mi 
 
 MS COUNSELS 
 iCiffilSTlMS 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
PAST 
 
 COUNSELS 
 
 YOUXG CHRISTIANS, 
 
 IX A SERIES OF 
 
 FAMILIAR ADDRESSES 
 
 FOLLOWING A 
 
 REVIVAL OF RELIGION. 
 
 . 
 
 & 
 
 Rev. A. C. BALDWIX, 
 
 AUTHOR OF " HELEN AND HER COUSIN," "THEMES AND TEXTS FOR 
 
 THE PULPIT," A PRIZE ESSAY, BEING "FRIENDLY LETTERS 
 
 TO A CHRISTIAN SLAVEHOLDER." — ETC. 
 
 {*/, So 68 - 
 
 && 
 
 BOSTON: 
 CONGREGATIONAL PUBLISHING SOCIETY, 
 
 CONGREGATIONAL HOUSE, 
 
 Beacon Street. 
 
 lr 
 
£ 
 
 \l*** 
 -$*'' 
 
 (Eopgrtgfjtetf, 1880, 
 Bt congregational publishing society. 
 
 Stereotyped bt 
 
 HEYMEE & AMOBY, 
 
 Boston. 
 
C 03TTEiS"TS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Chapter I. Introductory Remarks, 5 
 
 II. The Foundation of Christian Hope, . . 8 
 
 III. Dangers op Young Christians, ... 19 
 
 IV. Decision op Character, 35 
 
 V. Social Intercourse, 48 
 
 TI. Formation op Habits, 64 
 
 TIL Amusements, 80 
 
 Till. Intellectual Improvement, .... 97 
 
 IX. Study op the Bible, 112 
 
 X. Self-Knowledge, 127 
 
 XI. Christian Progress, 140 
 
 XII. The Christian in Prosperity, . . . 156 
 
 XIII. The Christian in Adversity, . . .173 
 
 XIV. Christian Manliness, 189 
 
 XV. The Vineyard and Laborers, . . . 205 
 
 XVI. The Christian at the Close of Life, . 220 
 
 XVII. The Christian in Heaven, .... 231 
 
 XVIII. The Happiness of Heaven, .... 249 
 
A PASTOE'S COUNSELS TO YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Introductory Remarks . 
 
 THERE is no spectacle on which a truly benev- 
 olent mind looks with more sincere pleasure, 
 than on a company of young persons coming out 
 from the world, renouncing its follies and vanities 
 for the love they bear the Saviour, and making a 
 public profession of their faith. But still, every 
 such spectacle, interesting as it is, awakens feel- 
 ings, not only of heartfelt joy, but also of deep 
 solicitude. The thought cannot fail to be sug- 
 gested, How will these professed converts hold 
 out? Are they all real disciples, and born of the 
 Spirit? If they are true Christians, what kind of 
 Christians will they prove ? "Will they be orna- 
 ments to the Church, and strengthen it, and carry 
 to a higher elevation the standard of piety ? Or 
 will they hang as dead weights upon it ; disap- 
 point the hopes of their brethren ; prove recreant 
 to duty ; backslide, and thus bring a reproach upon 
 the cause of Christ? These are most important 
 
6 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 questions, and it is impossible to answer them in 
 advance. Time only can determine. It is well 
 to look at the bright side. No advantage is to be 
 derived from foreboding evil. On the contrary, 
 it is our privilege, and it is our duty, to take as 
 favorable a prospective view as circumstances will 
 permit, and cherish the delightful hope that the 
 entire number of those denominated M Young Con- 
 verts," are destined to become both ornaments 
 and pillars in the Church of the living God. 
 
 The religious character of a young disciple is, 
 in a great measure, unformed, although he may 
 have been born again. Whether he will make a 
 warm-hearted, active, whole-souled, consistent 
 Christian, — staying up the hands of his pastor, 
 aiding his brethren, and ready to every good 
 work, — or whether he will be a cold, indolent, 
 wavering, double-minded, niggardly professor, — 
 a grief to his pastor and other Christian friends, 
 remains to be decided. Very much depends upon 
 the manner in which he commences the Christian 
 life, and the views he takes of its duties and re- 
 sponsibilities. If he supposes that now, because 
 he has a hope of being saved at last, and has 
 joined himself to the number of God's people, he 
 has nothing to do but to float quietly and at ease 
 down the stream of human life, he is very much 
 mistaken. Whoever commences his Christian 
 course, must at the very outset, have before him a 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 7 
 
 high standard of attainment in holy living, or he 
 will probably have, in after life, little more than a 
 " name to live," and will never accomplish any- 
 thing: for the Master worth namino-. 
 
 It is with an affectionate regard for both the 
 temporal and spiritual interests of the young, 
 just entering their Master's service, that the fol- 
 lowing pages have been prepared ; containing 
 counsels which it is hoped may help them shape 
 their course in life, shun the dangers which they 
 are certain to encounter, assist them in forming 
 characters of usefulness and piety, prepare them 
 for both the joys and sorrows incident to this mor- 
 tal state, and animate and cheer them by present- 
 ing the blessedness awaiting them in heaven. 
 
 In the pages of this book, the writer begs leave 
 to address his young friends with great familiar- 
 ity, as if he were holding conversation with them 
 by the fireside. 
 
8 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 The Foundation of Christian Hope. 
 
 Give diligence to make your calling and election sure. — 
 2 Pet. 1 : 10. 
 
 IN giving counsel to young professors, the first 
 thing I would say to you, my dear friends, is, 
 consider icell the groundivork of your piety , — the 
 foundation on which you have built your hopes of 
 heaven. I know of nothing more important for 
 you, and everybody else, than this. It will be of 
 little use to instruct you in respect to your duties, 
 relations, dangers, and responsibilities in the vari- 
 ous phases of Christian life, unless you are en- 
 titled to the name of " Christians." 
 
 There would be an absurdity in taking much 
 pains to point out to a captain of a vessel bound 
 for Liverpool, the dangers, the rocks, the shoals, 
 the currents, to be guarded against in a voyage to 
 the Sandwich Islands. It would be useless to 
 talk to a man about the incidents he would meet 
 with on his way from Springfield to New York, 
 when he was going to Boston. So, as you are 
 addressed on subjects appropriate to those who are 
 
THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIAN HOPE. 9 
 
 going to Mount Zion, the first question for you to 
 settle is, are you on the road thither? 
 
 There is no question which a person can ask of 
 greater moment than, "Am I a Christian?" You 
 will not put by this question as unnecessary 
 because it has once or twice been before your 
 mind, and you have come to a decision in regard 
 to it with~some degree of satisfaction. There will 
 never be a time until you get to heaven, if you 
 shall be so happy as to reach there, when this 
 question will not be an appropriate one for you to 
 consider and carefully examine. 
 
 The evidence on this subject is not fixed and 
 permanent. We may have what we call very 
 good evidence to-day, and but little to-morrow ; or 
 we may, unexpectedly to ourselves, find evidence 
 which bears very hard on the other side, and which 
 may nearly or quite balance the evidence in our 
 favor, so that our minds may still be held in 
 doubt. 
 
 In this great and important matter, I would 
 lead your minds to a thorough and careful discrim- 
 ination. 
 
 In the first place, let us give a few moments' 
 attention to several particulars which sometimes, 
 but not always, attend true Christian experience, 
 but which do not of themselves constitute evi- 
 dence of piety. 
 
 1. A sudden waking up of the mind to the sub- 
 
10 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 ject of religion, does not determine that a person 
 is a Christian. There are many persons who, dur- 
 ing their whole lives, have given hardly a moment's 
 serious thought in a personal, practical way, to 
 eternal things. They attend church, are inter- 
 ested in able and well-composed sermons on 
 evangelical themes ; but religion as a personal, 
 experimental matter, has engaged none^ of their 
 attention. In a time of revival, or general 
 religious interest, this class of persons are often 
 suddenly aroused from their apathy, and are led 
 to think and talk much on religious topics ; and 
 not unfrequently they apply the subject to them- 
 selves with a considerable degree of anxiety and 
 interest. But this is no evidence of piety. The 
 mind may be for a time awakened, and then 
 relapse again into the same state of stupidity and 
 sloth ; just as a person can be awakened from a 
 natural sleep for a few moments, and then fall to 
 sleep again just as before. 
 
 2. Emotion is not conclusive evidence of piety. 
 By emotion is meant an involuntary excited state 
 of mind, occasioned by some object or subject 
 brought before it. Sometimes the emotion is 
 pleasant, sometimes painful. The objects that 
 awaken our emotions are much diversified. They 
 may pertain solely to this world ; they may per- 
 tain to eternity. There is nothing more adapted 
 to excite emotion than religious truth. There is 
 
THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIAN HOPE. 11 
 
 much difference, however, in different individuals 
 in this respect. The minds of some persons, by 
 the contemplation of the word of God, and the 
 fearful realities of the world to come, are wrought 
 up to a high degree of feeling : others are excited 
 but a very little. The minds of the two classes are 
 different constitutionally : you might as well try 
 to make their countenances look alike, as to make 
 them feel alike. But involuntary feeling, or 
 emotion, is not religion. Because a person has a 
 great deal of it. it does not follow that he is a 
 Christian, neither because he has but little, does it 
 follow that he is not a Christian. Emotion is 
 good in its place : it subserves a useful purpose by 
 leading to a right course of voluntary mental 
 action, and then it is the action which is virtuous, 
 not the emotion. Very frequently emotion is not 
 followed by virtuous action, and then it may be 
 asked, what is it good for? 
 
 Take an illustration : Two persons walk to- 
 gether into a military hospital, crowded with the 
 suffering and the dying. The spectacle produces 
 in one, intense painful excitement, and he cannot 
 bear the sight of. what is around him. and he pro- 
 poses to his companion to retire. "Xo." says the 
 other, whose feelings and nervous sensibilities are 
 but little excited, "let us look about, perhaps we 
 may find an opportunity to do some good here." 
 At this moment a person is brought in with a 
 
12 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 limb shattered by a cannon-ball, and which must 
 be amputated ; and the surgeon wishes one of 
 these men to assist. One of them replies, "It 
 pains me so much to see suffering that I cannot do 
 it," and he makes for the door. The other indi- 
 vidual instantly and cheerfully steps forward to 
 hold the mangled limb, or catch the blood, or help 
 tie the arteries, and in all ways to contribute as 
 much as possible for the relief of the poor suf- 
 ferer. Now which of these is the benevolent 
 individual, — the one whose feelings were so much 
 excited that he left the room, or he that remained 
 calm and lent his assistance ? This illustration is 
 designed to show that mere emotion, i. e., excited 
 feeling, is no proof that a person is good or bad ; 
 but it is voluntary exercise of the will that deter- 
 mines the character. 
 
 Now a person's feelings may be very much 
 excited on the subject of religion ; his emotions 
 may be extremely vivid and strong, and yet he 
 may not be a Christian ; and, on the other hand, 
 one may be almost destitute of emotion, and yet 
 his will, or his heart, may be right in the sight of 
 God. The question is not so much how does a 
 man passively feel, as what is it his sincere, fixed, 
 permanent purpose to do ? 
 
 3. JVo sudden transition from a state of great 
 distress and fear, to one of joy and hope, consti- 
 tutes evidence of piety. Such a change, it is true, 
 
THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIAN HOPE. 13 
 
 does often accompany a real change of heart ; but 
 not always. Some of the best Christians I ever 
 knew, could never tell the moment, nor the hour, 
 no, nor the day when light first began to dawn in 
 the soul, any more than we can tell the precise 
 moment when day begins to break in the east. 
 While many sincere Christians have experienced 
 no such sudden, conscious change from darkness 
 to light, and from fear to joyful hope, there have 
 been multitudes who have had this experience in 
 a high degree, whose subsequent lives and 
 deportment gave decisive evidence that it was all 
 a delusion, and that they had no more religion 
 than they had before. 
 
 There is reason to fear that many regard this as 
 their chief evidence that they have passed from 
 death unto life ; viz., that at such a time, and place, 
 they felt a great change in their feelings, — the 
 burden was removed from their minds, and they 
 felt happy; whereas, taken by itself, that is no 
 evidence at ail, for it is an experience very com- 
 mon both to true Christians and self-deceivers. 
 
 4. It is no evidence of piety that a striking pas- 
 sage of Scripture is accidentally or providentially 
 brought before the mind, I have heard of per- 
 sons indulging hope on as slight ground as this, — 
 they opened their Bibles at random, and their eye 
 first lighted on a passage like this : r Thy sins are 
 forgiven thee ;" or f 'Be of good comfort ; rise, he 
 
14 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 calleth thee ; " and this was regarded as a special 
 providence bidding them hope. Now to build a 
 hope of eternal life on a foundation like this, is 
 like attempting to lay the corner-stone of a house 
 in mid air. One has just as much to support it 
 as the other. Similar in character to this, is the 
 practice of some of relying for evidence of their 
 acceptance with God on dreams, and visions, and 
 fancied supernatural voices. The piety of all 
 such, if this is all the evidence they have, will be 
 as evanescent as their dreams. Nor 
 
 5. Does the good opinion which others may have 
 formed of us, constitute evidence of our piety. 
 There is no doubt but the Apostles had a good 
 opinion of Judas until he betrayed his Master, and 
 of Ananias and Sapphira until they lied to the 
 Holy Ghost, and attempted to deceive God. And 
 so they had of Simon Magus, until he proposed 
 to purchase with money the power of communicat- 
 ing the Holy Spirit by the imposition of hands. 
 It is comparatively an easy matter to deport our- 
 selves so as to make a good impression on the 
 minds of those who judge only by the external 
 appearance. Others may think well of us, and 
 express very strongly their confidence in our 
 piety ; but there must be other grounds for us to 
 believe that we are Christians than that others 
 think we are. 
 
 Again, it is no evidence that we are Christians 
 
THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIAN HOPE. 15 
 
 that we have had vivid and soul-inspiring concep- 
 tions of the happiness of heaven. The descrip- 
 tions we read in our Bibles of the glories of 
 heaven, and the ideas we may obtain from the 
 language of others on the subject, mav so work 
 upon our imaginations, as almost to transport us 
 to that world in fancy, and we seem, as it were, 
 already to see the golden streets of the New 
 Jerusalem, and hear the songs of the redeemed, 
 and behold the crowns which we ourselves shall 
 wear. Xow these conceptions of the heavenly 
 state, so far as the material imagery is concerned, 
 may be nothing but poetry, and probably are 
 nothing but poetry in our minds, if the presence 
 of God and holiness do not constitute in our esti- 
 mation the chief ingredients of the glory and 
 blessedness of that world where we hope to dwell. 
 Nor, finally, is it any sure evidence that we are 
 Christians, that ice have at times manifested con- 
 siderable zeal in religion. Zeal is a good thing, 
 and very desirable. I wish there was much more 
 of it than there is. But there is a zeal in religion 
 which is "not according to knowledge." and there 
 is sometimes a zeal, not objectionable in itself, 
 which is not based on evangelical experience. It 
 has been by no means uncommon for the most 
 zealous reformers — revivalists, and even revival 
 preachers who in fiery zeal would distance all 
 their brethren — to apostatize, and thus evince that 
 
16 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 their zeal was not for God's glory, but for them- 
 selves, or for the denomination with which they 
 were identified. 
 
 I have thus specified at considerable length, a 
 number of things which very often accompany 
 true piety, and some of them nearly always, but 
 which are distinct from piety itself, and are no 
 certain criteria of it, and should not be relied on, 
 as they sometimes are, as evidence that it exists. 
 We will now consider, 
 
 Secondly, in what genuine piety does consist. 
 And I will endeavor to give a definition of it at 
 once comprehensive and brief. True piety con- 
 sists in a supreme love of God, implying a fixed, 
 intelligent, voluntary, permanent choice of God as 
 the supreme good or portion of the soul, and a 
 choice of his service as the great end and object of 
 life, and all for Ms glory. This is only a para- 
 phrase of the language of our Saviour, in which 
 he answers the same question : " Thou shalt love 
 the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all 
 thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy 
 strength ; that is the first commandment." 
 
 We have here, in a few words, the sum and sub- 
 stance of all true holiness, whether it be on earth, 
 or in heaven, — a free, determined, permanent love 
 and choice of God and his service. The great 
 question, then, for each one of us to ask is, "Have I, 
 under the enlightening and regenerating influences 
 
THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIAN HOPE. 17 
 
 of the Holy Spirit, made this choice ; ami living 
 under the influence of this great purpose?" If 
 you can settle this point, my friends, you can 
 answer the question whether you are Christians 
 or not. To assist you in this matter, I will men- 
 tion a few things which are involved in this pur- 
 pose, and inseparable from it. 
 
 1. A renunciation of the world as your chief 
 good. If you have chosen God as your portion, 
 you must have given up the world. " Ye cannot 
 serve God and Marumon." 
 
 2. Repentance ; implying a sorrow for sin, and 
 a forsaking of it. 
 
 3. Faith in Christ ; a belief in his human and 
 divine nature — in his power and willingness to 
 save by his atoning blood, and a humble reliance 
 upon it for pardon. 
 
 4. A Christian life — a life of obedience — a 
 life of prayer — a life of duty, — in short, a life of 
 unreserved consecration to God, desiring to spend 
 and be spent in his service. This is all implied in 
 this great purpose which underlies everything 
 pertaining to religion, and which constitutes the 
 essence of true piety. 
 
 This work of analyzing and scrutinizing your 
 hopes should be continued as long as life lasts, 
 and be oft repeated. 
 
 You should have stated and regular seasons for 
 self-examination as well as for prayer, at which 
 
18 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 the question should come up, not merely "What 
 kind of a Christian am I?" but, "Am I a Christian 
 at all ? " And you should not dispose of the matter 
 in a brief, summary way, by asking a few questions. 
 There is too much at stake here — salvation or 
 misery, heaven or hell, will be the issue. And 
 that you may arrive at a correct result, you must 
 earnestly seek the aids of the Holy Spirit, for 
 without his assistance it will be of no avail. Your 
 deceitful heart, in concert with the adversary, 
 will be likely to overpower your weak judgment, 
 and cause you to think that you are something 
 when you are nothing, unless God help you. 
 
 Let me then urge you, my friends, — especially 
 those of you who have recently, as you hope, 
 espoused the cause of Christ, — to diligently and 
 faithfully " examine yourselves whether ye be in 
 the faith ; prove your own selves ; and give dili- 
 gence to make your calling and election sure." 
 
DAXGEKS OF YOUXG CHRISTIANS. 19 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Dangers of Youxg Christians. 
 
 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as 
 a roaring lion, vralketh about, seeking whom he may devour. 
 — 1 Pet. 5: 8. 
 
 THE life of a .Christian has often been compared 
 to a journey, or pilgrimage through an 
 enemy's country, where the traveler will be con- 
 tinually opposed, harassed, perplexed, and tempted, 
 as he passes along. The comparison is a very apt 
 one. Those who have tried the Christian life have 
 found it so. This world is a revolted province of 
 God's kingdom, and although it is not always to 
 be thus, it is now, and has been since the apostasy, 
 to a very great extent, in subjection to the "j^rince 
 of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh 
 in the children of disobedience ;" — in other words, 
 the devil. Through what he claims (though wrong- 
 fully) as his domains, the Christian must pass on 
 his way to Mount Zion. As might be expected 
 of such an enemy, he will dispute every inch of 
 ground in the pilgrim's pathway ; — will throw 
 obstacles in his course ; — and will tempt him 
 to turn aside from the straight and narrow road. 
 
20 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 Sometimes the adversary will flatter, and some- 
 times threaten him, and will use a thousand meth- 
 ods, no matter what, provided they answer his 
 purpose, to hinder the Christian on his journey. 
 Probably the adversary is never more busy than 
 when he is tempting young converts. He dislikes 
 to lose them from his ranks ; but if they will 
 persist in their determination to forsake him, and 
 go to heaven, he will use every artifice to render 
 them as inefficient and useless Christians as pos- 
 sible. 
 
 There is ground, therefore, for comparing the 
 Christian life to a journey through an enemy's 
 country, beset on every side with difficulties and 
 dangers. Perhaps, however, we sometimes lay 
 too much at the door of Satan and his allies. We 
 all have a principle of evil within ourselves, — evil 
 hearts of sin and unbelief, — and we are often 
 tempted, as the Apostle James says, when we are 
 "drawn away of our own lusts, and enticed." 
 Certain it is, that there is something in our hearts, 
 but partially sanctified, to appeal to ; and unless we 
 keep a strict watch over ourselves, we shall be 
 sure to fall in with the designs of the adversary, 
 and yield to his suggestions. How much of our 
 danger, and how many of our temptations, proceed 
 from the devil, and how many come from ourselves 
 and other sources, it is impossible for us to say. 
 It is of but little consequence to us from what 
 
DANGERS OF FOtJNG CHRISTIANS. 21 
 
 source they corne. since they actually exist, and 
 we have got to encounter them. 
 
 I shall now proceed to point out some of the 
 most prominent of these dangers, for the benefit 
 of all those who are just setting out on their 
 pilgrimage to heaven. 
 
 Having had considerable experience in the world. 
 and many opportunities of observation. I hope, my 
 voune friends, that I mav be able to give you such 
 instructions and warnings of the dangers and 
 temptations which will be almost certain to assail 
 you. as may enable you to guard against and re- 
 sist them. It is an old but correct saying. " to be 
 forewarned is to be forearmed." 
 
 1. The first danger which I shall mention — 
 and it is one of the first to which a young Chris- 
 tian is exposed — is a feeling of security; i. e.. — 
 an impression that there is no danger. When a 
 person fully makes up his mind to serve God. and 
 actually forms the great purpose to do so. and 
 consecrates himself to him and his service, he 
 generally feels strong ; he has committed himself. 
 He enters upon his Christian life, and he finds it 
 pleasant. The love of God is shed abroad in his 
 soul, and it is sweet. He enjoys himself better 
 than he ever did before. Go to him. and ask what 
 he would sell his religion for. and go back to the 
 
 service of sin. and become an enemv of God. 
 
 t, » 
 
 and he would answer. "Xot for ten thousand 
 
22 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 worlds ; " " Nothing shall ever separate me from 
 the love of Christ." In the case of a real convert 
 these feelings are sincere ; nothing can be more 
 so. They are all very well. It is pleasant and 
 very desirable to see them. Indeed, without 
 them, there could be but little if any evidence of 
 piety. Now the danger is, that the convert, in 
 the ardor of his love, and in the pleasure he takes 
 in looking away from earth to heaven, will feel 
 that the battle is fought, the enemy vanquished, 
 and the victory won. If it is suggested to him, 
 " Perhaps by and by you may forsake Christ, yield 
 to temptation, and again, partially at least, be- 
 come a willing captive to Satan," he exclaims with 
 Hazael, "Is thy servant a dog, that he should do 
 this thing?" It seems so unreasonable, and so 
 sinful to depart from Christ, and serve the god of 
 this world, that he thinks it impossible that he 
 should ever do it. Now this is the very point of 
 danger against which I wish to put you on your 
 guard, — an overweening self-confidence that you 
 are proof against temptation, and the assaults of 
 the adversary. How confident Peter felt that he 
 should not deny his Lord ! That confidence was, 
 no doubt, the suggestion of Satan, and it was the 
 occasion of his fall. Peter was forewarned too. 
 Christ told him that Satan had laid a plot to catch 
 him, and that he would be successful. Peter 
 didn't believe it, and strongly asserted that he 
 
DANGERS OF YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 23 
 
 would be the last man in the world to deny his 
 Master. And yet the poor man did it. 
 
 Let me tell you, my dear friends, that one of 
 the most common, and one of the most successful 
 temptations of the adversary is, to persuade young 
 converts that they are in no danger of being over- 
 come ; and .when he has once made and confirmed 
 that impression, he has more than half gained his 
 purpose. 
 
 2. A second danger to which the young convert 
 will most assuredly be exposed is, temptation to 
 an indolent, slothful spirit in regard to religious 
 duties. Sometimes, when the Christian retires to 
 pray, read his Bible, and meditate, a lethargic 
 spirit will steal over him. Perhaps he has been 
 making considerable bodily exertion, and is fa- 
 tigued. His mind is somewhat inactive, his 
 spirits flag, and he is tempted to hurry over his 
 devotions, if not to omit them altogether. Bodily 
 ease, or sloth, pleads, "It is only for once, and the 
 lack of interest and engagedness to-day may be 
 made up to-morrow by a little extra time or extra 
 engagedness. " Beware how you yield to these 
 pleadings of sloth. Depend upon it, this tempta- 
 tion is a bucket of water thrown by Satan to 
 quench the flamo of your piety. If you yield to 
 it once, you will give him a decided advantage 
 over you, and you will be almost certain to yield 
 again; and every time you yield, you will grow 
 
24 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 worse and worse, until in a little while, this sloth- 
 ful spirit will become habitual. Your closet will 
 become a cold, uninteresting place, and you will 
 be tempted to neglect it altogether. Let this 
 spirit of indolence get the ascendency in the 
 closet, and it will be certain to rule everywhere. 
 It will lead you to read your Bible in a listless, 
 careless manner, until by and by you will read 
 it but seldom. It will keep you at home from the 
 prayer-meeting, and from the house of God, if 
 you happen to be a little tired ; and the duty of 
 meditation and self-examination will be laid aside 
 entirely. I repeat the caution, my friends : be- 
 ware of an indolent, slothful spirit. Very often, 
 and I may say generally, it is a stepping-stone to 
 spiritual declension. If Peter had watched and 
 prayed with Christ in the garden, instead of 
 going to sleep, it is not probable he would have 
 denied him. So, my young friends, if you will 
 resist this indolent, stupid spirit, rouse up your 
 sluggish minds, chide your cold hearts and say, 
 " Get thee behind me, Satan," you will immediately 
 find the flame of your love, which was flickering, 
 and almost expiring in its socket, lighting up 
 again into a bright and cheerful glow, and God 
 will smile upon and bless you. 
 
 3. A third danger to which the young Christian 
 is exposed is icorldly-mindedness. The world is 
 full of temptations. One of them is pleasure. 
 
DANGERS OF YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 25 
 
 There are pleasures both innocent and desirable : 
 there are others which are evil and only evil. In 
 tempting the young Christian, the adversary would 
 
 not be likely to select those which are gross and 
 groveling in their nature, but those which are 
 innocent in themselves, becoming wrong only by 
 excess, or by being enjoyed at improper times 
 and places. You will be in much danger, my 
 friends, from temptations to gratify the pleasures 
 of taste. God has created us with susceptibilities 
 to a high degree of enjoyment by beholding what 
 is beautiful. And He has made a great many, 
 and a great variety of beautiful things for us to 
 look upon. Now the danger is, that in gratifying 
 this principle of taste, you will be led, imper- 
 ceptibly, to the exercise of the sinful passions of 
 pride and vanity. The same taste which admires 
 gay flowers, admires also gay clothing and costly 
 ornaments : and here is where you may very easily, 
 by excess, be betrayed into sin. 
 
 The pleasures of sense constitute another 
 wordly temptation of which you are in danger. 
 These pleasures are all proper in their place, and 
 when laid under suitable restraint : but nothing is 
 more easy than to pass the boundary of innocence. 
 The appetites may be enjoyed with moderation, 
 if confined within the limits which God has pre- 
 scribed for them. Taking: advantage of this 
 appointment of Providence, the devil will tempt 
 
 c 
 
26 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 you to intemperance in the use of what is lawful, 
 or to gratify your appetites in an unlawful way. 
 
 Avarice is another worldly temptation of which 
 you are in danger. The accumulation of property 
 by honest industry and frugality, with a proper 
 end in view, is not forbidden — it is lawful; but 
 "the love of money is the root of all evil." 
 Avarice and covetousness God has ranked among 
 the most hateful, soul-destroying sins. A tempt- 
 ation to get rich, it is probable, is one of the 
 strongest and most insinuating of any that will 
 ever assail you. Commencing life with a laudable 
 desire to earn an honest livelihood and to gain a 
 moderate competence, unless you are on the 
 watch, you will find yourselves, before you are 
 aware of it, " making haste to be rich." Gold 
 will become your idol, and you will be found wor- 
 shipping at the shrine of Mammon. Worldliness 
 in this form is one of the strongest, and one of 
 the most common temptations that ever assails 
 the Christian. Deluded by the belief that he is 
 only providing things necessary for himself and 
 his own household, before he suspects the real 
 state of the case, the Christian is often making 
 everything subservient to one object ; and that is, 
 to gather up riches. He is lured from the pil- 
 grim's path, and turns aside to visit the silver mine 
 kept by Demas, from which there is but little 
 hope of his return. He becomes so much en- 
 
DANGERS OF YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 27 
 
 gaged and absorbed with his w muck-rake," that he 
 loses sight of the glorious crown which is shining 
 over his head, and which might be his. Our Lord 
 is very full and explicit in his instructions on the 
 subject of worldliness : " The cares of this world, 
 and the cleceitfulness of riches, choke the word 
 and it becometh unfruitful." " 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." Worldliness is the great sin 
 of the Church. It always has been so ; it is so 
 still. It does more to paralyze her energies, and 
 bring her down in the dust, than all other things 
 put together. Look at the great mass of profess- 
 ing Christians at the present day ; what are they 
 doing ? what are they thinking about ? what seems 
 to interest them most ? It is obvious to any one 
 that the great subject before the mind generally 
 is making money ; and just in proportion as they 
 are absorbed in this, farther than to " provide 
 things honest in the sight of all men," do they 
 neglect their duties to Christ and his cause. The 
 devil knows perfectly well the power of worldly 
 possessions to steal the affections and ensnare the 
 soul. Hence he hoped to overcome the virtue of 
 our Saviour by offering him this world as a 
 present ; Achan he seduced by a " wedge of 
 gold; " Judas, by "thirty pieces of silver; " and 
 he has seduced many a professor of religion by a 
 
28 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 sum much less than that. In angling for men, he 
 almost always baits his hook with a piece of silver. 
 In most cases it answers his purpose ; though 
 sometimes, in order to catch the cautious 
 ones, he adds a piece of gold, and then he seldom 
 fails of his game. You cannot, therefore, be too 
 much on your guard against the love of money. 
 It is one of the most formidable dangers you will 
 have to encounter on your way to heaven, and 
 one before which you will be the most likely to 
 fall. 
 
 4. Another danger to which the young convert 
 is exposed, is bad example. TTe are creatures of 
 imitation. Without being aware of it at the time, 
 gradually and imperceptibly we become -con- 
 formed, in some measure at least, to the habits of 
 acting and thinking of those with whom we hold 
 intercourse. "He that walketh with wise men 
 shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be 
 destroyed." Show me what company a man 
 keeps, what examples are daily set before him, 
 and I will tell you, without much danger of mis- 
 take, what kind of a man he is. The character, 
 and especially the character of youth, is very 
 much influenced by its surroundings. This is 
 remarkably true of the young Christian. If he is 
 thrown into the society of those who are con- 
 sistent, and devotedly pious, he will be likely to be 
 assimilated to them . If he associates with worldly- 
 
DANGERS OF YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 29 
 
 minded, lukewarm professors, he, it is probable, 
 will soon be like them. If he associates with the 
 ungodly, selecting them as his companions and 
 bosom friends, he will be so much under their influ- 
 ence, that if he do not apostatize and lose his soul, 
 he will come so near it that he will be "saved 
 so as by fire." Now there are many more evil 
 influences in the world than good ones. There 
 are but very few whose example it would be safe 
 in all respects to follow. The best of men say 
 and do a great many foolish, not to say wicked 
 things ; how much more, those Avhose standard of 
 of piety is less elevated, and especially those who 
 have no piety at all ! Here is a great source of 
 danger to the young Christian. He is, in some 
 respects, more in danger from the evil examples 
 of good men than of the wicked ; for in one case 
 he is generally on his guard, and in the other, he 
 is not. It is very natural for him to feel that it is 
 safe to follow the examples of his elder brethren, 
 who have a good standing in the church ; but you 
 should remember, my young friends, that it is not 
 safe for you to follow implicitly anybody but 
 Jesus Christ. You should always act with dis- 
 crimination ; and when contemplating any course 
 of conduct, your inquiry should always be, not, 
 "Is it followed by this or that individual?" but, 
 " Is it right ? Is this a course of conduct which 
 the Saviour approves ? " If not, no matter who of 
 
30 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 your Christian friends pursue it, it should be 
 avoided. 
 
 5. Another danger to which a young Christian 
 is exposed, is a temptation to swerve from a 
 straightforward Christian course, for the sake 
 of popularity. It is natural for us all to desire 
 to please, and be held in high estimation by 
 our fellow creatures. This desire, if held in 
 check, and if, whenever exercised, it is guided 
 and controlled by religious principle, is productive 
 of good. It is not w^rong to " love the praise of 
 men ; " but the wrong consists in loving the praise 
 of men more than the praise of God. Occasions 
 often occur in the life of the Christian when one 
 must give way to the other. To go right forward 
 in the discharge of duty, oppose what is wrong, 
 and advocate and defend the right, is often the 
 surest way to bring a man into discredit with a 
 certain portion of the community whose good- 
 will it is desirable to retain. To maintain his 
 integrity without making any compromise of 
 principle, requires, often, a severe struggle. If, in 
 the course of your future lives, my young friends, 
 you are ever placed in such circumstances, — and no 
 doubt you will be, you may be certain that Satan, 
 in concert with the remaining corruption of your 
 own hearts, will make use of every artifice to 
 overcome you. He will tell you what a dreadful 
 thing it would be, to become unpopular with this 
 
DANGERS OF YOUXG CHRISTIANS. 31 
 
 individual and that one, and lose your influ- 
 ence ever them, or perhaps excite their enmity ! 
 Then you will be tempted to relax, somewhat, the 
 strictness of your principles ; and you will begin 
 to question with yourselves in this way : w May it- 
 not be that I have been a little too rigid in my 
 views, — a little too puritanical? Should I not 
 be more useful by lowering my standard some- 
 what, and making a compromise, and yield a little 
 of- what I have been in the habit of regarding 
 Christian duty? Paul says he c became all things 
 to all men,' — then why should not I?" forgetting 
 that it was in respect to things indifferent, the 
 Apostle said this. At this juncture, Satan will be 
 likely to transform himself into the semblance of 
 an angel of light, and tell you how much good 
 you may do by retaining your popularity with the 
 wicked. It will be well if, in this debate between 
 your conscience and your old Adam, aided by the 
 devil, you are not overcome by sophistry, and 
 suffer your eyes to become so blinded that you 
 will call light darkness and darkness light : and, 
 for the sake of pleasing men, will displease God, 
 and bring a reproach upon your profession. 
 
 I have by no means, my young Christian 
 friends, mentioned all the dangers to which you 
 will be exposed in your heavenward pilgrimage : it 
 is impossible to do so. I have specified some of 
 the most prominent, and which you will be almost 
 certain to encounter. 
 
32 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 I shall conclude this chapter by making a few 
 suggestions, in view of these and other dangers 
 and temptations to which you will be exposed. 
 
 1. Be always on the lookout. You should be 
 like a faithful sentinel, set at the outpost of a 
 camp to watch the approach of the enemy. He 
 does not relax his vigilance for a moment. 
 Neither must you. Your enemy will approach 
 you very slyly. He will not sound a trumpet 
 before him, thus putting you on your guard ; but 
 he will steal upon you as gradually and as silently 
 as the shades of evening spread themselves over 
 the landscape. Unless you are constantly on the 
 watch, you will be ensnared by him before you 
 know it ; and when you are once in his toils, he 
 will be very careful how he lets you out. Bear in 
 mind, as has already been suggested, that you are 
 " passing through an enemy's country," and eter- 
 nal vigilance only can insure your safety. At 
 every crook and corner, at every cross-road, at 
 every spot where he can conceal himself, he will 
 lie in ambush ; from whence he will either let fly 
 at you his fiery darts, or else he will come out 
 with a smile, professing to be your friend, and 
 propose to keep you company ; but as soon as he 
 gets an opportunity, he will plunge a dagger into 
 your bosom. 
 
 2. Resolutely resist temptation at the very outset. 
 If you begin to parley with it. you are already 
 
DANGERS OF YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 33 
 
 more than half overcome. The devil is not 
 omnipotent, neither are his wiles. "Resist the 
 devil and he will flee from you ; " but open your 
 door and permit him to walk in, and then listen to, 
 what he has to say, and ten chances to one, he will 
 gain his point. By his "much fair speech he 
 will cause you to yield ; and with the flattering of 
 his lips," will, as it were, force you. It was because 
 our mother Eve parleyed with the tempter, that 
 she finally yielded and fell. If she had resisted 
 him at the outset, and not lent her ear to his 
 plausible reasoning, she had never plucked and ate 
 the forbidden fruit, and thus brought "death into 
 the world, and all our woe." 
 
 The moment, therefore, my friends, that you see 
 any temptation or spiritual danger, resist it at 
 once. You cannot trifle with it, any more than 
 you can trifle with a lion in his den, or with fire in 
 a powder-house. You cannot walk upon hot coals 
 without burning your feet. 
 
 3. Look to God to help you. Here is your only 
 source of strength. He will be a very present 
 help in time of trouble and danger. Trust in Him, 
 and no weapon formed against you shall prosper. 
 If you trust to your own unaided strength to meet 
 the dangers which threaten you, — to overcome the 
 evil inclinations of your own hearts, — to resist the 
 temptations of the world and the wiles and snares 
 of the adversaiy, God will teach you your weak- 
 
34 pastok's counsels to young christians. 
 
 ness, as he did Peter, by permitting you to fall. 
 But put your trust in Him, put on the gospel 
 armor which he has prepared for you, — take the 
 sword of the Spirit, the shield of faith, and the 
 helmet of salvation, and you will be able to quench 
 all the fiery darts of the wicked, and to come off 
 victorious in the conflict. " Trust ye in the Lord 
 forever ; for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting 
 strength." 
 
DECISION OF CHARACTER. 35 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Decision of Character; 
 
 Be it known unto thee, king, that we will not serve thy 
 gods, nor worship thy golden image which thou hast set up. 
 —Dan. 3: IS. 
 
 A LL my young friends have read the interest- 
 
 -£j- ing history of three pious young men, who 
 were once commanded by a wicked king to fall 
 down and worship a senseless golden image ; and if 
 they refused to do it, they should be thrown alive 
 into a burning furnace of lire ! The reply of these 
 young men to the king, I have taken as a motto 
 for this chapter, because it is so perfect an illus- 
 tration of the subject which I propose for your 
 consideration, — decision of character. TThat a 
 sublime spectacle is here presented to our view — 
 three youths boldly standing up before the king, 
 and telling him, that whatever the consequences 
 might be to themselves, the}^ would never consent 
 to do what they knew to be wrong. They were 
 ready to die, if need be, the most horrible of all 
 deaths ; but nothing could influence them to dis- 
 honor God by worshipping that idol. Notice how 
 boldly they speak before the haughty monarch. 
 
36 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 "We are not careful," say they, "to answer thee 
 in this matter." Be it known unto thee, O king, 
 that we shall not worship that image. Burn us 
 in yonder furnace if you will, but we shall not 
 do it. 
 
 The history of these young men is not only 
 extremely interesting in itself, but it is full of in- 
 struction to all, and especially to the young. It 
 illustrates the importance and beauty of decision 
 of character. In their case it rises to sublimity. 
 
 True decision of character is a rare quality. 
 We read about it, we hear a great deal said 
 about it ; but we seldom see it fully carried out 
 in practice. Its importance, I think, is not duly 
 estimated. It is desirable for every one, and for 
 all situations in life ; but for none more than the 
 young Christian. For the want of it, vast multi- 
 tudes have been led away from the path of duty, — 
 have yielded to evil influences, — brought them- 
 selves into trouble, and religion into disrepute. I 
 would therefore direct your special attention to it 
 at this time. 
 
 I shall in the first place explain what is meant 
 by decision of character. 
 
 Decision of character is a quality which leads 
 its possessor to pursue , from fixed principle, a bold, 
 steady, determined, persevering course to the ac- 
 complishment of an important end. It is to be 
 distinguished from several other things, which 
 have gone by that name. 
 
DECISION OF CHARACTER. 37 
 
 Decision of character is to be distinguished 
 from obstinacy. The two are very often con- 
 founded. An obstinate man is a most unamiable 
 and undesirable character. He makes up his mind 
 that such or such a course is best, either for him- 
 self or others, or such and such opinions are cor- 
 rect ; and whether right or wrong, it is impossible 
 to adduce any arguments, however sound and 
 logical, that will have the least influence upon 
 him whatever. He knows that he is right, and 
 everybody else must be wrong who does not 
 agree with him. No matter how much light you 
 pour into his mind, or bring before it ; it is all 
 darkness to him. It is of no use to argue with 
 him, — his mind is not open to conviction, and he 
 is determined it shall not be. He would not 
 yield to proof equivalent to a mathematical dem- 
 onstration : 
 
 " A man convinced against his will 
 Is of the same opinion still." 
 
