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AUTHOR 
 
 DAVIDSON 
 
 5 
 
 J . THAIN 
 
 TITLE 
 
 TALKS WITH YOUNG 
 MEN 
 
 PLACE: 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 DATE: 
 
 1885 
 
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 Davidson, J Thain. 
 
 Talks with young men, 
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TALKS WITH YOUNG MEN. 
 
 '4 
 
 V 
 
 4 
 
 I 
 
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 TALKS WITH YOUNG MEN. 
 
 \i 
 
 BY 
 
 J, THAIN DAVIDSON. D.D» 
 
 + 
 
 gtfxf ^axk: 
 A. C. ARMSTRONQ & SON, 
 
 714, BROADWAY. 
 1885. 
 

 \'^ 
 
 ,'„;\'iU'. 
 
 ■■■7 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 • 
 
 ^ 
 
 A\ 
 
 
 4- 
 
 Oo 
 
 I 
 
 QD 
 
 AN awakened interest in the religious welfare of 
 young men is a feature of our time. Within 
 the past few years more has been done in this direc- 
 tion than was ever attempted before ; and in most of 
 our large towns the increased prosperity of Young 
 Men's Christian Associations attests the depth and 
 reality of the movement. 
 
 It is an oft-repeated remark of persons who are past 
 the prime of life, that in their early days they had no 
 such advantages for moral and spiritual culture as 
 young men now enjoy; and it is gratifying to see 
 that there are large numbers who value these privileges, 
 and amid many temptations to swerve from truth and 
 virtue, are faithful to their religious principles, and are 
 rising to a higher and nobler Christian manhood. 
 
 In the great centres of population there are, from 
 
 time to time, courses of lectures on such subjects as 
 the Christian evidences, or the relation between science 
 and religion, for the special benefit of young and inr» 
 quiring minds; but I have been impressed with the 
 
 77074 
 
VI 
 
 Preface, 
 
 belief that, apart from such systematic instruction, 
 there is room for a more famiUar treatment of the 
 practical difficulties and temptations of every-day life ; 
 and for some years have been in the habit of holding 
 a monthly Sunday evening service for young men, 
 with this specific end in view. 
 
 The interest which has been awakened, and the 
 large numbers who have attended, have encouraged 
 me to continue the practice. 
 
 The following "Talks" are a few of these homely 
 addresses. They affect no exegetical merit, nor attempt 
 the discussion of any speculative questions: they are 
 familiar and direct appeals to the heart. 
 
 In yielding to the request for their publication, I 
 have thought it well to leave them in the free and 
 conversational form in which they were delivered. 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 I.- 
 
 THE GLORY OF YOUNG MEN . • 
 
 II. 
 
 CALLED TO A KINGDOM 
 
 WANTED— A MAN! . 
 
 • 
 
 III. 
 
 • • 
 
 IV. 
 
 AN ARTISAN, YET A GENTLEMAN . 
 
 V. 
 PUTTING AWAY CHILDISH THINGS • 
 
 
 • • 
 
 • • 
 
 . 3 
 
 17 
 
 31 
 
 47 
 
 . 61 
 
 VI. 
 
 MASTER OVER ONE's SELF . • 
 
 VII. 
 
 SETTING OUT IN LIFE 
 
 » • 
 
 75 
 
 89 
 
 * f 
 
 VIII. 
 
 YOUNG MEN FROM THE COUNTRY . • • 
 
 103 
 
 IX. 
 THE EYES OF A YOUNG MAN OPENED • 
 
 119 
 
 TRUE TO THE RELIGION OF ONE's FATHERS . 
 
 . -^zi 
 
via 
 
 BETTER THAN A SHEEP 
 
 Contents. 
 
 XI. 
 
 • • • 
 
 XII. 
 
 HUNGRY STUDENTS ; OR, DEATH IN THE POT • • 
 
 XIII. 
 THE WAY TO GET ON IN THE WORLD , . • 
 
 XIV. 
 THOROUGHNESS THE ROAD TO PROSPERITY • . 
 
 XV. 
 STARTING ON THE RIGHT RAILS , « • • 
 
 XVI. 
 BEGINNING WELL, BUT ENDING ILL • • • 
 
 XVII. 
 BURIED WITH THE BURIAL OF AN ASS , , , 
 
 XVIIL 
 THE RIGHT SORT OF FRIEND . • 
 
 XIX. 
 COMPANIONSHIP WITH FOOLS 
 
 XX. 
 
 THE CONCLUSION OF THE WHOLE MATTER 
 
 • • 
 
 • • 
 
 PAGE 
 
 . M7 
 
 • i6i 
 
 . 175 
 . 189 
 . 203 
 
 • 219 
 
 • ^ZZ 
 
 • 247 
 
 • 261 
 
 275 
 
 2 HE GLORY OF YOUNG MEN. 
 
" The glory of young nun is tluir Hrengthy—Y'B.OS, xx. 29. 
 
 i;' 
 
 THE GLORY OF YOUNG MEfT, ^ 
 
 THREE books of the Bible are from the pen of Solomon. 
 These are the Song of Songs, the Proverbs, and 
 Ecclesiastes. If we adopt the opinion of the Rabbinical 
 writers, we shall assign the first of these compositions to 
 the period of Solomon's youth, when though his passions 
 were strong, his principles were also strong, and his 
 character unstained by vice ; the second of them, contain- 
 ing the philosophy of practical life, we shall assign to 
 his mature manhood; whilst the third of them, with its 
 mingled wailings, confessions, and warnings, we shall 
 assign to his closing years. 
 
 This Book of Proverbs, then, was written by him when 
 he was in the zenith of his strength. Not yet had he lost 
 the vigour and elasticity of youth : whilst to these were 
 added the valuable experience and sound judgment of riper 
 years. 
 
 From no one, probably, do counsels to young men come 
 with so much force and effect as from one who is in the 
 prime of life. At an earlier period, it is conceived, a man is 
 hardly entitled to give advice ; at a later period, he is apt 
 to be disregarded as a croaker. 
 
 This wonderful book, my brothers, merits your constant 
 perusal and study. It is a vade mecum for young men. Its 
 thirty-one chapters, answering to the thirty-one days of the 
 month, suggest the propriety of a monthly reading of it. 
 
If 
 
 ll 
 
 
 4 Ta/ks with Young Men, 
 
 The whole tone of the book is such as to develop true man- 
 liness apid nobleness of character. No littleness about it : 
 no trace of a sickly and sentimental pietism — a goody- 
 goodyijm sudi as is sometimes met with, which turns 
 many a young fellow against religion. It is robust and 
 dignified throughout. Dwelling amid these proverbs, you 
 breathe a bracing and exhilarating air. You develop a 
 stouter manhood, and become better able to face the diffi- 
 culties and temptations of life. If any one is silly enough 
 to imagine that a religious young man is necessarily a sheep 
 or a simpleton, let him read this book, and he will see his 
 mistake. It is amongst the ungodly that the simple ones 
 and the fools are to be found. True religion brings out all 
 that is noblest and best in humanity, and without it no 
 man is a man complete. This truth, like a vein in a block 
 of marble, runs visibly through the whole book, but finds 
 its culminating expression in the words of my text — " The 
 glory of young men is their strength." 
 
 I take this proverb to be true in a fourfold sense, and, 
 starting from the lowest platform, I observe. First, that the 
 glory of young men is their physical strength. Yes ! so 
 important is this view of the text, I would gladly occupy 
 all your time this evening in illustrating it; but I must 
 content myself with only a few words. Undoubtedly, it is 
 a young man's glory to have a healthy, vigorous, stalwart 
 bodily frame. It is an adornment; a thing you should 
 desire to have ; and having, do your best to preserve, and 
 utilise for the highest ends. No doubt Jeremiah says, 
 " Let not the mighty man glory in his might," just as he 
 warns the wise man against glorying in his wisdom, and 
 the rich man, in his riches; but, then, he is placing these 
 things in comparison with what is far more valuable: 
 "Let him that glorie'th glory in this, that he understandeth 
 and knoweth Me, saith the Lord.*" Compared with a 
 
 The Glory of Young Men. 
 
 saving knowledge of God, bodily vigour is, indeed, a thing 
 unworthy of mention ; happier far the poor, dwarfed, feeble 
 . creature, who knows the Lord, than the man of grandest 
 physique, who is living a godless life; but there is no reason 
 why a man should not have both blessings — have a rege- 
 nerate soul in a robust and healthful body. I am not one to 
 laugh at what is called a "muscular Christir.nty," or utter 
 one word of disparagement in relation to those gymnastic 
 exercises and athletic sports which tend to brace the phy- 
 sical frame. There are some good people who seem to 
 think that, because Richard Baxter and Robert Hall were 
 invalids, and Kirke White had a consumptive cough, and 
 William Cowper was sadly dyspeptic, therefore the saint- 
 liest people must be sickly and delicate. What a piece of 
 folly! Let me remind them that the heavenly-minded 
 McCheyne could beat all his fellows in running a race* 
 or in leaping a five-barred gate; and that Martin Luther 
 had not only a noble soul, but a muscular development, 
 which made him able to thrash any five of his persecutors, 
 if it had been right for him so to do. It is outrageous that 
 some men will, through their own carelessness, or disregard 
 of the laws of health, let their constitution go down, down 
 to a sad state, and then look up languidly through their eye- 
 brows, with a sigh of resignation to the will of God, who 
 has appointed them to a life of sickness and infirmity. I 
 say, God will hold you responsible for any invalidism which 
 arises from your own fault, when He gave you bodies 
 that might have been vigorous and well. If you seldom 
 take physical exercise, if you sit up to all hours of the 
 night, if you pay no attention to your diet, if you indulge 
 in any vicious habits, you have no right to blame your 
 delicacy upon God, or to speak as though these frequent 
 headaches, and inactive liver, and shattered nerves, were ^ 
 an affliction that He had appointed you 
 
 VH 
 
ii 
 
 w 
 
 I, 
 
 ! ' 
 
 i\\ 
 
 IM 
 
 6 7a/^s with Young Men. 
 
 There is not a doubt that the use of alcoholic stimulants 
 sends hundreds of young men every year to a premature 
 grave. There is as little doubt that hundreds more, fine 
 blooming lads, have been slain by tobacco smoke. To see 
 the way some go on, the wonder to me is that they are not 
 cut off much sooner. I have just been reading the " Life of 
 Joseph Barker ''; and pray listen to the account he gives of 
 himself, referring to a certain period of his career. " I 
 once was a smoker. At first I took but a few whiffs. I 
 afterwards required half a pipe ; I next came to need a 
 whole one. It was not long before I required two; in 
 course of time I fancied I needed one after each meal, and 
 after a while I fancied I needed an additional one between 
 meals ; and the demand increased to such an extent at 
 length, that I was unable to do anything without first pre- 
 paring myself with the pipe. I must have a pipe to prepare 
 me for a journey, a pipe to cheer me on the road, and a pipe 
 when my journey was ended. I must have a pipe before I 
 lectured, and a pipe when I had done. I must have a pipe 
 before I began my studies in the morning, a pipe when I 
 met with any difficulty, and a pipe when I had fairly sur- 
 mounted the difficulty ; a pipe when I was alone, and a pipe 
 when I had company with me ; a pipe when I was cold, 
 and a pipe when I was hot ; a pipe when I was pleased, 
 and a pipe when I was grieved ; a pipe when the sky was 
 clear, and a pipe when the weather was dull ; a pipe on all 
 occasions, till the habit became a downright tyranny." 
 
 Now, whatever views we may hold on the subject of 
 total abstinence from stimulants and narcotics, every man 
 of sense must say, that, if either of these things attains 
 such a control over us that we cannot be happy or comfort- 
 able without it, it is more than time, that— be it the glass 
 or the pipe — it be smashed into a thousand fragments and 
 cast aside for ever I 
 
 The Glory of Young Men. ^ 
 
 Gentlemen, in the great battle against the kingdom of 
 darkness we want, not only a consecrated soul, but a strong 
 arm, stout lungs, and vigorous muscle. Thank God, there 
 are many healthful recreations that are not necessarily sin- 
 ful ; and when the great annual contest takes place upon 
 the river, and a number of fine young fellows pull, as if for 
 life, to reach the winning-post at Mortlake, I should say 
 that amongst the thousands of eager spectators there will 
 be very few to deny that a strong-arm and stalwart frame 
 are indeed a young man's glory. It is not the bdating, but 
 the betting, that makes a wise man shake his head ; and 
 sad pity it is, that so many otherwise harmless recreations 
 are associated with this detestable practice, which, wher- 
 ever it exists, is fraught with both temporal and eternal 
 ruin. May it please God to give to every one of you robust 
 bodily health, and long spare you to enjoy it. The old 
 Pagan p'/overb is a lie — " Those whom the gods love die 
 young " ; for I have higher authority for saying to every one 
 of you who has chosen heavenly wisdom for your posses- 
 sion : " Length of days and long life shall it add unto thee." 
 
 2. The glory of young men is their intellectual strength. 
 " Understanding," says Solomon, " is a well-spring of life 
 unto him that hath it." A man with any nobleness of 
 character will take a legitimate pride in the possession of a 
 sound reason, a calm judgment, a vigorous brain. He will 
 do his best to cultivate and improve his mental powers, and 
 will deny himself any luxury which tends to weaken or 
 impair them. The most religious young men I happen to 
 know are the most intellectual and thoughtful. Any godless 
 young men with whom I am acquainted strike me as being 
 particularly stupid and brainless. I do not deny that there 
 are clever, sharp, and well-read men amongst those who 
 scoff" at God's truth, and that amongst devout Christians 
 there are some with very shallow intellects. None the less 
 
8 
 
 'I a Iks with Younp[ Men. 
 
 II 
 
 do I aver, that, as Lord Bacon said long ago, depth in 
 philosophy bringeth men's minds round to religion ; and 
 that the direct tendency of a genuine Christianity is to 
 develop and strengthen the mental powers. Go to any 
 church in London — who are the young men most deeply 
 read, most skilful in debate, most prominent and active in 
 any literary or mutual improvement society ? You don' 
 pause for a moment to answer, the most decidedly religious 
 in that church. We have had amongst ourselves here 
 some noble specimens of powerful and richly-furnished 
 minds, and in every case that I can remember these gentle- 
 men have been earnest believers. They have studied 
 Church history and Christian doctrine for themselves ; they 
 have weighed the evidences for Christianity; and, as the 
 result, have bowed in adoring reverence before the person 
 of Jesus. The Gospel does not enslave the reason, it sets 
 it free. God requires of you that you think for yourselves : 
 " Prove all things ; hold fast that which is good." Buy the 
 truth at any price, and sell it at none. Sir Isaac Newton 
 could give but one explanation of the success which 
 attended his investigation of the laws of nature — "By 
 always thinking into them." It is this patient thought- 
 work, this continued application of the mind to the subject 
 before it, that develops its powers and promotes its health- 
 fulness. He who occupies his mind with any casual subject 
 which presents itself, and studies no subject thoroughly for 
 himself, can never be a strong man. As the late George 
 Eliot says, "His mind is furnished as hotels are, with 
 everything for occasional and transient use." 
 
 See to it, young men, that every day adds to your store 
 of knowledge. Read, read, read, but be careful what you 
 read. The railway book-stalls and circulating libraries are 
 full of senseless stuff that will do no man any good. I 
 think in many of them there might be stuck up a notice- 
 
 : 
 
 \ 
 
 The Glory of Young Men. 9 
 
 board, such as I once saw on a piece of waste ground, 
 " Rubbish shot here." To seek solid instruction there, is 
 like searching the City sewers on chance of finding a 
 shilling or silver spoon. With all her admiration of 
 Thackeray, Charlotte Bronte severely chid him for lauding 
 certain questionable novelists, and reminded him how 
 much harm indiscriminate praise of such books did to young 
 men like her own unhappy brother. 
 
 I will quit this part of my subject with an extract from a 
 letter written by the late Thomas Carlyle' to a young man, 
 and bearing date Chelsea, 13th March, 1843 : — " In con- 
 clusion, I will remind you that it is not by books alone, nor 
 by books chiefly, that a man becomes in all points a man. 
 Study to do faithfully whatsoever thing in your actual situa- 
 tion, there and now, you find laid to your charge ; stand to 
 it like a true soldier; silently devour the many chagrins ot 
 it, as all human situations have many ; and be it your aim 
 not to quit it without doing all that it, at least, requires of 
 you. A man perfects himself by work even more than by 
 reading." May God give to every one of you the " Sana 
 mens in corpore sanOy^ a sound mind in a sound body. 
 
 3. The glory of young men is their moral strength. It 
 is a grand thing for a man to have a delicate moral sensitive- 
 ness and a strong moral determination. By the former he 
 will scent vice afar off, and by the latter he will keep out 
 of the way of the tempter, and resist to the death when he 
 is tempted. The very badge of true manliness is self- 
 controL No one who is devoid of it can pretend to stand 
 upon the platform of real manhood. Man is the one 
 animal upon the earth that has liberty of self-destruction. 
 He can fatally poison his body — he can fatally poison his soul. 
 If you are not sovereign over your appetites, and passions, 
 and inclinations, then, inasmuch as you have — what the 
 brutes have not — a soul and conscience within you to 
 
lO 
 
 Talks with Young Men, 
 
 The Gkry of Young Men. 
 
 II 
 
 govern you aright, you fall below them in the order of 
 creation. 
 
 On the other hand, when you resist temptation, when 
 you conquer it, when you triumph over it, you earn the 
 respect, first, of the baffled tempter, and then of yourself; 
 which last is a step to greater moral victories to-morrow. 
 Without self-control, you have no right to call yourself a 
 man ; but with entire command over self, you belong to 
 the kingly order of men. Now it is a glory to a young man 
 when in him is seen the higher nature keeping the body 
 under, and holding it in subjection — the man with his foot 
 upon the animal — reason and conscience lording it over the 
 brute. Aristotle, Pagan as he was, and living in an age and 
 nation in which lust was consecrated and vice was well- 
 nigh universal, taught the Grecians of his own day that 
 moral impurity clogs the intellect, debases the thoughts, 
 and enfeebles the reason. Dugald Stewart, speaking as a 
 mere philosopher and moralist, declared that indulgence in 
 sins of the flesh " destroyed the intellectual powers, and 
 moral sensibilities, and produced a languor and depression 
 of mind which is the completion of human misery." A 
 noble and virtuous young man may be as conscious of the 
 stirrings of appetite and passion within him as any one, but 
 he is determined to reign over himself. He will see no 
 manliness in testing how near he can go to the edge of the 
 precipice without falling over. He will keep as far as 
 possible from the place of danger. Having asked the Lord 
 in his morning prayer not to lead him into temptation, he 
 will not wilfully put himself in peril. If you know what 
 is your true glory, you will not tamper with the tempter 
 for an instant. 
 
 " Flee also youthful lusts," says the apostle, " but follow 
 after righteousness." Ycung men, weigh well these two 
 words, "Flee I" "Follow!" "Abhor that which is evil: 
 
 4" 
 
 k- 
 
 cleave to that which is good." Do not so much as look 
 upon the wine when it sparkles in the glass ; do not give 
 the faintest smile of approval to the coarse jest, or infidel 
 sneer, or immoral suggestion ; start back with disgust at 
 the touch or the voice of the harlot on the street ; and vow 
 that yours shall be the exquisite joy of having " a conscience 
 void of offence, towards God, and towards men." Does 
 any one here dare to insinuate that such purity is impossible ? 
 Do I hear it said (yes, I have heard it said) that no one 
 passes scatheless through the ordeal of these temptations ? 
 I throw back the slander with indgnation ; and, if the 
 solemn testimony of the speaker, and of others now present 
 is not enough, I will ask you to listen to the noble tribute 
 paid by Coleridge to the memory of his beloved friend, the 
 poet Southey, of whom he says, that " he passed from the 
 innocence of youth to virtue, not only free from all vicious 
 indulgences, but unstained by any act of intemperance, or 
 the degradations akin to intemperance." What a contrast 
 to Charles Lamb, who made all the world laugh at his 
 humour, and then afterwards made all the world weep at 
 his fate ; who, though he could outwit everybody, was at 
 last outwitted of his own passions, and wrote : — " The 
 waters have gone over me ; but out of the depths — could I 
 be heard — I would cry out to all those who have set a foot 
 in the perilous flood. Could the youth, to whom the first 
 flavour of wine is delicious, look into my desolation, and be 
 made to understand what a dreary thing it is when a man 
 shall feel himself going down a precipice with open eyes 
 and passive will ; to see his own destruction, and have no 
 power to arrest it, yet feel it all emanating from himself; 
 to see all godliness empty out of him, yet not be able to 
 forget the time when it was otherwise ; to bear about the 
 piteous spectacle of his own ruin ; could he see my feverish 
 eye, feverish with last night's drinking, and feverishly 
 
12 
 
 Talks with Youncr Men. 
 
 Tne Glory of Young Men. 
 
 n 
 
 looking for to-night's repetition of that folly; could he but 
 feel the body of death out of which I cry hourly with 
 feeble outcry to be delivered, it were enough to make him 
 dash the sparkling beverage to the earth, in all the pride of 
 its mantling temptation I " 
 
 Some years ago a stranger stood among a crowd of 
 visitors under the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral. Whilst he 
 was gazing upwards in silence, and striving to comprehend 
 the grandeur and immensity, the verger touched him on 
 the shoulder, and bade him remove his foot a little to one 
 side. He started back, and saw on the stone floor a small 
 cross, cut deep by a mason's chisel. It was the mark of a 
 soul-murder ; for on that spot had a young man fallen, who, 
 in the utter hopelessness of his despair, had thrown him- 
 self from the '* whispering gallery " above. The group of 
 visitors gazed upon the spot in silence, awed at the thought 
 that there a youth, steeped in iniquity, plunged headlong 
 into eternity. Ah I if every spot on the pavements of 
 London where souls have been murdered were marked 
 with a chisel, what a record should be daily before our eyes 
 of the untold misery that follows in the wake of sin. Oh, is 
 there any one here who will deny that to a young man 
 moral weakness is a disgrace, and moral strength a pride 
 and glory. 
 
 4. The glory of young men is their spiritual strength. I 
 place this last, but it is the most important of all. I speak 
 now of the strength of religious faith. I go beyond nature 
 to grace; beyond the human to the divine; for this strength 
 is really the strength of God made yours by faith. " Let him 
 take hold of my strength," says the Lord ; and again, '' My 
 strength is made in weakness." A mere brute may surpass 
 you in physical strength ; a Pagan may vie with you in 
 intellectual strength ; even an atheist may compete with 
 you in moral strength ; but when you come to this, you 
 
 \ 
 
 leave them all a thousand leagues behind, for only a 
 believer can say with David, " He strengthened me with 
 strength in my soul." Ah I my dear friends, without the 
 grace of God in your hearts, making you new creatures, 
 and uniting you by a living bond to the Lord Jesus, all the 
 other strengths I have been speaking of will avail you little 
 and prove but empty and short-lived glory. Here you 
 come to something that lifts you up to another platform 
 altogether, and makes you, in the bold language of St. 
 Peter, " partakers of the Divine nature." 
 
 Far, far below his true d gnity must man remain, until 
 he knows the God that made him. As I sauntered in 
 Highgate cemetery the other day, musing on my subject 
 for this evening, my eye caught an inscription on a tomb- 
 stone 'that told of a celebrated pugilist that lay buried 
 beneath. There, cut upon the stone, was a medallion 
 portrait of the prize-fighter, and under it, the figure of his 
 dog ; and I thought within me, what a poor distinction, to 
 have been famous for strength of bone and toughness of 
 muscle, and nothing more than that ! Paltry glory, indeed ! 
 Young man, if you have not religion, do not speak of 
 "glory." There is no glory about you. The highest part 
 of your nature still lies waste and fallow. You have a soul 
 — a soul created in God's image, and vested with immor- 
 tality — and if you are not realising that^ there is no dignity 
 about you ; you are " turning your glory into shame." If 
 you want to kngw where a young man's real strength lies, 
 listen to St. John : *' I write unto you, young men, because 
 ye are strong, and have the Word of God abiding in you." 
 There is the secret. God's own word, and especially His 
 record concerning Jesus, dwelling in your inmost heart. 
 This is the helm by which alone your course through life 
 will be safely steered. It matters little to a steamship how 
 powerful her engines may be, if she have no rudder. The 
 
 \ 
 
14 
 
 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 stronger the engines, the more needed the helm. The 
 greater our strength, the greater our need of guidance. 
 The boat-race is sometimes won, not through superior 
 strength, but through superior steering : and many a 
 young man has failed in life, not so much for want of 
 strength, as for want of good steering. Let the word 
 of God abide in you, and you will be led aright. 
 True piety will be a blessing to you on every side 
 of your being. Its influence is every way healthful and 
 bracing. If your life is ruled by faith in God, there is 
 every reason to believe that you will be healthier and 
 happier than you could be without it ; for he who does not 
 live by faith lives by sense ; and sense degrades and genders 
 to the dust. Oh, brothers, consecrate yourselves and your 
 life to God, and you possess a strength which shall never 
 diminish nor decay. The outward and material part of you 
 indeed may perish, and even your intellectual being grow 
 feeble with age, but there is one part of you that shall never 
 know weakness nor decrepitude. 
 
 •* This spirit shall return to Him 
 
 Who gave its heavenly spark ; 
 Yet think not, sun, it shall be dim 
 
 When thou thyself art dark ! 
 No 1 it shall live again, and shine 
 In bliss unknown to beams of thina. 
 
 By Him recalled to breath. 
 Who captive led captivity. 
 Who robbed the grave of victory^ 
 
 And took the sting from death I* 
 
 CALLED TO A KINGDOM, 
 
 ««MiimMin^^miMM*MIMmfv> 
 
lifl 
 
 I 
 
 •* /Ittd as they were going down to the end of the city^ Samuel said f 
 Saul, Bid the servant pass on before us, {and he passed on): but stand 
 thou still a whiU^ tluU I may show thee the word of God.**'' I Sam. ix. 27. 
 
 \ I ■! 
 
 i 
 
 II. 
 
 CALLED TO A KINGDOM, 
 
 I AM going to talk with you this evening of one of the 
 most singular and contradictory characters in Bible 
 story, I mean Saul of the Old Testament. He belonged to 
 a plain but respectable family of the tribe of Benjamin. His 
 father, Kish, was a wealthy and influential farmer, his 
 property consisting largely of live stock. It happened on 
 one occasion that a drove of asses, belonging to him, had 
 gone astray upon the mountains, and Kish entrusted his son 
 Saul with the task of recovering them. Taking a servant or 
 attendant with him, the young man set out upon the ernmd; 
 but though for dayS they searched in all directions, they 
 could not find the stray cattle. At the close of the third day 
 they began to despair of success, and Saul proposed to his 
 companion that they should give it up as a bad job. But 
 the other, who was well acquainted with that part of the 
 country, made a suggestion. In the little town at which 
 they had now arrived, there lived an eminent prophet, or 
 " seer," as they called such a man in those days (because 
 he could '* see " what was concealed from other mortals) ; 
 and the proposal was, that they should step up to 4iis house, 
 and inquire of him where the lost asses were, or what 
 course they should pursue. " Well said," replied Saul, 
 *' let us go." As they were on their way, and were looking 
 about for the residence of Samuel, they met a man, to whom 
 Saul politely said, " Can you kindly tell m^ where the seer's 
 
 K. 
 
i8 
 
 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 Called to a Kingdo7n. 
 
 19 
 
 house is ? " "I am the seer," replied the stranger ; who 
 told them that he was on his way to preside at a religious 
 festival, and bade them go on before him, to an eminence 
 to which he pointed, and he would meet them there. Much 
 surprised at the prophet's language, they did as they were 
 instructed, and found on their arrival at the spot that about 
 thirty guests were assembled, and that the best seats were 
 reserved for themselves, as though they had been expected. 
 When the sacred feast was over, they returned to Samuel's 
 house in the city, and found that the prophet had provided 
 accommodation for them for the night. 
 
 Next morning, at daybreak, Saul was roused by Samuel, 
 who gave him permission to return home, and volunteered 
 to accompany him and his attendant a part of the way. 
 When they reached the outskirts of the town, the prophet 
 gave Saul a hint to let the other man step on a little way in 
 advance ; " but," added he, looking solemnly into his face, 
 " stand thou still a while, that I may show thee the word 
 of God." 
 
 It must have been a most impressive interview. When 
 it was over, Samuel took out from within the folds of his 
 mantle a vial of the holy consecrating oil, and poured its 
 contents on the young man's head. He then gave him the 
 kiss of salutation, intimated to him that God had called him 
 to the kingdom of Israel, announced that the Spirit from on 
 high would come upon him, and that he would " be turned 
 into another man," directed him as to his course of action, 
 and earnestly appealed to him to "rise to the occasion." 
 "Do thou," said he, "as occasion serve thee, for God is 
 with thee." 
 
 It needs no great stretch of imagination, does it, to see in 
 our meeting to-night something to remind us of the incident 
 in our text ? There are many young Sauls here, who have 
 got their life-work before them, but who perhaps do not 
 
 fl 
 
 UA 
 
 realize what a grand and important thing life is, what a 
 noble opportunity they have, and how they are best to 
 fulfil it ; and I now ask you to step aside for a little from 
 the world's din and bustle, and reflect on the great future 
 before you, and listen to the voice that speaks to you from 
 heaven ; in short, I bid you " stand still a while, that I may 
 show you the word of God." It is of immense importance 
 that, at the outset of busy, active, responsible life, just at 
 the time of opening manhood, there should be a pause for 
 serious, thoughtful reflection. Many of you are precisely 
 at that period at which, presumably, Saul was in the text ; 
 and no better counsel could I give you than that you should, 
 so to speak, call a halt, and looking earnestly on your 
 positioij and prospects, inquire what the Lord would have 
 you to do. I shall treat the subject allegorically, and 
 mention a few points which it naturally suggests. 
 
 I. Many a fine young fellow is occupying his time and 
 talents in a way that is hardly worthy of him. The passage 
 presents to us a fine, tall, strapping youth, " a choice young 
 man, and a goodly," from his shoulders and upward higher 
 than any of the people. There wasn't a handsomer man, 
 says the historian, among all the children of Israel. Well, 
 when I see that noble-looking youth spending his days 
 hunting for a drove of donkeys, I feel there is an incongruity. 
 I cannot help it. There is a want of fitness in the arrange- 
 ment. I don't say there is anything mean or dishonourable 
 in wandering over the mountains searching for stray cattle. 
 Not at all. In some respects I admire the young Benjamite 
 for it. He obeyed his father's wishes, and was not ashamed 
 to be a farmer's son. There is many a gentleman-farmer 
 like Kish in England to-day, who cannot get his boys to 
 take to agricultural work at all. Oh, no, they are too fine 
 for that. It would spoil their white hands. Work in the 
 fields is not for them. They must be young gentlemen. 
 
 k. 
 
I; 
 
 20 
 
 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 and so, with their smart rings and gold-headed canes, they 
 strut forth, and look with disdain upon all out-door labour. 
 Saul wasn't a fool like that. Still, he had powers that 
 fitted him for a much higher kind of work than driving 
 cattle. His bodily stature was in some degree typical of 
 his mental endowments. I don't mean to say that tall men 
 are necessarily clever men. Certainly, in one sense, they 
 are looked up to ; and we can almost understand the old 
 Scotch lady's feelings when, passing in the street a young 
 man nearly seven feet high, she gazed upon him with 
 wonder, and said, " Sir, youVe a great responsibility I " 
 Lord Bacon, however, seems to have been of a different 
 opinion ; for he somewhere makes the remark, that " nature 
 never puts her precious jewels into a garret four stories 
 high ; and, therefore, that, exceeding tall men have ever 
 very empty heads." Well, we shall not commit ourselves 
 to one view or the other ; but this we do say, that whatever 
 a man is, whether in physical stature or mental endow- 
 ments, there should be some correspondence between these 
 and the work to which he devotes his life. There are 
 young men — most of us know a few of them — who are 
 simply wasting their energies ; they are trifling away their 
 time, and that the best time of their life ; it really makes 
 one sad to see them, fine young fellows, with good talents 
 and varied gifts, squandering these powers on foolishness ; 
 hunting for asses on the mountains of Ephraim, when God 
 has called them to a kingdom I 
 
 II. It is of great consequence to a young man to secure 
 occasional intervals for quiet reflection, when his mind may 
 be brought in contact with the Word of God. Samuel led 
 the youthful Benjamite out of the city ; and when they got 
 into the quiet country road, he sent the servant away, that 
 he might have a few minutes alone with Saul ; and then he 
 bid him dismiss all thought about those lost asses; " but," 
 
 Called to a Kingdom. 
 
 21 
 
 added he, " stand thou still awhile, that I may show thee 
 the Word of God." Do you not think that this is the very 
 thirg that many of you need ? Do you not feel it specially 
 here in London ? You want to get, as it were, "out of the 
 city," away from its roar, and bustle, and excitement, and 
 care ; and seize a little quiet time for reflection, and study 
 of the Word of God. Why did not the prophet talk with 
 him in the busy street ? Why did he first conduct him to 
 the outskirts of the town ? Because stillness is favourable 
 to meditation. " Go forth into the plain," said God to 
 Ezekiel, *' and I will there talk with thee." The youthful 
 Isaac used to meditate in the fields at eventide. Silence 
 and retirement are favourable to fellowship with God. No 
 young man can be in a right state, or a healthy state, 
 spiritually, who, from morning to night, and from one 
 week's end to another, is in a continual flurry and bustle, 
 and does not make a point of securing times for serious 
 meditation. Even Christ felt that He required, and He 
 made a point of securing, occasional intervals of solitude. 
 But there are some folks whom you cannot get to sit down 
 quietly and think. They cannot be still. 
 
 They cannot bear to ponder and consider. Any silly tale, 
 or idle song, or comic entertainment will attract them ; but 
 they have no soul for serious things. To be alone for half- 
 an-hour with their Bible, is the last thing they would 
 dream of. 
 
 Young man I be sure there is something wrong with you, 
 if 3'ou can live without seasons of retirement for prayer and 
 study of the Word of God. 
 
 And the busier you are in worldly matters, the more you 
 need this. It is just the men who are most pressed with 
 commercial or public affairs that should be most scrupulous 
 to secure that they have time for devotion. Not only does 
 this word fittingly come to the mechanic, to the artizan, 
 
23 
 
 Talks with Young Men, 
 
 Called to a Kingdom, 
 
 23 
 
 
 it 
 
 I' I; 
 
 r 
 
 t! 
 
 !*■ 
 
 to the clerk, but to you, too, my Lord Mayor, to aldermen 
 and common councilmen, to all who are "worried and 
 driven," as they tell us, from morn to night — you are simply 
 wasting your life, if you do not daily " stand still awhile, 
 that you may know what is the word of God." Many is 
 the time that, in walking through the more quiet streets, 
 I have been struck with the beauty of the climbing fuchsia 
 or geranium in the cottage window of an artizan or me- 
 chanic; but the fairest flower I ever saw was not so 
 beautiful as the family Bible I have sometimes observed 
 upon the table. Take the Word of God to guide you, if 
 you want to meet with true success. 
 
 But III. What was the great fact that the prophet 
 announced to Saul? It was, that he was called to a 
 kingdom I He had never, dreamt of such a thing. He 
 had been occupied seeking his father's asses ; but a throne 
 and a crown had never entered his mind. It was a new 
 revelation to him. He had been living infinitely below 
 the level of his vocation and destiny. The world must 
 have seemed a new world to him when he learnt that he 
 was going to be a king. 
 
 There was once a young prince, heir to the throne of 
 Russia, who was giving himself to every form of dissipation. 
 He took up his residence in Paris, and entered heartily into 
 all its gaieties. One evening, as he was seated with a 
 number of young profligates like himself, drinking, gamb- 
 ling, and making merry, a message was privately conveyed 
 to him that his father was dead. Pushing away from him 
 the dice and the wine cup, he rose up and said, ** I am 
 Emperor I " and forthwith announced that his must hence- 
 forth be a different kind of life. 
 
 Young men I I have to tell you to-night of a kingdom to 
 which you are called To you the Lord Jesus says, ** I 
 appoint unto you a kingdom, as My Father hath appointed 
 
 unto Me." To no meaner rank are you to aspire, than to 
 that of ** kings and priests unto God." 
 
 An excellent and thoughtful young fellow was evincing 
 a deep interest in religion, and attending meetings at which 
 he hoped to receive spiritual benefit, when his father, who 
 was a money-grubber and a thoroughly worldly man, said 
 , to him angrily, "James, leave these things alone just now; 
 your first business is to make money, and you can attend 
 to religion afterwards." The lad replied, "Father, Christ 
 tells me differently, for He says, ' Seek ye first the Kingdom 
 of God, and all these things shall be added unto you.' " 
 That youth was right. But how few there are like him. 
 Did you observe, in the story we were reading just now, 
 that when the day came that Saul was to be actually made 
 king, and all the people were gathered together with 
 Samuel at Mizpeh for the purpose, the youth was " not 
 to be found." Matters came to a deadlock. They could 
 do nothing without Saul, and they could not find him 
 anywhere. They searched in all directions, but without 
 success. At last they inquired of the Lord, " And the 
 Lord answered, Behold, he hath hid himself amo'.g the 
 stuff. And they ran and fetched him thenjce." Saul con- 
 cealed amid the baggage, perhaps the commissariat for that 
 large assembly of people ; hidden, tall fellow as he war, 
 among the heap of boxes and baskets of all kinds — is he 
 not a picture of many a young man here whom God is 
 calling to a kingdom, but who is chin-deep in business, so 
 absorbed with worldly matters that he cannot attend to 
 the affairs of his soul ? My dear young brothers, I put it 
 straight to you, are not some of you " hid among the 
 stuff" ? Beware I Oh, remember, you can't feed your 
 immortal soul on bank cheques, and heavy orders, and 
 good investments. The briskest business in London is 
 a poor affair compared with the amaranthine crown. 
 
 >ii 
 
24 
 
 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 But how many of you never think of that kingdom which 
 it is " the Father's good pleasure " to give to the little flock 
 who truly follow Him. I call on a man in his shop or 
 office, and as soon as I touch the verge of the subject of 
 religion, he says, "Shut up, we get plenty of that on 
 Sunday," as though religion were not as much for Monday 
 and Tuesday as it is for the first day of the week. When 
 Benjamin Franklin was quite a youth, the old Puritan 
 fashion of saying long graces at meals was rather irksome 
 to him. A large cask of salted provisions for the winter 
 had just arrived, and as his good father was opening it, 
 Benjamin suggested that it would be a good plan to say 
 a grace over the whole supply once for all, '* as it would 
 be a great saving of time." So there are some people 
 that want to do all their religion on the Sunday, and bury 
 themselves " in the stuff'" up to the neck all the rest of the 
 week, and when God calls them to the kingdom, they are 
 " not to be found ! " Young man, imagine every one else 
 gone out of this building but yourself and the preacher I 
 I speak to you confidentially and alone, and what Samuel 
 whispered in the ear of Saul that day, I now, in God's 
 name, solemnly intimate to you, treat the message as you 
 will— the Lord has called you" to a kingdom and a crown I 
 
 IV. Before we bid each other good night, I have one 
 point more to bring out of this passage. The prophet told 
 Saul that he must be "anointed," and that he must be 
 " turned into another man." Taking out from within his 
 mantle a flask filled with perfumed oil, he motioned to the 
 tall youth to stoop; and then, lifting up the flask, he 
 emptied its contents upon his head. He intimated, more 
 over, that the Spirit of the Lord would come upon him, and 
 that he would undergo a great change— "thou shalt be 
 turned into another man." I think you will all perceive 
 the teaching that is here. It is a true story ; but whether 
 
 Called to a Kingdom. 
 
 25 
 
 n 
 
 -i 
 
 \ 
 
 you take it literally or allegorically, it is full of instruction. 
 I, too, have to tell you of an anointing which each of you 
 must receive, and of a radical change which each of you 
 must experience, if you would be an heir of the kingdom 
 of God. Scripture leaves us in no ambiguity here. "If any 
 man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." 
 *' Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born 
 again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." It is one and 
 the same truth ; for what is the new nature, without which 
 you cannot inherit the kingdom, but the occupancy of your 
 heart by that Divine, and holy, and all-powerful tenant — 
 the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity. " Ah," you say, 
 " I fear I never shall be a Christian of the right sort. I 
 have none of the feelings and dcisires you seem to speak of. 
 It's all strange to me. I don't understand it." No, and 
 never will, without that influence from above. As Christ 
 told the Jews, " It is the Spirit that quickeneth." I should 
 have no hope of this, or of any sermon, doing one particle 
 of good, but as the Holy Ghost opens the heart to receive 
 the truth. But, thct mighty Agent is here to-night. Oh 
 that He would make us conscious of His presence I Some- 
 times it is a very simple sermon that He makes- the turning- 
 point in a man's career. I have seen persons " turned into 
 other men " by the truth they have listened to in this 
 place. Some one was speaking the other day to an emi- 
 nent man about the privileged times long gone by, and 
 observed, " Ah ! those were the days of great preachers." 
 *^ Yes," replied the other, " and of great hearers I " And 
 the remark was true. If there is a deal of bad preaching, 
 there is also a deal of bad hearing ; for all hearing is de- 
 fective that does not include a greediness to know the word 
 of God, and an earnest effort at the personal application of 
 it. Coming back to the narrative before us, which we have 
 found so suggestive, I am not prepared to assert that young 
 
26 
 
 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 Saul, though he became a changed man, became a new 
 man ; indeed, I fear it is but too evident from his after hfe 
 that he did not ; and this suggests a note of warning, with 
 which I shall draw to a close. Observe, there is a difference 
 between being turned into '^ another" man, and being turned 
 into a ^'new" man; between getting ^'another" heart 
 and getting a '' new " heart. Now it is very noticeable what 
 is said here (x. 6). " Thou shalt be turned into another 
 man;" and again (9), ''God gave him another heart." 
 There could be no mistake that some sort of change had 
 passed over the young Benjamite. His old friends and 
 companions observed it at once. They found him full ot 
 a subject he never used to touch, or care about. They 
 heard him speaking like a prophet about the kingdom of 
 God. '' They said one to another, What is this that is come 
 unto the son of Kish ? Is Saul also among the prophets ? " 
 as though they had exclaimed, ^^ Hallo! what's up? Is 
 Saul become a parson ? " But, for all that, I fear he was 
 not truly converted to God. Though he had another heart, 
 he had not the new heart. If you look to our old-fashioned 
 version of the Psalms, you will see that in some cases we 
 have two translations, or renderings in metre of the same 
 Psalms. Take, ^.^., the hundredth ; we have the well-known 
 long metre, "All people that on earth do dwell," and then 
 we have a common metre version, " O all ye lands, unto 
 the Lord." Well, in all these instances, the second version 
 is thus entitled, " Another of the same." And this very 
 well illustrates the change that came over Saul ; he got 
 . another heart, but it was '* another of the same." But this 
 is not enough in order to salvation. " A new heart will 
 I give you, saith the Lord." " If any man be in Christ," 
 says Paul, " he is a new creature." 1 am now addressing 
 some who have been "turned into other men." You 
 are as different from what you once were as chalk is 
 
 Called to a Kingdom, 
 
 27 
 
 t 
 
 from cheese. Do you suppose I could not at this moment 
 point to one who used to spend his spare hours drinking 
 with loose companions, or frequenting places of improper 
 amusement? Why, in those days you never came to 
 church, nor offered a prayer, nor opened a Bible I Thank 
 God it is different .now. Instead of rolling in your bed on 
 Sunday morning, you are up betimes, and " love to hear 
 the solemn bell, that calls you to the house of prayer.'* 
 You take a real interest in religious matters, and even 
 drop in sometimes at the weekly service. No mistake 
 about it, you are " turned into another man." But, O my 
 dear brother, that is not enough. You must be a new man 
 right through. You must be born again. You must " be 
 created anew in Christ Jesus unto good works." This 
 fallen nature cannot enter heaven. No mere patching up 
 will fit you for the presence of God. No human quackery 
 will root out the cancer of your soul. You must be a new 
 man, right to the core, or you cannot see the kingdom of 
 God. But, as Christ taught Nicodemus, that change comes 
 over you as you look to the cross. Fix the eye of faith 
 upon the crucified Redeemer. Take Him as your substi- 
 tute. Bring all your sin to that rill incarnadine that flowed 
 from His open wounds, and believe its cleansing power. 
 Good night, my brothers; may God turn every one of 
 you into a new man, and in due time place upon your 
 head " the crown of life, which He hath promised to them 
 that love Him 1 * Amen. 
 
■■CilWirtiimnffl-n ■^f-''"'-""'^'-^-^''-^---*^^ 
 
 .r.^.. ■floS'»*-ilililKl*m!»K'' .''!3S*'i*'W. 
 
 WANTED— A MAN' 
 
 \\ 
 
 !i 
 
 ! i t 
 
" Run ye to and fro through the streets ofJerusaletHy and see now, and 
 knoWy and seek in the broad places thereof^ if y^ ^^^ fi^^ ^ Man,^* — 
 Jer. v. 1. 
 
 111.^ 
 WANTED— A MANI 
 
 J J Z ANTED a Man! — What was so hard to find in 
 ^^ Jerusalem three thousand years ago, is not too plen- 
 t ful in London to-day. The famous Diogenes, were he alive, 
 might walk these streets at noon (as he once did the streets 
 of Athens) with a lighted lantern in his hand ; and when 
 asked what he was doing, might reply, " I am seeking for a 
 good man." One day he stood in the market-place, and 
 cried, '* Hear me, O men 1 " and when a number gathered 
 round and inquired what was the matter, he replied, " 1 
 called for meHy not for pigmies." I presume it is because 
 sages and philosophers have so high an ideal, so lofty a 
 conception of what it takes to make one worthy of the 
 name, that in all ages they have complained that " men " 
 were so few ; like Herodotus, who wrote Homines permultiy 
 viri perpauci, i.e., '^ human creatures very plentiful, but men 
 very scarce ; " or that cynic of whom history informs us, 
 that, being ordered to summon the good men of the city 
 before the Roman censor, he gat him straight to the 
 churchyard, and there, standing on a grave, called to the 
 dead below, saying he knew not where to find a good 
 man alive ; or that gloomy sage of our own day, Thomas 
 Carlyle, who described the population of his country as 
 consisting of so many millions, " mostly fools." 
 
 At the time to which the text refers, Jerusalem was in 
 a deplorable state. Vice of every kind walked her streets. 
 
If 
 
 t 
 
 32 
 
 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 Wanted— A Man. 
 
 33 
 
 Her commerce was worm-eaten with fraud. Her courts of 
 justice were stained by bribery. Rich and poor were ahke 
 corrupted. Every stratum of her social fabric was morally 
 rotten. So that it was hardly possible to find a genuinely 
 upright, and honourable, and godly man within her. And 
 I suppose that what Jerusalem was, the whole land of 
 Palestine was, in a measure, too. The country follows 
 the town. The provinces copy the capital. Cities rule 
 the world. Rome means Italy. Athens means Greece. 
 Paris means France. London means England. You may 
 tell me that all the scum and vagabondism of the country 
 gathers into the cities, so that they do not fairly represent 
 the nation. But I answer that if wickedness culminates 
 there, so does righteousness, too. Nowhere is piety so 
 intense, philanthropy so active, Christianity so aggressive, 
 as in the crowded streets and lanes of great cities. I 
 have been criticised for sometimes speaking, in these 
 monthly sermons, as though, on their first arrival in 
 town, all young men were as innocent as doves, and only 
 began to know what vice was when they breathed the 
 atmosphere of London. If I have conveyed that impression, 
 the criticism was just. I believe that, in some parts, the 
 country is every whit as bad as the town. Having 
 myself laboured some years in a country parish, I can 
 speak from experience ; and I do say that certain forms of 
 vice are as rampant there as here. The fact is, neither 
 country nor town has much to boast of In the one as 
 well as the other, good men and true are all too few. 
 • Jerusalem at this time was in an exceptionally bad case. 
 We speak of Sodom as a sink of wickedness, because 
 not ten righteous men could be found in it ; but the Lord 
 speaks as though in Jerusalem hardly one could be found. 
 He had threatened terrible judgments upQU the city; but 
 (says He, through His prophet), if there can be found even 
 
 "one that executeth judgment, and seeketh the truth," He 
 will pardon the city for his sake. 
 
 Confining myself to the sentence I have chosen as our 
 text, I wish to read it with a special emphasis upon the 
 last word, and to inquire what be the elements that go to 
 constitute one worthy of the noble title of man. Run ye 
 to and fro through the streets of London, and see now, and 
 know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find 
 —a MAN I To help you in your exploration, I shall men- 
 tion some of the marks by which you can recognise him. 
 
 I. Look out, in the first place, for one who has a con- 
 science. I am quite aware that by many this is held to be 
 of small account. I have even heard it insinuated that to 
 have a tender conscience is a token of weakness and 
 effeminacy. Some are fools enough to imagine that when 
 they have silenced that inward mgnitor, and stamped it 
 under their feet, they are by so much the more manly and 
 brave. Foul suggestion of the devil ! One of the grandest 
 utterances of that noble-minded man, St. Paul, was this :— 
 " Herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience 
 void of offence toward God and toward men." 
 
