grace for the soul — the matter of judgment — the
preparation for eternity — the opportunity for heaven — the
pathway to hell. To review life — first to ask ourselves,
*' What have I done with life ?" and then almost immedi-
354 THE YOUNG MAn's FRIEND.
atelj afterwards to hear God saying, " What hast thou don©
with life ?"
Behold the Judge standeth at the door. And
" This is the summons that he brings —
Awake ! for on this transient hottr^
Thy long eternity depend*.
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CALVIN, The Life and Times of John Calvin. By Henry
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80
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1 00
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CLARA STANLEY ; or, A Summer Among the Hills 50
CLAREMONT Tales (The). Illustrated. 18mo 50
CLARK'S (Rev. John A.) Walk about Zion. 12mo 75
Pastor's Teslimony 75
■ Awake, Thou Sleeper 75
■ Young Disciple 88
Gathered Fragments 1 00
CLARKE'S Daily Scripture Promises. 32mo, gilt 8(i
COLLIER'S Tale (The) 25
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Task. Illustrated by Birket Foster 4 50
CUMMING'S (Rev. John, D.D.) Message from God. ISmo. . . . 30
• Christ Receiving Sinners. 18mo 30
C ; 'NNINGHAM'S World without Souls. ISmo 30
(' I ' VEER'S (Rev. T. L.) Stray Arrows. New edition 10
J 'AlL'r Commentary. For Family Reading. Svo 8 o«i
D'ALTBIGNE'S History of the Reformation. 5 vols. 12mo. . . . 2 5')
Do. do. Svo. Complete in 1 vol 1 5:i
Life of Cromwell the Protector. 12mo ' 50
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Do. " " " gilt edges.. 81
Do. " " " tucks 50
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DICKINSON'S (Kev. E. W.) Scenes from Sacred History 1 00
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DODDPJDGE'S Else and Progress. ISmo 40
Life of Colonel Gardiner. ISmo 80
DEUMMOND'S (Mrs.) Emily Vernon. A Tale. 16mo 75
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Life, by his Son. "With portrait. 12mo 75
Tales of the Scottish Peasantry. ISmo. Illustrated 50
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■ Life of George A. Lundie. ISmo 50
Memoir of George B. Phillips. ISmo 25
Children of the Manse 50
America as I Found It 1 00
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ENGLISH Pulpit (The). Svo 150
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FLOEENCE Egerton ; or, Sunshine and Shadow. Illustrated. 75
FOLLOW Jesus. By the author of " Come to Jesus" 25
FOED'S Decapolis. ISrao 25
■"I'm I ni 1 1''*^°'°""' Sertipnary-Speer Library
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