 And the reason is, he has not come to his conclu- 
 sions, and adopted his course, from a calm and 
 candid process of reasoning ; but from prejudice, 
 or, more frequently, from a sort of disdain he has 
 of thinking and acting like other people. Such 
 a man generally prides himself on his independ- 
 ence, and great "decision of character." Poor, 
 self-deluded, creature ! His fancied " decision of 
 
38 pastor's counsels to youxg christians. 
 
 character" is nothing but sheer obstinacy, — a 
 quality that deserves and receives the contempt, 
 rather than the respect of mankind. A man 
 ought always to keep his mind open to conviction. 
 His opinions, or the course of conduct he has 
 marked out for himself, may possibly be wrong, 
 and if so, he ought to be willing to be convinced 
 of it. For a person to adhere to a course, perti- 
 naciously, for no assignable reason but because 
 he is determined to have his own way, is the mark 
 of a weak mind rather than of a great one. 
 
 Decision of character should be distinguished 
 also from pride of consistency. The ancient 
 Medes and Persians would not alter or change 
 their laws, for that would imply, as they sup- 
 posed, weakness and inconsistency. The rulers 
 themselves would contrive various methods to 
 have their own enactments evaded or nullified. 
 Ahasuerus issued a decree that on a given day all 
 the Jews in his domains should be destroyed ; 
 but when, a little time after, he saw the folly and 
 injustice of that decree, he did not repeal it, — he 
 had too much pride to do that, — but he took spe- 
 cial pains that it should be evaded, by arming the 
 Jews, and bidding them stand on the defensive. 
 Nebuchadnezzar enacted several laws that he was 
 sorry for; but he would not repeal nor relax 
 them, because that would imply that he had been 
 injudicious, and would represent him as inconsis- 
 
DECISION OF CHARACTER. 39 
 
 tent with himself. The same principle is often 
 illustrated in the case of editors of newspapers. 
 Having said a thing, some editors will stick to 
 it. right or wrong. It should be remembered that 
 persistency in any course does not necessarily 
 imply firmness, or great decision of character. 
 
 A man of true decision of character is one who 
 calmly, deliberately, and faithfully examines a 
 subject or a course of conduct, for the purpose of 
 learning what is truth, and what is duty: and 
 having made up his mind what is right, he inflex- 
 ibly conforms his life to his principles. When he 
 commences a course, he adheres to it. and prose- 
 cutes it so long as he conscientiously believes it to 
 be duty, without regard to fear or favor. Duty, 
 not impulse, or self-will, or pride of consistency, 
 is the corner-stone of his inflexibility. He does 
 not consider himself infallible. His mind is open 
 to conviction. He is willing to receive light from 
 any source, and if he is convinced that he is 
 wrong, he has independence to say so, and in- 
 stantly change his course, right in face of a frown- 
 ing world if need be. It sometimes requires more 
 decision and firmness of character to change a 
 course of action, than it does to pursue it. He is 
 willing to change, if duty requires it. but not with- 
 out. He is not " carried about with every wind of 
 doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning crafti- 
 ness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive ! " You 
 
40 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 cannot persuade him to act inconsistently with his 
 convictions of duty. He is not intimidated by 
 popular opinion. The opinion of the world has 
 no more influence upon him, in changing his 
 course, than it has upon the wind, so long as he 
 conscientiously believes he is in the way God would 
 have him go. It makes no difference who tempts 
 him, or what motives are laid before him to 
 swerve from what he believes to be right. He 
 replies, "I do not wish to offend you, or appear 
 obstinate ; but if you wish to dissuade me from 
 duty, or lead me to do wrong, I am not careful to 
 answer you in this matter ; be it known unto 
 you, and to all the world, that I cannot do vio- 
 lence to my conscience, and disobey God. The 
 world may laugh, and the world may frown, but 
 it will make no difference. I believe I ought to 
 do thus and so ; and thus I shall do. I have 
 planted my foot, and I shan't take it up again till 
 I am convinced that it is wrong ; and then I will 
 change." 
 
 This is true decision of character ; — a consis- 
 tent adherence to fixed principles, based upon a 
 faithful examination of truth. 
 
 I shall now, 
 
 Secondly, Consider the importance of this trait 
 of character, both as it relates to the common 
 affairs of life, and to religion. 
 
 So far as our intercourse with mankind is con- 
 
DECISION OF CHARACTER. 41 
 
 cerned, it is much the easiest way of getting 
 through the world for a man to have a mind of his 
 own. There are in society nearly as many dif- 
 ferent opinions on some subjects, as there are 
 individuals. To attempt to please all, is a certain' 
 way to please nobody. To mark out a course 
 that shall be universally popular, is as impossible 
 as it would be to create a new world. A man, to 
 get along in society comfortably to himself, must 
 have a good degree of independence. In small 
 matters, where no point of duty is involved, he 
 ought, doubtless, often to yield his own taste and 
 preference to others ; but in no case ought he to 
 surrender an important principle. If he does, he 
 may be certain of getting himself into difficulty. 
 If he does it once, he will have to do it again, and 
 there will be no stopping-place. In the common 
 affairs of life, how much easier it is for a man to 
 get along who has some decision, or independence 
 of character. A person who has none, will always 
 be the sport of designing men : he will never 
 know what to do. One man will tell him to do 
 this, another will advise to a different course, and 
 a third to a different still. His mind is constantly 
 in a state of doubt. Sometimes he is inclined to 
 go this way, and sometimes that ; and there are 
 not wanting those who will take advantage of this 
 vacillating state of mind to increase his per- 
 plexity, by making to him suggestions, and giving 
 
42 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 him advice, which he has not strength of purpose 
 or independence sufficient either to follow or 
 reject ; and he becomes like " a wave of the sea, 
 driven of the wind and tossed." 
 
 But a man who learns to think for himself, and 
 act for himself, avoids all this difficulty. The 
 world will very soon learn a man's character, and 
 will deal with him accordingly. If he is ' ? unsta- 
 ble as water," they will always be troubling him ; 
 but if he has a mind of his own, and is governed 
 by principle, they will soon find it out, and will 
 keep at a respectful distance, and will not expect 
 to influence him without good and substantial 
 reasons. 
 
 It is not only the easiest, but it is the most 
 honorable way of getting through the world, to be 
 independent and decided. A man who has no 
 decision of character will find it impossible to be 
 consistent with himself, and to keep all his en- 
 gagements. In his intercourse with mankind, he 
 will often come in contact with persons of directly 
 opposite opinions and practices. 
 
 Now, unless he has character and resolution to 
 think for himself, he will be likely to fall in with 
 both parties. In what a ridiculous and unworthy 
 aspect he presents himself! Here he is, agreeing 
 with one man to-day, with another of very differ- 
 ent views to-morrow, and with a third the next 
 day, different from both, perhaps ; and very likely 
 
DECISION OF CHARACTER. <±3 
 
 with each he has committed himself to some 
 opinion or course of action, 
 
 Now, there is much that is dishonorable in such 
 indiscriminate coincidence with everybody, what- 
 ever may be the subjects agitated, whether poli- 
 tics, property, law, or religion. You never know 
 where to find such a man, for this plain reason. — 
 he is nowhere to be found. The only honorable 
 course for a person to take in his intercourse with 
 men in this world, is to have established princi- 
 ples, and let them be known, and to abide by them 
 both in conversation and practice. 
 
 It is also the safest way. A man who has no 
 decision is always liable to get into difficulty. 
 Without designing it, he will be likely to become 
 involved in a labyrinth of contradictions. He is 
 inconsistent with himself: and although he does 
 not notice it, others will. They will place the 
 opinions he expressed yesterday, and those he 
 expresses in different company to-day, side by 
 side : and it will appear that they are wholly irre- 
 concilable. He is thus in danger of losing his 
 reputation, not only for sound judgment, but for 
 veracity. Many a man who designed to be 
 truthful and honest, has nearly or quite lost his 
 reputation for integrity for the want of a little 
 decision of character. By endeavoring to become 
 K all things to all men." he has become nothing to 
 anybody : and all confidence in him is lost. This 
 
44 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 is a dangerous ^quarrelsome, fault-fin ding world ; 
 and if a man would steer safely through it, he 
 must go straight forward. 
 
 Again, to be decided in our opinions, plans, and 
 course of conduct, is the way to secure success in 
 our undertakings. A man of decision of character 
 will not be likely to engage in anything of impor- 
 tance without first having made it a subject of 
 deliberation, and submitted it to the dictates of a 
 cool judgment. Having once settled it in his 
 mind that a particular course is expedient, he 
 goes forward with an inflexibility of purpose to 
 accomplish something, uninfluenced by the opin- 
 ions or dictation of weak or designing men ; and 
 generally he succeeds. 
 
 But decision of character is of the greatest 
 importance when taken in connection with the 
 subject of religion. If a man cannot get along 
 comfortably in the affairs of this world without it, 
 he certainly cannot in what pertains to another. 
 In the first place, no person can become a Christian 
 without it to some extent. Religion consists in 
 renouncing the world, and taking a consistent, 
 decided stand for God and the truth. How can a 
 person do this without decision of character? 
 There are often more obstacles in the way of 
 becoming a Christian, than in doing anything else 
 whatever. There is not unfrequently opposition 
 to stem, ridicule to encounter, reproach to endure, 
 
DECISION OF CHAKACTER. 45 
 
 temptation to resist ; and unless a person has a 
 good degree of independence and decision, these 
 difficulties will never be overcome, but will forever 
 separate between him and heaven. 
 
 In the second place, without decision of char- 
 acter a person can never grow in grace after he 
 becomes a Christian. The difficulties which he 
 has to encounter when he commences the Christian 
 course, will, some of them at least, attend him 
 through life. The battle is not fought when a 
 person first enlists in the Lord's army. There is 
 usually a little skirmishing to begin with ; but 
 generally the heat of the contest is not till some- 
 time afterward. To be good soldiers of the Lord 
 Jesus, my friends, you must be decided, resolute, 
 and persevering. There is to be no wavering, no 
 timidity, no shrinking back ; but you must march 
 right up to the enemy, face to face, and let him 
 understand that you are prepared to die rather 
 than to desert your post, or yield him one inch of 
 ground. Instead of yielding, you must be deter- 
 mined to go forward. You are to set your faces 
 as a flint against every temptation to wrong, and 
 go onward in the divine life, and become more 
 holy every day, growing in grace and in the 
 knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. 
 One great reason why Christians do not grow in 
 grace more than they do, is, they have not suffi- 
 cient decision of character to say no, and to stick 
 to it, whenever tempted to sin. 
 
46 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 Once more, decision of character is necessary 
 for all who would be instrumental in advancing 
 the cause of Christ in the world. A decided 
 man, and especially one who is decided in religion, 
 makes a deep impression on the community. The 
 world is led to conclude that there is a reality in 
 religion, or he would not adhere to it so pertina- 
 ciously, nor take so bold a stand in its defence 
 and advancement. It is probable that Shadrach, 
 Meshach, and Abednego did more for the honor 
 of God and the cause of piety, by their firmness 
 and decision, when their religious principles were 
 put to the test before Nebuchadnezzar and his 
 princes and subjects, when required to worship 
 the golden image, than they did during the rest of 
 their lives. Had they yielded, and fallen only 
 once before the idol, they would have given 
 decisive evidence that they did not fear their God 
 as much as they did the face of man ; and what 
 would those idolaters then have thought of their 
 religion? It is just so now. My friends, if you 
 would have the world think anything of the 
 religion of Christ, you must show them that 
 you place a high value upon it yourselves, by tak- 
 ing a bold, decided stand for its defence and 
 advancement in all circumstances whatsoever. 
 Be decided in your principles , and let the devotees 
 of the world know what your principles are. 
 Don't be ashamed to let them know that you and 
 
DECISION OF CHARACTER. 47 
 
 they worship different gods. Be decided in your 
 practice. Carry out your principles. Principles 
 without practice only excite contempt : they are 
 worse than good for nothing. Don't be deterred 
 from taking a decided, straightforward course for 
 fear the world will laugh at you, and charge you 
 with bigotry, Puritanism, and all that. You may 
 be sure that the world will laugh at you behind 
 your backs if you do not do it, and charge you 
 with weakness and hypocrisy. By bowing down 
 to the world's idols, you may for a moment gain 
 their smiles and flatteries ; but in their hearts they 
 will despise you for it, and pour contempt upon 
 your religion. 
 
 If, therefore, my young Christian friends, you 
 would pursue the easiest, safest, and most success- 
 ful course through this world ; if you would make 
 any advances in the divine life, and recommend re- 
 ligion to the world, I would earnestly advise you 
 to two things, — first, adopt right principles; 
 secondly, stick to them. 
 
48 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Social Intercourse. 
 
 And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man shonld 
 be alone. — Gen. 2 : 13. 
 
 THESE words were spoken in relation to Adam 
 in Paradise. They have generally been inter- 
 preted to mean that it w^as not good for Adam — 
 including also all mankind — to live single, or in 
 an unmarried state. This was certainly true in 
 regard to Adam, and it is doubtless true of man- 
 kind generally. But this interpretation does not 
 express the full meaning of the passage. The 
 words imply a great deal more. They refer to 
 the social nature of man. He was made for 
 society, — not conjugal society merely, but for 
 social intercourse with either or both sexes. It 
 is a part of man's constitution that he should 
 associate with his species. Seclusion and soli- 
 tude are unnatural, and as injurious as they 
 are unnatural. The mind of man is so con- 
 stituted that it must have society, or it would 
 lose the balance of its powers, and become, to a 
 greater or less extent, deranged. Those relig- 
 
SOCIAL IXTEECOUKSE. 49 
 
 ionists. therefore, who think to serve God by 
 shutting themselves up away from the world, 
 in monasteries, nunneries, and lonely cells, have 
 mistaken both the word of God., and the consti- 
 tution of the mind. This principle of sociability 
 has its origin in God himsdf. He exists in three 
 persons, or in three distinctions, the nature of 
 which has never been revealed to us. and has 
 thus existed from eternity. God was not with- 
 out society previous to his creation of angels 
 and other intelligent being?. The Trinity — a 
 very proper term to designate this mysterious. 
 incomprehensible union — are represented as hold- 
 ing converse, and consulting with each other in 
 regard to the creation and disposal of man. The 
 principle of sociability pervades all animated 
 nature. We see it among the lower, as well as 
 the higher orders of creation. — in birds, beasts, 
 and fishes, as well as in intelligent beings. Xa- 
 ture. therefore, as well as the word of God, 
 teaches us. that it is not good for mankind to 
 live without society. Persons are often thrown 
 together necessarily in the way of business : 
 but something more than this is demanded by 
 the social principle. We need to meet together 
 for the interchange of thought, and for stimu- 
 lating each other's minds by conversation. This 
 natural tendency of persons to associate with each 
 other, should not be frowned upon, and con- 
 
50 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 demned, but encouraged. There is great advan- 
 tage to be derived from social intercourse ; not 
 only between persons of the same sex, but — 
 under proper regulations and restrictions — be- 
 tween the different sexes. Such intercourse ever 
 has characterized, and ever will characterize refined 
 Christian society. To interdict it, would be to 
 take a long step toward barbarism. Social inter- 
 course should be regarded in the light of Christian 
 duty, to be regulated by Christian principle like 
 all other duties. It may be turned to very great 
 advantage, and made highly conducive to our hap- 
 piness and usefulness ; and on the other hand, it 
 may be so abused as to be productive of the great- 
 est evils. 
 
 In addressing my young friends on this subject, 
 I shall 
 
 First, Speak briefly of some of the benefits of 
 social intercourse ; and 
 
 Secondly, Give some directions by which it 
 should be conducted. 
 
 Among the benefits of social intercourse, I 
 would mention, first, enjoyment. Although this 
 is by no means the most important object we 
 should have in view when friends and neighbors 
 meet, yet it is generally the first impelling motive 
 to bring them together. There is a high degree 
 of pleasure derived from conversing and associat- 
 ing with those whom we esteem and love. This 
 
SOCIAL INTERCOURSE. 51 
 
 happiness is generally the greatest when we have 
 intercourse with our nearest kindred. Providence 
 has wisely so ordered it, that generally we love 
 our nearest relations best, and take the most inter- 
 est in their society. But there are always others, 
 in every civilized community, whose society affords 
 us much enjoyment, and we are attracted to them 
 by a sort of instinct. We all know how pleasant 
 it is amid the labors, the anxieties, and perplexi- 
 ties of life, to unbend the mind by intelligent con- 
 versation with our neighbors and friends. We 
 feel our spirits enlivened, and the world, which 
 was beginning to look gloomy, is again lighted up 
 by a ray of sunshine. This is a rational kind of 
 happiness, and one it is the good pleasure of God 
 we should enjoy. 
 
 Secondly. Another benefit of social intercourse 
 is, it refines the manners. To be rough, awkward, 
 coarse, and vulgar in our deportment, may not be 
 sinful, yet it comes pretty near it, for it impairs 
 our influence in society. Influence is one of the 
 talents with which God has intrusted us, and we 
 are bound to use it to the best advantage. We 
 have no right to throw it away, nor unnecessarily 
 diminish it. On the other hand, we ought by all 
 lawful and honorable means to increase it, that we 
 may use it as an instrument in promoting the 
 greatest good of society. I need not say that, 
 other things being equal, persons of cultivated 
 
52 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 tastes and manners, exert a greater influence over 
 their fellow-men than those who are destitute of 
 refinement, — clownish and coarse. If, therefore, 
 attention to this matter will enable us to do more 
 good, then it becomes a duty, and ^attention 
 to it, to say the least, conies pretty near being 
 sinful. But, at any rate, a certain degree of 
 refinement and attention to the forms of polite- 
 ness observed by well-bred, intelligent society, is 
 certainly very desirable, whether it be regarded 
 in the light of a duty or not, and is not unworthy 
 the regard of any Christian. 
 
 Now there is nothing more directly adapted to 
 grind off the roughness of the externals of a per- 
 son's character and appearance than social inter- 
 course. Without society, mankind would grow 
 up much like the wild beasts. A hermit can 
 never be a gentleman. He may have within him- 
 self all the elements of one, but he needs inter- 
 course with his fellow-men to develop what he is 
 capable of becoming. The diamond, as it is found 
 in nature, is an ill-shapen, uninteresting pebble ; 
 you can't grind it, you can't file it, you can't 
 shape it by any tool that was ever made. You 
 can develop its beauties, shape and polish it only 
 by bringing it in contact with other diamonds. It 
 takes a diamond to cut a diamond. 
 
 So mankind are by nature rude and coarse, and 
 whatever elements there may be in them of refine- 
 
SOCIAL INTERCOURSE. 06 
 
 merit, nothing will ever develop these elements but 
 coming in contact with others, and holding inter- 
 course with their own species. 
 
 Thirdly. Social intercourse is useful because it- 
 excites in mankind a mutual interest in each other. 
 No community can be happy and prosperous where 
 every individual is bound up in self. A man who 
 says, "I care for nobody, and desire to have no- 
 body care for me/' is a pitiable and despicable 
 being. TTere all mankind such, friendship and 
 love would be banished from the world. God 
 made us to care for one another, and not for our- 
 selves alone. Who would like to live in a com- 
 munity where neighbors felt no interest in each 
 other any farther than they could turn their inter- 
 course to some selfish advantage ? And yet there 
 are such neighborhoods ; but very certain I am 
 they are not where the inhabitants are in the 
 habit of frequently meeting together for friendly 
 conversation. 
 
 Fourthly. Social intercourse tends to enlarge 
 and improve the mind. Our minds are like a 
 cutting instrument — sometimes they get dull 
 and rusty. They need rubbing up and sharp- 
 ening, and nothing will do this more effectually 
 than attrition with other minds. If you rub two 
 rusty and dull knives together, they act recipro- 
 cally ; they brighten and sharpen each other. 
 So will two minds when brought in contact. By 
 
54 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 an interchange of opinions and feelings, by ask- 
 ing questions and making suggestions and com- 
 municating information, they stimulate each other 
 and draw each other out, and mutually add to 
 their stock of knowledge. Thus is the mind 
 enlarged, its views are expanded, and its latent 
 powers developed. 
 
 And Finally, social intercourse tends to im- 
 prove the heart. When it is conducted as it 
 ought to be, it softens down the asperities of our 
 nature, it awakens sympathy for our species, and 
 calls forth all our kindly feelings. It is adapted 
 to make a person an obliging neighbor, a kind 
 friend, and a more benevolent Christian. There 
 is hardly anything better adapted to awaken and 
 keep alive Christian feeling among the disciples 
 of Christ than a frequent and free interchange of 
 thought, especially on the subject of religion. 
 The social principle was well understood by 
 saints in ancient times. We read of their 
 often being together, " stirring up one another's 
 pure minds." "They who feared the Lord spake 
 often one to another." Thus it always has been, 
 and thus it always will be. The hearts of Chris- 
 tians are like coals of fire ; — separate them, they 
 will burn very feebly or go out ; bring them 
 together, and they will kindle up into a brighter 
 and more fervid glow. 
 
 Having spoken of some of the benefits of social 
 
SOCIAL INTERCOURSE. 55 
 
 intercourse when properly conducted, I shall now 
 proceed to give directions for its regulation. The 
 first thing demanding attention in order that 
 social intercourse may be profitable is, the choice 
 of associates. It is difficult to realize how much 
 is depending upon this particular. "He that 
 walketh with wise men shall be wise ; but a com- 
 panion of fools shall be destroyed." In selecting 
 your companions, my young friends, you must use 
 a great deal of discrimination. Your most intimate 
 friends should be those who can sympathize with 
 you in your religious views and feelings. One of 
 Satan's most successful devices for hindering 
 young Christians in their race is, to get them 
 under the influence of thoughtless, worldly com- 
 panions. If you associate familiarly with any 
 who are not Christians , as doubtless you often 
 will, let it be with those, and those only, who 
 treat religion and its ordinances with respect. If 
 any one courts your society who makes light of 
 serious things, who speaks lightly of revivals, who 
 ridicules the anxious sinner, who profanes the 
 Sabbath and its ordinances, or the name of God, 
 let me say to you, as you value your soul, and as 
 you love the cause of Christ, have nothing to do 
 with such a person as a companion. Xo sooner 
 admit him to j^our confidence, or place his name 
 on the list of your chosen friends, than you would 
 press a rattlesnake to your bosom. Shun his 
 
56 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 society as you would the pestilence. Choose your 
 select companions from those who fear the Lord 
 and walk in his ways, and if you associate with 
 others, let it be with those who are correct in 
 principle, and who respect you none the less, but 
 rather more, because you are a Christian, and 
 who will never wound your feelings by speaking 
 lightly of, or in any way treating with disrespect, 
 your best friend, — the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 Having carefully selected your society, let your 
 social intercourse with your friends, whether it is 
 in private, or in the social circle, be such as be- 
 comes intelligent, well-bred Christians. In the 
 first place, let it be decorous, whether you are in 
 company with persons of your own or the other sex. 
 When i say it should be decorous, I mean it should 
 be opposed to anything like vulgarity, either in lan- 
 guage or manner. Vulgarity is always inexcusa- 
 ble. It is a shame and a disgrace to anybody, 
 but especially to a Christian. Persons who have 
 not been much in society, are excusable for a cer- 
 tain degree of awkwardness and rusticity of man- 
 ner ; but they are not excusable for being vulgar. 
 In social intercourse there should be no rudeness 
 of manner or address ; no calling of nicknames ; 
 no foolish jesting ; no loud and boisterous talking 
 or laughing, though it is not by any means wrong 
 to laugh if you laugh respectably ; no telling 
 indecent or foolish stories ; no gossip ; and espe- 
 
SOCIAL INTERCOURSE. 57 
 
 cially no backbiting. All these things betray a 
 vulgar mind, unworthy of a gentleman or a lady, 
 and much less a Christian. 
 
 In the second place, social intercourse should be 
 characterized by politeness. By politeness I do 
 not mean those forms of etiquette, that punctili- 
 ousness of manner and ceremony, which a certain 
 portion of the gay w^orld assume, and which is 
 taught in Parisian dancing-schools, by any means ; 
 but I mean a sincere, kind, and respectful treat- 
 ment of one another ; a tender regard to each 
 other's wishes ; a willingness to waive your own 
 pleasure and convenience for the sake of promoting 
 that of others ; a self-sacrificing spirit ; the avoid- 
 ance of everything in conversation or action that 
 can give unnecessary pain. True politeness does 
 not consist so much in polish of manner as it does 
 in kindness of manner. A good definition of it 
 is, "true benevolence carried out in little things," 
 in our intercourse with mankind. Some persons 
 seem to think that it is necessary for them to be 
 polite only to their superiors, or those with whom 
 they are not on terms of intimacy. When among 
 their equals, and especially those whom they meet 
 every day, they seem to think that they can speak 
 to them roughly and treat them rudely, and do 
 and say a thousand things which they would be 
 ashamed of in company where they were less 
 familiar. But politeness, — I don't mean stiff for- 
 
58 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 mality — should be shown to everybody ; not 
 only to our superiors, but also to our equals and 
 inferiors. It is a Christian duty. It should be 
 observed between brothers and sisters in the 
 family ; it should be observed between play- 
 mates ; it should be observed in all our social in- 
 tercourse at home and abroad ; between those who 
 are our nearest and most intimate friends, as well 
 as any others. It was a direction of the apostle, 
 "be courteous," which means the same thing as, be 
 polite. And he set the example. 
 
 In the third place, let your social intercourse 
 be improving. It should improve the mind and 
 the heart. When persons meet together in a 
 social way, the object should not be merely to 
 w T hile away a passing hour. That is wasting time, 
 and time is too precious to waste. You had 
 better, a great deal, throw your gold and silver 
 into the ocean, and your bank-notes into the fire, 
 than to throw away your time. I have said that 
 enjoyment is one of the benefits of social inter- 
 course ; but even enjoyment is not best promoted 
 by unmeaning, vain, light, and profitless talk ; 
 on the contrary, the more improving we make 
 our intercourse with each other, the greater the 
 pleasure it will afford. When you meet, my 
 young friends, whether in the social circle or in a 
 more private way, your conversation should not 
 be all commonplace ; but let it be ever your aim 
 
SOCIAL INTERCOURSE. 59 
 
 to say or to hear something useful. Talk about 
 the last book you have read, — for I trust you all 
 make it a point to have a useful book on hand, 
 and to read something in it every day ; men- 
 tion any new fact in science, or in the arts, that 
 may have come to your knowledge through the 
 newspapers, or otherwise. Without entering into 
 the arena of partisan politics, it would be well for 
 you to notice and speak of the civil and political 
 movements of the world, foreign nations as well 
 as our own. Analyze and discuss the characters 
 of leading public men, both of ancient and mod- 
 ern times : read and make yourselves familiar 
 with the constitution of your State and of your 
 country, so that when you talk of matters of a 
 public nature, you may talk instructively and in- 
 telligently. Be in the habit of asking each other 
 questions on subjects of importance. If persons 
 would pursue some such course as this, and try to 
 turn their conversation to good account, instead 
 of talking about the fashions and frivolities of the 
 day, they would in a little time be astonished at 
 their own mental improvement, and at the amount 
 of useful information they had acquired. 
 
 But your social intercourse should aim to the 
 improvement of the heart as well as the intellect. 
 "When you meet, my young friends, you should 
 endeavor to make each other better as well as 
 wiser. There is much danger that j^our conversa- 
 
60 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 tion in your intercourse will be too exclusively on 
 subjects pertaining to this world. Religion is 
 among Christians quite too often thrust into the 
 background, as appropriate only to the Sabbath, 
 or the social prayer-meeting ; whereas, in every 
 social gathering, as well as in private conversa- 
 tion, it should have its due place. I do not mean 
 that it is expedient, or proper, to rudely interrupt 
 general conversation by thrusting in the subject 
 of religion without regard to persons, time, and 
 circumstances. Such a course will disgust those 
 you wish to benefit. But watch your opportu- 
 nity, and if your heart is in the work, you will 
 nearly always find a place where a few words may 
 be spoken on the subject of religion, which would 
 be edifying to Christians, and would not appear 
 rude to worldly minds, while it would benefit 
 your own soul. It keeps the heart warm to 
 speak about Christ and his salvation. Always be 
 ready, therefore, to introduce the subject of re- 
 ligion as a theme of remark in your intercourse 
 with each other. If you are sincere Christians, 
 you are fellow-pilgrims to the heavenly country. 
 What can be more natural, or more proper, than 
 that you should converse with each other freely 
 about the land whither you are going, and the 
 road that conducts to it ? It is always interesting 
 to the Christian to hear about the progress of 
 Christ's kingdom. You should always, when you 
 
SOCIAL INTERCOURSE. 61 
 
 meet a Christian friend, be ready to communicate 
 to him or to her, any interesting intelligence you 
 may have received in regard to the great moral 
 and religious movements of the day. Talk about 
 the missionary enterprise ; and that you may 
 communicate as well as receive valuable informa- 
 tion, make yourselves familiar with the efforts 
 that have been made, and that are being made, 
 to convert the world to Christ. This is an enter- 
 prise of far greater interest and importance than 
 the spanning of the Atlantic with the telegraph- 
 wire, or constructing a ship-canal across the Isth- 
 mus, or tunneling the Hudson, and should make 
 every Christian's heart thrill with a holy pleasure. 
 Talk about revivals, their progress, and the means 
 of their promotion. Talk about the Sabbath 
 school, the Bible, and other religious books. Talk 
 about experimental religion, — not theoretically, 
 merely, but practically. Tell how you have felt 
 and how you feel now. Call out the feelings of 
 your brethren. Often compare your Christian 
 experiences. Acquaint each other with your 
 Christian joys and sorrows, your hopes and fears, 
 your spiritual conflicts, your victories and defeats. 
 By such kind of conversation you may be assured 
 the heart will be made better : it will be kept 
 from being absorbed by worldliness ; its sympa- 
 thies and heavenly aspirations will be kept alive ; 
 and you will very much encourage and strengthen 
 
62 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 each other in your journey heavenward ; and you 
 will enjoy it. 
 
 The particular design of this chapter, thus far, 
 has been to discuss the subject of social inter- 
 course, when you come together for the sake of 
 society, and not -for religious worship. The social 
 prayer-meeting is altogether distinct ; and with a 
 few remarks on this subject I shall close. 
 
 When you meet together for prayer, my young 
 friends, you should feel, and should deport your- 
 selves, very different in many respects, from what 
 would be perfectly proper in a visiting circle. 
 While the social principle operates to render the 
 prayer-meeting more interesting, the design of 
 coming together is not to enjoy intercourse with 
 one another as friends, but to hold fellowship with 
 God, and to offer unto him united prayer and 
 praise. On these solemn and interesting occa- 
 sions, which you ought by all means to attend, 
 your thoughts should not be fixed on secular 
 matters, or on each other, but on God. Call 
 home your wandering imaginations, and feel that 
 your special business is with your Maker. You may 
 indeed speak to each other " in psalms, and hymns, 
 and spiritual songs ; " and " exhort one another," 
 and "stir up one another's pure minds by way 
 of remembrance ; " but all with one great object 
 in view, and that should be, the devout, spiritual 
 worship of Jehovah. In going to and from the 
 
SOCIAL INTERCOURSE. 63 
 
 social prayer-meeting, your conversation and de- 
 portment should be characterized by sobriety, and 
 be not at all discordant *with the object for which 
 you assemble. Think how you would feel, and 
 what you would say to each other, were you going 
 to meet the Saviour in his bodily presence, and 
 have personal conversation with him, face to face ; 
 and also, what would be the tenor of your con- 
 versation after such an interview. 
 
 Finally, my young friends, let all your inter- 
 course with each other, in all times and places, be 
 such as shall prepare you for eternal fellowship in 
 heaven. I hope that your intercourse, commenced 
 on earth, will be perpetuated forever in the world 
 of glory. The social principle exists there in all 
 its perfection, and serves to enhance the blessed- 
 ness of the righteous. While passing along 
 together here, see that you do not hinder each 
 other on the way ; but, on the contrary, strive to 
 help each other onward ; and let your social and 
 Christian intercourse during your pilgrimage be 
 such as shall afford you a theme of delightful 
 reminiscence to all eternity. 
 
64 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 CHAPTEE VI. 
 Formation of Habits. 
 
 Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? 
 Then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil. — 
 Jer. 13 : 23. 
 
 Train up a child in the way he should go ; and when he is 
 old, he will not depart from it. — Prov. 22 : 6. 
 
 THESE two passages of scripture are suggest- 
 ive of several important truths worthy of 
 our attention, and among them may be mentioned 
 the power of habit. A person who has long 
 accustomed himself to an evil course of conduct, 
 has acquired a habit of sinning which has become 
 inveterate ; and it is almost as easy for an Ethi- 
 opian to change his skin or a leopard his spots, 
 as for him to stop sinning and become a virtuous 
 man. And so, on the other hand, if in early life 
 he is trained up in the path of virtue, he will 
 acquire a habit of right doing which will attach to 
 him down to old a°:e, or as lon£ as he lives. 
 
 We hence learn the immense importance of the 
 formation of right habits. We know what habit 
 is, from observation and experience. Habit is a 
 state of the mind, or body, which tends to the repeti- 
 
FORMATION OF HABIT?. 65 
 
 lion, involuntarily, of the same bodily or mental act. 
 It is the result of custom. It differs from custom in 
 this respect. Custom is the repetition of an act by 
 particular design ; habit is the result of that cus- 
 tom : that is. the act, inconsequence gf being often 
 repeated, at length comes to be performed without 
 'any calculation or immediate forethought : and 
 the force of habit sometimes becomes so strong, 
 that the act is performed without knowing it. 
 This is illustrated in the case of the profane 
 swearer. The boy. or the young man. especially 
 he who has been religiously or morally educated, 
 takes his first oath with deliberation and consider- 
 able hesitancy. He knows what he is doing, and 
 it requires a struggle to break through the barriers 
 which education and parental influence had thrown 
 around him. to utter an oath. But he does it. and 
 having done it once, he does it a second time with 
 fewer misgivings .; but still, it requires an effort 
 for him to swear. By persevering, however, cus- 
 tom makes it easier for him to break the third 
 commandment : till at length he does it without 
 thinking of it. and then he has formed the 
 habit. 
 
 The intemperate man goes through a similar 
 process, till at length he finds himself going to his 
 bottle as it were involuntarily. His habit gets the 
 control of him. and usurps the place of reason. 
 
 All men have their habits. Dr. Paley says, 
 
66 PASTOR'S COUNSELS TO YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 
 
 w Man is a bundle of habits." We have our habits 
 of eating, our habits of sleeping, our habits of 
 speaking, our habits of thinking, our habits 
 of labor, our habits of recreation ; in short, we 
 have our habits for almost everything. If we 
 accustom ourselves to take our meals at some 
 particular hour of the day, no matter what, we 
 shall find our appetites returning at that hour. 
 And so of our desire for sleep. If for a number 
 of times we retire at a particular hour for rest, 
 we soon form a habit that will be sure to prompt 
 us without our recurring to our time-piece. And 
 if we accustom ourselves to be awaked from sleep 
 at any given hour, we soon acquire a habit of 
 awaking at that hour of ourselves, involuntarily. 
 We acquire the habit of using certain forms of 
 expression, sometimes vulgar expressions, some- 
 times ungrammatical, or in bad taste, and do not 
 know it till a friend points it out to us. 
 
 Our habits become incorporated into our very 
 being ; we do not realize to what extent we are 
 under their influence. They determine in a great 
 measure our character. They have an influence 
 upon all we do. When our habits become con- 
 firmed, they are almost omnipotent. If our habits 
 are good, they are most powerful auxiliaries to 
 preserve us in the paths of virtue. They help us 
 resist temptation, and render easy and pleasant 
 what would otherwise be difficult and painful. If 
 
FORMATION OF HABITS. 67 
 
 our habits are bad, they will be likely to exert a 
 controlling influence over us for evil. They be- 
 come like a chain riveted around our necks, and to 
 break away from them, is impossible without a 
 desperate effort. Almost as well may the "Ethi- 
 opian change his skin, or the leopard his spots." 
 
 The tendency to form habits is a part of our 
 constitution, and God created it for wise and 
 benevolent purposes, although it is capable of 
 great abuse. It rests with ourselves whether habit 
 shall be an engine of good or evil. Good habits 
 are invaluable in helping us to be useful, and in 
 leading a virtuous life ; whereas bad habits so 
 completely gain the ascendency in a wicked man. 
 that they will lead him on from bad to worse, and 
 cause him to perpetrate crimes, almost without 
 knowing it, which would once have caused him to 
 shudder. Hence we see the importance of giving 
 our attention to this subject in early life, for it is 
 in youth that the greatest number of our habits 
 are formed, and when formed, they will be likely 
 to attach to us while we live. They steal upon 
 us insensibly ; many are formed without the least 
 reflection whatever, particularly bad habits. Bad 
 habits are like weeds in a garden : they come up 
 and grow of themselves, and unless we are on the 
 watch, the first we know, the ground is full of 
 them. Good habits are like our choice vegetables 
 and flowers. In the first place, they need plant- 
 
68 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 ing, and then the most tender and assiduous culture 
 is requisite to keep them growing, and to prevent 
 their being overrun by what is useless and noxious. 
 Good habits can be formed by any one, but they 
 require much pains and patient perseverance ; 
 whereas, to form bad habits requires no pains or 
 patience at all. Nothing more is necessary but to 
 let the natural heart have its own way for a little 
 while, and they will become as numerous as the 
 spears of grass under our feet. 
 
 There are two aspects in which this subject 
 presents itself for our consideration. 
 
 First, the importance of guarding against the 
 formation of bad habits. 
 
 Secondly, the desirableness of forming good 
 ones. 
 
 Under the first of these heads, I shall specify 
 a few bad habits, quite common, against which 
 all, and young people especially, should, be on 
 their guard. 
 
 1. There is the habit of carelessness, — a habit 
 which, wherever it exists, is a source of great in- 
 convenience, and sometimes of very great evil, 
 both to the individual who is addicted to it, and to 
 all who have anything to do with him. How many 
 millions of lives have been lost, and fortunes sacri- 
 ficed to the habit of carelessness ! Nearly all of 
 what are called accidents on our railroads and 
 steamboats are attributable to this alone. Of the 
 
FORMATION OF HABITS. 69 
 
 buildings that are burned, with the exception of 
 those which are set on fire by fiends in human 
 shape, ninety-nine out of one hundred are fired by 
 carelessness. How often is it that we hear of 
 some terrible disaster, involving the most terrific 
 loss of life and property, all the results of care- 
 lessness ; collision of vessels at sea, and running 
 upon reefs, collisions of railroad trains, the upset- 
 ing of carriages, the fright and running of horses, 
 the explosion of steam-engines, powder-mills, 
 magazines, and fire-arms, the falling of timbers at 
 .the raising of buildings, the drowning of persons 
 when bathing, and on other occasions ! We have 
 no idea of the amount of life and property destroyed 
 by this one habit, carelessness. Suppose we could 
 particularly examine all of what are called accidents 
 or casualties which result in the loss of life, limb, 
 or property, and learn their minute history, what 
 a large proportion should we be able to trace back 
 to the carelessness of somebody, as their origin ! 
 A large proportion of the diseases that affect the 
 community originate in carelessness. Persons 
 thoughtlessly expose themselves to a draught of 
 air, or to the dews of evening, or go unprotected 
 from a warm atmosphere to a cold one ; a severe 
 cold is the consequence, and dangerous sickness 
 and perhaps death supervenes. It would be easy 
 to multiply examples illustrating the evils result- 
 ing from carelessness ; and yet how little is thought 
 
70 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 of it ! It is nothing more nor less than a habit 
 formed in early life, and it is a habit seldom 
 entirely broken. A careless person remains a 
 careless person usually through life. 
 
 This, therefore, is one pernicious habit which 
 youth should guard against with great assiduity. 
 It is a moral and religious duty to do so. 
 