 But a clear and easy conscience is not a benumbed, a 
 bribed, a muzzled one. A true man will aim at having his 
 conscience so healthily active, so acutely yet not morbidly 
 sensitive, that it shall not be misled by any specious 
 reasoning, nor deceived by any evil example ; but will 
 sharply recoil from what is evil, and sting its possessor if 
 he dare to yield to it. I am fortunate enough to have a 
 little friend here, that hardly ever tells me wrong. So 
 correct is my watch that I have learnt to trust it. As 1 
 am walking out some day, I may find that it differs from 
 the clock on the church steeple, or from the timepiece over 
 a shop door, or from the chronometer of a friend I meet ; 
 but such reliance have I learnt to place on this faithful 
 
:t . 
 
 Ta/Jks with Young Men, 
 
 \ 
 
 
 34 
 
 servant of the pocket, that I say : " These are out of order ; 
 for my watch always keeps true time." And, when a 
 man's conscience has been rightly set, and beats with the 
 deep throbbings of the great heart of God, it will be a^ safe 
 standard, and worthy to be trusted. 
 
 Do you tell me that life is so difficult, and commerce so 
 involved, that you cannot get along and keep your con- 
 science clear ? Then, I say, you cannot aftbrd to get along. 
 Talleyrand replied to a man who, by way of excusing his 
 want of conscientiousness, said to him, '^ Why, you know I 
 must live;' " I do not see that at all." There is no special 
 reason why you should live ; but there is a special reason 
 why you should "in conversation be sincere," and keep 
 « conscience as the noontide clear." If you cannot main- 
 tain your integrity and succeed, then less success with a 
 good conscience will be a greater gain. At the same time, 
 1 do not fall in with the supposition you make. It is very 
 rarely indeed that, even as regards this world, dishonesty 
 proves a good policy. Strict fidelity is an article of high 
 commercial value. The profits may not come at once, but 
 
 they do come. 
 
 We see a good deal around us that makes it very needful 
 I should address to you such words. Does it speak well 
 for our country, let me ask, that men can be found wor- 
 shipping God in church on Sunday, who on Monday will 
 be rashly gambling away other people's money on the 
 Stock Exchange ; or by tempting prospectuses and clever 
 devices, be raising bubble companies, and bringing ruin on 
 * those who confide in them ? Rather would I be Long- 
 fellow's honest blacksmith, who " looks the whole world in 
 the face, and fears not any man," than be the unprincipled 
 speculator, who enriches himself at the sacrifice of his 
 conscience and of the blessing of heavpn. Be true to 
 your conscience, whatever it may cost you. You throw 
 
 Wanted — A Man. 
 
 35 
 
 away your noblest dignity, and tread your honour in the 
 dust, the moment you tamper with principle ; you cease to 
 be worthy of the name of man. It is not wealtii, nor 
 rank, nor fame, that constitutes true glory. As Burns 
 wrote (and a sounder, healthier poem was never penned) : — 
 
 •* A prmce can mak' a belted knight, 
 A marquis, duke, an^ a' that ; 
 But an honest man's aboun his might. 
 Quid faith, he mauna fa' that." 
 
 A sentiment which Pope also has expressed : — 
 
 " A wit's a feather, and a chief a rod ; 
 An honest man's the noblest work of God.* 
 
 II. If you are hunting for " a man," look out for a being 
 that has a heart. I am using the word in its popular sense, 
 and mean a warm, loving, affectionate nature. How is it 
 that some persons — I fear I must say some young men 
 (though none of them are here) — are silly enough to imagine 
 that any tenderness of this kind is unmanly, and a thing to 
 be ashamed of? I have met with those who prided them 
 selves on being " all head and no heart," as though, for- 
 sooth, a cold, unfeeling nature had some affinity with intel- 
 lectual vigour. Quite a mistake. If you have not a heart, 
 my friend, you are not a complete man. Never be ashamed, 
 of having strong domestic affections. Never be ashamed of 
 betraying emotion when you hear a tale of woe, or of shed- 
 ding a tear over another's sorrow. It is the bravest and 
 manliest of young men that are the most easily touched by 
 some kind allusion to their paternal home, and that speak 
 most fondly of a precious mother or a little sister. Amid 
 all the remarkable successes of the noble Garfield, nothing 
 stirred his energy more than the thought of the gratification 
 that would be given to his mother's heart. However busy 
 he might be, he always found time to write a letter home, 
 and tell all that he was doing. The man who is fondly 
 
w,*^ 
 
 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 I 
 
 w 
 
 
 36 
 
 attached to his parents, is the man whose affections a maiden 
 may deem herself happy to secure. And I will say this 
 though you may smile at it, that it often wields an excellent 
 and wholesome influence upon a young man, when he^has 
 already found one whom he can place in the centre of his 
 affections. There are two persons that have more to do 
 with a man's life than all others put together ; the one is his 
 mother, the other his wife ; in regard to the former you have 
 no choice, but in regard to the latter you have; God grant 
 that that choice may be wisely made. 
 
 Ill If you want to find " a man," look out for a being who 
 hasasoul^lme^n^\.^t is capable of earnest, serious, solemn 
 thought. Tried by this standard, it must be owned that 
 many of the youth of London do not merit the name of men, 
 so frivolous, so giddy, so vain, so given to levity, that they 
 seem unable to entertain a religious idea. Once a man 
 stood stunned at the first sight of the Falls of Niagara ; when 
 he got his breath back, and the people standing by were all 
 expecting an explosion of descriptive eloquence, he only 
 said '' I wonder how much machinery all this would turn I 
 Well, they are telling us now that there is enough power 
 there when converted into electricity, to lighten the world I 
 When 1 look upon the vigorous young manhood that we 
 have in this metropolis, I find myself saying. What a power 
 is here, if rightly applied and employed, to illumine our 
 whole land! But, what are thousands doing? Simply 
 wasting that power, throwing it away. Dugald Stewart 
 . tells us of a man who was busy for fifteen years trying to 
 balance a broom on his chin. Positively, I see many who 
 are scarcely better employed. I put down a good deal of 
 this folly and inanity to trashy reading. I tell you, 1 am 
 sometimes sheer amazed when in a tram-car, or railway 
 carriage, to see, on glancing over the shoulder of a young 
 man seated beside me, the mH^v rubbish which he is reading. 
 
 Wanted— A Man, 
 
 Z7 
 
 There are tons of sensational literature sold, and greedily 
 read every year, which had much better have been turned 
 into a bonfire ; for the moral evil thus wrought is incalcul- 
 able. Never read a book which, if your most wise and 
 thoughtful friend were to come upon you perusing, you 
 would instantly snatch up and stow away out of sight. A 
 man is not '• a man," if he does not feel he has within him 
 a spark of immortality, and that he has been created for 
 something higher and nobler than idle pleasure or material 
 
 pelf. 
 
 There are those whom, it is true, we cannot upbraid on 
 
 the ground of their indolence and frivolity ; and yet, they 
 seem impervious to spiritual conviction, being completely 
 absorbed with business. The truth is, they can think of 
 nothing else. Up to the neck in bills, and accounts, and 
 invoices, and orders, they have not a corner of their heart, 
 or of their time, for matters religious; and, probably, they 
 are honest enough frankly to say so. I sometimes think 
 when I look at a particular column of the newspapers (which 
 I confess I scarcely understand), Oh that men were as eager 
 for the Heavenly world as they are for this I— ^' Money 
 stringent. Stock market depressed. Cotton steady. Petroleum 
 dull. Lard active, but drooping. Wheat and corn weaker, and 
 less doing. Flour : bu ers more free. Coffee quiet. Sugar 
 firm. Iron quiet:' Such is a specimen of the language of 
 commerce, which tells how intently men are seeking after 
 worldly gain, and how they rack their brains to secure it. 
 But, if no higher aims dominate the soul, can this be called 
 a noble pursuit ? Does it elevate or dignify ? Does it tend 
 to produce " men " ? I fear the opposite is too true. Gold- 
 smith hinted as much, when he wrote : — 
 
 " III fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, 
 "When wealth accumulates, and men decay." 
 
 I was struck the other day with those lines which Robert 
 
 i il 
 
Talks ^nth Young Men. 
 
 Wanted— A Man. 
 
 39 
 
 38 
 
 Burns sent to an intimate friend ; showing that, amid all 
 his levity and excess, he had some moments of deep serious- 
 ness : — ^ ^ 
 " The voice of nature loudly cries— 
 
 And many a message from the skies— 
 
 That something in us never dies : 
 
 That on this frail uncertain state 
 
 Hang matters of eternal weight ; 
 
 That future life, in worlds unknown, 
 
 Must take its hue from this alone ; 
 
 Whether as heavenly glory bright, 
 
 Or dark as misery's woeful night. 
 
 Since then, my honour'd first of friends, 
 
 • On this poor being all depends. 
 
 Let us th' important NOW employ, 
 
 And live as those who never die." 
 
 Fancy poor Burns writing a sermon like that ! With all his 
 faults, he had a grand conception of the dignity of man ; 
 and in his soberest moments even he felt that then only is a 
 man complete, when he recognises his spiritual and im- 
 mortal part, and lives for something higher than the present 
 
 world. 
 
 IV. In your search for " a man," don't forget to look for a 
 being that has a mind. I think it important to remembeT 
 (and I would wish to make it specially clear in these monthly 
 sermons), that our Divine religion is given us, not merely to 
 save souls, but to save man, man in the entirety of that 
 complex life which Christ Himself assumed and redeemed. 
 Every educational movement, therefore, which aims at the 
 ' truer culture of the intellectual life should have the cordial 
 support of the Christian teacher, who ought to strive to 
 make it increasingly manifest, that Christianity is a Divinely- 
 created institution for elevating and ennobling humanity 
 in every aspect of it. See to it, gentlemen, that you never 
 give countenance to the absurd idea which infidelity has 
 sought to encourage, that there is a close connection between 
 
 earnest piety and mental imbecility; that it is only the 
 simple and weak-minded who embrace the gospel ; and that 
 as the brain is cultured, and the reasoning faculty developed, 
 there is more and more disposition to discard the Bible. It 
 would be the easiest thing possible for me to name in one 
 breath half-a-dozen liying men, who stand in the front 
 ranks as profound thinkers, men imequalled, or at least 
 unsurpassed, in respect of robustness of intellect and ex- 
 tensive knowledge, who are at the same time, not only 
 nominal Christians, but fervent and devout believers in 
 Jesus. Do not be afraid that in cultivating your minds you 
 will weaken the foundations of your piety. Give all the 
 time you can to reading and study, but let the books you 
 read be sound and wholesDme. If you let the mind lie fal- 
 low, if you never try to think for yourselves on the great 
 questions of the day, if you live only a kind of vegetable and 
 animal existence, then, even though your moral character is 
 unimpeachable, I cannot concede to you the title of tully- 
 developed men. 
 
 " Were T so tall to reach the pole, 
 Or grasp the ocean with my span, 
 I must be measured by my soul ; 
 
 The mind's the standard of the man." 
 
 V. In your efforts to find " a man,** you must further seek 
 for a being who possesses a will. Strong moral determination. 
 Decision of character. The power to say " Yes," and to say 
 "No," as conscience and duty prompt ; and to say it with a 
 crisp emphasis that shows you mean it, and will not be 
 moved from your purpose. The brute is guided by its 
 instincts and passions ; it is the glory of man to keep his 
 foot upon his animal nature, and to hold the reins of appe- 
 tite with a tight hand. It is no sin to be tempted ; but it is 
 a sin to hesitate for a moment in the presence of temptation. 
 Beware of the first false step. You are weakened immea- 
 
Talks with Young Men. 
 
 i f 
 
 40 
 
 surably from the instant that you have yielded to the tempter. 
 One thread broken in the border of your virtue, you cannot 
 tell how much of it will now unravel. " Keep thyself pure," 
 wrote Paul to young Timothy ; for one leak may sink the 
 ship ; one little trickle through the sea- dyke may precede 
 the inrushing of the ocean. You who have yielded to vice, 
 but are, to-day, sincerely bent on living a better life, is it 
 not true what I say ? You would give the world to undo 
 the first evil step you took, and you give me leave to say 
 in your name to those here who are still unpolluted in 
 the flesh, " For God's sake hold your ground firm ; as you 
 value your future peace, keep a mile away from every sin 
 against the body." Look not upon the wine when it giveth 
 its colour in the cup ; pollute not your lips with language 
 unbefitting the most refined society ; shun with loathing the 
 dissipated orgies of the loose spirits who hang about the 
 casino or the tavern door; recoil with horror from thesolicita- 
 tion to unchastity ; and repel with indignation every attempt 
 to entrap you into the first betting transaction. The youth 
 who, in the vortex of pleasure, in the gleaming of the wine 
 cup, in the whirl of gaiety, in the beastliness of lust, in the 
 hallucinations of narcotics, in the excess of riot, and in the 
 boisterousness of unclean mirth, drowns all that there is 
 about him of purity, and principle, and honour, do I call 
 him a " man " ? God forbid that I should so degrade the 
 title ! Nay, he is a poor contemptible thing, beneath the 
 level of the brute, more akin to a devil I 
 
 VI. I go still further and bid you, in your search for 
 "a man," look out for one who has a creed. It has been 
 said that the natural bias of youth is infidelity. Young 
 men, we are often told, have a strong tendency to scep- 
 ticism, because it seems to emancipate the mind from every 
 form of superstition, and because it removes the moral 
 restraints by which conscience is fettered. The more 
 
 Wanted— A Man. 
 
 41 
 
 reason you should sternly guard against it. The youth 
 who has no " I believe " of his own, is like a straw upon 
 the sea, or a feather in the air, carried about by every 
 varying current. He cannot be restful, or happy, or strong. 
 Sir Humphrey Davy, at a time when he had everything 
 that wealth, and gay so.ciety, and worldly distinction, and 
 literature could supply to make hinr happy, said with a 
 sigh " There is no man I envy so much as the man who 
 has a firm religious belief." When Dr. Dwight entered 
 upon the presidency of Yale College, he found that a large 
 number of the young men were infidels ; and so proud 
 were they of being so, that they actually assumed the 
 names of the principal French and English Atheists. One 
 was Voltaire, another was Paine, a third was Hume, a 
 fourth was Bolingbroke, and so on. Now the scepticism 
 of these young men was not the result of study and care- 
 ful thought, but came from that natural prejudice against 
 religion which exists in our fallen nature : for, when the 
 president had summoned thera together, to enter into a 
 full discussion of the subjects on which they based their 
 unbelief, they one after another became ashamed of their 
 principles, and heartily renounced them. 
 
 Man, as God created him, is a religious b^eing 
 this, even more than reason and intell 
 not without these), that distinguishes 
 animals. They cannot know their Creator.l/ 
 pray. The belief in the infinite, the hope of immortality, 
 thoughts that wander through eternity, they have none of 
 these. The religious capacity, the spiritual faculty, the 
 power of realising the invisible, is the prerogative of 
 humanity. If you are without a creed, if you have no 
 religious belief, you come short of that which is your 
 highest glory. Of intellectual difficulties and painful doubts 
 I must always speak with respect, if those who have 
 
 It is 
 
 y ar^ 
 
 l0v7er 
 
 cannot 
 
42 
 
 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 Wanted— A Man. 
 
 43 
 
 ^ 
 
 them are sincerely seeking the light; but how many of 
 our modern doubters are vain and frivolous, and have 
 never taken the pains to examine the evidences on which 
 Christianity is based I I deliberately say to you, young 
 men, if you are to rise to the grandeur of your being, 
 and to be crowned with that halo of dignity which your 
 Creator originally threw around your head, you must have 
 a distinct and intelligent creed ; and on your minds must 
 be stamped a firm belief in God, in Christ, and in immor- 
 tality. 
 
 VII. At the risk of wearying you, I must add one point 
 more. Seven is the complete number, and I dare not stop 
 short of what I am now going to mention. I have urged 
 you, in your search for " a man," to seek for a being that 
 has a conscience, a heart, a soul, a mind, a will, a creed, 
 — to all these let me add, a faith. I use the word in its 
 Pauline sense, as a spiritual faculty, a vital and saving 
 apprehension of the truths of the Gospel. The living 
 union which our first parent had with God was snapped 
 by sin, and till it is reformed by grace, you come short of 
 being, in the highest sense, a man. " By faith," says St. 
 Peter, " we become partakers of the Divine nature : and 
 only then do we reach the true glory of the human, when 
 we thus touch the Divine. Well and truly says the poet 
 Young, "A Christian is the highest style of man." He is 
 one who, by humble repentance of his sins, and sincere 
 trust in the Lord Jesus as his Saviour, has escaped from 
 • the curse of an offended Deity, and has turned his face 
 towards Heaven. Say, was the aim of Jonathan Edwards 
 too high, when he wrote in his diary : " Suppose there 
 were to be but one man in the world at a time, in all 
 respects what a Christian ought to be, shining in all the 
 graces and excellences of true piety, resoPued, by the grace 
 of God, to be that man"? Oh, let no meaner ambition 
 
 •# 
 
 fire your soul. The model is provided for you in Jesus 
 Christ, and nothing less are you to strive after, than to 
 " walk even as He walked." Cicero of old declared that 
 it took an age to produce one good poet, and it almost 
 seems as though it took an age to produce one true man. 
 But why should not every one of us aspire to this ? Why 
 should not " we all come (in the unity of the faith and of 
 the knowledge of the Son of God) unto a perfect man, unto 
 the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ" ? 
 
rn 
 
 ji { 
 
 AN ARTISAN. YET A GENTLEMAN. 
 
 M 
 
 1* 
 
 I 
 H 
 

 »l 
 
 ** Am/^ because he was of the same crafty he abode with them, and 
 wrought : /or by their occupation they were tentmakers.'*—A.CT^ xviii. 3. 
 
 4 
 1 
 
 IV. 
 
 AN' ARTISAN, YET A GENTLEMAN, 
 
 IF ever a thorough gentleman walked this earth, it was 
 the Apostle Paul. To begin with, he was a gentleman 
 in the highest and best sense of the word. I mean in refine- 
 ment of mind, in courteous manners, and in consideration 
 for the feelings of others. He was a gentleman, too, 
 by education. He had been to college, and had enjoyed 
 the exceptional privilege of sitting at the feet of Professor 
 Gamaliel, who was one of the most learned, and cultured, 
 and eminent men of his time ; an LL.D., " a doctor of the 
 law, had in reputation among all the people." Moreover, 
 Paul was what is called "a gentleman by birth." He 
 belonged to a good family. His father, though residing in 
 Cilicia, was a Roman citizen, for Paul tells us he was 
 "free born"; and we know that a provincial could 
 become a Roman citizen only in two ways, either by 
 reason of eminent public services, or by purchasing the 
 privilege with a great sum of money. In every sense of 
 the word, then, Paul was a perfect gentleman. But my 
 text tells us he was also an artisan, and it is to this 
 fact that I wish to call your attention this evening. He 
 worked at a trade, and that not a very light or pleasant 
 one, as we shall see presently ; and when I see him. 
 seated for weary hours in the humble dwelling of Aquila 
 and his wife at Corinth, weaving into a kind of coarse 
 ca vas the black strong-smelling goats' hair, out of which 
 
48 
 
 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 '!l ' ij 
 
 11 t 
 
 the commoner class of tents was made, and earning his 
 daily bread, like the humblest working man, by the toil 
 of his own hands, I learn a lesson, much needed in pur 
 day, as to the dignity of manual labour. 
 
 Now, perhaps you are wondering what could have led 
 the young man to select this particular branch of trade ? 
 I think you may put it down to the simple circumstance of 
 his having been born in the town of Tarsus. The staple 
 manufacture of that place was the making of hair-cloth. 
 Enormous quantities of goats' hair were supplied by the 
 flocks of the Taurus mountains, and were sold by the 
 shepherds to the Greek shippers of the Levant. It was 
 plaited into ropes, and woven into a kind of rough cloth, 
 which served for tent-covers, and rugs, and the beds of 
 the poor. This strong impervious cloth was called cilicium, 
 from Cilicia, the province in which it was produced, and 
 was sold in large quantities in the markets of Italy and 
 Greece. One purpose to which it was extensively applied 
 was the making of small rude tents, which were in much 
 demand by travellers, pedlars, and chapmen ; and also by 
 the military for their encampments. No doubt Paul learnt 
 this handicraft at a very early age, and was quite familiar' 
 with it He would sit for hours — ay, long after he 
 became a preacher and an apostle — weaving that hair, and 
 cutting and sewing cilicium into tents and coverlets, his 
 hands black with the dirt and grease, and his nose offended 
 with the repulsive odour. A nasty, unsavoury job it was. 
 
 And the tent-making business was as unremunerative as 
 it was disagreeable. It was miserably paid. You might 
 toil " night and day," as Paul sometimes did, and yet not 
 earn enough to live upon. 
 
 You may wonder that a gentleman's son was apprenticed 
 
 « 
 
 to such a trade. There is no mystery about the matter. 
 It was an enactment of the Jewish religion in ancient times 
 
 An Artisan^ yet a Gentleman. 
 
 49 
 
 i 
 
 V 
 
 k^ 
 
 (and, for aught I know, is so to this day), that every boy 
 — no matter what his rank might be, or the wealth that 
 would fall to him, or the learned profession he proposed to 
 enter — should be taught some handicraft. Here are the 
 very words of the Jewish Talmud, ^* What is commanded 
 of a father towards his son? To circumcise him, to teach 
 him the law, and to teach him a trade." One of the 
 ancient Rabbis, indeed, goes so far as to say, ^* He that 
 teaches not his son a trade, does as though he taught him 
 to be a thief." It is certain, from the liberal and costly 
 education which Paul's father gave him, putting him under 
 the care of the eminent Dr. Gamaliel, that he intended his 
 son for a professional life ; but none the less imperative 
 was it that the youth should learn how to use his hands, 
 and, if need be, earn a living by the sweat of his brow. 
 
 A very sensible arrangement. Little could Paul's parents 
 have conjectured the sort of life their boy had before him, 
 with its innumerable hardships and privations ; but many 
 was the time when their wisdom was illustrated, and his 
 own hands had to '' minister to his necessities," aye, *^ and 
 to the necessities of those that were with him." Those 
 horny, stained, toil-worn hands of the Apostle teach us an 
 important lesson, and I made up my mind I would try to" 
 bring out that lesson to-night. 
 
 I believe that the time has come for a revolution in this 
 country. Don't be alarmed. I mean a quiet and peaceable 
 revolution in our whole mode of looking at this question of 
 manual labour. I am not vain enough to imagine that my 
 words can have much influence; but if all the preachers 
 in the land were just to combine in setting forth New 
 Testament views upon this subject, I believe a large amount 
 of good would be done. No doubt the press would then 
 take up the matter, and eventually create a change of 
 public opinion which would prove an enormous bless- 
 
 4 
 
'I 
 
 , 
 
 50 
 
 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 
 
 ing to the country. One of the greatest social problems 
 of the day is — What are we to do with the thousands 
 of yeung lads who are now growing up to manhopdj 
 and are unable to find an opening either in the pro- 
 fessional or commercial world ? Is there a vacancy of 
 that kind, instantly there is an eager crowd of aspiring 
 candidates, for all of whom, save one, bitter disappointment 
 is in store. We cannot for a moment doubt that there is 
 work for every human being whom God sends into the 
 world ; but we have so disarranged the balance of things — 
 dishonouring manual labour, and exalting the more refined 
 and (as we .call them) genteel forms of industry — that 
 matters have almost come to a dead-lock ; and hundreds 
 of parents are complaining they can find nothing for their 
 sons to do. 
 
 Now, the first thing we have to do is to erase from the 
 minds of these young gentlemen (as I wish to erase from 
 every one of your minds) the idea that work with the 
 hands is something to be ashamed of. I am perfectly 
 aware that I am saying — and going to say — what is un- 
 palatable to the ears of some who now hear me. A genera- 
 tion has nearly gone since Thackeray did good service by' 
 writing his " Book of Snobs ; " but the race he ridiculed is 
 not yet extinct, and should there be one of that kidney 
 here, who treats with contempt the honest sons of toil, and 
 is busy, whilst I am speaking, in admiring his white hands 
 and studying his rings, I can imagine the castigation which 
 St. Paul would give him; and I can picture that accom- 
 plished man — a greater preacher than Chrysostom, a 
 greater missionary than Xavier, a mightier reformer than 
 Luther, a grander theologian than St. Thomas Aquinas, a 
 prince among men, the noblest and most perfect gentleman 
 that has lived since Christ was in the flesh— I can picture 
 him looking with scornful indignation on the prim and 
 
 An Artisan, yet a Gentleman. 51 
 
 scented dandy, and, holding up his own hands, stained and 
 begrimed with stitching the tarpaulin of Cilicia, 1 can hear 
 him exclaiming, *'Ye yourselves know that these hands 
 have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that 
 were with me I " Our Creator never intended that man 
 should look upon manual toil as a disgrace; indeed, 
 man, as first created by God, in all the nobleness and 
 dignity of his original state, was set to '* dress and keep " 
 the garden in which he was placed. Not a doubt of it, he 
 had plenty to occupy and exercise his mind in Eden ; the 
 noblest powers of his being would be called into play; but 
 the physical work allotted to him would be rather con- 
 ducive than otherwise to mental health and activity. 
 
 Now, there is a mischievous notion prevalent among 
 certain circles, that a lad apprenticed .to any handicraft is 
 socially inferior to the youth who sits on a high stool eight 
 hours of the day with a pen over his ear. Parents will 
 rather send their boys to starve in an overcrowded pro- 
 fession, or to earn a scanty pittance as clerks, than hear of 
 them degrading themselves by entering any industrial 
 pursuit. We applaud men like Carlyle and Ruskin, who 
 teach the dignity of labour ; but the worst of it is, that 
 whilst we applaud our teachers, we disregard their lessons. 
 The warehouseman, or manager of a good City business, 
 trains his sons to regard all manual labour as degrading, 
 and sends them out into the world as ill-paid clerks, with 
 little prospect of bettering their position. There is an 
 increasing number of young men growing up in the midst 
 of us, who turn up their noses at all muscular exertion 
 (unless it be in the form of cricket or other athletic sports) ; 
 who speak with contempt of the working classes; and who 
 wish to be paid a salary without ever soiling their fingers, 
 or throwing ofl' their best coat. We hear people talking 
 like idiots of " blue blood," and aristocratic connections, 
 
t ifl 
 
 I 
 
 ! 
 
 Hi 
 
 ll 
 
 I 
 
 11 
 
 li t 
 
 
 I I 
 
 52 
 
 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 and social status ; and indoctrinating young folks into the 
 idea that honest trade and useful handicraft are beneath 
 their notice; and then complaining that there are ^o 
 genteel berths to be had, and that a promising young 
 man can get nothing to do. Why I, for one, have fifty 
 times more respect for the cheerful and industrious me- 
 chanic, the carpenter, boiler-maker, brass-founder, or other 
 active workman, than I have for the young gentleman who 
 is hanging about idle, because he cannot find an opening 
 to suit his refined and cultivated taste. Occupation, yes, 
 and particularly physical occupation, is an excellent aid 
 to a happy and contented mind. I have seen a stage coach 
 daily driven by a man of ;£i 0,000 a year, because he was 
 wretched without regular muscular exertion. I have heard 
 of a nobleman who, for the same reason, bargained with 
 the cutler of the village to be allowed, for a certain time 
 every day, to turn his grinding-wheel. If you visit the 
 Louvre in Paris, you may see with your own eyes the 
 anvil at which Louis XVL was in the habit, with a smith's 
 apron on, of making locks, in order to divert his mind. 
 The merest tyro in anatomy will tell you that the human 
 frame is evidently intended by its Maker for real stern 
 work, and that those are the likeliest to be healthful and 
 happy who make a full use of their physical powers. It is 
 all very well for our schools to teach grammar, and Latin, 
 and Greek ; but they should also give attention to technical 
 education, and see that the youths are trained to a know- 
 ledge of practical mechanics. 
 
 It is more than time that the silly and mischievous 
 prejudice I have been speaking of should be banished out 
 of our land. It does not exist in other countries to any- 
 thing like the extent to which it prevails \vt England. In 
 Germany and Switzerland it is deemed no degradation to 
 the sons of the highest in the land to learn a trade; and in 
 
 An Artisan, yet a Gentleman, 53 
 
 Turkey all the young princes are taught some hanaicraft, 
 so that, should misfortune befall them, they will be able to 
 earn their own bread. But with us, unhappily, it is not 
 so; a certain stigma is supposed to rest upon manual 
 employ ; and I am told that in the mansion of a certain 
 noble family, a large oil painting of one of the sons is 
 actually kept turned with its face to the wall, and under- 
 neath is scratched the contemptuous inscription, "Gone 
 into trade I " Now, some people will say to me, " This is 
 hardly a subject for a Sunday evening." I beg to differ 
 from them. You would be amazed, upon inquiry, to find 
 how constantly St. Paul refers to it. I could turn to at 
 least ten passages in which he emphasises the dignity of 
 labour. In almost every one of his epistles he dwells upon 
 it. I do not deny that it is a secondary matter (and I shall 
 not forget the primary matter before we bid each other 
 good night) ; but it is one, I believe, of growing importance. 
 It is a question which, whether we like it or not, will force 
 itself upon our attention. 
 
 But I have this to say, and I wish I could say it in the 
 ears of ten thousand of the sons of toil, that if our text 
 teaches us that the true gentleman may be a workman, it 
 not less teaches that the working man should be a true 
 gentleman. The truth cuts both ways. Mechanical toil is 
 not necessarily degrading; but, from what is often seen 
 around us, a person might well be forgiven for thinking so. 
 You haven't far to go to witness sights and listen to sounds 
 that might tempt you to say some very strong things about 
 the English working man. None know this better ^than the 
 good men who do exist amongst their own number. What- 
 ever my political notions are (and this is not the place to ven- 
 tilate them), I am under no temptations to Radicalism here. 
 Don't let any one suppose, from what I have said, that I am 
 bidding for popularity among the masses. In all conscience 
 
54 
 
 Talks with Young Men, 
 
 w 
 
 i li 
 
 I 
 
 \ 
 
 ■ 
 
 there is little occasion to flatter. One may see any day, in 
 an average group of tinsmiths, joiners, painters, French 
 polishers, bricklayers, and so forth, quite enough, if higher 
 principles did not prevail, to sicken him against Democracy. 
 There is no reason in the world why these men should not 
 be refined and gentle in their manners, orderly in their 
 behaviour, polite and courteous in their conversation; in 
 other words, why they should not be gentlemen as truly as 
 any country squires — and some of them are so, all honour 
 to them. But, for the majority, why, speak of being 
 gentlemen, they are hardly men. Their rough language, 
 their coarse jests and uncouth manners, their abominable 
 selfishness, their love of drink, their constant use of the 
 word " blood," their incapacity for enjoying any elevating 
 recreation, their greed and improvidence, their want of 
 self-respect, are sufficient to repel and disgust every cul- 
 tured mind. If you think this is too severe, I will give you 
 a sentence from one of their own journals, a working man's 
 paper, that is alwaj^s ready with its hard hits upon genteel 
 and well-to-do people: — "So far as railway travelling is 
 concerned, it must be admitted that the genteel people have • 
 some reason upon their side. The ordinary British work- 
 man, when returning home in the evening, is occasionally 
 too much addicted to the use of sanguinary expletives, and 
 to lighting his pipe when he does not happen to be in a 
 smoking carriage. Until the happy time arrives," adds the 
 writer, "when every man, whatever his occupation,^ is a 
 gentleman in manners, the refined people, who dread 
 personal contact with fustian and corduroy, will do well 
 either to keep a distance from them, or to swallow down 
 their prejudices, and become missionaries of courtesy and 
 culture to the class below them." 
 
 It will not do to put down this barbaric roughness to the 
 nature of their work. There is nothing necessarily degrad- 
 
 An Artisan, yet a Gentleman, 55 
 
 ing in manual labour. There is no reason why there 
 should not be as much true refinement in a blacksmith's 
 shop, or in a builder's yard, as in a squire's drawing-room. 
 Paul's work was quite as dirty and rough as any ordinary 
 working man's needs to be. The material he worked with 
 for the making of tents was coarse and greasy, and tough as 
 leather; so that Chrysostom speaks of him as o-kOtoto/lio?, or 
 a leather cutter, and one of the Latin Fathers refers to him 
 as sutor^ or the shoemaker. And yet this hard-worked 
 artisan was as perfect a gentleman as ever lived. He had 
 the manners of a prince, ay, far better manners than many 
 of the princes of this world. 
 
 I hope, then, that we have learnt something this evening 
 by visiting that back shop of Aquila at Corinth. We see 
 that a man may labour with his hands, and labour at very 
 rough sort of employment, and labour for very small wages, 
 without being in any sense rude or coarse himself. We see 
 that occupation in a humble, honest handicraft is perfectly 
 compatible with a cultured mind and a refined deportment. 
 And — we see something more — that constant week-day work 
 does not necessarily interfere with a holy and well- spent 
 Sabbath. 
 
 Observe what immediately follows our text: "And he 
 reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded 
 the Jews and the Greeks." A man of extraordinary intel- 
 lectual power, Paul was also filled with the Holy Ghost, and 
 was able to get through an amount of work that might have 
 taxed the energies of half-a-dozen ordinary men. He was 
 fired with one passion, as the next verse goes oft to state* 
 <'he was pressed in spirit, and testified to the Jews that 
 Jesus was the Christ." Himself saved, a holy zeal consumed 
 him to be instrumental in saving others. Sitting at his 
 toilsome trade, he had much sweet communion with his 
 God, and many an enrapturing discovery of the majestic 
 
 i 1 
 
 ', !: 
 
Hili 
 
 3i 
 
 iW 
 
 t 
 
 
 56 
 
 Ta/^s with Young Men, 
 
 grandeur of Christ's redemption. He would throw awaj 
 his rough shears and bodkin when his day's task was done, 
 and rush in amongst the godless groups in the Corinthian 
 market-place, and entreat them to repent of their wicked- 
 ness, and turn unto the Lord ; and with such success, that, 
 as the 8th verse states, " many of them hearing, believed, 
 and were baptized." He went almost beyond himself in the 
 intensity of his earnestness to save the people of that wicked 
 and adulterous city. At Athens, as the previous chapter 
 evinces, he had adopted a poetic and rhetorical style, and 
 standing on Mars' Hill, and stirred, probably, by the classic 
 scenes around, had delivered a splendid and eloquent ora- 
 tion, in which, nevertheless, there was but slender allusion 
 (and none at all by name) to the Divine Redeemer, and not 
 even the mention of His cross ; but little impression seems 
 to have been made. He vows now that he shall proceed on 
 different lines at Corinth. He solemnly determines this 
 with himself (see his ist epistle), that he *' will know . 
 nothing among them, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified." 
 Although before his eye there were the deep blue waters 
 of the iEgean, dotted with a hundred islands, and the 
 snowy summits of Helicon and Parnassus glowing in the 
 western sun, he would not be tempted to adorn his teaching 
 with poetic quotations or philosophic grandiloquence; but 
 trusting to the simple grandeur of his message, and to the 
 mighty power of the Spirit from on high, he would tell of a 
 Saviour's love. 
 
 Nor did such faithfulness miss its reward. For in a vision 
 of the night the Lord came to him, and said, '^ Be not afraid, 
 but speak, and hold not thy peace, for I am with thee, and 
 no man shall set on thee to hurt thee, for I have much 
 people in this city." Ah I here you have the secret, at once, 
 of his robust manliness and of his high refinement. Cha- 
 racter makes the man ; and there is no character so strong 
 
 An Artisan, yet a Gentleman, 57 
 
 and so beautiful as that which is based upon a real personal 
 knowledge of Jesus Christ. It is not bejewelled fingers, nor 
 smart attire, nor aristocratic airs, that entitle one to what 
 Tennyson calls 
 
 " The grand old*name of gentleman, 
 Defamed by every chalatan, 
 And soiled with all ignoble use." 
 
 . As hare says, in his *^ Guesses of Truth," "A Christian is 
 God Almighty's gentleman." Get a living grasp of Christ ; 
 rely on His merits, breathe His spirit, and walk in His' 
 steps ; and whether, like Nehemiah, you are cup-bearer to 
 the king ; or like Paul, stitching canvas in a back shop in 
 Corinth, you will be able to command the respect of all— 
 will live beloved, and will die lamented. Only gird your- 
 selves fearlessly to the task God has set before you, and— 
 
 ■• With a heart for any late, 
 Still achieving, still pursuing, 
 Learn to labour and to waiu** 
 
 I 
 
r.' 'I 
 I 
 
 . 5 
 1 
 
 
 
 J 
 
 i 
 
 ■I ^ ! 
 
 h« 
 
 PUTTING AWAY CHILDISH THINGS. 
 
 Nf^ 
 
 i 
 
l>^<^^*M^^M^«^«i«'«WWI><^ 
 
 *tefi«im^>!f^.'jWj«)l(»»,j»fflM*!«Bra«> 
 
 
 Hh 1, 
 
 li 
 
 
 ." ML 
 
 
 
 li 
 
 i! 
 
 *' ^f%^» / ^^<:a;//^ a mam, I pui away childUh things^'—i CoR. 
 
 XUU II. 
 
 M 
 
 V. 
 
 PUTTING AWAY CHILDISH THINGS. 
 
 IT would be interesting to know at what age Paul reckoned 
 himself to have become a " man." The first reference 
 to him in Scripture is on the occasion of St. Stephen's 
 martyrdom, when he is called " a young man ; " and many 
 years after this, in writing his Epistle to Philemon, he styles 
 himself *'Paul the aged." It is very evident, from all that 
 the Bible and tradition tell us of him, that, even apart 
 from the ennobling influence of religion, he was a person 
 of a manly bearing. I do not refer to outward or physical 
 appearance. Tradition tells us he was small of stature, 
 and far from handsome in form. Nicephorus, writing in 
 the fifteenth century, says, '* Paul was short and dwarfish 
 in stature, and, as it were, crooked in person, and slightly 
 bent." Renan calls him ^^the ugly little Jew." Paul him- 
 self acknowledges that the people of Corinth sneeringly 
 spoke of his bodily presence as '^weak." But history has 
 furnished many an instance of a noble and commanding 
 spirit enshrined in a poor little frame of flesh and blood. 
 It would be the easiest thing possible for me to name quite 
 a string of men who have made themselves famous in the 
 Church, in politics, in war, and in literature, but who, 
 though mentally and morally powerful, were exceedingly 
 diminutive in body. Manhood is not to be measured by 
 stature. You may stand over six feet high, and still be 
 childish in nature. 
 
 I 
 
 I ti 
 
«iiSil««s'w(tei»-t ; '.StW^sWCMssW^iMiK 
 
 4< 
 
 62 
 
 If. 
 
 \0 . 
 
 lii 
 
 III 
 
 Tal^s with Young Men. 
 
 Neither is manhood to be estimated by age. Many a 
 person is a mere child at 'forty, while there are youths jn 
 their teens who bear all the marks of well-developed men. 
 Some of you will remember Shakespeare's true words : — 
 
 " We live in deeds, not years ; in thoughts, not breaths ; 
 In feelings, not in figures on a dial ; 
 We should count time by heart throbs ; he most lives 
 Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best" 
 
 When Solomon enjoins the pursuit of wisdom, he adds, 
 "For length of days, and long life, shall it add to thee." 
 What is the difference between " length of days " and 
 "long life"? Ah! there is a great difference. A man 
 may drag out an existence of four-score years, and yet 
 hardly have lived at all in the true sense of the word ; 
 whereas a youth, cut off in the very opening of his days, 
 may have crowded into a brief span the thought and the 
 work of a life-time. That life is to all intents the longest, 
 however brief or protracted be its outward term, into 
 which the largest amount of mental activity and practical 
 usefulness is condensed. 
 
 ** They err who measure life by years, 
 With false or thoughtless tongue ; 
 Some hearts grow old before their lime } 
 Others are always young. 
 
 ** 'Tis not the number of the lines 
 On life's fast-filling page — 
 'Tis not the pulse's added throbs, 
 Which constitute our age." 
 
 The real man is he who has put away childish feelings, 
 childish fancies, childish follies. I don't know from what 
 time Paul dated his majority, but I can safely'say, we find 
 nothing childish in his character or conduct from the first 
 moment he appears in history. Even as Saul the perse- 
 
 X 
 
 . 
 
 Putting away Childish Things, 63 
 
 • 
 
 cutor and the enemy of Christ, he bore the stamp of a 
 courageous, vigorous, energetic nature. Nothing mean or 
 little about his character. In his career, as has been often 
 remarked, we see a great sinner, a great persecutor, a great 
 blasphemer ; and then, a great believer, a great preacher, 
 a great apostle. 
 
 But, Paul was once a child like the rest of us, and was 
 not ashamed to say so. There was no extraordinary 
 precocity about him in those tender years, that marked him 
 out from the other children of Tarsus. When he attended 
 the village school, and at thirteen years of age, probably, 
 was placed under the care of Gamaliel, he was just like the 
 other young people of his time; he spake, and thought, 
 and understood as they did. There was no outstanding 
 brilliance of intellect, or quickness of apprehension, or 
 power of expression that distinguished this boy from the 
 other boys. It is interesting to know this. I do not think 
 that, as a rule, remarkably clever and precocious children 
 turn out the best. They often disappoint. When the 
 . fruit ripens prematurely, it is seldom of the finest quality. 
 People talk flatteringly of " old head on young shoulders." 
 I confess I have no great pleasure in seeing such a thing. 
 I like to see a young head on young shoulders ; and believe 
 it will turn out the best head in the end. When one is a 
 child, it is best that he should speak as a child, and under- 
 stand as a child, and think as a child ; but it is a terribly 
 sad thing when, with advancing years, the intelligence and 
 thought and language show no signs of development. 
 There are few trials which a parent can know more bitterly 
 painful than to see a child arrested in its mental growth, 
 continuing pleased and diverted with infantile toys, until 
 the conviction is irresistible that it is an imbecile. To see 
 one of eighteen, twenty, or twenty-five years of age still 
 pleased with the gewgaws of the nursery, is indeed a 
 
64 
 
 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 distressing sight; when he "becomes a man," we expect 
 him. to "put away childish things." 
 
 First of all, apply this to your pleasures and recreations. 
 Grown-up men need diversion as well as children You 
 will scarcely meet with any persons who prefer to work 
 without variety, and who never seem to wish for a holiday 
 And ,f you do chance to meet with such eccentric folks' 
 they are not, as a rule, people to be imitated or envied' 
 He who made us capable, not only of performing work but' 
 of enjoying rest, has adapted us for manifold recreation 
 and has provided ample means for our innocent enjoyment' 
 But the character of an individual's mind will often be 
 accurately told by the kind of diversion he most relishes 
 What to one affords intensest pleasure, will to another be a 
 burden and a trouble. Miss Marsh, in one of her books 
 says, that an English navvy's notion of supreme felicity is 
 to sit before a public-house fire, with a glass of good ale 
 and a fiddle going; and was it not Dr. Johnson who asserted 
 m a moment of conviviality, that " a tavern chair is the 
 throne of human happiness." There is not a more hopeful 
 feature of the moral and social condition of the people in 
 our day, than the remarkable improvement that has taken 
 place in their conceptions as to how to enjoy themselves; 
 and, thanks to the unwearied exertions of the friends of 
 temperance, it is beginning to be realized by multitudes 
 who a few years ago would have laughed at the idea, that 
 It IS quite possible to thoroughly enjoy a holiday without 
 the aid of alcoholic stimulants. . Little cause as we have to 
 boast of the, mode in which the masses still elect to spend 
 their hours of play, there is a marvellous contrast as we 
 think of the habits of two hundred years ago, x,^hen popular 
 amusements were not only of a frivolous but of a vicious 
 character, and consisted largely in tormenting the lower 
 animals. Within a few hundred yards of where I am now 
 
 
 Putting away Childish Things. 65 
 
 standing his Majesty's bear-garden existed in the beginning 
 of last century, the scene of every revolting and brutal 
 sport ; bull-baiting, and cock-fighting, and other disgusting 
 pursuits were the favourite pastimes of London ; the 
 Sabbath Day was given up by thousands of all classes to 
 bacchanalian revelry, and many a district of the metropolis 
 turned into a pandemonium. You may not expect to hear 
 me in the pulpit make much reference to such things as 
 the Fisheries Exhibition, the Hygienic Exhibition, the 
 Royal Academy, the Grosvenor Gallery, the Bethnal Green 
 Museum, and so forth; but I cannot understand an intelli- 
 gent Christian man, who knows how the Londoners diverted 
 themselves even in the last century, not rejoicing to see the 
 hundreds of thousands who flock to these places of instruc- 
 tive recreation. 
 
 Still, one cannot walk our -streets with his eyes open 
 without seeing many a grown-up baby, many a man whose 
 beard seems to grow faster than his brain, and who finds 
 his pleasure in the most contemptible levities. I believe 
 there is hardly one of you that would not speak with even 
 fiercer scorn than myself, of that very low type of juvenile 
 manhood that struts upon the pavement with jaunty hat, 
 and startling breast-pin, and superfluous walking-cane, and 
 vulgar wit, and any amount of brass both in his face and 
 in his jewellery. Such creatures should be either laughed 
 or hissed out of society. I never can look for any good 
 from a young man who has not thorough self-respect. Self- 
 conceit is weakness ; self-respect is strength. Self-respect 
 gives dignity to your bearing, and weight to your opinion, 
 and will keep you from doing anything that will demean or 
 lower your manhood. Whatever your occupation be, it s 
 worth your while to be a man of thought and of intellectual 
 resources. There is no calling in the world that I know cf, 
 that is not made better by brains. True, I have known 
 
 l;li 
 
 iil 
 
66 
 
 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 m 
 
 men who contrived to make money till they were able 
 comfortably to retire from business ; but what then''? 
 They had had no mind drilling, and were incapable of 
 intellectual enjoyment; you would never see a book in 
 their hand; hanging about their doors, or *' pottering" in 
 their little garden, they dragged out one weary day after 
 another, and with no mental resources to fall back upon, 
 became, if not tired of life, at least prematurely old. Take 
 a little advice, then, from a friend, and now that you are 
 men put away foolish and idle pleasures. 
 
 Secondly, you must also put away many childish fears and 
 fancies. To become a man is the eager ambition of almost 
 every boy. He thinks how jolly it will be to be full-grown, 
 to be one's own master, to be independent of control I Which 
 of us did not, in our childhood, long for the time when we 
 should have done with school, and be launched into the 
 busy scenes of active and responsible manhood ? Such a 
 fascination has this period of life upon the young, that they 
 are fain to assume the bearing and don the manners of 
 grown-up men, before they have backbone to support them 
 or ballast of mind to steady them. The apostle does not 
 say, " Before I became a man I put away childish things." 
 There is no satisfaction in seeing a child play the part of a 
 man too soon. To see an infant of six studying Greek, or 
 reading "Calvin's Institutes," would give me as little 
 pleasure as to see a babe of three weeks old feeding on a 
 mutton chop. There is no fitness or congruity in such a 
 thing. Milk for babes ; strong meat for men. But when 
 the age of ch^ildhood is past, then we have a right to look 
 for the self-denial, the courage, and the wisdom of men. A 
 few years ago, you needed a wiser head and a steadier hand 
 than your own to guide you ; now you have, in a sense, the 
 custody of yourselves. You are put in charge of the town 
 of Mansoul, and must show yourselves equal to the task. 
 
 Putting away Childish Things, 67 
 
 We pardon a child for being timorous and undecided; but 
 in a man we look for firmness, fortitude, and self-control. 
 You must have the courage of your convictions. You must 
 never be afraid of being laughed at for doing right. You 
 must stand fast by principle at all hazards. A child is, to 
 a great extent, at the bidding of its own feelings, and appe- 
 tites, and desires; but you have reached a period when 
 these must all be held with a tight rein. To have the strong 
 passions of a man, with a child's feebleness of decision, is 
 something deplorable. If you are to enjoy the liberty and 
 the independence of manhood, you must also evince a corre- 
 sponding strength of will and force of character. " 
 
 Then there must be the energetic girding of one's self to 
 the practical tasks of life. The little child lies rolling on the 
 carpet, and, perhaps, falls asleep at its play ; but the full-grown 
 man has not a moment for idleness. I believe that a great 
 deal of the poverty of London is due to sheer laziness. 
 There are plenty of fellows lounging about and deploring 
 the *^ bad times," whose non-success must honestly be put 
 down to this, that they will not exert themselves. An old 
 writer tells of a pitiful beggar who presented himself to him, 
 and with sighs and tears expressed his miserable poverty, 
 and entreated for help. *'He told us at the same time 
 (added he), that he had a secret inward malady which 
 altogether incapacitated him from earning a living. We 
 all, pitying the poor man, each gave him. something, and he 
 went away. One of our company, however, sent his servant 
 after him, with orders to inquire of him what that inward 
 malady might be which unfitted him for work. The. servant 
 overtook the man and pressed the question, which the 
 beggar was unwilling to answer; and after closely examin- 
 ing his person, and finding all limbs apparently sound, he 
 said, ' Why, I see no trace of any infirmity about you.' 
 'Alas I sir,' the other now replied, ' the disease which afflicts 
 
I'-r. 
 