 Another habit to be shunned is the use of stimu- 
 lating drinks and drugs. In these days of light 
 and reform on the subject of temperance, it would 
 seem as if little need be said on the subject of 
 forming the habit of drinking intoxicating liquors ; 
 for it is to be presumed, or ought to be, that the 
 use of them is laid aside entirely, except for medic- 
 inal or mechanical purposes, especially by all who 
 call themselves Christians. In former times, when 
 spirituous liquors as a beverage were regarded 
 not only innocent but beneficial, habits of drink- 
 ing were formed unconsciously, which often ended 
 in intemperance. By taking a little now and then 
 with a friend, or a glass of bitters before break- 
 fast to improve the appetite, or at eleven or three 
 o'clock, to give strength (as was then erroneously 
 supposed) to sustain the burden and heat of the 
 day, persons of the most respectable standing in 
 society often fell into the habit of going regularly 
 to the bottle, till at length they became confirmed 
 inebriates. And it is a wonder that all did not 
 become so. Although there is a great and favor- 
 
FORMATION OF HABITS. 71 
 
 able change in the opinions and the customs of the 
 community in respect to the use of intoxicating 
 drinks in our times, yet the danger is not all past. 
 There are persons still, in almost everyplace, who 
 are dropping into the ranks of the intemperate, and 
 others who are taking lessons in the preparatory 
 school of drunkenness, and who will ultimately 
 graduate in the gutter. There are those who use 
 strong drink, they think solely as a medicine, 
 when in fact it is only to satisfy the craving of an 
 appetite which will be satisfied with nothing else. 
 They began using it as a "medicine," and perhaps 
 as a necessary medicine ; but they did not discon- 
 tinue it when no longer needed. They have 
 formed a habit to which they have already become 
 slaves, and there is much reason to fear it will 
 land them in the drunkard's grave. The greatest 
 caution should be observed in the use of intoxicat- 
 ing drinks, even for necessary purposes ; for like 
 a subtle enemy, it will, while performing the 
 offices of kindness and friendship, slip a snare 
 around its victim, and ere he is aware of his danger, 
 drag him down to ruin ! 
 
 Be careful then, my young friends, how you 
 meddle with them. Shun them as you would 
 poison, — -treat them exactly as you do poison. 
 Place the two side by side in your medicine-case, 
 and resort to them in case of necessity, and at no 
 other time ; and when the necessity ceases to exist, 
 
72 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 do not think of taking a sip of your alcoholic 
 drink any sooner than you would of your solution 
 of arsenic or corrosive sublimate. 
 
 This is the safe, and the only safe way to avoid 
 that habit which has destroyed countless multi- 
 tudes, and has sent desolation and woe into thou- 
 sands and hundreds of thousands of families. 
 
 There is a habit extensively prevailing in almost 
 all communities of using poisonous drugs as well 
 as drinks. Opium in its crude state, or in some 
 of its preparations, is used habitually by a vast 
 many where it is not suspected, especially among 
 females, and is accomplishing its slow but sure 
 work of undermining the constitution, and weak- 
 ening the powers of the intellect, and shortening 
 life. 
 
 But the habit that prevails more extensively 
 probably than any other in the world, is the use 
 of tobacco. It is a habit confined to no com- 
 munity, and to no class or order of society. It 
 prevails among the high and the low, the rich and 
 the poor, the learned and the ignorant, the bond 
 and the free, the wise (i. e , those who are wise 
 on other subjects) and the foolish, old and young, 
 male and* female, legislators, lawyers, doctors, 
 clergymen (to their shame be it spoken) , presidents 
 and professors in our colleges and seminaries, pro- 
 prietors, agents, journeymen and apprentices in 
 our manufactories and shops, farmers, merchants, 
 
FOR3IATION OF HABITS. 73 
 
 clerks, schoolmasters, and school-boys ! Multi- 
 tudes pertaining to all these classes of society, in 
 every continent, nation, state, county, town, and 
 neighborhood under heaven, have surrendered 
 their liberties, and avow themselves slaves to the 
 habit of using tobacco ! I am by no means dis- 
 posed to place this habit, as some have done, on 
 the same footing as the habit of using spirituous 
 liquors. The moral character of the two habits is 
 undoubtedly different in many respects. Xeither 
 am I going to deal out anathemas and severe cen- 
 sures upon those who have been so unfortunate 
 (although it was by their own fault) as to get the 
 chains of this habit riveted upon them. From my 
 heart I sympathize with them in their slavery, and 
 sincerely pity them. But I would, if in my 
 power, say a word to my young friends to dis- 
 suade them from forming a habit so unnecessary, 
 so inconvenient, so disagreeable to others, so 
 expensive, and fraught with so many evils. Or, 
 if they have begun to form the habit, I would 
 implore them to break away from it instantly, 
 before the chains are riveted upon them. 
 
 The use of this drug is certainly unnecessary. 
 Physicians do not prescribe or recommend it, 
 except as they do jalap, quassia, and ipecac, and 
 other nauseating drugs, in some peculiar states of 
 the health or constitution. There is not a Respect- 
 able, well-read physician in the United States who 
 
74 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 will tell you that tobacco, in either of the three 
 forms in which it is used habitually,— smoking, 
 chewing, and snuffing, — is necessary to persons in 
 health for any purpose whatsoever. It is not 
 necessary for comfort or happiness or respect- 
 ability. All can be, and are, enjoyed far better 
 without it. 
 
 As I do not purpose on this occasion to go 
 minutely into the discussion of this subject, I 
 pass over its inconvenience, its annoyance to 
 others, its injurious effects upon the health and 
 constitution, and will say a word or two on the 
 expensiveness of the habit. 
 
 The amount of property annually annihilated 
 by the habit of which I am speaking, is enormous. 
 Said a gentleman, some years ago, who had paid 
 much attention to this subject, "The annual cost 
 of what goes off in tobacco smoke in these United 
 States, cannot be less than thirty millions of 
 dollars, and the amount expended for tobacco in 
 other forms, more than five millions more ; so that 
 the expense for tobacco in this country is more 
 than three hundred times as much as the revenue 
 of the A. B. C. F. M." The amount consumed by 
 church-members far exceeds the sum total of what 
 is contributed for the spread of the gospel and sus- 
 taining the institutions of religion. The annual 
 expense of tobacco for those who use it, especially 
 in smoking, ranges individually anywhere from 
 
FORMATION OF HABITS. 75 
 
 five to one hundred dollars. Three cents a day 
 would be considered a meagre allowance to a per- 
 son of this class, and yet this amounts in one 
 year to eleven dollars, within five cents. And yet 
 how many young men, and boys even, expend 
 much more than this, and think nothing of it !' 
 Suppose they were required to give that amount 
 to benevolent purposes, or for the support of the 
 gospel ; they would say at once they could not 
 possibly afford it. Let a young man spend six 
 cents a day for cigars, and continue the practice 
 for forty years, as he probably will, should he live 
 so long, and at the end of that period the sum 
 expended, with interest, will amount to $3,373, 
 — enough to buy a small farm ! 
 
 Dr. Aleott of Boston says, "I have known 
 many a poor family that consumed in smoking 
 and chewing at least twenty-five cents a week ; a 
 mere trifle, not worth mentioning, they thought. 
 This, in forty years," said he, " at compound inter- 
 est, would amount to $2,100." The city of New 
 York consumes, it is computed, twenty thousand 
 dollars a day on cigars, and less than half of that 
 for bread. A writer from England says: "By a 
 return recently issued, it* is shown that the duty 
 on tobacco, in one year, in the United Kingdom, 
 was $25,000,000. In London alone, the duty 
 received was $10,000,000. It reads strangely of 
 a highly professing Christian community, that they 
 
76 pastor'^ counsels to young christians. 
 
 spend four times as much in one year in a per- 
 nicious indulgence, such as the use of tobacco, as 
 they do in the support of all the great philan- 
 thropic institutions for the spread of the Gospel 
 through the earth, for the circulation of the Bible, 
 and for the education of the poor. The mortality 
 amongst the population of London, from diseases 
 directly resulting from the use of tobacco, is 
 appalling, and of this class of sufferers not a few 
 are to be found among ministers of the Gospel." 
 
 Another English writer, who has made a care- 
 ful computation of the amount of tobacco raised 
 and used in the various nations and countries of 
 the globe, comes to the conclusion that the ex- 
 pense is not much if any less than one dollar 
 a year for every man, woman and child on the 
 face of the earth, — one thousand millions. This 
 sum would build two railroads around the globe 
 at a cost of twenty thousand dollars per mile. It 
 would employ a million of preachers, and another 
 million of teachers, and give to each a salary of 
 five hundred to a thousand dollars a year. 
 
 Thus, when we look merely at the cost of the 
 habit of which I am speaking, is it not enormous? 
 And unless something can be urged in favor of it 
 more than has yet been advanced, is it not, to say 
 the least, verj r foolish as well as inexpedient to 
 contract the habit? I do sincerely believe the 
 use of this drug is a great, prominent, crying evil 
 
FORMATION OF HABITS. 77 
 
 in our world, and that a reform is loudly called 
 for. This, however, is almost entirely hopeless, 
 so far as those who have been long addicted to the 
 habit are concerned. You might just about as veil 
 undertake to change the skin of the Ethiopian, or 
 the spots of the leopard, as to reform one who 
 has been Ions wedded to his tobacco. Our onlv 
 hope of success is with the young, and these I 
 would affectionately and earnestly warn against 
 this disagreeable, pernicious habit. T could say 
 much more on this subject. Perhaps some of you 
 may think I have said too much already, for I 
 know the remarks I have made run directly 
 athwart the practices of a large number who now 
 read these lines. — not many of my young friends, 
 I hope. But I could not say less, in fidelity to the 
 youth for whose benefit these remarks are partic- 
 ularly designed. 
 
 There are a great many other bad habits, com- 
 mon in almost every community, which my limits 
 will not permit me to discuss separately at the 
 present time. I shall contenr myself by merely 
 mentioning some of them, with a word of warn- 
 ing that my young friends ma}' guard against 
 them. 
 
 There is a habit some persons have of gossip- 
 ing* — of going about town, and retailing from 
 house to house evil reports against neighbors. — 
 circulating tales of scandal in exaggeration of the 
 truth. 
 
78 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 There is a habit of finding fault with everybody 
 and everything, in which some indulge, whatever 
 may be the pains taken to please them. 
 
 There is the habit of irritability , — of yielding 
 to a bad temper, and being easily provoked. 
 
 There is a habit which some get of staying 
 away from religious meetings ; and there is a 
 habit which others have of sleeping when they do 
 go. 
 
 There is a habit observable in some of gazing 
 about the church, and giving their attention to 
 anything but to what the preacher is saying. 
 
 There is a habit which some very good Christians 
 get, of having wandering thoughts in prayer, both 
 in public prayer and in the closet, which distresses 
 them exceedingly, and leads them to cry out with 
 tears, "O wretched man that I am, who shall 
 deliver me ? " 
 
 Against these, and similar habits, my young 
 friends, I would have you constantly on your 
 guard. You will fall into them very easily, and 
 if you should do so, they will be likely to gain the 
 ascendency over you to such a degree, that to 
 break away from them will be almost as impossi- 
 sible as for the Ethiopian to change his skin or 
 the leopard his spots. 
 
 I conclude this chapter with a friendly exhorta- 
 tion to you and myself. Since habits are so 
 powerful, and so permanent in their influence, let 
 
FORMATION OF HABITS. 79 
 
 us assiduously forni and cultivate good ones. 
 Let us form the habit of thinking of God, and 
 directing our thoughts to God the first thins: 
 when we wake in the morning ; the habit of 
 pouring out our souls to him in secret prayer'; 
 the habit of spending some portion of every day 
 in reading the Bible, and other good books ; the 
 habit of family worship ; the habit of attending 
 the prayer-meeting, as well as the house of God 
 on the Sabbath ; the habit of giving attention 
 when there ; the habit of introducing religious 
 conversation ; the habit of self-denial ; the habit 
 of benevolence ; the habit of often turning our 
 thoughts to the great end and object of life ; the 
 habit of striving every day to serve God with 
 all our heart, soul, mind, strength ; and then we 
 shall, by God's help, supplant all our bad habits, 
 and thus shall we get our feet established in the 
 way we should go, so that we shall never depart 
 from it. 
 
80 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Amusements. 
 
 A time to dance. — Eccl. 3 : 4. 
 
 VERY different views have been taken by man- 
 kind on the subject of amusement. Some 
 appear to regard it as the great object and end of 
 life. So far as we can judge from the course they 
 pursue, they seem to think that man was made 
 chiefly "to eat and to drink, and then rise up and 
 play," and to enjoy the passing hour. Their 
 constant aim is to divert the mind from every- 
 thing serious, and keep the spirits buoyant and 
 light by gay scenes and exhilarating pleasures. . 
 Another class of persons go to the opposite 
 extreme. They take such views of man as an 
 immortal beipg, hastening as he is to eternity, 
 and knowing that he is here deciding the great 
 problem whether he shall be happy or miserable 
 forever, they think it unworthy of his high nature 
 and destiny to bestow a thought upon earthly 
 pleasure, or anything which has not direct refer- 
 ence to that eternity which is just before him. 
 Hence, anything like amusement is proscribed by 
 
AMUSEMENTS. 81 
 
 them entirely, as being not only inappropriate to 
 our condition, but as improper and positively 
 sinful. 
 
 Now it must be conceded that the views of this 
 latter class are far more rational than the former \ 
 for they have their origin in the most serious and 
 important truths that ever came before the mind 
 of man. It is indeed a most solemn thing to live 
 in a world of probation, with an entire uncer- 
 tainty when that probation will close. To think 
 that heaven and hell are but a little before us, 
 and that our residence in one or the other of these 
 worlds forever is to be determined by us here, is 
 sufficient to make any rational, candid mind 
 thoughtful and serious. But yet this class of 
 persons are mistaken in the views they entertain 
 in regard to the means best adapted to secure an 
 end. It is true that the great object of life is to 
 prepare for eternity. But the question is, What 
 means are best adapted to secure the end ? Would 
 the mind be in a better state ; would the heart 
 be more holy ; would the gracious affections be 
 more lively ; would a person love and serve God 
 any better, by keeping the attention fixed with- 
 out any interruption on eternal things, and shut- 
 ting out from the mind everything like pleasure 
 or recreation? I think not. There is a class of 
 religionists who suppose that to serve God faith- 
 fully they must have nothing to do with this 
 
82 pastor's counsels to youxg christians. 
 
 world at all, — especially with anything pleasant. 
 Hence they lay aside everything that is adapted 
 to make them cheerful and happy, and retire to a 
 " cloister " or " nunnery," to spend, as they profess 
 to do, the whole of life in devotion. But that is 
 not the way God has ordained for us to serve and 
 glorify him. He created the mind, with all its 
 faculties, and established for it fixed laws ; and 
 these laws cannot be violated without injury to 
 the mental and moral constitution. God never 
 intended that the mind should be forever fixed 
 upon one object, or one class of objects. If this 
 had been his design, he would have constituted 
 the mind very differently from what he has, and 
 he would have placed it in very different circum- 
 stances. He would not have created those sus- 
 ceptibilities to pleasure from worldly good which 
 characterize every sentient being ; neither would 
 he have created such a world as this is, of so much 
 beauty and attractiveness, and so exactly adapted 
 in many of its features to engage the attention, 
 please the taste, and divert the thoughts. Why 
 do you suppose God made the flowers ? and why 
 so many of them, and in such rich variety ? and 
 why did he make them so beautiful in form, and 
 paint them with such exquisite delicacy and rich- 
 ness of hue, and perfume them so sweetly? Was 
 it not that they might attract the attention of man 
 and afford him pleasure, — in other words, to amuse 
 
AMUSEMENTS. 83 
 
 turn ? It was for the same reason he created the 
 birds of every variety of plumage, and set them 
 all to music, so that they fill the world with their 
 harmony. And so of animals, and insects, and 
 creeping things, and fishes, and the landscape. 
 Everything ?f God has made beautiful in his time. 5 ' 
 And why so beautiful? Why did he not make 
 grasses and shrubs without flowers ? Whv did he 
 not create all vegetation, and trees, and birds, and 
 beasts, and insects, of one uniform color, or 
 rather, of no color at all? Why did he diversify 
 the earth with such varied and delightful scenery ? 
 Why did he make morning light, breaking in the 
 east, so beautiful? and why did he deck the 
 western sky at evening with curtains of gold and 
 silver, and purple and crimson ? Recreation is a 
 divine institution. God has made it essential to 
 the happiness and highest development of every 
 order of sentient beings. Their nature demands 
 it. It is necessary both to their health and hap- 
 piness. We see this exemplified in the whole 
 animal creation. Look at the birds and the in- 
 sects, the fishes, and all the different varieties of 
 animals. They by no means employ the whole of 
 their time in seeking their food and the necessa- 
 ries of existence ; but a portion of every day is 
 spent in recreation. See the birds sporting 
 among the branches, or performing their graceful 
 evolutions in the air, the insects dancing in the 
 
84 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 sunbeams, the flocks and herds, and our various 
 domestic animals gamboling either alone or with 
 each other, — all acting out the nature God has 
 given them, in finding out some appropriate amuse- 
 ment. Deprive them of recreation, and they 
 "would cease to be happy ; they would lose their 
 vivacity, droop, and come to a premature end. 
 
 Recreation is as essential to man as it is to 
 other animals, and indeed more so. The body 
 needs it, and the mind especially needs it. The 
 mind is so constituted that* it must have it, or it 
 will be both weakened and distorted. Religion, 
 therefore, and the very highest type of religion, 
 does not forbid a relaxation or diversion of the 
 mind from severe studies, and things strictly 
 spiritual, to those of a lighter character ; in other 
 words, amusements. Amusements are proper for 
 all ages, and all classes of society; but at no 
 period of life are they so much demanded as in 
 childhood and youth. It has often been said that 
 "the young will have their amusements, and we 
 cannot help it if we try." This is all very true ; 
 they will have their amusements, and they 
 ought to have them, and we don't wish to w help 
 it." What we wish is, that they may have the 
 right kind of amusement, in right proportion, and 
 at the right time. It being conceded that man- 
 kind, and especially the young, need and must 
 have amusements, our attention is naturally di- 
 
AMUSEMENTS. 85 
 
 reeled to the inquiry, what kinds of amusement 
 and recreation — for amusement and recreation 
 mean nearly the same thing — are proper for ra- 
 tional and immortal beings? And here we find 
 a great diversity of opinion. Some would give a 
 very wide range, and permit those who want 
 amusement to find it in almost any employment or 
 pleasure which is not a downright, palpable viola- 
 tion of the express law of God. Others would 
 restrict amusements to so few, and so tame rec- 
 reations, that they might just about as well have 
 none at all. In regard to this subject, as well as 
 most others, truth, or propriety, lies between ex- 
 tremes. It would be well if we could find the 
 happy and safe medium, although it must be con- 
 fessed it is somewhat difficult to draw the line, 
 with perfect distinctness, between those amuse- 
 ments which are innocent and expedient, and 
 those wdiich are improper and injurious. 
 
 We can, however, without difficulty, lay down 
 some general principles, which I think will be a 
 sufficient guide in most cases in regard to our 
 choice of amusements, and the attention we should 
 give them. 
 
 1. Amusements must be interesting. This fol- 
 lows from the very object we have in view. To 
 get up something that has nothing in it to interest 
 or excite the mind, and call it li amusement," is to 
 misapply terms ; and it is wholly useless, so far as 
 the end contemplated is concerned. 
 
86 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 2. They should be healthful. We have no right 
 to trifle with our health, or do anything which we 
 have reason to believe will impair it, unless it be 
 something which is a positive duty. When duty 
 calls, we may leave our health in the keeping of 
 God, but it is tempting him to do so when we 
 have nothing in view but pleasure. 
 
 3. They should be of good, or at least not evil 
 tendency. They should not lead to dissipation, 
 nor extravagance, nor to a waste of time, nor to 
 unfit the mind for devotion. 
 
 4. They should be, as far practicable, improv- 
 ing. 
 
 5. They should be adapted to age, sex, and 
 circumstances. 
 
 6. They should be timely. There are seasons 
 when amusements which are in themselves per- 
 fectly innocent, would be entirely out of place 
 and positively sinful. Amusements would be, of 
 course, wrong on the Sabbath. And some kinds 
 of innocent amusement would be out of place in 
 time of revival, or in affliction, or in time of great 
 public calamity. 
 
 Attention to these general principles wdll very 
 much assist us in deciding what recreations are 
 proper at suitable times. Perhaps, however, 
 you would prefer that I should be a little more 
 specific, and mention some particular kinds of 
 amusements which may be regarded as proper or 
 improper. 
 
AMUSEMENTS. 87 
 
 Among the various kinds which may be regarded 
 as innocent and proper, I would mention orna- 
 mental gardening, drawing and painting, music 
 (vocal and instrumental) , reading (especially 
 history, travels, biography, and poetry). I would 
 not wholly proscribe works of fiction, although 
 the greatest care should be taken in making a 
 selection ; for a large proportion of the novels of 
 the present day are like confectionery flavored 
 with prussic acid, — a substance pleasant to the 
 taste, but one of the most deadly poisons. I 
 would add the study of botany, mineralogy, 
 geology, natural history of birds, beasts, fishes, 
 and insects ; the latter study aided by a micro- 
 scope. In these studies, pursued not as a task, 
 but simply as amusements, you will find a vast 
 storehouse of interest and pleasure, sometimes 
 extremely exciting. 
 
 For those who wish to combine exercise with 
 amusement, there are athletic sports for boys and 
 young men, such as gymnastic exercises, ball- 
 playing, and other similar games, which, if con- 
 ducted in kind feelings and with decorum, will 
 answer the double purpose of innocent pleasure 
 and exercise. 
 
 Young 1 ladies mav combine amusement with 
 healthful exercise in the modern and excellent 
 game of croquet with or without gentlemen 
 partners, in calisthenics , riding horseback, in bo- 
 
88 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 tanical excursions, ranging the fields and woods in 
 search of wild-flowers, and the cultivation of 
 flowers in the garden and conservatory. Within 
 doors there is a great variety of ways in which 
 they may amuse themselves and their friends, with 
 the needle, crayon, and in many varieties of fancy 
 and ornamental work, in which pleasure and utility 
 are united. 
 
 Occasional parties of pleasure, in which both 
 sexes participate, are both proper and desirable, 
 if conducted with decorum. A riding party, a 
 picnic party, a party for rambling in the green 
 fields or woods, or up mountain slopes, or through 
 flowery glades and dells, a party for sailing, fish- 
 ing, sleighing, or skating, — each and everyone 
 of these, enlivened by polite, intelligent, cheerful 
 conversation, may be innocently and profitably 
 enjoyed. Such assemblages of young people, at 
 proper times, are unobjectionable, unless suffered 
 to degenerate (as they sometimes do) into rude- 
 ness, levity, and folly. 
 
 A" great many innocent recreations might be 
 added to this list. I have mentioned these as 
 specimens of a class of amusements which may be 
 enjoyed at proper times and places, by young 
 people, and also by those of maturer years, with- 
 out sin. 
 
 In this connection I will specify a few popular 
 amusements belonging to the class of objectionable 
 
AMUSEMENTS. 89 
 
 pleasures and recreations, against which I would 
 put my young friends on their guard. 
 
 The first I would mention is theatrical amuse- 
 ments. There are persons who call themselves 
 respectable, who undertake to defend the theater;' 
 but I seldom have known a professed Christian 
 do so, or at least one who gave evidence of eminent 
 piety. It is asked, " What harm is there in the 
 stage, provided it is under good and wholesome 
 regulations ; and provided also, no plays are 
 acted but those of a good moral tendency ? " But 
 who, I ask in return, ever saw or ever heard of a 
 theater conducted on these principles ? There is 
 not a theater in the country, and probably not 
 one in the world, that would not become bankrupt 
 in six months, were it conducted on sound moral 
 and religious principles. The theater is, and ever 
 has been, and there is no doubt will ever be, a 
 school of vice of the worst kind, and is one of 
 Satan's grand devices to undermine the principles 
 of youth, and ripen them for perdition. In order 
 to sustain itself, it finds it necessary to pander to 
 the worst passions of our depraved nature, and 
 the moment it ceases to do so, that moment it 
 begins to lose patronage, and it ceases to pay. 
 Besides the immoral tendency of many of its plays, 
 it must have its immodest daughters of Herodias, 
 its drinking saloons, and its third tier. A theater 
 such as it should be, never existed (certainly not 
 
90 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 for any length of time) , and never will exist, ex- 
 cept in the imagination. Repeated attempts have 
 been made to reform the theater. Reform "Pande- 
 monium ! " Few things have done more to cor- 
 rupt the principles of youth than the theater and 
 its appendages. I would therefore caution you, 
 my young friends, to shun its doors. It would be 
 far better to have no amusement, than such as the 
 modern playhouse would give you. It is very 
 common for persons from the country, when they 
 visit New York, Boston, or any other large city, 
 especially for the first time, to go to the theater ; 
 and this is sometimes done by Christians who 
 would blush to have it known at home that they had 
 done so. They say to themselves, "It is only for 
 once ; I am a stranger here, and my influence is 
 nothing, and I wish to see and judge for myself; 
 nobody will ever know it." On the same principle 
 might they visit the lowest sinks of vice in the 
 city. It is by persons from the country that the 
 theater is in a great measure supported. It is 
 said by those best acquainted, that there is not a 
 theatrical establishment in New York or Boston 
 but would go down, were it not for country 
 patronage. Remember, my young friends, that the 
 eye of God is upon you, abroad as well as at home, 
 and whenever the devil tempts you to do anything 
 wrong, and suggests to you that "you are a 
 stranger, and it will never be known," remember 
 
AMUSEMENTS. 91 
 
 that the time is coming when every " hidden thing 
 shall be brought to light," and what is done in 
 secret w shall be proclaimed upon the house-tops." 
 Another popular amusement, less objectionable, 
 but still inexpedient, in the opinion of most good 
 Christians, and productive of evil, is the amuse- 
 ment of the ball-room or dancing party. Much 
 has been said in favor of dancing, as beins: an in- 
 nocent, healthful exercise. "If it is not wrong 
 to run and jump for sport, and for exercise, what 
 harm," it is asked, "is there in stepping to music?" 
 I answer, in itself there is none at all. To danc- 
 ing, as a home amusement and exercise among 
 children and youth, if it could be confined there, 
 there would be no objection, If this amusement 
 could be put under bonds to occupy its proper 
 time and place, I would give it my hearty ap- 
 proval. But it is very impatient of restraint. 
 Experience has proved — whether it can be ac- 
 counted for or not— that dancing in promiscuous 
 assemblies, where people meet together for this 
 express purpose, is one of the most exciting, 
 fascinating, absorbing pleasures ever invented ; 
 and that its influence upon those who engage in it is 
 often decidedly injurious. There are some things 
 which we must judge of by the effects they pro- 
 duce, rather than by a process of reasoning upon 
 their nature : and dancing is one. As I said 
 before, if dancing could be confined to the do- 
 
92 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 mestic circle at home, under the parental eye, I 
 should have nothing to say against it, but would 
 class it with other innocent youthful sports. But, 
 is it not almost invariably true, that when young 
 people turn their attention to dancing, and learn 
 the art, they are seldom content to practise it as a 
 home exercise for an hour or two, but they must 
 get up dancing parties and balls? These are as 
 exciting as the intoxicating gas. The influence 
 of the ball-room is exceedingly pernicious. It 
 leads to extravagance in dress, and consequently 
 to fostering the passions of envy, pride, and 
 vanity. It leads to keeping late hours ; and, by 
 producing an unnatural exhilaration of spirits, the 
 bodily powers are overtaxed, the health is much 
 exposed, and not unfrequently the constitution is 
 undermined, and many a lovely youth is hurried 
 to a premature grave ! When persons begin to in- 
 dulge in the fascinating amusement of the dancing 
 assembly, they enter a course which will probably 
 end in a round of dissipation. The mind becomes 
 almost entirely absorbed in the pleasure. It 
 dwells upon it to the exclusion of almost every- 
 thing else, both before and afterward. Every 
 thought of God, and eternity, and the interests of 
 the soul, is banished ; and the mind is in as un- 
 suitable a state to pray, and hold communion with 
 God, as it can well be. 
 
 This is almost the invariable testimony of those 
 
AMUSEMENTS. 93 
 
 Christians who, m the days of their vanity, yielded 
 themselves up to the influence of this intoxicating 
 pleasure. 
 
 While, therefore, it is conceded that, in itself 
 considered, there is nothing sinful in stepping to 
 music, yet, when we consider the effect of ^dancing 
 on the mind, its liability to abuse, and the evils to 
 which it naturally and generally leads, must we 
 not put it down on the list of objectionable, or at 
 least doubtful amusements? 
 
 As for the waltz, or " round-dance " between the 
 sexes, it is lit only for, and leads to, the house 
 "of her whose feet go down to death, and whose 
 steps take hold on hell." 
 
 Card-playing is another species of objectionable 
 amusement. To play any kind of game for a 
 stake — in other words, to practise gambling — is 
 obviously so inconsistent with Christian principle, 
 that a word need not be said to convince you of 
 the impropriety and sinfulness of it. But to play 
 cards and other games for diversion merely, is 
 thought by many to be unobjectionable. There 
 are many games got up to interest and instruct 
 children and young people which are innocent and 
 proper ; but among these " card-playing ? ' is not 
 to be classed ; and the reason w^hy cards are to be 
 excepted is, their evil tendency. Card-playing is 
 a stepping-stone to gambling ; cards are the chief 
 tools the gamester uses ; and whoever gets in the 
 
94 pastok's counsels to young christians. 
 
 habit of using these tools in sport, will be very 
 likely to use them, ere long, in earnest. There 
 is, in the playing of cards, no mental discipline and 
 no instruction, although there is a very dangerous 
 fascination. It leads to a great waste of time, 
 it produces an unhealthy mental excitement, 
 leads to the keeping of unseasonable hours, and 
 tends to dissipation generally. It is the tendency 
 of this amusement, as learned by its history, which 
 leads us to distinguish it from many innocent games 
 — such as chess, draughts, dominos, etc., — and to 
 discard it as improper for Christians to indulge in. 
 It was once regarded a crime to have a pack of 
 playing-cards in the house, and it was punished 
 as such by the laws of the State of Connecticut. 
 I might proceed and specify other amusements 
 which might be placed in this category ; but I 
 would say, generally, that you should discard every 
 amusement which you have reason to believe, from 
 observation or experience, has an injurious effect 
 upon the body, the intellect, or the heart. I shall 
 close with a few practical considerations. 
 
 1. Amusements, if properly selected, although 
 innocent and desirable, should ever hold a subordi- 
 nate place. The great object and end of life is, 
 not to be amused, but to be useful, glorify God, 
 and prepare for eternity. Hence your worldly 
 pleasures and recreations should occupy but a 
 very small proportion of your precious time. 
 
AMUSEMENTS. 95 
 
 They will look very small when you come to lie 
 down upon the bed of death, and smaller still when 
 you look back upon them from the eternal world. 
 You should, therefore, keep them within narrow 
 limits, and give them no more of your time and 
 attention than properly belongs to them. The 
 heart should not be set upon them, and you should 
 never for a moment permit them to come between 
 you and the duties which you owe to God and 
 your fellow-man. 
 
 2. You should lay it down as a safe practical 
 rule, applicable at all times and in all circum- 
 stances, never to do anything which you cannot 
 pray over and ask God's blessing upon. This 
 may serve as a test to enable you to judge whether 
 a proposed recreation is sinful or not: "GanI, 
 without doing violence to my conscience, ask 
 God's blessing upon this?" If not, then you may 
 be pretty sure that it is wrong, and should be 
 rejected. 
 
 3. You should often examine yourselves to see 
 what effect your amusements produce upon your 
 Christian character and feelings. Do they serve 
 to increase your love to God, and excite a warmer 
 love and gratitude to him for strewing so many 
 flowers in your rugged pathway through this 
 world to heaven, and do they quicken and enliven 
 your devotions, and render vour religious duties 
 more pleasant? Or do they serve to withdraw 
 
96 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 your hearts from God and heavenly things, 
 hinder you in prayer, and give you a disrelish for 
 the duties of the closet? If the former, then con- 
 tinue to enjoy them as the gifts of your Heavenly 
 Father, and designed to do you good ; but if the 
 latter, then beware of them, lest they prove snares 
 laid by the devil to entrap your feet and keep you 
 out of heaven. It is possible that some amuse- 
 ments, lawful in themselves, may be unlawful to 
 you, on account of your peculiar temperament. 
 If so, discard them at once and forever. 
 
INTELLECTUAL IMPROVEMENT. 97 
 
 CHAPTER Yin. 
 Intellectual Improvement, 
 
 Apply tliine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the 
 words of knowledge. — Prov. 23: 12, 
 
 I ADDRESS you in this chapter, niy young 
 friends, on a most important subject, and one 
 intimately connected with your happiness, re- 
 spectability, and usefulness : and that is, the cul- 
 tivation and improvement of the mind. It is a 
 subject r-eceiving more attention now in our 
 country, and in the world, than in any previous 
 time since the world was created. We live in an 
 age of colleges, schools, books, periodicals, and 
 newspapers ; an age of discoveries in science, and 
 of improvement in the arts. Formerly, knowl- 
 edge was hidden from the masses ; and if a man 
 had ambition to know anything beyond what per- 
 tained to the most common affairs and necessities 
 of life, it required a great deal of time, labor, and 
 expense, to learn even a very little. But in our 
 times, facilities for acquiring useful information are 
 multiplied almost without measure. Knowledge, 
 instead of being concealed, except from a favored 
 
98 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 few, and acquired by them at very great disadvan- 
 tage, is brought out from its seclusion, and courts 
 attention. It now visits every man's door and 
 asks admittance. Hence, in our times, there is no 
 excuse for ignorance. Although some enjoy much 
 greater facilities for acquiring knowledge and im- 
 proving their minds than others, yet there is no 
 person, however obscure his situation, and limited 
 his pecuniary resources, who cannot obtain a re- 
 spectable fund of useful information, and who 
 cannot every day make some improvement. But 
 it is nevertheless true, that multitudes of people, 
 even now, do not realize nor appreciate as they 
 ought, the privileges they enjoy ; or rather they do 
 not appreciate the importance of mental culture. 
 Their views of education, its end and object, are 
 extremely limited. They think it important that 
 persons should be able to read and write intel- 
 ligibly enough at least to sign their names to 
 notes and deeds, and to read the signatures of 
 others ; to be sufficiently versed in geography to 
 find their way to the nearest market-town and 
 back again ; to understand enough of mathemat- 
 ics to compute the amount their produce comes 
 to, and to count the dollars and cents they re- 
 ceive for it. So far as learning can be turned to 
 any account in making money, they approve of it 
 and acquire it, but no farther. This, in their view, 
 is the sole value of education, and the only end 
 
INTELLECTUAL IMPROVEMENT. 99 
 
 for which it should be obtained. With such views, 
 no wonder they do not avail themselves of the 
 abundant means which lie within their reach for 
 mental improvement. Such persons take a very 
 low. groveling view of their own nature and des- 
 tiny. Just as if the great end of man's existence 
 was to get and keep money ! or. as Bunyan illus- 
 trates it. "to spend the whole of life in gathering 
 rubbish with a muck-rake ! " My young friends. I 
 hope you will remember that this was not the 
 object for which God made you. He would not 
 have created your minds, with all the capabilities 
 for enlargement and refinement they possess, if 
 he designed them to be forever employed about 
 trifles. He designed that your minds should be 
 improved, enlarged, and elevated by intelligence. 
 The mind is like a precious gem. which in its natu- 
 ral state is rough, and sometimes gives no indica- 
 tion of the transcendent beauties that lie concealed 
 within it. Give it to a person ignorant of its 
 nature and its hidden virtues, and he would look 
 upon it as nothing worth ; and he would cast it 
 carelessly away, as he would a common pebble. 
 But give it to a lapidary, and he will grind off 
 its dull surface, and by long, faithful labor in 
 rubbing, cutting, and polishing, will cause it to 
 develop a sparkling brilliancy, astonishing to the 
 beholder. Just so* it is with the mind : if uncul- 
 tivated and left in its natural state, as among the 
 
100 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 Hottentots and the inhabitants of the South Seas, 
 its powers and capabilities are unseen and not 
 appreciated ; and so far as appearances are con- 
 cerned, it is not very much elevated above the 
 most intelligent of the brute creation. But 
 educate that mind, place it in favorable circum- 
 stances for development, rouse it up to action, 
 stimulate it, give it suitable nourishment, bring it 
 to think, reason, reflect, compare, read, and study, 
 and its dormant powers and capabilities will be 
 brought to light, so that a person will often be 
 astonished at himself. To each one of you, my 
 young friends, God has entrusted such a gem. 
 He does not expect you to throw it away, or to 
 let it remain as he gave it you, in its rough, un- 
 polished state ; but he designs to have you bestow 
 a great deal of labor upon it, — polish it, and 
 develop all its latent beauties. Your minds are 
 talents which he has given you to improve ; and 
 he expects these talents to " gain other talents be- 
 sides them, 5 ' and he bids you to " occupy till he 
 comes." Every day that passes over your heads 
 should be a day of mental improvement. Your 
 minds should be enlarged, and you should know 
 more in the evening than you did in the morning. 
 If you add only a little to jomv stock of knowl- 
 edge every day, and retain it, at the end of the 
 year you will be astonished at the amount you 
 have acquired. Many persons, with small advan- 
 
IXTELLECTUAL IMPROVEMENT. 101 
 
 tages for attending school, by pursuing this course 
 have acquired far more useful knowledge, and ob- 
 tained a better education for all practical purposes, 
 than multitudes who have been through college. 
 
 Feeling it to be far more important for you. my 
 young friends, to improve your minds, than to 
 learn how to make money, I propose to give some 
 directions, attention to which cannot fail, I think, 
 to result in your intellectual improvement. 
 
 1. In the first place, you must be deeply im- 
 pressed with a sense of its importance. Persons 
 will never make any great effort to obtain what 
 they regard as of but little comparative conse- 
 quence. Think of what you are ; of the noble 
 powers and faculties with which God has en- 
 dowed you. Surely you were created for higher 
 and nobler objects, than to enjoy the pleasures of 
 sense, and grovel about here in the dirt, to see 
 how much of it you can heap up and call it 
 " wealth/' The man who devotes his energies to the 
 accumulation of this world, in any of its forms, 
 rather than to the improvement of his mind, and 
 to the acquisition of knowledge, is to be pitied. 
 He acts unworthy of himself, and of the exalted 
 nature God has given him. Solomon says a 
 great deal on this subject. When comparing 
 mental and worldly acquisitions, he says. "Wis- 
 dom is the principal thing, therefore, with all thy 
 ^ettino's, get understandinov' ''Receive mv in- 
 
102 pastok's counsels to youxg christians. 
 
 structiou, and not silver, and knowledge rather 
 than choice gold. " "Apply thine heart unto in- 
 struction, and thine ears to the words of knowl- 
 edge. Buy the truth and sell it not ; also wis- 
 dom and instruction and understanding." 
 
 Job says, "Where shall wisdom be found? and 
 where is the place of understanding? man know- 
 eth not the price thereof, neither is it found in 
 the land of the living. The depth saith, f it is not 
 in me', and the sea saith, ? it is not with me.' It 
 cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be 
 weighed for the price thereof. It cannot be val- 
 ued with the gold of Ophir, w r ith the precious 
 onyx, or the sapphire. The gold and the crystal 
 cannot equal it, and the exchange of it shall not 
 be for jewels of fine gold. No mention shall be 
 made of coral, or of pearls ; for the price of wis- 
 dom is above rubies. The topaz of Ethiopia shall 
 not equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure 
 gold." You see by these passages, my young 
 friends, how much greater value the sacred writ- 
 ers placed upon the attainments of the mind, than 
 upon all the riches of this w r orld. And yet, how 
 many will sacrifice all the treasures of wisdom and 
 knowledge, to get money ! Be yours a higher 
 aim. Feel that the mind must have your first 
 attention, and that earthly riches are purchased at 
 too dear a rate if mental improvement is to be 
 the price paid for them. 
 
INTELLECTUAL IMPROVEMENT. 103 
 
 2. Be determined' that you will make some- 
 thing in the world worthy of intellectual beings. 
 Do not content yourselves with a reputation 
 merely for skill, enterprise, and thrift in the in- 
 dustrial occupation you may have selected for 
 life. There are multitudes of persons who have 
 no greater ambition than to have it said of them, 
 that they are good farmers, good mechanics, or 
 good merchants, or good housekeepers. Let 
 your aspirations be higher than this. It is very 
 well to have a good reputation for business, but 
 much better if you can add to it superior intelli- 
 gence. I wish you to be known, in whatever cir- 
 cle you may move, as persons of information, — 
 of reading, thought, and reflection. Determine 
 that you will rise above the dead level with which 
 so many are content. It is possible for you to 
 rise much higher, in point of intelligence, than 
 you ever thought of attaining. Perhaps you may 
 reply, r 'If I had the advantages that some have 
 of going to school or college, I then might hope 
 to make something ; but with my limited advan- 
 tages it's of no use to try." Let me tell j-ou, my 
 friends, this is a very great mistake. It is not 
 going to school, or to college, that makes a man; 
 but a resolute, inflexible, persevering determina- 
 tion that he will become so, let his advantages be 
 what they may. Colleges and schools are of in- 
 estimable value, and I would have you all, both 
 
104 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 male and female, avail yourselves of their aid, if 
 in your power, and circumstances will allow. 
 Seminaries of learning are great auxiliaries in cul- 
 tivating the mind ; but a persistent, indomitable 
 purpose to rise in the world at any rate, is worth 
 more than they all. Try to make something, and 
 you will. It has been very wisely said, " c I can't ' 
 never accomplished anything, but f I will try' has 
 wrought wonders." To nothing is this saying 
 more applicable than to the cultivation of the 
 mind. How many men have risen to eminence, 
 even in the sciences and the professions, with 
 scarcely any external advantages at all, simply 
 because they determined they would do so. Such 
 are called "self-made men." Benjamin Franklin 
 was one of them, and so was Roger Sherman, and 
 so was Abraham Lincoln. They had very few 
 advantages for going to school. One was a 
 printer, another a shoemaker, and the other an 
 uncultivated backwoodsman. And yet, by their 
 own efforts, they rose to great eminence, and left 
 their names inscribed upon the scroll of their na- 
 tion's history ; and there they will remain, in 
 characters of light, till time shall be no more. 
 
 What should hinder some of you from becoming 
 like one of them, unless it be indolence or irres- 
 olution? There have been thousands of men, 
 whose native talents were as good as theirs, who 
 haye lived and died in ignorance and obscurity, 
 
INTELLECTUAL IMPROVEMENT. 105 
 
 only for the want of their resolution and self- 
 application. Remember the adage, "What has 
 been done, may be done again." If Franklin 
 became a great, wise, and learned man, with but 
 few school advantages, — if Roger Sherman rose 
 from the shoemaker's bench to the bench of the 
 Supreme Court, and then to a seat in Congress, — 
 if Abraham Lincoln rose from the position o± a 
 boatman on the Western rivers, or a "splitter vf 
 rails " in an Illinois forest, to the Presidential 
 chair, why may not you rise to eminence in some 
 sphere, provided you will adopt their resolution, 
 diligence, and patient perseverance? 
 
 3. Appropriate some portion of every day to 
 mental improvement. Perhaps some of you may 
 say that "you are so circumstanced, and your 
 time so much taken up, that it cannot be done." 
 Yes, it can. I do not believe there is one person 
 in ten thousand who cannot, by extra care and 
 diligence, redeem a few moments each day both 
 for devotion, and the cultivation of the mind. If 
 it be only five or ten minutes, those, if faithfully 
 improved, will enable you, in a course of years, 
 to add a vast amount to your stock of knowledge. 
 Always have on hand some useful book for read- 
 ing or study. Some of you, probably most of 
 you, have completed your education at school; 
 but that is no reason why you should throw aside 
 your school-books. A few moments devoted to 
 
106 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 looking over, and reviewing your former studies, 
 will be of incalculable value to you. You will 
 be much better able to understand and apply 
 your studies now, than w T hen you attended to 
 them as tasks. By looking over a page or half 
 a page, in the morning, of your geography, or 
 natural philosophy, or astronomy, or rhetoric, or 
 mental philosophy, or even a rule or two of 
 grammar or arithmetic, you will have material 
 for thought while your hands are busily em- 
 ployed at work. Our minds are always busy, 
 and it is not necessary that they should be 
 wholly engrossed by our manual employment, 
 unless our work should happen to be very in- 
 tricate and difficult. The farmer, when wielding 
 his hoe or axe, or holding his plough ; the me- 
 chanic and artisan when using their tools ; the 
 lady when plying her needle, may often, without 
 detriment to their work, employ their thoughts 
 on other subjects. And I believe they generally 
 do. Now, instead of letting the mind wander at 
 random to this thing or that, or upon frivolous 
 or unprofitable themes, let it dwell upon some- 
 thing that you read in the morning, — some prin- 
 ciple in natural philosophy or mathematics, some 
 fact in natural science, geography, or history, 
 and it will soon become interested ; and some- 
 times a new train of thought will be struck out, 
 which, if prosecuted, may result in the discovery 
 
INTELLECTUAL IMPROVEMENT. 107 
 
 of new truths or some new invention to bless 
 the world. Most of the improvements in the 
 arts, and the most valuable inventions, have been 
 thought out by practical men when engaged in 
 their work. But they w r ould never have had 
 these trains of thought, and would never have 
 made these improvements had they not laid the 
 foundation for them in their habits of daily read- 
 ing and study. In addition to an occasional 
 review of the books you studied in school, you 
 may enlarge your ideas and expand the mind by 
 a course of general reading. Instead of spend- 
 ing your leisure time, as too many young people 
 do, in reading novels and newspaper tales, many 
 of which tend to enervate and often to poison the 
 mind, read something that w T ill acid to the treas- 
 ures of your store-house of knowledge, and 
 strengthen the powers of the intellect. To this 
 end I would advise you to a course of reading. 
 I spoke of reading in the preceding chapter as 
 an amusement. I now speak of it as a duty — a 
 means of mental improvement as well. History 
 especially should claim your attention. You 
 should of course be familiar with the historical 
 events of our own State and country. Ignorance 
 here is inexcusable in anybody. 
 
 Reading the history of England should follow 
 that of our own country, for that is the land of 
 our ancestors ; and then the history of the other 
 
108 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 nations of Europe. It is not to be expected that 
 you will read all the larger works of modern 
 history ; but there are excellent compendiums 
 which will o^ive vou a o-eneral knowledge of the 
 rise and progress of all the civilized nations of 
 the earth. 
 
 Ancient history should be perused, particularly 
 the compendium of Rollin, where you will find 
 much in a little space. I would also advise you 
 to make yourselves familiar with ecclesiastical 
 history, and by all means read D'Aubigne's His- 
 tory of the Reformation. 
 
 It would be useful to you to read the biogra- 
 phies of Washington, Franklin, Brainerd, Henry 
 Martyn, Legh Richmond, Henry Kirke White, 
 William Wirt, James B. Taylor, and a host of 
 others that might be mentioned. It is extremely 
 improving to the mind as well as the heart to pe- 
 ruse the lives of great and good men, for we can 
 hardly help being inspired with a desire to imi- 
 tate their example, and to emulate their virtues. 
 
 But I will not detain you longer on the subject 
 of reading. I would say, generally, if you would 
 improve, always have on hand a useful book, and 
 read at least a page or two in it every day. You 
 can do it if you only think so. 
 
 4. In the fourth place, I would advise all my 
 young friends to be in the habit invariably of 
 putting the inquiry to themselves every even- 
 
INTELLECTUAL IMPROVEMENT. 109 
 
 ing, ff What have I learned that is new or useful 
 to-day?" "What do I know this evening that I 
 did not know in the morning ? " There need not 
 be, and there ought not to be, a day allowed to pass 
 over your heads without your obtaining at least 
 one new, useful idea. Some days you may ob- 
 tain a number. Now it would be well for you 
 to bring yourselves to the test every evening by 
 putting the inquiry, " What new fact, new truth, 
 new principle have I learned to-day ? " This 
 practice will give definiteness and shape to what 
 you may have learned, and will be a monitor to 
 reprove you if you have learned nothing. I was 
 once acquainted with an excellent boarding-school 
 where, at the supper-table, each young lady was 
 required to state at least one useful thing site 
 knew which she did not know in the morning. 
 
 I would advise you still further, to keep a blank 
 book, and write down that new idea, or new fact 
 which you acquired during the day, and then 
 you will make sure of it. If you are faithful in 
 carrying out this plan, you will find your book 
 rapidly growing in your hands, and in a little 
 time you will find it a most valuable repository of 
 useful knowledge, and that knovvdedge will be 
 all your own. It will be incorporated into your 
 very being, and become as it were a part of your- 
 self, and it will, during your lifetime, and when 
 you are dead and gone, be a perpetual memento 
 of your good judgment and industry. 
 
110 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 5. Ill the fifth place I would say, if you would 
 improve your minds, always have your eyes and 
 ears open to notice whatever is useful or interesting 
 in the world around you, and then think about it, 
 and reason about it, and get all the information 
 you can pertaining to it. 
 
 Take every proper opportunity to converse on 
 subjects of interest and importance, and espe- 
 cially to ask questions of those whose knowledge 
 is superior to your own. By conversation and 
 comparing views, you will be able often to mutu- 
 ally edify and instruct each other. 
 
 6. Lastly, there is nothing so well calculated to 
 improve and enlarge the mind as the study of God 
 and his works. Here is a field of thought vast 
 as immensity. The powers of an angel can never 
 fully explore it. We can never comprehend the 
 Divine Being ; yet by diligent study and prayer, 
 we may learn much that pertains to his being 
 and his character, and every new discovery we 
 make of him, tends to improve both the heart 
 and the intellect. How great is God ! and how 
 great are his works ! Everything about him is 
 infinite, and although infinity is entirely past our 
 comprehension, yet a contemplation of it cannot 
 fail to raise the mind from trifles, and to make an 
 effort to reach forward and try to grasp at some- 
 thing beyond itself, great and elevated. Every 
 attempt of the kind serves to quicken the mind 
 
INTELLECTUAL IMPROVEMENT. Ill 
 
 to activity, and to strengthen and enlarge its 
 powers. 
 
 I have given you a brief outline, my young 
 friends, of a method by which you may make 
 daily improvement as intellectual beings. Much 
 more might be said on this subject ; but if you 
 will only put faithfully in practice the few hints 
 I have given, you will soon find yourselves rising 
 in the scale of intelligence ; you will be able to 
 investigate and comprehend subjects which now 
 appear to you dark and inexplicable ; you will 
 find an enjoyment in intellectual pursuits far 
 superior to making money; you will be re- 
 spected in society ; you will enjoy far greater 
 facilities for doing good, and you will prepare 
 for a tranquil and happy old age. 
 
112 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 CHAPTEK IX. 
 
 Study of the Bible 
 
 Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By 
 taking heed thereto according to thy word. — Ps. 119 : 9. 
 
 THESE words imply that it is not an easy mat- 
 ter for the young to get through the world 
 without being corrupted and led astray. The 
 Psalmist undoubtedly spoke from experience. 
 David was pious when very young. He was but 
 a stripling when he fought and slew Goliath ; but 
 he seems then to have made great attainments in 
 piety, for he talks like an old hero who had long 
 held familiar intercourse with God. He also 
 refers back to his more youthful experience, when 
 he had placed his confidence in God, and God had 
 delivered him from the paw of the lion and the 
 bear. But still, David had a depraved heart, like 
 all other young men, and was no doubt often 
 betrayed into sin. In another place he prays God 
 "not to remember against him the sins of his 
 youth." He found it no easy matter to resist all 
 the temptations by which he was assailed, and to 
 make his way through them unscathed. Hence 
 
STUDY OF THE BIBLE. 113 
 
 he inquires, w TThere withal shall a young man 
 cleanse his way ? " How shall he make his way 
 
 through this sinful, corrupt world without being 
 polluted? He himself answers the question in 
 the second clause of the verse. He is to cleanse 
 his way "by talcing heed thereto according to God's 
 word." God's truth is to be his guide. If the 
 young man will be careful to consult that, and 
 square his life according to its heavenly teachings, 
 then he may go on securely and not fear contam- 
 ination. 
 
 David expressed an important truth, applicable 
 to youth of both sexes : they can cleanse their 
 way. and walk securely the slippery paths they are 
 called to tread, only by consulting the Bible, and 
 taking it as a "lamp unto their feet, and a light 
 unto their path.*' 
 
 The subject which I propose for your consider- 
 ation in this chapter, my young friends, is the 
 importance to you of an intimate acquaintance 
 with the sacred scriptures, and of taking the Bible 
 as your guide through life. From your infancy you 
 have been taught to read the Bible, and to revere 
 it as the word of God. You have in this volume 
 a treasure above all price. It is worth more to 
 you, ten thousand times, than all the treasures of 
 earth put together ; and yet I apprehend you do 
 not fully appreciate it, for there are few persons 
 who do ; and there is danger, not that you will 
 
114 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 totally neglect it, — for I can hardly conceive that 
 possible if you are real Christians, — but that you 
 will undervalue it, and will read and study it 
 much less than you ought. Suffer me, then, to 
 present unto you some of the claims of the Bible 
 upon your attention. 
 
 The Bible is a most remarkable book. To the 
 mere scholar it is the most interesting and 
 instructive book ever written. Its antiquity far 
 exceeds that of any other composition whatever. 
 It contains the only authentic account of the 
 history of our race. As a mere book of history 
 it infinitely surpasses in interest any other; it is, 
 in fact, a clew to all other history, and the only 
 ancient history that can be implicitly relied on. 
 As a literary work it is unrivaled by the most 
 learned and elaborate productions, either of 
 ancient or modern times. There was no poetry 
 ever written that will compare in beauty and sub- 
 limity with the hallowed inspirations of David, 
 Isaiah, Job, and others. It is necessary only for 
 the man of letters and of taste, whether he be a 
 Christian or an infidel, to compare, with candor 
 and impartiality, the Bible with the most cel- 
 ebrated of all other writings, in respect to purity 
 of style, simplicity, elevation of sentiment, 
 poetic imagery, grandeur and sublimity of con- 
 ception, disinterestedness and benevolent ten- 
 dency, and moral excellence, and he cannot fail to 
 
STUDY OF THE BIBLE. 115 
 
 give the scriptures the decided preference, and 
 every man of candor will acknowledge it. The 
 above is the testimony of Sir William Jones, one of 
 England's most distinguished Christian scholars of 
 the eighteenth century. But it is on account of 
 its divine authority that the Bible presents the 
 strongest claim to j^our attention. The Bible is 
 no human composition ; it had its origin in heaven 
 and was dictated by God. It was written by men 
 under the special, immediate inspection, guidance, 
 and control of the Holy Spirit, so that it comes to 
 us with all the authority with which a message 
 would be clothed written by the finger of God 
 himself; and when we read the sacred scriptures, 
 we should ever feel and realize that God is speak- 
 ing to us, as truly, as emphatically, and as author- 
 itatively, as if he were to meet us face to face, 
 and address us by an audible voice. 
 
 This book has a claim upon your attention on 
 account of the important and interesting revela- 
 tions it makes of a future state, and the spirit 
 world. Without the Bible, all our knowledge of 
 the immortality of the soul, and of another 
 world, to which the spirit goes at death, would be 
 vague and indefinite. The most that the light of 
 nature teaches on this subject is at best only a 
 probable conjecture. There is implanted in the 
 breasts of all men a desire for immortality ; but 
 this desire cannot be regarded as very decisive or 
 
116 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 satisfactory proof of the doctrine. There has 
 also been a very general belief among all nations, 
 that there is to be another life ; but this does not 
 constitute reliable evidence. Analogies are drawn 
 from the natural world to prove the resurrection 
 and a future state ; but these analogies teach us 
 nothing positive, — they only serve to inspire a 
 pleasing hope, by showing that such a belief is not 
 irrational. The Bible alone draws aside the cur- 
 tain, and permits us to see what there is beyond it. 
 It solves the great question, "If a man die shall he 
 live again?" It brings "life and immortality to 
 light" in the gospel of Jesus Christ. It contains 
 the history of him who is himself "the resurrec- 
 tion and the life," and has become "the first fruits 
 of them that slept " ; so that now all doubt is 
 dissipated. Man is no longer left to conjecture 
 as to the fact of a spiritual state. It has been 
 demonstrated by the resurrection of Christ. 
 This is the important hinge on which the whole 
 of this doctrine turns. If Christ had not risen, 
 the world would have gone on in darkness, doubt, 
 and ignorance as before ; but that Christ rose, we 
 have the most full, satisfactory, and convincing 
 and well-substantiated account in the New Testa- 
 ment, and in his resurrection we have a sure 
 pledge of our own. 
 
 The Bible has a claim upon your attention from 
 the circumstance that it contains God's law to man. 
 
STUDY OF THE BIBLE. 117 
 
 — the rule by which our conduct is to be gov- 
 erned in all the relations and circumstances of life. 
 God has written his law upon the works of 
 nature, but not with great minuteness, and not 
 always with sufficient distinctness to enable us 
 fully to understand and apply it. In the Bible, 
 he has republished that law with great perspi- 
 cuity and precision, so that " he who runs may read 
 it, and a wayfaring man though a fool, need not 
 err therein." He has here carefully delineated 
 our duties to him, to our fellow-men, and to our- 
 selves, so that now none need be in serious doubt 
 in regard to any important duty. It was this law 
 which so much delighted the pious David, the ex- 
 cellency of which he sung in such varied and 
 beautiful strains in the 119th Psalm. "I will speak 
 of thy testimonies," says he, "before kings, and 
 will not be ashamed. And I will delight myself 
 in thy commandments, which I have loved. My 
 hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments 
 which I have loved, and I will meditate in thy 
 statutes. Thy testimonies have I taken as a heri- 
 tage forever, for they are the rejoicing of my 
 heart." To this law God will hold us to a strict 
 account, and by it are we to be judged in the day 
 of final reckoning. This is that by which "a 
 young man" is to "cleanse his way." It is our 
 sure guide, and our only sure guide through all 
 the dangerous, deceitful paths of human life. 
 
118 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 The Bible has a claim upon your attention be- 
 cause of the light it sheds upon the destiny of man. 
 I have already said that the Bible teaches man's 
 immortality, — that there is a life beyond the grave. 
 It goes further, and instructs us what that life is to 
 be. It lays open to our view the future world, and 
 discloses to us infinite eternal joys, which will be 
 the blessed inheritance of those who keep the 
 commandments of God; and also the darkness, 
 despair, and woes unutterable which will be the 
 dreadful portion of those who know not God, and 
 obey not his laws. It paints for our inspection, 
 in the most glowing colors, the beauties of the 
 New Jerusalem, the city of our God, filled with 
 delights, and adorned as a bride is adorned for 
 her husband. This city is the dwelling-place of 
 God, and is to be the eternal dwelling-place of all 
 his children. It is where the Godhead unveils 
 himself, and reveals his glories to the admiring 
 view of all his delighted worshipers. We 
 should know but little, indeed we should know 
 nothing about heaven, were it not for the reve- 
 lations made of it by the sacred scriptures. This 
 book uncovers also the bottomless pit, and per- 
 mits us to hear the weeping and wailing which 
 come up from thence, and discloses to our view 
 the fire, and the worm, and the blackness of dark- 
 ness, and the w smoke of torment which ascendeth 
 up forever and ever ! " One or the other of these 
 
STUDY OF THE BIBLE. 119 
 
 worlds, the Bible teaches us, is to be the final des- 
 tiny of us all. The soul, the immortality of which 
 it brings to view, is to be rendered happy in the 
 unspeakable joys of heaven, or it is to be ren- 
 dered infinitely and eternally miserable in the 
 world of woe ! Surely a book must be deserving 
 of our attention which treats of such themes, and 
 opens to us such scenes in the future. 
 
 The Bible has a claim upon your attention be- 
 cause it points the way that leads to heaven. It 
 reveals the natural character of man as a sinner, 
 and the relations he sustains to God, wiiom he has 
 offended, and whose laws he has broken. We 
 are all "by nature children of wrath," and are 
 justly exposed to that doom which is so vividly 
 described in the scriptures, as the portion of the 
 wicked. A way has been provided for our for- 
 giveness. Christ has interposed in our behalf. 
 He has become our Mediator. He has shed his 
 blood to wash away our sins and reconcile us to 
 God; and he is now our Advocate on high. He 
 invites us to come to him, with assurances of our re- 
 ceiving pardon and eternal life. God can be just, 
 and yet merciful through Christ ; and in this way 
 alone. For Jesus' sake he will remember our 
 iniquities no more, and blot them out of his book. 
 He will remit to us the penalty of his law which 
 we had incurred, transfer our names to the book 
 of life, and grant us a title to the heavenly inher- 
 
120 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 itance. Here is a glorious plan of salvation, de- 
 vised by infinite wisdom, and executed by infinite 
 love, and absolutely essential to our happiness. 
 But how are we made acquainted with this plan? 
 How are we to understand its provisions, and the 
 way in which we may avail ourselves of the bene- 
 fits of this great, this wonderful salvation? It is 
 only by studying the Bible. This book alone 
 contains the history of redemption. It is here 
 only that we learn the way to be saved. It is in 
 this blessed book that we are made acquainted 
 with the nature, character, and work of Christ, and 
 read the history of his cross, and the place it 
 occupies in God's economy of grace. Not only 
 do the scriptures teach us in regard to the way in 
 which justice and mercy are reconciled in Christ, 
 so that God can forgive sin without in the least 
 compromising the honor of his law and his truth ; 
 but they teach us what we must do, as the condi- 
 tion of our personal interest in the atonement. 
 We are taught how our hearts may be renewed 
 by the Holy Spirit, and how that, by repentance 
 and faith, we may be made partakers of the grace 
 of God, and be washed in the blood of his Son. 
 
 The Bible has a claim upon your attention on 
 account of the sources of comfort, support, and con- 
 solation it opens to us amid all the troublous 
 scenes of life. There are no trials or afflictions 
 so great, or so peculiar, but we may find consola- 
 
STUDY OF THE BIBLE. 121 
 
 tion in this blessed book. Here are words of kind 
 and affectionate sympathy for every heart-broken 
 and stricken soul, — they are the words of a ten- 
 der parent, who is never unmindful of the wants 
 of his children, or unaffected by their woes.' 
 What a comfort was the word of God to David in 
 his trials : "Unless thy law had been my delight," 
 says he, rf I should then have perished in mine afflic- 
 tion." r ' Trouble and anguish have taken hold on 
 me, yet thy commandments are my delight." And 
 similar to his is the experience of every saint. 
 The Bible is a well-spring of consolation to the 
 child of sorrow, whence he can draw living 
 water. 
 
 Such being the claims of the Bible upon your 
 attention, my young friends, let me earnestly exhort 
 you to read and study it with a great deal of care. 
 It is the very last book that you should permit to 
 remain on your shelf till the dust accumulates 
 upon its covers. We should naturally suppose that 
 the Bible, from the very nature of the subjects of 
 which it treats, and the source from which it 
 comes, would be the first book sought after by every 
 rational being, and the very last book that would be 
 laid aside and forgotten. But exactly the reverse 
 of this is true. The Bible is the most shamefully 
 neglected book that was ever published. There 
 are many persons who do not open it as often as 
 once a week, and some who do not read a chapter 
 
122 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 in it once a month, and some even who do not look 
 into it once a year ! Strange, that persons making 
 a journey through a dark, blind, dangerous wil- 
 derness, where there are so many gins to entrap 
 their feet, and so many by-paths looking fair and 
 promising, to lure them out of the way and land 
 them in destruction, where there are so many peril- 
 ous and difficult passes, where there are so many 
 enemies and false guides, — strange, I say, that 
 any persons making this important and hazardous 
 journey, should be so negligent in consulting 
 their guide-book ! Even Christians, those who 
 have tasted the sweets of the waters which flow 
 from this well-spring of life, too often neglect this 
 fountain, and seek to slake their thirst at broken 
 cisterns and turbid streams. Let me persuade you, 
 my young friends, to make yourselves very familiar 
 with the Bible. Never, on any account, let a day 
 pass over you without your consulting its pages. 
 Make it your constant companion and counsellor. 
 It will befriend you in every emergency. It will 
 shed light upon your path, and make it look plain 
 and cheerful, however dark and dreary may be 
 your way. Although you may not always find 
 specific instructions and directions to apply to all 
 possible circumstances, yet you will find principles 
 laid down there, which, if carried out, will em- 
 brace every contingency. Whenever, therefore, 
 you are in doubt respecting the way you ought 
 
STUDY OF THE BIBLE. 123 
 
 to go. betake yourselves to the word of God. It 
 will be to you, as it was to David, "a lamp unto 
 your feet, and a light unto your path.*' 
 
 I shall conclude this chapter by suggesting a 
 few hints in regard to the manner in which you' 
 should study the Bible. 
 
 1. Eead it habitually \ I have already said that 
 reading the Bible should be with you a daily exer- 
 cise. Let it be a companion of your closet. 
 When you retire to speak to God, take your Bible 
 in your hand, and first let him speak to you. It 
 will serve to compose your mind, arrest the cur- 
 rent of worldly thoughts, and prepare the heart 
 for holding intercourse with its Maker. It may 
 not be most profitable for you to read a very large 
 portion of Scripture when you retire for devotion. 
 A single chapter, and sometimes a part of a chap- 
 ter in the Xew Testament, or in the devotional 
 parts of the Old Testament, will afford you ample 
 materials for meditation and thought, before you 
 bend the knee in prayer. But I would by all 
 means have you in the habit of reading some por- 
 tion of the Holy Scriptures daily in your closets. 
 I do not believe that you will long maintain the 
 spirit of prayer without doing so. 
 
 2. Bead your Bibles systematically. You should 
 take other occasions to read your Bibles besides 
 when you retire for devotion. You should study 
 your Bibles as well as read them ; i.e., you should 
 
124 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 read with a great deal of care ; try to get at the 
 exact meaning by comparing scripture with scrip- 
 ture, and by consulting judicious commentaries. 
 It would be well to take up some particular book, 
 for instance the book of Genesis, and give it your 
 special attention. And then the book of Exodus, 
 and so on in course. By carefully examining a 
 portion of scripture every day, you will, at the 
 end of a year, have accomplished a great deal. 
 
 3. Eead your Bibles with a teachable disposition. 
 Come to this sacred volume with a sense of your 
 ignorance, and need of divine illumination. Come 
 with a determination to " hear what God the Lord 
 will speak; " "as new-born babes, desire the sin- 
 cere milk of the word, that ye may grow there- 
 by." Let not the natural pride of the heart rise 
 up and sit in judgment upon God's truth, approv- 
 ing this portion of it, but condemning that, 
 because it does not square with your preconceived 
 opinions ; but as Mary came and sat at the feet of 
 Jesus, to drink in his words, and to be taught of 
 him, so do you come in the same spirit to the 
 same Saviour, and receive his words as recorded 
 in the Bible by the pen of inspiration. 
 
 4. Eead your Bible seriously. Do not trifle 
 with the sacred oracles, or read them carelessly 
 as you would read an almanac or a newspaper. 
 Eemember that this is God's truth, and that he is 
 speaking to you ; and to treat his word with levity, 
 
STUDY OF THE BIBLE. 125 
 
 or to read it in a careless, indifferent manner, is a 
 species of profanity the sinfulness of which is 
 little, if any, less than the taking of his name in 
 vain. 
 
 5. Read your Bibles prayerfully. Ask the 
 assistance of the Holy Spirit that you may be 
 guided into all truth, for he it is that taketh of 
 the things of God, and showeth them unto man. 
 It was David's constant prayer, "teach me thy 
 statutes." Ever let it be yours. Your mind* are 
 dark, and they of themselves cannot see or com- 
 prehend the things of God. Ask God to en- 
 lighten them. Your hearts are hard, and cannot 
 or will not receive God's truth, even if you under- 
 stand it. Ask God to soften them, that you may 
 be enabled to receive the engrafted word. A 
 little child in a prayerful frame of mind, and 
 under the teachings of God's Spirit, will under- 
 stand more of the Bible, in its practical sense, than 
 the greatest philosopher can do, left to his own 
 unaided reason. Therefore, when you take j'our 
 Bible in your hands to read or study it, let your 
 heart first ascend up to God in the petition, 
 " Lord, guide me into all truth." 
 
 Lastly. Read the Bible practically. The Bible 
 was given to mankind as a practical book, not as 
 a book of theories for speculation. It is full of 
 plain, practical instructions, addressed to the 
 common-sense of plain, unlettered men, as well 
 
126 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 as to the profound scholar, to influence them in 
 their conduct, to make them virtuous and holy. 
 You should therefore determine that you will do 
 as well as learn the will of God. David was a 
 practical student of God's truth, and he left an 
 example for your imitation. It will be of little 
 use for you to study your Bibles, or to learn your 
 duty, if you do not reduce to practice what you 
 learn. You are now, my young friends, just 
 entering upon the stage of life. Important duties, 
 and weighty responsibilities will soon devolve 
 upon you. Many dangers lie in your way ; they 
 even now surround your path. You will often 
 be in doubt what course to pursue, and you will 
 want a friend as a counsellor and guide. Such a 
 friend you have in God, and he speaks to you 
 through the Bible. Bind this volume then to 
 your heart. Make it your daily counsellor, and 
 consistently follow its teachings, and you cannot 
 go astray. It will conduct you safely through all 
 life's mazes, and devious and difficult windings, to 
 heaven, your rest and eternal home. 
 
SELF-KNOWLEDGE . 127 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 Self-Knowledge . 
 
 Prove your own selves.— 2 Cor. 13 : 5. 
 
 A FAVORITE maxim of Solon was, "Know 
 thyself." Next to a knowledge of God, 
 there is no knowledge more important than a 
 knowledge of ourselves. Indeed, a certain degree 
 of self-knowledge is essential to our saving knowl- 
 edge of God. To know ourselves should consti- 
 tute a part of our education. Still, there are few 
 things persons are more profoundly ignorant of 
 than their own characters. But this ignorance is 
 not in general suspected by them, even when to 
 others it is most palpable. Mankind generally 
 think they know all about themselves. Indeed, 
 we all do. We never think of going to any neigh- 
 bor to ask about our traits of character, intellect- 
 ual or moral ; for we think we know better than 
 he. And "why should we not?" we say; "we 
 have a much better opportunity to examine our- 
 selves than he has to examine us ; we can look 
 into our own hearts, and he cannot; we have 
 constant opportunity to be looking at ourselves, 
 
128 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 but our neighbor sees us only occasionally ; and 
 his observation of us, from the very nature of the 
 case, must be superficial." 
 
 Now all this sounds plausibly enough, but 
 nevertheless, it is very often true, that our neigh- 
 bors, or the community, form a more accurate 
 judgment of some of our mental or moral charac- 
 teristics than we do ourselves. This remark, 
 however, will not apply to the man who is secretly 
 a knave or a hypocrite. Such a man is conscious 
 that he is playing a double part, and is a villain, 
 and his very success in his schemes depends upon 
 his putting himself off upon the public for being 
 a better man than he is. But in regard to men 
 who are not two-sided, and who do not consciously 
 and designedly sail under false colors, they do 
 not understand themselves, in respect to some of 
 their peculiar traits of character, as well as the 
 public do. 
 
 Take a few examples. Here is a man whom the 
 community have long since voted as close , parsi- 
 monious, niggardly ; but he has no suspicion of 
 it himself, and you could not offend him more 
 readily than to intimate such a thing to him. He 
 thinks himself a liberal, noble, public-spirited man. 
 Now the public have no such idea at all. They 
 notice how many ways he will shift, and turn, and 
 prevaricate sometimes, to save a few pennies of a 
 tax or assessment, which in honor he ou^ht to 
 
SELF-KNOWLEDGE . 120 
 
 pay. They notice how he always opposes any 
 public improvement, if a small proportion of the 
 expense is likely to fall on him ; while his hand is 
 always up to vote for anything which he sees will 
 be to his benefit, provided others will have to foot 
 the bills. They notice how he never gives away 
 a cent if he can possibly help it : and when he 
 gives away anything, he makes his contribution 
 as small as he thinks will answer. They observe 
 how he always contrives to get half a cent more 
 than the market price for what he has to sell, and 
 how he manages to pay half a cent less than the 
 market price for what he buys, and he gets the 
 half-cent when he makes change, and the public 
 write him down a " half-cent man." And the pub- 
 lic are right in their judgment : but he has no sus- 
 picion that such is his real character : and if 
 sometimes it gets to his ears that he is regarded 
 as mean and niggardly, he resents it. and con- 
 siders himself a slandered and injured man. It 
 is because he does not know himself. Here is an- 
 other man. whom the public have written down 
 as icorldh/~nunded. He is not mean and nig- 
 gardly, like the other. He does not descend so 
 low ; but it is perfectly obvious to every one. that 
 his whole soul is engrossed in making money, and 
 that money is his idol — the god. and only god, he 
 worships. — and yet he does not know it. Every- 
 body else sees it but himself. 
 
130 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 You may take persons generally, who have an 
 unenviable reputation in the community, — the 
 proud, the conceited, the unreasonable, the impo- 
 lite, the misanthrophic, the lazy, those who are 
 busy-bodies and forever meddling with other peo- 
 ple's matters, telling tales and stirring up strife, 
 and making difficulties among friends and neigh- 
 bors, — you take, I say, any of these classes of 
 persons, and you will find that, in most cases, they 
 are profoundly ignorant of their own peculiar 
 traits of character, while everybody else can read 
 them as they read a book. Society understands 
 these persons. Nobody is blinded but themselves. 
 
 In addressing you, my young friends, on the 
 subject of " Self-knowledge," I shall consider, in 
 the Jirst place, some of the prominent particulars 
 respecting yourselves, in regard to which it is im- 
 portant that you should obtain knowledge. 
 
 These particulars embrace your natural, and 
 your moral characteristics. 
 
 Your natural characteristics include your talents 
 or mental abilities, your dispositions, your tem- 
 peraments, your tastes, and your passions. 
 
 These are something born with you ; they are a 
 part of your being, and for the existence of which 
 you are not responsible. You are responsible 
 only for the use or improvement you make of 
 them. Still it is of great importance that you 
 know with what God has endowed you. When 
 
SELF-KNOWLEDGE . 131 
 
 a person is set up in business by a friend, he con- 
 siders it indispensable, in the first place, that he 
 know how much capital he has got to trade with ; 
 and what kind of capital it is ; and in what shape. 
 God has, so to speak, set each one of you up 
 in business in this world; he has given you a 
 capital in your mental endowments, and it is 
 of great importance that you know what sort of a 
 mind you have got. Persons are very much mis- 
 taken often in respect to their mental abilities : 
 some get the idea that they are remarkably tal- 
 ented, great geniuses, when in fact they are not 
 one whit above the ordinary level of mankind, 
 and perhaps not up to it. Others have such an 
 excess of modesty, they very much undervalue 
 themselves, and feel that their talents are inade- 
 quate to their accomplishing much, if they under- 
 take to ; consequently they always stand in the 
 background, and leave others to assume responsi- 
 bilities which of right belong to them, and which 
 they are equally capable of sustaining. It is of 
 importance that you think neither too highly, nor 
 too lowly of yourselves in this particular, but 
 that you estimate yourselves as you really are. 
 Your natural dispositions and temperaments, also, 
 it is important that you understand. Are you 
 easily excited? Is your mind sensitive, — easily 
 raised and easily depressed, — • or are you cold and 
 phlegmatic? Are you naturally hopeful, or 
 
132 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 desponding? Are your passions and appetites 
 naturally headstrong, so that they need to be held 
 in, as with bit and bridle, or are they tame and 
 easily controlled? 
 
 It is of equal and even of greater importance, 
 that you ascertain your moral characteristics, or 
 those conditions and habits of mind which you 
 have had an influence in forming, and for which 
 you are responsible. 
 
 You have before you one great end and aim in 
 life ; you are under the influence of one supreme 
 governing purpose, to which all others are subser- 
 vient. What is it? It is of the greatest impor- 
 tance to know what you are living for. What is 
 the secret spring which propels all the moral 
 machinery of your being? Do you live to do 
 good, or to get good ? Are your motives benevo- 
 lent or selfish ? Is it your main purpose to serve 
 and glorify God, or to promote your private ends ? 
 
 There are a great many distinct topics which 
 come under this head, which are proper subjects of 
 inquiry, if you would know yourselves. What 
 habits have you formed? Are they good or bad, 
 and what is the influence they are exerting upon 
 you and others ? What prejudices do you enter- 
 tain against this individual or that one, and what 
 is the cause of those prejudices ? Have they any 
 good foundation? What thoughts do you cherish, 
 and in what channel do thev run from hour to 
 
SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 133 
 
 hour, and from clay to day? The mind is very 
 liable to indulge in vain, foolish, and sinful 
 imaginings, and needs to be watched. 
 
 It is important that you ascertain the strength 
 of your moral principles. Are they uniformly 
 and consistently carried out in your daily inter- 
 course with mankind ? You often see a sad defi- 
 ciency in others in this respect ; you sometimes 
 see a want of strict integrity, truthfulness, honor, 
 and fairness, even in some who profess to be gov- 
 erned by Christian principle ; and you are both 
 pained and disgusted by it. Are you certain that 
 others do not see the same in you, at least in 
 some degree? Are you certain that you know 
 and see yourselves as others see you ? Your dis- 
 interestedness, your liberality, your public spirit, 
 your kindness, your patience and forbearance 
 under injuries, the spirit you manifest under the 
 painful dispensations of Providence, are all proper 
 topics to come under review when you are seeking 
 to know yourselves. 
 
 But there is one point to which I wish to direct 
 your particular attention; — it is this. You all 
 have your easily besetting sins. Everybody has 
 them. There are certain sins which you can be 
 much more easily betrayed to the commission 
 of than others. These are your weak points. 
 The devil knows what they are, and it is here he 
 will be most likely to attack you, and where he 
 
134 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 will be most likely to succeed. It is of the great- 
 est importance that you should be sufficiently 
 acquainted with yourselves to know what these 
 weak points in your character are. Your neigh-, 
 bors and companions, doubtless, have discovered 
 them long before this. 
 
 Let us consider, in the second general division 
 of our subject, some of the reasons why it is im- 
 portant that you should acquire a knowledge of 
 yourselves. 
 
 1. The first I shall mention is, that you may 
 be the better able to choose your path in life, and 
 adopt that profession or employment for which 
 your talents, tastes, and dispositions qualify you. 
 A great many sad and fatal mistakes have been 
 committed here for the want of self-knowledge. 
 We often hear it said that such a man has " mis- 
 taken his calling." The reason was, he did not 
 understand enough about himself to know for what 
 calling he was fitted. It is not every man that is 
 calculated for a minister, or a doctor, or a lawyer. 
 There is many a man in each of these professions 
 who never ought to have been there, while there 
 are many laboring on the farm, or in the shop, 
 with whom it would have been well, both for them 
 and the communitv, had thev changed places. A 
 just appreciation of your own talents, tastes, and 
 dispositions, will enable you to decide upon that 
 course of life for which you are best fitted, and 
 which promises the greatest success. 
 
SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 135 
 
 2. Self-knowledge will save you much mortifi- 
 cation. You would not then expose yourselves to 
 the jeers, laughter, and contempt of the world, as 
 persons often do, who, from a conceited notion 
 that they have qualifications which they never 
 had, have put themselves into a position which 
 made them ridiculous. 
 
 3. Self-knowledge will give you self-possession 
 when you are in your proper sphere. Knowing 
 that you have not undertaken that which is above 
 your knowledge or your capacity, there is no 
 reason why you should anticipate a failure, and 
 you will go forward with a degree of confidence, 
 based on a sure foundation, to which the self- 
 ignorant man is a stranger. 
 
 4. Self-knowledge will enable you to correct your 
 faults. It will discover to you a great many which 
 you did not suppose you possessed, and discovery 
 is the first step to correction. 
 
 5. Self-knowledge will be likely to promote 
 your humility. It certainly will, unless you have 
 formed too low an estimate of yourselves, which 
 is not likely to be the case. By examining your- 
 selves, you will find that you are sadly deficient in 
 many things, the fancied possession of which had 
 engendered in your bosom no small degree of 
 pride. You will find, also, in your characters, 
 many positive blemishes, and these discoveries will 
 furnish abundant ground for humilitv and self- 
 abasement. 
 
136 PASTOR'S COUNSELS TO YOUNG CHPJSTIANS. 
 
 6. Self-knowledge will, if you are Christians, 
 give -you facilities for graving in grace. You 
 will thus be enabled to see wherein you come 
 short of your duty, in what respects your con- 
 duct is inconsistent with your profession, what 
 parts of your Christian character are wanting 
 and need culture, what sinful habits you have 
 which need to be broken off. This knowledge 
 will enable you to correct your errors, improve 
 your deficiencies, place a double guard on all 
 your weak points, and to see how much you 
 need Divine grace to -help your infirmities. If 
 you are faithful to yourselves, you will turn all 
 this knowledge which 3 r ou gain of yourselves, to 
 your spiritual improvement. 
 
 7. Once more, it is only by a knowledge 
 of yourselves that you will be able to have 
 any comfortable assurance of your eternal salva- 
 tion. 
 