 68 
 
 TalJbs with Young Men, 
 
 1 
 
 |)il 
 
 
 I* 
 
 I: 
 
 me is far different from what you conceive ; yet it is an evil 
 which hath crept over my whole body, and passed through^ 
 my very veins and marrow ; and this disease is by most 
 people termed idleness.' " 
 
 I have known not a few fine young fellows who had a 
 sore battle to fight with morning drowsiness. They could 
 not get up betimes. The. greatest trial they knew was to 
 jump out of bed in the morning. Solomon pictures the man 
 to the life ; so it is a very old failing, but it is one that must 
 be sternly overcome. 
 
 Then there ar? many youths who are afflicted with a 
 horror of manual labour. To run one's own errand, to 
 wheel one's own barrow, to be seen in the street with a 
 parcel or bundle, is disreputable. I have often been amused 
 to see the surprise on the face of some one I have met, 
 because I was carrying a parcel as heavy as my strength 
 would admit of. Young men who are fastidious in these 
 matters have not great strength of character. One of the 
 lessons which our age, and which England in particular, has 
 to learn, is the compatibility of manual labour with real 
 refinement and culture. 
 
 Once more, the principle of the text is likewise to be 
 applied to matters of religion. In nothing, indeed, more than 
 this is there room for the development of a robust and 
 vigorous manliness. There are, of course, those who call all 
 spiritual religion childish. If one manifests any concern 
 about" his soul, or is anxious to keep in the right way, or 
 dreads the thought of going to places of evil association, or 
 is conscientious in private prayer and reading of the Bible, 
 he is set down as a ninny or a weakling. And, forsooth, 
 the youth who sows his wild oats, who dashes into all sorts 
 of folly, who tosses his head at restraint, and can utter a big 
 round oath, is a manly fellow, and to be looked up to and 
 esteemed I 
 
 9 
 
 Putting away Childish Things. 69 
 
 Why, I would not insult you by combating such a fallacy. 
 It is us own refutation. If (which I do not believe) there is 
 here to-night one who is fool enough to be carried away by 
 this notion, I have no hope that any word of mine will do 
 him good. But I do say this, with all the fearless emphasis 
 which words can express, that the religion of Jesus Christ 
 has immense power to make full-grown men ; and that no 
 such grandly complete men, adorned with all that constitutes 
 true manliness, have ever been known as those whom a real 
 and living Christianity has produced. But it is extremely 
 important, gentlemen, that we should present our religion 
 in this aspect to our fellow-men. 
 
 « The Christian," says the poet Young, " is the highest 
 style of man." Let this be seen in your daily life. Show 
 that there is no littleness or mamby-pambyism about genuine 
 piety. If there is anything that can add a cubit to one's 
 stature, and give to a man breadth and solidarity, it is the 
 
 religion of Jesus. 
 
 In my conscience, I believe this is specially true of the 
 type of religion with which most of you are identified. I 
 refer to a sturdy Protestantism. You have been educated 
 to think for yourselves. You have been trained in a religion 
 that respects the human reason, and that disdains every- 
 thing approaching to priestcraft and superstition. There is 
 a religion that has the opposite character, and seems to me 
 to turn men into women, or rather children. Your ritual- 
 istic and aesthetic young man, who goes in for saints' days 
 and processions, who must needs turn to the east in prayer 
 and would not for the world taste butcher's meat on Fridays, 
 who keeps a crucifix in his bedroom with a few tiny brass 
 candlesticks, and whose very voice acquires an effeminate 
 tone, why, he is an outrage upon the name of Christianity, 
 and might almost confess, " When I became a Christian, I 
 put away all manliness of character." Out upon such a 
 
ill^li 
 
 ' 
 
 P' 
 
 u 
 
 70 
 
 Ta/Jis with Young Men, 
 
 burlesque of religion ! Yet this silly whim is fascinating 
 and emasculating a good many young men in England, and - 
 stealing all that is manly out of them. When I see an 
 excellent young fellow become insipid, womanish, childish, 
 full of senseless crotchets and ridiculous affectations, and 
 apparently full of the notion that this is an evidence of his 
 religiousness, well, 1 do feel the need of all the grace that 
 is in me, to keep in good temper. Is that the sort of 
 portrait of a Christian presented in the Bible ? No. Show 
 me the open forehead, the chivalrous air, the manly gait, the 
 vigorous reason. -The true disciple of Christ, the healthy 
 Christian, is the largest built of any living man. 
 
 Put away, then, all childish things in religion ; and let 
 the grand doctrines of the Gospel so shape and mould you, 
 that you will " all come, in the unity of the faith, and of the 
 knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the 
 measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ ; that ye 
 henceforth be no more children, but may grow up into Him 
 in all things, who is the head, even Christ." 
 
 There is a singular prophecy in the Old Book, in which 
 the Lord says, through the lips of Isaiah, " I will make a 
 man more precious than fine gold ; even a man than the 
 golden wedge of Ophir." There is little doubt, I suspect, 
 that the purport of this prediction was, that in the country 
 to which it referred, owing to the desolation of war, robust 
 and valiant men would be scarce and hard to find. I am 
 not sure but that, in another sense, the passage has its ap- 
 plication still. True men are rare and precious as wedges 
 of gold. A popular writer says, "You can find in the woods 
 good trees for masts ; but it is difficult ; yet you can find ten 
 such sticks easier than you can find one genuine man. We 
 must make men now as they make masts ; they saw down 
 a dozen trees, splice them together, and bind them with 
 iron hoops. And so with men ; if you want a good man, 
 
 Putting away Childish Things, 71 
 
 you have to take a dozen men, and splice them together." 
 Ah 1 nothing but the grace of God can restore the nobleness 
 we have lost, and replace the crown upon our head. In 
 Christ you have the perfect man, the faultless model ; and 
 only by coming to Him, trusting in His^merits, and walking 
 in His steps, can you reach the true dignity of your being. 
 God help you to be noble men, kingly men ; and to prepare 
 for the more exalted manhood of the life to come I 
 
 For, after all, this is the point of the Apostle in the text. 
 Here, in this present existence, we are but children at the 
 best ; and it is those who make the grandest strides that 
 are most ready to own it. Looking back from yonder future 
 world, we shall seem (to use Newton's illustration) to have 
 been like little children playing on the seabeach, picking up 
 a few tiny shells and pebbles, whilst the vast shore lay 
 undiscovered before us. God help us to use well this brief 
 probationary term ; and though it doth not yet appear what 
 we shall be, yet we know that, when our season of school- 
 ing and tutelage is over, we shall be like Him ; for we shall 
 see Him as He is. Amen. 
 
 
MASTER OVER ONE'S SELF. 
 
VI. 
 
 ** Every man that siriveth for the mastery is temferate in all thingu^ 
 -1 Cor. ix. 25. 
 
 MASTER OVER ONES SELF, 
 
 IF there were anything in the Christian religion incon- 
 sistent with athletic sports and manly physical exercise, 
 I cannot think that the Apostle Paul would have made 
 such frequent allusion to the games of Greece. He 
 knew that the persons to whom he wrote this letter were 
 perfectly familiar with them — were fond of witnessing, i{ 
 not of taking part in them ; and. he does not say a word to 
 dissuade them from doing so. In one respect, these games 
 exercised a healthful moral influence. The competitors 
 knew they had not a chance of success unless they were 
 rigidly temperate ; and though their motive was far from 
 the highest, they denied themselves the pleasures of sense, 
 and submitted to a severe bodily discipline, that they might 
 be the better fitted for the contest. 
 
 In Greece there were four different series of athletic 
 games ; to one of which, the Isthmian, the Apostle specially 
 alludes. They bore this name because they were cele- 
 brated on a neck of land called the Isthmus of Corinth ; 
 and as they were held only every fourth year, and 'occa- 
 sioned much stir and excitement, it is more than probable 
 that they were now in actual process of celebration, and 
 therefore suggested a most appropriate figure. They con- 
 sisted chiefly in . running, leaping, wrestling, and throwing 
 the quoit. To the first of these Paul specially refers in the 
 previous verse :— " Know ye not, that they which run in a 
 
J 
 
 i 
 
 il 
 
 76 
 
 Talks with Young Men, 
 
 race run all, but one receiveth the prize : so run, that ye 
 may obtain." But what he states in our text was equally 
 applicable to all of them. Indeed, you will find that in the 
 Revised Version the text reads thus :— '* Every man that 
 striveth in the games is temperate in all things." No 
 matter what the particular game was, a man had not a 
 chance of success unless he carefully abstained from all 
 that would excite or stimulate, and ultimately enervate the 
 
 body. 
 
 But these competitors were perfectly willing to submit 
 to this self-denial. They refrained, not only from indul- 
 gences that were vicious in their character, but also from 
 many things which were innocent and lawful, but which 
 tended to make them effeminate. Old Horace makes 
 reference to this, in lines which have been thus para- 
 phrased : — 
 
 44 
 
 The youth who hopes the Isthmic prize to gain, 
 All arts must try, and every toil sustain ; 
 Extremes of cold and heat must often prove, 
 And shun the weakening joys of wine and love/' 
 
 It was wonderful the eagerness with which the young 
 men of Corinth strove in those athletic contests, how they 
 threw their whole energy into the struggle, each one 
 determined to be foremost, and secure the prize I Yet, 
 after all, what was the prize they sought for? "A cor- 
 ruptible crown I" A garland or wreath, of little value at 
 the best, and soon to wither away. Generally made of 
 parsley, or of the leaves of olive, or pine, or laurel, it had 
 but a fading beauty, and could not be preserved, or handed 
 down as an heirloom to succeeding generations.* 
 
 Now, this whole subject has great force, as applied to all 
 Christians. There is not one of us who may not be put to 
 shame by the example of these Grecian athletes, and stirred 
 
 • u 
 
 t> 
 
 Master over Ones Self. 
 
 77 
 
 to such an energy and self-denial as are but rarely seen. 
 When we think of the prize that is set before us, of the 
 unfading diadem promised to those who overcome, of the 
 heavenly glory and blessedness that await the faithful, 
 ought we not to be shamed out of our indolence and 
 lethargy, and count no toil too great, no discipline too 
 severe, if so we may but win that crown ? 
 
 But the subject has a special appropriateness as ad- 
 dressed to young men. It was the sturdy, vigorous youth 
 of Corinth that came forward to the arena. Young men of 
 splendid build, strong in muscle, and elastic in limb ; I see 
 them stepping forth on the glorious stadium, eager to begin 
 the struggle ; and I observe, at a glance, that they have 
 been under training and discipline to prepare them for the 
 day. To no licentious indulgence have they yielded ; with 
 no delicacies have they pampered the body ; wine and 
 strong drink they have put far from them. Even in 
 luxurious, dissolute Corinth, which was the Vanity Fair of 
 Greece, — its very name a synonym for voluptuousness and 
 reckless excess, — these young men sternly withstood temp- 
 tation, and in order that they might strive for the mastery, 
 " were temperate in all things." 
 
 I venture to-night, my brothers, to point you to the 
 Isthmian stadium, and invite you to learn the wholesome 
 lesson which it teaches. It is a lesson oi self-control. 
 
 At the outset, I must presume that many of you are 
 " striving for the mastery." I take it for granted that you 
 are fired with a pure and noble ambition, that you are 
 determined to fulfil the great end of life, and reach forth 
 after an eternal crown. It is to this principle in you that 
 I make my appeal. If you have no such lofty aim ; if you 
 are content to drag through a profitless and ignoble life ; 
 if you are just to swim with the current, yield to every 
 desire, gratify every passion, and get through the world as 
 
78 
 
 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 i! 
 
 easily as you can, I dismiss you with sorrow and despair,^ 
 for " it were better for you that you had never been born." 
 But to many of you the mention of such a thing is 
 abhorrent. You have aspirations after the true, the noble, 
 the divine ; with " Excelsior " for your motto, you are 
 resolved to press onward and upward, living a useful life 
 here, and preparing for a glorious eternity hereafter ; and 
 I have come here to-night to remind you, that if you *' strive 
 for the mastery," you must be " temperate in all things." 
 
 The word '^ temperance " has come to be used in our 
 day with a special and restricted meaning ; but I decline 
 to limit it to one form of self-control; it is a large and 
 comprehensive word, and may be said to consist in main- 
 taining the supremacy of reason over passion, and of the 
 soul over the body. This is plainly the meaning that Paul 
 gives to it ; for he explains himself in the twenty-seventh 
 verse, saying, "I keep my body under, and bring it into 
 subjection " ; or, as you have it in the Revised Version, " I 
 buffet my body, and bring it into bondage." On the one 
 side we have an animal nature, with appetites, desires, and 
 passions ; on the other side we have a spiritual nature, 
 embracing reason, and conscience, and a sense of account- 
 ability to God ; and as often as these two natures come 
 into conflict, we are to see to it that the latter asserts its 
 power, and that the former is crushed and vanquished. 
 We are so constituted, that the more our animal nature 
 curbed and restrained, the greater becomes the soul's 
 supremacy over it ; but, on the other hand, the more we 
 indulge it and yield to its demands, the more we lose our 
 power of self-control, until at length the will is utterly 
 dethroned, and we are carried headlong down the path to 
 hopeless disaster. 
 
 We often hear men spoken of as '' the victims of appc* 
 tite," as though they were rather to be pitied than blamed. 
 
 \ 
 
 Master over Ones Self, 
 
 79 
 
 Their ruin is looked on rather in the light of a misfortune 
 more than of a fault. According to such a way of speaking, 
 it is not the man himself that is wrong, but some bump of 
 his skull ; he is under the control of certain propensities 
 which he cannot resist, and for which, therefore, he is not 
 responsible. There are always persons who will snatch at 
 such a shallow and immoral theory, and excuse themselves 
 from the charge of vice, on the ground that it is a disease. 
 This is virtually to lay the blame upon God ; and it is no 
 new thing for men to do that. Long ago St. James tore 
 into tatters that flimsy excuse, saying, " Let no man say 
 when he is tempted, I am tempted of God ; for God cannot 
 be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man. But 
 every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own 
 lust, and enticed." You may so indulge the appetites of 
 the body that you become their slave. God forbid that I 
 should say of any man, however low he has fallen, and 
 to whatever form of lust he has yielded, that his case is 
 hopeless. No case is hopeless whilst there is a merciful 
 God and an omnipotent Saviour. No case is hopeless 
 whilst the Bible contains this word concerning the marr 
 who trusts in Christ : " Yea, he shall be holden up, for God 
 is able to make him stand"; and again, "He that is 
 begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one 
 
 toucheth him not." 
 
 But with you there must be tremendous effort, stern 
 
 resolve. As the poet says : — 
 
 ** Habits are soon acquired : but when we strive 
 To strip them off, 'tis being flayed alive." 
 
 Through grace Divine you may obtain complete mastery 
 over self: and there is no form of conquest so honourable 
 as that. "Hfe that ruleth his spirit," says Solomon, *'is 
 better than he that taketh a city." "Master of himself " 
 is one of the noblest titles to which a man can attain : and 
 
li 
 
 (i 
 
 IM 
 
 »'] ! 
 
 11 i 
 
 80 
 
 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 what the New Testament calls " temperance " is just this 
 self-mastery. 
 
 You, dear fellows, who have been held up, you who have 
 never plunged into the vortex of vice, — and thank God there 
 are many such now present, — must bear ^vith me whilst I 
 speak to some here who are having a terrible battle, and 
 are almost ready to give up in despair. I have known 
 young men in this church whose lives were a daily agony, 
 through the conflict between fierce passion on the one side 
 and a Bible-taught conscience on the other. Some years 
 ago a vessel was sailing down from Lake Erie to Lake 
 Ontario in America, and when a mile or two above the 
 great falls of Niagara it took fire. The flames soon ob- 
 tained complete mastery of the ship, and crew and 
 passengers having been taken off in boats, she was aban- 
 doned to her fate. It is said to have been a scene grand 
 beyond description. It was night, and as the huge vessel 
 glided down the river she seemed a floating furnace, the 
 flames shooting high into the heavens. Watch her as she 
 approaches the rapids. The banks are lined with people, 
 waiting in breathless suspense for the inevitable moment. 
 On she glides, calmly and steadily, towards the awful verge. 
 At length, with frightful plunge, and hissing noise, and 
 coruscations of fire, and gleaming spray, she makes the 
 bound, and instantly disappears amid the whelming flood. 
 Well, there are hundreds of men on fire with evil habit, 
 floating down the current through the dark night of tempta- 
 tion toward the eternal plunge. They stretch out their 
 pleading hands and entreat us to stop them. We cannot 
 stop them. God only can arrest. Oh I never do I feel 
 myself so impotent, as when some dear penitent* brother, 
 wincing under the pangs of remorse, entreats me to rescue 
 him from his headlong career. 
 
 You may have seen in Paris a sculptured representation 
 
 Master over Ones Self. 
 
 81 
 
 of Bacchus, the god of drink and revelry. He is riding on 
 a panther at a furious bound. How suggestive and true I 
 A man begins a career of vice, and thinks he has mounted 
 a well-broken steed, that he has the reins in hand, and can 
 keep it in control, and stop it w^hen he please : but lo ! 
 when he sees the approaching chasm, and would fain pull 
 up, he finds that he is astride on a savage and furious 
 brute, that no human power can curb or tame. But oh I 
 do not forget that " with God all things are possible " ; and 
 that never did London fireman, directing his hose upon a 
 burning house, more effectually extinguish the flame, than 
 can God, flooding the soul with grace, quench and destroy 
 every fire of lust or passion that cdn r-age in a human 
 breast. 
 
 But happy those of you whom as yet the tempter has 
 not conquered. All men may attain, but young men have 
 by far the greatest likelihood of attaining, the mastery over 
 themselves. 
 
 And it is to you specially that our text speaks to-night. 
 I do :;ot know any fallacy more mischievous than the notion 
 that what is called "a free and easy life" is a happy one. 
 Satan tempts you into the belief that in breaking off" from 
 all restraint, and giving free scope to every appetite and 
 desire, you are steering a glad and manly course. Never 
 was there a greater delusion. Restraint is a condition of 
 true blessedness. If you would know the sweetness of 
 real liberty, you must accept the yoke of principle and law. 
 "Take my yoke upon you," says Christ, and what then? 
 "Ye shall find rest unto your souls." A man left to 
 himself) or who will not submit to restraint, becomes a 
 despicable being. 
 
 Ruskin, in one of his essays, says, " A butterfly is much 
 more free than a bee; but you honour the bee more, 
 because it is subject to certain laws, which fit it for orderly 
 
 •J ' lL^Wjuft i M ia iHiW-"- ■ • 
 
82 
 
 Talks with Young Men, 
 
 function in bee society. And, throughout the world, of the^ 
 two abstract things, liberty and restraint, restraint is alway? 
 the more honourable. Restraint characterises the highef 
 creature; and from the ministering of an archangel to 
 the labour of an insect, from the poising of a planet to the 
 gravitation of a grain of dust, the power and glory of all 
 creatures, and of all matter, consists in their obedience, not 
 in their freedom." 
 
 At the very portals of the Christian life, Jesus meets you 
 with an open hand and a loving welcome ; but He says to 
 you very plainly, *" If any man will come after Me, let him 
 deny himself" Thus self-denial is one of the first con- 
 ditions of being a disciple of Christ. You must put a check 
 upon your inclinations, and govern yourselves, not by what 
 you like to do, but by what you ought to do. And this 
 applies to every phase and form of life. " Temperate in 
 all things." Temperate in sleep, in food, in drink, in 
 business, in pastime, in everything. 
 
 Men forget that this is the true secret even of physical 
 enjoyment, not to say of a happy and contented mind. I 
 repudiate and repel with scorn the imputation that, when 
 a man is governed by principle and the fear of God, he is 
 shut up, straitened in his joys. Rather is he enfranchised, 
 enlarged. Piety does not close up the avenues of enjoy- 
 ment. True virtue makes every capacity of joy more 
 sensitive. There is no man whose range of delight is so 
 broad and wide as the man who is living under the power 
 of the grace of God. Of all mad delusions, there is none 
 greater than the notion, that the most exquisite pleasures 
 can be reaped only by a reprobate course, that you must 
 " sow your wild oats " to have a harvest of enjoyment. 
 Ah ! it is a very different harvest that follows such a 
 sowing. For hear what the Lord saith through His 
 prophet, "Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy 
 
 T 
 
 I 
 
 Master over Ones Self, 
 
 83 
 
 salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy 
 strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and 
 Shalt set it with strange (or rare) slips ; in the day shalt 
 thou make thy plants to grow, and in the morning shalt 
 thou make thy seed to flourish ; but the harvest shall be a 
 heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow." I have 
 seen wild oats sown ; ay, and I have marked the harvest. 
 I have seen the fatal brand of lust on the bloated coun- 
 tenance. I have seen the blear of drunkenness in the 
 reddened eye. I have seen the restless twitching of the 
 shattered nerves. I have seen the stiffened gait of the 
 ruined debauchee. I have seen the wasted form, the 
 sunken cheeks, the hectic flush. I have heard the hollow 
 cough, the sigh of remorse, the scream of despair ; and I 
 have said, "This is the harvest that comes of such a 
 sowing!" Yes, there are dark, dishonoured graves m 
 Potter's-fields, where lie the buried hopes of fathers, the 
 joys of mothers' hearts, the pride of sisters fair ; and the 
 rank, foul weeds that sprout and flourish over them, feedmg 
 on the corruption of the untimely dead, are but the true 
 symbol of what follows from what is too frivolously called 
 " sowing wild oats " in youth. " Be not deceived ; God is not 
 mocked ; whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.'' 
 My solicitude to-night is two-fold. First, that those of 
 you who have hitherto resisted the flesh may be held up 
 and kept pure, amid the thousand contaminations of this 
 great city ; and, secondly, that some brother here who has 
 gone off the track may have hope enkindled within his 
 breast, and through mercy infinite be brought to the paths 
 of virtue. If there be in this house now a man who has 
 fallen, whom temptation has overmastered, who hardly 
 ventures to hope that his salvation is possible, and who . 
 feels as though he were beyond the pale of Christian sym- 
 pathy, I give that man my right hand, and call him brother. 
 
 
84 
 
 Talks with Young Men, 
 
 You may be a stranger. You may be a foreigner. You 
 may be a prodigal. You may be an outcast. I care not; 
 God has sent you here to-night, and I give you a message 
 in His name. Cheer up. There is mercy for you. I 
 bespeak in your behalf the prayers of all God's people 
 here. I surround you with the warm sympathies of 
 Christian hearts. 
 
 By Christ's authority I bid this congregation be on the 
 outlook for every friendless one, and give him to-night a 
 kind word, and such a hearty, honest hand-shaking as he 
 will not soon forget. When down at the sea-coast the 
 other day, there was a sight that always made me think 
 of you. I marked one, and another, and another little 
 steam-vessel prowling about in the offing, ever on the 
 outlook to hail some wanderer of the deep, some ship 
 seeking its way home, that they might tug it safely up 
 channel, and bring it to the quiet haven ; and I saw there 
 a picture of what the members of such a church as this 
 should be, ever on the watch for some soul that needs 
 guidance and comfort, ever ready with the loving smile 
 and the helping hand for any lonely and friendless 
 brother I 
 
 There are thousands in this neighbourhood who just 
 want a kind word of invitation and greeting. You say of 
 such a young man, he lives within a stone's throw of bur 
 church. I tell you there are young men in London who 
 live a hundred miles from church. Vast deserts of in- 
 difference lie between them and the house of God. They 
 want to be invited and welcomed. They want the hand of 
 Christian kindness to be laid upon their shoulde^r. They 
 want to be beckoned in ; and to find, when they come, a 
 living, hearty service. Every face an illumination. Every 
 look a welcome. Every prayer a rapture. Every word a 
 benediction. Every hymn an inspiration. 
 
 Master over Ones Self, 
 
 85 
 
 Come, let us all help one another, and try to gather in 
 some who have gone out of the way. O my brothers, how 
 many of you are " striving for the mastery " ? How many 
 of you have set your hearts upon the amaranthine and 
 eternal crown ? You must '^ fight the good fight of faith," 
 and you must look to God for all the strength that is to 
 carry you through. Remember, St. Peter does not say, 
 '* Add to your temperance, faith," but " add to your faith, 
 temperance." Temperance in all things is a noble endow- 
 ment ; but even temperance will not take the place of faith, 
 faith in the Lord Jesus as your personal Saviour. There 
 are men sitting before me, and in these galleries, who for 
 ten years have tried to conquer sin, and rise to the level of 
 a Christian life ; but they cannot. They have done every- 
 thing but trust in Christ. They have begun at the wrong 
 end, and will never succeed as they are doing. I summon 
 you to-night to a better way. I beckon you to a Saviour, 
 who, thro'Js:h six thousand years, has not once failed to 
 save the soul that trusted Him. To His omnipotent grace 
 I commend you all. Amen. 
 
^^ And he went out^ not knowing whither he went,** — Heb. xi. 8. 
 
 V 
 
 ■'■ 
 
 VIL 
 
 SETTING OUT IN LIFE, 
 
 I CAN hardly say I have a text this evening, yet these 
 words are so true a description of the departure from 
 his native place, and the setting out in life, of many a young 
 man who comes to London, that I cannot do better than 
 make them my starting-point, in offering some counsels, 
 specially to those of you — and there are always many such 
 here — who have recently left a quiet country home, to push 
 your way in this great metropolis. 
 
 It is often curious to notice how purely accidental, 
 apparently, have been the circumstances that led you to 
 take that step. The casual visit of a friend, some remark 
 dropped in a letter, a good word spoken on your behalf by 
 some old acquaintance; any of these, or, perhaps, some- 
 thing different from all, has been the occasion of your 
 deciding to quit the place of your birth, and strike out 
 upon the sea of life. 
 
 And yet, I hope you do not think it has been all chance 
 work. It is a great help and comfort to a man, a't least to 
 a Christian man, to feel that every step of his career is 
 ordered by the Lord; and you may be none the less 
 Divinely guided, that the opening presented to you has 
 come upon you by surprise. I should always wish to say 
 with the Psalmist, "He shall choose our inheritance for 
 us." It is a grand thing to know that, whatever sort of a 
 vessel it be that we sail in, and however its course may 
 
so 
 
 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 turn, God keeps firm hold of the helm ; this guarantees we^ 
 shall get safely into port. I have never any doubt of the 
 real success and happiness of the man who has made this 
 his constant prayer, " My Father, be Thou the guide of my 
 
 youth." 
 
 Well, I feel sure you will take in good part a few practical 
 advices I have to offer you to-night. I have had many 
 years' opportunity of watching the course of young men 
 in this city ; and I must be dull indeed if I have not learnt 
 something that may be useful to you. I have noticed how 
 some young men have got on, have risen from step to step, 
 and attained to positions of comfort and honour; and how 
 others, quite as favourably situated, have seemed to bungle 
 and fail, and ultimately have disappeared in disgrace and 
 infamy. 
 
 It is to me a terribly painful thought, that I may now be 
 looking in the face some one who shall run just such a 
 career of foolishness and remorse as I have seen run here 
 already by one and another whose life's morning was full 
 of promise and hope. Ah me I what misery, what agony 
 untold, has been the price paid for a brief season of imagined 
 pleasure I Well may I say " imagined," for they who have 
 drunk most heavily of it have been the readiest to confess 
 that it was hollow and unreal. Not for one moment do I 
 desire to arrest the joyousncss of your life; rather do I 
 want to put you on the path of a sure and solid happiness. 
 May the hand of Christ be grasped by every young man 
 here to-night I 
 
 First of all, I will say very warmly. Don't forget the dear 
 old home you have left. It may be a humble dwelling ; its 
 floors may be uncarpeted, and its roof of thatch ; but, for 
 all that, it may have associations so tender and sweet, as to 
 make it more beautiful in your eyes than any palace. Ah ! 
 you may make many friends in life, but you will never find 
 
 Setting Out in Life. 
 
 91 
 
 one to take the place of father or mother. While yet a boy 
 is but sprouting into manhood, he is apt to be just a little 
 impatient of restraint, and to toss his head like a young 
 horse disdainfully, when good advice is given him ; and to 
 think that it is about time he knew his own business, and 
 were independent of parental control ; but when he goes 
 out into life, he will never find influences so wholesome as 
 those that gathered round him under his father's roof No 
 minister, no newspaper, no book, can ever get so near to 
 the sanctuary of your heart as she who bore you. Oh, do 
 not be in too great a hurry to break away from home ties 
 and filial obligations. Cherish in the. most hallowed shrine 
 of your heart every remembrance of the spot where your 
 childhood was spent. If your parents— one or both of them 
 — are spared, be it to you one of the sweetest moments of 
 the day, when on your bended knees you commend them 
 to God; and may the love you bear them be a tether 
 binding you to love and to duty. 
 
 One of the purest impulses which a young man can have 
 in life, is the desire to give his parents reason to be proud 
 of him ; and many a man has felt, when they have been 
 laid in the grave, that a powerful stimulus to probity and 
 success has been taken away. There is not a worse feature 
 can mark a youth, than that he can easily forget the home 
 of his father and mother; indeed, there is hardly an evil, 
 thing I could not believe of a fellow so heartless; and, be 
 you sure of this, that any one who would dare \o try to 
 shame you out of a father's influence and a mother's fear 
 any one who would endeavour to break you off from home 
 attachments, is your direst enemy, and is to be loathed and 
 shunned as death. Do not neglect to make good use of the 
 penny post; perhaps there is not a better index of character 
 than the sort of letters which a young man writes to the 
 dear ones he has left at home. When Dr. Chalmers was a 
 
 i^ 
 
92 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 young student at St. Andrew's, he never forgot to send his ^ 
 parents a weekly budget; but his handwriting was so 
 obscure, that his father used to lay the letters as they came 
 upon the mantelpiece, and say, "Thomas will read them 
 all to us himself when he comes home I " (Of course, 1 
 don't want you to be like Chalmers in that respect : for a 
 good, clear, round handwriting is a great advantage to any 
 
 ""^Secondly if you have found a situation, >/7?/ its duties 
 with the resolve to Monn your part faithfully to your employers. 
 Some young men-I do not for one moment hint that any 
 of you belong to the number-have the most peculiar 
 notions upon this subject. Having found a berth that 
 suits them, they immediately try to work out this problem, 
 What is the minimum of service I can render, with the 
 maximum of pay ? 1 believe I know men, who, were they 
 to see a lad run into a shop, steal an article, and decamp 
 with it, would instantly join in the chase, and cry out, 
 ^^Stop thief I" whilst they have not a qualm of conscience 
 about wasting their master's time, or doing a job more 
 carelessly when his eye is not upon them. 
 
 Gentlemen, always make a point of erring on the other 
 side of doing more, and not less, than is expected of you. 
 Let 'the heads of the firm be ever so unreasonable and 
 mean, you cannot, for your own sakes, afford to be other 
 than honourable -and magnanimous. No harshness or 
 shabbiness on their side can justify you in being less than 
 thoroughly conscientious. If you attempt retaliation, or 
 sp-ak of - paying them back in their own coin," you assume 
 a function which God retains in His own hand. "Ven- 
 geance is mine ; 1 will repay, saith the Lord." 
 
 Be quite as careful of your employer's time and interests 
 as though they were your own. Do not drop in of a morn- 
 ing ten minutes after your time. If you are punctual to 
 
 Setting Out in Life, 
 
 93 
 
 five seconds, let it be five seconds before, instead of five 
 seconds after. Do not deem anything too insignificant to 
 do thoroughly well. "Whatsoever thine hand findeth to 
 do, do it with thy might." From the most important com- 
 mercial transaction, down to the tying up of a parcel, do 
 everything the right way. It gives least trouble in the end. 
 Never wink at anything dishonourable in your establish- 
 ment. If the men who are over you expect you to do so, 
 have the courage to say, " I shall rather lose my place." 
 Better lose your place than lose your soul. You may have 
 goods to sell, but you have a God to face. 
 
 But very, very rarely, does it happen that a house of 
 business can afford to part with a young man whom they 
 find true as steel to his Christian principles. They know 
 better. He is too valuable to lose. They may flush up at 
 first, and be angry that he should dare to judge for himself; 
 but when they have had time to cool they will find that 
 rather than lose such a man, they would part with half-a- 
 dozen who have got neither conscience nor principles to 
 trouble them. I daresay some of you, as to-day you look 
 into the future, see a position of comfort to be still only in 
 the far distance; but if you stick to your colours, if you 
 stand to what is right, and true, and noble, and diligently 
 perform the tasks that fall to you, I believe I am justified in 
 saying that you are all but certain to meet, even in this 
 world, with a rich reward. " Seest thou a man diligent in 
 business ? he shall stand before kings." 
 
 Thirdly, it will not be amiss that I should urge upon you 
 the cultivation of a genuine manliness. When a youth allows 
 personal vanity to get the better of him, it is remarkable 
 how silly he becomes, without even suspecting it. You 
 can easily see, by a glance of the eye, that the great ques- 
 tion of the day with him is the colour of his gloves, or the 
 fit of his boots, or some other point of dress, and the poor 
 
ass 
 
 ¥ 
 
 94 Talh with Yotmg Men. 
 
 lad has not a notion how contemptible he looks, as he 
 brandishes his cane or adjusts his eye-glass, or twirls the 
 points of his moustache with exquisite nonchalance. It is 
 curious how many nice lads begin, somewhere between 
 sixteen and twenty, to adopt a new character altogether, 
 and assume the dandy. A little earlier in life, and a little 
 later, they have a thorough contempt for that sort of thing, 
 but it almost seems as though the growth of hair on the 
 under part of the head has the effect of weakening the 
 
 brain ! 
 
 A young man should feel that God has sent him forth 
 into the world with a higher end than to be a well-dressed 
 doll, with faultless hair and snow-white hands ; more fitted 
 to stand among the figures in Madame Tussaud's Exhibition, 
 than to do some solid and serious work in this practical 
 world. The late Charles Kingsley, whom all will acknow- 
 ledge to have been a fine type of a man, and of an English- 
 man, divided the human race into three parts :— i, honest 
 men, who mean to do right, and do it; 2, knaves, who 
 mean to do wrong, and do it ; and 3, fools, who mean to do 
 whichever of the two is the pleasanter. It was possibly 
 with this classification in his eye, that that sour, stern 
 genius, Thomas Carlyle, described the people of England 
 as so many million souls, '' mostly fools." Now, brothers, 
 you^are stepping forth upon the arena of life, and, with all 
 the earnestness of my soul I beseech you to form the resolve 
 that you will live nobly. Let conscience assert her autho- 
 rity, and listen to her when she speaks. Vow that, where 
 truth and virtue are concerned, you will make no com- 
 promise. Be scrupulously careful about your word. Be 
 slow to make a promise, but when you have made it, stand 
 to it at all costs. Let all your business affairs be ruled by 
 an inflexible integrity ; see to it that you are respected, as 
 men of the strictest rectitude. Be unyielding as iron when 
 
 Setting Out in Life, 
 
 95 
 
 temptation to vice assails you. Turn with loathing from 
 those who would speak lightly of sin, and who talk of acts 
 of licentiousness and debauchery a^ the ^' indiscretions of 
 youth." Remember, that in thunderous tones the God of 
 heaven has pronounced His curse upon the drunkard, and 
 the fornicator, and the unclean ; and has declared that such 
 shall have their portion in the lake of fire. You have 
 passions. It is not a sin to have them, but it is a sm to 
 tamper with them. Keep the body under, and bnng it 
 into subjection. Never for a moment be persuaded that, 
 on any conceivable plea, these sins of the flesh can be 
 excused, or their guilt modified. 
 
 " In all the range of accepted British maxims," writes 
 that true friend of young men and boys, Thomas Hughes, 
 ^* there is none, take it all in 'all, more thoroughly abomin- 
 able than this one, as to a young man ' sowing his wild oats.' 
 Look at it on what side you will, and I will defy you to 
 make anything but a devil's maxim of it. What a man, be 
 he young, or old, or middle-aged, sows, that, and nothing 
 else shall he reap. The one only thing to do with such 
 < wild oats,' is to put them carefully into the hottest part of 
 the fire, and get' them burnt to dust, every seed of them 
 If you sow them, no matter in what ground, up they will 
 come, with long, tough roots, and luxuriant stalks and leaves, 
 as sure as there is a sun in heavan, a crop which it turns 
 one's heart cold to think of." 
 
 Dear young men, some of you may not need the counsels 
 I am now giving, but others of you do ; and I entreat you, 
 as you value your self-respect, as you consult your future 
 happiness, as you weigh your eternal destiny, beware of the 
 first indulgence. It is tenfold easier to resist the first attack 
 of the tempter, than, having yielded, to resist the second. One 
 visit to a place of immoral amusement; one act of impurity ; 
 one throw at a gaming-table ; one bet on a race,^ may have 
 
I 
 
 :|i 
 
 •l|i 
 
 !l 
 
 96 
 
 Talks with Young Men, 
 
 Setting Out in Life, 
 
 97 
 
 an effect on you so damning, that all your principles vanish 
 and all your strength of will is gone for ever. If you yield, 
 your guilt will be the greater that you have listened to me 
 to-night. God is addressing you through the preacher. He 
 is sounding words of warning in your ear, and saying, 
 *' Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the 
 way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and 
 pass away." 
 
 The fourth piece of brotherly counsel I am going to give 
 you this evening may seem to you somewhat peculiar as 
 coming from the pulpit ; but I give it deliberately. I am 
 speaking to-night to those of you who have recently exchanged 
 the country for the town ; and in some respects I congratu- 
 late you on having your steps directed to this metropolis. 
 London may have many snares for young men, but it has 
 splendid advantages. Perhaps there is no city in the world 
 to compare with it, for the opportunities it affords to young 
 men, in their spare hours, of mental self-improvement. 1 
 take it, that though you have got a situation, you don't mean 
 to make yourself a mere piece of machinery; you are to 
 grow. You want to develop, not only physically, but intel- 
 lectually and esthetically. Well, I need not tell you that 
 there are libraries, and museums, and lectures, and literary 
 societies of every description ; which give you such oppor- 
 tunities of self-culture as you nowhere else, at least in this 
 country, can enjoy But it is not exactly such studies to 
 which I am now pointing. I have so frequently urged upon 
 you sound and wholesome reading, and the cultivation ot 
 your intellectual powers, that I shall not repeat that advice 
 to-night. But I do think, the study of art is neglected by 
 thousands of young men, as it ought not to be. Why should 
 not a clerk in a mercantile house, why should not a shopman 
 when his day's work is over, why should not a mechanic or 
 an artizan be as able to appreciate a high-class painting, or 
 
 piece of sculpture, or splendid musical performance, as any 
 young man belonging lo what is called the ''upper ten thou- 
 sand " ? When these studies are kept in their own place, 
 ' they have a refining and elevating influence ; and if such 
 tastes were cultivated more, and our young men were to find 
 more enjoyment in contemplating the works of the great 
 masters, both ancient and modern, we should find fewer 
 loitering idly about the streets, or lingering by the ale-house 
 doors. An occasional hour spent in the Royal Academy 
 would be tenfold more profitable than most of the diver- 
 sions with which your evenings are occupied. 
 
 A man may follow a menial calling, and yet have a 
 refined and cultivated nature. Let me recommend to every 
 one of you the study, not only of the works of man, but of 
 the works of God. Keble beautifully says,— 
 
 •* Two worlds are ours ; 'tis only sin 
 Forbids us to descry 
 The mystic heaven and earth within. 
 Plain as the sea and sky. 
 
 «• Thou who hast given me eyes to see 
 And love this sight so fair, 
 Give me a heart to find out Thee, 
 And read Thee everywhere." 
 
 My fifth and last message to you this evening exceeds in 
 importance all the rest together ; and I do not say it because 
 I am in the pulpit ; I do not say it because I am a Christian 
 minister ; I do not say it because we are met within the 
 walls of a place of worship ; but I say it, brothers, because 
 it is true, and because it is of the utmost consequence that 
 you should lay it to heart; that he only starts life well 
 .who takes God with him, and is dominated by a deep and 
 genuine religion. The Apostle puts it, as it seems to me, 
 on the lowest ground, when he says that "Godliness is 
 profitable unto all things ; having promise of the life that 
 
98 
 
 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 now IS, and of that which is to come;" but even this 
 argument has force. It is profitable to be a Christian. 
 Genuine religion " pays," which is more than sin ever does. 
 All things being equal, you are incomparably more likely 
 to live a successful, useful, respected, and happy life, if you 
 are a Christian, than if you are not. This is not a mere 
 assertion. If you doubt it, I am prepared to prove what I 
 say. Of course, I do not deny that there are exceptions ; 
 but there is an old saying that " exceptions prove the rule." 
 You do not need to go back even to a past generation ; you 
 do not need to go out of this city to find my statement 
 confirmed. If you mention the names of our most brilliant 
 statesmen of to-day, are they not devout Christians? If 
 you point to the men who are at the head of the legal pro- 
 fession, and have recently sat upon the woolsack, are they 
 not humble followers of Jesus ? If you single out a few 
 of our most eminent merchants, and bankers, and phy- 
 sicians, and architects, and heads of the civil service, are 
 you not almost certain to name men who make no secret 
 of their religious convictions, and in some cases are as con- 
 spicuous for their faith and Christian philanthropy as they 
 are for their professional or commercial success. 
 
 Richard Cobden once remarked that he never felt con- 
 fidence in a man who was not possessed of religion; and, 
 though you may hear many a sneer cast upon Christian 
 professors (for which sometimes, no doubt, there is too 
 much occasion), you will rarely find that a man of sound 
 sense cares to entrust any matters of serious importance to 
 one who has not the fear of God before his eyes. 
 
 But, oh ! above and beyond any gain that godliness may 
 be to you in the present life, think of the eternal future 
 that awaits you, and of the God who claims your homage 
 and your love ! Your highest dignity, your truest glory, is 
 to have God enthroned within your heart. To know Him 
 
 Setting Out in Life. 
 
 99 
 
 as your Father, and to live under His smile, is the supreme 
 happiness of man. 
 
 That happiness may be yours now. I want you, not 
 
 merely to end, but to begin your career with it. You may 
 
 indeed, like Abraham, be going forth not knowing whither 
 
 you go; but if, like him, you make faith in God your 
 
 guiding star, your path will, in the highest sense, be 
 
 prosperous. To Abraham's heart, the Gospel of Jesus, 
 
 though not so clearly revealed as to you, brought a hidden 
 
 joy. " He saw my day," said Christ, " and was glad." He 
 
 believed in the mission of God's eternal Son, and that filled 
 
 him with delight. Through all his wanderings, that cheered 
 
 and nerved his soul. So let it be with you, dear brothers. 
 
 You are going forward, many of you to difficulties and 
 
 troubles, and all of you to temptations and trials ; the lot 
 
 of some of you may be among strange peoples and in 
 
 distant lands ; but with faith in Christ as your Redeemer, 
 
 you shall not flinch nor fail ; life will be a victory and death 
 
 a triumph ! O then, man immortal, man redeemed, man 
 
 blood-bought, climb out of the dust, and grasp the crown. 
 
 Settle the great matter now. Come all of you into the safe 
 
 harbour of justification by faith and peace with God ; and 
 
 then spread your sails and steer away bravely for heaven. 
 
 God bless you all ! Amen. 
 
 J 
 
Zi,i.im 
 
 VIII. 
 
 51 
 
 ** And Ahab saidy By whom (i.e., shall the victory be achieved)? 
 And he said^ Thus saith the Lord^ even by the young men of the prince* 
 of the provinces,^'' — I Kings xx. 14. 
 
 YOUNG MEN FROM THE COUNTR 7. 
 
 HERE were two hundred and thirty-two brave youths, 
 by whom it pleased God to save the kingdom of 
 Israel. Let us turn our minds to the occasion, and see 
 whether we cannot get some instructive lessons from it. 
 
 If ever there was a piece of crowned imbecility, it was 
 Ahab, the son of Omri, the seventh monarch of the separate 
 kingdom of Israel. Though not" altogether without some 
 good points, he was a poor, weak creature; and had the 
 misfortune to get married to a sort of Lady Macbeth of her 
 time, one of the most depraved, unscrupulous, and deter- 
 mined women that ever lived. When a man weds a 
 Jezebel, it is all up with him. It is said that '^ uneasy lies 
 the head that wears a crown " ; but, what with domestic 
 infelicity and political disquietude, I think that Ahab must 
 have led an uncommonly miserable existence. Amongst 
 the causes of his incessant trouble, was his royal neighbour, 
 Ben-hadad, the king of Syria. This man seems to have 
 had a deep-rooted ill-will towards Ahab, and to have cast 
 covetous eyes upon his dominions ; for he was always con- 
 triving to stir up war between them. In this chapter we 
 find him securing the co-operation of not less than thirty- 
 two vassal kings; and organizing a huge military expedition, 
 the object of which was to lay siege to Samaria, the capital 
 of Ahab's kingdom. 
 
 I do not know that history records a more daring piece 
 of impudence than the message which Ben-hadad sent to 
 
I04 
 
 Talks with Yoting Men, 
 
 Ahab. If ever one king offered an insult to another, surely 
 it was in these words : '' Thus saith Ben-hadad, thy silver 
 and thy gold is mine; thy wives also, and thy children, 
 even the goodliest, are mine." Of course, you say, a dark 
 scowl instantly overcast the face of Ahab ; righteous indig- 
 nation seized his soul ; and by all the powers of heaven he 
 swore, that the last drop of blood in his veins would be 
 spilt, and the last soldier in his army fall in battle, sooner 
 than that the insolent demand of that Syrian dog would be 
 yielded to. Not at all. The mean dastard sent back the 
 truculent reply : " My lord, O king, according to thy saying, 
 I am thine, and all that I have." He was ready for the most 
 abject surrender, could he but save his life ; he would rather 
 live a beggar than die a king. 
 
 When Ben-hadad sees this, he becomes still more in- 
 solent and imperious ; and the next word he sends is this : 
 " Not only shall I have your silver and gold, your wives 
 and children ; but to-morrow at this time I will send my 
 servants to rifle and ransack your whole establishment; 
 and whatever is pleasant and valuable, and worth laying 
 their hands upon, they shall carry away." We have heard 
 a good deal about " the last straw that breaks the camel's 
 back"; well, Ben-hadad had laid on that straw. Even 
 Ahab could stand it no longer; so he suddenly called a 
 meeting of the chief officers of his court, and asked their 
 counsel in the matter. "Not for one instant listen to him," 
 was their unanimous voice (for I suppose they were already 
 heartily ashamed of their cowardly, sneaking monarch). 
 
 Did Ahab now take the bull by the horns, and show his 
 enemy that he would not be trifled with'? The poor 
 creature sent back this message : *'Tell my lord the king, 
 all that thou didst send for to thy servant at the first I will 
 do ; but this thing I may not do." In other words, he will 
 surrender his wives, and his children, and a portion of his 
 
 ^x 
 
 Young Men from the Country, 105 
 
 property; but there were certain valuables he could not 
 
 consent to part with. ^ 
 
 The correspondence still went on^ Ben-hadad is filled 
 with rage, that such a mean abject should dare to resist 
 him ; and with a big, round oath, he swears that he will 
 come and swallow up Samaria and its king together. 
 
 And now for the first sensible word out of Ahab's lips. 
 " Take this message, with my compliments, to the King ol 
 Syria : Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast him- 
 self as he that puUeth it off." Tell the foolish braggart not 
 to shout before the victory. We can fancy what effect such 
 a message would have on a proud spirit like Ben-hadad's. 
 It was delivered to him as he was sitting with his con- 
 federates, drinking in the pavilions. No doubt they were 
 having a jolly time of it— he and the thirty-two vassal 
 kings. The tankards were filled with sparkling wine. 
 Toast followed toast in quick succession. The paltry 
 kinglets flattered the monarch of Syria, till his head was 
 fairly turned. "Here's to the health of Ben-hadad, and 
 a glorious victory over Ahab to-morrow." Just at that 
 moment the message came from Samaria : " Let not him 
 that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that pulleth 
 it off." I see the flush rise on Ben-hadad's face. Snatch- 
 ing his sword, he cries, ''To arms ! " and vows that, without 
 an hour's delay, Samaria shall be in ruins. 
 
 Meanwhile God sends a prophet to Ahab, king of Israel, 
 to assure him that all these mighty hosts that are encamped 
 around the city shall fall into his hand. " Thus saith the 
 Lord, Hast thou seen all this great multitude ? Behold, I 
 will deliver it unto thine hand this day; and thou shalt 
 know that I am Jehovah." I suppose that Ahab can hardly 
 believe the prophet; but he eagerly asks, "By whom?" 
 And, in the words of my text, the prophet replies, " Even 
 by the young men of the princes of the provinces." 
 
io6 
 
 Talks with Young Men, 
 
 And so it came to pass. For, as we find in the sequel, 
 these young lads from the provinces — two hundred and 
 thirty-two in number — went out bravely at the head of a 
 small army against the Syrians. It was twelve o'clock at 
 noon ; but, early as was the hour, Ben-hadad and his allies 
 were helplessly drunk; his forces were demoralised ; there 
 was utter confusion in the camp ; and, slashing right and 
 left, these volunteers dashed in amongst them with such 
 frightful execution, that a panic seized the host ; those that 
 could flee fled, and those that resisted were slain ; and so 
 it came to pass that the Syrians were utterly routed, the 
 city of Samaria saved, and the kingdom of Israel delivered ; 
 and all through the valour of two hundred and thirty-two 
 young men. So that my subject this evening is,— young 
 men the saviours of their country. 
 