 If you are ignorant of the state of your own 
 hearts, ignorant of the fact whether you love and 
 serve the god of this world better than you do 
 Jehovah, how can there be anything but uncer- 
 tainty hanging over your future prospects? As 
 you value, therefore, a good and comforting hope 
 of heaven, my young friends, know your own 
 selves. 
 
 I shall conclude by mentioning, in the third 
 place, how this self-knowledge is to be obtained. 
 
SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 137 
 
 And here I would say, it is not to be obtained, 
 as some suppose it is, by going to a phrenologist 
 and getting him to examine your head, and then 
 write down your traits of character, as he finds 
 this or that bump on your cranium developed. 
 Whatever may be the uses of phrenology, this is 
 not one of them. But self-knowledge is to be 
 obtained 
 
 1. First, by a laborious, careful, persevering 
 scrutiny of yourselves. You are to study your- 
 selves as you would study a book, only with a 
 great deal more industry and particularity. Look 
 at your conduct with an impartial eye, as others 
 look at it. Carefully scan your motives for what 
 you do. It is the motive from which you perform 
 your actions, much more than the actions them- 
 selves, that determines your character. Examine 
 the bent of your inclinations, the prevailing cur- 
 rent of your thoughts, the drift of your conversa- 
 tion, the main object of your pursuit. Often 
 test the moral virtues which you think you pos- 
 sess by the unerring standard of God's word. 
 Inquire into your integrity in your dealings with 
 your fellow-men, your honor, and your truthful- 
 ness in your intercourse with them. Inquire, 
 also, as in the presence of God, and with eternity 
 in view, into the sincerity of your faith and re- 
 pentance, and whether all the Christian graces are 
 in you and abound. Your examination must be 
 deep, persevering, and thorough. 
 
138 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 2. Secondly, you should pay a degree of defer- 
 ence to the opinions which others may have formed 
 respecting you. I would bj^ no means advise you 
 to be running about town to ascertain what this or 
 that man or woman thinks of you ; but if it should 
 come to your ears that you have a reputation in 
 the community for littleness, for parsimony, for 
 worldly-mindedness, for want of integrity or 
 veracity, or for gossiping and going about as 
 busy-bodies, intermeddling with other men's mat- 
 ters which do not concern you, or should the 
 community pronounce an unfavorable verdict 
 upon you in regard to any of the moral vir- 
 tues, — instead of being angry about it and resent- 
 ing it, as you will be strongly tempted to do, it 
 would be far better for you to suspect there must 
 be some truth in that verdict. The public don't 
 pass judgment on a person for nothing. There 
 is almost always some foundation for the opinion 
 they form of a man, whether that opinion be good 
 or bad. At any rate, you should make public 
 sentiment an occasion for obtaining a more ac- 
 curate knowledge of yourselves ; and in forming 
 your own judgment, the judgment of the public 
 must be taken into the account. 
 
 3. Thirdly, look to God for the enlightening 
 influences of his Holy Spirit. It is so difficult 
 for us to get a perfect knowledge of ourselves, 
 we shall never do it without God's help. David 
 
SELF-KXO WLEDGE . 139 
 
 says, "Who can understand his errors?" And 
 then feeling the need of Divine guidance and 
 aid in this matter, he offers the prayer, " Search 
 me, O God, and know my heart ; try me and 
 know my thoughts, and see if there be any 
 wicked way in me, and lead me in the way ever- 
 lasting." It is in the same way, my young 
 friends, that you will, if ever, obtain a perfect, 
 or even a satisfactory self-knowledge. You must 
 have God to help you by his Spirit, and his aid 
 must be sought after by humble, fervent prayer. 
 He alone can light up the dark recesses of your 
 hearts, so that you can look within, and see what 
 has hitherto lain there concealed from your view. 
 God knows all about you. and if you will go to 
 him in earnest prayer, desiring him to search you, 
 and try you, and reveal you to your own selves, 
 he will do it, and you may rely with implicit 
 confidence on his heavenly teachings. 
 
140 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 Christian Progress. 
 
 I press toward the mark. — Phil. 3 : 14. 
 
 MANY persons seem to mistake the object of 
 conversion. We should suppose from the 
 course they pursue, and the interest, or rather 
 the want of interest they manifest in a religious, 
 godly life, that religion was with them nothing 
 but a prudential matter, and designed merely to 
 save the soul from future misery. Hence, if 
 they have a comforting hope that they shall be 
 saved, the great end of becoming religious is 
 answered, and they give themselves but little 
 concern farther on the subject. Sometimes, in- 
 deed, they will wake up from the state of entire 
 apathy and worldliness into which they had fallen, 
 and for awhile manifest a considerable degree of 
 solicitude and interest in regard to serious things. 
 But it is obvious that their solicitude and interest 
 arise from an apprehension that they themselves 
 may not be safe : they fear that their conversion 
 may prove not to have been genuine, and they 
 may lose their souls after all ; and their great 
 
CHRISTIAN PROGRESS. 141 
 
 solicitude is to make their salvation sure. If they 
 can be fully satisfied of this, it is the most they 
 want. Such persons have a very low and inade- 
 quate idea of the nature of true piety and its 
 object. The religion of the gospel (and that is 
 the only religion which is of the least value) is 
 not thus selfish. To be sure, it has reference to 
 the salvation of the soul from hell ; and no doubt 
 but a desire to be saved, is generally the first 
 motive that prompts the sinner to give his atten- 
 tion to the subject. But when his eyes are fully 
 opened, and his heart is changed, he has more 
 enlarged views ; he in a great measure loses sight 
 of himself, in his love to God and desire for the 
 promotion of his glory. 
 
 The real object of the sinner's conversion in the 
 mind of God is twofold : first, God's own glory ; 
 secondly, the sinner's personal good in being 
 rescued from eternal death, and made an heir to 
 immortal blessedness in heaven. Those who look 
 no farther than the last, who have reference to 
 nothing but to getting to heaven, will probably 
 fail of their object. The sum and substance of 
 all goodness, either in God or man, is benevo- 
 lence; and where this is wanting, there can be no 
 piety. True benevolence in man has for its first 
 and great object the glory of God; and the con- 
 sideration of reward and personal good, conies in 
 afterward, and is altogether subordinate. Hence 
 
142 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 the Christian's work is only begun when he es- 
 pouses the cause of Christ, and connects himself 
 with his Church. He merely enters upon the 
 great business of life, — the great end for which he 
 was created, and for which Divine grace has con- 
 verted him ; and that business is to glorify God. 
 An honest, conscientious, diligent youth, who 
 apprentices himself to a master to learn a trade, 
 does not feel that he has accomplished his object 
 when he signs his indentures, and enters upon ser- 
 vice. He begins as a novice ; he has a great deal 
 to learn, and a great deal to do ; and were he to 
 make no attempt to learn or do anything, he had 
 better by far have remained at home, for he would 
 be of no service to his master, nor secure any 
 good to himself. The young Christian, when he 
 espouses the cause of Christ and enters his service 
 is, as it were, only a novice ; he has as yet done 
 nothing for his Master. He has only entered into 
 a solemn engagement to serve him faithfully until 
 death. At the commencement of this service he 
 has had no experience, and has but little knowl- 
 edge. He enters as a learner, and it is expected 
 of him that he will make great improvement, and 
 it is indispensable that he should, if he would be 
 of any essential benefit to the Master to whom he 
 has consecrated himself. The professed Christian 
 who makes no progress, and does not expect to 
 make any, had better never have entered the 
 Church, or entertained any hope. 
 
CHRISTIAN PROGRESS. 143 
 
 I would, therefore, in this chapter, urge upon 
 the consideration of my young friends who indulge 
 the hope that they are the disciples of Christ, the 
 subject of Christian Progress. 
 
 I shall first explain what is to be understood 
 by Christian progress. 
 
 Secondly, give some directions how it is to be 
 made ; and conclude 
 
 By urging some motives for making it. 
 
 1. I am in the first place, to explain what we 
 are to understand by Christian progress. 
 
 And I would observe, it does not consist in 
 making a public profession of religion by joining 
 the Church and associating with the people of 
 God. It were an easy matter to make advances 
 in the Divine life if this were all. To join the 
 Church is undoubtedly the duty of every Chris- 
 tian, and it is a means which God has provided 
 to aid his people in their efforts to improve in 
 Christian character ; but the act itself does not 
 constitute that improvement, nor does Church 
 relation necessarily imply it. There are multi- 
 tudes within the pale of the Visible Church who 
 have never been, and who never will be, one whit 
 the better for it. 
 
 Xor does Christian progress consist in attend- 
 ing to the external forms of religion. Forms are 
 good in their place, and we cannot well do with- 
 out them. They are auxiliary to devotion and 
 
 c 
 
144 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 spirituality ; but they of themselves do not con- 
 stitute piety. There are multitudes who are very, 
 punctilious in their observance of forms, but who 
 are entirely destitute of the Christian spirit. A 
 man may be a very good formalist, while he is a 
 very poor Christian, and, indeed, no Christian at 
 all. 
 
 Nor does Christian progress consist in culti- 
 vating one particular grace to the neglect of all 
 the rest. Nor by waking up occasionally to a 
 sense of duty and making a few zealous, spas- 
 modic efforts in the cause of Christ, to be suc- 
 ceeded by a long interval of sloth and inaction. 
 A healthy growth in piety is not thus fitful. I do 
 not say but that there may be some Christian 
 progress where there is some want of uniformity 
 and consistency on the part of professors ; but 
 there is not a full, healthy development of Chris- 
 tian character in its symmetrical and beautiful 
 proportions. 
 
 But I would say, affirmatively, that Christian 
 progress, as it should be, consists in a steady > 
 uniform , constant increase of all the Christian 
 graces, cultivated in the heart and developed in the 
 life. The apostle Peter gives us a clear and com- 
 prehensive idea of what it implies in the first chap- 
 ter of his second epistle. Says he, " Add to your 
 faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowl- 
 edge temperance, and to temperance patience, and 
 
CHRISTIAN PROGRESS. 145 
 
 to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly 
 kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity." You 
 see here the foundation or starting point of Chris- 
 tian progress is Faith . This is presupposed. Faith 
 in Christ lies at the foundation of all piety. With- 
 out it. there can be nothing to build upon. As 
 well might we expect a stalk of corn or wheat to 
 spring up and bear fruit without a kernel or 
 grain at the root to stain: it. as to expect the vari- 
 ous Christian graces to spring up in the heart, and 
 be developed to maturity, without faith. " With- 
 out faith it is impossible to please God." or exer- 
 cise one good feeling, or perform one right action. 
 Hence the apostle does not say to Christians if 
 they would improve in character they must have 
 faith, for this he take- for granted — they have that 
 already, or they cannot be Christians ; but pre- 
 supposing the existence of faith, he goes on to tell 
 them what they must add to it if they would 
 make progress. And first he mentions " virtue." 
 "Add to your faith virtue." The word translated 
 virtue in this connection, has a meaning a little 
 different from that usually attached to it. By 
 virtue, we usually understand goodness in general. 
 Here it has the meaning of the original word from 
 which it is derived: viz., courage and fortitude. 
 And this is es.-ential to every Christian, It was 
 peculiarly so in the time of the apostle-. The 
 earlv Christians were called to endure the most 
 
146 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 violent opposition and persecution, often unto 
 death ; and it required no small degree of courage 
 to stand up in presence of their foes and declare 
 themselves for Christ, and calmly look the king 
 of terrors in the face. The situation of Christians 
 in our times is different. We are not in danger 
 of bodily harm on account of our faith ; but we 
 live in the same wicked world, and have to en- 
 counter the same enmity of the wicked heart to 
 holiness, and it sometimes requires as much forti- 
 tude to encounter a sneer, or smile of contempt, 
 (which we shall be sure to meet with, if we are 
 true to our Master) as to endure open persecu- 
 tion. Hence every Christian needs to add to his 
 faith courage, — courage to profess Christ ; courage 
 to bear testimony for Christ ; courage to take a 
 decided stand for Christ in all circumstances, and 
 in all kinds of company ; courage to speak, and 
 courage to pray in presence of others when duty 
 calls, without fearing the face of man. Many 
 Christians fail of making any progress in religion 
 for want of courage. 
 
 To virtue or courage is to be added " knowl- 
 edge ." A more perfect knowledge of God, of 
 ourselves, of the Bible, of the path of duty, of the 
 wiles of the adversary, and of the means we should 
 employ for the advancement of the Redeemers 
 kingdom. The Christian should be well versed 
 both in the doctrines, and duties of religion. He 
 
CHRISTIAN PROGRESS. 147 
 
 often fails to accomplish as much as he might, 
 because of his ignorance of what religion requires. 
 We can make no advance in any trade or profes 
 sion in life, without a knowledge of the theory of 
 that trade, and of its practical application. Much 
 less can we in religion. The Christian should* 
 always be a learner. There is a vast field lying 
 open before him, and he should never let a day 
 pass without his adding something to his stock of 
 religious knowledge. The Bible is a rich, an in- 
 exhaustible store-house of truth, from which we 
 can draw at all times : so that ignorance, especially 
 of the practical part of Christianity, is wholly 
 without excuse. We should derive wisdom from 
 our observation and experience. We should look 
 back upon our shortcomings, and our transgres- 
 sions, and inquire into the cause of them, and 
 learn a lesson for the future. We should make a 
 note wherein we or others have succeeded in any- 
 thing good, and pursue the same course again. 
 Great learning in the sciences is by no means 
 essential to piety, or to growth in piety ; but such 
 knowledge as the Bible and the Holy Ghost teach, 
 is essential, and that may be obtained hy any one 
 who can pray and read. 
 
 To knowledge, we are to add "temperance" 
 We are to use with moderation all the good things 
 God has given us in his providence. We should 
 be temperate in our eating, and in our drinking, 
 
148 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 in our labors and in our recreations, in our mirth 
 and in our grief, in our anticipation of worldly 
 good, and in our fears of temporal calamity ; we 
 should be temperate in the exercise of all our 
 desires, appetites, and passions. An inordinate 
 desire of any temporal good, and an unrestrained 
 indulgence in any enjoyment, however innocent 
 and lawful it may be in itself, is incompatible with 
 any great advancement in Christian character. 
 
 To this the apostle enjoins "patience" For this 
 grace there will be constant demand as long as we 
 live in this world. There is a great deal here to 
 irritate us, to vex us, and try our tempers ; and 
 there is much severe suffering, both of body 
 and of mind, all of which must be endured meekly, 
 patiently, and without a murmur. It is " through 
 much tribulation that we enter into the kingdom of 
 heaven," and it is this tribulation which requires 
 the exercise of patience. There is a striking re- 
 lation between "patience," and "temperance;" 
 one requiring us to hold ourselves in check when in 
 the enjoyment of good, and the other requiring us 
 to hold our feelings and passions in check when 
 suffering evil. It has been for the want of pa- 
 tience in the endurance of the greater or lesser ills 
 of life, that many a Christian has stumbled and 
 fallen. It is in patience we must possess our 
 souls, and "run the race which is set before us." 
 
 To patience we are to add "godliness " God- 
 
CHKISTIAJSr PROGRESS. 149 
 
 liness, in its primary sense, means the same thing 
 as piety, and is a comprehensive term, including 
 all the Christian graces which the apostle here 
 enumerates. In this connection, it means hot 
 merely that we should be pious, for this is all 
 along implied, but that we should cultivate habit- 
 ually a devout, godly state of mind, that God 
 should be in ail our thoughts, and that we should 
 have reference to his will in all we do. 
 
 And to godliness, or right affections of the heart 
 toward God, we are to add, "brotherly kindness," 
 an affectionate interest in our brethren, a love for 
 them, a readiness to befriend them at all times, 
 and a promptness to do them all the good in our 
 power. 
 
 And to crown the whole, we are to add "char- 
 ity." This means universal benevolence — love to 
 God and love to man— universal good will. When 
 this grace is superadded to all the rest, in its fulness 
 and perfection, the character would be complete. 
 
 This, my friends, is what we are to understand 
 by Christian progress, — a continual advancement 
 in the divine life, adding one Christian grace to 
 another, after the manner here indicated by the 
 apostle, until charity or universal benevolence 
 shall pervade the soul, and overshadow and con- 
 trol everything else. It is to this that you must 
 constantly aim. A Christian who does this is a 
 growing Christian ; he is gaining self-control, be- 
 
150 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 coming weaned from the world, triumphing over 
 sin and Satan, and ripening for heaven. He is 
 like a man on a journey, diligently urging his way 
 forward, so that at the close of every day he per- 
 ceives that he is considerably farther from his 
 starting-point and nearer to his journey's end 
 than he was in the morning. 
 
 Having explained what we are to understand by 
 Christian progress, I shall now proceed to give 
 you some directions, my young friends, how you 
 may make this progress. 
 
 1. I would say in the first place, it will require 
 great, diligent, persevering effort. The apostle pre- 
 faces the passage which we have been considering 
 by the words, "giving all diligence," add to your 
 faith all these Christian virtues. It is not an easy 
 matter to make progress in our heavenly journey. 
 It requires an agonizing strife to enter the strait 
 gate, and not much less to persevere, and make 
 progress afterward. There are a great many 
 "Hills Difficulty "to ascend, and "By-path Mead- 
 ows" to pass, and lions and giants and apostates 
 and devils to encounter. Any one of these will 
 arrest your course, unless you are very diligent, 
 courageous, and persevering. Your way to heaven 
 is much like that of a person going up a very steep 
 hill covered with a glare of ice. He must make 
 great effort, and exercise great diligence and care, 
 not only to make any progress, but even to retain 
 
CHRISTIAN PROGRESS. 151 
 
 what he gains. A little want of vigilance will 
 cause him to lose his foothold, and he will slide 
 back clear to the bottom of the hill. I would, 
 therefore, my friends, have it deeply impressed 
 upon your minds, at the very outset of your 
 Christian course, that you will accomplish nothing 
 without great diligence and effort. 
 
 2. You must keep a strict and regular account 
 with yourselves. You should know where you are, 
 whether you have made any progress, and how 
 much. A traveler who has a long journey before 
 him, does not go a great way before ascertain- 
 ing how much distance he has traveled. He is 
 often on the lookout for milestones, or something 
 else, which will indicate whether he is on the right 
 road, and is making suitable progress in it. Thus 
 should the Christian be often taking observations 
 to see if he is in the straight and narrow path, 
 and to ascertain what advance he has made in his 
 heavenly pilgrimage. And this is learned, not 
 by looking without, but by looking within ; by 
 examining the temper and disposition of the 
 mind, the current of the thoughts, the prevailing 
 desires, the chief object of the affections. You 
 should, my friends, take up each one of the 
 Christian virtues separately, and inquire diligently 
 and faithfully whether any traces of them can be 
 found in the soul ; and if so, to what extent. 
 You will thus find out what grace is wanting 
 
152 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 and must be supplied, and what one is weak and 
 needs extra culture. 
 
 3. You should carefully watch against tempta- 
 tion. Eemember that the natural bias of your 
 hearts is to evil. The adversary is well aware of 
 this fact, and will take advantage of it in every 
 possible way. He will assail you on this side, and 
 on that ; sometimes appealing to one passion, and 
 then to another ; often covering up the deformity of 
 sin by the robe of virtue, in a way very likely to 
 deceive }^ou, unless you are strictly on your guard. 
 The world with its ten thousand allurements will 
 solicit your attention, and entice you with its 
 vanities. Worldly companions will seek to divert 
 you from that straight and narrow path, to go a little 
 way, " only a little way," with them in the broad 
 road, telling you that you can easily forsake it at 
 any time if you do not like it. Temptations in 
 great numbers, and in great variety, are scattered 
 thick all along your path in life, and it will be 
 necessary for you to be constantly on your guard, 
 lest you be betrayed into sin before you are aware 
 of it, and lose more ground by one misstep, than 
 you can regain for months, and perhaps for years. 
 
 4. You should faithfully and uniformly use all 
 the means God has given you to help you on your 
 way, and enable you to cultivate all the heavenly 
 graces. He has given you the Bible, a sure and 
 safe guide. Make it your constant companion, 
 
CHRISTIAN PROGRESS. 153 
 
 consult it carefully and constantly. It will be a 
 faithful counsellor in your difficulties and dangers, 
 and a light to you in your darkness. 
 
 You enjoy the privilege of Christian intercourse, 
 social meetings, and public worship : and more 
 than all. the privilege of holding private inter- 
 course with God in your closets. These are all 
 great and precious privileges, and are admirably 
 adapted to strengthen you. and assist you on your 
 way to heaven. Prayer, especially, is the most 
 efficient means which you can employ as an aux- 
 iliary in your heavenly pilgrimage. In prayer 
 you go directly to Hini who is the source of all 
 light, and all strength, and He has promised to 
 hear you and answer you. He will have compas- 
 sion on your weakness, and let you lean upon His 
 arm for support. He is aware of your blindness, 
 and will take you by the hand and lead you. He 
 knows your dangers, and will throw around you 
 His shield for protect! en. and will say to your foes, 
 "Touch not mine anointed, and do my children no 
 harm." He is acquainted with your fears, and 
 will say to you. "Let not your heart be troubled, 
 neither be afraid, for I am with you. and will 
 never leave you nor forsake you." All this, and 
 a great deal more, God will do for you. and will 
 help you in every way you need, to make progress 
 toward your heavenly home, if you will but look 
 to him in earnest prayer, and with childlike sim- 
 
154 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 plicity and confidence, cast yourselves upon his 
 almighty arm, and rely upon his grace and 
 strength. Do this, and he will enable you to 
 f? mount up with wings as eagles, to run and not 
 be weary, to walk and not faint." 
 
 I shall conclude by urging upon you, very 
 briefly, a few motives to Christian progress. 
 
 1. The evidence you will have of your union to 
 Christ, and friendship with God, and title to 
 heaven, will depend very much upon your progress 
 in the Divine life. It is only those who follow on 
 to know the Lord, and do his will, that have any 
 right to call themselves his children. That pro- 
 fessor who remains stationary, or falls back in his 
 heavenly way, should at once begin to call in 
 question the genuineness of his hope. As you 
 value then a cheering, comforting hope of heaven, 
 and the favor of God, let me urge you to be con- 
 tinually making progress and adding to your 
 Christian graces. 
 
 2. By making progress in religion you will 
 enhance your present happiness. Your experience 
 has taught you already, if you are true disciples, 
 that there is more real enjoyment in religion than 
 there is in anything else. And you may be 
 assured that the amount of your happiness will be 
 in direct proportion to the degree of your piety, 
 your conformity to Christ, and perfection in all 
 the graces of the Spirit. 
 
CHRISTIAN PROGRESS, 155 
 
 3. It is only by making progress that you can 
 hope to be extensively useful. It is the heavenly- 
 minded Christian only, he who adorns his profes- 
 sion, who grows in grace, who tramples the world 
 under his feet, and w follows on" to know and 
 serve the Lord, that has any great influence, as a 
 Christian, over this wicked world. The consistent 
 Christian (and none but a growing Christian is 
 consistent,) is respected by the ungodly. They 
 will listen to what he says, and will be influenced 
 by it, while they will scorn that professor who 
 lives as they do, and will treat with contempt any 
 efforts he may put forth for their spiritual good. 
 
 Lastly, by making progress in religion you will 
 honor God. You will be constant living witnesses 
 to the excellency of his gospel, and the power of 
 his grace, and through your daily walk, men will 
 be led to "glorify your Father which is in 
 heaven." 
 
156 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 CHAPTEE XII. 
 The Christian in Prosperity. 
 
 And in my prosperity I said, "I shall never be moved." 
 — Ps. 30 : 6. 
 
 r\AVID was a man of large and varied experi- 
 J— * ence. There are few phases of human life 
 with which he was not familiar. His origin was 
 humble. He was the youngest of a large family, 
 who moved in the common walks of life, and his 
 occupation was to keep his father's sheep. Al- 
 though he was a retired country boy, he early 
 cultivated a taste for music and poetry. By some 
 means he procured a harp, and became so skillful 
 a performer as to attract the attention of the whole 
 community. His skill in music was the occasion 
 of his being brought out from his obscurity, and 
 introduced at court ; and he became the king's 
 chief musician. Prom this time he experienced 
 a great many vicissitudes. Sometimes he was 
 treated with a great deal of kindness and respect, 
 and sometimes he was treated with the greatest 
 injustice and cruelty, and was frequently obliged 
 to flee and hide himself to save his life. In 
 
THE CHRISTIAN IN PROSPERITY. 157 
 
 all his troubles he sought the Lord, and the Lord 
 remembered and blessed him, and ultimately re- 
 moved Saul from the throne of Israel, and placed 
 David upon it in his stead. For a considerable 
 time after he entered upon public life as king of 
 Israel, everything seemed to go on prosperously. 
 He was the idol of the people, and popular with 
 everybody. He healed dissensions, united old 
 opposing factions, and consolidated the nation. 
 He was successful in war, commerce flourished 
 under his administration, and wealth poured in 
 upon him like a flood. His domestic relations 
 were all happy, and nothing seemed wanting to 
 complete his earthly felicity. 
 
 It was to this period of his life he referred 
 when he wrote the words, fr In my prosperity I 
 said I shall never be moved." He felt confident 
 in his position ; he thought his mountain stood 
 strong. And yet he was moved. His very pros- 
 perity, in which he confided so strongly, came 
 verj^ near proving his ruin. He became voluptu- 
 ous and^ self-confident, and, in a measure, lost 
 his sense of dependence on God. He let down 
 his watch, fell into gross sin, lost his popularity 
 with a portion of his subjects, and for awhile 
 God forsook and humbled him. The severest 
 trials were necessary to lead him to repentance 
 and bring him back to God. 
 
 Most persons feel just as David did when they 
 
158 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 are in prosperous circumstances. They too are 
 self-confident, and think they shall never be 
 moved. Israel felt so in their prosperity in 
 Moses's day. M Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked ; 
 then he forsook God which made him, and lightly 
 esteemed the rock of his salvation." Like David, 
 also, multitudes have found their confidence mis- 
 placed, — that their standing was never on so dan- 
 gerous and giddy a height as when on the pinnacle 
 of prosperity. It is often the case that a person 
 is never in so perilous a situation as when he fan- 
 cies himself most secure. Prosperity is what all 
 men desire, and what all are seeking after. It is 
 impossible not to desire it, in the sense in which 
 the term is usually understood. Prosperity means, 
 success in our efforts to obtain whatever we pur- 
 sue, and such a state of present worldly circum- 
 stances as we consider desirable. This includes 
 most kinds of temporal good, such as the posses- 
 sion of an abundance of property, and the means 
 of gratifying our tastes and pleasures. It em- 
 braces also health, reputation, domestic comforts 
 and endearments, honorable and happy friendly 
 alliances, success in all our enterprises — in short, 
 it includes all kinds of good which mankind re- 
 gard as conducive to their temporal happiness. 
 By the prosperous, we understand those who are 
 so circumstanced in Providence that they can 
 command all, or a considerable portion of these 
 
THE CHRISTIAN IX PROSPERITY. 159 
 
 sources of earthly good. It is not strange, 
 therefore, that prosperity is the wish and pur- 
 suit of all. And yet, if they realized the dan- 
 gers which are attendant upon that state, they 
 would pause and tremble as they entered upon 
 it. Solomon says, w The prosperity of fools shall 
 destroy them/*' It may also be said, that the 
 prosperity of wise men sometimes makes them 
 fools, and thus prepares the way for their de- 
 struction, or at least for their fall. 
 
 In a previous chapter I mentioned some of the 
 most prominent dangers that will be very likely 
 to assail young Christians in their pathway to 
 heaven. The dangers incident to a course of 
 prosperity, I deferred to be discussed in a differ- 
 ent connection, in order to give them greater 
 prominence. TTe will consider them now. TThen 
 I speak of dangers, I refer to spiritual dangers, 
 those things which will retard the Christian in the 
 divine life, destroy his spirituality, and hinder 
 him on the way to heaven. 
 
 The first danger I shall mention to which un- 
 broken prosperity exposes the Christian, is com- 
 plete absorption in worldly things, When a man's 
 affairs go right, when his business is prosperous, 
 trade is good, his crops are abundant, his barns 
 and granaries are full, and when almost every- 
 thing he lays his hand upon seems to turn into 
 money, then is the time, usually, when his 
 
160 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 thoughts and his energies are all employed in 
 accumulation. He is excited and stimulated by 
 his success. While the wind blows fair, he 
 spreads all his canvas to the favoring gale. He 
 feels that no time is to be lost. Consequently, 
 he is tempted to enlarge his business, start new 
 schemes, make new investments, and the various 
 enterprises in which he is engaged, make new 
 demands upon his time and energies, so that he 
 cannot find leisure to think of anything else. As 
 his prosperity increases, and wealth pours in upon 
 him like a flood, he is continually casting about 
 him to see what lie shall do with it. There never 
 was a time when he had so much to do, and so 
 many things to think of, as now. 
 
 As a natural consequence of all this, he is 
 strongly tempted to neglect his religious duties, 
 because he thinks he has no time to attend to 
 them. He reads his Bible less ; he prays in his 
 closet less ; he prays in his family less ; he medi- 
 tates upon Divine things less ; he attends the 
 prayer-meeting less ; until, at length, nearly 
 every religious duty is partially or wholly neg- 
 lected. His thoughts are all on the world. The 
 more he obtains of it, the better he loves it, and 
 the more is he engaged to accumulate it. I have 
 stated what is not always, but what is very often, 
 the result of prosperity, — what its natural tendency 
 is. It is a danger to which a Christian is most 
 
THE CHRISTIAN IN PROSPERITY. 161 
 
 eminently exposed when the world goes well with 
 him. Unless he is very watchful, there is a fear- 
 ful probability that he will be so much engrossed 
 and absorbed in it, that he will neglect, or imper- 
 fectly perform, all religious duties, secret, social, 
 and public, and almost forget that he has a soul. 
 
 Another danger of prosperity is self-indulgence. 
 The natural tendency of the human heart is to 
 seek to gratify luxurious tastes, appetites, lusts, 
 and passions. Vast multitudes are held in check 
 only by the stern hand of necessity. Luxuries 
 are expensive, and many a man has been saved 
 from ruin because he could not afford to ruin him- 
 self. Multitudes of young men have led honor- 
 able and virtuous lives w^hile pressed by the hand 
 of poverty, but who fell victims to self-indulgence 
 as soon as prosperity smiled upon them. Persons 
 who have any regard for honesty, will not indulge 
 themselves in useless extravagances and effemi- 
 nate, corrupting luxuries, if they can do it only 
 on other people's money — they have too much 
 honor and principle for that ; but let them have 
 means at command which they can call their own, 
 and they will at once run into all manner of excess 
 and dissipation. You recollect the purpose of the 
 rich man whose grounds brought forth plentifully. 
 He had "much goods laid up for many years," as 
 he supposed ; and he deliberately made up his 
 mind to give himself over to a life of idleness, 
 
162 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 luxury, and self-indulgence. He said to himself, 
 w Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many 
 years, — eat, drink, and be merry." He never 
 thought of pursuing such an ignoble course until 
 his prosperity had made him rich. A very large 
 proportion of the reveling, extravagance, idle- 
 ness, luxury, and dissipation to be found in our 
 world can be traced back to prosperity as the first 
 exciting cause. 
 
 Another danger of prosperity is self-confidence, 
 and a feeling of independence and security. "Is 
 not this great Babylon that I have built ? " said 
 the proud king, as he looked over the magnificent 
 city which in his prosperity and success he had 
 raised to be the wonder and admiration of the 
 whole earth, — "Is not this great Babylon that 1 
 have built for the house of the kingdom by the 
 might of my power and for the honor of my 
 majesty ? " How strong and self-sufficient his pros- 
 perity made him ! Yet it was not long before he 
 was turned out to eat grass ! It is only by God's 
 blessing that men ever succeed in any enter- 
 prises they undertake. All their prosperity is of 
 him ; and yet there is no time when they feel 
 their dependence so little, and their self-con- 
 fidence so much, as when God is doing most for 
 them. When did David lose sight of his depen- 
 dence on God, and in his fancied security say, " I 
 shall never be moved ? " It was not when he was 
 
THE CHRISTIAN IX PROSPERITY. 163 
 
 tending the sheepfold in the wilderness, encoun- 
 tering single-handed the lion and the bear ; it was 
 not when he went forth with a stone and a sling- 
 to fight Goliath of Gath ; it was not when he was 
 driven into the wilderness by the persecution of 
 Saul, and obliged to hide himself in thickets, dens, 
 and caves ; for then he felt that his strength was 
 only in the "living God." But it was when, 
 crowned with honors and power, and loaded with 
 wealth, he sat upon the throne of Israel. It was 
 then he lost sight of his dependence on God, and 
 felt confident and secure in himself. The rich 
 man in the gospel, to whom I have already al- 
 luded, placed his confidence in his prosperity, 
 "laid up for many years," to afford him happi- 
 ness, and not in God. And it is generally so. 
 There is no feeling more likelv to follow or ac- 
 company prosperity, than independence and carnal 
 security. 
 
 Another danger to which prosperity exposes 
 the Christian is pride. If a man's wordly enter- 
 prises are crowned with success, and his wealth 
 increases, he has the means of making a display, 
 in dress, style, and equipage. The poor man, who 
 has to labor hard for his daily bread, and can 
 command little if any more than a supply for his 
 bare necessities, will be likely to keep humble ; he 
 has nothing to be proud of, and is consequently 
 removed from temptation to this particular sin. 
 
164 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 But a man who can look over a fine estate, and 
 contemplate elegant buildings, beautiful gardens 
 and pleasure-grounds, fertile fields, fruitful or- 
 chards and vineyards, large and beautiful flocks 
 and herds of sheep, cattle, and splendid horses, 
 with all their elegant trappings and establish- 
 ments glittering with silver and gold, and say to 
 himself, "All these are mine, and everybody 
 knows that they are mine, — " such a man, I say, 
 can hardly fail, without a very large share of the 
 grace of God, to feel his heart lifted up with 
 pride. There is no sin more natural to the 
 human heart than this, and that Christian who can 
 live in uninterrupted prosperity, and still keep 
 uniformly humble, has made very great attain- 
 ments. But the danger which most of all threat- 
 ens him who is greatly prospered in life, is 
 idolatry. Xot that he will cause to be made an 
 image of wood, or of stone, or any other mate- 
 rial, and fell down and worship it, and pray to it, 
 and offer it oblations. That is the idolatry of 
 only ignorant, uncultivated minds, — but the idol- 
 atry of which I speak is the idolatry of the 
 heart, which consists in placing our supreme 
 affections on any object but God. There are 
 quite as many idolaters in Christian lands, accord- 
 ing to the population, as in heathen. If riches 
 increase, it is natural to set our hearts upon them, 
 and that is idolatry. Persons do not know how 
 
THE CHRISTIAN IN PROSPERITY. 165 
 
 hard it is to keep their affections from fastening on 
 worldly good, when they have obtained it, — espe- 
 cially riches, — until they have made the experi- 
 ment. Silver and gold are something that we can 
 see and handle, — we can make immediate use of it, 
 whenever we will, to procure whatever of good 
 this world affords. God is unseen, and it is dif- 
 ficult, sometimes, for us to realise his presence, and 
 to see his hand in every blessing we enjoy. 
 Hence it is a very easy matter, as he is out of sight, 
 to leave him out of mind, and to place in his 
 stead, the creature comfort she has given us, and 
 to make "gold our hope, and to say to the fine 
 gold, thou art my confidence." It is very 
 strange, but no more strange than true, that the 
 more God blesses mankind, and the more he 
 prospers them, the less, as a general fact, is he 
 thought of and loved, and he looks down with 
 grief upon the objects of his constant munificence, 
 and sees that they place their hearts upon what 
 he gives them, and that they "have other gods 
 before him." How many a child of God has al- 
 most made shipwreck of his piety, and worshiped 
 his property, for no other reason but because 
 God had, in his great kindness, prospered him in 
 his worldly concerns ! 
 
 Thus you see, my young friends, how dangerous 
 is prosperity. And yet, you are all wishing it, — 
 and I sincerely wish it for you. But while I wish 
 
166 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 it, I am filled with anxious forebodings, and 
 trembing solicitude, on your account. If I knew 
 that God w^ould uniformly bless you in all your 
 worldly concerns, I should feel far more solicitude 
 for your spirituality, than I should, did I know 
 that he would often thwart j^our schemes, blast 
 your hopes, and send you disappointment instead 
 of success. While, therefore, I wish you prosper- 
 ity, it is on the ground that I hope and trust you 
 will successfully guard against the dangers of 
 which I have spoken, so that prosperity may be 
 a blessing and not a curse to you. There is no 
 necessity that prosperity should prove disastrous 
 to your spiritual interests. 
 
 I shall now give you some hints designed to 
 aid you in guarding against the dangers incident 
 to prosperity. 
 
 1. In the first place, always bear in mind, that to 
 prosper in the affairs of this life is not the main end 
 and object of your being. Our observation of man- 
 kind would lead us to think it was, if we were to 
 judge merely from what we see. But the light 
 of nature, the Bible, and our own consciences teach 
 us better. If we were to lie down and perish 
 with the brutes, then there would be nothing bet- 
 ter for us than to " eat and drink and enjoy the 
 good of our labors," and to seek with all the ener- 
 gies of our souls and bodies, every good which 
 this world can bestow. But this world is only the 
 
THE CHRISTIAN IN PROSPERITY. 167 
 
 threshold of ouf existence. Our home is in the 
 future state. ' This world is only the vestibule to 
 it, and the great lousiness of life is to prepare for 
 what lies beyond. If you will keep this fact con- 
 stantly before you, and let it become a living, 
 practical principle, it will serve both to moderate 
 your excessive anxiety for worldly prosperity, and 
 to guard against the dangers which naturally flow 
 from it. 
 
 2. Keep in view the uncertainty of worldly 
 prosperity, should God give it you. Great, and 
 very sudden sometimes, are the changes which 
 take place in our wordly circumstances and pros- 
 pects. Because things go well with us to-day, is 
 no proof they will go the same with us to-mor- 
 row. "Riches make to themselves wings, and 
 fly away as an eagle toward heaven." It is per- 
 fectly easy for God to turn the tide of our pros- 
 perity to the deepest adversity. And sometimes he 
 does it without giving an hour's warning, and he 
 may do it at any time. No prudence or forecast- 
 ing of ours can prevent it. What lessons are al- 
 most daily taught us, — in conflagrations, cyclones, 
 sea and land disasters, to say nothing of financial 
 revolutions ! What is true of wealth, is true of 
 every form of wordly good that we enjoy ; our 
 health, our honors, our popularity, our influence, 
 our sensual enjoyments, our friends, and our 
 domestic joys and comforts, — everything that 
 
168 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 lights up this world with smiles, afid which man- 
 kind set their hearts upon, God may cut off with a 
 stroke. Hence we should desire all sublunary 
 good with moderation, and enjoy it " as though 
 we possessed it not," for "the fashion of this 
 world passeth away," and none of us can tell 
 "what shall be on the morrow." A constant sense 
 of the entire uncertainty of worldly prosperity, 
 can hardly fail, I think, to guard you against those 
 dangers which almost always attend it. 
 
 3. Never for a moment lose sight of your 
 dependence on God, for the original possession, 
 and for the continuance of earthly good. Remem- 
 ber that you can procure nothing of yourselves. 
 " Except the Lord build the house they labor in 
 vain that build it." If God smiles, we prosper; 
 if he frowns, we cannot prosper, take whatever 
 precautions we may. " The Lord giveth, and the 
 Lord taketh away." 
 
 4. Let success in life prompt to a sense of 
 deeper obligation, and to a more faithful discharge 
 of duty. Instead of letting your mercies be the 
 cause of your forgetting God, let them be an occa- 
 sion for your remembering him with gratitude and 
 love. It was the language of the Psalmist, when 
 in a heavenly frame of mind, in view of the 
 divine goodness, "What shall I render unto the 
 Lord for all his benefits." Let it be your lan- 
 guage. Let a sense of God's kindness to you 
 
THE CHRISTIAN IX PROSPERITY. 169 
 
 prompt you to a more constant filial obedience. 
 If God prospers you. be more constant and earn- 
 est in prayer, and in studying the scriptures : 
 and by all means continue your prompt and 
 punctual attendance upon the worship and ordi- 
 nances of God's house, the social prayer-meeting, 
 and all the means of grace. Who should be 
 grateful ? who should be obedient ? who should 
 be prayerful ? who should make a special effort to 
 lead a godly, righteous, sober, and consistent life, 
 if not those whom God has laid under peculiar 
 obligations by granting them prosperity ? 
 
 5. Guard against selfishness ^ by practising 
 enlarged benevolence in proportion as God pros- 
 pers you. It is a melancholy fact, that very few 
 Christians increase their contributions to the 
 Lord's treasury in proportion to their success in 
 life. If their property or their income increases 
 annually, ten, twenty, fifty, or a hundred per 
 cent, they don't think of increasing their liberality 
 in the same ratio. A person is usually much more 
 liberal, in proportion to his means, when he is 
 worth 81,000. than when he is worth §10.000. 
 TThen we go to a man worth ten thousand dollars 
 to get a contribution to a benevolent object, we 
 never expect to get from him as much as we do in 
 the aggregate from ten of his neighbors, worth 
 only one thousand each. And yet, he can better 
 afford it than they, because they have ten families 
 
170 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 to support, and he has only one ; and besides, he 
 has a little capital to fall back upon, in case of 
 sickness or disability, and they have not. This is 
 more palpably true, in most cases, when a man is 
 worth his fifty, or a hundred thousand dollars, and 
 more still if he is worth a million. Let me urge 
 you to guard against that penuriousness which 
 prosperity so unreasonably engenders, by follow- 
 ing strictly the apostle's rule : — viz., by laying by 
 for God, and sacred purposes, as the Lord pros- 
 pers you ; i. e., in the same proportion, and not a 
 meagre pittance of that prosperity, as many do. 
 
 6. Bear in mind that you are after all but 
 "stewards of God" and that what you receive in 
 your prosperity, is only a trust committed to you, 
 of which you must give a strict account. The 
 ten talents which God enables you to accumulate 
 from the one entrusted to you, are all God's talents 
 still, and the whole ten will be required at your 
 hands by and by. He will not let you embezzle 
 nine of them for hoarding, or for lavish and unnec- 
 essary expenditure on yourself and family, and 
 then call you a "good and faithful servant." 
 Ever keep the day of reckoning in view, and I 
 think it must exert a favorable influence- toward 
 guarding you against the dangers of prosperity. 
 
 7. Often call to mind the solemn and affecting 
 truth that you must die. However great and 
 however prosperous you may become, and al- 
 
THE CHRISTIAN IX PROSPERITY. 171 
 
 though no reverses may come upon you, yet the 
 time in which you can enjoy your worldly good 
 is very brief. God may not say to you this night, 
 or this year, "Thy soul shall be required of thee," 
 but the time must come when he will say it, — then 
 whose shall those things be which were accumla- 
 ted in your prosperity ? You can carry none of 
 them into the eternal world with you. Ask your- 
 selves what advantage will it be to you, when you 
 are struo'oling on the bed of death, in conflict 
 with man's last enemy, to think that you have 
 labored successfully to accumulate the good things 
 of this world, all of which must be left behind? 
 Worldly prosperity is always uncertain, but at 
 death it must surely cease. Who that knows he 
 is to live through eternity, would be satisfied with 
 a portion which is unsatisfying in its nature, and 
 which he must soon leave to he knows not whom? 
 In order, therefore, to moderate your elation in 
 prosperity, often check yourselves by putting the 
 question, K What will all this avail me when I come 
 to die?" 
 
 Lastly, keep heaven in view. Contrast earthly 
 good, with your better portion. How does every- 
 thing pertaining to this world dwindle to nothing, 
 when compared to an inheritance in the kingdom 
 of heaven ! If we ever get to heaven, with w^hat 
 astonishment must we look back, and contemplate 
 the anxiety we felt for prospering in the things of 
 
172 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 this life ! Often think, then, of the glories which 
 are hereafter to be revealed, and of the portion 
 laid up for you in the skies if you are the real 
 children of God ; and then this world, with all its 
 attractions, cannot fail to dwindle to its own insig- 
 nificance, and you will set lightly by its trifles, 
 while your aspirations will be for those joys which 
 are unseen and eternal, and which will neyer fade 
 away. 
 
THE CHRISTIAN IN ADVERSITY. 173 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 The Christian in Advebsity. 
 
 In the day of adversity consider. — Eccl. 7 : 14. 
 
 THIS is a changing world. There is nothing 
 permanent about it. The alternation of day 
 and night, sunshine and clouds, the changes of 
 the seasons, all the mutations of material things, 
 are but emblems of the changes mankind are con- 
 stantly experiencing in their circumstances and 
 prospects. To-day it is pleasant. The sun shines 
 gloriously in the heavens, and "rejoiceth as a 
 strong man to run a race." There is not a cloud 
 to darken the horizon ; the birds sing sweetly and 
 merrily in the trees ; the whole face of nature 
 smiles, and all the beings we see, seem joyous and 
 happy. But who can tell what, shall be on the 
 morrow? Very likely, before then, the heavens 
 may gather blackness, the hail and rains may de- 
 scend, the winds may blow, and the storm may 
 rage, all nature may wear as dark an aspect 
 as it now does a bright and beautiful one. 
 
 Just so it is in the moral world. To-day we 
 may be rejoicing in prosperity, happy in our 
 
174 pastor's counsels to youxg christians. 
 
 health and strength, happy in our worldly cir- 
 cumstances, happy in our friends, and happy in 
 our prospects so far as we can reasonably antici- 
 pate the future. But all this affords no guaranty 
 for to-morrow. On the morrow God may bring 
 as sudden and as gloomy a change in our outward 
 circumstances as ever came over the face of na- 
 ture, and hardly a vestige of our former pros- 
 perity may remain. It is an ordinance of Provi- 
 dence that this should be a world of " lights and 
 shadows, 5 ' that good and evil should be inter- 
 mixed, and that one should succeed the other just 
 in that time and in that order which the inscrut- 
 able will of God may see best, without either ask- 
 ing our leave, or even informing us how or when 
 these changes are to occur. TTe are therefore to 
 take the good and the ill things of life as they 
 come, and get good out of them all, and improve 
 them so that they may answer, both to us and to 
 others, the purposes for which they are sent. 
 Each phase of life has its appropriate considera- 
 tions, feelings, and duties. 
 
 I think, my young friends, there is no doubt 
 but some, and probably all of you will hereafter 
 have more or less practical experience of the dark 
 phases of human life. It is by no means probable 
 that every day of your future will be all sunshine. 
 It would be very strange if your path through this 
 world should be alwavs smooth, and strewn with 
 
THE CHRISTIAN IN ADVERSITY. 175 
 
 flowers. There is, indeed, a vast difference in the 
 amount of temporal good and evil allotted to in- 
 dividuals here, even to God's own children. Some 
 are very much prospered, and others seem to be 
 almost perpetually under the frown of Providence. ' 
 But there are very few who do not have to pass 
 through many dark, distressing scenes ; and I 
 think I can safely predict that there is not one 
 of you who will not know what trouble is before 
 you die. The forms in which it comes may and 
 probably will be very diverse, although there is a 
 class of trials common to all mankind, and from 
 which, of course, none can hope to be exempt. I 
 do not wish to throw a damper over your spirits, 
 as you are now in the buoyancy of youth, looking 
 forward probably with sanguine hopes to a pros- 
 perous and happy future, by holding up before 
 you a gloomy picture. The prospects before you 
 are not all, nor chiefly, dark by any means. If an 
 artist could be inspired to paint a picture which 
 should truthfully represent human life as it will 
 hereafter be realized in the experience of each of 
 you, there is reason to believe that many bright 
 and cheering points would illumine it ; but it is 
 useless to conceal the fact, that there would prob- 
 ably be drawn on that canvas some scenes which 
 would cause you to shrink back with fear and 
 trembling. It is well, therefore, that you should 
 take a candid, rational view of your earthly so- 
 
176 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 journ, and bear in mind that, while you are hop- 
 ing for good and seeking after it, evils of some 
 kind are in store for you, and it may be evils of 
 a very great magnitude. I say it is well to bear 
 this in mind, for if you do, you will not be taken 
 by surprise when they come, and you will not be 
 altogether unprepared for them. 
 
 I. I will in ihs first place mention some of the 
 different forms in which you are liable to encoun- 
 ter adversity in your future life. 
 
 The term adversity implies some very serious 
 calamity, or trial, or affliction, which essentially 
 mars our happiness and inflicts great distress, 
 mental or corporeal. 
 
 1. I would mention first, bodily pain or in- 
 jury. This is an evil to which all are subject, 
 and one which, to some extent, all must suffer. 
 There is not a day passes in which we do not suf- 
 fer something in this way. But our ordinary daily 
 sufferings are so slight, and transient, they are not 
 worthy of being taken into the account in this con- 
 nection. But how liable are we all to suffer ex- 
 cruciating bodily anguish, which no skill of the 
 physician, nor the power of medicine, can effec- 
 tually remove. There are pains in the head, pains 
 in the chest, pains in the limbs, pains in the eyes, 
 and other different organs of the body, and some- 
 times they are of so severe a character as to mar 
 every enjoyment ; and if they are continued with- 
 
THE CHRISTIAN IX ADVERSITY. 177 
 
 out alleviation, they render life itself a burden. 
 Such was one of Job's severest calamities. He 
 was covered from the crown of his head to the 
 sole of the foot with sore boils, so that he could 
 neither stand, sit. or lie down without experienc- 
 ing the intensest a^onv I Pie bore his other ca- 
 lamities with fortitude ; but he quailed under 
 bodily suffering, so that his life became a loath- 
 ing- to him, and he prayed that he might die. 
 There have been few sufferers like Job : but there 
 have been multitudes, and there are multitudes 
 living at this very moment, whose sufferings are 
 akin to his. There are many persons, and I have 
 seen such, who know not what it is to be free 
 from pain from the beginning of the year to the 
 end of it: days, months, and even years of sick- 
 ness and languishing are apportioned to them. 
 Severe bodily pain is an evil to which we are all 
 liable, and one which doubtless many of us are 
 doomed to suffer intensely before we die. 
 
 Connected with bodily pain, there is often bodily 
 injury, involving the loss of sight, or the loss of 
 hearing, or the loss of limb. How many are 
 maimed for life by accidents on railroads and 
 steamboats — in manufacturing establishments, by 
 beino' caught in machinerv — at the raising and 
 falling of buildings — - disasters at tires, and ten 
 thousand other ways, according as God may see 
 fit to order his providence. In a moment, in the 
 
178 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 twinkling of an eye as it were, the most joyous 
 prosperity has been changed to the darkest ad- 
 versity ! 
 
 Who of you can tell, my young friends, but 
 that you may in the course of future life, be 
 called to suffer some calamity of this kind, so 
 as to cut off all your earthly prospects, and render 
 you helpless and dependent ? 
 
 2. Another form in which adversity may come 
 is the loss of property. Supposing God should 
 prosper you in the # employment of your hands, or 
 in your chosen occupation for life, and fill your 
 basket and store-house, — should let your property 
 accumulate so that you may consider yourself in- 
 dependent, and even rich, — you are by no means 
 secure. A disastrous fire, a revulsion in the com- 
 mercial world, the failure of corporations, the 
 bankruptcy of those who are indebted to you, 
 and the worthlessness of their securities, or an 
 unknown defect in your title to real estate — any 
 or all of these causes may bring you down from 
 affluence to poverty, and you may be reduced to 
 the condition of your blessed Master, not having 
 "where to lay your head," and even "want may 
 come upon you like an armed man." Thousands 
 and tens of thousands in our country have experi- 
 enced all this within the last few years, and thou- 
 sands more will experience the same in years to 
 come, and you may be of the number. 
 
THE CHRISTIAN IN ADVERSITY. 179 
 
 3. Another form of adversity may be domestic 
 'ions in the loss of near and dear friends, for 
 affliction is not improperly called adversity. If 
 there is any one cause more than another which 
 makes the world literally " a vale of tears," it is' 
 the sundering of the ties which bind us to those 
 we love. The loss of property is nothing to the 
 loss of a companion, a child, a parent, a brother, 
 or a sister, unless a person has become so sordid 
 as to make gold his idol. Nothing can make this 
 world look so sad, and desolate, as to follow to 
 the grave the remains of those whose hearts are 
 knit with ours. 
 
 There is a bitterness in that sorrow which weeps 
 for loved ones laid in the grave, which is tasted in 
 no other cup. Go and ask the widow, or the 
 widowed husband, or the stricken parents bereft 
 of their children, what in their opinion constitutes 
 the essence of adversity, and their tears will tell 
 you. There needs to be " no speech nor lan- 
 guage : " " their voice " need " not be heard : rr the 
 silent but quivering lip. and the heaving bosom 
 will reveal the truth that no desolation can exceed 
 what they experience. This species of trial is 
 certain to befall every one of us, unless we our- 
 selves should be the first called away. The sepa- 
 ration of friends by death is inevitable. The sun 
 is not more certain to rise to-morrow than it is 
 certain that our hearts are some time to be riven 
 
180 pastob's counsels to young christians. 
 
 by the stroke of the fell destroyer. The hour of 
 oar anguish may be deferred, but come it will in 
 God's appointed time. "It is appointed to all 
 men once to die." We shall either leave our 
 friends to weep for us, or we shall be left to weep 
 for them. In either case, the silken cords of affec- 
 tion which now bind our hearts together hav^e got 
 to be sundered, ajid the tears of grief are ere long 
 sure to overflow. 
 
 I have spoken of some of the most prominent 
 forms, my young friends, in which stern adver- 
 sity may possibly visit you in future life; viz., 
 bodily suffering, loss of property, the blighting 
 of all your worldly prospects, and the desolation 
 of grief occasioned by the loss of beloved friends. 
 There are other trials common to humanity, such 
 as disappointment in our fondly-cherished plans, 
 malice of enemies, ingratitude and unkind treat- 
 ment from those to whom we have shown favors, 
 domestic troubles and secret griefs of w T hich the 
 w r orld cannot be cognizant, — all of which may or 
 may not be yours in the future. I pray God to 
 avert them from you so far as may be consistent 
 with your highest good ; but that you will be 
 exempt from all kinds of adversity during your 
 earthly pilgrimage, is more than we are to hope 
 for, and perhaps more than we ought to desire. 
 
 II. I shall now, in the second place, speak of the 
 spirit with which you should meet adversity when 
 it comes. 
 
THE CHRISTIAN IX ADVERSITY. 181 
 
 1. And I would say first, particularly to young 
 
 men, — meet it with a manly spirit. If troubles 
 
 come, do not wilt and quail before them like a petted 
 
 child when it meets with a slight accident, or when 
 its toys are taken away. Not that I would have 
 you cultivate a stoicism which looks with indiffer- 
 ence upon passing events, whether they be joyous 
 or sad. A person without emotion is to be pitied. 
 But what I mean is that you should meet the trials 
 of life with a good degree of fortitude, and not 
 wilt like a hot-house plant the moment it is 
 touched by the frost, if you meet with an acci- 
 dent, bear it like a man : if called to -utter bodily 
 pain, endure it like a man : if misfortune overtakes 
 you. and your property is destroyed or taken 
 away, do not, in effeminate weakness, sit down and 
 say. "My all is gone : I am undone for life : it is 
 of no use for me to try any longer." Be ashamed 
 to let especially the lighter trials of life, like loss 
 or disappointment in regard to business or prop- 
 erty, erush you. Bouse up and look misfortune 
 in the face ; not in a defiant spirit, for misfortune 
 is one of God's messenger-, but look upon her as 
 a friend ; and although she wears a frown upon 
 her brow, see if you cannot detect a -mile upon 
 her lips. Her errand may be one of love after all. 
 
 2. Secon ' meet adversity with a cheerful 
 spirit. This you will be likely to do if you meet it 
 with a manly spirit. However great our trials, they 
 
182 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 should not make us melancholy. To be cheerful, 
 is a duty we owe both to ourselves and to others. 
 To despond, and suffer ourselves to be made 
 wretched and gloomy by any adverse occurrences, 
 is both useless and sinful. There is no day so 
 dark but that we can see to go about ; the clouds 
 over our heads are never so dense but they admit 
 some rays of the sun to pass through them. So 
 the moral atmosphere is never so dark but there 
 are some rays of light to cheer the gloom ; and if 
 you are tempted to despondency, you should 
 remember that there is still left more of good than 
 of evil, and you have more occasion for smiles 
 than you have for tears. 
 
 3. Thirdly, You should meet adversity with a 
 submissive spirit. All'events are ordered by an all- 
 wise, though inscrutable Providence. " The Lord 
 reigneth," and doeth his pleasure in all places, 
 and with all beings ; and that is enough for us. 
 Our language should ever be, "Thy will be done.'' 
 "Even so, Father." God knows best what we 
 should suffer, and in his wisdom and his goodness 
 we should cheerfully and implicitly confide. "The 
 Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away," said 
 the patient sufferer ; " blessed be the name of the 
 Lord." "Though he slay me yet will I trust in 
 him." Aaron, when bereaved of his sons, "held 
 his peace." The Psalmist, when suffering chastise- 
 ment at the hand of God, says, "I was dumb, I 
 
THE CHRISTIAN EN ADVERSITY. 183 
 
 opened not my mouth because thou didst it." 
 The Lord Jesus, our great exemplar, endured 
 afflictions a thousand fold greater than ever fell to 
 the lot of humanity, and we read that in the depth 
 of his sorrows, he fell on his face and prayed:' 
 "0. my Father, if it he possible let this cup pass 
 from me : nevertheless, not as I will but as thou 
 wilt." And this should be the language of every 
 one suffering adversity. 
 
 III. We will now. in the third place, direct our 
 attention to some considerations which tend to 
 ameliorate adversity^ and light up the darkness 
 which it naturally throws around us. 
 
 And a prominent one is. our trials do not come 
 by chance, neither are they inflicted by an enemy ; 
 but are by the appointment of our best friend. 
 God not only foreknows, but Predetermines all 
 events. Our afflictions are as much by his ap- 
 pointment as our blessings are. and should be 
 regarded by us as an essential part of his wise and 
 benevolent plan for administering his moral gov- 
 ernment over his creatures. We know that God 
 has a good and sufficient reason for inflicting upon 
 us every ill that we suffer, and with this we should 
 be content. 
 
 Our trials, be they ever so great, are nothing in 
 comparison with what we deserve. When we 
 place our afflictions by the side of our sins, we 
 cannot but be filled with admiration of that grood- 
 
184: pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 ness which deals so gently with us We should 
 have no reason to complain were God to take from 
 us every comfort, and send us nothing but chas- 
 tisements ; but instead of it, he continues most 
 of our blessings, even in the darkest times, and 
 wields the rod with a tender Father's hand, and 
 strikes only a few and gentle blows. 
 
 Another sustaining consideration in adversity 
 is, God is dealing ivith us in chastisement for our 
 good, and not because he takes any pleasure in 
 our suffering. " He doth not afflict willing! v, nor 
 grieve the children of men, but for their profit" 
 — that is, he takes no satisfaction in giving his 
 children pain, and would not do so were it not 
 necessary for our good. What a different aspect 
 does this consideration give to earthly trials, — to 
 think that they are all dictated by kindness, and 
 have their origin in parental love. "Whom the 
 Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every 
 son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, 
 God dealeth with you as with sons, for what son 
 is he whom the father chasteneth not ? But if ye 
 be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, 
 then are ye bastards, and not sons." The sw 7 eet 
 poet Cowper says : — 
 
 " Did I meet no trials here, 
 No chastisement by the way, 
 Might I not with reason fear 
 I should be a castaway ? " 
 
THE CHRISTIAN IX ADVERSITY. 185 
 
 There is another consideration for the true 
 Christian, calculated to cheer the hours of adver- 
 sity ; and that is, they vnll shortly be past. These 
 trials and these sorrows are not to be perpetual ; 
 they are only temporary evils, which ere long will 
 be alleviated or removed. These darksome nights 
 will be succeeded by the cheerful light of day. 
 Whether it will be in this world we cannot tell. 
 It is not much matter ; but we know the period 
 will come, if we are God's children, when every 
 pain we suffer will be removed, every sigh that 
 heaves our bosoms will be hushed, every tear will 
 be wiped away, and every dark and dreary scene 
 will be exchanged for one of light, cheerfulness, 
 and joy. Let these considerations cheer and ani- 
 mate us, my friends, and sustain our spirits, if 
 now, or in after life, God may see fit to cause us 
 to pass under the cloud of adversity. 
 
 IV. In the j bin th place I will specify some of 
 the uses to be made of adversity. 
 
 One prominent use we should make of adver- 
 sity should it come upon us is, to institute the in- 
 quiry why God is contending with us. As I have 
 already stated, God has a wise and benevolent 
 object in view when he wields the rod. This 
 object relates in part to us as individuals. It is 
 for us to inquire What is it? What sin do we 
 cherish and habitually commit that he wishes to 
 correct ? What languishing Christian grace does 
 
186 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 he wish to revive in our hearts ? What neglected 
 Christian duty does he design to prompt us to 
 discharge? Doubtless some one and perhaps all 
 of these objects he has in view, and designs to 
 secure. We should lose no time in ascertaining 
 what God means when he speaks to us in this way, 
 and as dutiful children, obey his voice, and put 
 in practice the lesson he gives us. This chastise- 
 ment is for our profit, and we should see to it that 
 we do not lose the blessing it was designed to 
 secure to us. God often makes use of adversity 
 to turn our thoughts from this world to himself. 
 This world is apt to engross our thoughts and 
 affections, so that sometimes the Christian almost 
 forgets that there is any other world besides this, 
 and nothing short of severe measures will prove 
 effectual to reclaim him. Let us, then, ask our- 
 selves, Have we not become too worldly-minded? 
 and are not these severe chastisements the means 
 God is using to detach our affections from earth, 
 that they may return to him ? 
 
 Another use we should make of adversity is, 
 it should lead us to think more of heaven. In 
 prosperity we often lose sight of it, w^e cease to 
 desire it, we are too well satisfied with what we 
 have here and hope to obtain. But when trials 
 come, and our good things are taken away, then 
 we see and feel the need of something better and 
 more substantial. In heaven, the Christian's por- 
 
THE CHRISTIAN IX ADVERSITY. 187 
 
 tion, there are no pains, no losses, no disappoint- 
 ments, no separation of friends, no toil, no solici- 
 tude, no sighs, and no tears. All is peace and 
 blessedness there. It is passing strange that the 
 world, so unsatisfying in its nature, so uncertain, 
 so deceptive, and so fleeting, should ever come 
 between us and heaven. But it often does, and 
 almost entirely hides its glories from our view. 
 When, therefore, God takes this world from us, 
 or any of its enjoyments on which we had placed 
 our affections, our thoughts and our hearts should 
 immediately go upward and fasten upon our bet- 
 ter inheritance. If heaven is ours, how insignifi- 
 cant are all our losses, sufferings, and trials here ! 
 I shall close this chapter with one more thought ; 
 and that is, whenever adversity comes upon you, 
 my young friends, put all your confidence in God. 
 Look to him for grace and strength to enable you 
 to exercise your courage, your fortitude, your 
 Christian philosophy. Philosophy without grace 
 cannot sustain you ; but grace and strength from 
 God can sustain you even without philosophy. He 
 alone can enable you to bear the burdens which he 
 himself imposes. And if you will confide in him 
 he will do it. He has graciously promised that 
 he will. "As thy days, so shall thy strength be." 
 " Cast thy burden upon the Lord and he shall 
 sustain thee.*' Let the great use of your trials 
 be to lead you nearer to God ; to place an implicit 
 
188 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 confidence in his wisdom, goodness, faithfulness, 
 and truth. He will cause light to shine out of 
 darkness, and will bring good out of apparent evil. 
 He will make all things work together for your 
 highest good in time and in eternity. Trust in 
 the Lord, and then, although the foundations of 
 the earth should be shaken, you have nothing to 
 fear. 
 
CHRISTIAN MANLINESS. 189 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 CHRISTIAN MANLINESS, 
 Be strong and show thyself a man. — 1 Kings 2 : 2. 
 
 THESE words are a part of King David's dying 
 charge to the youthful Solomon, David was 
 now an old man. For a period of forty years he 
 had swayed the scepter as sovereign over Israel. 
 He was now about to resign it to his son. and as 
 the days drew near that he should die. he called 
 Solomon to his bedside, and gave him the follow- 
 ing charge : "I go." said he. "the way of all the 
 earth; be thou strong, therefore, and shorn thyself 
 a man. And keep the charge of the Lord thy 
 God. to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, 
 and his commandments, and his judgments, and 
 his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, 
 that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest. and 
 whithersoever thou turnest thyself." Solomon 
 was now a mere youth, about twenty years old. 
 and upon him were soon to devolve cares and re- 
 sponsibilities of the greatest magnitude. It is not 
 surprising, therefore, that David felt a tender 
 solicitude for the youth, and took this opportunity. 
 
190 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 just as he was leaving the world, to give this his 
 affectionate, paternal counsel, the first sentence 
 of which is, " be strong and show thyself a man" 
 David meant by this, that Solomon should culti- 
 vate, and exhibit in his deportment and actions, a 
 noble, upright, dignified, manly spirit and bearing 
 in his intercourse with his fellow-men. 
 
 The counsel David gave to Solomon is always 
 appropriate, especially to young men coming upon 
 the stage of life. The first requisite for forming a 
 useful character in the world, is piety : and the 
 second is manliness. The two are very nearly 
 allied. A person cannot be a very good Christian 
 without being manly ; and it is impossible to be 
 perfectly manly in the fullest and best sense of 
 that term, without being a Christian. 
 
 Manliness is a term that expresses dignity, 
 firmness, courage, integrity, principle, decision, 
 nobleness of soul. Perhaps we can define it as 
 well as any way by its opjjosites. It is opposed to 
 childishness. "When I became a man," says 
 Paul, " I put away childish things." He did not 
 make it the business of life to amuse himself with 
 toys. It is opposed to effeminacy, — a fear of 
 coming in contact with the world, lest in the 
 severe conflicts of life, some trifling injury may 
 possibly be sustained, especially to the personal 
 appearance, — a spirit that betrays a greater solici- 
 tude for the dressing of the hair, the fitting of a 
 
CHRISTIAN MANLINESS. 191 
 
 garment, the fairness of the complexion, and the 
 whiteness and softness of the hands, than for any 
 adorning of the inner man, all of which may be 
 expressed by the modern term, " dandyism." 
 
 Manliness is opposed to cowardice, which is 
 always afraid to stir out of doors because there is 
 "a lion in the street." 
 
 It is opposed to obsequiousness,— a servile 
 fawning around an individual or a party, to court 
 favor, or to obtain an office. 
 
 It is opposed to rudeness, either in speech or 
 behavior toward our superiors, inferiors, or equals. 
 
 It is opposed to two-facedness and duplicity ; 
 i. e., being one thing in a man's presence, and 
 another behind his back. 
 
 It is opposed to hypocrisy in every shape, and 
 in all circumstances. 
 
 It is opposed to fickleness, — a constant changing 
 of opinions and course of conduct, so that a 
 knowledge of what a man was yesterday, gives you 
 no clue to what he is to-dav, or what he will be 
 to-morrow. 
 
 Manliness is opposed to rowdyism, — boister- 
 ousness in the streets, disturbing the peace of 
 neighborhoods, and the rest of honest, quiet people 
 at night, by loud demonstrations of mirth, and out- 
 landish noises. 
 
 It is opposed to meanness in every form and 
 degree ; — meanness in buying ; meanness in sell- 
 
192 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 ing ; meanness in taking advantage of others 9 
 ignorance or necessities ; meanness in shirking 
 responsibility; meanness in enjoying anything that 
 is pleasant or useful, and refusing to pay for it 
 because others will ; meanness in opposing a good 
 and necessary object, because it will cost some- 
 thing ; meanness in eaves-dropping ; meanness in 
 prying into and meddling with other people's 
 matters, and then going around the streets and 
 talking about them. 
 
 It is opposed to miserly penuriousness, — close- 
 calculating, close-fisted covetousness. 
 
 It is opposed to envy, ill-will, censoriousness, 
 back-biting, and everything that goes to disturb 
 the harmony of society. 
 
 All the things which I have mentioned are 
 directly the opposite of manliness. True manli- 
 ness looks down upon them from a lofty elevation, 
 with sincere pity and a virtuous contempt. 
 
 I think, from this negative description, you may 
 get a pretty correct idea of what I understand by 
 manliness. 
 
 I will now proceed, my young friends, to give 
 some directions how your manliness should be 
 exemplified. 
 
 1. One way in which manliness should be exem- 
 plified is in your deportment and general de- 
 meanor. Carefully avoid that effeminateness and 
 foppishness in your dress, manners, and eonversa- 
 
CHRISTIAN MANLINESS. 193 
 
 tion, to which young men are sometimes prone, 
 and which is in general a public advertisement of 
 a want of correct taste, mental culture, and good 
 sense. It is unquestionably the duty of every- 
 body to pay some attention to their personal ap- 
 pearance. There is an evident propriety in our 
 being not only comfortably, but decently, and 
 even tastefully clad. 
 
 Xeither religion nor manliness requires a young 
 man, or an old man, to be a sloven, and to out- 
 rage the feelings of civilized society, by dressing 
 like a savage, or by disregarding the habits and 
 customs of the community in which he lives. Our 
 clothes should be of such materials as to combine 
 decency, comfort, and economy ; and made in such 
 a style as to attract no particular notice, either for 
 their elegance or the want of it. And this is 
 sufficient. But to see a young man giving his at- 
 tention to fine clothes, studying the latest fashions, 
 and following them to an extreme, giving himself 
 more concern about the setting of his coat, and the 
 texture of the cloth of which it is made, than he 
 does about the texture of his mind, or the state of 
 his heart, is so unworthy of one who pretends to 
 call himself a man, that it is painfully disgusting. 
 Such a one thinks, by making a display on his 
 person of the gloss of his apparel, and the skill of 
 his tailor, that he is making a favorable impres- 
 sion on those who look at him. Xever was there 
 
194 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 a greater mistake. While the poor simpleton 
 imagines that he is an object of universal admira- 
 tion, he little dreams that all sensible people are 
 looking upon him with mingled feelings of pity 
 and disgust. Says a very plain-spoken, sensible 
 writer : * " No character is more despicable than 
 that of a fop, for it implies the most diminutive 
 littleness of soul ; since it is evident that if the 
 man had more mind, he would serve the devil in a 
 bolder way. The evil one has set him about the 
 smallest of all business, as either not competent, 
 or not inclined to great undertakings. There is 
 something so beneath the dignity of manhood, so 
 unworthy of our high origin, of our varied powers, 
 and of our momentous destiny, in concentrating 
 the faculties of the soul on questions of dress, 
 fashion, and personal appearance, that I believe 
 no young man can respect himself, as I am sure 
 he cannot be respected by others, who is thus 
 characterized." Words fitly spoken. Not only 
 in your dress, but in your manners and conversa- 
 tion be manly. In society, try to talk about 
 something besides trifles. Never condescend to 
 use vulgar or slang phrases, — a custom quite too 
 common, even among those who would be thought 
 gentlemen. They are demoralizing, useless, and 
 undignified. Feel yourselves above telling, or 
 
 *Rev. W. W. Pattern, D. D. ; see his " Young Man," p. 130. 
 
CHRISTIAN MANLINESS. 195 
 
 even listening to, foolish and indecent stories and 
 anecdotes. Leave all these for the amusement of 
 buffoons, — that class of persons who sustain a mid- 
 dle rank between apes and men. Let there be such 
 a contrast between your carriage and conversation 
 and theirs, that none can fail to see it. Respect 
 yourselves, and you will be respected even by the 
 low-bred and vulgar. Show that you are disgusted 
 with their folly, and they will soon cease to trouble 
 you. There is nothing this class of people shun 
 more than true manliness ; and if you evince it in 
 your deportment, they will very soon discover it, 
 and let you alone. Treat everybody with true 
 politeness and courtesy. Never return an insult, 
 and you will not be often insulted. The archangel 
 Michael was polite, even to the devil, as we read 
 in James ; and his example is worthy of imitation. 
 How sublime and dignified was he in his reply to 
 the insolence of the adversary ! It is evident that 
 the devil insulted him. Instead of " giving him 
 as good as he sent" (as the common phrase is), he 
 replied, " The Lord rebuke thee." How would the 
 angel have let himself down, had he returned rail- 
 ing for railing t 
 
 Let your manliness stand out prominent in all 
 your intercourse with the world. There will 
 hardly a day pass without its being called into 
 requisition. Let it appear in your frankness. 
 Some men always act and speak on the non-com- 
 
196 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 nrittal system. They never let you know what they 
 believe or disbelieve ; what they approve or dis- 
 approve ; whether they will forward an enterprise 
 or oppose it ; whether they favor the interests of 
 this party or that one ; whether they love you or 
 hate you. Now there is nothing manly in all this. 
 When you see a man going about in a mask, and 
 under a cloak, you have reason to be afraid of 
 him, and to suspect that he has sinister designs, 
 either upon you or somebody else. How much 
 more noble and manly is it to avow your opinions, 
 and show your colors, and let the world know 
 who and what you are, and what ground you stand 
 upon in regard to all subjects in which you and 
 the public have a mutual interest, and where you 
 are expected to exert an influence. If you are 
 ashamed of your opinions, and do not avow them 
 on that account, abandon them. If you are afraid 
 to avow them, be ashamed of your cowardice. If 
 you are unwilling to avow them because you wish 
 to make some private capital out of your non- 
 committalism, then you should blush for your 
 selfishness. I do not mean, that in order to be 
 frank, you must tell all you know and think, about 
 things which ought to be kept private ; nor about 
 matters with which others have no concern, but 
 to gratify an idle and impertinent curiosity. On 
 the contrary, frankness demands that you tell, 
 plainly, all such intermeddlers with what does not 
 
CHRISTIAN MANLINESS. 197 
 
 belong to them, that there are good reasons why 
 you should keep your own counsel. 
 
 Let your manliness appear in your ingenuousness 
 in acknowledging , without equivocation or reserve, 
 when you have been mistaken, or done wrong; 
 and if you have intentionally or unintentionally 
 injured any one, let your manliness appear in 
 making all suitable apology and reparation. There 
 is hardly any mistake into which mankind are 
 more frequently led by their pride, than the notion 
 that it is degrading to confess when they have 
 been in error, or have done wrong ; whereas noth- 
 ing can be more manly. Rather than do it, many 
 will meet in deadly combat, and blow each other's 
 brains out ! 
 
 Let your manliness appear in all your business 
 transactions. Here it should stand out in bold 
 relief. The manner in which you deal with your 
 fellow-men will leave an indelible impression on 
 their minds. There is nothing that will make a 
 more favorable impression among honorable busi- 
 ness men, than an honest, truthful, candid, liberal, 
 straightforward manliness in your buying and sell- 
 ing, and keeping and settling accounts ; and there 
 is nothing that leaves a worse impression than for 
 one who professes to be a man, especially a pro- 
 fessed Christian, to higgle and manoeuver and mis- 
 represent and conceal, and to take advantage and 
 
198 pastok's counsels to young christians. 
 
 cheat, in making; a bargain. There are some men 
 who affect respectability who will do this. 
 
 Let me earnestly exhort you, my young friends, 
 in all your business transactions in future life, to 
 show yourselves men. Disdain to descend to the 
 low, mean, and petty, not to say dishonest artifices 
 to which some will resort, to turn a few pennies 
 from another man's pocket into their own. If you 
 have an article to sell, do not represent it to be 
 any better than it is. If it has defects, do not 
 leave the purchaser to find them out if he can, 
 especially after you have concealed them by 
 thrusting them under cover ; but do you point them 
 out, exactly as they are. Never ask a little more 
 for an article than it is worth, because you think 
 the person you are dealing with is ignorant of the 
 market value. When buying an article have the 
 candor to acknowledge whatever good qualities it 
 may possess, and do not try to make it appear to 
 have defects which you know it has not. A man 
 will never do such things, and you will not, if there 
 is anything manly about you. Let honor, truth- 
 fulness, and strict integrity characterize every- 
 thing you say and do, in all the affairs of life, so 
 that there never shall be occasion to 'say, concern- 
 ing any one of you, "he is a person that needs 
 watching." 
 
 Again, let your manliness be manifested in your 
 always taking a decided stand for principle and for 
 
CHKISTIAN MANLINESS. 199 
 
 right, however unpopular such a course may be. 
 Always defend the down-trodden, and take part 
 with the oppressed against the oppressor. Let 
 your voice be heard for justice and equity, and for 
 good order, and good rulers, and good laws, and the 
 execution of good laws, irrespective of party or 
 personal considerations. Espouse the right, even 
 though you should have to stand alone, as Abdiel 
 did — as represented by Milton — when, unsup- 
 ported by a single individual, he uttered his voice 
 in solemn protest against the usurpation of Satan 
 and his compeers when they revolted in heaven. 
 Such a stand may cost you your popularity, or de- 
 prive you of office, in possession or in prospect. 
 It may subject you to jeers, and taunts, and per- 
 secution, even as it did Abdiel. But what of that ? 
 A man will stand up for the right, though all the 
 powers of darkness, and their allies in this world, 
 with Satan at their head, should rise up against 
 him. He that will not do it is devoid of principle, 
 — a poor, selfish, craven wretch, and not worthy 
 the name of a man. 
 
 Again, let your manliness be exemplified in 
 your having a mind and opinions of your oivn, 
 and by showing that you can adhere to them. 
 Dare to think for yourselves, my young friends ; 
 if you would be men. It is proper for you 
 to listen to what others say, and to be influ- 
 enced by their arguments, if they are good ones ; 
 
200 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 but not otherwise. When forming your opinions, 
 act with deliberation and independence. Do not 
 believe this dogma or that, merely because some- 
 body tells you to ; for perhaps to-morrow some- 
 body else will tell you to believe directly the 
 opposite, and thus you will be "carried about 
 by the sleight and cunning craftiness of men, 
 whereby they lie in wait to deceive." I say 
 think for yourselves, and form your own opin- 
 ions, and when you have formed them, adhere 
 to them, unless you become convinced that they 
 are wrong, and then change them, and have 
 the manliness to tell the world that you have 
 done so, and don't be ashamed of it. Never, 
 in any case, be persuaded to do violence to the 
 dictates of conscience. You will often be assailed 
 by temptation to violate your principles. Do not 
 be afraid to hold up your head, look your tempter 
 in the face, and answer him with a decided NO. 
 In politics, morals, and religion act consistently, 
 and carry out your principles, independently of 
 demagogues, scheming politicians, or the devil, 
 and be men in spite of them all. 
 
 Again, let your manliness be exemplified in 
 your high and noble aims in life, God did not 
 create you to be drones and idlers. He has given 
 each one of you a part to act ; there is an im- 
 portant niche for each one of you to fill. Your 
 influence and your labors are wanted in the world 
 
CHRISTIAN MAXLXNESS, 201 
 
 for promoting the glory of God. and the interests 
 
 of the great family of man. Seek. then, some 
 honorable and useful employment. Even if wealth 
 
 uld flow in upon you. or a fortune should be 
 left you. so that there should be nc>- pecuniary 
 necessity tor your ever moving a finger, it "would 
 make not the least difference. You have no right 
 to stand all day in the vineyard idle, or to spend* 
 your time on trifles, or in ignoble pursuits. It is 
 sinful and unmanly to do so. Live not for pres- 
 ent, selfish gratification, but have constantly be- 
 fore vou an object worthv of vour exalted nature, 
 and your immortal destiny. 
 
 But the most important direction for your 
 "showing yourselves men" remains to be given. 
 
 Let your manliness be manifested in tout fidelity 
 f tl - Lt \ ' Jet ? Christ. All 
 your manliness in the affairs of this world will be 
 of little avail, comparatively, if you are found 
 wanting here. You have enlisted in a noble war- 
 fare, under a leader who styles himself the "Cap- 
 tain of your salvation." and it now remains for 
 you to be string, of good courage, active, vigi- 
 lant, self-sacrificing, prompt, and persevering. 
 The warfare in which you are engaged, my young 
 friends, you will And. before you are through with 
 it. to be no trifling matter. The enemies with 
 whom you are to contend are numerous, artful. 
 and powerful, and you will never vanquish them 
 
202 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 unless you are alive to a sense of your solemn 
 responsibilities, and "put on the whole armor of 
 God," and " fight manfully the good fight of 
 faith," and " quit yourselves like men." 
 
 Always be ready, in all places and in all cir- 
 cumstances, to let the world know on what ground 
 you stand; that you are committed for life, and 
 for eternity, to the cause of truth and righteous- 
 ness. Your flag has emblazoned upon it the cross 
 of Christ, and you should glory in it. Instead of 
 keeping it concealed, unfurl it and give it to the 
 wind, and let it wave in the breeze, so that all 
 the world can see it ; and let both your foes and 
 your friends know that you will die sooner than 
 see that flag struck or dishonored. Your leader 
 is the Lord Jesus, and let his name cause your 
 hearts to thrill with joy, and to beat with ardor 
 for him and his cause, as the name of Bonaparte 
 inspired the hearts of the French soldiers, and as 
 the names of Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan gave 
 courage and enthusiasm to our brave boys in the 
 late war. 
 