 Not long ago, it was stated in a public meeting, by one 
 who has done as much, probably, for the highest interests 
 of youth as any living man, that there are not less than 
 250,000 young men in London. More than a thousand 
 times the force that saved the kingdom of Samaria. What 
 an enormous power for good or for evil I What proportion 
 of this number, think ye, are proving, or are likely to prove, 
 a blessing to the country ? Shall we say twenty per cent. ? 
 ten- per cent. ? five per cent. ? Of the hundreds whom I 
 see before me now, there is not one who ought not to be 
 fired with the ambition to make his life a blessing to 
 others. 
 
 At our gates there is a legion far more terrible than 
 Ben-hadad and all his allies. There are moral, social, 
 political corruptions enough to overturn society, and bring 
 about wholesale revolution. There is an amount of drunken- 
 ness, gambling, debauchery, unchastity, bestiality, ignorance, 
 superstition, atheism, and defiance of authority — all arrayed 
 against the best interests of our country — beside which all 
 
 Young Men fro7n the Country, 107 
 
 the forces of Syria are not to be mentioned. What is to be 
 done ? Are we to lose heart, and give up the battle ? Arc 
 we, like that despicable poltroon, Ahab, to truckle to the 
 foe? God forbid. I believe He will yet deliver all that 
 host into our hand. I am no visionary optimist, when I 
 declare that a blessed time shall ere long dawn upon our 
 land. A deliverance is coming. You say, " By whom ? '» 
 and I answer, in the words of my text, " Even by the young 
 men of the provinces." 
 
 The kingdom of Israel was divided into so many depart- 
 ments, each of which had a governor or " prince " presiding 
 over it ; and these princes, in turn, effected their superin- 
 tendence by means of a limited number of young men, 
 selected in the several localities. Suppose that there were 
 twelve of these provinces, the number of these young men 
 mentioned here would give nearly an average of twenty to 
 each ; and we cannot doubt that those who were chosen 
 would be the finest, and most steady, and most high- 
 principled to be found. When all joined together, then, 
 they would indeed be a noble phalanx. I do not wonder 
 to read that this stalwart, compact, and united band wrought 
 such a havoc among the foe. 
 
 As compared with past days, we are living in a very 
 millennium of Young Men's Christian Associations. The tide 
 has turned in their favour. Everywhere they are gaining 
 amazingly. They are commanding influence and respect. 
 It is the best young men that join them. The best morally, 
 religiously, and to a great extent intellectually. Yes, intel- 
 lectually. These, as a rule, are the young men who want 
 to learn to think and speak. Wherever you have one of 
 these institutions you have, if it is possible, reading-rooms 
 stocked with sound literature, and classes of all sorts. 
 These are the young fellows that wish to improve their 
 minds, to acquire one or more foreign languages, to perfect 
 
io8 
 
 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 themselves in English composition, to study science, and 
 generally to advance their mental culture. These are the 
 men that gladly avail themselves of instructive lectures, 
 that borrow wholesome books from the library, and that 
 wish to keep themselves abreast of current literature. I 
 do not go there to meet the young ne'er-do-we*els, that 
 find their supreme enjoyment in idleness and tobacco ; nor 
 the foul rakes that are rarely home by midnight ; nor the 
 perfumed puppies who shine only in the ball-room; nor 
 the brainless fops that shoot pigeons at Hurlingham ; nor 
 the youthful gamblers who are laying their stakes on the 
 approaching boat-race ; no : such characters find nothing 
 to attract them there, and commonly affect to look down, 
 from their own exalted elevation, with something like 
 disdain, upon the proper and well-conducted young men 
 of whom I have spoken. But I ask you, from which of 
 these groups is it that we obtain our willing helpers in 
 philanthropic and Christian work; to which do you look 
 to find fresh recruits for your Sunday-school enterprise, 
 and your temperance campaign ? to which direction do we 
 turn when we need more office-bearers in the Church, or 
 additional workers amongst the ignorant and poor ? Ah I 
 we do not need to think twice before answering that 
 question. 
 
 Now, when I read the story before us, and see how the 
 kingdom of Samaria was delivered through the instrumen- 
 tality of a small but valiant and united band of her young 
 men, I cannot resist the temptation to draw from the 
 subject, and offer to you, one or two plain aiid practical 
 lessons. 
 
 I. These young men were comparatively /<?«; in number. 
 Two hundred and thirty-two, all told. I guessed that there 
 might be twelve provinces, and allowing for one or two 
 cases of absence from sickness, twenty men from each 
 
 *- 
 
 Young Men from the Country. 109 
 
 province. Well, twenty men can do a great deal. Many 
 a Christian association does not number more. Perhaps 
 the members are a little dispirited, because the roll does 
 not increase as they would desire ; but better twenty names 
 representing true and staunch men, who faithfully attend 
 and throw themselves into the work of 'the society, than 
 sixty ornamental signatures of gentlemen who always forget 
 the day of meeting, and whose memories are equally faulty 
 about the annual subscription I 
 
 It is a remarkable fact, that in any town or locality or 
 congregation you choose to name, whatever moral good is 
 effected or philanthropic work carried on, is done almost 
 entirely by an exceedingly limited number. I remember 
 an estimable man, resident in a provincial town in the 
 North, telling me that whenever any great institution— it 
 might be the British and Foreign Bible Society, or the 
 London Missionary Society, or any other— sent its delegates 
 to the place, there were just twenty men in the town that 
 could be reckoned on for practical support. It was always 
 the same men that helped every good cause. The great 
 mass kept aloof, stood to one side, and allowed a micro- 
 scopic minority to do the whole. There is always a number 
 of timid, halting, selfish people, who will look on and 
 approve, and take any amount of credit for what is accom- 
 plished, and gladly reap whatever benefit may accrue, but 
 do none of the work. 
 
 Gideon had a fine army when he went' against the 
 Midianites at the hill Moreh, 32,000 men, all told; but \ 
 never can resist a laugh when I read of those brave soldiers. 
 *^ Whosoever among you is fearful and afraid," shouts 
 General Gideon, on the eve of the battle, " let him return 
 and depart ; " and instantly, as fast as their legs can carry 
 them, 22,000 scamper off over the hills of Gilead. Well, 
 he has 10,000 left; yet of these there was not so much as 
 
 •J 
 
'*% 
 
 no 
 
 Talks with Young Men, 
 
 one in thirty altogether equal to the occasion. By a hand- 
 ful of 300 men the victory was wrought. It has always 
 been the case in the history of the world ; a select few have 
 been the means of bringing blessings to the mass. Why, 
 there is not a political or religious advantage we enjoy in 
 this land which, if traced back to its source, would not 
 illustrate this truth. It was a fine old saying of the German 
 reformers, that ".one, with God on his side, is a majority." 
 Why, supposing we have 250,000 young men in London, let 
 there be only Ahab's 232 with God upon their side, and 
 I assert they are the majority; they are on the winning 
 side, and the cause they represent must ultimately prosper. 
 How many of you belong to this chosen band ? 
 
 II. These young men that saved Samaria were lads from 
 the provinces. No doubt they were gathered from the 
 districts of Sharon, and Shechem, and Seirath, and Mich- 
 methah, and Shamir, and Ophrah, and other parts of the 
 kingdom. They were "young men from the country." 
 None the worse for that. Samaria was a bad city ; there 
 was a great deal of vice there ; and probably many of its 
 young men were loose and effeminate, alike in body and 
 mind poor specimens of humanity; and the kingdom could 
 not be saved by them ; they were not the material out of 
 which soldiers could be made. So the provinces were 
 looked to, and they furnished the men. 
 
 I mean no disrespect to those who have been born and 
 bred in London, when I say — what is a well-known fact — 
 that a large proportion of the sound moral strength of the 
 active young manhood of the metropolis, is an importation 
 from the country. This yearly immigration is one of the 
 features of our age. Every month there are fresh arrivals 
 in this city, from all parts of the kingdom. Not a town, 
 and scarcely a village or hamlet, that has not in this way 
 some link to London. More Irishmen here than in Dublin. 
 
 taCi-^' 
 
 .<-^ 
 
 Young Men from the Countiy, 1 1 1 
 
 More Welshmen here than in Bangor. More Scotchmen 
 here than in Edinburgh. 
 
 Well, come away ; the more the better, so long as there 
 are openings for you, and you bring good principles with 
 you. But, if there is constant immigration, there is also 
 incessant emigration. Here for a year or two, and then 
 off; Away they go to India, and China, and South Africa, 
 and the colonies; the blessing of God go with them. 
 
 We expect you, gentlemen, who have come from the 
 quiet rural districts, to bring a wholesome influence with 
 you. If you do go wrong, you generally become the worst 
 of all ; but if you keep in the right, way, j^our power for 
 good is incalculable. 
 
 III. These young men who delivered Ssimsinsi were brave, 
 and fearless of the foe. Their task, it is true, did not prove 
 so serious as it might have been. They had thirty-three 
 kings arrayed against them ; but — they were all drunk ! 
 
 The historian does not mince matters. He does not say 
 the Royal party were somewhat elevated with wine ; but 
 he bluntly states that "Ben-hadad was drinking himself 
 drunk, he and the thirty-and-two kings that helped him." 
 Helped him indeed ! I would like to know of what help 
 a man can be to any cause when his brain is stupefied with 
 alcohol. The Bishop of Peterborough, had he been there, 
 would have said, " I would rather see the Syrian army free 
 than sober." " Rather see England free than sober I" Was 
 there ever a more illogical observation from' a bishop? 
 Why, England is not free unless she is sober. Never was 
 there such a tyrant as drink. There is no slavery more 
 helpless and degrading than that of the victims of intem- 
 perance. ■ 
 
 But for all that, these young fellows did a valiant deed. 
 Called out to meet the enemy, they promptly obeyed, and 
 did not stay to estimate the force they were to oppose. 
 
 j- 
 
112 
 
 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 Young Men froin the Country, 113 
 
 *' For God and our country " was their motto, and forward 
 they went I They remind us of the famous chaige at 
 Balaclava, which called forth such general admiration that 
 the words were in everybody's lips : — 
 
 " Forward the Light Brigade ! 
 Was there a man dismayed ? 
 Not though the soldier knew 
 
 Some one had blundered. 
 
 Theirs not to make reply, 
 Theirs not to reason why, 
 Theirs but to do and die — 
 Into the valley of death 
 
 Rode the six hundred !*' 
 
 Well, this is the class of men we want in the battle with 
 error and vice. Men with a backbone of solid principle, 
 and hearts of steel. Men that have the courage of their 
 convictions, and are not afraid of a laugh or a sneer. I tell 
 you that the foundation of true valour is faith in God. If 
 you visit Westminster Abbey, you will see the epitapli on 
 Lord Lawrence in these words : — " He feared man so little, 
 because he feared God so much." Now, I do not hesitate 
 to say — even though it should offend some flippant, cynical 
 trifler here, who has been busy for the last half-hour ad- 
 miring his rings or trimming his moustache— that there 
 are not a few young men, of whom it might be declared : 
 ''They fear man so much, because they fear God so little." 
 Once let the heart be dominated by Divine grace, and you 
 will scorn to be intimidated by a taunt or a jeer ; you will 
 stand to your guns at whatever cost, and hold by your 
 principles to the death. Mind you, it is a tough battle you 
 have to fight : and only by strength from heaven you will 
 conquer. It was a good epitaph I once met with on a 
 Christian soldier's grave : — 
 
 x,x 
 
 L 
 
 * Here lies a soldier whom all must applaud, 
 Who fought many battles, at home and abroad 
 But the hottest engagement he ^erver was in 
 Was the conquest of self in the battle of sin." 
 
 IV. These young men of Samaria suggest to me several 
 other lessons; but, as I do not wish you to be taking out 
 your watches, I will add but one more : they were united 
 and concerted in their action. They went as one man against 
 the foe. Erratic Christians, who dash about like so many 
 Bashi-Bazouks, acting on no law but the bidding of their 
 own caprice, are seldom of much real service. They are 
 like meteors ; or rather like squibs or rockets, with which 
 boys amuse themselves. They sparkle, and splutter, and 
 make a noise, and leap about in zigzag fashion, making 
 everybody jump aside, but — they do no real execution ; 
 whereas, associated and well-ordered, they resemble a 
 regiment in even line abreast, each man with his musket 
 ready for discharge, and all advancing with simultaneous 
 step against the enemy. 
 
 I advise every young man who wants to do well, to 
 attach himself to some sound and reliable association, for 
 his own benefit, as well as the general good. You will 
 find it an' unspeakable advantage. The late Archbishop ot 
 Canterbury, who was a man of remarkable and statesman- 
 like sagacity, in one of the last addresses he gave, used 
 these words : "A youth who has no companions is generally 
 a poor specimen. But if companionship is left to mere 
 accident, there is every chance that it will increase tempta- 
 tion. A young man comes from his home in the country, 
 and is thrown, say, in the midst of London. If he has no 
 one to give him a friendly hand, he must naturally take up 
 with any who are brought near him in the routine of busi- 
 ness or the pursuit of relaxation. He is kept busy all day, 
 but he must have his amusements. Unacquainted with th3 
 
 8 
 
^>^'- 
 
 114 • Talks with Young Men. 
 
 town, he does not know where or how safely to seek them. 
 It is as likely as not, that some young man, more knowmg 
 and less Christian than himself, will seek his society, and 
 initiate him into what is called ^ife/ It will be well for 
 him, then, if he finds in his counting-house or shop that 
 there are men of a different character, who are not only 
 decided in their religious principles, but ever on the outlook 
 for new-comers, that they may offer them the hand of help 
 and welcome." These words of the late prelate are worthy 
 to be weighed by you all. 
 
 The ancient Thebans had in their armies a band of men 
 that were called ^' the holy band," consisting of such from 
 the various battalions as were united in a bond of love, and 
 were sworn to live and die together in the service of their 
 country. These men were reckoned of the greatest value. 
 They were esteemed the strength of the army, and, in times 
 of danger and alarm, were the nation's hope. 
 
 Oh ! should we not have in England such a confederacy ? 
 
 Should not our Christian young men be more and more 
 
 leagued together in holy compact-thank God for what is 
 
 doing in this direction-resolved to deliver our land from 
 
 the Syrians who threaten it? This is what we want. 
 
 Before and above all movements for the diminution of the 
 
 hours of labour, and adjustment of the rate of wages, and 
 
 equalizing of taxation, and extension of the francnise, and 
 
 so forth, we want the powerful momentum of the Christian 
 
 young manhood of the country directed against every form 
 
 of social impurity, commercial immorality, and incipient 
 
 atheism. We want men rich in all the higher qualities of 
 
 mind and character; men of courage, the moral courage 
 
 which enables its possessor to rule over himself, and makes 
 
 him steadfast in doing what is right, and resisting what is 
 
 wrong ; men of truth, who scorn to lend themselves to 
 
 anything that is dishonourable, and hate and abhor all 
 
 «. rf:^- 
 
 I • 
 
 '*¥.J^ 
 
 Young Men from the Country. 1 1 5 
 
 shams ; men of discretion, who know how they can best 
 meet the wants of the' age ; above all, men of faith, who 
 can pierce the shadows of this short-lived scene, and live as 
 obedient servants of the Most High God ; only give us such 
 a body of young men, representing the country in all its 
 provinces, and then— no fear of all the Ben-hadads of evil ; 
 the cause of truth and righteousness is near to victory ! 
 
 Just one word more, but a word I dare not leave unsaid. 
 I am not preaching a mere earth-born morality. I do not 
 believe in it. Any hope I may have of stimulating you to 
 truth and goodness, rests on that Divine grace, which is to 
 be found, and found only, at the cross of our dear Redeemer. 
 Go to Christ for pardon, for peace, for power. Go to Christ 
 for the secret of a happy and a useful life. Get rid of your 
 sins at that fountain, from whose crimson margin even a 
 Manasseh and a Magdalene have gone up to glory; and 
 accepted of God, let your lives be full of beauty and bless- 
 ing. Oh that the youth of Britain were fired with no meanei 
 ambition than this ; and that — 
 
 " However crowns and coronets be rent, 
 A virtuous populace might rise the while, 
 And stand, a wall of fire, around our much-loved isle.* 
 
 Amen. 
 
THE EYES OF A YOUNG MAN OPENED. 
 
^^ And the Lord opened the eves o*the votm^ man.** — 2 Kings vi. 17. 
 
 IX 
 
 THE EYES OF A YOUNG MAN" OPETTED, 
 
 SAID young man was a kind of secretary or aide-de-camp 
 to the prophet Elisha. His name is not known. He 
 had only recently got the appointment. ' The situation had 
 become vacant in a remarkable way. The young man who 
 held it before had misconducted himself. That inordinate 
 love of gain which has been the destruction of so many, 
 which almost every week tempts some well-doing young man 
 in London off the rails of virtue, and plunges him in misery, 
 proved his ruin. He had looked with covetous eye upon 
 the riches of Naaman the Syrian, and by wholesale and 
 barefaced lying had come into possession of some of it, and 
 the Lord struck him with an incurable leprosy. Oh, it was 
 a sad day for Gehazi, when he yielded to the tempter I 
 
 Verily, " tlie way of transgressors is hard." He lost his 
 situation, but that was the smallest part of it He lost his 
 health, too, lost his character, lost his self-respect, lost a 
 clean conscience, lost everything that he had to lose, and 
 disappears from view — a young man wrecked and ruined 
 by the love of money. I hope his successor was a better 
 man. I think he was. I think he was one of the students, 
 or " sons of the prophets " at Gilgal. The occasion to which 
 the text introduces us was this. You must understand 
 that the kings of Syria and of Israel were at war with one 
 another. The former was the aggressor. He was devising 
 all kinds of measures for defeating the Israelites; but, as 
 
I20 
 
 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 often as he laid some secret plan for a sudden and success- 
 ful attack, he found that a spy or traitor had acquainted the 
 enemy with his design, and so his plan was thwarted. 
 This, of course, was very annoying to the Syrian monarch ; 
 and having summoned a meeting of his officers, he demanded 
 to know which of them it was that was playing false with 
 him, and treacherously conveying information to the King 
 of Israel. With one voice they all denied the charge, 
 " but," said one of them, " I think I can explain the matter. 
 There is a prophet in Israel, Elisha by name, to whom the 
 gods give knowledge of all that thou doest, and he telleth 
 to the King oi Israel even the words that thou speakest in 
 thy bed-chamber." On hearing this, Jehoram was filled 
 with rage, and having found out that Elisha was at present 
 staying at a little town called Dotham, he sent there a 
 powerful army oi" Infantry and cavalry to take the prophet 
 prisoner, and put him to death. This army came by night, 
 and as the town stood upon an eminence, they surrounded 
 it on every side, to secure that Elisha should not by any 
 possibility escape. The people of Dotham were all sound 
 asleep, as also was Elisha, and they knew nothing of what 
 
 was going on. 
 
 Next morning the young man, the prophet's attendant, 
 was up betimes; we are told he "rose early"; and this 
 was a good sign of him (what good can you expect of lazy 
 fellows that lie long a-bed in the morning ?); but, as he 
 stepped out to have a turn and breathe the fresh air, he 
 was startled and affrighted to behold the city compassed 
 round with soldiers and horses and chariots of the King of 
 Syria. He ran back to his lodgings in terrible dismay, and 
 woke up Elisha, saying, " Alas I master, what shall we do ? 
 The whole town is surrounded by armed men ; there are 
 mounted soldiers and chariots of war; the place is alive 
 with desperate-looking Syrians; and their spears and 
 
 *A 
 
 The Eyes of a Young Man Opened, 1 2 1 
 
 helmets are gleaming in the morning sun. They are 
 round about us on evefy side, so that there is no outlet. 
 Master, what ever shall we do ? " 
 
 And the prophet, without moving a muscle, looked upon 
 him calmly, and said, " Fear not ; for they that be with us 
 are more than they that be with them ; " and then, clasping 
 his hands and looking up to heaven, he said, " Let us pray. 
 
 Lord, I pray Thee, open his eyes, that he may see." 
 The prayer was immediately answered ; for so my text 
 
 relates ; " And the Lord opened the eyes of the young 
 man," that is, gave him a supernatural vision, that he might 
 see the realities of the spiritual world ; and lo I the moun- 
 tain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about 
 Elisha and himself. These were the angels of God, sent to 
 be their body-guard ; for " the chariots of God are twenty 
 thousand, even thousands of angels; the Lord was with 
 them, as in Sinai, in the holy place." 
 
 Elisha's prayer was one which, in a somewhat different 
 sense, has often been offered up in this place; and, thank 
 God, has been answered, too. And are we not justified in 
 believing that, if the prophet was immediately answered 
 when he besought God to give to his attendant a temporary 
 view of the world of spirits, still more readily shall we be 
 heard, when we entreat Him to remove from the eyes of 
 some young man the fatal darkness of unbelief, and impart 
 that faith which is *' the evidence of things not seen " ? 
 
 Let me speak to you, then, for a few moments about this 
 spiritual blindness. Not more incapable was that young 
 man at Dotham of seeing the angelic hosts which were 
 mustered around than are we in our natural state of appre- 
 hending the things that belong to our salvation. I am not 
 referring to persons who are openly wicked and vicious ; 
 
 1 do not doubt, for a moment, that that youth who waited 
 upon Elisha was a moral, exemplary, well-principled man f 
 
Talks with Young Men. 
 
 122 
 
 and yet, not until a supernatural power came down upon 
 him L; above, had he the faintest notion of 'he ^P'"'-^^ 
 battalions that were so near. We are all "'--; '"^ ' 
 blind to the things of God and of etern.ty ^Imd to o- 
 actual condition and danger, blind to our highest mterests 
 blind to the excellency of Christ and to the *>e^"t'« °* 
 holiness. Never to this hour has the carnal eye been able 
 to =ee, nor natural heart to perceive, " the th.ngs wh.ch 
 So^ hath prepared" in the Gospel for them that love 
 
 T-Iim 
 
 What is the secret of so many earnest appeals unre- 
 sponded to, so many solemn sermons unblest, so many 
 ILtling p ovidences unsanctified, but that the mass of 
 men are living in a fool's paradise, without a conception 
 S the Iwful realities around them. One would reasonably 
 suppose that any uncertainty about ^^e great future would 
 awaken the deepest emotions; that a smgle thought of the 
 Tst " deserts of eternity " that lie before them would make 
 men utterly wretched until they had found peace w,th God 
 Sut no! As though only that had existence -hich the.r 
 fleshly eyes behold, they live in utter unconcern as to the 
 world to come. If the two destinies we have to choose 
 between were very much like each other ; if they were but 
 two phases of the same thing; if heaven were only a l.ttle 
 better than hell, and hell only a Uttle worse than heaven, U 
 wo" Id not be so surprising the indifference which men 
 display But, when the one is all brightness and song, and 
 the other all blasphemy and black despair; when the one 
 means everlasting association with the P"'-^"'^ 8°°'^' ^Z* 
 the glorious angels, and with a smiling God, and the other 
 the eternal company of cursing fiends and raging devils, 
 between which two groups there is fixed a great and im- 
 passable gulf-Oh how can you explain it, that the very 
 thought of the bare possibility of missing the one, and ol 
 
 ... 
 
 The Eyes of a Young Man Opened, 123 
 
 dropping into the other, does not take the colour out of a 
 man's cheek, and make him cry for mercy ? There are men 
 living in this street and in that street round about us— 
 men who are fairly educated and intelligent— shrewd enough 
 in their worldly affairs, and respectable in their families- 
 men who offer no disrespect to the Christian pastor, and 
 never throw any ridicule upon the Bible ; and when I speak 
 to them of the necessity pf repentance and conversion, oi 
 the ruin of sin and the redemption of grace, they are as 
 little mcved as the floor on which they stand; these things 
 are to them but ''as idle tales, and they heed them not :" 
 we mourn to them in the Law, but they will not lament : 
 we pipe to them in the Gospel, but they will not dance ; 
 our wooings and our warnings are alike in vain ; heaven 
 may chant, and hell may groan; but notwithstanding 
 all, they remain untouched, they " care for none of these 
 
 things." 
 
 I say, how are you to account for this ? What explanation 
 can you offer of a phenomenon so strange, unless it be that 
 their eyes are closed to all that is outside the realms of 
 sense ? Can you wonder that the servant of God, feeling 
 his utter powerlessness and incompetency, looks up to 
 heaven, and, like Elisha, cries, '' O Lord, I pray Thee, open 
 their eyes that they may see " ? 
 
 For that veil that hides from men the stern realities of 
 the other kingdom, that thick, impenetrable veil, no hand 
 but God's can tear aside. '' Since the world began was it 
 not heard, that any man opened the eyes of one that was 
 
 born blind." 
 
 But I would wish you, my brothers, to bear in mind, that 
 this natural opacity may by yourselves be made tenfold 
 more dense and deep. " Their eyes they have closed," says 
 the Lord. It is a wilful blindness. 
 
 I know young men who are deliberately intensifying their 
 
 -- 
 
\' 
 
 ;>'-^ 
 
 124 
 
 TaiJks with Young Men. 
 
 spiritual darkness by reading atheistical books. If a fresh 
 attack on Christianity is published, they must have the 
 volume. If some lecture on so-called "Free-thought" is 
 to be delivered, they must go and hear it. They work 
 themselves into the belief that reason is opposed to reve- 
 lation—that, with the advancement of science, and progress 
 of mental culture, the Bible must go to the wall. Perhaps 
 some one present is being caught in this snare. It is one 
 which the devil is fond of laying for young men. But, will 
 that young man just be kind enough to give me his ear for 
 one moment? When we want to make up our opinion 
 about certain principles, we naturally ask, Who are the 
 men that hold them? I do not say this is an infallible 
 test ; and yet I frankly own to you, that, if I found all 
 the 'best thought and intellect and culture opposed to 
 Christianity, and the Gospel accepted only by brainless 
 fools, I should feel somewhat confounded. But what are 
 
 the facts? 
 
 If the highest intellect and the highest character are tests 
 to guide us, then Christ's religion must be the best thing in 
 this world. The most eminent men in our country to-day, 
 the men who occupy the highest position in the realm of 
 law, men whose very business is to weigh evidence and 
 sift specious arguments; these men— I may instance the 
 present Lord Chancellor, and the ex-Lord Chancellor, and 
 the Lord Chief Justice— are men who, not only in theory, 
 but in practical daily life, testify to their sincere acceptance 
 of the Gospel. I never introduce politics in this place, but 
 I will say that I pity the individual, to whatever camp he 
 belongs, who does not acknowledge that in the present 
 Prime Minister of England we have a man of almost 
 unexampled intellectual power, and of equally eminent 
 moral character; well, hear what he said not long ago, 
 when addressing a large body of young men ;— « Depend 
 
 4^ Vi* 
 
 The Eyes of a Young Man Opened, 125 
 
 upon it, gentlemen, those who boast or think that the 
 intellectual battle against Christianity has been fought and 
 won, are reckoning without their host. In my belief, 
 human thought is not yet divorced, either from the vital 
 essence of Christianity, or from the cardinal facts and 
 truths which are to that essence as the body is to the soul ; 
 and if and when that divorce arrives, with it will come the 
 commencement and the pledge of radical decay in the 
 civilization of the world. Christianity, gentlemen, even in 
 its sadly imperfect development, is, as simple matter of 
 fact, at the head of the world. As the first existing power 
 it rules the earth." 
 
 May God open the eyes of some young men to see this, 
 whose minds are warped by the baseless notion that the 
 religion of Jesus is at variance with a vigorous intellec- 
 tualism I • 
 
 Again, I pray God to open the eyes of those of you, 
 young men, who cannot see an inch beyond your mere 
 worldly interests. For, it is a fact, that the horizon of 
 many is bounded by their material prospects. A curtain, 
 growing every day more dense, divides them from all that 
 is spiritual, eternal, and sublime. They are incapable of 
 looking beyond matters of £^ s. d. They are absorbed 
 with business. I said one day to a respectable tradesman, 
 carrying on business within a hundred yards of this church, 
 " When are you going to begin to think of eternity, and 
 come to the House of God?" His reply I shall never 
 forget. "I know, sir, that I ought to come, but it's no 
 use, my mind is so full of business I can think of nothing 
 else." That man was practically giving himself up for lost. 
 He was older than most of you, and I trust none of you are 
 in that state; but, remember, it grows on one. Talk of 
 a man beginning life when he is twenty-one ! Why, that 
 is just about the time when virtually many 'do close life. 
 
 
I 
 
 ii:i 
 
 126 
 
 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 I believe that, in nine cases out of ten, all the questions o! 
 eternity are decided before a man is twenty-five. He may 
 live sixty years after that, and yet, in all probability, his 
 character is already formed, and his attitude determined 
 towards the great matters of religion. 
 
 Let a man live to seventy, the latter fifty years of his 
 life are not so important as the first twenty. And, if you 
 cut off the years of irresponsible childhood, O how limited 
 is the time in which the seeds of future character and 
 destiny are to be sown I A man wakes up at forty years 
 of age, to find that his very soul is so permeated and 
 saturated with matters secular, and matters commercial, 
 and matters financial, he is utterly unable to apprehend a 
 
 spiritual truth. 
 
 I want you, then, dear young men, to understand, that 
 your eternity is wrapped up in the present hour ; and that, 
 if you let the flower of your days pass without a real and 
 profound perception of eternal things, the chances are you 
 will never have such a perception at all. "O Lord, I pray 
 Thee, open their eyes that they may see." 
 
 Again, there's a youth who is giving the reins to his 
 passions, indulging the flesh with every gratification. Oh 
 that the Lord would but open his eyes to see his infatuate 
 folly 1 There is hardly a day that I do not come in contact 
 with some case of a young man who is acting, positively, 
 as though he were blind, running into excesses of all sorts, 
 as though there were no terrible retribution to follow. 
 Only the other week a gentleman called to see me, holding 
 a petition in his hand, which he wished me to sign. 
 "What is it?" I said. "It is an appeal to the Court to 
 
 deal as mercifully as the law will allow with ." 
 
 ''What is the matter?" I inquired. "Oh, have you not 
 heard ? He has got into trouble, poor fellow, and has com- 
 mitted forgery." I was startled, for I had known him only 
 
 
 The Eyes of a Young Man Opened, 1 2 7 
 
 as a respectable, trustworthy man. I am not aware whether 
 the petition had much weight, but that man is to-day in 
 "durance vile," and will come out of gaol in a few months 
 with a character lost and prospects ruined for life, all 
 through self-indulgence and idiotic folly. He had got 
 amongst betting men, and had given way to drinking and 
 gambling, and lo ! the sure consequence. 
 
 What on earth can be the fascination of such vices I 
 cannot imagine. Surely, if there is loathsome company 
 out of hell, it is the society of such men. Their very 
 breath is putrid as the sepulchre. It seems to me as 
 though it must be with bandaged eyes that some men do 
 rush into such iniquity, whose issues are always remorse, 
 and ruin, and death. 
 
 Young man ! what made you hang down your head the 
 other day when you slipped out of that public-house ? You 
 should rather have hung down your head when you entered 
 it ; for I defy you to have repeated the Lord's Prayer that 
 night with honest lips, " Lead me not into temptation, but 
 
 deliver me from evil." 
 
 Again, I take encouragement from the text to pray for 
 some of you, that the Lord would open your eyes to 
 apprehend the Gospel, to see Christ as your Saviour. For 
 this, every man needs Divine illumination. In early days, 
 when I was deeply anxious about my soul, I sometimes 
 said to myself, " Such and such a minister, I think, could 
 bring me into the light." But I found that only God 
 Himself could do it. Not till He took me in hand, were 
 
 my eyes opened. 
 
 I remember, when visiting Ireland during the great 
 Revival in 1859, of being struck with the way in which 
 so many of the converts described the change that had 
 come over them, as though it were the removing of a 
 bandage which had hitherto been over their eyes. " Now 
 
 MMik- 
 
128 
 
 il 
 
 Talks with Young Men, 
 
 I see itl" they would say, as they passed out of darkness 
 into marvellous light. 
 
 On the other hand, I have reasoned with an anxious man 
 till I could add no more, trying to unfold the Gospel to 
 him, and still he sadly replied, "I cannot see it I" Ah I 
 truly does the Psalmist say, " The Lord openeth the eyes 
 of the blind." . 
 
 The great Napoleon thought of going over into Italy. His 
 friends laughed at him, and said, "You can never cross 
 the Alps. If you know anything about these mountains, 
 you must know you can never get over there." Napoleon 
 waved his hand, and said, '^ There shall be no Alps." Then 
 the road was made through the Simplon Pass ; and thou- 
 sands have gone over since. So the great Alpine barrier 
 of your sins divides you from the kingdom of heaven ; but 
 God opens your eyes, and lo I Christ has made a way; 
 and through the Simplon Pass of redemption you cross 
 over into the land of flower and sunshine. May every 
 Bartimeus here to-night have his eyes opened ! 
 
 There is one point more, and it comes nearer to the text 
 than any that I have mentioned. Some of you have a 
 terrible battle to fight with temptation. You say, "It is 
 almost hopeless for me to attempt to be a Christian.'* Y( u 
 go into the city, just as this young man did into Dotham, 
 and find it occupied with the armed hosts of the enemy. 
 The Syrians of lust, and avarice, and ridicule, and atheism 
 and poisonous literature, and evil companions and emis- 
 saries of hell, beset you on every side, till you think it is 
 no use trying to remain pure, or trying to live a godly Hie ; 
 and you sigh, "Alas! Master, what shall we do?" But, 
 my loved brother, if God will but open your eyes, you will 
 see that far greater are they that are with you than all that 
 be against you ; you are surrounded by invisible hosts of 
 ministering angels, "who are sent forth to minister unto 
 
 1 
 
 The Eyes of a Young Man Opened, 1 2 9 
 
 them who shall be heirs. of salvation." "The angel of the 
 Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and 
 delivereth them." He will not sufter you to be tempted 
 above that ye are able. 
 
 Oh, never imagine that any temptation is too strong 
 to be resisted, or any foe too mighty to be vanquished. 
 God is able to make you stand. His grace is sufficient 
 for you, and His strength is made perfect in weakness. 
 
 I should not be worthy of the name of a Christian pastor, 
 if I were not touched to behold before me to-night so noble 
 an assembly of young men. God only knows the difficulties 
 and conflicts which some of you have to endure I If any of 
 you are strangers and alone, to you especially to-night my 
 heart goes out in profound -and loving sympathy. You 
 must not remain alone. You must not continue unknown. 
 Isolation is weakness, association is strength. Come into 
 fellowship with Christian brothers here, who are ready 
 with the cheering word and the helping hand. 
 
 Among the mountains of Switzerland, where the diffi- 
 culties and dangers of travellers are great, they have a 
 way of binding a group of adventurers together. Before 
 they commence the slippery and perilous ascent, a strong 
 cord is bound round the waist of each, and all are then 
 tied together, so that every one helps the others, and if 
 a brother slip, they pull him up again. I want, in Christian 
 association, thus to bind you all, and help every one of you 
 up the hill to higher elevations of virtue and piety. Re- 
 member if you do not climb, you fall ; if you do not 
 advance, you recede. Beware I 
 
 There is an awful word with which I sometimes hear 
 young men pollute their Hps, and which occurs but once 
 in the Bible, and that in a terribly solemn connection, as 
 the downward course of the reprobate is described. The 
 word is "devilish." Hear the whole sentence, and mark 
 
 9 
 
 sn 
 
 riM 
 
1 
 
 if 
 
 130 
 
 Talks with Young Men, 
 
 the fearful gradation. " Earthly, sensual, devilish I ** Facilis 
 descensus Avemo. Earthly; that is, under the influence 
 of the world, living only for business, for money, for 
 mammon, and nothing higher ; a mere earthworm, with 
 no better aspirations than a comfortable temporal provision. 
 That is the first step ; and it is bad enough. But the next 
 is worse. Sensual ; living for brutish, fleshy gratification, 
 indulging the lowest passions of one's nature, pursuing 
 carnal pleasure, and sacrificing everything in the chase. 
 Surely that is low enough. But you cannot stop there. 
 You are on an incline, and you are not yet at the bottom. 
 Down you go. Devilish. Yes ; for this is what you will 
 become; the image of God completely effaced; even all 
 that is man-like crushed out of you ; and you fit now only 
 to associate with devils. Frightful degradation ; and, per- 
 haps, some of you are already on the slope. Mind, the 
 gradient is steep I 
 
 But if you are under the power of Christian faith, your 
 course is just the opposite. Instead of being ''earthly, 
 sensual, devilish," it is " heavenly, spiritual, divine I " 
 All that is manly in you becomes ennobled and refined; 
 and, reaching, beyond this, you "become partakers of the 
 divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in 
 the world through lust." The Lord open the eyes of 
 every young man here, revealing to you the heights of 
 dignity that stand before you, and filling you with all 
 pure and noble aspirations ! Amen. 
 
 TRUE TO THE RELIGION OF ONE'S FATHERS. 
 
 J) 
 

 '1\ 
 
 •* TAi Anj^gl^ which redeemed we from all ernl^ hicss the fads.**- 
 Gen. xlviii. i 
 
 X. 
 
 TRUE TO THE RELIGION OF ONE'S FA THERS. 
 
 GRANDPARENTS are apt to be partial and indulgent. 
 As a rule, they are more lenient to their children's 
 children than they used to be to their own. As years 
 advance, the heart (at least in many instances) grows 
 more warm and tender, especially where piety softens 
 and refines the character. Some old folks there are, to 
 be sure, who are peevish and irritable, who cannot be 
 troubled with young people, and have not a kind word 
 to say to them ; but let us hope these are the exceptions. 
 I think we have all known venerable persons, mellowed 
 by the infiuence of years, whom \o see was to love. We 
 like to be with them. We lov6 to listen to them. Their 
 words are an inspiration. Their smile is a benediction. 
 We like to get close up to that big arm-chair by the 
 fireside, where old grandfather sits, and see him take off 
 his spectacles, and with a kind look into our face, prepare 
 himself for a chat. Those who never knew what it was 
 to have a grandfather or a grandmother have missed much. 
 I believe the influence of old people upon the young to be 
 very wholesome. It develops thoughtfulness and care. It 
 draws out the best affections. Bring a stool, and put it 
 under those trembling feet. Place a cushion behind that 
 feeble back. Speak a little louder to those ears that are now 
 hard of hearing. I am glad all the patriarchs in this church 
 don't keep a.vay when I am going to address young men, 
 
134 
 
 Talks with Young Men, 
 
 True to the Religion of Ones Fathers. 
 
 135 
 
 
 for I think the sight of them does us good. Oh, a happy 
 old Christian is a perpetual sermon. Dr. Guthrie, when 
 nearly seventy, stood up in a meeting and said, "Don't 
 call me an old man, for I feel as young as ever I did." I 
 know I touch a tender chord in the hearts of some of you 
 to-night, as I bring upon you memories of the frail and 
 wrinkled, but dear and bonnie old man whom you call 
 grandfather. If he still lives, God bless him ! May the 
 last steps of his journey be smooth, and his departure to 
 a better world be happy and bright I 
 
 In the chapter we read this evening, we find old Jacob 
 very feeble with age. Limbs tottering, eyesight dim, 
 memory failing, speech almost gone. And yet his memory 
 was fresh enough to recall the way by which the Lord had 
 led him, and the mercies He had showered upon his path ; 
 and his voice was strong enough to express the wish that 
 the God who had been so kind and faithful to him, would 
 be equally good to those two dear lads, Ephraim and 
 Manasseh. I am interested to think that the age of these 
 young men was, as nearly as I can guess, just about the 
 average age of those whom I see in such goodly numbers 
 here to-night. Ephraim, the younger, was twenty-one; and 
 there was just a year between them. Most important stage 
 of life : turning-point of many a man's whole history. 
 With the sprightHness of youth, there blends just a little 
 of the seriousness of age ; and one begins to think gravely 
 of the responsibilities of life, and to choose; the path 
 he is to pursue. Jacob knew this well ; and therefore I 
 do not wonder at the intense fervour of the old man, as 
 he invoked Heaven's blessing on his two grandsons. 
 
 To them it must have been an impressive moment. If 
 any of you have received the benediction of a dying parent, 
 I venture to say, you will never forget it. How time flies ! 
 Distinctly does your preacher to-night remember, though 
 
 M> 
 
 many long years have gone by, how solemn was the im- 
 pression made upon his own mind, wh^n, kneeling by his 
 father's dying couch, a long thin hand, wasted by consump- 
 tion, was laid upon his head ; and in the laboured whisper 
 of a voice almost spent, Jacob's blessing was breathed over 
 him, " The God before whom my fathers did walk, the God 
 which fed me all my life long unto this day, the Angel 
 which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lad." 
 
 You will not wonder, then, that this is a marked text 
 in my Bible, and that I am tempted to base a sermon upon 
 it to-night. 
 
 Well, it strikes me in this way. The God, whose 
 blessing Jacob invoked upon the lads, is described by 
 him in a threefold manner : first, as his ancestral God, 
 " the God of his fathers, Abraham and Isaac " ; secondly, 
 as the God of Providence, " The God which fed me all 
 my life long unto this day"; and thirdly, as the God ot 
 redeeming grace, "the Angel which redeemed me from all 
 evil." May this triple benediction rest upon every lad 
 who is listening to me to-night, for Jesus Christ's sake. 
 Amen. 
 
 I. It is the blessing of our ancestral God. Jacob loved to 
 think, that the Being whom he worshipped was ''the God 
 of his fathers, Abraham and Isaac." No greater happiness 
 could he wish for these two fine youths, Joseph's sons, 
 than that the same God should be theirs. 
 
 You must have noticed that, in the religion of the Bible, 
 much is made of family descent. When Jehovah spake 
 from time to time to His ancient people, there was no 
 title they loved so much to hear as this, " The Lord God 
 of your fathers." And when Moses, predicting the judg- 
 ments that should come upon them in after years, imagined 
 an on-looker inquiring, "What meaneth the heat of this 
 
 
 
 great anger?" he supplied beforehand a true answer, 
 
136 
 
 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 " Men shall say, because they have forsaken the covenant 
 
 of the God of their fathers." There was no man who was 
 
 further from believing that " grace runs in the blood," than 
 
 was St. Paul; and yet he hardly ever looked upon his 
 
 excellent young friend Timothy, without calling to mind 
 
 with thankfulness to God, that good old lady, Lois, Timothy's 
 
 grandmother, and Eunice, his mother, whose joint influence 
 
 had proved so full of blessing. Oh, those of you who have 
 
 been blest with a pious parentage have much to be thankful 
 
 for. The purest blood in the world is that of a Christian 
 
 ancestry. To be descended from princes and nobles is 
 
 nothing to it. I have known people so silly as to glory 
 
 in the fact that their mother's uncle's second cousin's 
 
 first wife's half-brother was a lord ! Poor fools ! what 
 
 good it did them I The true aristocracy is the aristocracy 
 
 of grace. To be able to tell of a father, and a grandfather, 
 
 and a great-grandfather, who were all men of God, is a 
 
 higher honour than to be able to claim a lineal connection 
 
 \/ith the House of Stuart, or Tudor, or Plantagenet. There 
 
 is the ring of a true Christian manliness in Cowper's 
 
 lines : — 
 
 •* My boast is not that I deduce my birth 
 
 From loins enthroned, the rulers of the earth \ 
 But, higher far my proud pretensions rise, 
 The son of parents passed into the skies." 
 
 Perhaps there is not a country upon earth in which there 
 are so large a number of persons as there are in our own, 
 who can trace their lineage back through generations of 
 Christian faith and holy living. Whatever your own 
 character may be, many of you, I am sure, can never 
 think of your early home without feelings of profound 
 respect for the religion which made the dear old folks so 
 beautiful in character,' and that home so happy, that you 
 can only think of it as the gate of heaven. I don't wonder 
 
 True to the 'Religion of Ones Fathers, 137 
 
 at that drop of moisture in the corner of your eye, as you 
 call up memories of that humble but hallowed dwelling. 
 Though grace does not run in the blood; though a saint 
 may beget a prodigal ; aye, though the son and grandson 
 of a Christian may turn out an unmitigated scamp ; yet 
 there are certainly grooves of spiritual blessing, the fruit 
 and reward of believing prayer; and happy those who, like 
 Manasseh and Ephraim, are born in such a groove, if they 
 remain faithful to the traditions of the past. Talk of 
 "apostolical succession," that figment of English priestism 1 
 — the only true succession is that of a line of saints. These 
 lads could look back to three generations of godly men, nay, 
 to four : for their father Joseph, their grandfather Jacob, 
 their great grandfather Isaac, and their great great grand- 
 father Abraham, all were men of God. 
 
 I have known persons who could trace yet further back a 
 saintly genealogy. Well, perhaps these are rare cases, but 
 many of you can go at least one or two steps back; and you 
 will permit me to-night to breathe the prayer, that the God 
 of your fathers may be your God. The vivid memory of a 
 pious home has often been the tether that has held a man 
 fast to truth and virtue, when strong forces of temptation 
 came upon him. He has felt that he dare npt break off 
 from those hallowed traditions of his early days. The 
 very chapters that his father used to delight in, the psalms 
 his mother used to repeat, the favourite melodies they used 
 all to sing together : — 
 
 •* They come upon the mind like some wild ail 
 Of distant music, when we know not where 
 Or whence the sounds are brought from ; and their power, 
 Though brief, is boundless." # 
 
 I can call to mind at this moment that grand old hymn of 
 Doddridge, as we used to sing it to " Coleshill " : — 
 
'!|i 
 
 m 
 
 138 7a//cs with Young Men. 
 
 ** O God of Bethel, by whose hand 
 Thy people still are fed ; 
 Who through this weary pilgrimage 
 Hast all our fathers led. 
 
 •* Our vows, our prayers, we now present 
 Before Thy throne of grace ; 
 God of our fathers, be the God 
 Of their succeeding race." 
 
 I wish the choir would just sing to us those two verses. 
 [The choir sung the above lines as requested.] Very 
 beautiful I Now, lads, it is no dishonour to a young man 
 to believe in the religion of his fathers. That pride of 
 intellect which makes many a youth imagine himself far 
 ahead of his ancestors, is a very weak affection of the 
 brain. When a young fellow talks disrespectfully of the 
 ''old fogies" (meaning his parents), and snaps his fingers 
 at the instructions they used to give him, and says that, 
 were they back in the world, he would teach them a thing 
 or two, you may be pretty sure he is a poor, silly creature, 
 that will never come to good. What is that which the old 
 Book says? "The eye that mocketh at his father, and. 
 despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall 
 pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it." I could talk 
 to you an hour on this subject, but I won't; I only say this, 
 you who have come of a good stock, see that you keep up the 
 noble succession ; and you who have learnt no good in your 
 early home, remember that, like king Hezekiah, even the 
 son of ungodly parents may prove a child of grace, and a 
 blessing to the world I 
 
 II. The God of Providence bless jfcou. " The God," says 
 Jacob, "which fed me all my life long, unto this day." 
 Oh I there is something very charming in the spectacle of 
 a serene, contented, and thankful old age. It is a fine 
 thing to see a white-headed Christian able to retrace his 
 
 True to the Religion of Ones Fathers, 139 
 
 steps through the wilderness, and testify that the Lord had 
 supplied all his wants. Jacob's had been a strange and 
 chequered career. His faith had often been sorely tried. 
 It had not been " smooth sailing " with him. At times, he 
 had been in the deep waters of trouble. He had known 
 what it was to have "a sore famine in the land." The 
 corn had failed, and the barns were almost empty. But 
 in the hour of need the Lord had interposed, and from the 
 unlikeliest quarter abundance flowed in. There are old 
 people here, who have got just as good a tale to tell. 
 I daresay I shall have a shake of the hand of some of them 
 to-night, as they declare, " Jacob's testimony is mine. It is 
 all true. They that trust in the Lord shall not lack any 
 
 good thing." 
 
 A bright and beaming old Christian is of great value. 
 Such a testimony is worth many sermons. Strange, that 
 some people are so unwilling to be thought old ! They 
 persist in saying they are fifty, when everybody knows 
 they are at least three-score. They call themselves sixty, 
 when they are seventy. Queer notion, is it not, to try, by 
 dyes and cosmetics, and all the arts of the apothecary, to 
 wipe out the marks of age ? There is not a diadem on 
 monarch's brow more beautiful than the hoary head, when 
 found in the way of righteousness. " Ah ! " said one, to an 
 aged Christian friend of mine the other day, "you are on 
 the shady side of seventy, I expect?" "No," was the 
 reply, "I am on the sunny side; for I am on the side 
 nearest to glory." 
 
 Old Jacob wished these lads to know that the blessing he 
 invoked on them was the blessing of a God who had been 
 faithful to him in temporals, and would nefVer allow any 
 who put their trust in Him to be in want. This is an 
 important principle for young men to start in life with. 
 " Trust in the Lord, and verily thou shalt be fed." Put all 
 
•:3am 
 
 140 
 
 Ta//cs with Young Men. 
 
 your business matters into His hand. Are you in want of 
 a situation ? Do you wish to better your position ? Are 
 you at present in difficulties ? Or, have you been meeting 
 with wonderful success ? Acknowledge Him in all. I do 
 not wish to say a hard thing; but of scores of lads who 
 come to me in distress, pleading for help, I firmly believe 
 that ninety per cent, are thoroughly bad fellows. I am 
 afraid you would laugh were I to tell you how completely I 
 have been taken in, over and over again, by genteel-looking 
 young men, whose stories turned out afterwards to be 
 parcels of lies ? But, seriously, I have not met with a 
 single case of a well-principled and Christian man who has 
 come to destitution. I have been young, and am now in 
 middle age, and I have never seen the righteous forsaken, 
 never I Let Jacob's God be your portion, and Jacob's testi- 
 mony will be your experience. As I often say to persons 
 who come to me in their dif^culties, "Ah! godliness is 
 profitable, even for the life that now is. If you had made 
 the Lord your trust, you would not have been in this plight 
 to-day." I hasten to the last point, and the most important 
 
 of all. 
 
 IIL The God of Grace bless you. ''The Angel which 
 redeemed me from all evil." Who, think you, was this 
 Angel ? No mere finite and created intelligence. It was 
 none other than the Lord Jesus. As Christ said of Abra- 
 ham, so He might have said of Jacob,*" He saw My day, 
 and was glad." I am not making a guess. That the Angel 
 was a Divine being, is clear from the thirty-first chapter, 
 eleventh verse, where Jacob says, " And the Angel of God 
 spake unto me in a dream ; " taken with the thirteenth 
 verse, in which this Angel is represented as saying, "I am 
 the God of Bethel,- where thou anointedst the pillar, and 
 where thou vowedst a vow unto Me." He was God, there- 
 fore ; and yet, taking the name of " Angel," or messenger, 
 
 True to the' Religion of Ones Fathers. 141 
 
 must have been deputed by another Person. Clearly, He 
 was the Second Person of the adorable Trinity, "the 
 Messenger of the Covenant," as Malachi styles Him. 
 
 It was many a long year since Jacob had made acquaint- 
 ance with Him. That was the beginning of' his spiritual 
 life. He often referred to it as the occasion when "the 
 Lord appeared unto him." His blessedness dated from 
 that day, or rather from that night ; for you remember it 
 was in the darkness of the midnight hour, and in the 
 solitude of the wilderness of Haran, that God met him. 
 The lonely traveller had laid him down to sleep in the 
 unsheltered desert, the stones of the place serving for his 
 pillow. ■ It was a memorable night for Jacob. He saw in 
 vision a ladder leading from earth to heaven, and obtained 
 a blessed revelation of Jehovah as his covenant God. He 
 was then, comparatively, a young man ; but so deep was 
 the impression made upon his mind, that he rose up with 
 the morning light, and made a solemn and entire dedication 
 of himself to God. 
 
 And . now, on his death-bed, long, long years after, he 
 recalls that memorable occasion, and says, " God Almighty 
 appeared unto me, and blessed me." The day of his con- 
 version was the day when his blessedness began. 
 
 Ah, my dear friends, you may live to four-score years ; 
 but if you know any real happiness within, you will date 
 it from the hour when the Angel of the Covenant revealed 
 Himself to you — when you saw a ladder of communication 
 between earth and heaven, and when in solemn vow you 
 gave yourselves to God. 
 
 I am not saying this merely because it is the right thing 
 to say it. There is a conscience w^ithin each of you that 
 echoes what I say ; and certifies to the truth, that without 
 a personal share in Christ's redemption, you are, and must 
 remain, unblest. I address to you to-night no grand 
 
 
 
Talks with Young Men. 
 
 142 
 
 rounded sentences, no high-flying periods, no elaborate 
 arguments. I just put my hand on your shoulder, and 
 say, My dear lad, you must be a Christian forthwith. The 
 Gospel that served for your fathers will serve for you. 
 The Angel that redeemed them from evil, must redeem 
 
 you. 
 
 I suppose that old " Eddystone" was considered one of 
 the finest lighthouses in the world. I was down in Devon- 
 shire lately, and standing on a cliff from which there was 
 a fine view of the sea, I said, "What is that tall straight 
 pillar, about fifteen miles off?" "Oh," replied the coast- 
 guard, "that is the new Eddystone lighthouse;" and he 
 handed me his telescope, that I might see it more clearly. 
 The old one was deemed insufficient and insecure. What 
 served the purpose very well in the days of our fathers 
 will not do for us. And I am mistaken if this is not the 
 fourth or fifth successive erection that has been reared 
 upon that dangerous reef. My brothers, there are some 
 who tell you that the religion that served for your godly 
 ancestors will not do for you; that the great waves of 
 • modern criticism, and scientific investigation, and evolu- 
 tionism, dashing up against the old beacon-tower, have 
 loosened its foundations, so that it is ready to fall to pieces. 
 Do not believe it. Christ's truth stands as firmly on its 
 rocky basis to-night as it ever did in the past, and from 
 its high lantern-tower shines out upofi the dark waste 
 around. If any of you have been beguiled, by the mush- 
 room philosophies of the day, into giving up the old Evan- 
 gelical beliefs, I invite you back to tlie good old-fashioned 
 religion of your sires, to the God whom your father wor- 
 shipped, to the Bible which your mother read, to the 
 promises on which they leaned, and to the cross on which 
 they hung their eternal expectations. I advise you not 
 to give up this Book until you can put a better in its place. 
 
 ^ 1*^ 
 
 '«i>i 
 
 - 
 
 True to the Religion of Ones Fathers, 143 
 
 Make the Bible the man of your counsel, your guiding-star 
 through life. I am not bidding you do what I myself have 
 not done. There have been times (I own to you) when 
 painful doubts have startled and troubled me like spectres 
 from the land of darkness ; when I have begun almost to 
 question the essential verities of the Christian faith; but, 
 at such moments of trial, it has been to me a wonderful 
 inspiration to recall the day, now forty years ago, when 
 he who had pronounced upon my- head his paternal bene- 
 diction, testified that this Book was enough for him at the 
 gate of eternity, and when, within a few hours of death, 
 he wrote, with clear, bold penmanship, upon this pocket- 
 Bible which I hold in my hand, these lines he had himself 
 composed, and with which I close — 
 
 ** Stand still, and see, my waking soul, 
 How near the waves of Jordan roll I 
 The weary wilderness is past, 
 And thou hast reached its verge at last, 
 
 •* And now, my anxious eyes explore 
 The verdant banks of Canaan's shore : 
 That land, by God's best blessing blest, 
 Where Israel's pilgrims ever rest. 
 
 •• There, washed all o'er in Jesus' blood, - 
 As Naaman was in Jordan's flood, 
 May this sick, sin-polluted soul 
 Be made, like him, both clean and whole, 
 
 •* Now let me plunge beneath the tide, 
 Safely emerge on yonder side : 
 And thus exchange earth's poor alloy 
 For an eternity of joy 1 '* 
 
 Amen. 
 
 'is 
 
142 
 
 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 m 
 
 \% 
 
 rounded sentences, no high-flying periods, no elaborate 
 arguments. I just put my hand on your shoulder, and 
 say, My dear lad, you must be a Christian forthwith. The 
 Gospel that served for your fathers will serve for you. 
 The Angel that redeemed them from evil, must redeem 
 you. 
 
 I suppose that old "Eddystone" was considered one of 
 the finest lighthouses in the world. I was down in Devon- 
 shire lately, and standing on a cliff from which there was 
 a fine view of the sea, I said, " What is that tall straight 
 pillar, about fifteen miles off?" "Oh," replied the coast- 
 guard, "that is the new Eddystone lighthouse;" and he 
 handed me his telescope, that I might see it more clearly. 
 The old one was deemed insufficient and insecure. What 
 served the purpose very well in the days of our fathers 
 will not do for us. And I am mistaken if this is not the 
 fourth or fifth successive erection that has been reared 
 upon that dangerous reef. My brothers, there are some 
 who tell you that the religion that served for your godly 
 ancestors will not do for you; that the great waves of 
 modern criticism, and scientific investigation, and evolu- 
 tionism, dashing up against the old beacon-tower, have 
 loosened its foundations, so that it is ready to fall to pieces. 
 Do not believe it. Christ's truth stands as firmly on its 
 . rocky basis to-night as it ever did in the past, and from 
 its high lantern-tower shines out upon the dark waste 
 around. If any of you have been beguiled, by the mush- 
 room philosophies of the day, into giving up the old Evan- 
 gelical beliefs, I invite you back to tlie good old-fashioned 
 religion of your sires, to the God whoni your father wor- 
 shipped, to the Bible which your mother read, to the 
 promises on which they leaned, and to the cross on which 
 they hung their eternal expectations. I advise you not 
 to give up this Book until you can put a better in its place. 
 
 ^J^ 
 
 ., 
 
 True to the Religion of Ones Fathers, 143 
 
 Make the Bible the man of your counsel, your guiding-star 
 through life. I am not bidding you do what I myself have 
 not done. There have been times (I own to you) when 
 painful doubts have startled and troubled me like spectres 
 from the land of darkness ; when I have begun almost to 
 question the essential verities of the Christian faith ; but, 
 at such moments of trial, it has been to me a wonderful 
 inspiration to recall the day, now forty years ago, when 
 he who had pronounced upon my head his paternal bene- 
 diction, testified that this Book was enough for him at the 
 gate of eternity, and when, within a few hours of death, 
 he wrote, with clear, bold penmanship, upon this pocket- 
 Bible which I hold in my hand, these lines he had himself 
 composed, and with which I close — 
 
 ** Stand still, and'see, my waking soul, 
 How near the waves of Jordan roll I 
 The weary wilderness is past, 
 And thou hast reached its verge at last, 
 
 •* And now, my anxious eyes explore 
 The verdant banks of Canaan's shore : 
 That land, by God's best blessing blest, 
 Where Israel's pilgrims ever rest. 
 
 •* There, washed all o'er in Jesus* blood, 
 As Naaman was in Jordan's flood, 
 May this sick, sin-polluted soul 
 Be made, like him, both clean and whole, 
 
 ** Now let me plunge beneath the tide, 
 Safely emerge on yonder side : 
 And thus exchange earth's poor alloy 
 For an eternity of joy 1 '* 
 
 Amen, 
 
 k 
 
IP 
 
 m'* 
 
 t 
 
 1^ 
 
 I 
 
 «t 
 
 How much then is a man better than a sheep ? " — Matt. xii. 12. 
 
 ■ ■' 
 
 \- 
 
 \ 
 
 i. 
 
 XL 
 
 BETTER TffA.V A SHEEP. 
 
 THERE are few things in our Lord's teaching niore 
 interesting to notice than the enormous value which 
 He puts upon man. Again and again He «nimds us, as 
 though we were ready to forget it, of the glory and d^n.ty 
 of our being. At one time, pointing to the care -^-h ^od 
 bestows upon the birds Qf the air, " one of which shall not 
 fall to the ground without His knowledge," He exclaims 
 "How much more are ye better than the fowls! and 
 at another time, putting the whole world, as it were, m 
 one scale of a balance, and a human soul in the other He 
 declares that the latter is infinitely the more valuable of the 
 two "Doth God take care for oxen?" inquires Paul, 
 when referring to an old Mosaic law, enjoining kindness to 
 the cattle when treading out the corn. He does take care 
 for oxen, and requires of us to take care for them, too, and ^ 
 to show all mercifulness toward the dumb animals. The 
 last four words in the prophecy of Jonah are a text from 
 which many a sermon might be preached on k-dness to 
 the brute creation. You remember the prophet sulked 
 because God repented of the judgments He threatened to 
 bring upon Nineveh, and so Jonah's prediction would not 
 turn out to be fulfilled ; but Jehovah thus appealed to what- 
 ever humanity he possessed: "Shall not I spare Nineveh 
 that great city, wherein are more than six -°- *--"J 
 persons, that cannot discern between their nght hand and 
 
 \ i 
 
148 
 
 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 Better than a Sheep. 
 
 149 
 
 their left ; and also much cattle ? " " Doth God take care for 
 oxen ? " Yes, He does ; but infinitely greater is the care, as 
 Paul argues, which He exercises over man. David got hold 
 of this thought when he penned the Eighth Psalm, and 
 wrote : " Thou hast crowned man with glory and honour, 
 and hast set him over the works of Thy hands ; Thou hast 
 put all things under his feet; all sheep and oxen, yea, and 
 the beasts of the field, the fowl of the air, and the fish of 
 the sea." 
 
 Man, then, is, in so far as the universe is known to us, 
 the greatest work of God — the grandest achievement of 
 creative skill. You remember the word which the im- 
 mortal Shakespeare puts into the lips of Hamlet — " What 
 a piece of work is man I How noble in reason 1 how 
 infinite in faculties ! in form and moving, how express and 
 admirable ! in action, how like an angel I in apprehension, 
 how lilce a god ! the beauty of the world ! the paragon 
 of animals I " " How much, then, is a man better than a 
 sheep ? " 
 
 You will not grudge half an hour for meditation on this 
 subject — a subject which young men should often reflect 
 upon, that they may be stirred to walk worthy of their 
 vocation. I am going to suggest to you a series of points 
 in respect of which a man is better than a sheep. 
 • I might mention, first of all, even his physical form and 
 beauty. The human body is — so far as our knowledge of 
 creation extends — by far the most exquisite and beautiful 
 organization that has come from Jehovah's hand. " I 
 am fearfully and wonderfully made," said. the thoughtful 
 Psalmist ; and, as physiological science progresses, we can 
 more and more understand the force of the observation 
 of the celebrated Galen, when he challenged any one, after 
 the study of one hundred years, to find out the smallest 
 bone or fibre of the human frame that might be more com- 
 
 !| 
 
 modiously placed, either for practical use or for comeliness 
 
 of form. 
 
 If an undevout astronomer is mad, an undevout phy- 
 siologist is still madder. Well does the inspired Apostle 
 liken man's body to a stately temple, well-proportioned, 
 and perfect in all its parts. Why, even the human hand 
 is a marvel of ingenious workmanship, and is of itself 
 sufficient to suggest the nobleness of the creature to whom 
 such an organ has been given. Volumes have been written 
 on the hand ; nor is the subject exhausted yet. Wonderful 
 instrument I With it you express the warmth of your affec- 
 tion ; with it you can tear down the forests, and tunnel the 
 mountains, and climb the rocks, and handle the sword, and 
 wield the sceptre; with it you can write, and draw, and 
 grave, and carve; witH it, from piano or violin, you can 
 bring forth sweetest music; and by the motions of the 
 fingers you can express almost every conceivable senti- 
 ment. Holding the crank of the steam-engine, the hand 
 keeps it under control ; grasping the ship's rudder, it 
 determines its track over the watery main; applying the 
 fuse to the cannon, it can create a thunder which shakes 
 both earth and sky : and yet, with a touch most delicate 
 and sensitive, it can feel the pulse of a sick child, or remove 
 a microscopic mote from the eye ! 
 
 1 might go on at any length expatiating on the perfectness 
 of the human form, but I feel it is unnecessary : for, in a 
 thousand ways, it excels that of the lower creation, and 
 proclaims that man is better and nobler than they. The 
 ox may indeed surpass him in strength, and the horse in 
 speed, and the greyhound in agility, and the eagle in 
 keenness of vision, and the hare in quickness of hearing; 
 but, taking his body as a whole, with all its capacities 
 and powers, it surpasses every other of which we know 
 anything. 
 
ISO 
 
 Talks with Young Men, 
 
 Better than a Sheep. 
 
 151 
 
 jj 
 
 \ 
 
 
 Are you, then, going to take that noble and beautiful 
 form, and make it the instrument of sin ? Are you going 
 to desecrate a temple so fair ? By self-indulgence, are you 
 going to mar its beauty, and hasten its decay ? I trust not : 
 and yet, alas ! this is just what many are doing, bringing 
 themselves down to the level of the brutes that perish, and 
 turning their glory into shame. "Like sheep they are laid 
 in the grave ; death shall feed* on them ; and the upright 
 shall have dominion over them in the morning" of the 
 resurrection. 
 
 Secondly, a man is better than a sheep, because he is 
 endowed with reason. The true glory of man consists not in 
 the speed with which he can run, nor the number of pounds' 
 weight he can lift, nor the strong wrestlers he can throw ; 
 for in these respects even the ostrich, and the ass, and the 
 lion easily outmatch him. Young men who devote them- 
 selves to physical sports — I mean who give their main 
 time, and ardour, and attention to such things — are rarely . 
 a high type of humanity. A strong muscle and an acute 
 brain do not always go together. A powerful physique is 
 not unfrequently united with a feeble mind. 
 
 And yet, what compensation intellect provides! The 
 express train leaves the swiftest greyhound far behind. 
 The steam crane and hydraulic press laugh at all the 
 strength of bullock or horse, and swing an elephant through 
 the air as though it were a feather ! There is no point in 
 respect to which the brute excels us, where rejison does not 
 enable us far to excel the brute. 
 
 '* How much is a man better than a shee-p," when you 
 think of the mines of literature he can explore, of the 
 treasures of science he can penetrate, and of the wonders 
 of creation he can unfold ? What a noble heritage is his, 
 with the mental gifts the Creator has bestowed upon him, 
 to traverse all the ages that are past, to hold converse with 
 
 the great and good who have lived before him, and to hand 
 down memorials* of his own industry to the generations 
 yet to come I The man who leaves his mind fallow, who 
 does not call into vigorous exercise the reasoning powers 
 with which he is endowed, fails to realize his distinguished 
 place in creation, and brings himself down to the level of 
 the cattle in the field. 
 
 *' For what is man, 
 If his chief good and market of his time 
 Be but to sleep and feed ? a beast, no more. 
 Sure, He that made us with such large discourse^ 
 Looking before and after, gave us not 
 That capability and godlike reason, 
 To fust in us unused." 
 
 I should fail in refletting all the truth which Christ 
 uttered in our text, did I not urge you to a due cultivation 
 of your intellectual faculties ; nor am I over-steppmg the 
 rightful province of the pulpit, when I say to you, — be 
 your social position and your daily emplo}^ what they 
 may, try to have your minds well stored ; and remember, 
 that your reasoning and thinking powers, to be fully deve- 
 loped, must be constantly exercised. 
 
 "There is a firefly in the southern clime 
 That shineth only when upon the wing ; 
 So is it with the mind ; when once we rest, we darken." 
 
 Thirdly, a man is better than a sheep, because he is 
 endowed with a moral nature. He is an accountable and 
 responsible being. Even the fact that he has it in his 
 power to do wrong proclaims his exalted place in creation. 
 A sheep cannot sin ; but that is not because it is a superior, 
 but because it is an inferior creature to us. It is incapable 
 of distinguishing moral qualities, of knowing right from 
 wrong ; and therefore, it has neither character nor respon- 
 sibility. Man, small and feeble and puny 'as he is, can 
 
152 
 
 Talks with Youn^ Men, 
 
 ill 
 
 insult the majesty of Heaven as truly as an archangel ; he 
 can defy the authority of God ; he can grieve the Spirit 
 of the Most High. Ay, but what is this but saying, that 
 he can glorify God as none of the lower creatures can do ; 
 yea, can yield Him pleasure and delight. This inward 
 conscience, this moral faculty, lifts him up immeasurably 
 above the brute, and even allies him with Deity. " Let 
 us make man in our image," said the Three-one God. He 
 never said that of any other of the terrestrial creatures 
 which He formed. As a moral being, man is an object of 
 Divine affection and regard. The Almighty cannot love an 
 ox or a sheep, but He can love you ; and — insignificant 
 object though you may seem to be— He does love you. 
 Were you a mere body, or were you mere body and mind, 
 you could not be an object of this love. Intellect, like ice, 
 is colourless ; no one has more of it than the devil. It is 
 the moral sense that imparts character, and you must have 
 character, if either God or man is to love you. Well does 
 the poet Young say — 
 
 ** How poor, how rich, how abject, how august. 
 How complicate, how wonderful is man I 
 Distinguish'd link in being's endless chain | 
 Midway from nothing to the Deity 1 
 Dim miniature of greatness absolute ! 
 An heir of glory I A frail child of dust I 
 Helpless immortal ! Insect infinite I 
 A worm I A god 1 " 
 
 Fourthly, how much is a man better than a sheep, when 
 you consider his capacity of progress? In this respect he 
 stands alone in creation, so far as it presents itself in our 
 view. To him only is it given to advance, to grow, as the 
 ages roll on. Yonder sun shines no brighter to-day than 
 it did on Adam; the birds are not more skilful in their 
 music than when they filled the bowers of Eden with song. 
 
 Better than a Sheep. 
 
 153 
 
 \ 
 
 + 
 
 The bees make no better honey than when David found 
 the sweet comb in the carcase of the lion; nor do the 
 flowers yield richer fragrance than when they perfumed 
 the palace chambers of King Solomon at Jerusalem. What 
 the sheep and cattle were in the days when the sweet 
 singer of Israel tended them on the plains of Bethlehem, 
 they are still ; no advance, no progress. 
 
 How different with man ! Look at him socially ; see the 
 growth of civilization ; mark the development of art and 
 science, and of all that tends to diminish labour, alleviate 
 suffering, and increase the comforts of life. Compare 
 Britain of to-day with what it was.when Caesar landed on 
 our shores I Look at the ten thousand advantages we enjoy, 
 many of which even our fathers of the last generation knew 
 
 nothing of. 
 
 And this law of progress is visible not merely in the 
 race, but in the individual. In the case of the full-grown 
 sheep, years add nothing to its intelligence or development : 
 but man is, or at least is presumed to be, every day enlarg- 
 ing his stores of knowledge, maturing his mental • powers, 
 and becoming better qualified for fulfilling his part in life. 
 Oh, see to it, young men, that you give evidence of this 
 distinctive pre-eminence over the brutes; that you are 
 growing in all the elements of a true manhood ; that you 
 
 are so living, 
 
 •* That each to-morrow 
 Finds you further than to-day." 
 
 Fifthly, how much is a man better than a sheep, in 
 respect to his spiritual nature and his capacity for knowing 
 God? Here the line that divides us from the lower 
 animals is deep and broad. I have spoken of reason and 
 of conscience ; but even of both of these there have been 
 some remarkable instances amongst the brutes. Not only 
 do some of them betray a surprising intelligence, but they 
 
154 
 
 Talks with Young Men, 
 
 give indications of something approaching a moral con- 
 sciousness, and a sense of right and wrong. 
 
 But, unlike every one of them, man is a religious being. 
 Both Cicero and Plutarch observed, that up to their time, 
 not a single people was known upon earth amongst whom 
 the traces of some religion were not to be found. The 
 record in Genesis tells us, that when the Lord God formed 
 man, and breathed into him the breath of life, he '' became 
 a living soul." He did not merely possess a soul, as 
 Coleridge remarks, but becamt it The soul— the spiritual 
 nature — was his truest self. 
 
 The brutes cannot know their Maker. They cannot pray. 
 They cannot adore. They cannot worship. The belief in 
 the infinite, thoughts that wander through eternity, they 
 know none of these. This is the glorious prerogative of 
 man. The atheist, therefore, the scoffer, the irreligious, 
 degrade themselves below the level of their creation ; and 
 denying the spiritual element in them, disentitle themselves, 
 to the name of men ; '' For," as Tennyson says, — 
 
 •' What are men better than sheep or goats, 
 That nourish a blind life within the brain, 
 If knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer, 
 Both for themselves and those who call them friends ? " 
 
 •Is there one here who says, " I can do very well without 
 religion " ? then you confess yourself something less than 
 man. The crown has fallen from your head; and Ichabod 
 is written across your brow, for the glory has indeed 
 departed. 
 
 Sixthly, how much is a man better than a sheep, because 
 he is possessed of immortality. The dumb creatures of the 
 meadow live their little life and die, and there is an end to 
 them ; but man has an existence that knows no end. How 
 touchingly did even the ancient heathen signify their con- 
 viction that there is a great future beyond the grave; 
 
 Better than a Sheep, 
 
 155 
 
 sometimes causing a lamp to burn continuously in the 
 sepulchres of their departed ; and at other times heaping 
 fresh garlands of immortelles upon the tombs ! Even in 
 the midst of degrading superstitions, they would give un- 
 mistakable expression to their hope of another life; as 
 when the Greek mourner, bending over the dead as he lay 
 ready for burial, would force a coin between the pallid lips 
 — that coin to be the passage-money for the grim ferryman 
 who was to row the spirit across the Stygian river ! 
 
 If any of you ever know what it is to have dark moments, 
 when every star of future hope has set, and you are tempted 
 to doubt your immortality, think how, even amid the ignor- 
 ance of paganism, this truth, that man shall live for ever, 
 has asserted itself, and demanded assent ; think how even 
 a Plato and Cicero, with no revelation to guide them, dis- 
 coursed in glowing periods on the immortality of the soul ; 
 but, above all, see how in this Book of Divine inspiration 
 the dark shadows are dissolved, and how our once dead 
 but now ever-living Redeemer *' hath brought life and 
 immortality to light " by His Gospel. 
 
 Oh, be your fortune ever so bright, it is put a poor thing 
 at the best to live only for this brief existence here. As 
 Cowper writes — 
 
 •* He is the happy man, whose life even now 
 Shows something of that happier life to come ; 
 Who, doomed to an obscure and tranquil state, 
 Is pleased with it, and were he free to choose, 
 Would make his fate his choice ; whom peace, the fruit 
 Of virtue, and whom virtue, fruit of faith. 
 Prepare for happiness ; bespeak him one 
 •Content indeed to sojourn while he must 
 Below the skies, but having there his home. ' 
 
 In the seventh and last place, I crown the edifice of my 
 argument, as to man's superiority over the beasts of the 
 field, by reminding you that Christ died for him. The very 
 
156 
 
 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 words — so familiar are they to your ears- sound common* 
 place; yet I am persuaded there are but few of us that 
 grasp their real meaning — that see, in the sacrificial death 
 of Christ, the tremendous value God had put upon man. 
 In daily life, you estimate an object by the price men are 
 willing to pay for it; but, when the price voluntarily offered 
 is one beside which all the silver and gold of the earth are 
 held to be but corruptible and contemptible things, who 
 shall tell the worth of the object redeemed ? He who made 
 man, and stamped His own image on him, giving him not 
 only an exquisite physical form, but a reason, a conscience, 
 a spiritual faculty, a capacity for progress, and a deathless 
 immortality, deemed him worth an infinite sacrifice, and 
 spared not His own Son for his redemption. 
 
 How many of you have availed yourselves of this glorious 
 remedy? How many of you, awakened to a sense of your 
 own priceless value, have put yourselves into the hands of 
 the omnipotent Saviour ? 
 
 Truth to tell, there are hundreds around and in the midst 
 of us who put no value on themselves, who are treading 
 their glory in the dust, and sinking to the level, aye, beneath 
 the level, of the beasts that perish. 
 
 " Better than a sheep ! " Alas, alas I I have known 
 instances in which the degradation has been such, that 
 one has rather been forced to exclaim, " How much is 
 such a man worse than a sheep 1 " For> where the passions 
 have been unchecked, the lower appetites freely indulged, 
 the intellect untutored, the conscience defied, the spiritual 
 nature ignored, and God and eternity forgotten, say, has 
 not the descent been so terrible as to bring the men down 
 to a lower level than the beasts of the field ? 
 
 Dear brothers, I want you to put an enormous value 
 upon yourselves. God has formed you for a glorious 
 destiny. You have powers too noble to waste them on 
 
 Better than a Sheep, 
 
 157 
 
 frivolities, on the pleasures of a moment, or even on the 
 acquisition of gain. Made to hold fellowship with angels 
 and archangels, yea, to hold converse with God Himself, 
 are you content to live a mere bestial life, and crawl amid 
 the dust and offal of this world ? Destined to be a glorified 
 spirit, are you satisfied to be no better than a sheep ? I 
 feel this is a solemn moment. I am looking into some faces 
 I shall never see again. Some who heard me here a month 
 ago are off and away, God only knows where. Some who 
 were impressed that night have yielded to temptation, 
 and — sucked into the vortex of vice — are whirling down to 
 hopeless ruin. I speak of cases that I know. Many a hard 
 battle has been fought in this church — there, just in these 
 pews— deep within the breast. A battle between the flesh 
 and the spirit ; between lust and principles ; between the 
 devil and God. In some cases the battle has been lost ; in 
 others, won. Which shall it be to-night ? Two influences 
 are upon you; two forces are pulling you. Are you to 
 yield to the nether force, sinking down till you become no 
 better than a sheep? or, drawn upward by Divine grace, 
 are you to rise, until, higher than the angels themselves, 
 with the crown of immortality on your brow, you sit with 
 Christ upon His throne in glory ? 
 
HUNGRY STUDENTS; OR, DEATH 
 FN THE POT. 
 
 I 
 
 I* 
 
*Oth<m man of Ccd, there is death in the pot /**— 2 Kings iv. 4C 
 
 J 
 
 xn. 
 
 HUNGRY STUDENTS; OR, DEATH IN THE POT, 
 
 STUDENTS, as a rule, are rather an obstreperous class. 
 They have always been so. Alike in the departments 
 of law, medicine, and theology, they are often reckless and 
 high-spirited. They are apt to get into scrapes. Their fun 
 is of a somewhat serious .order. They are a source of 
 trouble to the authorities. I don't care whether you go to 
 the Sorbonne at Paris, or to the University of St. Petersburg, 
 or to the seats of learning at Edinburgh or Aberdeen, you 
 are almost certain to find young men who are bent on 
 frolic, and are up to all kinds of mischief. No doubt there 
 is much that is noble and generous in their character, so 
 that we are ready to pardon some of their pranks and 
 follies ; but, occasionally, their impetuousness carries them 
 off their heads altogether, and they want a firm hand to 
 deal with them. 
 
 I think that if, for '' sons of the prophets " you read 
 " students," in these early chapters of the Second Book 
 of Kings, you will not be far amiss ; and you must acknow- 
 ledge that those young men gave a good deal of trouble to 
 the excellent prophet Elisha. There seem to have been 
 in those times, in Palestine, several colleges, or schools of 
 instruction, where the young men were educated in the 
 judicial and religious system of Moses. There was one 
 at Bethel, another at Naioth, a third at Jericho, and per- 
 haps a fourth at Gilgal ; and at all these placed Elisha was 
 
 II 
 
l62 
 
 Talks with Young Men, 
 
 a frequent visitor. I don't know how it was, but the 
 students seemed to find a special pleasure in worrying 
 him. Before the venerable Elijah had been wafted off to 
 heaven, they gathered round Elisha, and said, '*Knowest 
 thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy 
 head to-day ? " " Yea, I know it," was his short reply ; 
 " hold ye your peace." On Elijah's actual translation they 
 refused to believe that he had been carried to the skies, 
 and teased and pestered Elisha till he would sanction them 
 despatching fifty of their number to search for the missing 
 prophet. Of course they went on a fool's errand ; and on 
 their return to Elisha, after three days' hunting over the 
 mountains, he only laughed at them, and said, " Did I not 
 say unto you, Go not ? " 
 
 It was a company of the same class of young fellows, I 
 have not a doubt (and not mere " children," as our version 
 would make it appear), that ran after and mocked him one 
 day, as he was entering into the city of Bethel, when he 
 turned round and "cursed them in the name of the Lord." 
 They were insulting a prophet of Jehovah ; making as near 
 an approach as possible to the sin of *' blasphemy against 
 the Holy Ghost'; and — you know what was the awful 
 sequel of that story. 
 
 Well, but to get to our text, the prophet had come to 
 the town of Gilgal ; in all likelihood to give some addresses 
 , to the students there; and quite a number of them were 
 gathered round to listen to him. Students are apt to be 
 hungry : and Elisha, knowing this, had given instruction 
 to his servant to put on the fire the biggest pot he had, 
 and prepare a quantity of " pottage.'* I do not know what 
 it was made of, possibly lentils, stewed like beans, with 
 oil and garlic, a common dish in those parts at the present 
 day : and if they had been content with it plain, there 
 would have been no trouble; but I suppose that they 
 
 / 
 
 Hungry Students ; or, Death in the Pot, 163 
 
 wanted some seasoning to give it relish, and so one was 
 sent out to the fields to gather herbs. The stupid man did 
 not understand his business, for instead of gathering some 
 wholesome vegetable products, he brought in a lap full of 
 the Cucumus colocynthus, or Momordica elateriutHy or some 
 other poisonous plant that abounded in the district, and 
 threw the whole into the pot. Of course the young men 
 knew nothing of this; and, as soon as the pottage was 
 served out to them, they, having keen appetites, ^* set to " 
 with a will. Hardly had they tasted, however, when, with 
 wry faces, they threw down their spoons, looked at one 
 another with consternation, and cried out to the prophet, 
 " O thou man of God, there is death in the pot I " 
 
 The idea that has taken Hold of my mind to-night is this; 
 that numbers of young men in this city, with keen hunger 
 of soul, hunger for excitement, for pleasure, for knowledge, 
 for wealth, are sitting down to enjoy some meal that pro- 
 mises satisfaction, little thinking that it has been seasoned 
 with poison ; and my business now is to warn you of the 
 fatal dish, and cry, " Beware I for there is death in the 
 pot 1 " 
 
 I have spoken so much lately to good, moral. Christian 
 young men, that some persons give me credit for imagining 
 we have no '^ black sheep " here. It is quite a mistake, 
 and I wish to-night to " call a spade a spade," anjJ tell you 
 of some of the moral arsenic that is slaying hundreds of 
 young men in the very midst of us. 
 
 In the first place, I say to any of y 'U who still think 
 alcohol an indispensable ingredient in your goblet of 
 pleasure, " Stop I there's death in the pot." If there is 
 a bright bit of blue in the sky of England just now, it 
 is the progress which the temperance cause is making. 
 Those most disinterested patriots, the publicans,* are deeply 
 exercised about the decrease in the national revenue; but 
 
1 64 • Talks with Young Men. 
 
 I do not hesitate to say, that if every drop of alcohol in 
 England were poured into the sea, and not another sixpence 
 came to the Exchequer from this department of excise, the 
 country would be immensely wealthier than it is to-day, 
 and a new career of unexampled prosperity would open 
 up to it Mr. Gladstone was once waited upon by a depu- 
 tation of these noble lovers of their country, and he said, 
 " Gentlemen, don't be uneasy about the revenue. Give me 
 thirty million sober people, and I will pay all the revenue, 
 and have a large surplus." It is indeed very cheenng to 
 see the hold that temperance principles are now taking ot 
 all sections of the community; even her Majesty the Queen 
 at last deigning to make reference to the subject; and many 
 noblemen and aristocrats banishing wine from their tables. 
 I believe that the use of stimulants is now abandoned in 
 many houses of business, where excessive drinking was 
 once the order of the day ; and, in many ways, the tempta- 
 tion is being taken out of your path. 
 
 But the reformation is only begun. It is too soon to 
 crow Large numbers ol young men handle the glass, for 
 whom no doctor would order it as necessary. Some of my 
 present hearers are rashly playing with fire. I have seen 
 men come into this church when their brains were not 
 clear It is not so long ago, since a well-dressed, gentle- 
 manly young man came to me here, solemnly expressing 
 a wish to join the Church. " Sir," I said to him, ^' you are 
 drunk ; " and he did not deny it. When a man's eyes 
 dreamily roll from side to side ; when his speech is thick, 
 and his manner particularly affectionate, you may call him 
 - slightly elevated," or " half seas over," or anything you 
 like • I simply call him ^' drunk," and declare that " no 
 drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of God." The bibulous 
 habits that still prevail throughout the country are most 
 humiliating to think of; and nowhere in the world, pro- 
 
 .. 
 
 Hungry Students ; or, Death in the Pot, 165 
 
 bably, are they worse than in England. " Ah," you say, 
 "Scotland I" Well, I am not gomg to deny that intem- 
 perance is the curse of Scotland ; but it is only fair to give 
 you the impartial opinion of a stranger upon this matter. 
 That well-known genius, Joseph Cook, of Boston, has just 
 completed a tour of the world, in which he set himself care- 
 fully to study the modes of thought and the habits of the 
 various nations whom he visited ; and having returned to his 
 own city, he has been giving a lecture on the subject ; in 
 that lecture he says : " Drinking in England is something 
 terrible. It is a great deal w^orse than it is in Scotland. 
 At a first-class railway restaurant in England I would 
 sometimes be taking a glass of milk, when a sepulchral 
 voice over my shoulder would say to the waiter, ' Give me 
 half-a-glass of whiskey.* I would look round, and there I 
 would see a grand, finely-dressed, but bloated English 
 gentleman, who, when he had received his glass of 
 whiskey, would toss it off in a second, and turn away." 
 
 Oh, how long is this insanity to exist ? How long are 
 young men to be such fools as to imagine that they reap 
 one particle of benefit from the alcoholic draught ? How 
 long are men, who profess a horror of drunkenness, to taste 
 and tipple, till they cannot be happy without a stimulant ? 
 
 Thank God, most of you seem to be in robust health, 
 and in no need of any drug whatever. When the doctor 
 orders alcohol, I have not a word to say ; but, meanwhile, 
 to as many of you as are in the way of using it as a 
 beverage, I would cry, '' Beware I there is death in the 
 
 pot ! " 
 
 Secondly. I have got something now to say about 
 another deadly poison that too many of our young men are 
 tampering with. A gentleman said to me lately, '' Sir, it 
 is high time that you should say a word of solemn warning 
 against that detestable system of betting, which is now 
 
i66. 
 
 Talks with Young Men, 
 
 becoming common, even among young men of whom you 
 would hardly suspect it." You will please remember, that 
 the principle is the same, whether you stake a sum of 
 money on a horse at the Derby, or on a game of cards 
 at a friend's table. Do you know what that excellent man 
 and friend of young men, Thomas Hughes, M.P., wrote 
 some time ago to a friend in America, when he heard 
 that a new turf enterprise was being started in that 
 country ? " Heaven help you, then ; for of all the cankers 
 of our civilization, there is nothing in this land approaching, 
 in unblushing meanness, in rascality, holding its head high, 
 to this belauded institution of the British turf** We all 
 admire the horse ; but the horse race is not of so much 
 importance as the human race; and explain it how you 
 will, it is a fact, that, if you want to see the most vile, 
 demoralized, degraded specimens of the genus homo^ you 
 must stand at the office of some of the sporting papers in 
 the City, when the news of some great race " meeting " 
 is looked for. (Only take care of your watch, or you'll 
 come home without it.) 
 
 Gambling, of whatever sort, has not a word to be said in 
 its favour. It is deplorable, that even the most respectable 
 of our morning papers devote two or three columns, or 
 even more, to this curse of our national life. Gambling is 
 the staking or winning of money upon mere hazard. 
 
 Now, I assert, that money was never intended to be so 
 used. A man, in making money, should always be enrich- 
 ing the world. The gambler does nothing in tl?at way ; and 
 every atom of success he reaps, means, in like proportion, 
 impoverishment and misery to others. Not long since, a 
 I^r. W carried off from one race no less than ;^i 4,400. 
 
 Now, I say, a curse went with every shilling of that ignoble 
 gain ; it reflected no merit on its possessor, who had not 
 added an atom to the wealth or produce of the world. I 
 
 Hungry Students ; or, Death in the Pot. 167 
 
 have known young men who have been foolishly tempted 
 into some betting transaction, and from that hour their 
 degradation began. Gamblers are always demoralised. 
 The fire of this passion, once ignited, burns with increasing 
 vehemence. I met the other day an officer in the army, a 
 noble fellow, and a brave soldier of Jesus Christ, who was 
 converted a few years ago ; and he said to me, " The devil 
 never had a better servant than he had in me. I have 
 drunk enough alcohol to have swam in it ; and only an 
 iron constitution could have stood it. Cards had such a 
 fascination, that day and night I was at it, I could think of 
 nothing else ; now I loathe the sight." 
 
 Every now and then I am meeting with the case of a 
 young man coming up to 'London, high-toned, virtuous, 
 pure; but, alas, caught in the snare, and poisoned with 
 this fatal henbane. A year ago, he started from his country 
 home. Through a friend he heard of a situation, and he 
 came up to enter upon it. There was more than usual 
 stir that morning in the old paternal dwelling, for George 
 was coming up to the great City to push his fortune here. 
 His mother slipped a Bible into his trunk, and with a tear 
 in her eye gave him her parting blessing. " Don't worry 
 about me," he said, '* I am all right. Good-bye!" Crack 
 went the whip, and away he drove to meet the train that 
 was to bring him to a new world of life, and bustle, and 
 money-making, and pleasure. Ah I he was not long here 
 before the vampires got around him ; and, beginning with 
 what seemed a harmless bet, he has gone on and on, till 
 now his character is ruined, his situation lost, his spirit 
 broken, his health shattered, and he himself a poor pitiful 
 wreck I If any of you are tampering with this evil, I 
 sound the note of alarm ; the goblet of pleasure may be 
 spiced and tempting, but, beware I " there is dpath in the 
 pot ! " - 
 
1 68 
 
 Talks with Young Men, 
 
 Thirdly. A word of warning as to the popular literature 
 of the day. Editors and publishers have an awful amount 
 of responsibility resting on their shoulders. Whole acres 
 of printed material are coming off every week from the 
 great newspaper offices and publishing houses of this 
 country and America. And if these acres of white paper 
 were sown only with good and wholesome grain, we should 
 rejoice ; but, alas I there is mingled with it a vast quantity 
 of poppy, and hellebore, and hemlock, and deadly night- 
 shade ; so that, unsuspectingly; thousands of the young are 
 fatally poisoned. Those great cylinders that are revolving 
 day and night in the neighbourhood of Fleet Street are 
 engines of tremendous power for good or evil. Little 
 thinks many a type-setter, as he picks the types from the 
 fount with an agility that is perfectly wonderful, of the 
 mischief or the blessing which his fingers are scattering 
 throughout the land I Like a good many other people, I 
 am sickened at the long list of murders, and burglaries, 
 and divorce cases, and public scandals, that fill so large 
 a space in some of the papers ; and often wish, that, 
 instead of such paragraphs, we had some really healthy 
 and instructive reading; but please don't lay all the blame 
 on the editors, for there is generally a very close relation 
 between demand and supply. The public have a craving 
 for this low sensational rubbish, or it would not be pro- 
 vided. ' The, publishers will tell us, that if the paper is of 
 a high-toned and instructive order, it won't sell. A man 
 brilliantly expressed his wonder how we could.-find out the 
 names of the planets, when they are so far away ; but it 
 argues an equal lucidity to ask where all those paragraphs 
 come from, of mysterious deaths, midnight encounters, 
 runaway matches, and police adventures, which meet our 
 eye almost every day. Go to any circulating library, and 
 inquire what class of books is most in demand. Ask the 
 
 ^' 
 
 Hungry Students ; or. Death in the Pot, 169 
 
 men who have, charge 'of the railway bookstalls at King's 
 Cross, St. Pancras, or Euston. 
 
 Mark, I am not for an instant implying that you should 
 only read such works as " Locke on the Understanding," 
 or Butler's "Analogy," or Wilberforce's "View of Chris- 
 tianity," or " Pearson on the Creed," or Newcombe's " As- 
 tronomy " ; not at all ; but I do say that there are countless 
 useful and instructive books that ought to be entertaining 
 to an intelligent mind, and which ought to displace the 
 long rows of fourth-rate novels that are so greedily de- 
 voured ; books of travel, of history, of biography, of popular 
 science, of poetry, of art, and I will even add, of refined 
 and genuine humour. If you will take a word from me 
 kindly on this matter, I entreat you to be careful as to 
 what you read, to be select in your choice of periodicals 
 and books ; for indiscretion on this point has been the ruin 
 of many a young man. " Can one take fire into his bosom, 
 and not be burned?" Can the human mind be daily 
 swallowing moral strychnine, and not be poisoned ? It 
 is impossible. You may fancy it will do you no harm, 
 but the testimony of thousands is against you ; and there- 
 fore I cry out to-night, to as many of you as are feasting 
 on the dish of sensational literature ! " Beware I there is 
 death in the pot I " 
 
 My fourth and last word of warning is addressed to you 
 who are being beguiled into a semi-infidel rationalism. You 
 have taken up your residence for some time lately in 
 Doubting Castle, and are shaking your head at most of the 
 old truths which your fathers firmly accepted. We are 
 living in a time of great intellectual activity, and of very 
 bold speculation. I hear some young men utter things that 
 their fathers would not have dared to say, thirty years ago ; 
 things about the Bible, about Christianity, about the story 
 of the Gospel, about God, about the future world. It is an 
 
• _J if IT 
 
 170 
 
 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 age of reason, of doubt, of unbelief; and the bed of old- 
 fashioned scriptural orthodoxy is much too short for the 
 nineteenth-century man. The literature of freethought is 
 largely read ; and many a youth imagines that he at once 
 raises immensely his intellectual reputation, if he disavows 
 his belief in any evangelical doctrine. He poses as a 
 thinker; is ostentatious in his admiration of scientific 
 sceptics ; and prpfesses to be so broad in his views, that 
 all religions are much the same to him, and none of them 
 of great importance. He is what is called '^ the honest 
 doubter"; he is able to tackle all questions; and, no doubt, 
 if his brain could be taken out and weighed, without putting 
 him to inconvenience, he would be astonished to see how 
 ponderous it is. Hand the young man a chair ; make him 
 at once president of the literary society ; he has got far 
 ahead of his fathers, ahead of the Bible, ahead of the 
 colleges and the teachers of religion; and certainly must 
 be next thing to a philosopher. 
 
 Might I suggest, that perhaps the only thing he is 
 eminent in, is unblushing presumption ? For the humble, 
 reverent inquirer, distressed with difficulties, and earnestly 
 seeking the light, here is the right hand of profoundest 
 sympathy ; but for the flippant sceptic, who condemns the 
 Bible without reading it, and rejects Christianity without 
 studying the evidences on behalf of it, only the knotted 
 whip of rebuke and scorn I Most of you know that it is 
 not in my nature to take what is called a pessimist or 
 gloomy view of the age in which we live, and that it is 
 my deliberate conviction that the cause of Christ, of truth, 
 and of righteousness is advancing. At the same time, I 
 am satisfied that, beneath the surface there is a deep, strong 
 current of materialistic infidelity ; a tendency to deny every- 
 thing that does not fall within the cognisance of the outward 
 senses. 
 
 .. 
 
 Hungry Students ; or. Death in the Pot, 171 
 
 The fruit of this fs apparent in every rank of society. 
 It is leading thousands to pursue only the pleasures of the 
 moment, to set their hearts on nothing higher than worldly 
 gain, and rich food, and fine clothes, and prevailing fashions, 
 and enervating amusements. Its influence is only to de- 
 grade. It snatches the crown from off our head, and makes 
 man only a kind of superior brute. Why, you cannot read 
 the daily papers without seeing how prevalent it is. Both 
 in this country and America we are making goddesses of 
 women who possess nothing beyond mere physical beauty. 
 We are setting our hearts on all those things that gild and 
 soften life, that give sparkle to this brief earthly existence, 
 and that shut out thoughts of eternity. This poisonous cant 
 of " living for the present " is infecting all classes — the rich 
 and the poor alike; and is inducing on many minds the 
 suspicion, though they dare not express it, that there is no 
 personal God above, and that at death the human soul is 
 simply snuffed out for ever. Need you wonder that, meet- 
 ing as I do, almost every day, with traces of this debasing 
 infidelity, that makes life but an empty farce, that crushes 
 to the dust all our noblest aspirations, and throws over the 
 universe a sepulchral pall, I cry out to-night to you who 
 are tampering with the fatal dish, " Beware I there is death 
 in the pot I " 
 
 Well, I have warned you against four kinds of poison 
 that are doing deadly work amongst young men ; may God 
 preserve you from them all I 
 
 But, where is the ''meal"? For, like Elisha, I would 
 neutralize the poison, by throwing into the caldron that 
 which is wholesome and nutritive. I point you to the 
 incomparable pleasures of a virtuous and godly life; and 
 to the glorious truths of the Gospel, as the only food an 
 immortal soul can live upon. 
 
 Have you a clear and settled creed ? If not, see to get 
 
 >i- — 
 
 wamat 
 
172 
 
 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 that first of all, and find it for yourselves in this. Divine and 
 infallible Book. I commend to you, in particular, the Epistle 
 to the Romans. I know of no such meal for a hungry soul. 
 Food for the strongest intellect. Light for the darkest mind. 
 Hope for the most dejected soul. Read it, and study it, and 
 pray over it, till Christ, who is its centre, bursts upon your 
 view. Oh I if you want to be safe from the poisons that 
 meet you on every 'side, make good use of your Bibles. I 
 remember that, when quite a youth, having received a 
 handsome copy of the Scriptures, I requested a well-known 
 Christian poet, then living in Edinburgh, to write a verse 
 on the fly-leaf. He did so, and I now close by giving you 
 the original lines he wrote : — 
 
 •* The law and Gospe!, bound in one, 
 Here meet the sinner's anxious eye ; 
 And point him, when his hopes are gone^ 
 From Sinai's mount to Calvary. 
 
 There, sprinkled with the Saviour's blooci. 
 And with the Spirit's quickening dew. 
 