 A manty soldier wears the uniform given him, 
 and keeps his armor bright, and read?/ for use at 
 any moment. So are you to put on the gospel 
 panoply, "the breastplate of righteousness," the 
 "helmet of salvation," and taking the "sword of 
 the Spirit, which is the word of God," you are to 
 
CHRISTIAN MANLINESS. 203 
 
 he ready to fight the good fight of faith, and to 
 go forth to conflict at a moment's warning. 
 
 A manly soldier is vigilant. He is often put 
 on guard as a sentinel. He never sleeps at his 
 post ; but his eyes and his ears are open that he 
 may obtain a knowledge of the first approach of 
 danger. So are you to be constantly on the look- 
 out for your spiritual enemies, — enemies from 
 without and enemies from within. You are told 
 to "be vigilant, for your adversary, the devil, as 
 a roaring lion, goeth about, seeking whom he may 
 devour," and you are informed that the world, 
 the flesh, and the devil, have formed a triple 
 alliance to oppose Christ, and thwart his cause. 
 
 A manly soldier will cheerfully and patiently 
 endure toil, privation, and hardship for his coun- 
 try. He will live on the coarsest fare, sleep in his 
 blanket on the cold ground or hot ground, under 
 the open sky, and not utter a word of complaint, 
 all for the affection he bears his general and his 
 cause. 
 
 So are you to " endure hardness as a good 
 soldier of Jesus Christ," w deny yourselves, take up 
 your cross and follow him," and count, not merely 
 your comforts, but your lives even, "not dear to 
 you," if called upon to sacrifice them for his sake. 
 
 A manly soldier never deserts. He serves out 
 the time for which -he enlisted, come what will, 
 life or death, victory or defeat. So, as manly 
 
204 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 soldiers, you must not desert your leader, you 
 must serve out the time for which you have en- 
 listed, and that is for eternity, 
 
 A manly soldier is courageous. He will stand 
 at his post on the defensive, or will march boldly 
 up to the enemy's batteries at the word of com- 
 mand, and engage in the thickest of the fight, and 
 not suffer a nerve to tremble. So you, my young 
 friends, are to feel "strong in the Lord and in 
 the power of his might," and "having done all, 
 to stand" up manfully for Jesus, in defense of his 
 cause, his people, and his truth ; or march forward 
 manfully and fearlessly, at his bidding, and make 
 a vigorous onset upon the strongholds of the king- 
 dom of darkness. 
 
 Thus, my young friends, wherever you are, in 
 whatever circumstances you may be placed, either 
 as citizens of the world, or as soldiers of Jesus 
 Christ, "be strong, and shoiv yourselves men." 
 
THE VINEYARD AND LABORERS. 205 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 The Vineyard and Laborers. 
 
 Go ye also into the vineyard. — Matt. 20 : 7. 
 
 THE subject of this chapter is taken from 
 one of the parables of our blessed Lord. 
 He represents God as the proprietor of a large 
 vineyard in need of cultivation. There is much 
 work to be done in it, and he calls for laborers at 
 different hours of the day, and at evening reckons 
 with them, and pays them according to his good 
 pleasure, doing injustice to no one. The scope 
 of the parable is to illustrate the goodness and 
 the sovereignty of God. The metaphor which our 
 Saviour uses illustrates also the relation which 
 mankind sustain to God as his subjects and work- 
 ers for him. In this sense I shall make a free use 
 of it as illustrative of the situation of Christians 
 in the world as laborers for God. 
 
 The subject discussed in this chapter is one 
 which should interest all, and especially young 
 Christians. Permit me then to direct your atten- 
 tion to several particulars. 
 
 First, the Vineyard, or field to which you are 
 
206 pastor's couxsels to youxg christians. 
 
 called. It is a very large field, every portion of 
 which needs cultivating. It embraces Europe, 
 Asia, Africa, and America, and thousands of 
 islands of the sea. 
 
 It is a very hard, stony, and difficult field to 
 cultivate. There are everywhere hard and stony 
 hearts, and hard characters to deal with, and 
 obstacles to overcome ; more in the way, and 
 more difficult to surmount, a great deal, than any 
 rocks or stones that impede the plow of the hus- 
 bandman. There are high mountains of pride, 
 and wealth, and aristocracy ; there are low valleys 
 of poverty, humiliation, and wretchedness. There 
 are " sloughs of despond," and sinks of vice and 
 moral pollution, where are found the "offscouring 
 of all things." It is overrun with a rank and 
 spontaneous growth of sin, and error, and infidel- 
 ity, and false religion, and superstition, and 
 fanaticism, and deism, and atheism. Scattered 
 over the whole field are moral plants of every 
 name but those of grace. There is not a spot on 
 the face of the earth where you will find plants 
 of grace growing spontaneously ; the soil is too 
 poor, the natural heart is too hard and stony. 
 Venomous reptiles abound ; they are the old ser- 
 pent and his progeny. They are those of whom 
 the Psalmist speaks when he says, "They have 
 sharpened their tongues like a serpent, adders' 
 poison is under their lips," "their poison is the 
 
THE VINEYARD AXD LABORERS. 207 
 
 poison of a serpent ; they are like the deaf adder 
 that stoppeth her ear ; " and like those whom our 
 Saviour addressed when he exclaimed ; " Ye ser- 
 pents, ye generation of vipers." They are the 
 slanderers, the whisperers, the backbiters, the 
 ''words of whose mouth are smoother than butter, 
 but war is in their heart : whose words are softer 
 than oil, yet are they drawn swords.*' There are 
 wild beasts, — the wicked, who persecute and 
 oppress the Lord's people, who do all in their 
 power to crush and destroy the Church. The 
 Psalmist speaks of them, where he laments for the 
 vine brought out of Egypt and planted in Pales- 
 tine. '"The hedge,'* he says, is "broken down, 
 and the boar out of the wood doth waste it, and 
 the wild beast of the field doth devour it.*' 
 
 There is an enemy that sows tares among the 
 wheat : who corrupts the Church, and everything 
 good, by intermixing with it all manner of evil. 
 He is the same enemy who did the same thing in 
 our Saviour's time, — the devil, — who still con- 
 tinues to pass "to and fro in the earth, and walk 
 up and down in it," while "men sleep, " and when 
 they are awake, too, doing all the mischief in his 
 power. All these considerations combine to ren- 
 der the field, in which God calls laborers to work, 
 a very hard and difficult field. But this is the 
 field, hard and difficult as it is, where, my young 
 friends, your services are wanted, and where God 
 directs you to £o and labor. 
 
208 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 Secondly : The work to be done in God's vine- 
 yard. It is, in the first place, to be surveyed, to 
 see what part of it most needs attention, and 
 where in it labor can be performed to the best 
 advantage. If I were absent from home in mid- 
 summer, and should write to a laborer, directing 
 him to go and work in my garden, and should 
 give him no more specific directions as to where I 
 wished him to begin, or specifically what I 
 wished him to do, I should not expect him to 
 enter the enclosure and go to work at random ; 
 neither should I expect him to spend all his time 
 in taking care of the walks and borders, while all 
 the choice fruits, plants, and vines in the garden 
 were overrun and choked with weeds. I should 
 be dissatisfied did he not look about him, and 
 survey the ground, and then set himself to work 
 where his labor was most needed, and where he 
 could do the most good. In regard to minutiae-, I 
 should expect him to exercise his good sense. 
 
 So, my young friends, this is the first thing 
 requisite of you, as you step into God's enclosure, 
 to work in his vineyard in obedience to his call ; 
 you are to look about you, survey your field of 
 effort, cast your eyes abroad over the world, and 
 see what needs to be done for the glory of God, 
 and the good of your fellow-men ; and conscien- 
 tiously inquire in what sphere, and in what 
 employment, you can serve God best, and do 
 
THE VINEYARD AND LABORERS. 209 
 
 the most good. Hence, a prominent question 
 which comes up for you, especially young men, to 
 decide at the commencement of your service is, 
 "What occupation, trade, or profession shall I, 
 choose for life ? " It is not enough that you serve 
 God, but it is essential that you serve him in the 
 best way you can, and according to the best of 
 your ability. You are bound to serve him in youi* 
 daily employments, whether it be on the farm, in 
 the shop, in the store, in the study or school, or 
 in any of the professions. Xow in what employ- 
 ment can you be the most useful? Perhaps you 
 can serve him best in some humble, laborious em- 
 ployment. Perhaps you could serve him better in 
 some situation where your mind would be more 
 severely taxed with labor than the body. Hence, 
 you ought to make it a serious question for con- 
 science to decide, and not rnerebr your carnal 
 inclinations, fP How and where can I be most 
 useful in God's field ? " If you spend your days 
 and energies on the farm or in the shop, when 
 you ought to spend them in the study and in the 
 pulpit, you would be like the gardener who 
 should devote the whole of his time to the gravel- 
 walks, while he neglects to destroy the weeds, and 
 omits the culture of the vine, the corn, and the 
 fruit. And, on the other hand, there is many a 
 man in the pulpit, and at the bar, who ought to 
 have remained on the farm or in the shop. A care- 
 
210 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 ful survey of the field, and your own capabilities, 
 will enable you not only to decide in regard to 
 your occupation for life, but it will show you 
 from time to time, the particular duties you have 
 to discharge and responsibilities you are to 
 assume. You will have social and domestic duties 
 devolving on you. It is probable you will at 
 some future time be heads of families, and if so 
 you will have a most important work to do in 
 watching over the corporeal, intellectual, and spir- 
 itual interests of your households. If you are 
 not heads of families, you will be important mem- 
 bers of this or that family circle, where your 
 influence will be extensively felt, and where you 
 can and ought to be extremely useful in guiding 
 the members of that domestic circle, both by pre- 
 cept and by example, in the paths of virtue and 
 holiness. 
 
 You will be members of civil society, and will 
 be called on to stand at your posts, as pillars to 
 uphold the fabric of all our free institutions. 
 In the town where you reside you will have much 
 labor to perform and influence to exert as good 
 neighbors and citizens. There will be loud and 
 constant demands upon your time and your ener- 
 gies, and sometimes upon your property, to sus- 
 tain the cause of education, good order, and the 
 various interests that go to make a peaceful, intel- 
 ligent, virtuous, prosperous community. Every 
 
THE VINEYARD AND LABORERS. 211 
 
 town, in order to prosper, must have its men 
 (and women, too ) of enlarged views, liberal minds. 
 energy of purpose, and sterling principle, to stand 
 up as pillars to sustain the numerous social and 
 public interests without which society would soon 
 relapse into a state of barbarism. There is not 
 one of you. my young friends, but will find im- 
 portant work to do as members of the community 
 where you reside. 
 
 Political duties will also demand your attention. 
 The politics of a nation are next in importance to 
 its morals and religion ; indeed, they exert a pow- 
 erful influence on both. When I say that "politi- 
 cal duties will claim your attention.*' I do not 
 mean that you will be called — at least by God — 
 to mingle in party strife : to promote the interests 
 of this faction, and oppose the interests of that 
 one, for ambitious or selfish purposes. Tar from 
 it. God calls you to no such work as that — a work 
 altogether beneath you as Christians and as men. 
 But he does call upon you to interest yourselves 
 in the good of the nation, and to use your influ- 
 ence for the election of good rulers. — men who 
 will not bow down to subserve- the interests of 
 any party or clique whatever ; men of principle : 
 men who have consciences; men who fear to do 
 wrong : men who love justice and hate oppres- 
 sion ; men who will enact righteous laws, and 
 stand up for the universal rights of man ; 
 
212 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 who will ask of God, rather than the party which 
 supports them, "What wilt thou have me to do? " 
 It is such men as these we want to rule over us, 
 and to legislate for us, no matter by what name 
 they are designated ; and to use your influence to 
 secure the election of such men, is as much your 
 bounden duty as it is to pray. To this end it is 
 the duty of those of you who are men, to go to 
 the ballot-box, and in every dignified, Christian 
 way — and in no other — labor to secure such 
 State and national legislators as shall legislate on 
 gospel, and not on party principles. It is only in 
 this sense, my young friends, and for carrying- 
 out such principles, that God will call you to 
 work in his vineyard as "politicians." Christian 
 politics is the only kind of politics a Christian 
 ought to meddle with. 
 
 But by far the most important work to be done 
 in God's vineyard is to saw the seeds of gospel 
 truth, and to cultivate plants of holiness. The 
 greater part of this field is as yet a wilderness, 
 bearing nothing but tares, and the grapes of Sodom 
 and the clusters of Gomorrah. To subdue this 
 wilderness, and bring it to bear fruit unto God, is 
 the great work to which every Christian is called ; 
 in other words, to labor to advance the cause of 
 true religion in the world and convert sinners to 
 Christ. Everything else is to be made sub- 
 ordinate to this ; and this is the ultimate object to 
 
THE VINEYARD AND LABORERS. 213 
 
 be kept steadily in view. To rescue the world 
 from the power of Satan, and save sinners whom 
 the adversary had seduced from their allegiance 
 and made heirs of perdition, was the grand object 
 of Jesus Christ, the Lord of the vineyard, when he 
 came from heaven and laid down his life for it ; 
 and this he has ordained to be the great work of 
 his disciples, and this is what he has reference to, 
 more than any and every thing else, my young 
 friends, as he sends you forth into the field. It is 
 that you may labor to advance the cause of true 
 piety, and, so far as lies in your power, to bring 
 back this revolted world to God. Here you will 
 find enough to do, and enough to tax to the ut- 
 most your best energies. It is a noble and a glo- 
 rious work, and one in which an angel might wish 
 to be engaged. The various specific duties which 
 claim your attention, as means to subserve the 
 great end, are numerous. You are to cultivate 
 the religion of the heart, and see that grace has 
 taken root there and is bringing forth fruit. You 
 are to labor for the advancement of religion in the 
 community ; contribute liberally and cheerfully 
 for the support of religion and religious institu- 
 tions, both at home and abroad. You are to labor 
 for a high standard of piety in the church, by fre- 
 quent counsel, sympathy, and co-operation with 
 your pastor and brethren in every good work. 
 You are to meet with them for public and social 
 
214 pastor's counsels to youxg christians. 
 
 worship, and not fr forsake the assembling of your- 
 selves together, as the manner of some is." You 
 are to labor and pray for a revival of religion ; 
 look up the impenitent, and converse with them, 
 and urge them, with tears, to become reconciled 
 to God. You are to unite with others in giving the 
 gospel to those who have it not, and sending the 
 heralds of the cross to proclaim glad tidings of 
 salvation to those who are sitting in the region and 
 shadow of death. By every means in your power, 
 God wishes you to strive to cultivate and reclaim 
 this barren wilderness — the whole of it — until it 
 shall bud and blossom and bear fruit like the prim- 
 itive Eden. 
 
 Having taken a survey of the field, and the 
 work to be done in it, we will now consider, 
 
 Thirdly : The kind of laborers God icants for 
 the performance of his toork. He wants willing 
 men, — men who enter the vineyard not by con- 
 straint, but cheerfully, and who esteem it a privi- 
 lege rather than a task, to labor in so good a 
 cause, and under so good a master. 
 
 He wants obedient men, — those who will im- 
 plicitly obey him and conform to rules he has laid 
 down for the laborers, go to whatever portion of 
 the field he directs, do the work he tells them, 
 and, in all respects, do as they are bid. 
 
 He wants self-denying men, who will sacrifice 
 ease, and emolument, and houses, and lands, and 
 
THE VINEYARD AND LABORERS. 215 
 
 will forsake father, and mother, and children, — 
 who will lay down their own lives rather than 
 not perform the work given them to do. 
 
 He wants resolute men, who are determined to 
 go forward and accomplish something, and will 
 never quail before opposition or obstacles. 
 
 He wants courageous men, who are not afraid 
 of reptiles, wild beasts, nor creeping things ; who 
 are not afraid to encounter the devil and all his 
 followers, whether he comes in the form of the 
 old serpent, crawling in his filth and slime, or as 
 a roaring lion from his den, " going about seeking 
 whom he may devour." 
 
 He wants diligent men, who will not spend half 
 their time in idleness under the shade, eating the 
 fruits of the vineyard, while others are at work ; 
 but those who will labor from morning till even- 
 ing, cheerfully enduring the burden and heat of 
 the day. 
 
 He wants tltorouyli-going men, who, in making 
 clearings in the wilderness, will not merely lop 
 off the branches, but will " lay the ax at the root 
 of the tree ; " who, in laboring to reform men, will 
 not be satisfied with producing an external refor- 
 mation by lopping off a few prominent sins, but 
 will go down deep into the heart ; and in building- 
 God's temple, will not "daub with untempered 
 mortar;" and when, as physicians, they attempt 
 to "heal the hurt of the daughter of his people," 
 they will not do it slightly. 
 
216 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 He wants persevering men, who will not "put 
 their hand to the plow and look back ; " who will 
 not cease or relax their work because they think 
 they have done enough, or are a little weary, but 
 will persevere with undiminished zeal and fidelity 
 until their sun has completed his course through 
 the heavens, and the shadows of life's evening 
 come over them. 
 
 He wants faithful, trustworthy men in every 
 respect, who need no watching lest they betray or 
 neglect the interests entrusted to them, and who 
 need to give no bonded securities that they will 
 do as they say. 
 
 Such is the character of the laborers wiiom God 
 wants wiien he says, " Go work to-day in my vine- 
 yard." It is such, I trust, as every one of you, 
 my young friends, wdll try to form, and such as 
 every one of you may form, God helping you. 
 
 Fourthly : We will consider the encouragement 
 there is to enter this vineyard, and to labor in it. 
 
 1. In the first place, you will be under a good 
 husbandman, who will treat you with all kindness, 
 provide amply for all your necessities w r hile at 
 work, and Avill often come by his Spirit, and speak 
 a kind word to you in the midst of your toil ; and 
 when you come to any difficulties, and find your 
 foes too powerful for you, or your work too hard 
 to be accomplished by your own unaided strength 
 (as you will often find to be the case) , then he will 
 
THE VINEYARD AND LABORERS. 217 
 
 defend you, yes, will himself kindly take hold and 
 help you. "Fear thou not," he says ; "for I am 
 with thee ; " " be not dismayed, for I am thy God ; 
 I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee, yea, 
 I will uphold thee with the right hand of my 
 righteousness." Though in yourselves you are 
 weak, yet in him you are strong, and can do all 
 things. He will thus cheer you, sympathize with 
 you, provide for you, defend and aid you while at 
 work. He will also pay you most liberally at the 
 close of the day, infinitely more than you have 
 earned or deserve. And he is a good paymaster 
 and will do as he says. 
 
 Another encouragement is, the work you are 
 called to perform, thoughhard and difficult, is never- 
 theless infinitely important and interesting . All 
 other employments, compared with labors with and 
 for God in his vineyard, for the advancement of 
 his kingdom, the salvation of souls, and the con- 
 version of the world, are trifling and without inter- 
 est. What more noble, dignified, heart-stirring, 
 heavenly labor can we possibly engage in than to 
 be " co-workers together with God " in doing good, 
 especially the unspeakable good of saving our 
 fellow-beings from a miserable eternity, and pre- 
 paring them for the infinite joys of heaven ? Who 
 would not spend and be spent in such a service, 
 and for such an object, without thinking of either 
 the sacrifice or the reward? This was the great 
 
218 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 work of our Saviour, and it is a work worthy of a 
 God. 
 
 Another encouragement for entering the Lord's 
 vineyard and laboring in it, is certainty of success. 
 It is a great damper to our zeal, when we under- 
 take, or think of undertaking, any enterprise, to 
 feel that, do the best we can, it is very uncertain 
 whether we shall accomplish anything. But in our 
 labors for God, in his cause, there is no such uncer- 
 tainty. The holiness and the veracity of Jehovah 
 are pledged to give success to the faithful ser- 
 vant. "He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing 
 precious seed, shall doubtless come again with 
 rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him." Labor 
 spent in God's vineyard can never be lost. If his 
 servants break up the fallow ground, sow the seed, 
 and bestow all necessary culture, he will not with- 
 hold the fertilizing dews of his grace, nor the 
 quickening rains of the Holy Spirit, but will 
 bestow both in large measure, so that every seed 
 sown shall take root, and spring up, and bear 
 fruit, some thirty, some sixty, and some an hun- 
 dred fold. 
 
 I conclude with a single word in relation to the 
 final results of thus spending the day of life in dili- 
 gent, faithful labors in God's vineyard. At its 
 close, the laborers will all be assembled to receive 
 their reward, and every man will receive according 
 as he hath done. To each one who has "patiently 
 
THE VINEYARD AND LABORERS. 219 
 
 continued in well-doing, the Lord of the vineyard 
 will say, "Well done, good and faithful servant: 
 thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will 
 make thee ruler over many things ; enter thou 
 into the joy of thy Lord." And for them shall 
 be prepared scepters, crowns, and thrones. Then 
 shall they who have turned many to righteous- 
 ness shine as stars in the firmament forever and 
 ever. 
 
 May this reward be yours, my young friends, 
 and it certainly will, if you remain true to the 
 last, doing your duty faithfully, bearing cheer- 
 fully and manfully " the burden and heat of the 
 day." 
 
220 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 The Christian at the Close or Life. 
 
 Neither count I my life dear unto myself so that I might 
 finish my course with joy. — Acts 20 : 24. 
 
 I HAVE been addressing you, my youthful 
 friends, in the preceding chapters, on the rela- 
 tions, duties, and responsibilities of life. I wish, 
 in this chapter, to direct your attention to the 
 period when life shall close. I do not know 
 whether the announcement of my subject strikes 
 you pleasantly or painfully. Young people gen- 
 erally do not take much satisfaction in thinking of 
 leaving the world, unless they are Christians ; and 
 not even then, unless they are in a spiritual frame 
 of mind. I hope, however, that you are not 
 strangers to this subject, — that you have so often 
 meditated on it, and have made so thorough a prep- 
 aration for leaving the world, that the thought of 
 it does not give you pain or dread. This subject is 
 as truly a practical one for any one of you, as it is for 
 those of threescore years and ten ; for you must 
 die as well as they, and it may be quite as soon, 
 and even sooner. But should you live to their 
 
THE CHRISTIAN AT THE CLOSE OE LITE. 221 
 
 age, that period will very soon be here. You are 
 running a race, and whether it be longer or shorter, 
 you will soon come to the goal. Life will pass 
 away with a rapidity of which you can form no 
 adequate conception. Your days are but a span, 
 "an inch or two of time.'* They fly like a mes- 
 sage upon the wires of the telegraph, and finish 
 their course in an infinitely shorter space of time, 
 comparing the period of human life with eternity. 
 You are now looking to the future with much in- 
 terest. The world lies before you. You are full of 
 hope, and perhaps of enthusiasm, and often antici- 
 pate where you shall be. and what you shall do. when 
 you shall have entered fully upon the active stage 
 of life. You hope for prosperity and happiness. 
 "I sympathize with you. and sincerely wish for you 
 the same. But it is important that you look for- 
 ward, not only to life in its progress, but to life at 
 its close. How will lite terminate? How do you 
 expect to finish your course ? When you come to 
 lie down upon the bed of death, do you expect to 
 be filled with joy and peace ? It is desirable that 
 this should be the case. Paul regarded the happy 
 termination of life as more important than any 
 worldly good. "I count not my life dear unto 
 myself." says he. " so that I might finish my .course 
 with joy." It will be of but very little consequence 
 what sufferings, trials, and privations you meet 
 with here, provided you finish your course with 
 
222 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 joy. And unless you do thus finish it, all worldly 
 prosperity will do you much more harm than good. 
 
 There is a great difference in the closing scenes 
 and feelings of persons who may be said to finish 
 their course with joy, — those, too, whom we have 
 reason to believe are sincere Christians. Some 
 depart in triumph. Their souls are filled with 
 ecstasy ; and, before quitting the body, seem to 
 soar, as on angels' wings, to the third heaven. 
 Their countenances are lighted up by a celestial 
 radiance, like that of Stephen when committing 
 his departing spirit to his glorified Redeemer. 
 Like him, they have a mental vision of Christ 
 upon his throne of mercy, and, while lingering 
 upon the bed of death, commence the song which 
 they will sing, with transporting delight, to all 
 eternity. The chamber of death is transformed 
 into the vestibule of heaven. Such was the dying 
 scene of Jane way, Finley, Pay son, Evarts, and 
 many more that might be mentioned. Their course 
 was finished, not with joy merely, but with rapture. 
 
 Another class of Christians finish their course in 
 a calm, loving trust in Christ ; with no ecstasies, 
 no visions ; but with a faith as unshaken as the 
 everlasting hills, and with a "peace which passeth 
 all understanding." They are not oppressed with 
 doubts and apprehensions in regard to their good 
 estate ; but, with a heavenly composure, gently 
 lean on Jesus' bosom, and "breathe their lives out 
 
THE CHRISTIAN AT THE CLOSE OF LIFE. 223 
 
 sweetly there." They are glad to leave the world, 
 that they may go home to dwell in their Father's 
 house in heaven. Their hope of salvation is based 
 solely on the merits of Jesus Christ, and not on any- 
 thing good in themselves, for they feel altogether 
 unworthy of any favor. But, believing in Christ, 
 they are tranquil and happy. 
 
 Now, both of these classes of Christians " finish 
 their course with joy." The former is a highly 
 privileged class, which embraces a small number, 
 comparatively, of those who, we have reason to 
 believe, are Christ's real disciples. But the ab- 
 sence of those raptures is no evidence of a want of 
 piety. Those transports are to be regarded as 
 the special gift of God, which he dispenses 
 according to the counsel of his own will ; and by 
 some Christians, however much grace they may 
 possess, these raptures may not be attainable. 
 
 But the calm, peaceful, holy joy of the latter 
 class is the privilege of us all, and one which we 
 ought to look forward to, and make preparation 
 for. 
 
 Let us, therefore, dwell a little more at length 
 upon such a close of a consistent, heavenly-minded, 
 Christian pilgrim's life. 
 
 He "finishes his course with joy." We will 
 consider for a few moments the source of that joy, 
 and the ingredients of which it is composed. 
 
 The faithful Christian, when finishing his course, 
 
224 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 rejoices that he has reached the end of his journey. 
 Life has been to him a checkered scene. It has 
 had its sunlight and clouds, its joys and its sor- 
 rows, its pleasures and its pains. He has enjoyed 
 much, and he has suffered much. He has seen 
 some good, and a great deal of evil. It has been, 
 upon the whole, a weary and a toilsome pilgrimage, 
 and he is glad that it is over. He would not go back 
 and make it again, if the whole world were held 
 out to him as a temptation. The troubles, the 
 anxieties, the pains, the sickness, and the afflic- 
 tions which were his companions most of the way, 
 he now takes leave of forever, and it is to him a 
 source of great satisfaction. As he now looks 
 back upon the world, gradually fading from his 
 view, he is astonished at himself, when he reflects 
 how it once engrossed his affections, and how 
 reluctant he was to part with it. 
 
 He rejoices in the grace of God, which led him to 
 repent of his sins and consecrate himself to Christ. 
 The time was, when he was a thoughtless, impeni- 
 tent sinner, " without God, and without hope in 
 the world," going on without concern in the broad 
 road down to the chambers of eternal death. But 
 God in mercy arrested him in his career of sin, and 
 led him by his Holy Spirit to the Saviour, to whom 
 he consecrated himself for time and eternity. 
 What joy it affords him now, as he is dying, 
 that he was not let alone in his sins to perish, but 
 
THE CHRISTIAX AT THE CLOSE OF LIFE. 225 
 
 was constrained by God's grace to forsake his 
 course of iniquity, and the unsatisfying pleasures 
 of earth, for an interest in the Saviour. If this 
 was done in early life, this consideration enhances 
 his joy, and he wishes it had been earlier still. 
 
 He rejoices that by God's help he has not lived 
 altogether in vain. He has been enabled to do 
 some g:ood to his fellow-men, and something for 
 the cause of Christ. His endeavor has been to 
 follow the Saviour, through evil as well as through 
 good report, and every effort made during his life 
 for the advancement of religion and the salvation 
 of souls is reviewed with a holy pleasure. Not 
 that he takes any credit for what he has done, or 
 congratulates himself upon his own righteousness, 
 for he feels that after all he has been an " unprofit- 
 able servant," and that in himself there has been 
 no good thing ; but he adores that grace which 
 first called him into the vineyard, and kept him 
 in it, and crowned with success his imperfect efforts 
 to be useful. To God's grace he ascribes all the 
 good he has done ; still he rejoices to think that 
 God condescended to use him as an unworthy 
 instrument in accomplishing his designs of love 
 and mercy to a lost world. How differently does 
 he feel on the review of a faithful, holy, devoted 
 life, — a life of prayer, of self-denial, of consistent, 
 exemplary piety, — from what he would of a life of 
 lukewarmness or coldness, of spiritual indolence, 
 
226 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 of conformity to the world, and of self-indulgence ; 
 and himself scarcely saved; yet "so as by fire !" 
 The grand aim of his life has been to honor Christ 
 and save souls, and he has the satisfaction to know 
 that his labors have not been in vain. God has 
 kindly owned and blessed them. 
 
 Again, he rejoices thai he is about to be freed 
 from sin. The greatest burden of his life has 
 been sin ! It has caused him more trouble, more 
 anxiety, more pain, more grief, than all things 
 else. He has seen sin, and its evil effects, all 
 around him. Sin among the ungodly, — open, 
 outrageous, blasphemous sin, pouring contempt 
 upon the Saviour and his cross ! He has seen sin 
 among his brethren, often bringing religion into 
 
 £5 ' (Doc) 
 
 contempt : but, most of all, sin in his own heart 
 and life ! From the day of his espousals to Christ 
 till now, he has been obliged to maintain a con- 
 stant warfare between the "flesh and the spirit,'' 
 the "old man and the new." When he would do 
 good, evil has been present with him. A law 
 in his members has ever been warring against the 
 law of his mind, often bringing him into captivity 
 to the law of sin and death ; so that he has fre- 
 quently been led to exclaim : " O wretched man 
 that I am ! who shall deliver me from the body 
 of this death?" 
 
 This struggle is now almost over. The battle 
 has been fought, and most vigorously contested 
 
 o 
 
THE CHRISTIAN AT THE CLOSE OF LIFE. 227 
 
 on both sides ; but the victory is his. The enemy 
 has been vanquished, not by his prowess and 
 might, but by the strength derived from the Cap- 
 tain of his salvation, and he will never be har- 
 assed by him more. Well ma}' the Christian 
 rejoice in the prospect of deliverance from an evil 
 which has been the bane of his life, and which has 
 caused the bitterest tears he ever shed. He has 
 not only done with sin himself, but he is to be 
 removed from its influence and its annoyance. 
 He has all his life associated, to a certain extent, 
 with sinners; he is to do so no more. He has 
 been constantly assailed and harassed by tempta- 
 tions, but this trial is over. 
 
 " Sin, his worsr enemy before. 
 Shall vex his eves and ears no more ; 
 His inward foes will all be slain, 
 Nor Satan break his peace again." 
 
 He rejoices in the -presence and strengthening 
 grace of Christ, The Saviour has never been so 
 precious to him as now. His promise that he 
 would never leave nor forsake his people he finds 
 amply verified in his happy experience. His 
 presence dissipates the gloom of the chamber of 
 death, and lights up the dark valley through which 
 he is passing. The •Saviour gives strength and 
 patience to endure the pains inflicted by the sting 
 of the fell destroyer, and imparts a holy tranquillity 
 to the soul. The dying believer rests calmly and 
 
228 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 securely upon that sure foundation-stone on which 
 his hopes were builded years ago ; and he finds 
 that no floods or tempests can shake it. Christ is 
 everything, and even more than he had ever con- 
 ceited him to be ; he is all in all : he is a friend 
 exa-ctly adapted to his present wants, and " stick- 
 eth closer than a brother." His voice is heard 
 amid the agitations and tumults of dissolving 
 nature, which would otherwise distract and over- 
 whelm the soul, saying, "Peace, be still ; fear not, 
 thou worm of Jacob, for I am with thee; I will 
 be thy light, thy support, thy comfort, and thy 
 defence." "Yes," responds the believer; "into 
 thy hands I commit my spirit, for thou hast re- 
 deemed me. Though I walk through the valley 
 of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for 
 thou art with me ; thy rod and thy staff they 
 comfort me." " Oh, how precious is Christ !" 
 
 " His name yields the richest perfume, 
 And. sweeter than music his voice ; 
 His presence disperses my gloom, 
 And bids all within me rejoice." 
 
 Although, as I have already remarked, there is 
 a great difference in the experiences of truly good 
 men when they come to die, some being much 
 more transported with joy than others ; yet it is 
 generally true of all who have been in a good 
 measure faithful and true to their professions, 
 that Christ is extremely precious to them, and 
 
THE CHRISTIAN AT THE CLOSE OF LIFE. 229 
 
 puts beneath them his everlasting arms, and keeps 
 them from sinking in the deep waters. 
 
 Again, the faithful Christian, in finishing his 
 course, rejoices in view of his promised rest. He 
 feels that he is on the confines of heaven. The 
 world with its scenes — ever fitful and changing — 
 is gradually receding from his view, till finally it 
 disappears. He sees it depart without regret. 
 He has had enough of it. It has been a deceitful, 
 unsatisfying world. It has always disappointed 
 his expectations, and often betrayed him into sin. 
 He turns his eyes from it, without one tear of sor- 
 row at parting, to the better land, and rejoices in 
 hope. He knows that Christ has prepared for him 
 a mansion in his Father's house, and to this he 
 knows he will shortly be admitted with a cordial 
 welcome. There will be found all that can delight 
 and bless the soul. The vail is in a measure drawn 
 aside, and he is permitted to have some glimpses 
 of the Xew Jerusalem, the city of God, adorned 
 with everything beautiful, as a bride is adorned 
 for her husband. That city is to be his home for- 
 ever, and there is only a step between him and it. 
 There he will rest from his toils, be freed from his 
 troubles, purified from his sins, and be forever 
 blessed with his Lord. 
 
 May it be your happy lot, my young friends, 
 thus to finish your course ; and that you may, let 
 me urge you to be faithful in running the Christian 
 
230 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 race. Do your duty every day with so much 
 fidelity, that the retrospect of life shall afford you 
 comfort when you are reclining on the bed of 
 death. 'Cultivate such familiar intercourse with 
 Christ now, and through the rest of your pil- 
 grimage, that you can with the utmost confi- 
 dence rely upon him to sustain and comfort you 
 in the trying hour. You will need him then ; 
 you cannot do without him then. You will find 
 it a serious thing to die ; and vet it will be most 
 delightful to die, if you can feel that Jesus is with 
 you in that hour. 
 
THE CHRISTIAN IN HEAVEN. 231 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 The Christian in Heaven. 
 
 . . . Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered 
 into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared 
 for them that love him. — 1 Cor. 2 : 9. 
 
 IN the last chapter we considered the Christian 
 at the close of life ; in the present chapter, 
 and the following, we will consider the Christian 
 in heaven. 
 
 We will suppose that he has lived a consistent, 
 holy life, faithfully discharging his duty to God 
 and man ; that he has been a good soldier, has 
 fought a good fight, kept the faith, and " finished 
 his course with joy." He has peacefully closed 
 his eyes in death and bid the world farewell. It 
 is now a most interesting inquiry, Where does 
 the spirit go? and what is its condition? 
 
 The light of nature alone gives only vague 
 answers to these questions. It is to be pre- 
 sumed that the soul survives the body, and that 
 it is in a state of conscious enjoyment ; but 
 where, and with whom, we should be left to con- 
 jecture. There is a darkness overshadowing the 
 grave which the unassisted eye of reason could 
 
232 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 never penetrate. But the gospel of Jesus Christ 
 comes to our aid. It partially raises the curtain, 
 and, although it does not give us a full view, it 
 affords us some most interesting but indistinct 
 visions of what lies beyond it. Life and immor- 
 tality are here brought to light by Jesus Christ 
 and confirmed by his own resurrection and ascen- 
 sion. A perfect knowledge of the state of the 
 soul of the believer, as it leaves the body, and 
 of its condition in the future world, can never be 
 had till we learn from experience. As the apostle 
 says : "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither 
 have entered into the heart of man, the things 
 which God hath prepared for them that love him." 
 He does not mean by this that we can have no 
 idea of the condition and enjoyments of the right- 
 eous after death, for he immediately adds, "But 
 God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit ; " 
 ?'. e., to a certain extent. There is just enough 
 revealed to dispel our doubts, and to cheer and 
 animate our hopes, and to stimulate us to a dil- 
 igent preparation for that rest which remaineth 
 for the people of God. 
 
 Let us, then, for a few moments, turn our at- 
 tention to the believer, who, by the grace of God, 
 has run with patience and diligence the race set 
 before him, and has finished his course with joy. 
 He dies. The world fades from his sight ; he 
 hears the last words of kindness from weeping 
 
THE CHRISTIAN IN HEAVEN. 233 
 
 friends, exchanges with them the last pressure of 
 the hand, receives the parting kiss, the eyes 
 grow dim, the breath grows shorter and shorter, 
 the pulse quicker and fainter, till at last the lips 
 and the eyes are fixed, the heart ceases to beat, 
 and the earthly scene is closed ! But the spirit — 
 where is that? and whither does it go? Does it 
 go into a state of insensibility? or is it still in a 
 state of conscious existence ? Does it remain here 
 on the earth, or does it pass into another world? 
 We are left in no doubtful state of uncertainty here. 
 Our Saviour said that the soul of Lazarus was 
 "carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom." 
 He told the thief on the cross, f? To-day shalt thou 
 be with me in paradise.*' He spoke also of Abra- 
 ham, Isaac, and Jacob as being then alive in 
 another world. Closes and Elias appeared to the 
 disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration. 
 
 We hence learn that the soul of the believer at 
 death is immediately conveyed to heaven. It is 
 not at all irrational or improbable, that "minister- 
 ing spirits " are commissioned to be its convoy to 
 that unseen and unknown world. Our Lord coun- 
 tenances this idea when he speaks of the angels 
 conducting Lazarus to the embraces of Abraham. 
 So may angels be ever hovering around the couch 
 of the dying Christian, waiting to congratulate 
 him on the moment of his release from his prison 
 of clay, to bear him on their wings to the abodes 
 
234 pastor's counsels to youxg christians. 
 
 of the blessed. But it is not possible for us to 
 know certainly how the disembodied spirit finds 
 its way to the better land, or how it is conveyed 
 thither. It is enough for us to know that God 
 will provide a short, a safe, and an easy transit 
 for the disencumbered spirit from earth to heaven. 
 
 Let us carry our thoughts a little farther on- 
 ward, and consider the Christian's final home, and 
 the sources of his happiness after he arrives there. 
 
 The Christian's home is heaven, the paradise 
 spoken of by our Saviour, the New Jerusalem 
 revealed in vision to the Apostle John. 
 
 It is a most interesting inquiry, What and 
 where is heaven? To these questions we can 
 give only approximate answers. We can say, 
 however, with a great deal of confidence, that 
 heaven is a place, and has a definite location some- 
 where in the vast creation of God. It is every- 
 where thus spoken of in the Scriptures. We 
 have as much evidence that heaven is a place, 
 with its own peculiar scenery, and its own posi- 
 tion in space, as we have that Eden had, or that 
 London has at the present time. Christ spoke of 
 having come from heaven and of going to heaven. 
 The prayer which he gave as a model for all his 
 disciples, represents heaven as being the peculiar 
 dwelling-place of God. He spoke of going home 
 to his Father's house, and that he would "prepare 
 a place " for his followers. Christ had a mate- 
 
THE CHRISTIAN IN HEAVEX. 235 
 
 rial body after his resurrection, with which he 
 ascended. Enoch and Elijah each had bodies in 
 which they were translated. These bodies still 
 exist. Where are they? They are not in this 
 world, we know. There must be, from the very 
 nature of things, a place or a position in space 
 for them to occupy. And so of the bodies of the 
 saints who rose with Christ after his crucifixion, 
 and of those who shall rise at the last day. These 
 bodies all are substance, capable of locomotion, of 
 going from place to place, and they must be some- 
 where, and cannot be omnipresent. They must 
 have a place in which to exist and to exert their 
 functions as truly as our own must have on earth. 
 In my opinion, those persons are mistaken, and 
 know not whereof they affirm, who assert that 
 heaven is not a place, and has no definite locality, 
 but is only a state or condition of the mind. 
 There is a vagueness and an indefiniteness in all 
 such representations of heaven, entirely unlike 
 anything we find in the Bible, and which fall alto- 
 gether below the grandeur, dignity, and beauty 
 of the subject. By speaking of heaven as being 
 anywhere and everywhere, they do, in fact, make 
 it nowhere, and divest it of a large portion of its 
 attractions. 
 