 His soul, like Aaron's rod, shnll bud 
 And bear celestial almonds too." 
 
 Mv 
 
 THE WA Y TO GET ON IN THE WORLD. 
 
 4" 
 
** And Solomon^ seeing the young man that he was Indus triom^ rnadt 
 him ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph^ — i Kings xL 28. 
 
 :1 
 
 I 
 
 
 XIIL 
 
 THE IVAY TO GET ON IN THE WORLD. 
 
 THE young man's name was Jeroboam. Don't for a 
 moment imagine that I am going to set him forth 
 as in all respects a model for your imitation. On the 
 religious side of his character there is nothing to commend. 
 He turned out a gross idolater, and acquired a shameful 
 notoriety as a man who drew his countrymen away from 
 the worship of the true God ; indeed, in history he came to 
 be known as "Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel 
 
 to sin." 
 
 Still, we may learn something from him, much in the 
 way of warning, and one thing at least in the way of 
 
 example. 
 
 It is the latter we are going to look to this evening, and 
 I am glad to see such a noble gathering of young men before 
 me ; for the lesson we are to learn from the text is-one you 
 will all do well to be reminded of; namely, that industry ir 
 youth brings its due reward. 
 
 Putting it very briefly, the case was this : — 
 Just underneath the citadel of Zion, in Jerusalem, were 
 a series of extensive fortifications and earthworks, which 
 went by the general name of " Millo." They were very 
 ancient, and had fallen into a state of dilapidation. During 
 the many wars of King David, serious breaches 'had been 
 made in these lines of defence; and Solomon, amongst 
 
 tJ 
 
176 
 
 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 ^r 
 
 other wise and far-seeing acts of his reign, had set to work 
 to have the gaps repaired. It was, of course, a great under- 
 taking, employing a large number of men. I see them at 
 work, a vast throng, as busy as can be, with spade, and 
 mattock, and pickaxe; the king himself taking a special 
 interest in the progress of the work, and often encouraging 
 the labourers with his personal presence. 
 
 Amongst these workmen was a strong, tall, broad- 
 shouldered youth, whose father, Nebat, had died some 
 time ago, and who was now the support of his widowed 
 mother. That young man's name was Jeroboam. Ap- 
 parently, the operations were carried on by a species of 
 forced labour, the arrangement being that the various tribes 
 must each contribute so many active hands, or, in lieu 
 thereof, pay a certain tax. 
 
 A superintendent of works was appointed for each tribe, 
 and his duty was to see that the due amount of labour was 
 given, or failing the labour, that an equivalent was paid 
 down in cash. 
 
 In the course of his frequent visits to the works. King 
 Solomon was struck with the robust, manly form and 
 indomitable industry of young Jeroboam. The first clause 
 of our verse says, he "was a mighty man of valour," but 
 the Septuagint — which is probably more correct — has it 
 thus : " and the man Jeroboam was very strong." He was 
 a powerfully built fellow, and as active as he was robust ; 
 and Solomon, who — as his proverbs show — had a keen 
 appreciation of diligence, resolved to give him a position of 
 prominence; or, to repeat the words of our text, "seeing 
 the young man that he was industrious, he made him ruler 
 (or superintendent) ove^ all the charge of the house of 
 Joseph.'* 
 
 Now there are a good many things we may fairly learn 
 from this little story : — 
 
 9rrst 
 
 The Way to Get On in the World. 177 
 
 I. In the first place, we learn the importance of a good, 
 sound, physical constitution. 
 
 Jeroboam was a stalwart, strapping youth : and never 
 would have accomplished what he did, nor have risen to the 
 position he afterwards attained to, if he had not been blest 
 with a vigorous and healthy bodily frame. 
 
 Exceptions, of course, there are to every rule. There 
 have been little men, delicate men, puny men, who, by 
 sheer force of character, have shaken the world. The 
 apostle Paul is believed to have had a very insignificant 
 and unimposing physique. Richard Baxter and Robert 
 Hall were poor invalids all their days. Napoleon Bonaparte 
 had nothing to boast of as to' bodily frame. The great 
 French historian and statesman, M. Thiers, was quite a 
 diminutive man. The late Professor George Wilson, of 
 Edinburgh, was about the shabbiest specimen of humanity 
 I ever looked upon, yet pre-eminent as a scientist and a 
 lecturer. 
 
 I grant, therefore, there are exceptions ; but what I say 
 is, that a young man goes out into the world under great 
 advantage who has a strong muscular frame and a sound, 
 healthy constitution. Now, why do I say this ? Because' 
 though we cannot "add a cubit to our stature," we can do 
 a good deal for the promotion and establishment of our 
 health. God will hold you responsible for your invalidism, if 
 it is your own fault, and if, through exercise and self-deni'al, 
 you might be athletic and strong. There are men with 
 cran ped chests, and weak sides, and troublesome- h vers, 
 who, with a little care and good sense, might be well and 
 hearty. 
 
 If you will go in for late hours, 5nd irregular meals, and 
 close rooms, and^ deep potations, and clouds of tt)bacco 
 smoke, you will be never like Jeroboam. 
 
 I say to young men here, you have no right to shatter or 
 
 12 
 
178 
 
 Talks with Young Men, 
 
 -r 
 
 mar the vase in which God has been pleased to enshrine 
 the jewel of immortality. 
 
 There are countless suicides every year in London, over 
 which no coroner's inquests are held ; — men destroying 
 their health by pernicious habits, and tumbling into a 
 premature grave. I am thankful, therefore, for the oppor- 
 tunity of counselling you to take good care of your health. 
 
 In this great battle of the nineteenth century, we want 
 not only earnest souls, but stalwart limbs, stout lung5, and 
 brawny muscles. Why should the devil get the best flesh 
 and bone, and there be left for God only the hectic cheek 
 and wasted form ? I am not desecrating the pulpit when 
 I claim for Christ to-night a cheerful countenance, a bright 
 eye, a firm, elastic step, a stout and manly bodily frame. 
 
 II. I learn from our subject the advantage oi being trained 
 to some form of handicraft. Jeroboam began with a pick- 
 axe, and ended with a throne. If he sometimes blistered 
 his hands in digging the earthworks of Millo, they were 
 all the better fitted for holding a sceptre. 
 
 Solomon was too wise a man to think the less of him 
 because he supported his mother and himself by manual 
 labour. 
 
 I do not think there is a country upon earth where such 
 foolish notions prevail on this subject as in England. 
 
 In certain circles it seems as though a positive stigma 
 rests upon a person who earns his bread by the sweat of 
 his brow. I confess to an unbounded contempt for the 
 young gentleman who would not for the world carry a 
 parcel down the street. One of the lessons God is going 
 to teach Great Britain in the next fifty years is, that it 
 is no dishonour to make one's living by the labour of one's 
 
 hands. 
 
 The rage runs through society to bring up our children 
 to what are called the genteel professions, which just 
 
 
 45 J^ 
 
 The Way to Get On in the World, 179 
 
 means, in many cases, genteel starvation. It is impossible 
 that a whole nation can live by sitting at high desks and 
 wielding steel pens. 
 
 Our first father was a gardener ; and it is a law of this 
 world which we cannot overturn, that man must earn his 
 bread by the sweat of his brow. The great bulk of man- 
 kind must ultimately make their livelihood by handicraft 
 of some kind or another ; — by tilling the soil, or engaging 
 in some useful trade. 
 
 I was glad to see it suggested in a newspaper the other 
 day, that to all our public schools a workshop should be 
 attached, where every boy should spend a portion of his 
 time daily, and learn some handicraft. It used to be a 
 law amongst the Jews— and it says the less for them if 
 the law has passed into dissuetude — that every youth, no 
 matter his rank in society, should be trained to some 
 manual occupation. It is perfectly deplorable, the idea 
 that many have taken up, that if their kid-gloved hands 
 touch a hammer, or screw-driver, or lift a box, or tie up 
 a parcel, they are lowering their dignity. People seem 
 to think — such is the mania for speculation and jobbing — 
 that they must contrive to make money without hard 
 work; and that by a little juggling,— by the meeting 
 perhaps of a few men round a board once a week, to 
 drink sherry, and talk together, — they can make far better 
 profits than by real honest labour. I say then to-night, 
 all honour on the horny hand and the sweating brow. If 
 Jeroboam had not made good use of the spade, he had 
 never handled the sceptre. 
 
 III. The next thing I learn from our subject is, that 
 the surest way to rise, in our calling or business, what- 
 ever it be, is to be thorough and persevering in it. I was 
 taken the other day over one of the largest engine factories 
 in the north of England, where every thing is managed with 
 
i8o 
 
 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 the most perfect regularity ; and where, though some thou- 
 sands of men are employed, all are happy and contented : and 
 I was struck with a remark made to me by the head of the 
 firm. He said, " I keep a watchful eye upon my men, and 
 whenever I see special merit, I give an advance ; but, the 
 instant a man demands it, he is paid off." 
 
 I do not want to raise controverted questions here : but 
 I will say this, because it is only common sense, that the 
 tyrannical principles laid down by many of the trades' 
 unions are subversive of the great laws God has established 
 to stimulate human industry. To frame arbitrary rules 
 which will put all men— the skilful and the stupid, the 
 industrious and the idle— upon one level, is an outrage 
 upon justice, and is to put a premium upon incompetency. 
 It is a law which our Creator has laid down, and which 
 will in the end assert itself, though for a while men may 
 try to thwart it, thereby bringing a period of suifering and 
 poverty on themselves, that industry shall meet with re- 
 ward, and the idle shall go to the wall. 
 
 If Jeroboam, with his hands in his pockets, had hung 
 loosely about the ramparts of Millo, he had never been 
 made clerk of the works, or " ruler over all the charge of 
 the house of Joseph." 
 
 " Seest thou a man diligent in business ? he shall stand 
 before kings." 
 
 Who is that, that i3 entertaining princes in the Guildhall 
 of London ? once a small grocer's errand boy in.a humble 
 Scottish town. Go to Lancashire, and see the name of 
 Arkwright everywhere : monarch of cotton-mills : who was 
 he ? Kept a little barber's shop in a back street ; but stuck 
 to his work, and got on from step to step, till his signature 
 was worth thousands of pounds. 
 
 What was that that George Peabody said when visiting 
 his native village in 1855 '^ He said, "Though Providence 
 
 The Way to Get On in the World. 181 
 
 has granted me unvaried and unusual success in the pursuit 
 of fortune, I am still in heart the humble boy who left 
 yonder unpretending dwelling. There is not a youth 
 within the sound of my voice, whose early opportunities 
 and advantages are not very much greater than my own, 
 and I have since achieved nothing that is impossible to 
 the most humble youth among you." 
 
 Don't put on any airs, then, you who have softer skin, 
 and wear finer cloth, than others. Some persons there are, 
 I find, much more ready to talk about the Fatherhood of 
 God, than about the brotherhood of man. Certain token 
 of a small mind, when a man, who has got on well in the 
 world, and risen from a humble sphere, is ashamed to be 
 reminded of his origin. If a man who once followed the 
 plough is now a well salaried clerk in a city house, all the 
 more to his credit ; don't let him blush to tell of the thatched 
 cottage where he was born, of the oatmeal and milk that 
 formed his chief support, or of his dear old mother at her 
 spinning-wheel. I often address young men here, who, to 
 their honour be it spoken, are the main support of their 
 aged parents at a distance; be sure God will repay you, 
 even in this world, for all you do for them. It is a good 
 thing, it is a beautiful thing, for a man to be impelled to 
 diligence and industry, in order that he may make others 
 happy — not merely to lay up riches and comforts for self, 
 but to lighten the cares, it may be, of a widowed mother, 
 such as Jeroboam had ; or to increase the future happiness 
 of one with whom he hopes one day to share his all. There 
 is an excellent moral effect produced upon one's daily busi- 
 ness and life — the unmarried must let me say this — when 
 through it all there runs the stimulating thought, that 
 another is interested as well as yourself, and will benefit 
 by your successes. 
 
 Now IV. If I could get at the ears of some of those 
 
l82 
 
 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 gentlemen in whose employ many of you are, I would 
 point out to them this lesson from the text, that a wise 
 master will mark when a young man is industriousy and 
 will give him deserved promotion. There, are, as we know, 
 inconsiderate employers. There are heads of firms who 
 have no more regard for their clerks and their assistants 
 than — well, I had not better finish the sentence. They 
 simply look on them as they do on their shop fittings or 
 furniture. They value them only for what they can get 
 out of them. Not an encouraging or helpful word from 
 January to December. If a young man comes to their desk 
 in a difficulty, not a syllable of sympathy or counsel. 
 Probably, should they condescend to say a word, it is to 
 this effect, "If you don't like your situaiion, you had better 
 go and find another." 
 
 And such men will build large warehouses, and aiiiass 
 millions of money, and go and spend a serene old age in 
 a fine country house, — without ever bestowing a thought 
 upon the hard-wrought young fellows, out of whose brain, 
 and nerve, and muscle, they have made their fortune. 
 Happily, there are in the City many noble merchants of 
 a very different spirit— full of thoughtfulness and con- 
 sideration ; and if they are wise men — not to say Christian 
 men — they will keep a look out for those youths in their 
 establishments that are faithful, diligent, and industrious ; 
 and, like Solomon, will give them the advancement they 
 merit. You who have under you a number of yoyng men, 
 or a number of young women, keep a watchful eye on those 
 that are industrious, and give them their reward. 
 
 But, if industry is to have its reward, not less must 
 indolence meet its punishment. 
 
 There are some men who never succeed, and do not 
 deserve to succeed ; either because they have no power of 
 steady application, or because, when they ought to be 
 
 The Way to Get On in the World, 183 
 
 sticking to business, they go in for pleasure and amuse- 
 ment. Well, if you grow thistles, you must not expect to 
 gather olive-berries : if you sow brambles, you must not 
 look for figs. We generally have with us a few good-for- 
 nothing young men, who are angry with society, because 
 it will not appreciate them at their own figure, and take 
 them by the hand. The warm and hearty invitation given 
 to strangers, to come in here and make good friendships, 
 brings in about us from time to time lazy, worthless fellows, 
 who seem to imagine we have a supply of vacant situations 
 ready for them. I must tell you that you are under a great 
 mistake. There is not a straightforward, honest, industrious 
 young man who will not find here a warm hand to grasp 
 him, and kind words to welcome him ; but, if you have 
 thrown away your chance, given yourself up to sinful 
 pleasure, and lost your situation — whilst we would speak 
 tenderly to you, and urge upon you penitence and reforma- 
 tion—we have no snug berth to of!er you, you must fight 
 your own battle, and the best thing for you will be to find 
 employment on the earthworks of '^ Millo," to redeem your 
 character by real hard work, though it be of the humblest 
 
 kind. 
 
 Now, gentlemen, I think you will give me credit for 
 having stuck to the text, and for having drained out of it 
 the plain, practical lessons of common every-day life which 
 it contains. And, remember, the Bible is a most practical 
 book, brimming over with sound and valuable instruction, 
 for our guidance even in worldly matters. 
 
 But I dare not leave this subject without saying an 
 earnest and solemn word upon interests infinitely more 
 important than those of which we have been speaking. 
 You may be all that can be desired in the way of industry 
 and application to business, and yet "without God and 
 without hope in the world." Jeroboam himself shall pro- 
 
184 
 
 Talks with Young Men, 
 
 vide you with a warning. With much to recommend him, 
 with indomitable energy, and perseverance, and worldly 
 success, he was yet unfaithful to Jehovah. On the religious 
 side of his character he was as bad as bad could be. He 
 deliberately forsook the true God, and set up idols of gold. 
 He had not even the excuse of ignorance. He did it with 
 his eyes open, and not only turned away from the true 
 religion himself, but" used all the influence he possessed to 
 turn away other people too. Ah I truth to tell, there are 
 Jeroboams in the world still. 
 
 It is a possible thing— though Christ tells you it is the 
 worst bargain a man can make— to "gain the world," and 
 '* lose your soul I " 
 
 There are men who have everything that earth can give 
 them, and yet are so poor that the humblest Christian here 
 would not change places with them I Their very success is 
 their curse. In the elation of their prosperity they have 
 gone away from the God of their fathers, and to-day are 
 bowing the knee to calves of gold. And, like Jeroboam, 
 they become wonderfully arrogant, will not be spoken to, 
 and are a law unto themselves. What did Jeroboam care 
 for all the Lord's servants and prophets I He vowed to be 
 himself priest, prophet, and king all in one. So there are 
 men who say, "You stand up there in gown and bands, 
 and preach like an angel, and we'll attend to our own 
 affairs, but do not interfere with us." 
 
 Ah I there is something else to think about beside the 
 price of stocks and the state of the markets. Take care 
 you do not get so absorbed with business that you can 
 think of nothing else. A man is in a perilous way when 
 every waking moment at night is occupied with matters of 
 trade, and the first thing he does in the morning is to offer 
 Worship to the golden calf. He hastens to get hold of the 
 newspaper, not the Bible, and what is it that he turns to? 
 
 The Way to Get On in the World, 185 
 
 Not the editorials, not the marriages and deaths, not the 
 proceedings of parliament, but the price current, and the 
 money market, and the last quotations on ' Change. The 
 man is wrapt up in business. 
 
 O my brother, remember, you may have goods to sell, 
 but you have a soul to save. Your whole existence upon 
 earth is but a morsel of your being. It is only a step or 
 two to your grave, but there are leagues on leagues beyond. 
 The slab of the tomb is but the milestone that tells that the 
 traveller has only commenced his journey. 
 
 Man immortal, have you nothing more to do than to 
 scrape together some dust? 
 
 Child of eternity, do you only want a little" earthly dis- 
 tinction, or tinsel glory ? 
 
 What to you, when a few more suns have set, will be 
 the shop, and the store, and the office, and the bank, and 
 the honours of the world, and all the things that liftec you 
 up, and all the things that pressed you down ? 
 
 If the great folding doors of eternity were thrown back 
 to-night, and you got but a peep within, how paltry would 
 all those things seem I 
 
 History tells us that some centuries ago it was solemnly 
 announced by some one high in authority that the world 
 was coming to an end. 
 
 There was terrible excitement in London. On a particular 
 Friday the world was to be destroyed. On Tuesday, and 
 Wednesday, and Thursday no business could he done, all 
 the churches were crowded with the people, weeping and 
 praying, and preparing for the end. It seemed as though 
 the metropolis and all England was going to be converted 
 to God. 
 
 Friday came, and there were no portents, no darkness, 
 nor flame ; nor thunders above, nor quakings beneath. The 
 day passed over just like every other day, and when it was 
 
... 
 
 1 86 
 
 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 passed, and night came, London was such a scene of riot, 
 and wassail, and drunkenness, and debauchery, as had 
 never before been witnessed. 
 
 Ah, how true to poor human nature I Do not trust to 
 a dying hour. Do not bargain for a death-bed repentance. 
 
 I tell you that to-night the arms of Divine love are open 
 to enfold you. 
 
 The outstretched hand of Christ waits for you to grasp 
 it. God has brought salvation within your reach. I preach 
 to you a full atonement for sin, and a Divine Spirit that 
 sanctifies every believing soul. I beckon you at once to 
 Jesus. But a step from your pew to Calvary, and another 
 step from Calvary to all the wealth of Heaven. The emptiest 
 and poorest of you here may at once become richer than 
 the Christless millionaire. Only believe — come to Gospel 
 terms. Join yourself to Christ and His people, and you 
 are wealthier far than ever earth can make you. O young 
 men, young men, it is but a poor bargain after all, to gain 
 the world and lose the soul ! to be industrious for earth, 
 but negligent of heaven I to be rich for time, but beggared 
 for eternity I 
 
 THOROUGHNESS THE ROAD TO PROSPERITY. 
 
 -iw 
 
•* Jnd in every work that he bc^an . . . • /^ d,d it vuith all kit 
 heart, and prospered.'^ — 2 Chron. xxxi. 21. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 THOROUGHNESS THE ROAD TO PROSPERITY, 
 
 IN other words, Hezekiah (for it is of him the text speaks) 
 threw himself heart and soul into everything he under- 
 took, and met with almost uninterrupted success. I don't 
 sa}'^ that every man that walks in his steps will be equally 
 prosperous. No doubt there are instances of men — I think 
 that without going far, I could mention one or two — who 
 have applied themselves with the utmost energy to the 
 tasks of life, and yet have met with disappointment ; almost 
 everything they attempted has proved a failure. But such 
 cases are exceedingly rare, and some of them, perhaps, 
 admit of explanation. For, as a general rule, it is true — ] 
 true in every age, and all the world over — that the man I 
 who is thoroughgoing and painstaking, and **in every work/ 
 that he begins, does it with all his heart," will, and does! 
 prosper. 
 
 Had this been simply a case of worldly industry and 
 success, I would not have selected it for my subject 
 (although even from this point of view many a practical 
 and needed hint might be given). But Hezekiah was a 
 real man of God ; and his wonderful energy of character 
 spang out of his fervid piety. This connection is indicated 
 m the Second Book of Kings, where we read, *' And the Lord 
 was with him ; and he prospered whithersoever he went; " 
 whilst in the next chapter of this book it is said, **God gave 
 
 \/ 
 
I 
 id 
 
 190 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 him substance very much ; and Hezekiah prospered in all 
 
 his works." 
 
 Three times then it is mentioned that he was a prosperous 
 man. Now, worldly prosperity, as you all know, is not in 
 itself a token of the Divine favour. Bad men often prosper. 
 So many instances of it did David see, that he was filled 
 with painful perplex:ity ; he could not understand it ; it 
 almost seemed to him at one time as though Heaven put 
 a premium upon wickedness. But "when he went into 
 the sanctuary of God," he got over this difficulty ; when he 
 looked deeper into things, he perceived that the prosperity 
 of ungodly men is but short-lived and superficial, and brings 
 no real and abiding satisfaction with it. The only prosperity 
 worthy of the name, is that of the man who is dwelling 
 in the smile and favour of God, and whom the Psalmist 
 described in the words we have just been singing :— 
 
 •* He shall be like a tree that grows 
 Near planted by a river, 
 Which in his season yields his fruit. 
 And his leaf fadeth never. 
 
 «« 
 
 And all he doth shall prosper well 
 
 The vk'icked are not so ; 
 But like they are unto the chaff 
 
 Which wind drives to and fro.** 
 
 Although Hezekiah was one of the best kings that reigned 
 upon the throne of Judah, the conditions of his early life 
 were very much against him. His father, Ahaz, was a 
 notoriously wicked man. His youth was cursed by a most 
 polluted parental example. The moral atmosphere he 
 breathed was tainted with all the abominations of Oriental 
 idolatry. He grew up amid the sensual luxuries and 
 splendid corruptions of a licentious court. Moreover, as 
 some would say, bad blood was in -his veins. There cannut 
 a be doubt that some forms of vice are hereditary. I have 
 
 <*;» 
 
 •^*%- 
 
 Thoroughness the 'Road to Prosperity. 191 
 
 seen it There are young men whose conflict with temrta- 
 tion is specially hard-not only because the example that 
 has been set them at home has been evil, but because they 
 carry in their own persons the seeds of certain evil habits 
 in which their fathers indulged. Perhaps it is so w.th some 
 of you ; and only too well you know it. And when the 
 thirst or passion rages, you are apt to give in and despair, 
 as though you were hopelessly destined to rum. 
 ' My brothers, do nothing of the kind. Look to Hezekiah, 
 and take encouragement. Divine grace, can root out the 
 foulest desire. " God is able to make you stand The 
 young Hezekiah not only preserved his virtue, but became 
 a truly religious man. In the Apocrypha he .s bracketed 
 with David and Josiah-these three being described as 
 « the only kings of Judah that did not forsake the law of 
 their God." I have the notion that he owed his happy 
 career under God, to the influence of a pious mother. We 
 hardly know anything of her, but that she was the daughter 
 of a holy man called Zechariah, " who had understanding 
 in the visions of God " ; but I venture to believe that she 
 shared her saintly father's piety, and bestowed all her care 
 to bring up her boy in the fear of God. 1 cannot doubt 
 she would take him alone and pray with him ; and, readmg 
 to him portions of the Book of the Law, would instil its prin- 
 ciples into his youthful mind, and warn him of the paths of 
 folly • and these instructions, together with her own gentle 
 influence and beautiful example, were the means, under 
 God, of leading the young prince in the right and happy 
 
 way. 
 
 Oh do you not owe. many of you, beyond what tongue 
 
 can express, to the prayers and influence of a godly 
 
 mother ? There is no bond holds you so tightly as this. 
 
 Th.re is nothing to touch and melt you like the thought 
 
 of her love, or the memory of her life. Mothers do well 
 
Hi 
 
 192 
 
 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 to remember that their impress is often stamped upon 
 their sons: I have sometimes felt I would like to preach 
 a sermon to a congregation of mothers, who had boys of 
 from six to sixteen years of age ; for the influence they 
 exert is incalculable. It is strikingly true, as seen in the 
 pages of history, that the most remarkable men have 
 possessed mothers of uncommon talents for good or bad, 
 and great energy of character. It would almost seem as 
 though, generally, the impress of the father is stamped 
 upon the daughters, and that of the mother upon the 
 sons. Instances of the latter, at least, can easily be pro- 
 duced ; and not all of them pleasing in their character. 
 The fiend who proposed to Charles IX. of France the 
 massacre of the Huguenots, was the mother that had 
 nursed him. The infamous Nero was the offspring of a 
 woman who murdered her own husband. On the other 
 hand, what a striking instance of the moral power of a 
 good mother you have in that noble Italian hero who lately 
 passed away I With all his detestation of the Papal form 
 of religion, I for one think that Garibaldi was a believer in 
 Christ ; and I was so pleased to read in the papers this 
 testimony to his intense veneration for his mother : — *' If 
 he saw any one looking at her picture the tears started into 
 his eyes. He felt remorse at I ..ving, by his adventurous 
 life, been a source to her of cruel anxiety. He believed 
 in the power of her prayers to preserve him from the 
 effects of his own temerity ; and on the field of battle or 
 in the storm at sea he never lost courage, because he 
 thought he saw her kneeling before God and imploring 
 for him the Divine protection. This faith in the efficacy 
 of her prayers was never for a moment shaken. She was 
 a woman of angelic goodness and inexhaustible charity. 
 Garibaldi ascribed his tenderness for all who suffered and 
 were oppressed to the example she gave of compassion 
 
 ! 
 
 .. 
 
 i 
 
 - 
 
 Thoroughness the Road to Prosperity. 193 
 
 for the poor." Oh, you should never cease to thank God 
 those of you who have been blest with a pious parentage. 
 If any of you are wandering in evil paths, indulging in 
 vice, breaking the Sabbath, neglecting the House of God, 
 remember it adds terribly to your sin, if you have a father 
 or a mother who has earnestly and prayerfully sought to 
 
 lend you aright 
 
 But I must not forget the text, for I wish to stick close 
 to it, and give this nail a few smart raps on the head 
 to-night. What the text teaches is the importance of 
 thoroughness in everything we undertake. I would to 
 God that what is here declared of Hezekiah might be said 
 of every young man listening to me ; '* and in every 
 work that he began, he did it with all his heart, and 
 
 prospered." 
 
 We touch then upon the secret of a successful life. Some 
 of you may be inclined to interrupt me, and say, Hezekiah's 
 case is little to the ppint ; for he was born in a palace, and 
 at twenty-five years of age was the occupant of a throne. 
 You say, It is an easy thing, at these high^levels, to make 
 one's mark upon the world, and carry all before you. Or, 
 perhaps, you are inclined to envy some of your own 
 acquaintances who have been •*born with a silver spoon 
 in their mouth," who have had a nice little capital to start 
 with, and good social influence to back them, and so forth. 
 
 Now, I have no hesitation in saying, that most great men, 
 and eminently successful men, have commenced life under 
 peculiarly unfavourable conditions. It is rather the excep- 
 tion than the rule, that a youth, brought up under all 
 manner of advantages of wealth, and rank, and education, 
 has, by dint of his own pluck and energy, forced his way 
 to the front, and commanded brilliant success. 
 
 What a list I could give you of notable men, never to be 
 forgotten in history, who rose from the humblest ranks, 
 
 13 
 
 aI 
 
\ 
 
 194 
 
 Talks with Young Men, 
 
 starting without a sixpence in their pockets, and by sheer 
 thoioughness and perseverance gaining step by step till 
 they got to the top of the tree. The immortal Homer 
 began life as a beggar ; ^sop was a slave ; Demosthenes 
 the son of a sword-maker ; the poet Akenside was a butcher's 
 boy ; Jeremy Taylor the son of a poor barber ; Ben Jonson 
 a bricklayer ; Hugh Miller a mason ; Dr. Livingstone a 
 worker in a factory; Faraday a bookbinder's apprentice; 
 Dr. Kitto a shoemaker ; why, I might multiply the instances 
 to almost any extent. 
 
 Don't any of you saj', then, that, because your origin 
 happens to be humble, and your means small, you have 
 but a poor chance in life. Only adopt Hezekiah's plan, 
 and "in every work that you begin do it with all your 
 heart," and you may prosper as well as he. 
 
 The text speaks of worky and that is one practical hint it 
 gives us. Hezekiah had always something in hand, some 
 undertaking to occupy and engage his attention ; and so 
 should every man have. There are a good many young 
 gentlemen at the present day who have a perfect horror of 
 work. If they advertise, it is for " a light situation." If 
 by any chance labour can be shirked, they will shirk it. 
 Their notion is that life should be one continued holiday. 
 Be assured that in common life there is no success without 
 industry. There must be genuine, honest, hard work, if 
 you are to prosper. If this has always been true, it has 
 never been so true as it is to-day. There is too much 
 competition to give indolence and laziness a chance. There 
 \ are no " sleepy hollows " in modern commerce : (if you don't 
 ^ I work you'll be left behind. 
 
 Especially at the outset of life do you need to brace your- 
 selves to toil. You may be able to take it easy by-and-by ; 
 but in the meantime there must be downright hard labour. 
 It is just the opposite of what you find in ascending a 
 
 »•! 
 
 •' 
 
 Thoroughness the Road to Prosperity, 195 
 
 mountain. Have you ever ascended Snowdon, or Ben 
 Lomond, or Ben Ledi, or Goat' Fell ? I know by expe- 
 rience that the first part of the ascent is very easy, but the 
 hard work comes at tlie end, when you are almost at the 
 top. Steep crags, loose rocks, and weather-glazed turf 
 make it a hard and difficult business to reach the summit. 
 I say it is the reverse in life, at least as a rule. And it is 
 w^ell that it should be so. '' It is good for a man that he 
 should bear the ycke in his youth." Hard work has a good 
 moral influence on a man. 
 
 When the old monks thought themselves visited and 
 assailed by the devil, they immediately applied themselves 
 to some laborious task. Where every hour has its allotted 
 occupation, there is no time for mean jealousies, unclean 
 desires, and frivolous fancies. '' Depend upon it," wrote / 
 Sir Walter Scott to his son, "there is nothing to be had j^ 
 
 without labour." 
 
 I feel sure, from what is said of Hezekiah, that he was 
 an early riser. Indeed, we are informed (xxix. 20) that 
 this was the case. If you are bent on being prosperous 
 men, do not lie in bed of a morning. Napoleon denied 
 himself more than four hours of sleep; so did Lord 
 Brougham ; Paley rose every morning, summer and winter, 
 at five : and nearly all successful men have been early 
 
 risers. 
 
 Then again, we learn from Hezekiah a lesson of con-^ 
 centration of energy. " In every work that he began, he 
 did it with all his heart." He did not begin half-a-dozen 
 things at once, and drivel away his energy upon them; he 
 did not commence one thing till he had finished anothe . 
 Many an instance have v/e seen of excellent talents 
 being wasted, and coming to nothing, beciuse they were 
 squandered on a variety of aims, instead c. being focussed 
 on one point. Some, young fellows remi id me of the idle 
 
V 
 
 196 
 
 Talks with Young Men, 
 
 \ 
 
 warrior made of tin I have seen on the top of a weather- 
 cock, bravely bending to his gun and ready to fire, but 
 swinging round to every point of the compass, and of no 
 use whatever, but to tell how the wind blows. Sir Joshua 
 Reynolds was one of the most distinguished artists of his 
 day^; and in answer to the inquiry how he attained to 
 such excellence, he replied, '' By observing one simple 
 rule, namely, to make each painting the best." There is 
 much truth in an old Latin proverb which says, "He who 
 followsj two hares is sure to catch neither." 
 
 ** Whate'er your forte, to that your zeal confine^ 
 Let all your efforts there concentred shine ; 
 As shallow streams collected form a tide, 
 So talents thrive, to one grand point applied." 
 
 Method and punctuality y too, seem to be indirectly hinted 
 at in the text ; and they are almost indispensable to pros- 
 perity. Slovenliness of habit has been the ruin of many a 
 youth. It is surprising how often success in life has been 
 due to some trifling evidence which a young man has given 
 of orderliness or precision ; it has been the making of his 
 fortune. " You have made us lose a whole hour," said a 
 gentleman to a lad, as he came into a room where an im- 
 portant corrimittee was meeting. ^^ Beg pardon, sir, that is 
 impossible," said the youth, taking out his watch, " I am 
 only five minutes l^te." "Very true," repUed the other, 
 ** but there are twelve of us here, and each one of us has 
 lost five minutes ; so that makes an hour." The young 
 fellow was startled at that way of looking at it, and vowed 
 he should never be one minute behind time again. 
 
 But the great lesson we learn from the text is the value 
 
 of thoroughness of doing whatever we undertake with our 
 
 whole heart, and doing it well. There is an estimable 
 
 gentleman in the House of Commons, who has risen from 
 
 . the humblest position to be a member of the British Par- 
 
 ^. 
 
 t 
 
 Thoroughness the Road to Prosperity, 197 
 
 liament; and when a snob, whose father's servant this 
 gentleman had once been, had the impertinence one day to 
 try and insult him by saying, "Why, you once blacked my 
 father's boots," he nobly replied, " Yes, and didn't I black 
 them well?" Ask any man who has been paHicularly 1 / 
 prosperous in some line of business, and he will tell you \J 
 that he largely owes his success to the fact that he started 
 with the fixed resolve, that, whatever he took in hand, he 
 would do it to the best of his power. This was the prin- 
 ciple of Strafford, the great minister of Charles I., who took 
 for his motto the one word, " Thorough ! " Ben Jonson in 
 one of his plays makes a character say, " When I once take 
 the humour of a thing, I am like your tailor's needle — I go 
 through with it." 
 
 Do nothing as if it were trifling; if it be so, it is un- 
 worthy of you. 
 
 I do not hesitate to say — offend whom it may— that the 
 want of thoroughness is the great outstanding blot upon 
 the trade and commerce of our time. It is not only 
 mahogany tables that are veneer, and silver jugs that are 
 thinly plated, and strawberry pottles that are only good at 
 the top ; but everywhere, and in all departments of trade, 
 shams are the rule. Gilt and paint carry the day. Every- 
 thing for show. 
 
 A high-minded man will set his face against every form 
 of imposture. He will go in for genuine, honest work. He- 
 will take a pride in doing every job well, and turning out 
 the very best article he can produce. 
 
 My brothers, I commend to you Hezekiah for your model ; 
 " in every work you begin, do it with all your heart," and 
 you will prosper. That is, you will have true prosperity. 
 Outside success is only Birmingham jewellery, of which, 
 they say, that out of an old coalscuttle and one sovereign, 
 can be made a thousand pounds' worth of gold plate. To 
 
Talks with Young Men, 
 
 198 
 
 live well, is better than to make money. But even as 
 regards worldly success, the likeliest road to it by far is 
 the road I am commending. Ask the first merchants m 
 London to-day, the foremost and wealthiest men in any 
 branch of industry ; and, without a dissenting voice, they 
 will tell you that thoroughness, like honesty, is the best 
 
 policy. 
 
 For, indeed, it is just 6ne form of honesty, Conscien. 
 tiousness is seen as much in the handling of tools as m the 
 handling of money. May God give to every one of you a 
 career of steady and honourable success 1 
 
 There is a striking picture in the Royal Academy, repre 
 senting a military incident that occurred during the war m 
 the Transvaal. Two young cavalry officers, formerly school 
 companions at Eton, are seen boldly dashing up at the head 
 of a corps to the attack on Laing's Nek, when the horse of 
 one of them is shot beneath him, and falls with its rider to 
 the ground. Just at that instant the other shouted, " Come 
 along, Monck; we must be in the front rank. Floreat 
 Etona I " The words were hardly out of his lips when a 
 bullet went through his heart. ^ 
 
 Ah ! such, too often, is the story of mere worldly success. 
 Just as the pinnacle of aspiration is reached, there is sudden 
 collapse ; or death steps in and lays its arrest on all. 
 
 I should be taking a sadly low aim this evening, did I 
 seek for you nothing better than earthly prosperity. I 
 would have you to emulate Hezekiah's ardent and con^ 
 sistent piety. He stands in the front rank, among the safints 
 of Scripture, as a man of prayer. Every difficulty and 
 trouble he took straight to God, and spread it out before 
 Him. Oh, what a comfort it is to be able to do this ; to 
 feel that we have a friend yonder to whom we can go in all 
 our troubles. I don't speak merely of set times and forms 
 .of prayer, though I hope that each of you begins and ends 
 
 - 
 
 Thoroughness the Road to Prosperity. 199 
 
 each day upon your knees; but I speak of a far richer 
 privilege than that, which can belong only to those of you 
 who have accepted Christ as your Saviour, and have found 
 peace with God through Him; the privilege I mean of 
 taking everything to God, and asking His guidance at every 
 
 step. 
 
 You have probably heard of the distinguished Christian 
 lawyer, Sir Edward Coke; his plan for each twenty-four 
 hours he expressed in the couplet : — 
 
 «* Six hours to sleep, to law's grave study six ; 
 Four spent in prayer, the rest on Nature fix." 
 
 But Sir William Jones's distribution of his time revealed, 
 perhaps, a higher type of practical piety :— 
 
 «* Seven hours to law, to soothing slumber seven. 
 Ten to the world allot, and all to Heaven." 
 
 Yes, this is the highest attainment of the Christian life, 
 to feel that we are always within reach of the ear and ot 
 the hand of God. Oh, have not some of you been lately 
 living a long way off from Him ? You have been getting 
 terribly dead, and unimpressible to spiritual things. The 
 Bible has been neglected, and the Sabbath profaned, and 
 perhaps even prayer given up. Some of you used to be 
 members of the Christian Church, but you haven't been at 
 the Lord's Table for many a long month, perhaps haven't 
 even taken out of your desk that kind letter of introduction 
 you brought with you from a pastor in the country ; and 
 time is creeping on, and the soul is giving you less and less 
 concern, and you can think of nothing now but business 
 and pleasure. Oh, my dear friend, are you just to go 
 sliding down the fatal path, till God is utterly forgotten, 
 and every ray of immortal hope extinguished for ever? 
 What will all woridly success be to you, if Christ is un- 
 known, and the eternal future dark as deepest midnights 
 
200 
 
 Talks with Young Alen. 
 
 gloom ? Is it not just possible, that some of you are com- 
 mitting the greatest mistake that mortal man can make, 
 the mistake of leaving the soul's interests all unsettled, 
 and delaying to an hour which may never be given you, 
 preparation for a hastening eternity ! I am so glad to meet 
 you to-night, and sound the note of warning in your car. 
 And not warning only, but kind and loving invitation : for 
 to each of you are offered now all the blessings of Christ's 
 free and glorious salvation I Come, and find in true godli- 
 ness the grand secret of a bright, active, and energetic life, 
 the key to the highest and best success ; then shall you be 
 independent of fickle fortune's smile and frown ; you shall 
 know that the blessing of Almighty God is on all your 
 ways, and in every work that you begin, doing it with all 
 your heart, you shall truly prosjjer. 
 
 STARTING ON THE RIGHT RAILS. 
 
<« While he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his 
 father.^'' — 2 Chron. xxxiv. 3. 
 
 XV. 
 
 STARTING ON THE RIGHT RAILS. 
 
 HE was just sixteen. Had he been like most lads at 
 that age, he would have said, '* It is far too early 
 in life for me to trouble myself about religion ; plenty of 
 time for that by-and-by." But he wasn't like most men. 
 There are not fifty per cent, of young men like Josiah. 
 Not twenty per cent. Not two per cent. You ask me for 
 proof? I give you the statement in the Second Book of 
 Kings: "And like unto him was there none before him, 
 that turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his 
 soul, and with all his might, according to the law of Moses ; 
 neither after him arose there any hke him." 
 
 I aim high then this evening. I set before you one of 
 the best models that even the Bible contains There are 
 stains on the life of Jacob, on the character of David, on 
 the behaviour of Solomon, but not a single stain upon 
 Josiah. I think we all fall in love with this young man, 
 so earnest, so consistent, so diligent, so thorough in aH 
 he was, and in all he did ; and the grand secret of the 
 whole lay here, that " while he was yet young, he began 
 to seek after the God of David his father." 
 
 Sometimes a person says to me, knowing that I have 
 preached scores of sermons to young men, "What can 
 you get to say ? " My dear friends, that is not the difficulty. 
 It is rather, what not to say. This evening my trouble is, 
 not how to expand^ but how to curtail. Truth is so many 
 
Talks with Young Men. 
 
 204 
 
 sided, and your special temptations are so various, and, 
 above all, the Bible is so rich and full, that I have no fear 
 of wanting material for thought. When I find I have 
 exhausted this Book, I will let you know. It is veiy 
 noticeable, that the histories in Scripture of kmgs, and 
 other eminent men, tell us so much about their youth. 
 Where they were born, who their father was, who their 
 mother was, from what ancestral stock they came, what 
 happened to them in their childhood, who their religious 
 instructors were, and so forth ; all these things are deemed 
 worthy of mention in the Bible. 
 
 And I can well understand why. It is the influences- 
 that are around you when you are about sixteen, and for 
 ten years thereafter, the tendencies you then manifest, the 
 courses you then follow, that virtually determine your 
 whole after life. For this reason, I wish a little earnest 
 
 talk with you. 
 
 In speaking to you about Josiah as a model for young 
 men, I shall touch upon three points, and try to make 
 each of them interesting and useful. First, when his 
 religious life began ; secondly, what complexion it took ; 
 and thirdly, what effects it produced. 
 
 I. When his religious life began.-The text tells us it 
 
 was "while he was yet young." Although he was about 
 
 sixteen when he began earnestly to "seek the Lord, yet 
 
 even from his eighth year he showed a pious, thoughtful 
 
 spirit. As a mere boy, he evinced a beautiful character, 
 
 and gave promise of a virtuous life. We all know there 
 
 is a great difference in the natural dispositions of children ; 
 
 and, although every heart needs to be changed by the 
 
 grace of God, yet some young people seem, almost from the 
 
 • dawn of intelligence, to be more open to good impressions 
 
 than others, and more easily lead in the right way. It 
 
 is somewhat remarkable that young Josiah should have 
 
 Starting on the Right Rails. 205 
 
 been so piously disposed, for he was brought up under 
 circumstances of the most unfavourable kind* His father 
 was a decidedly bad man ; the court life, in the midst of 
 which he was reared, was utterly corrupt; the officials 
 who hung about the palace were mostly idolaters; and 
 the national religion was at the lowest ebb. 
 
 '*How in the world did this little boy acquire the good 
 principles he so soon manifested ? I will tell you how 
 I think it was. Of course God's Spirit can renew the 
 heart under any outward circumstances. He is inde- 
 pendent of human instrumentality, but, as a rule. He 
 employs external means. I have told you that Josiah 
 had a bad father; no mistake about that; but I didn't 
 say he had a bad mother. I think- his mother was a 
 good, pious woman. We are told in the Second Book of 
 Kings that her name was Jedidah, which means " the Lord's 
 beloved." Now, a good name is not always a true index 
 of character, but generally it is so in the Word of God. 
 
 Well but perhaps you remind me of Manasseh's mother. 
 Manasseh was Josiah's grandfather, and his mother's name 
 was a very beautiful one, though he turned out a wicked 
 man; it was Hephzibah, which means "the Lord dehghteth 
 in thee." " What do you make of that ? " you say. Why, 
 I think it is quite a case in point. I have no doubt that 
 Hephzibah, who, by the way, was a daughter of the 
 prophet Isaiah, did all in her power to train up her boy 
 in the right way ; and she was not, eventually, without 
 her reward. Although, as a young man, he was a disgrace 
 to his position, yet the seed sown in early life sprang up 
 
 in his latter days; and Manasseh's repentance is perhaps 
 the most notable instance of spiritual reformation contained 
 
 in Scripture. 
 
 Well, with Jedidah for his mother, and Hephzibah for 
 his great-grandmother, it is very likely that young Josfah 
 
* 
 
 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 206 
 
 had many a holy lesson in his tender years, and that these 
 good ladies did for him what we know Eunice and Lois 
 
 did for Timothy. 
 
 Oh I the innuence of a mother I I do not wonder that 
 in the Book of Kings, as every fresh monarch's name is 
 
 mentioned, it is added, " And his mother's name was . 
 
 Yes, a mother's inttuence is often greater than even a 
 father's. I am sure, young men, we can, most of us, say 
 that Many of us have had good mothers ; they are now 
 in heaven ; but we can hardly think of them without the 
 tear starting into the eye. That dear old face, ah I the 
 memory of it is a sermon I And if the father happened 
 to be, as he was in this case, a thoroughly ungodly man, 
 I think it only adds to the magic power of the mother's 
 gentleness. Oh, there is many a lad here to-night that 
 has got a saint of a mother praying for him I Remember, 
 it is an awful thing to resist, to withstand, such a prayer 
 
 as that , • u' 
 
 But, to come back to the point, when did Josiah s re 
 
 ligious life really begin ? About his sixteenth year. It was 
 then that he set himself earnestly to seek the Lord. None 
 too soon. I am not going to say to any little boys here, 
 " You are safe to wait till then ; " for the earlier the better; 
 but I wish rather to speak to those who are past that age, 
 and are still undecided ; and I tell you, you have not a day 
 to lose. Among names that are well known on the other 
 side of the Atlantic, is that of Aaron Burr; and I would 
 point to his career as a solemn lesson to you. He -was the 
 son of godly parents ; his mother, a daughter of President 
 Edwards, was a true Jedidah, one of the Lord's beloved 
 ones, a woman distinguished for her culture and piety. 
 Aaron Burr was brought up amid influences which augered 
 well for his future, and laid upon him a weight of responsi- 
 bility. When he was nineteen years of age, the Spirit of 
 
 Starting on the Right Rails. 207 
 
 God dwelt powerfully with his. soul. He became aeeply 
 awakened, and saw that he must come to a decision between 
 the world and God. One or other he must choose. While 
 in this state of spiritual distress, he retired for a week or 
 two into the country, for the express purpose of giving the 
 matter his full consideration. What passed within the 
 d-epths of his soul throughout this critical moment I do not 
 know but he came home with the resolution-I give you 
 his own words-" never again to trouble himself about his 
 soul's salvation." So he threw himself into the world 
 casting religion behind him for ever 1 What was the result ? 
 I dare not attempt to draw aside the veil that conceals from 
 us his eternal doom, but his life became a very wretched 
 one He was disappointed in his ambitions, and soured 
 against all the world. He had nothing to sustain him amid 
 his reverses, and died a miserable and hopeless man. He 
 had cast off God, and God cast him off I What 1 am afraid 
 of my brothers, is not that you will do as Aaron Burr did 
 Jl cannot think you will deliberately do that,-but (which 
 comes to the same in the end) that you will put oflf the 
 concerns of your soul from year to year, till all senous 
 i„,pressions die out for ever 1 By-and-by, you will get 
 married and settled in life, and, with a thousand things to 
 think of, the soul will be forgotten. 
 
 I tell you what it is, young men, you cannot afford to 
 throw away your youth. There is not a month not a 4ay 
 to lose. A short time ago a Christian lady was laid upon a 
 sick bed, and, finding she was dying, she summoned her 
 children around her. As they approached her bed one by 
 one, she stretched out her hand, and took theirs in hers, 
 and very solemnly-for she was on the brink of eternity- 
 she sai7 to them, "I charge you before God, nieet me a 
 God's right hand." When it came to the turn of the eldest 
 son a grown-up young man, she was greatly agitated, for 
 
20& Talks with Young Men. 
 
 she knew he had been living a reckless life. She grasped 
 his hand, and said, — the tears flowing from her eyes, — "■ My 
 boy, ere I die, I want you to make me a promise. I want 
 you solemnly to promise me that you will seek the salvation 
 of your soul." He hesitated, and stood silent, and hung 
 down his head. It was a time of dreadful suspense. The 
 moments seemed like hours. His spirit would not yield. 
 At last, as he lifted up- his eyes, he met his mother's gaze. 
 Oh, that look I that tender, yearning, pleading look I It 
 pierced his heart. '' My son," she again exclaimed, " meet 
 me at God's right hand. Promise." " Mother," he replied, 
 "I will, I will." Her face brightened up. A heavenly 
 smile stole over her features; she whispered, "Thank God, 
 I can die now/' and fell back on the pillow a corpse I This 
 is a true story; and that young man kept his word, 
 and is now a decided and happy Christian. O unsaved 
 young man, will you not make me the same promise 
 to-night ? 
 
 Now I want to inquire, 
 
 II. What was the complexion of Josiah's piety?— \ think 
 there is something suggestive in the expression, " He began 
 to seek the God of David his father." " Forefather," of 
 course, is meant. David had been dead full four hundred 
 years ; but, as the head of the dynasty, and the most eminent 
 progenitor, he was generally spoken of as he is in the text. 
 In the line of Josiah's ancestry there had been many godly 
 and noble men; there were Asa, and Jehoshaphat, and 
 Amaziah, and Hezekiah, and others; but the best thing 
 that could be said of any of them was, that they " walked 
 in the ways of David their father.*' 
 
 It is an unspeakable blessing to have been born in the 
 line of a Christian parentage. The purest blood the world 
 has ever known is that of a pious ancestry. To be 
 descended from princes and noble^ is nothing in comparison. 
 
 
 Starting on the Right Rails. 209 
 
 The true rank is the aristocracy of grace. There is probably 
 not a country on the face of the globe in which there are so 
 many Christian families as there are in our own, who can 
 trace back their lineage to a pious ancestry. Many of you, 
 I know, can never think of home without feelings of the 
 profoundest respect for your parents and grandparents. 
 They may have had old-fashioned ways, and on some points 
 their views may have been narrow, but oh, they were good, 
 and saintly, and beautiful I 
 
 It is no dishonour to a young man to believe in the religion 
 of his fathers. No youth, with a particle of real manliness, 
 will think it beneath him to recall the days when his mother 
 prayed with him, and taught him to sing sweet hymns oi 
 the better land. Every such memory will be a source of 
 moral strength. Said a French monarch, when once solicited 
 to consent to a dishonourable treaty, " The blood of Charle- 
 magne is in my veins, and who dares propose this thing 
 
 to me ? " 
 
 And many of you when assaulted by temptation, may 
 find a similar argument of great force. Remember, the 
 child of godly parentage, if he becomes an outcast, generally 
 falls lower than the average. In the natural course of 
 things he becomes a hardened sinner. I have observed it 
 repeatedly. The young man who comes up to London 
 from a quiet country home, where he was hedged round 
 by holy influences, and who plunges ivto the follies and 
 infidelities of this great city, almost invariably turns out 
 one of the worst of characters. 
 
 I believe that the richest treasure some of you will ever 
 possess is the memory of childhood's home. Oh what a 
 charm it has ! The peaceful Sabbath. The village church 
 —I hear the tinkle of its humble bell. I see the people 
 slowly gathering from every side to hear the word of God. 
 How simple the music I How earnest the service I And 
 
 14 
 
2IO 
 
 Talks with Young Men, 
 
 If 
 
 oh, the sweetness of those Sabbath evenings ! Some of you 
 have come from the north of the Tweed. I almost think 
 you have more to account for than others. It was an 
 English poet that wrote : — 
 
 '* O Scotland ! much I love thy tranquil dales : 
 But most on Sabbath eve, when low the sun 
 Slants through the upland copse, 'tis my delight, 
 •Wandering, and stopping oft, to hear the song 
 Of kindred praise arise from humble roof." 
 
 Ay, but it was not Sabbath evening only. Regularly as the 
 day closed, were you wont to meet around the old family 
 Bible, and commit one another to a Heavenly Father's care. 
 Burns never was so happy as when he pictured that holy 
 scene : — 
 
 " The cheerfu' supper done, wi' serious face, 
 
 They roun' the ingle form a circle wide ; 
 The sire turns o'er wi' patriarchial grace, 
 
 The big ha'-Bible, ance his father's pride s 
 His bonnet reverently is laid aside, 
 
 His lyart halTets wearin' thin and bare : 
 Those strains that once did sweet in Zion glide, 
 
 He wales a portion with judicious care, 
 
 And *Let us worship God,' he says, with solemn air. 
 ♦ *♦♦♦♦ 
 
 •'Then, kneeling down to Heaven's Eternal King, 
 'J he saint, the father, and the husband prays : 
 Hope springs exulting on triumphant wing, 
 
 That thus tliey all shall meet in future days ; 
 There ever bask in uncreated rays. 
 
 No more to sigh, or shed the bitter tear, : 
 
 Together hymning their Creator's praise, 
 '^ In such society, yet still more dear ; 
 
 While circling time moves round in an eternal sphere." 
 
 That intellectual pride which makes a young man speak 
 disrespectfully of his fathers is a very weak affection of 
 the brain. It is a preposterous and unreasonable thing to 
 
 Starting on the Right Rails, 211 
 
 suppose that nothing in religious faith can be settled by the 
 past, and that each one must inquire for himself de novoy 
 accepting nothing which his own reason has not evolved. 
 As well may I, in the study of astronomy, refuse to accept 
 any of the conclusions of Kepler, Newton, and Herschel, 
 and limit my belief to such discoveries as I myself can 
 •'make. It is always a hopeful and promising token of a 
 young man's character, that, without abjectly pinning him- 
 self down to the faith of his fathers, he treats that faith 
 with the profoundest respect, and will not easily be per- 
 suaded to surrender it. 
 
 And it is this feature of Josiah's piety that I earnestly 
 commend to your admiration and example. The celebrated 
 John Randolph, writing to a friend -shortly before his own 
 death, remarked : " At one period of my life I was upon 
 the point of becoming an atheist. I had in a great degree 
 let go my hold of the doctrines of Christianity, and was 
 about taking the plunge into the dreadful abyss of Atheism. 
 I was only held back from it by the recollection that, when 
 I was a little child, my mother, who is now a saint in 
 heaven, used to make me kneel by her side, and then, taking 
 my little hands in hers, taught me to say, * Our Father, 
 which art in heaven.'" Dear friends, have more sense 
 than to be fascinated with the new-fangled doctrines which 
 some restless teachers of this age would force down your 
 throats ; the grand old Gospel which saved our fathers 'is 
 good enough for you and me. 
 
 III. What was the practical outcome of Josiah's piety ? I 
 
 might answer this question in a single sentence. His whole 
 life was spent in setting things right throughout his kingdom. 
 All his energy was devoted to promoting the happiness of 
 his people and the glory of God. In this respect he had 
 plenty to do. His lot fell on bad times. The true religion 
 was almost extinct. The Book of God had been lost, the 
 
 -i 
 
212 
 
 Talks with Young Men, 
 
 nation was sunk in idolatry and vice. Society was rotten. 
 Bribery and corruption everywhere. Josiah saw that God 
 had called him to a great work, and he set to it with a will. 
 Never was there a purer patriotism or a nobler philanthropy. 
 And Heaven smiled upon his work. The young king proved 
 an immense blessing to his people. One thing about his 
 religion is very noticeable ; he was not ashamed of it. He 
 openly professed it. He x:ame out boldly and decidedly as 
 a champion for God. He persuaded the people to enter 
 into a solemn covenant to serve the Lord ; and he himself, 
 standing beside a pillar of the temple, read to them aloud 
 the Divine Law they had all so neglected. 
 
 Young men, it is a great thing to embark early on some 
 work of Christian usefulness. The life of God cannot 
 thrive in your own souls if you do not declare yourselves to 
 be out and out on the Lord's side, and if you do not take in 
 hand some service for the good of others. That church- 
 certificate you got from your minister in the country has no 
 business to be at the bottom of your desk or trunk ; fetch 
 it out, and take your place among the followers of Christ. 
 Buckle on to some Christian enterprise ; let not these talents 
 of yours be wasted during the best of your existence. 
 
 People talk about the moral dangers of London : "Oh, 
 it's a dreadful place for young men I " I say, London is a 
 glorious place for young men, if they will but stir up what 
 is manly in them, and ask grace from Heaven to use their 
 opportunity aright. I know scores of young men who will 
 never cease to thank God for bringing them to the metro- 
 polis. Here, with all its temptations, they have found an 
 earnestness of religious life, and a scope for religious activity 
 they never had in the country. I do not hesitate to say we 
 want more of a practical patriotism amongst our young 
 men. There are many honest, respectable, well-behaved 
 young fellows who are too much men of one idea — that 
 
 Starting on the Right Rails, 213 
 
 idea being their business. The late Sir James Simpson, 
 speaking on the subject of some extremely small human 
 skulls, which had been discovered in the Orkney Islands, 
 observed that devotion to one pursuit and few ideas is 
 known to give contracted skulls. Now, there is a danger 
 of having a contracted skull. The hours of release from 
 business should be turned to good purpose. Many, as wc 
 well know, think of nothing but frivolous pleasure ; and 
 having occupied one portion of the twenty-four hours in 
 making money, occupy the remainotir in throwing it away 
 on sensual gratification. Detestable life 1 Oh, sirs, ye 
 were born to something nobler than that. L believe the 
 day is at hand when our young men are to take a deeper 
 interest in social, national, pohtical. questions. Without 
 saying to which of the two political camps I belong, I will 
 say this, that never was I so full of good hope for the 
 future of our country as I am to-day. We want some 
 thousands of young Josiahs to arise and sweep the land of 
 its ignorance, its intemperance, its Sabbath profanation, and 
 all the other evils that afflict it, and bright days are in store 
 for our favoured isle. Oh, I adjure you, turn your back on 
 every gin palace and beer shop, as you would on hell. Do 
 not degrade yourself by fostering a trade that is the most 
 gigantic curse that England ever knew. Here is a house 
 of business with eight young men in it The hour of 
 closing comes, and six of these young men go out, as they 
 call it, on a spree ; that is, upon a beastly excursion, and 
 they call it pleasure, having a jolly time of it. One of the 
 remaining two, disdaining to join them, seeks to improve 
 his mind by reading, or he attends a lecture, or takes part 
 in the work of a literary association ; whilst the last sallies 
 forth to do what good he can in the slums, or to help on 
 some benevolent or philanthropic cause. 
 
 Do I need to ask you which of these young men^ will 
 
214 
 
 l^alks with Young Men. 
 
 
 come to grief, and which will rise to self-respect and honour, 
 and leave a blessed name behind him ? 
 
 What a mighty power for good there is in this company 
 I see before me I If every brother here were to vow that 
 he will not let a day pass without doing some good to 
 another, what a blessing we should be in the community I 
 
 I do not wonder that^ when Josiah died, all the people of 
 Judah lamented and mourned for him as they had done for 
 no other. He lived so as to be missed. Is any one here 
 content to leave the world without having done good to a 
 single fellow-creature ? Some of you, perhaps, are utter 
 strangers. You never were here before. You hardly know 
 any one in London. You cannot see any opening for use- 
 fulness. Well, I call upon those who are perfectly at home 
 here to make you feel that you are surrounded by sympathy 
 and kindness. I want you to know that you have come 
 into the midst of a large family circle. Please don't stand 
 on ceremony. There are as warm hearts and kind hands 
 here as you will find on earth, only some of us are terribly 
 afflicted with bashfulness. Give us a chance of speaking to 
 you. Do not be too much afraid of intrusion. Let us all 
 shake hands with one another, and make the Church the 
 most socFable place on earth. 
 
 No excuse for you, sir, from to-night, if you write home 
 that you haven't a friend in London. I am keeping you too 
 long, but I find it difficult to stop. It does my heart good 
 to see such an assembly, but I shall not be satisfied unless 
 some of you will get up at once and take the start for 
 heaven. I want you, like Josiah, "while you are yet 
 young, to begin to seek the Lord of your fathers." 
 
 There are not many of you who can begin so early as he 
 did. But it is not too late. Believe that Jesus died for you. 
 Get hold of this precious truth, that in His giant arms lie 
 has taken up the mountain of your sins, and hurled it into a 
 
 Starting on the Right Rails. 215 
 
 sea of atoning blood. The soul that trusts is safe. Faith is 
 a key that shall open to you trea'sures of grace and comfort. 
 Have the great matter of your salvation settled npw. Get 
 all terror cleared out of the future by accepting forthwith of 
 Christ's redeeming love. Oh, young man, is not the Spirit 
 whispering to you that this is the day, and this the hour, 
 when you ought to take Jesus as your personal Saviour ? 
 You are born for immortality. That sun shall be snuffed 
 out like a candle, and the stars wither from the vault ot 
 night. Thrones shall vanish, and kingdoms perish, and the 
 islands of the sea flee away, and the earth be consumed in 
 flame ; but you are immortal I You are to live on for ages, 
 for ages untold. On these fleeting hours of time hang the 
 destinies of a vast eternity I Tell me,, are you prepared to 
 spend in levity this golden season of youthful ardour, in the 
 vain hope of repentance by-and-by, when the glow and 
 charm of life shall have gone for ever ? 
 
 In a theatre there comes first the tragedy, and afterwards 
 the comedy. First, some terrible and impassioned drama 
 that stirs the blood, and thrills the soul, and moistens the 
 eye ; and then, before the curtain finally falls, some bur- 
 lesque or farce fiUing'the house with laughter. But, are not 
 some of you reversing that order ? Now, life is to you 
 gaiety, and jest, and mirth : but, in a while, there shall come 
 the change to sorrow, and remorse, and agony. Oh, be 
 wise in time I While you are yet young, begin to seek 
 after the God of your fathers i Auien. 
 
 'Wi 
 
BEGINNING WELL, BUT ENDING ILL. 
 
wt 
 
 * ' 7A^ Lor I is wi h you, while yr. be with Him : and if ye seek Him, Ht 
 :i bcjound of ycui but ij y forsake Him, Ht willjorsake your 
 
 •' ' aCHKON. XV. X 
 
 ^ 
 
 XVL 
 
 BEGINNING WELL, BUT ENDING ILL. 
 
 THESE words were uttered by a prophet named Azariah 
 under the immediate inspiration of the Spirit of God ; 
 and never was the truth of them better illustrated than in 
 the history of the man to whom they were spoken. That 
 man was Asa, King of Judah, in whose career were exem- 
 plified both parts of my text, and whom I am now to set 
 before you as at once an example and a warning. 
 
 In the successive kings of Judah and Israel we see human 
 nature in almost all its forms ; we see every variety of 
 character, good, bad, and indifferent ; and there is not one of 
 them that may not be a useful study for young men. Some 
 of them were good, very good; some of them bad, very bad ; 
 some began well, but turned out ill; some began ill, but 
 turned out well ; some started on a wrong course, and 
 continued to do wickedly all their days ; whilst some set 
 out in the fear of God, and never swerved from the path 
 of rectitude. 
 
 If we had only the memoir of Asa which is contained in 
 the First Book of Kings, we should certainly assign him a 
 place in the last and most honourable catalogue. Scarcely 
 a hint do we find there of any falling away from the high 
 religious standard of his early life. Indeed, it is stated, that 
 " Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, ag 
 did David his father;" and, more than that, that "Asa's 
 heart was perfect with the Lord all his days." It is clear. 
 
220 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 however, that such expressions are to be taken in a qualified 
 sense. On comparing Scripture with Scripture, we some- 
 times learn what a casual reader might not observe In the 
 First Book of Chronicles we find a dark shadow faUmg upon 
 the closing period of Asa's life. Alas 1 he did not end as he 
 began. He fell into that sin that has been the rum of so 
 many good men-pride and self-confidence. His piety 
 cooled. His faith languished. In his troubles he leaned 
 on an arm of ttesh. Indeed, it is a very distressmg picture 
 of him that we have in the eighteenth chapter. The good 
 and faithful prophet Hanani was sent to h.m with this 
 message from heaven : " Because thou hast relied on the 
 king of Syria, and not relied on the Lord thy God, therefore 
 is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thme hand 
 « Herein thou hast done foolishly, therefore from henceforth 
 thou Shalt have wars." Instead of being humbled by this 
 solemn rebuke from God's minister, the proud king got into 
 a rage, and shut him up in prison. He also gave vent to 
 his evil temper in oppressing some of the people. 
 
 Nor did affliction seem to have any effect in softening his 
 heart. God sent him a serious illness, a disease which is 
 described as having been "exceeding great"; "yet, we 
 read, "in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the 
 physicians." I think it is one of the saddest cases of de- 
 clension you find in the Bible. I cannot say how he died^ 
 Scripture draws a veil over that part of the story. And 
 though we cling to the hope that the poor backslider was 
 brought to true penitence ere he passed away, yet the very 
 fact that we have no statement to that eff-ect may be viewed 
 as intended to be a solemn warning against the beginnings 
 of spiritual indiff-erence. It seems to say to those of you, 
 „,y brothers,-and there are many such here,-who have 
 had deep impressions of religion in your early life, who have 
 truly loved and trusted in the Lord, who have been prayer- 
 
 ^' 
 
 «.■>#» 
 
 
 r 
 
 Beginning Well^ but Ending III, 221 
 
 loving, Bible-reading young Christians, — "Don't trust in 
 this earnestness of the past ; don't rely on your own strength, 
 and think there is no danger of falling; your only safety 
 is in cleaving closely to the Lord. The Lord is with you, 
 while ye be with Him : and if ye seek Him, He will be found 
 of you : but if ye forsake Him, He will forsake you." There 
 is many a useful point to be learnt from the story of Asa's 
 life. I shall select a few of the most prominent. To assist 
 memory, let me pin your thoughts to three things in relation 
 to the piety of Asa. First, where it was born ; secondly, 
 how it was proved ; and thirdly, where it failed. 
 
 L Where was it born ? In a most unlikely home. I wish 
 to point out here the sovereignty of Gocfs grace. For I do 
 believe, and I must proceed on the assumption, that Asa 
 was a converted man. We shall come to the evidence of 
 that presently. But how unlikely was it, that that boy 
 should have had one serious or holy thought. He was 
 brought up in an ungodly family. The influences around 
 him where of a vicious character. His grandfather, Reho- 
 boam, was a fool, and worse than a fool. His grandmother, 
 Maachah, who lived to be an old woman, was a miserable, 
 bigoted idolater. And, as for his father, Abijah, we read 
 that " he walked in all the sins of Rehoboam, which he had 
 done before him ; and his heart was not perfect with the 
 Lord his God." The court was corrupt. Society was 
 rotten. The nation was fast going over to the abominations 
 of the heathen. We are told that the people of Judah 
 " built them high places and images and groves, on every 
 high hill, and under every green tree." 
 
 Where the young Asa picked up his good principles, 
 I cannot tell. The moral atmosphere he breathed was 
 enough to poison the finest child that was ever bom.^ 
 Remember, he knew nothing of the retirement of a private 
 home. He lived among the gaities and splendours of a 
 
 't 
 
3t 
 
 222 
 
 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 corrupt court; and hardly a spot on earth could be more 
 fatal to youthful innocence. It has been the lot of many to 
 be born and educated under circumstances which rendered 
 their conversion to God, humanly speaking, most improbable. 
 Their infantile lips have been taught to profane God's name. 
 The maddening cup has been forced to their mouth, almost 
 as soon as they left the breast. The first sounds that have 
 met their ears have been coarse jests, and frivolous laughter, 
 and horrid oaths, and infidel sneers ; whilst they have been 
 witnesses of carousal and revelry sufficient to pollute every 
 spring of their being. And yet, amid such scenes and 
 sounds, may and have been found some bright gems ot 
 grace ; to the glory of Him who has placed the brightest 
 diamonds in the darkest mines, and the richest pearls in the 
 
 deepest seas. 
 
 Sometimes the devil seems to outwit himself. The very 
 hideousness of sin causes a recoil. I have known instances 
 of the children of drunken parents vowing from what they 
 saw at home never to taste a drop of drink. The sons of 
 infidels have seen enough of the horrors of Atheism to dr.ve 
 them over to the Christian faith. There are young people 
 connected with this Church whose home-surroundmgs are all 
 against them. It is in spite of father and mother that they 
 come to the House of God, and strive to live a godly hie. 
 1 always feel a peculiar sympathy for such. They encounter 
 terrible disadvantage, and therefore should specially .-have 
 our help and prayers. Ah ! they will rise up in judgment 
 against some of you who have con-e frrth from a p.ou.- 
 home, who have been blest with a praying mother and a 
 saintly father, and yet have chosen the evil way. 
 
 Sometimes we see in London how God uses the very 
 
 enormities of sin to save men from sin. I have again and 
 
 ' again known of young men who have been startled by the 
 
 sight of the wickedness they have seen ; they have been 
 
 Beginning Well, but Ending III. 223 
 
 horrified and disgusted ; and it has made them rebound 
 to a more decided religious profession. Wrote one young 
 man to his father, •' I did not know how wicked young men 
 could be till I came here. I shall not get through without 
 a wreck, unless I commit myself as a follower of Christ 
 He joined the Church, and became a bright and useful 
 Christian. Young men have declared to me in my own 
 study that they have found it an inestimable help and bless- 
 ing to be pronounced— to be entered on the list of Christ's 
 followers; this fact has, with God's blessing, been of great 
 service in enabling them to resist the tempter. 
 
 Remember, my lads, you may be in a lodging, or m a 
 situation, or in society most unfavourable to godliness, 
 and yet the same grace that preserved Asa pure and devout 
 amid the corruptions of the royal court may keep you 
 
 clean. 
 
 I ask, 11. How was Asa's piety evidenced? What proof have 
 we of its reality ? I answer, we have two proofs, each ot 
 which is strong, but both of which are conclusive. The 
 first is, his fervent prayerfulness. The name of Asa will 
 always be associated with one remarkable prayer he offered, 
 the substance of which was in these words : " Lord, it is 
 nothing with Thee to help, whether with many, or with 
 them that have no power : help us, O Lord our God, for 
 we rest on Thee, and in Thy name we go agamst this 
 multitude. O Lord, Thou art our God : let not man prevail 
 against Thee." If ever prayer came forth from a devout 
 and humble heart, that prayer did. And, as - the effectual 
 fervent prayer of a righteous man," it availed much. God 
 gave an immediate answer. 
 
 But prayerfulness was a habit of Asa. To his people 
 he said, "We have sought the Lord our God, we have 
 sought Him, and He has given us rest on every side." 
 He took all his troubles straight to his Father in heaven. 
 
nK 
 
 224 
 
 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 When a man does that, you may feel sure there is grace 
 in his heart. This is generally a safe test of one's spiritual 
 state. If you can live without prayer, and especially with- 
 out private prayer, you need not persuade yourself that you 
 are a Christian. Many a young man's downward career 
 has dated from the day when he gave up his secret devo- 
 tions. It is one of Satan's first endeavours, when he wants 
 to drag you down to ruin, to get you to give up prayer. 
 He knows very well that a praying man will not be a 
 godless man, and it is just as true that a bad man will not 
 be a praying man — at least, he will not pray until terror 
 or trouble come upon him. Scoffers have sometimes been 
 the first to fall on their knees when sudden danger over- 
 whelmed them. As old Seneca said of atheists, that " they 
 deny God by day, but own Him at night," so all the argu- 
 ments which sceptics have used against prayer have melted 
 away in the season of their extremity. 
 
 One who has often attended these services told me that 
 when he was away on the Chinese seas there was a young 
 man on board the ship, an engineer, who was constantly 
 forcing upon the rest his infidel views ; but, when they 
 were overtaken by a terrific storm, and for a time it 
 seemed as if the vessel must founder, there was not one 
 who was in such a state of mental distraction as he. Oh, 
 young men, whatever you neglect, do not neglect prayer. 
 It is the very breath of the Christian life. Dr. Arnold 
 expressed his own firm belief that nothing would force 
 that man into infidelity who kept up loving communion 
 with God in Christ. 
 
 The second proof of Asa*s piety was his uncompromising 
 opposition to everything that was sinful. He was not satis- 
 fied with mere acts of devotion. With him prayer and 
 practice were combined. He set his face against all that 
 was wrong. He purged his court of the vices that had 
 
 V 
 
 '^ 
 
 Beginning Welly but Ending III. 225 
 
 prevailed. He destroyed the altars, and shrines, and 
 images of idolatry ; and both by precept and example did 
 all in his power to win his people over to the worship 
 and service of the true God. 
 
 One curious instance is given of the resoluteness of his 
 purpose. His grandmother, Maachah, who was queen- 
 dowager, and had great influence at court, was a hardened 
 old idolater, and had secretly made an idol in a grove : 
 what did the young king do but remove her from her place 
 of honour, cut her idol in pieces, stamp it under his feet, 
 burn it to ashes, and throw the ashes into the river. Quite 
 right, too; a trimming, undecided policy is never a sound one. 
 
 Now we want men of this stamp, men who have prin- 
 ciples and stick to them ; men who draw a clear line 
 between the right and the wrong, and whom nothing will 
 persuade to do what is base or dishonourable. There are 
 deeply religious men,— I mean religious in a sense,— full of 
 a certain fervour and unction, scrupulously regular in their 
 devotions, and almost sanctimonious in their bearing, who, 
 to tell the truth, are not the most distinguished for the 
 beauty of their character, and the consistency of their daily 
 life; and there are highly moral and upright men, 
 thoroughly straightforward and conscientious, who have 
 no spirituality about them, and scarcely a vestige of any 
 kind of religion ; but neither of these characters is to be 
 admired— both are to be condemned : for, on the one hand, 
 a virtuousness which does not spring out of faith in God is 
 of little worth— it is like a cut flower, which, being without 
 a root, has no real life ; and on the other hand, a religious- 
 ness which is not accompanied by practical consistency of 
 conduct is an imposture and a sham. 
 
 We want men of faith and men of prayer, men who look , 
 through these outward shadows into the everlasting law 
 and mind of God, and who bring their Christian faith to 
 
 15 
 
226 
 
 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 bear upon the smallest details of daily common life. Such 
 men are all too rare, and our land suffers through lack of 
 them; the wheels of industry and commerce move 
 heavily ; our commercial reputation is not what it should 
 be; and even in high places the people have set before 
 them examples of loose morals, lax notions of honour, and 
 mournful breaches of mercantile rectitude and domestic 
 fidehty. The hope of our country, and the secret of any 
 higher prosperity which may be in store for it in the future, 
 is not more money, but more integrity, more principle, 
 more faith. We want men of the Asa stamp, who keep 
 up constant communion with the unseen God in whom they 
 trust, drawing their strength from above ; and who are 
 resolute in their purpose to eliminate from their affairs 
 everything that is even tainted with iniquity. Saints of 
 skin-deep piety the world has plenty of; and for sheep's 
 clothing there is always a large demand in the market. 
 There are men who will sing loud in their pews on Sunday, 
 but give thirty-five inches to the yard on Monday ; they 
 will read their morning chapter^ at home, but when they 
 get to the, Uty create a false panic to their own advantage. 
 The finest strawberries somehow lie on the top of the 
 basket ; and fresh paint covereth a multitude of sins. 
 
 Young men, set your faces sternly against all that. If 
 fraud be a sheer .necessity in order to be rich, then choose 
 to be poor. Determine from the outset to find the rulp of 
 your life in the Bible, and the strength of your life in prayer, 
 and then go out into the world to show how pure, how 
 • noble, how happy, a Christian's life can be. 
 
 III. Where did the piety of Asa fail ? Unhappily, he is 
 
 set forth as a warning as well as an example. He was 
 
 one of those men whose latter end was not so good as their 
 
 •beginning. Not that he was a lost man ; I do not believe 
 
 that. 1 do not doubt for a moment that he was a real man 
 
 Beginning Well, but Ending III. 227 
 
 of God; but, sad to say, his pious ardour cooled ; he 
 V tcame proud, and self-willed, and worldly. The evidence 
 of this is only too plain; and— what makes the matter 
 worse — there is no mention of his coming back to a better 
 state of mind before he died. Had there been a decided 
 manifestation of contrition, it would surely have been 
 recorded. His life's day, which opened with so bright a 
 morning, closed in cloud and gloom. 
 
 You ask me, on what grounds do I say this ? The answer 
 is not dif^cult to give. When Asa found that his neighbour, 
 Baasha, King of Israel, was threatening him with trouble, 
 what did he do ? Instead of laying the matter before the 
 Lord, as he had been accustomed to do in earlier days, he 
 applied to a heathen monarch to help him in his difficulties ; 
 and not only so, but he bribed him to do so by sacrilegiously 
 taking gold and silver vessels out of the temple, and sending 
 them as a present to him. 
 
 Nor was this all. The Lord sent His faithful prophet 
 
 Hanani to remonstrate with the king, and show him his 
 
 error ; but instead of humbly receiving the admonition, Asa 
 
 fell into a rage, and locked up the prophet in prison. It 
 
 was but too evident that an evil spirit was possessing him ; 
 
 and the words that Azariah had spoken to him many years 
 
 before seemed about to be fulfilled : " If ye forsake the 
 
 Lord, He also will forsake you." Asa fell into a hard; 
 
 sullen state of mind. He had not now the peaceful trust 
 
 in God that once he enjoyed. The consequence was, that, 
 
 when sickness came,, he felt as though he had no Heavenly 
 
 Friend to go to. In the latter years of his life he was a 
 
 martyr to gout of a most agonising description; "his 
 
 disease was exceeding great," yet he did not go in his 
 
 trouble to God, but only to earthly physicians. As old 
 
 John Trapp says, "This good man was for a while the 
 
 worse for his whipTnng.'* 
 
228 
 
 Talks with Youvg Men. 
 
 And thus he died. His is one of the most disappointing 
 careers in the Bible. His morning was so fair and full of 
 promise, that we expected a glorious sunset. But his sun 
 went down in cloud. If a man's relations with God are not 
 right, acute pain may have the effect only of souring his 
 heart. 1 have always felt th^t petition in the burial service 
 of the Church of England to be a remarkable and solemn 
 one, " O Holy and Merciful Saviour, Thou most worthy 
 Judge Eternal, suffer us not at our last hour, for any pains 
 of death, to fall from Thee." 
 
 Oh, how careful we need to be of the plant of grace I 
 How dilgently we need to guard the flame of piety, amid 
 the rough gusts of a hostile world I Asa's prosperity 
 proved— I shall not say his ruin, but his loss, his eternal 
 loss. It may have added to the lustre of his earthly crown, 
 but I fear it dimmed the splendour of his heavenly. 
 
 Few things are more trying to a man than success. When 
 George Whitfield was preaching on one occasion, and just as 
 he stood up to pray, the clerk at the desk below read out 
 the intimation, ^'The prayers of this congregation are 
 earnestly requested in behalf of a young man who has 
 just fallen heir to a large fortune." Well did that young 
 man need the prayers of the Lord's people ; for it is very 
 hard for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. I 
 suppose very few of you are likely to fall in with a fortune. 
 Still, you may have, and I trust you will have, good success 
 in life. There have been many young men in these seats, 
 during my ministry here, who had no better prospects than 
 you, and are now rich and independent. In some cases, 
 prosperity has done them no harm. The grace of God has 
 kept them humble and faithful to Him. They have learnt 
 to consecrate their gains to Him ; and they have His bless- 
 ing with all they possess. 
 
 Oh that I could persuade every one of you, that the 
 
 Beginning Well, but Ending III 229 
 
 Christian life is the only truly happy life 1 " The blessing 
 JS^says Solomon, ^^ it maketh rich." ^e-mb^^^^^^^^^^^ 
 is a Providence that shapes our ends, rough -hew them how 
 we my. God counts for something in His own httle wor d^ 
 hI is'the mildew as well as the rain ; it .s easy -th H^^^^ 
 to 'blight or to bless. To make money is a good thing, 
 but to live a holy, upright, useful life is better far 
 
 Start all of you, where Asa started ; but beware of 
 J ng off the rails and tumbling over the embankment, 
 Tthc foot of which lies the wreckage ^^^^ 
 Mind you, life, considering what hinges upon it, is awfully 
 fhortfthere is not one hour of it to be thrown away. 
 ' Oh," said one who died last week in the prime of ,fe 
 .if I had my Saviour now to seek, where should I be? 
 Thank God, that matter has been settled k>ng ago 
 
 As many of you as have not got this matter settled 
 settle it now; and then, fearless of the future, step forth 
 crandly towards eternity. 
 
 There is a story of twelve young men who formed a 
 sort of club, and agreed to meet once a year, and dme 
 ogether in a certain room. No one was ever to be 
 admitted to the annual gathering, save the or.gmal mem- 
 bers nor was the number ever to be made up by fresh 
 election as they died off or disappeared. -n>e^*°^ ?- 
 on to tell how joyously the feasts were held for the first 
 L years, as the young men rose in the world or marned 
 L Lied into happy family life; and then after a fme 
 how there came to be a vacant chair, and a health d-k" 
 siknce to the one who would never take his place there 
 aixL As years rolled on, another and another seat was 
 emTty. The men who survived grew old, and clasped 
 each other's hands mournfully, as they sat -"--^ -""^ 
 the long table. It was always the same room, the same 
 lights, and wine, and flowers ; but the faces around .t were 
 
230 
 
 Talks with Voting Men. 
 
 withered and changed. There came a year when only 
 two old men sat down together, and named, over their 
 trembling glasses, all the brothers who once occupied the 
 empty places beside them. And then there was one 
 anniversary more. The long table was laid as usual, and 
 the people of the house where the club had so long met 
 wondered whether any guest would arrive; and, at the 
 appointed hour, there entered an aged man, who tottered 
 feebly to his usual seat, and, after toying a little with the 
 food before him, lapsed into stillness, and was left alone. 
 When the room was entered again, some hours later, the 
 old man was dead. All were gone. 
 
 The same process is going on every day, though, amid the 
 interlacings and overlappings of society, we do not so im- 
 pressively perceive it. Ah I it is a touching thought that 
 some of you, my dear brothers, are destined for an early 
 grave ; and, possibly, it is the most robust of you that shall 
 first be called. There are but few here who shall live to be 
 old men, and, perhaps, the last survivor of all is the least 
 to be envied : for it is sad when one has to sigh, in the 
 words of Moore — 
 
 •* I feel like one 
 
 Who treads alone 
 Some banquet-hall deserted f 
 
 Whose lights are fled, 
 
 Whose garlands dead. 
 And all but he departed." 
 
 But, be your life a long or a short one, the grand thing is 
 to spend it in the service of God, and for the good of your 
 fellow men. Do not say that temptations are too strong for 
 you : for the clear assurance is given, that '* He is able to 
 keep you from falling." Only go to Christ for strength, and 
 it shall not be wanting. " The Lord is with you, while ye 
 be with Him : and if ye seek Him, He will be found of 
 you : but if ye forsake Him, He will forsake you." 
 
 BURIED WITH THE BURIAL OF AN ASS. 
 
**He shall be buried with the burial tf an ass, drawn and cast mtk 
 beyond the gates of /erusalefn,**—]^^. xxii. 19. 
 
 H> 
 
 r^ 
 
 u 
 
 XVIL 
 BURIED WITH THE BURIAL OF AN ASS. 
 
 OF whom speaketh the prophet this ? " Who was it 
 that was doomed to so ignominious an end ? It 
 was Jehoiakim, one of Josiah's sons, and king of Judah 
 about 600 years before Christ. His reign lasted ten years. 
 They were ten years of extortion and iniquity. Ten years 
 of sensuality and luxury. Ten years of the basest selfish- 
 ness. Ten years of covetousness and avarice. He lived 
 for himself, and did no good to others. It was a mean, 
 ignoble existence. There was not one in Jerusalem who 
 respected him. He was hated while he lived ; and when 
 he died they kicked his carcase out of the city. He was 
 " buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth 
 beyond the gates of Jerusalem." 
 
 Less than a hundred years ago there was a spectacle not 
 unfrequently to be seen by one sailing down the river 
 Thames, which must have left a deep impression on the 
 eye. In those times the gate of old London Bridge was 
 often garnished with human heads ; and at various points 
 down the riverside the bodies of dead men who had been 
 notorious criminals were gibbeted, exposed to public view, 
 and left to rot or wither in the sun. By this means the 
 authorities sought to frighten and deter the onlookers from 
 piracy and other crimes. The warning, though ghastly, 
 was not durable. In course of time the hideous forms. 
 
\ 
 
 Talks with Yozcng Men. 
 
 234 
 
 wasted by decay, dropped to pieces, and nothing remained 
 to preach the silent but awful lesson. 
 
 I look upon the brief story of Jehoiakim as such a 
 warning, and a warning mainly to young men. That piece 
 of incarnate selfishness is here gibbeted before the eyes of 
 successive generations, held up to universal scorn, and, 
 unlike the wasting skeletons on the river bank, as eloquent 
 and effective in its teaching to-day as ever. We see the 
 doom of the avaricious man, the man intent on pleasure 
 and gain, and unscrupulous as to the means by which they 
 are acquired ; and we are reminded of the words of this 
 same prophet in the 17th chapter and nth verse, ''As the 
 partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not, so he that 
 getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the 
 midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool." 
 
 Although Jehoiakim was the elder son of King Josiah, 
 he was not on his father's death advanced to the throne. 
 The people of the land, we are told, made his younger 
 brother Shallum king. Shallum, I should observe, was 
 also named Jehoahaz, and as such is referred to m the 
 Second Book of Kings. Indeed, Jehoiakim, too, had his 
 name changed ; he was originally known as Eliakim ; but 
 when Pharaoh-Necho had succeeded in getting him under 
 his power, for some reason which is not assigned, he gave 
 him the name which we find in this chapter. Well, as for 
 the character of the two brothers, there was not much to 
 choose between them. They were both bad. But I fancy 
 the elder one was the most offensive in his wickedness. 
 Such is often the case. An elder brother has considerable 
 influence, and if that influence is bad, it is likely to be very 
 bad. I suppose the people said, " If a son of Josiah is to 
 reign over us, let it be Shallum ; we won't have Eliakim. 
 I think he made himself obnoxious by his selfishness and 
 insolence, and high-handed wickedness. He was a last. 
 
 -^ 
 
 4. 
 
 Buried with the Burial of an Ass, 235 
 
 extravagant youth, and the people would have nothing to 
 do with him. The luxuries and immunities of his high 
 station as prince of the royal blood were too much for him. 
 Many is the man who has good reason to be thankful 
 that he was born on an humble level. Sir Walter Raleigh 
 once scratched on a window-pane, in the presence of Queen 
 Elizabeth, the words : — 
 
 ** Fain would I climb, but that I fear to fall?* 
 
 The Queen wrote beneath them : — 
 
 *' If thy heart fail thee, why then climb at all,* 
 
 Although young Shallum was by the popular voice called 
 to the throne, he did not occupy it long. In three short 
 months he was removed by the powerful king of Egypt, 
 and carried off in chains to a distant exile from which he 
 never returned. The people seem to have been much 
 touched by his short, sad history. They sang sad dirges 
 over him. 
 
 To the fond attachment which a large party in Scotland 
 cherished towards the exiled line of kings after the revolu- 
 tion of 1688, and to their chivalrous devotion to the young 
 prince of the House of Stuart, we owe the plaintive beauty 
 of what are called the " Jacobite Songs.*' I am reminded 
 of some of them as I read in the tenth verse : " Weep ye 
 not for the dead, neither bemoan him : but weep sore for 
 him that goeth away ; for he shall return no more, nor see 
 his native country." 
 
 The sad fate of Shallum . might have taught his brother 
 a lesson ; but it didn't. Placed by Pharaoh, to suit his own 
 ends, on the throne of Judah, he was hated by the people, 
 and did nothing to propitiate them. As the mere tool or 
 vassal of the King of Egypt, he mulcted his impoverished 
 subjects in a sum of over forty thousand pounds, as compen- 
 sation for the part which Josiah had taken in the war between 
 
 ' 
 
Talks with Young Men. 
 
 236 
 
 the monarchs of Egypt and Babylon ; and whilst he made the 
 people suffer, he himself lived on a scale of sumptuous 
 extravagance; indeed, his character is photographed here in 
 the thirteenth and following verses, where Heaven's anathema 
 is pronounced upon him : - Woe unto him that buildeth his 
 house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong ; that 
 useth his neighbour's service without wages, and giveth him 
 not for his work ; that saith, I will build me a wide house and 
 large chambers, and cutteth him out windows ; and it is 
 ceiled with cedar, and painted with vermiUion. Shalt thou 
 reign because thou closest thyself in cedar ? Did not thy 
 father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and then 
 it was well with him? He judged the cause of the poor 
 and needy ; then it was well with him ; was not this to 
 know Me ? saith the Lord. But thine eyes and thine heart 
 are not but for thy covetousness." 
 
 So selfish a life was to be followed by a most inglorious 
 death No one would lament him, or shed a single tear 
 over his memory. And thus it came to pass : for m the 
 eleventh year of his reign Jehoiakim came to a violent 
 death. His body was cast out ignominiously upon the 
 ground, and after being for some time exposed, was dragged 
 away and buried outside the gates of Jerusalem, as though 
 it had been the carcase of an ass. 
 
 Were I asked to compress into a single sentence the 
 moral of Jehoiakim's career, the Divine Master Himself 
 would supply the language, "Take heed, and beware of 
 covetousnessr Some plain-spoken words on this subject 
 may not be taken amiss. "Thou shalt not covet, 
 though the last, it is not by any means the least of the 
 Ten Commandments; but I am much mistaken if it is not 
 the commandment we think least of breaking. We covet 
 on a wholesale scale, but conscience gives us no trouble. 
 Covetousness is greed of money; it is more; it is the 
 
 Buried with the Burial of an Ass. 237 
 
 worship of money; for the apostle calls it '' idolatry," which 
 just means that we make gain our idol, and then worship 
 it. If you take the answer to the first question in the 
 Shorter Catechism, and introduce one letter, you will 
 have the ereed of the covetous man. " Man's chief end is 
 to glorify gold, and to enjoy it for ever." 
 
 <i 
 
 Gold ! gold ! gold ! gold ! 
 
 Bright and yellow, hard and cold ; 
 
 Spurned by the young, but hugged by tT>e old 
 
 To the very verge of the churchyard mould ; 
 
 Price of many a crime untold ! 
 
 Gold ! gold ! gold ! gold I " 
 
 Covetousness breeds misery. Never has disappointment 
 more bitterly stung the human heart than in the case of 
 those — and their name is legion — who im.agined that, had 
 they only such and such an amount of money, they would 
 be perfectly happy; obtained the money, and were less 
 
 happy than before. 
 
 One day during the past week, I was pointed out the 
 beautiful properly of a man who had risen from the position 
 of a common labourer to be a man of wealth. Charming re- 
 sidence ; extensive grounds ; lovely garden ; well-appointed 
 stables ; everything, one would think, to make life agreeable ; 
 and yet, I was told, that man acknowledged he was a far 
 happier being when he was earning a couple of shillings 
 a day than he is now, when rolling in abundance. 
 
 What is the moral of this ? Is it that wealth is in itself 
 an evil thing, or necessarily a source of evil ? By no means. 
 Solomon truly wrote, '* Money is a defence," as "Wisdom 
 is a defence." It is not money, but " the love of money," 
 that is " the root of all evil." When a man eagerly covets 
 it, comes by it dishonourably, and spends it unworthily, 
 then it is indeed an evil. 
 
 Covetousness grows on one. This gluttony of money is 
 
 I 
 
-r 
 
 238 
 
 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 an insidious disease. Like fire, the more fuel it has, the 
 hotter it burns. It is unreasoning ; its converts its subject 
 into a fool, and destroys his judgment. Christ tells a story 
 of a prosperous farmer who was clean intoxicated with 
 success, and could not entertain a thought but of his gains, 
 —how the very night that he had decided on the enlarge- 
 ment of his premises, a voice -from heaven called his soul 
 away; and whatever monument with fiattering title his 
 friends may have erected over his grave, God wrote his 
 epitaph, in one word of four letters, and two of these 
 letters the same, " Fool I " " Buried with the burial of an 
 
 ass 1 " 
 
 No one will for a moment suppose that a splendid 
 catafalque and imposing funeral obsequies betoken the 
 close of a noble and honourable life. Ah 1 many a man 
 is laid in one of yonder cemeteries with every form of 
 ceremonial pomp, with gilt, and nodding plumes, and long 
 rows of carriages, and costly wreaths; and if the truth 
 were told, a nuisance is being got rid of; the world will be 
 the better now that he has gone ! 
 
 Well might the artless child, who had been wandering 
 among the tombstones, and reading the epitaphs, turn to 
 its mother and ask, " Mother, where are all the had people 
 
 buried ?" 
 
 It is quite startling to notice in what terms God refers to 
 this sin, which sits so lightly on the conscience of most 
 men— this sin of covetousness. By heavy woes, and awful 
 denunciations, and solemn warnings. He intimates to us 
 how fearful is the guilt, and how black the doom, of those 
 who set their hearts on earthly gain ; the inspired Psalmist 
 even declaring that "the Lord abhorreth the covetous 
 
 man." 
 
 Secondly. In the doom of Jehoiakim we have a warning 
 against dishonourableness. It was not merely in that he 
 
 Buried with the Burial of an Ass. 239 
 
 coveted gain, but in that he procured it by over-reaching 
 and fraud, that he so incurred the displeasure of God and 
 the contempt of man. We are told of him in the thirteenth 
 verse, that he '' built his house by unrighteousness and his 
 chambers by wrong ; that he used his neighbour's service 
 without wages, and gave him not for his work." Exactly. 
 This was just a genteel, a royal way of stealing. 
 
 There is a great deal of covert dishonesty in the world. 
 Many a man who would revolt from the idea of robbing a 
 till, or picking a pocket, is, from the way in which he con- 
 ducts business, just as truly entitled to the name of " thief." 
 We all know that there is a great deal of roguery in trade 
 and commerce, on which, though perhaps the law cannot 
 touch it, God Almighty looks with a frown. There are 
 men who have made their fortunes by wholesale dis- 
 honesty, and are driving their splendid equipages, every 
 sycophant bowing them respect : whilst the poor wretch 
 who has stolen a loaf gets a ride to Holloway in a City van, 
 without the opportunity of looking out of the window. 
 
 The fraudulent man is found at all levels of society. 
 Here in our passage we find him on the highest rung of the 
 ladder— we find him as a king. There is something pecu- 
 liarly mean in the dishonesty of such a man. When I 
 see Jehoiakim engaging the services of workmen and not 
 paying them their wages, I feel for him the utmost con- 
 tempt. I suppose he managed, in some way or other, to 
 wriggle out of his obligation. Such men are often very 
 subtle and clever. They cheat their neighbours without 
 seeming to do so. By a few strokes of a lying pen, they 
 • commit bigger robberies than any burglar that is now in 
 
 a prison cell. 
 
 Let us be certain, that money got by deceit will never 
 bring happiness to the getter. Job uses terrible language 
 regarding the fraudulent man when he says, " He swallowed 
 
240 
 
 Talks with Young Me7u 
 
 down riches, but shall vomit them up again;'* but how 
 often have we seen this fulfilled I 
 
 I have heard young men speak in this way, that, having 
 exerted all their industry, and energy, and skill, and perse- 
 verance to make money, and having failed, they are 
 justified in resorting to other and meaner methods. Such 
 logic is bad. If you have exhausted all honourable means, 
 and yet are in poverty, it is just a possible thing that God 
 means you to be poor, at least to exercise patience. If 
 fraud is necessary to success, are you prepared to accept 
 success on such a condition? "You say you cannot be 
 truthful, and straightforward, and be rich. Very well, then, 
 be poor. Some men get woefully soured in spirit when 
 they do not meet with the success that others find. They 
 get angry with everybody, and think the whole course of 
 the world is out of order, and more than impugn tlie 
 justice of God, because they happen to be in straits and 
 difficulties. But every poor man is not wicked. And 
 if some good men are poor, may you not be one of the 
 
 number ? 
 
 The worship of mere success is one of the greatest errors 
 of our day. The successful man is applauded, no matter 
 how he has made his money. From the gambling peer to 
 the unprincipled mechanic, it is just the same. " Men will 
 praise thee if thou doest well to thyself." But what is 
 success, if the curse of Heaven be on it ? To what purpose 
 will be all the benedictions and congratulations of men, if 
 the " woe " of Almighty God is pronounced upon you ? 
 
 A young man stood behind the counter selling goods to 
 a lady. As he was putting up the parcel, he said to the 
 customer, " Madam, I notice a slight fiaw in that piece of 
 silk." The lady perceived it, and the piece was left unsold. 
 The manager of that department observed what was going 
 on, and immediately wrote to the lad's father in the country, 
 
 Buried with the Burial of an Ass. 241 
 
 "Your son is not sharp enough for business; he will never 
 make a merchant." The father, who was a Christian man, 
 came up to town to make inquiry, and when he found out 
 what the facts were, said to the head of the establishment, 
 " I am proud of my boy, and would never' wish him to act 
 otherwise than he has done ; God will provide another 
 
 opening for him." 
 
 My dear young brother, remember, you may have goods 
 to sell, but you have a soul to save. It is no sin to be rich, 
 but it is a sin to acquire riches at the sacrifice of a good 
 
 conscience. /• n j 
 
 It is no sin to be rich. If you earn money lawfully and 
 spend it usefully, it is only a blessing. 1 wish I had 
 Xio.ooo a year. There is so much suffering to be reheved, 
 so much poverty to be mitigated, so much good to be done, 
 I wish I had the means to meet every such appeal. But, 
 alas for the man who has nothing but money I Christ tells 
 us of such a man ; and, think you, was Dives to be envied ? 
 What became of all his wealth, his fine house, his sump- 
 tuous table, his stock of wine, his kennel of dogs, when 
 God called his soul away ? " He was buried with the 
 burial of an ass ; " and the poorest man on the roadside, 
 who watched his funeral, was happier than the dead miser. 
 "Woe to him who buildeth his house by unrighteousness 1 
 
 I remark in the third and last place, that in the doom of 
 Jehoiakimwe have a warning against a life oi seljish"'^^- 
 The miserable man thought of nothing but his own aggran- 
 disement and comfort. What mattered it to him though 
 his subjects were overtaxed, and many of them starving, so 
 long as his own table was richly supplied ? What cared 
 he though hundreds were living in wretched hovels, if his 
 own palace were ample and luxuriously furnished ? He 
 went in for style and elegance. He said, " I must have a 
 wide house and spacious apartments, and windows elabo- 
 
 i6 
 
Talks with Young Men. 
 