 1. It is most rational to suppose that heaven is a 
 material v:orld, as truly so as the planet on which 
 we live, and that it has its definite location, and 
 
its fixed physical laws, as much as the sun has, or 
 any of the stars. There is a reluctance in some 
 minds to admit that matter or materiality can 
 have anything to do with heaven, or can be adapted 
 to the wants, or conducive to the happiness of 
 spiritual being. Matter, they say, is gross and 
 degrading. 
 
 But this is not only an unwarranted asser- 
 tion, but it is a reflection upon the wisdom and 
 goodness of God. What is matter? and whence 
 came it? It is the handiwork of Gocl. There is 
 as much that is incomprehensible in it as there is in 
 spirit, and it as clearly demonstrates the power and 
 w 7 isdom of its author. Matter is a medium through 
 w^hich God has ever delighted to manifest himself. 
 Look at the sun and moon and the countless 
 myriads of stars that bedeck the heavens ; what 
 are they? They are all matter. This we know, 
 just as certainly as we know that this world is 
 matter, and that our bodies are matter. This is 
 fully proved to a demonstration. Some, at least, of 
 the physical laws w r hich govern our world, govern 
 the worlds above us. They have their motions in 
 space, their solidity, their cohesive attraction, 
 their gravitation, and their revolutions upon their 
 axes and in their orbits. The whole created uni- 
 verse (mind excepted) is made up of matter; 
 and it is all God's work, and is w T orthy of the 
 hand that made it out of nothing, and it manifests 
 
THE CHRISTIAN IX HEAVEN. 237 
 
 his glory. God takes delight in these worlds or 
 he would not have made them what they are. 
 
 God interests himself in matter, not only on this 
 stupendous scale, in the structure of worlds, suns, 
 and systems, but in forms and objects most 
 minute. Look at the animal creation, from the 
 elephant and mastodon to the smallest creeping 
 thing ; from the ostrich of the wilderness to the 
 minutest insect that sports in the sunbeam ; from 
 the leviathan of the deep to the microscopic 
 animalcule that floats in a drop of water : they 
 are all creatures of God, and they are formed of 
 matter. Look at the vegetable world, from the 
 cedar of Lebanon to a blade of grass, or the moss 
 that grows upon the rocks : what a wonderful 
 variety of forms : what beauty of colors : what 
 delicacy of structure ! Consider the lilies of the 
 field, more gorgeously attired than was " Solomon 
 in all his glory.*' Look at the exquisite taste and 
 artistic skill displayed in the pencilling of the 
 rose, the blue-bell, the violet, and the ten thou- 
 sand flowers that adorn the field or parterre. God 
 is the artist who created and painted them all. 
 And yet they are all matter. Shall God have so 
 much to do with matter, shall the material heavens 
 declare his glory, shall he please himself by mold- 
 ing matter into such a numberless variety of forms 
 and painting it with such inimitable beauty and 
 delicacy of hue, and shall we call matter gross 
 
238 pastor's counsels to youxg christians. 
 
 and degrading, and say that a material world is 
 not fit for his dwelling-place, and that of spiritual, 
 holy beings ? "When God created material things 
 he pronounced them all "good" and not only 
 so, but " very good," and it is a reflection 
 on him to speak disparagingly of them. We 
 know that in God's estimation a material world is 
 a fit residence for holy beings, and that spirit is 
 not degraded by being intimately associated with 
 matter. God created man in his own image, a 
 holy being, and placed him in a material world — 
 a material paradise — as a place suitable for his 
 holy nature and his holy character. For man's 
 spirit (whose essence will be the same in heaven 
 that it was on earth) God prepared a material 
 body, as an appropriate residence for it. If it 
 was so once, why may it not be again? Xo one 
 can show why it may not. I suppose one reason, 
 and the principal one, why persons have been 
 so unwilling to admit the existence of a material 
 heaven is, they associate matter with sin ; whereas 
 matter has no more to do with sin, necessarily, 
 than holiness has. God cursed this world for 
 man's sake ; that is, he cursed the productions of 
 it, or caused it to produce what would be a curse ; 
 but God did not curse the materials of which the 
 world is made — much less did he curse matter 
 itself. 
 
 It is therefore probable to my mind that heaven 
 
THE CHRISTIAN IN HEAVEN. 239 
 
 is not only a place, definitely located, but that it 
 is a material world, bearing an analogy, or resem- 
 blance, to all the other worlds which God has 
 made. All Scripture representations of heaven 
 are as if it were material. It was undoubtedly 
 the first world of his creation, and was then a type, 
 so to speak, of all that were to follow. 
 
 2. Where is heaven? If it be a place, as the 
 Scriptures represent, and a material world, as an- 
 alogy, and reason, and the manner in which it is 
 spoken of in the Bible seem to indicate, what is 
 its position ? where is it situated ? To this ques- 
 tion we can give only a probable answer. The 
 Bible speaks of God and heaven as being "above" 
 us. " The Lord looked down from heaven upon 
 the children of men." David looked "up" to the 
 everlasting hills. Elijah went "up" to heaven. 
 The Saviour " came down from heaven," and he 
 "ascended up to heaven," when, after his resurrec- 
 tion, he parted from his disciples. The apostle 
 tells us that the Lord, when he comes to judg- 
 ment, shall " descend from heaven with a shout," 
 and that those who are alive shall be "caught up." 
 These expressions do not, however, give us any 
 definite information on the subject. "Down," 
 and "up," we all know, are relative terms. They 
 relate only to this world. " Down " means toward 
 the center of the earth, wherever we stand upon 
 it, and " up " means away from that center, in any 
 
240 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 direction. Hence, the earth being spherical, up 
 in one place would be in exactly the opposite 
 direction to what it would be in another. It 
 would be impossible to leave this world, go which 
 way we will, without going up. In the absence 
 of positive information, the most probable suppo- 
 sition is, that heaven, the throne of God, is in the 
 center of all his works, — a vast globe, of almost 
 unlimited dimensions, which constitutes the ceuter 
 of physical attraction of all material worlds in the 
 universe.* The science of astronomy reveals to 
 us certain interesting facts, which serve to afford, 
 if not proof, at least plausibility, and even proba- 
 bility, to this theory. The universal law which 
 God has established for the heavenly bodies, so 
 far as we can ascertain, is, that they all revolve 
 in circular or elliptical orbits around a center 
 toward which they gravitate. In our solar system 
 small bodies revolve around larger ones, and these 
 in their turn revolve around larger ones still. 
 We see moons revolving around the planets, and 
 the planets, with moons in their train, revolving 
 around the sun, and the sun we know to be in 
 motion, carrying with him his larger family of 
 planets, satellites, and comets. Now where is th'3 
 sun ^oinof with his numerous retinue ? Is he wan- 
 dering off at random through the heavens, without 
 
 * See Dick's Philosophy of a* Future State ; an interesting 
 treatise. 
 
THE CHRISTIAN IX HEAYEX. 241 
 
 any order, and without any law to direct or regu- 
 late his movements ? This would not be in analogy 
 with nature. It would be irrational to suppose 
 that God woulclbestow so much attention upon the 
 component parts of the system, carefully adjust- 
 ing with infinite skill and wisdom each member 
 in its orbit, and giving laws, which operate with 
 undeviating precision, to guide and regulate this 
 complicated machinery, and then send the entire 
 system itself wandering through space without 
 order and without law. We cannot suppose he 
 would bestow so much pains upon the less, and 
 none upon the greater, in which the less are in- 
 volved. 
 
 If, then, the sun, with more than fifty worlds 
 in his train, including comets, is not wandering at 
 random through space, to what law or laws is he 
 subject? Xo doubt to the great fundamental law 
 of gravitation, combined Avith a projectile force; 
 in other words, he is performing a magnificent, 
 sublime revolution around a grand center of 
 attraction, in the same manner that the planets, 
 with their minuter systems, revolve around him- 
 self. And the sun is not alone, but is one of 
 many millions performing harmoniously the same 
 circuit ; for accurate observation has demonstrated 
 that the fixed stars, as they are called, are not 
 really fixed, but are in motion. It is supposed by 
 astronomers that our sun is onlv a single member 
 
242 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 of the galaxy, or milky way, and that all are mov- 
 ing together in the same general direction. Now 
 what can be more philosophical, or more plausible, 
 than that there is, in the center of the universe, a 
 vast globe of inconceivable dimensions, which, by 
 the powder of God, exerted through the law of 
 gravitation, controls the movements of these innu- 
 merable heavenly bodies, and keeps each system 
 in its place, as in concert they perform their long 
 cycles of myriads of ages. Not only does this 
 seem rational and probable, but do not the discov- 
 ered laws of physics, which are none other than 
 laws of God, seem to demand that such must be 
 the case ? 
 
 Now if this be so, what fitter place for heaven, 
 and for the throne of Him 
 
 " Who rolls the spheres, 
 And storm, and fire, and hail prepares, 
 
 And guides this vast machine ; 
 Whose piercing eye at once surveys, 
 Where thousand suns and systems blaze " 
 
 — of Him who M sitteth upon the circle of the 
 earth," who " stretcheth out the heavens as a cur- 
 tain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in ?" 
 What fitter place for angels, and for all the 
 redeemed, to dwell in, situated here in the very 
 center of God's glorious works as they revolve 
 around, 
 
 "Forever singing as they shine, 
 
 1 The hand that made us is divine ; ' " 
 
THE CHRISTIAN IX HEAVEN. 243 
 
 ready, as his swift messengers, to fly at any moment 
 to the nearest or most distant star, to execute the 
 divine behests, in performing errands of love and 
 mercy ? 
 
 3, The magnitude of heaven. 
 
 There are two considerations which lead to the 
 conclusion that the size and extent of that world 
 must be vast beyond all conception. 
 
 First, if it be the physical center of matter, and 
 holds the unnumbered millions of suns and systems 
 in their places by the power of gravitation, how 
 almost infinite its dimensions must be ! The sun, 
 which is only a minute speck in God's firmament, 
 in order to control and regulate the planets which 
 revolve around him, must be 1,400,000 times 
 larger than the world we inhabit. If such be 
 the size of the sun, what must be the physical 
 magnitude of a sphere which would control, not 
 only the sun with his train, but millions upon mil- 
 lions of others like it, with their attendant systems? 
 
 Secondly, heaven must be of vast magnitude 
 when we consider the countless midtitude of its 
 inhabitants. It must be sufficient to accommodate 
 the holy angels, who are called "God's host," or 
 great multitude, and who the apostle, in the epis- 
 tle to the Hebrews, says are an " innumerable 
 company." And to these must be added all the 
 redeemed from among men, from Adam to the 
 last of his race, and all who have been, or may be, 
 
244 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 translated thither from other worlds. The apostle 
 John saw there a " multitude which no man can 
 number, ten thousand times ten thousand, and 
 thousands of thousands." 
 
 4. The appearance of heaven, as seen by its 
 blessed inhabitants. Mortal eye hath not seen it, 
 nor the heart conceived of it to any considerable 
 extent ; but from the limited description given of 
 it by the pen of inspiration, we are assured that it 
 must be surpassingly magnificent and beautiful. 
 All the enchanting landscapes, combining hill and 
 dale, mountains, plains, valleys, flowery meads, 
 emerald lawns, crystal lakes, roaring cataracts, 
 musical cascades, murmuring rivulets, sparkling 
 fountains, beautiful gardens, pieasure-grounds, 
 walks, arbors, shade-trees, splendid domes, 
 arches, temples, towers, palaces, and every- 
 thing else that men call beautiful in this world, 
 are nothing in comparison with the scenery of 
 heaven ; they are perfectly tame and uninteresting, 
 when contemplated by the side of the heavenly 
 Canaan and the New Jerusalem, as revealed to St. 
 John in the isle of Patmos. The apostle says : 
 " The angel carried me away in the spirit to a great 
 and high mountain, and showed me that great city, 
 the holy Jerusalem descending out of heaven from 
 God, having the glory of God, and her light was 
 like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper 
 stone 5 clear as crystal/' He then <roes on to 
 
THE CHRISTIAN IN HEAVEN. 245 
 
 describe its pearly gates, and its walls and founda- 
 tion stones of gems. But these are only the 
 exterior of the city. The scenery within was too 
 magnificent and beautiful to be described. He 
 saw " streets of gold ; " a " ? sea of glass like unto 
 crystal ; " the river of the water of life ; the 
 tree of life bearing twelve manner of fruits ; and 
 there he saw the Throne of God and the Lamb, 
 which he does not attempt to describe. The de- 
 scription which John gives of what he saw in 
 heaven, can give us only a proximate idea of its 
 glories, and probably he himself had only a dim 
 foreshadowing of the reality. Reason, as well as 
 revelation, teaches us that the God who made the 
 flowers is infinite in taste and skill ; and if he 
 made so many and such exquisitely beautiful 
 things to adorn this little speck of earth, — the 
 abode of poor, degraded, fallen man, — what must 
 he have done to beautify and render delightful his 
 own blessed abode, and the world where he has, 
 if I may so speak, exhausted all his skill in fitting 
 it up for the delightful residence of his own beloved 
 children? "I go," said our Saviour, "to prepare 
 a place for you." Note the expression — " I go to 
 prepare a place for you." What a beautiful place, 
 and what a beautiful world must that be, which 
 the kind, benevolent, loving Jesus, in his almighty 
 power, and with his infinite resources, has pre- 
 pared and is preparing for all his dear disciples 3 
 
246 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 whose names he has engraven upon his heart ! 
 This, my friends, is the place prepared for you if 
 you are Christ's sincere disciples. 
 
 I have occupied your attention in this chapter 
 in speaking of the philosophy of heaven. I have 
 dwelt chiefly on its physical properties, not by 
 any means because they are the most important, 
 but because they have an importance which is fre- 
 quently overlooked and undervalued. Heaven is 
 too often described by negatives. It is not a place, 
 it is said ; it has no locality ; it is not matter ; 
 nothing is seen there ; nothing is heard there. 
 Thus this negative description is continued, till 
 heaven is stripped of everything attractive to most 
 minds, and is left a mere blank. It is like divest- 
 ing a man of his hearing, his seeing, his feeling, 
 his tasting, and smelling, and leaving him nothing 
 but thought. Now I do not deny but such a man 
 might, to a certain extent, be happy — happier, 
 indeed, by far, than if his senses were all spared 
 and the power of thought taken away. But he 
 needs the whole to perfect his happiness. And so 
 does heaven need its physical, external properties 
 to render it perfect, and they are much dwelt upon 
 in the sacred Scriptures, and they are spoken of, 
 not as myths, but realities. 
 
 But I have only entered upon my subject. I 
 have not yet spoken of those things which consti- 
 tute the chief attractions of heaven, and which go 
 
THE CHRISTIAN IX HEAVEN. 247 
 
 to make up the principal blessedness of the soul 
 of the departed and glorified Christian. This 
 most important part of the subject we will consider 
 in the next chapter. 
 
 I shall close this chapter by suggesting to my 
 3 T oung friends, and to all of you, my readers, the 
 importance of often making heaven a subject of 
 j^our contemplations. You will find it to conduce 
 much to your spirituality and happiness. It is to be 
 your home, your eternal home, if you are the true 
 children of God ; and that very soon. 
 
 Christians do not think of heaven enough. It 
 is crowded out of the mind by the pressure of other 
 things. The consequence is, they lose, in a meas- 
 ure, their interest in it and make but little effort 
 to secure it. Heaven is not to them an object of 
 longing desire, but merely a city of refuge from 
 threatened evil. They know that they must die, 
 and they would much rather go to heaven than to 
 hell ; but they would rather stay in this world than 
 do either, especially if they could have its riches 
 and emoluments, and could put off old age. Let 
 your minds be much on heaven, my friends. It is 
 a most fruitful and delightful theme. There is 
 nothing like it. Dwell on it until desire shall be 
 enkindled in your bosoms to go and take posses- 
 sion of it — a desire that shall completely swallow 
 up all others. Keep heaven in your mental eye, 
 and it will keep expanding larger and larger, until 
 
248 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 you can see nothing else but heaven, and the King 
 who reigns in it, and the inhabitants who dwell 
 there. This poor, worthless world, which assumes 
 such an importance in the estimation of most per- 
 sons, will dwindle to its own insignificance, and 
 your spirits will pant to be freed from the shackles 
 of earth, that they may soar away to that bright 
 and better land, to drink at the fount of perfect 
 bliss, and be forever with the Lord. 
 
THE HAPPINESS OF HEAVEN. 240 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 The Happiness of Heaven. 
 
 I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. — Ps. 17 : 15. 
 
 IX the last chapter we considered heaven, to 
 which the Christian is conveyed from his dying 
 couch, in its physical aspects ; a world of exquisite 
 beauty and loveliness, and fitted up with every- 
 thing that can contribute to the refined taste and 
 happiness of its blessed inhabitants. But the 
 chief blessedness of the Christian, when he arrives 
 in heaven, will by no means consist in beholding 
 its external beauties. There are emotions and 
 exercises of the mind of a moral nature, which, as 
 sources of happiness, infinitely surpass anything 
 material in that glorious home of the righteous. 
 TTe can imagine, without fear of mistake, or the 
 charge of going into the region of speculation, 
 what some of the ingredients in the Christian's cup 
 of happiness must be when he arrives at heaven. 
 
 1 . In the first place , he must be happy in the con- 
 scious knowledge that he is saved. TThat fearful 
 peril has he been in ! To what an awful doom 
 has he been exposed ! Xothing less than ever- 
 
250 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 lasting wretchedness and despair. Once he was 
 suspended over the gulf of perdition, as it were by 
 a single thread, and that was liable every moment 
 to be severed. But from that doom he is saved. 
 He is sure of it now. There had always been 
 some uncertainty about it before, although he had 
 a hope which was a source of great comfort to 
 him. Now, his feet stand on Mount Zion, and 
 faith and hope are exchanged for a reality. 
 
 The shipwrecked mariner, who all night has 
 been dashed about among the breakers, clinging to 
 a plank, in danger of being engulfed every mo- 
 ment, as multitudes of his companions all around 
 him have been, is at length, by a providential 
 wave, rolled upon the shore. As he plants his 
 feet upon the land, and the waters retire, what 
 joy fills his heart as he contemplates his late 
 peril, and now feels that it is all passed, and that 
 he is saved. How much is implied in that one 
 word, saved. What then must be the joy of the 
 saint, who awakes in heaven to the consciousness 
 that he is saved from hell ! 
 
 2, Secondly, he is happy in his new mode of 
 existence. He is no longer restrained in his 
 movements by a cumbersome body of flesh and 
 blood. He has entered upon a spiritual exist- 
 ence, which, although incomprehensible by us 
 while we tabernacle in the body, we have reason 
 to believe bears some analogy to the life of the 
 
THE HAPPINESS OF HEAVEX. 251 
 
 beautiful, golden-winged insect, rejoicing in the 
 sunshine, and making its home in the bosoms of 
 the flowers, contrasted with that of the disgusting 
 worm from which it sprang, crawling upon the 
 earth. 
 
 3. Thirdly , he is freed from all evil, natural 
 and moral. He is relieved forever from all bodily 
 pain and sickness. What a relief is this to one 
 who has spent days, and weeks, and months, and 
 years in some instances, in severe bodily an- 
 guish, inquiring at night, "When will it be 
 morning? " and in the morning, M When will it be 
 evening?" tossing to and fro, and finding no rest. 
 There is no pain in heaven. The inhabitants 
 shall not say there, "I am sick." There are no 
 losses of property, no disappointments, no anxious 
 cares or solicitudes. His treasure is where 
 "neither moth nor rust corrupt, and where thieves 
 do not break through nor steal." 
 
 There are no afflictions there to rend his heart 
 and cause his bosom to heave with anguish. His 
 sorrows are all passed, and the last tear has been 
 shed. Xo more mournful adieus, no more dis- 
 tressing partings ; loved ones will never again be 
 torn from his embrace. He will never suffer 
 again from the ill-conduct or ill-treatment of 
 others. He will experience no more ungrateful 
 requitals for kindnesses shown ; he will be beyond 
 the reach of slander, envy, or hatred. He was 
 
252 pastor's counsels to YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 
 
 subject to all of these evils, more or less, while an 
 inhabitant of earth ; but in heaven they are, and 
 forever will be, unknown. 
 
 But the greatest evil that ever troubled him 
 was sin — sin in his own heart and life. When 
 he would do good, evil was ever present with 
 him. His transgressions multiplied, so that it 
 seemed, sometimes, as if they must certainly prove 
 his destruction. His love often grew cold, his 
 obedience was always imperfect, and even his 
 prayers were mingled with sin. Oh, how hard 
 was the struggle between the flesh and the spirit ! 
 how violent the conflict for the ascendency be- 
 tween the old man and the new ! Often did the 
 adversary, and the remaining corruptions of his 
 own heart, triumph for a season over the principle 
 of grace, and bring him into captivity to the law 
 of sin and death. But the conflict is over now. 
 The adversary will never harass him more. The 
 old Adam is completely slain ; his corruptions are 
 all left behind, and now his regeneration is com- 
 plete, and he is entirely transformed into the 
 image of Christ. To be freed from sin, was one 
 of his most ardent, longing desires while making 
 his earthly pilgrimage, and now that desire of his 
 heart is fully gratified. He is washed from every 
 defilement, and his garments are made perfectly 
 white in the blood of the Lamb. 
 
 4. Fourthly, the believer, when he reaches 
 
THE HAPPINESS OF HEAVEN. 253 
 
 heaven, finds himself surrounded by an innumer- 
 able multitude of holy beings, who joyfully wel- 
 come him to their fellowship, and to a participa- 
 tion of their bliss. As he looks around upon the 
 happy throng, his heart is rejoiced to see many a 
 dear friend with whom he held delightful inter- 
 course on earth. Here, is, perhaps. — and surely 
 will be. in many case-. — a sainted father or 
 mother, or both, who by prayer and baptism, con- 
 secrated him in infancy to God. and who by pre- 
 cept and example, as he grew in years, strove to 
 guide his too wayward feet in the paths of wisdom 
 and holiness: who watched over and couns: 
 him while they lived, and left him a parental 
 blessing at their death. There, perhaps, he 
 greets beloved brothers and sisters, to whom he 
 was most tenderly attached on earth, who went 
 before him into heaven, and lefc him mourning 
 their departure. 
 
 There, too. will the parent recognize a sweet 
 babe, snatched from earth like a bud broken from its 
 stem ; or. it may be. a lovely youth, cut down like a 
 rose, just as it was opening its petals to bestow its 
 fragrance upon those who had tenderly watched 
 over and nurtured it. But among all the recoo-- 
 nition- of earthly friends in the heavenly state. 
 none will be more interesting than that of loved 
 comj} The husband will again see the 
 
 wife of his bosom, whom death tore from his 
 
254 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 embrace, and the wife will again rejoice in the 
 presence of him on whom she once leaned as 
 her support, affectionate counsellor, and guide, 
 although the marriage relation will not be re- 
 sumed. Pastors will recognize the pious mem- 
 bers of their flocks ; and those who were members 
 of Christ's church, and his real disciples, will dis- 
 tinguish from all others, the faithful shepherd who 
 fed them with the bread of life and led them to 
 the fountain of living waters. Christian neigh- 
 bors and friends, who on earth took sweet coun- 
 sel together, and who rf went to the house of God 
 in company," and delighted in each other's society 
 and friendship, will exchange mutual greetings 
 again on the heavenly hills, and resume their long- 
 interrupted intercourse. That friends will thus 
 know and recognize each other in heaven, I have 
 no doubt. Besides these familiar friends, who 
 were once so precious to him on earth, the soul of 
 the believer will see in heaven the " saints of all 
 ages," from every kindred, tongue, and people, 
 the apostles, prophets, and patriarchs of olden 
 time, and the noble company of martyrs, of whom 
 the world was not worthy, and who sealed their 
 testimony with their blood. And in addition to 
 these, he will see an innumerable company of 
 pure, holy intelligences that never sinned, — 
 angels who dwell in God's presence, and are 
 
THE HAPPINESS OF HEAVEN. 255 
 
 embassadors to do his will, and to cany messages 
 of love to all parts of his intelligent creation. 
 
 This is the kind of society to which we shall be 
 introduced on our arrival in heaven. I say we, 
 for I am fondly anticipating we shall all be 
 there. What a source of happiness it must be to 
 be surrounded by such friends, to hold inter- 
 course with them, to love them, and be beloved by 
 them all. How pleasant to hold communion 
 again with those dear ones we loved on earth. 
 How precious those greetings, and how delight- 
 ful to roam with them the green fields of the 
 heavenly Canaan, or sit with them beneath the 
 bowers of Paradise, and talk of the love of Jesus. 
 of the grace that saved our souls from eternal 
 perdition, and of the way in which God led our 
 wandering; feet from the broad road into the 
 straight and narrow path of life. And then we will 
 recall the various methods his love constrained 
 him to use to keep us in it. Sometimes he led 
 us by mercies, and sometimes he drove us by the 
 rod. But all was kindness, and designed to bring 
 us safe to heaven. How pleasant it will be to 
 mingle in the social circle for holy converse with 
 the great-hearted Paul, the warm-hearted Peter, 
 and the tender-hearted John, and hear from their 
 own lips the thousands of interesting incidents of 
 their own lives, and of the life of Jesus, "the which 
 if they should be written, every one, even the 
 
256 pastok's counsels to young chkistians. 
 
 world itself could not contain the hooks that 
 should be written." How soul-inspiring to listen 
 to heavenly themes from the fervid and hallowed 
 lips of Isaiah. How delighful to hold converse 
 with David, and Samuel, and Moses, and Joseph, 
 and his father Jacob, and his grandfather Isaac, 
 and his great-grandfather Abraham, and so on, 
 back to Noah, and Enoch, and even to our great 
 progenitor, Adam. What inexhaustible sources 
 of information and instruction will the redeemed 
 find treasured up in the hearts and memories of 
 those men, and what a privilege to see them face 
 to face, and exchange thoughts with them. But a 
 greater privilege still will it be to hold intercourse 
 with that higher order of intelligences to whose 
 friendship and society the Christian will be 
 received in heaven, — a host of pure, happy beings 
 who have never sinned. They have ever taken a 
 deep interest in man ; they rejoiced in his creation 
 and conversion ; and they rejoice still more in 
 welcoming him to their fellowship and their 
 blessedness. They may inform him how they 
 were commissioned to watch over him, and be his 
 guardians by night and by day, and to defend him 
 from the attacks of those evil spirits who were 
 continually plotting his ruin. 
 
 5. Fifthly, the Christian in heaven will find 
 a great source of happiness opened to him in the 
 expansion of his mind, and the increase of knoivl- 
 edge* 
 
THE HAPPINESS OF HEAVEN. 257 
 
 In this world, his mental powers were too 
 feeble to grasp anything great ; and all knowl- 
 edge possible to the most gifted intellect was cir- 
 cumscribed within very narrow bounds. How 
 little do we know of history ! All that is possible 
 for us to know of what has taken place in God's 
 universe, is confined to this little speck of earth, 
 with the exception of a slight allusion to a rebel- 
 lion which once occurred in heaven. And how little 
 can we learn of the history of this world even. 
 The record of the first two thousand years — one- 
 third of its existence under its present organization 
 — is contained in half a dozen pages of the Bible, 
 and more than half of that, occupies but half a 
 page ! How many thousand volumes would be 
 necessary to record the interesting and important 
 events that took place before the Flood, of which 
 we know nothing ; and how many hundred thou- 
 sand to fill up the blanks in history from that 
 period 1^ the present time ! In heaven these 
 blanks will all be filled ; for a book is kept there, 
 in which is recorded the minutest event that has 
 ever transpired from the days of Adam, or will 
 transpire to the end of time, and it will undoubt- 
 edly be open for our perusal. 
 
 And then each twinkling star is probably inhab- 
 ited, and has its history, and that history may 
 equal in interest, or far exceed, that of this planet ; 
 and it is all known in heaven. And then, more 
 
l.")S PASTORS COUNSELS TO YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 
 
 important and interesting than all the rest, are the 
 annals of heaven itself, from the creation of the 
 first angel, inconceivable myriads of ages back 
 into eternity. What a book is here for an arch- 
 angel to study, — the book of history, the history 
 of earth, the history of the countless worlds 
 above us, and the history of heaven. 
 
 How little do we know, in this world, of natural 
 science, and how long has it taken to make the few 
 discoveries yet made ! The world had been revolv- 
 ing on its axis, and pursuing its course around the 
 sun in the heavens, at least fifty-five hundred years, 
 till the time of Copernicus, before the wisest men 
 understood its movements. The great, univer- 
 sal law of gravitation was not discovered till the time 
 of Newton, only two hundred years ago. Nothing 
 was known of the science of chemistry till about 
 the same time, and but very little till the present 
 century. The power of steam has but just been 
 developed. Electricity was not understood at all 
 till the time of Franklin, nor the use that could 
 be made of it till our own times, through the far- 
 reaching mind of Professor Morse. How long a 
 time it takes, in this world, to learn only a few of 
 the great facts and laws of nature, and how little 
 does the wisest and greatest mind know of them 
 after all ! A vast deal remains undiscovered which 
 will one day be developed. What facilities must 
 the heavenly student enjoy for investigating the 
 
THE HAPPINESS OF HEAVEN. 259 
 
 wonderful works of God in the material crea- 
 tion, and looking into the arcana of ^Nature, 
 and understanding all her hidden mysteries. And 
 what a source of pleasure to a philosophic mind 
 (and all will be philosophers in heaven) , to look 
 at God's works, and comprehend the laws which 
 move worlds in their orbits ; to learn what is the 
 nature and use of comets, and whither they wan- 
 der, and what is the object of their mission, as 
 they plunge, in their rapid flight, into the depths 
 of infinite space ; what it is that lights up the 
 aurora borealis, and what that kindles the zodi- 
 acal light ; whence the meteors that rush through 
 the aerial heavens ; what power causes the earth 
 to quake, and tremble from its foundations, "reel- 
 ing to and fro like a drunken man ; " what causes 
 volcanic eruptions, cyclones, waterspouts, and all 
 the various phenomena in this world, and in the 
 visible heavens above us 
 
 These subjects are all extremely interesting to 
 the cultivated mind ; but how little can be learned 
 of them here ! Can we believe these subjects will 
 be less interesting to the glorified spirits in heaven, 
 as they are permitted to trace effects to their 
 causes, while they distinctly see the hand, the wis- 
 dom, and the goodness of the Almighty in them 
 all? 
 
 Mental and moral science, so imperfectly under- 
 stood in this world, and often made more dark by 
 
260 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 the efforts of schoolmen and metaphysicians, who, 
 instead of throwing light, have only "darkened 
 counsel by words without knowledge,' 5 will be 
 made clear as the noonday. 
 
 The science of theology will be understood 
 perfectly. There will be no wranglings and dis- 
 putings about doctrines ; God will reveal himself 
 "as he is, in all his glorious attributes. The 
 mysteries of the Trinity, and the Incarnation, so 
 far as God may see it is fit that created beings 
 should understand them , will be comprehended ; 
 the doctrines of grace will be cleared of all the 
 objections that have been urged against them, dis- 
 encumbered of the glosses and extraneous matter 
 with which they had been disguised by worldly 
 wisdom or false philosophy ; Divine truth, which 
 came from above, and whose home is in heaven, 
 will appear dressed in its own native, beautiful 
 attire, resplendent as the sun. 
 
 Here is the fountain-head of all knowledge 
 pertaining to God's works of creation, provi- 
 dence, and grace, at which the redeemed soul will 
 drink to the full. The most perfect facilities will 
 be enjoyed for studying, under the tutorship of 
 angels, and God himself, every subject that is 
 worthy the attention or investigation of an 
 immortal mind : and the mind itself w r ill find its 
 capacities so enlarged as to grasp and com- 
 prehend what is now to the wisest philosophers 
 
THE HAPPINESS OF HEAVEN. 261 
 
 unfathomable mystery. I have often thought 
 how much Sir Isaac Newton must enjoy heaven 
 when considered merely as a place for the increase 
 of knowledge. Such were his views of the insig- 
 nificance of the great attainments he had made in 
 science, after a long life of severe study, in com- 
 parison with vrhat remained to be learned, that he 
 said in his old age. "I seem to have been as a 
 child playing on the sea-shore, while the immense 
 ocean of truth lay unexplored before me," There 
 is no doubt in my mind but the increase of 
 knowledge relating to physical, moral, and re- 
 ligious science will constitute no inconsiderable 
 item in the happiness of heaven. 
 
 6. Sixthly. A source of happiness to the Chris- 
 tian in heaven will be the exercise of the gracious 
 affections, particularly those of Gratitude and Love. 
 Once he was a polluted, wretched, lost sinner, in 
 the road to hell : now he is in the realms of bliss, 
 surrounded by saints and angels, and everything 
 that is pure and lovely and good. Here he finds 
 himself, washed from his defilements, and made 
 holy like his glorious companions, in the enjoy- 
 ment of blessedness unspeakable, and of which 
 his heart never conceived before. How came he 
 hither r Oh, it was by the infinite grace and mercy 
 of God. through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus. 
 His redemption from the curse of the law was pur- 
 chased with blood — the blood of the Lamb of God. 
 
262 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 When lost beyond possibility of recovery by any 
 created power, Jesus came from heaven to earth 
 and died to save him, interposing between him 
 and the sword of Divine justice, and received the 
 blow upon his own innocent head. A door of 
 mercy was thus opened for his escape from the 
 wrath to come. What love was that, which could 
 stoop so low, and suffer so much, to save such a 
 guilty, hell-deserving wretch as he ! But this 
 was not all. He remembers that his heart was so 
 hard, and his love of sin so strong, that he still 
 persisted in transgression, urging his way through 
 the very blood of his Saviour, down to the cham- 
 bers of death, till God still farther interposed by 
 his grace, and snatched him as a brand from the 
 burning. By his Holy Spirit, he arrested him in 
 his career, opened his eyes, softened his heart, 
 led him to repentance, and turned his feet into 
 the way of life ; and now, as a consequence, 
 he finds himself here in heaven among the 
 blessed ! How^ does his heart swell with gratitude 
 to God and the Lamb, for the mercy and grace 
 that saved him from eternal ruin, and brought 
 him safe to Mount Zion. And oh, how blessed 
 a feeling it is to be grateful. In the very exer- 
 cise of this emotion toward a benefactor, there is 
 a degree of happiness experienced which words 
 cannot express. 
 
 Nearlv allied to gratitude, is love. Love is the 
 
THE HAPPINESS OF HEAVEN. 263 
 
 essence of bliss. We know something of what 
 it is when exercised toward a fellow-creature, 
 
 TThat on earth gives us so much pleasure as 
 the flowing out of our affections toward a beloved 
 object ! But here our love is imperfect, — it is 
 to a great extent mixed with selfishness : but 
 in heaven it is a pure, disinterested affection. 
 It gushes out from the heart like a crystal stream 
 from a perennial fountain, toward every being — 
 blessing and blessed. Its first and supreme object 
 is God, in whom is the concentration of every- 
 thing that is lovely, and who is himself the 
 source of this holy affection. It was his love 
 that .led him to provide a Saviour : it was love 
 that brought Jesus down to earth, to suffer and 
 die ; it was love that rendered the sacrifice of the 
 cross effectual to the salvation of the soul ; it was 
 love that opened the gates of the heavenly Para- 
 dise, and received repentant sinners to its joys. 
 And now, here he is in a world of love ! Love 
 rules in heaven, and flows out, like running waters, 
 from every heart. The Deity is all love : God the 
 Father is love ; Jesus is love ; the Holy Spirit is 
 love. The angels, and the other inhabitants of 
 heaven, are full of love, and the glorified soul is in 
 full sympathy with all he sees about him. This 
 affection is reciprocal ; it flows out from the heart, 
 audit is drank into the heart. The very atmos- 
 phere of heaven is, so to speak, saturated with love. 
 
264 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 The hearts of saints and angels are knit together 
 in one, and all are united, by the same blessed 
 bonds of holy affection, to their adorable Sovereign, 
 and are made one with him. And this is happi- 
 ness. It is enough, of itself, to make heaven a 
 place of infinite blessedness. 
 
 Love will make the soul happy in heaven, not 
 as an emotion merely, but as an active principle. 
 It will be acted out in efforts to do good. Saints 
 and angels in glory are by no means idle ; but joy- 
 fully obey the commands of God, in performing 
 errands of mercy and labors of love, as before in- 
 timated, not only toward one another, but, it is 
 probable, they are sent off on messages of kindness 
 to other and far distant worlds, inhabited by intel- 
 ligent beings, created in the image of God, and 
 destined, it may be, at some remote period in 
 eternity, to become fellow-heirs with them to the 
 same heaven. 
 
 7. Seventhly. The crowning bliss of heaven, 
 that which will constitute the chief ingredient in 
 the cup of the soul's happiness, will be, the re- 
 deemed will see God there, and be permitted to 
 adore him, and sing his praises to all eternity. 
 
 Heaven would be nothing without God. How- 
 ever beautiful the place may be, — however in- 
 teresting its society, — however great its facilities 
 for making improvements in knowledge, — however 
 delightful its employments, and rapturous its joys 
 
THE HAPPINESS OF HEAVEN. 265 
 
 in other respects, all would be comparatively a 
 blank, a vast empty void, without God. All love, 
 all knowledge, all happiness, concentrate in him. 
 He was the object of the Christian's supreme affec- 
 tion on earth, and he will be to all eternity. One 
 great reason why he wished to go to heaven was, 
 that he might see God there ; but were he to be 
 disappointed, and have no communion with that 
 Being in whom his soul delights, and have no 
 special manifestation of his presence, even heaven 
 would lose its attractions, and he w^ould sigh to 
 come back to this poor world of pain and sorrow, 
 if so be he might again enjoy the smile and the 
 presence of him whom his soul loveth. But he 
 will not be disappointed. There the saints " shall 
 see God," as they stand before the Throne, and 
 serve him day and night in his temple ; " and he 
 that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them." 
 "And I heard a great voice out of heaven," says 
 John, fc saying, Behold the tabernacle of God is 
 with men, and he will dwell with them, and they 
 shall be his people, and God himself shall be with 
 them, and be their God." There, on his throne, sur- 
 rounded by ineffable glory, will be seen the man 
 Christ Jesus, in union with the Godhead, — "his 
 eyes as a flame of fire, and on his head many 
 crowns, and clothed with a vesture dipped in 
 blood, and on his vesture a name written, KIXG 
 OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS." Christ 
 
266 pastor's counsels to young christians. 
 
 will then appear to the believer, more than ever 
 he did before, the w chiefcst among ten thousand 
 and altogether lovely." What unutterable emo- 
 tions will enrapture the soul of the glorified saint, 
 as his eye rests upon that beloved form that was 
 pierced for his sake, and that countenance which 
 once wept for the sins of lost man ! Oh, what joy 
 to behold him face to face, to share his smile, and 
 to bask in the radiance of his love, while he him- 
 self is "changed into the same image, from glory 
 to glory ! * 
 
 But to see God and the Lamb, seated upon the 
 throne of his glory, and to adore his awful, yet 
 benign majesty, will not comprise all the joy of 
 the ransomed, glorified spirit. A harp will be 
 given him to praise God withal ; and he will, with 
 a holy ecstasy, which his heart never conceived 
 of before, join his voice with that of Abraham, 
 and Moses, and David, and Isaiah, and Paul, and 
 of all the redeemed from among men, from every 
 kindred, and people, and tongue, and nation, in 
 the new, melodious song, K Worthy is the Lamb 
 that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and 
 wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and 
 blessing;" to which the holy angels, standing 
 round about the throne, will respond, as they bow 
 in humble reverence and adoration, "Amen! 
 Alleluia, for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth." 
 And then the whole heavenly orchestra, — saints 
 
THE HAPPINESS OF HEAVEN. 267 
 
 and angels, a vast multitude, which no man can 
 number, of glorified, happy beings, — as they sweep 
 their golden harps, will unite in one grand refrain, 
 making the heavenly arches ring with the melody 
 of their song, "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God 
 Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. 
 Amen." 
 
 And God will accept the praise, and commu- 
 nicate to each and every worshiper of his own 
 glory and blessedness, till their capacities for 
 happiness are completely filled, so that they can 
 neither ask, nor can God give them, more. 
 
 Grant, O Father, — blessed Comforter, — thou 
 risen, glorified, precious Saviour, that we all may 
 meet to sing that everlasting song. 
 

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