 242 
 
 rately cut out; my ceilings must be all of -d-, and my 
 walls painted with the richest colours. Jhus h.s one 
 th. .ht was self. All for number one. But ^^y, d'd he 
 make a good bargain? Was he one ^^ ^^ ;-^^f' J^^ 
 sure of this, that the man who lives only fo^^J' J^^ 
 out of the world less real happiness than any other mortal, 
 and when he dies is least regretted. 
 
 " His heart is like the rock, where san nor dew 
 Can rear a single flower of heavenly hue. 
 No thought of mercy there may have Us birth, 
 For helpless misery, or for suffering worth ; 
 The orphan's waitings, and the widow's woe. 
 From mercy's fountain cause no tears to flow ; 
 He pours no cordial in the wounds of pam, 
 Unlocks no prison, and unclasps no cham ; , , 
 
 The end of all his life is paltry pelf, 
 And all his thoughts are centred on himself; 
 The wretch of both worlds : for so mean a sum, ^ 
 First starved in this, then damned in that to come. 
 
 Most earnestly would I exhort -ery young brother wh^^^^^ 
 my words can reach, to start m hfe with the fi^^^ ^"^ 
 
 ^ .hot Vii«i existence shall be made a 
 
 deliberate purpose that his existence 
 
 blessing to others. The common theory no doubt, on 
 wh ch \ youth enters on business is to make provision for 
 r'mself ; to turn everything to account for his own advan- 
 t Te, and not to deem it incumbent, at least for many a year 
 to%ome, to devote a portion of his gams to objects of 
 charity, religion, and philanthropy. 
 
 This is entirely wrong. As you mean to end life, so 
 should you begin it. The principles which you would 
 vYsh to rule L last ten years of your existence shoud 
 ;; e the first ten years. On the same '■"- - J^'f ^ 
 would act with a thousand a year, you should act with 
 would act witn excellent young 
 
 twenty shiUings a weeK. 1 Know wc Th»v 
 
 fellows amongst us who do not need such counsel. They 
 
 \ 
 
 . 
 
 Buried with the Burial of an Ass. 243 
 
 already practise it. One young man, on his arrival^ in 
 London to fill a situation, came to me and s-d jsh 
 from the outset, from the earning of my first sh.lhng to 
 devote a tenth of my gains to the Lord ; my salary is j;70 , 
 how can I best lay out £l a year for the glory of God and 
 the good of others?" There are many who act on the 
 same principle, though on a different scale. I am no 
 gorng to sugg St any particular ratio or proportion ; but 
 wTaf I do most emphatically lay upon the conscience of 
 Tveii one of you is the duty of making your life, even now, 
 tributary to the good of others. ,.= «The verv 
 
 The vouth who tosses his head and sneers, The very 
 idea' Time enough for me to think of other people when 
 tve feathered my own nest well," belongs to a low type, 
 and in all likelihood will remain a --;. ^l^^^. J" i'^^^'"^. 
 He will earn little respect whilst he hves, and when he 
 dies "will be buried with the burial of an ass. If there 
 1 Lything generous and noble in a man, tt should come 
 r.,it nt the very beginning of his career. 
 °"one of the'finest epitaphs I ever read on a tombstone 
 was in these words, "He lived for others/' Oh, Jet none 
 of you merit the inscription, " He lived for self. 
 
 It would be easy to apply these principles in a practical 
 way to the subject of /,/. insurance. It is a good ^nd 
 wholesome discipline for a young man, as -U as j.se 
 Tnd right in the interest of dear ones whom the future 
 Tav raise up around him, to set apart a sum out of his 
 ' ^eTrirncon^ fo, this purpose, and of -rse the soo e 
 ft is done, the better. Sternly, determinately fight the 
 
 LtieU self. If you C-- --- 7j: ,:;r 
 
 nobler victor than Alexander, or Caesar, or t. f 
 nobler vicior strength, as well 
 
 But you must go to Chnst lor P ^^^ ^^.^ 
 
 as for the perfect example. Verily, He pi 
 own self. His life was given to the good of others. 
 
Talks with Young Men. 
 
 244 
 
 at last w-s sacrificed for those who had no claim upon 
 
 His love. 
 
 Aided by His grace, make His steps your own. Do 
 good to all as you have opportunity. God forbid that any 
 one here should drag out a mean, sordid, selfish, and 
 ignoble life, so that, when he dies, he will merely be 
 shovelled out of the way, ^' buried with the burial of an 
 ass," and go down 
 
 «*To the vile dust from which he sprung, 
 Unwept, unhonoured, and unsung." 
 
 May your lot and mine rather be, so to use our talents, 
 be they great or small, for the good of others, and the 
 glory of God, that when our term is ended, many shall 
 deplore our exit, and bless our memory ; and though no 
 marble monument may mark the spot where our ashes 
 lie, nor flattering epitaph record our virtues on the stone, 
 regretful mourners shall whisper as they pass, '' Blessed 
 are the dead who die in the Lord ; yea, saith the Spirit, 
 that they may rest from their labours ; and their works 
 do follow them." 
 
 2HE RIGHT SORT OF FRIEND. 
 
" And Jonathan, SauVs son, arose and went to David into the wood 
 and strengthened his hand in God:*—i Sam. xxiii. 16. 
 
 #< 
 
 XVIII. 
 THE RIGHT SORT OF FRIEND. 
 
 THE cascj^ to put it as briefly as possible, was this. 
 Word had come to the brave and geherous-hearted 
 David, that the Philistines, those constant plagues and 
 enemies of Israel, had come up against the city of Keilah, 
 and were committing wholesale plunder upon the people. 
 
 It was now the close of the harvest, and the thrashing- 
 floors were filled with grain ; so these unscrupulous 
 marauders set upon the corn, and were busy carrying it 
 away from the defenceless citizens. 
 
 As soon as David heard of this, he felt a strong impulse 
 to go and smite the Philistines ; and having sought and 
 obtained the Divine sanction, he went down with his little 
 army to Keilah, and not only drove out the invaders, but 
 recovered a good portion* of the spoil. 
 
 For this valiant and heroic deed, Saul, as king of Israel, 
 should have felt indebted to David ; but, such was the 
 fierce jealousy that he entertained toward the young and 
 popular warrior, that, instead of feeling any emotion of 
 gratitude to him for rescuing one of his cities from the 
 hated foe, he thought he had now found the opportunity 
 for entrapping him and taking his life. 
 
 Keilah, as it so happened, was a walled town with gates 
 and bars ; so, says Saul to himself, I shall shut him in, 
 beyond the chance of escape. Ungrateful wretch as he 
 was, his baseness was quite equalled by that of the in- 
 
 J 
 
248 
 
 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 habitants of Keilah, who, notwithstanding all that David 
 had done for them, were prepared to deliver him into his 
 enemy's hand. Of this David received direct intimation 
 from God ; so, gathering his army around him, he rose and 
 departed out of Keilah, and, as is touchingly narrated here, 
 " went whithersoever he could go." 
 
 Now, I should mention that the situation of this little 
 town was on the western slope of the Judaean hills, about 
 twenty miles south of Jerusalem. The character of the 
 surrounding country was varied, consisting as it did partly 
 of dry and unproductive desert land and partly of natural 
 forest, the dark olive trees and clumps of shaggy oaks 
 affording convenient shelter and concealment to persons 
 seeking to hide themselves from the pursuer. This explains 
 the language of our passage, which represents David as " in 
 the wilderness," ^* in the mountain," and '' in the wood " ; 
 for, as "Saul sought him every day," he would find it 
 needful to change his quarters, now hiding in some rocky 
 ravine, and now in some woody grove. 
 
 I do not for a moment doubt that, amid the dreary 
 solitude of the forest of Ziph, David realised the un- 
 speakable comfort of the presence of his God, and was 
 enabled to commit himself to His care ; but, in addition 
 to this highest source of consolation, it was his privilege 
 to have the sympathy and companionship of a human 
 friend, in the person of the faithful and warm-hearted 
 Jonathan, the son of Saul. I scarcely know an incident 
 in Scripture history more full of interest and of a tender 
 and beautiful pathos than the close, I might call it the 
 romantic, friendship that sprang up between these two 
 young men. 
 
 Not in all profane history, not, I believe, even in modem 
 works of fiction, has there been anything to surpass it. 
 " The soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David. 
 
 J 
 
 J 
 
 The Right Sort of Friend. 249 
 
 and Jonathan loved him as his own soul." "Thy love 
 to me," said David, "was wonderful, passing the love ot 
 women." Each found in the other an affection that he 
 found not in his own family, an affection which seems to 
 have commenced on the day of David's return from the 
 victory over Goliath, and which continued without a single 
 break or shadow till death divided them. 
 
 This ardent friendship was, on three separate occasions, 
 confirmed by a solemn covenant. The first occasion was 
 shortly after the acquaintanceship had been formed, and 
 when as yet the envy of King Saul had not been stirred. 
 We are told that Jonathan and David made a covenant, 
 and, as a pledge of it, Jonathan gave him his royal mantle, 
 his sword, his girdle, and his bow. 
 
 The next occasion was when Saul, through an insane 
 jealousy, was planning measures to take David's life, and 
 the latter had to make his escape. His true-hearted com- 
 panion found him out, and had a secret interview with him 
 at the rock Ezel, where the two young men renewed their 
 covenant, and as we read, ''Jonathan caused David to 
 swear again, because he loved him ; for he loved him as 
 he loved his own soul." 
 
 Their mutual affection seems then to have become even 
 more intense than it had been before. With passionate 
 embraces and tears did they "plight their troth," and, as 
 the historian says, "they kissed one another, and wept 
 with one another, until David exceeded." 
 
 Only once more were they to meet, and it is that final 
 meeting that our text records. As though they had a 
 presentiment that they were now to be for ever parted 
 on earth, and remembered that "a threefold cord is not 
 qtiickly broken,'* they made a covenant again, the pious 
 Jonathan at the same time commending his loved friend 
 to God, and cheering him by the promises of His word. 
 
Talks with Young Men. 
 
 
 
 250 
 
 <' And Jonathan, Saul's son, arose and went to David 
 into the wood, and strengthened his hand in God." 
 
 This text suggests four practical lessons, which I pray 
 God to write upon your hearts to-night. 
 
 I To Possess a leal and trusty friend is one 0/ the greatest 
 \ \ of earthly blessings. "To be without friends," said Lord 
 ' Bacon "is to find the world a wilderness." No man can 
 live in a state of isolation from his fellows, or, if he can, 
 I was going to say he is not a man ; at least the human 
 element in him is almost imperceptible. God intended us 
 for society. He has given us an instinct that makes us crave 
 for fellowship with others and feel miserable if we cannot 
 
 ^^Vch of us yearns for a heart that beats in unison with 
 our own, an ear into which we can pour our confidences 
 and our troubles, a hand we can safely grasp, and an arm we 
 can always lean on. It is not only when we are in sorrow 
 and difficulty that we feel this, not only when burdens 
 oppress us, and trials come thick upon us, and our back is 
 to the wall ; but even in our bright and prosperous hours 
 we feel that joys have not half their sweetness unless 
 we have one or more companions to share them with us. 
 
 Whether our dwelling be a castle or a cabin, our troubles 
 will be lighter and our comforts will be richer, if we but 
 have one with us in thorough sympathy with ourselves, 
 who makes us feel that our joys and sorrows are his like- 
 wise. Point me to a man who has never found a friend, 
 I know no one on earth more unhappy than he, except 
 the man who has never sought one. If isolation breeds 
 selfishness, it is no less true that only the grossest selfish- 
 ness can tolerate isolation ; and you may be sure of it, that 
 if there be a man so entirely bound up with self that he 
 does not care to have associates, he is about the most 
 wretched being you can anywhere meet with. 
 
 i: 
 
 The Right Sort of Friend. 251 
 
 It is interesting to notice how children, from their earliest 
 years, by a kind of principle of natural selection, determine 
 their companionships. Let a score of little oues be sent to 
 an infant school, it will not be many days before special . 
 affinities are developed, and little confidential groups of twos 
 or threes will tell that close friendships have already been 
 formed. It is just the same with older people. You will 
 not visit a shop in London, in which a number of hands are 
 employed, be fhey men or women; not a counting-house 
 with a staff of clerks ; not a factory with a supply of work- 
 men; that you will not see how, by a sort of magnetism, 
 each individual draws to himself a congenial companion, 
 with whom he can have a deeper, truer sympathy than with 
 
 all the rest. 
 
 A man's acquaintances may be numbered by the hundred : 
 his companions he may probably count upon the fingers of 
 one hand ; but, his friends— ah 1 the heart has rarely room 
 for more than one or two. 
 
 Of what importance is it, then, that, in the formation of 
 
 "such friendships, we should be exceedingly careful lest we 
 
 squander our confidence and afiection upon objects unworthy 
 
 of them 1 
 
 This, unhappily, is what is done every day. There is no 
 instinct of our nature, which the devil knows better how to 
 wield, and turn to his own purpose, than that which I am 
 speaking of. As "the companion of fools shall be destroyed," 
 so, in seeking to compass your destruction, his first step is 
 to give you a fool for your companion. 
 
 It is not difficult in London to find friends of this order. 
 They are generally quite obtrusive in the offer of their 
 society. Let a young man come up, a total stranger to the 
 metropolis, I undertake to say that within a couple of hours 
 he can make friends — of a sort I The thoroughly bad fellows 
 are the first to fraternize with him. They find out his weak 
 
 
Talks with Young Men. 
 
 252 
 
 points, and flatter him. They patronise him. They offer 
 to take him all about the town. They will generously 
 conduct him to any place he wishes to visit, he, of course, 
 
 paying the expenses. 
 
 You may always observe that if a good young man and a 
 bad young man go together to some questionable entertam- 
 ment, it is the good young man who has to pay the bill. 
 The other, of course, plunges his hand vehemently into his 
 pocket, and says, "Allow me;" but somehow he cannot 
 with all his fumbling get hold of the coin, or he has no 
 change, or he has lost his purse, or some other awkward coinci- 
 dence has occurred. We are constantly reading in the papers 
 of some verdant stranger who has been taken in by what is 
 called " the confidence trick " ; but the papers tell us nothing 
 of hundreds of well-disposed young men who are yearly 
 caught in the net of a poisonous companionship, and are 
 
 snared to their eternal ruin. 
 
 As I seek your salvation, my brother, I say to you 
 solemnly in the name of God, " Beware how you let a loose 
 man talk familiarly with you." When he gives you a hearty 
 slap on the shoulder, return him a look that will make him 
 pause before he does it a second time. S>.ow him you mean 
 to be select in your choice of friends. 
 
 Remember, your own character will be juc'ged by the 
 kind of persons you ass6ciate with. The ancient Pytha- 
 goras, before he admitted any one into his school, made 
 inquiry as to who his intimates had been ; rightly judg- 
 ing that those who had been careless about their com- 
 panionships were not likely to derive much benefit from 
 
 his instructions. 
 
 Even one brief indulgence in evil company has been 
 known to do a man life-long injury. The chemist will tell 
 you that a single grain of iodine is sufficient to give colour 
 to a hundred gallons of water ; and one evil friendship you 
 
 \ 
 
 The Right Sort of Friend. 253 
 
 have unguardedly formed may prove enough to poison your 
 
 whole life. 
 
 By all means cultivate the social instinct of your nature ; 
 
 but be scrupulously careful as to the persons you admit to ^ 
 
 your confidence and affection. K 
 
 II We further learn from the text that the faithfulness of \ 
 
 a friend is tested in the hour of adversity, "And Jonathan 
 
 came to David into the wood." Had it been into the palace 
 
 we should have, thought nothing of it. No lack of friends 
 
 when all goes prosperously with you. If you are flush with 
 
 money, and liberal in the use of it, if honours light upon 
 
 you and you are fanned with the breath of popular favour, 
 
 no fear of being friendless ; but that is not the time to form 
 
 your estimate of the friendship. 
 
 Wait till you are in trouble ; your fair name, it may be, 
 traduced ; your means swept away by some unlooked-for 
 disaster ; or failing health laying you on your back. Ah I 
 that is the time to judge whether your friends are worth 
 possessing. It is remarkable how few the friendships are 
 -that stand the test of years, that bear the strain of altered 
 circumstances, and remain true as the needle to the pole. 
 Too many are like the flowers which the winter frost traces 
 on our window panes ; they are beautiful indeed, but a breath 
 makes them melt away. 
 
 There is nothing more galling to a sensitive nature than 
 to be deserted in the hour of trial by those on whose con- 
 stancy we had been wont to rely. 
 
 But a man has not lived long in this world before he 
 finds that there is much professed friendship that is only 
 
 tinsel. 
 
 Apart from the inroads which death makes on every circle, 
 there is a weeding process going on that is but too apparent ; 
 for little misunderstandings, paltry jealousies, rivalries m 
 qusiness, or imagined slights, sometimes alienate those who ^ 
 
 ., 
 
254 
 
 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 seemed to be welded by inextinguishable love. "Ah!** 
 said one who had passed through a little of this experience, 
 "though the church is not large enough to contain my 
 acquaintances, the pulpit is big enough to hold my friends.' 
 The value of a particular friendship may often be judged 
 by the mode in which it has originated. The chum whom 
 you picked up in some place of frivolous or vicious enter- 
 tainment is not likely to do you any good, nor is such 
 friendship in the least reliable. When one man starts an 
 acquaintanceship with another, as is doAe every day in 
 London, by saying, " Come, let us have a drop of something 
 to drink," you may be sure nothing good will come out of 
 
 that alliance. 
 
 Shall I tell you how Jonathan and David were drawn 
 together ? It was in this way. Each discovered in the other 
 a moral quality that elicited his profoundest admiration. 
 Jonathan saW in David the pious courage that dared to fight 
 the giant of Gath, " in the name of the God of the armies of 
 Israel : " and David saw in Jonathan the noble magnanimity 
 of one who rejoiced in another's honour, though that might 
 mean the eclipse of his own. 
 
 Young men ! take my advice : study the character of your 
 associates; mark their principles; and be sure that those will 
 prove your best and truest friends for whom you entertain 
 the most unbounded respect. This leads me to remark, 
 
 III. From the text, that he is our best friend who is a 
 friend to our soul. 
 
 In David's singular attachment to Jonathan he was only 
 carrying out his own principle, " I am a companion of them 
 that fear Thee." The beauty of character that adorned 
 Saul's son was undoubtedly due to the grace of God. Bad 
 fathers have sometimes begotten good sons, but in this case 
 the contrast in character was quite unique ; and Jonathan's 
 unaffected piety had much to do with it. He went into the 
 
 ■' 
 
 I 
 
 The Right Sort of Friend. 255 
 
 v««d to David, not to act the part of a spy on the one side 
 or the other, not to ask protection for himself, not to supp j 
 his friend with additional weapons of defence : but to 
 strengthen his hand in God." I see them kneeFing down 
 together in the leafy thicket, and commending ""^ -other 
 to God in prayer : and I hear Jonathan speakmg kmd and 
 encouraging words, and reminding his friend of many a 
 Divine and comforting promise. 
 
 Be sure of it, gentlemen, friendships thus formed, and 
 thus cemented, are by far the most valuable and enduring. 
 The intimacy that has sprung up between two, or perhaps 
 three, who have been members of the same Bible class or 
 Christian Association, is of the right sort. The B.ble xs 
 one of the best links for binding hearts together. 
 
 If the introduction of God's Word scatters a company, 
 the sooner you be out of it the better. A good woman 
 once asked her minister what she ought to do, there were 
 so many worthless characters came m to s.t wUh her 
 husband of an evening? "Put the open Fam.ly B.ble on 
 the table," said he, "and that will dnve them off. And 
 so it was • she was not troubled with them any more. 
 
 " He that doeth evil hateth the light ; neither cometh to 
 the light, lest his deeds should be reproved." 
 
 There is an age,-somewhere between eighteen and 
 thirty,-when, somehow, your ears are apt to be specially 
 open to attacks upon the Christian faith 
 
 Bv-and-by you have more sense, and are able to stand 
 your ground ; but often, just at the point of "Pening man- 
 hood, you are mentally unsettled, and you have got aH 
 sorts of doubts, and you are liable to be set off the rails 
 
 "''now, what is it that many do at such a time ? Senseless 
 beings, instead of taking counsel with some wise and 
 thoughtful Christian friend, they go and associate them 
 
256 
 
 Talks with Young Men, 
 
 selves with lads whose hearts and heads are equally wrong . 
 or they visit the infidel Lecture Hall ; or they listen with 
 gaping mouths to some silly, sneering sceptic, who stands 
 with his fingers in his vest, and laughs at their old-fashioned 
 religion, and says, "You don't mean to say that you believe 
 the first chapter of Genesis ; or all about Noah and the 
 flood ; or Pharaoh and his plagues ; or Joshua bidding the 
 sun stand still ; or Daniel in the lions' den ; or Jonah in the 
 whale ; or King Nebuchadnezzar eating the grass ; or any 
 of these exploded fables?" so they begin to waver, and 
 soon they give up their morning chapter, their evening 
 prayer, and gallop away into sheer, blank infidelity. 
 
 And, now that they have thrown off" the traces, they are 
 no more held by moral or religious restraints, and so plunge 
 into sensuaUty and the grossest materialism. This is the 
 history of many thousands in London, who to-day are 
 worshippers of Bacchus, and Venus, and every god but 
 the true One. Their hearts are set on theatres, and races, 
 and dancing assemblies, and music-halls. They have given 
 up the Bible. They make goddesses of women who 
 possess mere physical beauty. They collect photographs 
 of favourite actresses and prima donnas. They sing the 
 most frivolous songs. They fill their minds with villainous 
 rubbish. And so on they go, and down they run, till they 
 develop into bloated, shattered voluptuaries. And all from 
 a fatal choice of companionships. 
 
 Linked with a different class, their career might have 
 been a happy and a noble one, leading up to usefulness, 
 and honour, and self-respect, and to a blessed immortality 
 
 Then cast out every bad man from your company, give a 
 wide berth to every one whom in your heart you cannot 
 respect and esteem. 
 
 Like David, choose for your bosom friends those who 
 will "strengthen your hand in God," who will foster 
 
 • « 
 
 The Right Sort of Friend. 257 
 
 your piety, and make you wiser, and better, and holier 
 
 men. 
 
 IV. I have one thing more to say to you. I wish to 
 introduce to you a Friend who will prove the kindest and 
 the truest that you ever had. Many of you are strangers 
 to me ; some of you, I daresay, are strangers to every 
 one in this church ; one or two, it may be, are just lament- 
 ing that they have no one to speak to, and are as lonely as 
 
 possible. 
 
 Well, one design of these services is to get -you out ot 
 that difficulty. There are as warm hearts here to-nigbt zs 
 you will find in I^ndon. There are kind hands ready to 
 grasp yours, if you will give them the chance. Don't be 
 too shy. Don't go away, and say, " What a cold set of 
 people there are there ; nobody spoke to me." There are 
 numbers of us wish to speak to you, wish to know you, 
 wish to help you, wish to say, " Come thou with us, and we 
 will do thee good." My own feeling at this present moment 
 is; that I should like to walk down these aisles, and round 
 these galleries, and give a good hearty shake of the hand 
 to every young man in this building. 
 
 In the name of the Church I invite you to come and find 
 
 a spiritual home. 
 
 But, above and beyond all this, in the name of my Master 
 and Lord, " whose I am, and whom I serve," I bid you 
 grasp His hand, and accept His friendship ; for He is " a 
 friend that sticketh closer than a brother." " And Jesus, 
 looking upon the young man, loved him." Ah I I have 
 many kind friends, but He is the best. 
 
 He understands me so well, and has so mercifully 
 promised to stand by me when all other loved ones swim 
 away from my vision, that I cannot aff-ord to do without 
 
 Him. 
 
 He is the true Jonathan, the King's Son, who came to us 
 
 17 
 
258 
 
 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 in our extremity, and has brought us " everlasting consola- 
 tion, and good hope, through grace." 
 
 Young man, if you have got into " the wood " of em- 
 barrassment, and difficulty, and trouble ; if you are hedged 
 round by your sins as deadly enemies, and see no way of 
 escape, I tell you of One who has come to your rescue, a 
 Friend in need and a Friend indeed, who this night offers 
 you His love. Dear young men, do not despise it. 
 
 ** Grasp in faith the hand of Jesus, 
 Who from all our sorrow frees us, 
 And imparts the peace of heaven 
 To the soul, through Him forgiven : 
 So that wondrous light and gladness 
 Take the place of gloom and sadnesi *• 
 
 COMPANIONSHIP WITH FOOLS. 
 
■MMki 
 
 " A toinpanioH of fools shall bt distrcy.-d." — Prov. xiii JO. 
 
 (.I 
 
 XIX. 
 
 COMPANIONSHIP WITH FOOLS. 
 
 EACH Book in the Bible has its own special character- 
 istic ; and it is well for us, when studying a particular 
 passage, to keep in mind the main feature or end of the 
 book in which it occurs, for thus we shall be more likely 
 to arrive at its true meaning. Genesis is the book that 
 reveals to us God as the Creator ; Exodus presents H.m 
 as the supreme Lawgiver; Leviticus as the great Pardoner 
 of sin through sacrifice or atonement ; Numbers as the 
 all-wise Guide of His people ; Deuteronomy as the Divme 
 Mentor, reiterating the precepts of His law ; Joshua as our 
 Captain and strength, leading us forward through every 
 difficulty ; and so on. throughout the entire Scriptures. 
 
 Now the distinguishing characteristic of this Book of 
 Proverbs is, that it sets before us the highest wisdom. 
 Here Christ Himself is exhibited as the "wisdom of God, 
 and religion as the highest form of prudence. This central 
 thought gives a complexion to every sentence in the book. 
 The godly man is viewed as pre-eminently the wise man ; 
 and the sinner as the simpleton and fool. There are, 
 indeed, other parts of the Bible in which sin is spoken 
 of as folly ; but nowhere is this aspect of it so urged, and 
 brought to the front, as it is here. 
 
 Sin is a mistake as well as a crime. In yielding to temp- 
 tation, we not only offend God, but do ourselves damage. 
 To do wrong is foolish, senseless, suicidal. Apart from 
 
262 
 
 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 every higher consideration, it is an act of gross stupidity. 
 Sin never pays. Not once within these past six thousand 
 years has a man acted wisely in doing a thing which was 
 morally wrong. 
 
 You see, then, that the argument of King Solomon in 
 this book is in great part utilitarian. I do not say that this 
 is the highest form of argument ; but yet it is not without 
 its value. Placed as we are in this world, an appeal to our 
 self-interest will always come to us with power. Self-love 
 is a different thing from selfishness. The precepts alike 
 of law and gospel, whilst they deprecate the latter, address 
 themselves to the former. It is to our highest interest to 
 be righteous ; but " destruction shall be to the workers of 
 iniquity." 
 
 It is in the light of such thoughts that you are to inter- 
 pret our text. That you will find or make companions is 
 a matter taken for granted ; but at the outset of life, it is 
 well to weigh seriously this royal adage (as true to-day as 
 when — a thousand years before Christ — it dropped from 
 the pen of Solomon) : " He that walketh with wise men 
 shall be wise ; but a companion of fools shall be destroyed." 
 That is to say, a young man will very soon take the colour 
 of those with whom he associates. *' Tell me with whom 
 you go," says an old proverb, *'and I will tell you what 
 you are." Society you must have and will have. Man is 
 a gregarious animal, and the sweetest pleasures, as well as 
 the greatest dangers of life, are linked with this love of 
 company, of which nearly all of us are conscious. So many 
 thousands of young men have there been in this city whose 
 ruin is put down to bad companions, that I should be guilty 
 of a great omission did I not take up this subject ; and 
 therefore, without further delay, I wish to speak a word 
 of caution (specially to any of you who have recently come 
 up to the metropolis) as to the kind of associates you should 
 
 Companionship with Fools. 263 
 
 ^€ cateful to avoid. I shall take up the negative side to-night, 
 and point out the black sheep you are to steer clear of, 
 having so recently given you a description of the sort of 
 men whose friendship you should choose and cultivate. 
 Satan has a big family, all of whom should be kept at arm's 
 length ; but there are two or three of them I would par- 
 ticularly mention, and warn you against, men who are 
 *' fools " in Solomon's sense of the word, and whose com- 
 panionship can only be to your destruction. 
 
 I. Never make companionship with a buffoon. Do not 
 choose for your associate the frivolous jester, the man who 
 seems hardly capable of a grave or serious thought, but 
 turns everything into an occasion for merriment. In dull 
 times such a fellow is likely to be much run after. He 
 keeps a company in good humour ; his fund of ready wit 
 is inexhaustible ; his hits, and jokes, and sallies are enough 
 to banish care, and keep any circle in a roar of laughter- 
 Thus the lively wit is a general favourite ; there is some- 
 thing in almost every sentence he utters, and even in the 
 roguish twinkle of his eye, that seems to shed a sparkling 
 light around, and make the burdens of life more easy to 
 
 Well, I am not going to condemn witticism, and fun, and 
 repartee. Not at all. As Solomon says, " there is a time 
 to laugh," as well as " a time to weep." There is a time to 
 be playful and jocular, as well as a time to be serious and 
 solemn. I do not see any reason why a Christian's face 
 should be longer than any other man's ; but I see many a 
 reason why it should be brighter and merrier. 
 
 Never in my life do I remember of more wit and humour, 
 and buoyancy of animal spirits being crammed into one day 
 than on a day last summer, which I spent in the country 
 in company with the late eminent Wesleyan minister. Dr. 
 Punshon, who knew when to be grave and when to be 
 
264 
 
 Talks with Young Men* 
 
 gay, and whose dying words were, "Jesus is to me a living, 
 bright reality." Not a bit of sympathy have I with the 
 narrow-minded folk who ' think it a sin to laugh, and who 
 have nothing but denunciation for those who are playful 
 and humorous. I say God has created within us a faculty 
 of mirthfulness, which He meant for use. When indulged 
 in moderation, it is a wholesome thing, and helps to lighten 
 the serious labours of life. If God has given you a little o^ 
 this quicksilver, be thankful for it. Stone, and iron, and 
 lead, though heavy and dull, are more useful articles ; but 
 every gift He bestows has its purpose. 
 
 But some men lay themselves oiit for habitual jesters , 
 nor do they stop at anything, — religion, worship, death, 
 eternity, — there is no subject so serious that they will not 
 vent their wit upon it. Always punning, joking, quibbling ; 
 everything appears to have for them its comic or farcical 
 side. And so they go on through life, as though they had 
 no higher view of it than one prolonged amusement. *' Note 
 such men, and have no company with them, that they may 
 be ashamed." 
 
 II. Have nothing to do with the cynic. He is a very ugly 
 character, though somewhat hard to describe. He has a 
 wondrous faculty of sneering ; and is almost incapable of 
 believing good of anybody. He can never see a sterling 
 quality in any man, and is always ready with his insinua- 
 tions and innuendoes. With him, all human actions but his 
 own are either openly bad or secretly bad ; and the more 
 pure and virtuous they really are, the more hypocrisy does 
 he detect in them. He is well-named " cynic," a word 
 which comes from the Greek for dog ; for like an ill- 
 tempered cur, he snarls at every one. With him religion 
 is cant, benevolence is just a cunning form of selfishness, 
 and virtue is a sham. If you tell him such a man has 
 contributed liberally to some charity, ten to one he will 
 
 Companionship with Fools. 265 
 
 say it is a good advertisement. If you say of such another^ 
 he is a devoted member of the Church, he will add, it is to 
 advance his business. Rotten at heart himself, he cannot 
 conceive of such a thing as genuine principle ; and roundly 
 asserts that self-interest is the basis of every action. 
 
 A man like that is a pest and a curse to the community. 
 He scatters poison wherever he goes. The young give 
 him credit for wonderful far-sightedness and knowledge of 
 human nature ; and, therefore, rather court his society, as 
 one who *' knovi-s what's what," and can pierce through all 
 shams. Alas, we are all naturally ready enough to listen 
 to anything that throws discredit on religion ; and when a 
 creature such as I have described gets among those who 
 are not yet settled in their convictions, he may do as much 
 mischief in a month as will take years to eradicate. Keep 
 clear of the cynic as you would of a man steeped in small- 
 pox ; for his influence upon you will be " only evil, and 
 
 that continually/' 
 
 III. Give a wide berth to the sceptic. There is no fool so 
 great as the man who says there is no God ; and the coml 
 panion of such a fool will be destroyed. I would most 
 earnestly caution you against associating with any one who 
 rejects the Bible, and denies the Christian religion, however 
 amiable and virtuous may be his character. 
 
 It is getting quite the fashion with a certain class of 
 young men to talk as though Christianity were now an 
 exploded fable. They will tell you that some men have a 
 religious instinct, just as most men have a taste for music, 
 or for poetry, or for architecture, or for botany, or for some 
 other art or science ; and that there is no harm in gratifying 
 that instinct by some form of devotion ; but that all re- 
 ligions are alike good or bad : it is simply a question of taste 
 or predilection ; but the basis of all is superstition. They 
 would put Jesus Christ on the same level with Plato, and 
 
266 
 
 Talks with Young Men, 
 
 Socrates, and Pythagoras, and Confucius, and Mohammed ; 
 and treat religion as a pure question of philosophy. 
 
 They forget that man has a moral nature and a con- 
 science, as well as an intellect : and that these demand 
 what only the Gospel can supply. 
 
 You will never reap any good from men of that stamp, 
 but you will derive an enormous amount of injury. Doubt 
 and unbelief, when once enkindled in the soul, are hard to 
 eradicate. Far better strengthen your religious faith than 
 imperil it. Never cultivate the friendship of one who 
 would rob you of your trust in Christ. Sincerity, of course, 
 is always to be respected, even though it be the sincerity of 
 the atheist ; but there is much more in favour of revelation 
 than against it. The internal evidence which the Bible 
 possesses of its Divine authority is of itself sufficient to 
 silence the caviller, and command our reverent belief. All 
 the attacks that have been made upon it— and no citadel on 
 earth has been so stormed and assailed— leave it to-day 
 impregnable as ever ; its influence wider and mightier than 
 it ever was before. Believe me, my brothers, you will only 
 prepare for yourselves bitterness and regret, if you accept 
 the companionship of men who have cast off the faith. 
 Rather be it yours with Jthe Psalmist to say, ''I am a com- 
 panion of them that fear Thee, and of them that keep Thy 
 
 precepts." 
 
 IV. Reject the company of the libertine. Most men have 
 to fight a battle with the passions of their lower nature 
 quite severe enough, without courting the society of those 
 who will throw all their influence on the wrong side. One 
 immoral and licentious youth may prove a curse to a score 
 of as fine young fellows as ever came up to seek a living in 
 
 the metropolis. 
 
 Such a man does not show his vileness all at once. On 
 the contrary, there may be an air of polish and virtue 
 
 i'/^ 
 
 Companionship with Fools. 267 
 
 about him, which completely deceives you on first acquaint- 
 ance. The devil takes good care to scatter flowers over the 
 pitfalls he has laid. You say, a more good-hearted fellow 
 never lived. You get to like him. He is kind and generous, 
 possesses lively spirits, sings a good song, can tell a capital ^ 
 story, is very free with his money, and, altogether, is 
 " excellent company." So your acquaintance ripens, and 
 — all the rest follows. 
 
 The man I am now entreating you to shun has no idea 
 of hard work ; Mrith him pleasure is everything, and that 
 pleasure of the grossest kind. As a matter of course, he 
 drinks, for all his ideas of enjoyment are linked with a free 
 use of alcohol. His nerves exhausted by sensual indulgence, 
 he must needs resort to stimulants, and he is never satisfied 
 unless others join with him in his potations. His haunts 
 are the taverns and casinoes and singing saloons. If 
 he has money, most probably he gambles ; or, at. least, 
 squanders it upon everything that is foolish and vicious. 
 No mistake, he is a "fast man," for money, character, 
 health, all quickly go ; and, ten to one, he himself gallops 
 into an early grave. 
 
 Of all the intimate associates of my young days, I had 
 but one who turned out to be of this description. Born in 
 affluence, with every advantage of culture and education, 
 an only son, and possessed of pleasing manners as well as 
 of a vigorous constitution, he seemed to have a happy 
 career before him ; but at sixteen years of age he began a 
 career of vice, and before his twenty-first year was reached, 
 
 might have been seen in the streets of , bloated and 
 
 haggard, a very picture of wretchedness. Poor, miserable 
 fellow I he never attained his majority, but died a pro- 
 fligate's death. 
 
 Most of you have heard or read of the learned Sir 
 Matthew Hale. When quite a youth, he fell into the 
 
268 
 
 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 \ 
 
 society of some vicious young men, who very nearly 
 proved his ruin. Being invited to a great merry-making, 
 he met with an incident, which proved the turning-point 
 in his career. During the carouse, one of the company 
 drank so much wine, that at last he fell down as dead on the 
 floor. All present were much alarmed, and did what they 
 could to arouse him from his stupor ; but Hale went into an 
 adjoining room, and falling on his knees, besought God 
 earnestly for his friend, and also that he himself might be 
 forgiven, and then and there he made a solemn vow that 
 he would henceforth shun such company, and '* never drink, 
 another toast as long as he lived." 
 
 I daresay some of you think you are perfectly safe 
 though you do associate with men whom you know to 
 be living improper lives. You don't like to *'cut" an old 
 friend; you think you can still keep up the intimacy with- 
 out falling into evil ways. Remember, these words are the 
 words of Divine wisdom, and are written here expressly 
 for your warning, "The companion of fools shall be 
 destroyed." 
 
 As in nature all bodies receive or give out heat, until 
 there is an equilibrium of temperature, so there is a radia- 
 tion of character upon character. Whether conscious of it 
 or not, we are slowly and surely affected by the influence 
 of those with whom we daily mingle. Any sign of want of 
 sterling principle should be enough to make you draw back 
 at once from another's society. If you detect too surely 
 meanness, untruthfulness, or any form of incipient pro- 
 fanity, that should be quite sufficient to decide you to steer 
 clear of such a person. Cowper's principle admits of wide 
 
 application : — 
 
 •* I would not enter on my list of friends, 
 Tho' graced with polished manners and fine sense 
 (Yet wanting sensibility), the man 
 Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm.' 
 
 Co77ipanionship with Fools. 269 
 
 Always select for your most intimate companions those 
 for whom, in your inmost heart, you have a profound 
 respect. Secure, if it be possible, the friendship of men in 
 whom you see qualities that you admire, and 'would fain 
 
 possess. 
 
 If you tell me where you pick up your friends ^ I shall have 
 a good idea of their value. There are thousands of instances 
 in London of an acquaintanceship that has sprung up 
 casually on the s.treet, or on the car, or at the tavern door, 
 or in some place of questionable amusement ; and too many 
 of these prove woeful and disastrous. No lack of vampires 
 in this metropolis,— friends of the sucker order,— who stick 
 to you while they can get anything out of you, but not a ^ 
 moment longer. Leeches fasten on the living, but drop ofi 
 from the dead. As Shakespeare says :— 
 
 *' Every man will be thy friend 
 Whilst thou hast wherewith to spend | 
 But if store of crowns be scant, 
 No man will supply thy want." 
 
 Lay this down as a sound principle; no Christian young 
 man will find real satisfaction in the friendship of one who 
 is not himself a Christian. 
 
 You cannot be too careful in your selection. Youthful 
 years run very quickly away, and the companionships you 
 then form will leave their impress on your whole life. Of 
 course, in urging this cautiousness, I do not mean that I 
 would have you to be saucy, or proud, or misanthropic. A 
 warm-hearted man must have friends, he cannot be happy 
 without them. It is only a mean, selfish nature that can be 
 content to remain isolated and alone. Robinson Crusoe might 
 glory on his lonely island in being "monarch of all he sur- 
 veyed," but he was heartily glad when he got the company 
 of the man Friday. Even the companionship of the dumb 
 
 J 
 
 I 
 
270 
 
 Talks with Yoicng Men. 
 
 animals is better than none. Sir Walter Scott's dog, Maida, 
 and Dr. Johnson's cat, Hodge, cannot be dissociated from their 
 memory. The social, chatty hours spent with their chums 
 by such men as Charles Lamb, and Sydney Smith, and 
 Lord Macaulay, have an intense interest and attractiveness 
 all their own. Many a pleasant day have I spent at Craig- 
 crook, in Midlothian, where every room, and garden-seat, 
 and tree seemed redolent with the fragrance of the delight- 
 ful dialogues which Lord Jeffrey used to have there with his 
 literary friends. Religion does not frown upon such enjoy- 
 ment ; rather does it develop and encourage it. There is no 
 freemasonry lo compare with the fellowship that unites 
 those who love and serve a common Saviour. On matri- 
 monial companionship, and the principles that should guide 
 you there, I shall have something to say on another 
 occasion. 
 
 Ah ! brothers, the first friend I would have you all to seek 
 and find is Jesus Christ Himself. To know the sweetness 
 of His friendship you must first possess the joy of His sal- 
 vation. Oh I what a happy, happy thing would it be ifevery 
 one of you were a decided Christian. I would to God that I 
 could persuade each of you to come over to-night to the Lord's 
 side. I know you mean to do so some day, but oh I delays are 
 dangerous ; and many, who have had the same intentions, 
 have passed unprepared into the presence of their God. I 
 cannot be sure that I will have the chance of speaking to any 
 one of you again; and therefore this opportunity must not 
 slip. I would urge, I would coax you to-night, to accept the 
 offered hand of the best friend in the universe. There are 
 some people about whose friendship you don't care, and 
 there are others whose friendship you would dearly love, to 
 possess ; let me tell you, there is no salvation for you, no 
 heaven for you, without the friendship of Christ. It is the 
 most awful thing a man can do to reject the outstretched 
 
 Companionship with Fools. 271 
 
 hand of the Divine Saviour. You say, God forbid that I 
 should do that ! But that is just what you are doing if you 
 do not come right out of unbelief and worldliness, and with 
 God's help be out and out a Christian. Oh, won't you come 
 to-night ? I feel as though I should like to step down from . 
 this pulpit, and go to each young man here who is not a 
 member of a Church, and grasp his hand, and not let it go 
 till he had promised that he would now come over to the 
 Lord's side. Is Christ to say of the unconverted who are 
 here, " I stretched out My hand, but no man regarded ? " 
 Does not some brother feel now within his heart, even 
 whilst I am speaking, that this is God's message to him? 
 " See that ye refuse not him that speaketh." Decide at once 
 between the two worlds, one or other of which is to be your 
 portion for ever. Is it possible, that, for the sake of hugging 
 your sins a little longer, you will imperil your immortal 
 soul ? Is this world so good to you, that you can afford to 
 dispense with all the sweet joys and hopes which are laid 
 up for you in the gospel ? Alas ! the most solemn impres- 
 sions quickly pass away ; and unless God help you, with an 
 energy of decision you had never known before, to settle the 
 matter to-night, and cast in your lot with the people of the 
 Lord, I fear my entreaty is in vain. What about to-morrow? 
 What about next Sunday ? If there is but half a thought or 
 wish in your heart just now to turn over a new leaf, and be 
 a Christian, God Almighty fix that purpose, and make it 
 permanent. How I should rejoice to know that some of you 
 had this evening been brought to the feet of the Saviour. 
 Believe me. His is not a hard hand ; His is not a cold heart. 
 No frown upon His brow ; no angry words upon His lips. 
 Some of us can tell you, for we have proved Him, that 
 <' His is love beyond a brother's." ** He will not quench the 
 smoking flax, not break the bruised reed." I advise every 
 one of you to come this night to a decision. Choose ye 
 
272 
 
 Talks with Young Men, 
 
 whom ye will serve. Determine which of two eternities is 
 to be yours. Select the road you are to travel, the goal you 
 are to pursue, the company you are to take. " He that 
 walketh with wise men shall be wise; but the companion of 
 fools shall be destroyed." 
 
 THE CONCLUSION OF THE WHOLE MATTER. 
 

 ii 
 
 " Ltt us hear the conclusion of the whole mailer : fear Cod, ami keep 
 Ifis commandments; for this is theivhole duty of man" —Yxxxes. xii. 13. 
 
 XX. 
 
 THE CONCLUSION OF THE WHOLE MATTER. 
 
 AT the close of a volume, or of a course of lectures, i^ 
 is not an uncommon thing to have a brief epitome or 
 resume of the whole. In a few telling words you have the 
 sum of the argument, the gist of all that has go- before 
 and are thus the better able to grasp ^^ /""^y. " J°";. 
 memory. I like, in taking up a book, to find a table of 
 contents" at the beginning, or a good condensed summary 
 at the end. It helps you. You cannot carry an octavo 
 volume in your mind, but you can retam a few pithy, 
 pungent sentences. You may not be able to remember a 
 series of addresses, but you can grip the pomted conclu- 
 sions" at which the speaker arrives. 
 
 To-night we hold the last of these special services for this 
 year. Month by month, God has given me the privilege of 
 addressing such numbers of young men as have taxed the 
 capacity of this building : and though our subjects have 
 been' very varied, the scope, or drift, of all these services 
 has been the same, and I have thought that this evening 
 I might try to show you what that scope is-what has 
 been the drift of all our teaching -and the words of 
 Ecclesiastes come ready to my hand, "Let^us hear the 
 conclusion of the whole mattter : Fear God etc 
 
 To understand exactly the force of King Solomons words, 
 you must know what was the object he set before him 
 when he wrote this book. He meant it as a record of the 
 
276 
 
 Talks with Young Men, 
 
 grand and unexampled experiments he made in search of 
 man's highest good. He tells us in the second chapter that 
 this was the great inquiry which he set himself to prose- 
 cute, " What was that good for the sons of men which they 
 should do under the heaven all the days of their life?" 
 How can man best fulfil the end of his being ? How can 
 he attain to the highest measure of happiness ? 
 
 A noble inquiry indeed, and worthy of the wisest of 
 men to pursue. Well, he had splendid materials for 
 making it. Never man had such a chance as he. I sup- 
 pose that since the world was made unto this day there 
 has never been such wealth, such splendour, such magni- 
 ficence, and, withal, so fertile a mind, able to extract from 
 the resources of earth all the satisfaction and pleasure they 
 could yield. Why, some of you think the sovereign of 
 England rich with ;£385,ooo per annum, but what is that 
 compared with the yearly income of King Solomon, which 
 has been estimated at upwards of four millions ! The 
 world seemed literally to exhaust itself upon that man. 
 It emptied itself into his lap. It spread its treasures at 
 his feet. It lavished on him all its luxuries and delights. 
 It pressed the rarest wine to his lips. It set the richest 
 gems in his crown. It warbled the sweetest music in his 
 ear. He tells us in this book how he had everything 
 material that fancy could prompt or heart could desire. 
 Houses and gardens, and vineyards, and orchards, and 
 pools for fish, and stately upholstery, and silver plate, 
 and gold plate, till they actually trimmed the candles with 
 snuffers of gold, and scooped out the ashes of the grate 
 with shovels of gold. 
 
 I see. before me, like a petrified dream, the regal palace, 
 in all the snowy whiteness of its virgin marble. Around 
 the towers there flutter birds of richest plumage and of 
 rarest song. The gardens are gay with a floral beauly, 
 
 
 The Conclusion of the Whole Matter, 277 
 
 to which every clime has been tributary ; and I have read, 
 that to this day, non-indigenous flowers are found by 
 botanists near Jerusalem, — flowers found nowhere else in 
 Palestine, — the lineal descendants of the very plants whicl^ 
 Solomon collected from foreign lands. Listen to the strains 
 of that wonderful orchestra. Inhale the perfumed spray of 
 those glittering fountains. See the peacocks strutting under 
 those spreading cedars. Mark those sculptured figures, 
 almost breathing with life. Look at stair, and porch, and 
 corridor, and gallery, adorned with all the embellishments of 
 art. Curtains of Tyrian tapestry. Fragrance of cinnamon, 
 and calamus, and frankincense. Glitter of jewellery, till the 
 eye is dazzled and confused. And hark I the prancing of 
 proud horses brought up to the palace gate, that the royal 
 princes may leap into the saddle for a grand parade ; or to 
 the thunder of chariots, whose fiery chargers, with throbbing 
 nostril, and flaunting mane, and golden caparison, make 
 the earth quake with their tramping hoofs. 
 
 To say all this, is only to begin an inventory of Solomon's 
 resources. With an intelligence amounting to genius, and 
 a wisdom that has never been equalled, he applied himself 
 to the study of nature; and, five hundred years before 
 Aristotle (whom some have called the '' father of natural 
 history ") earned his laurels, Solomon had diligently explored 
 the field. He was a large contributor to the literature of 
 his day. His proverbs were three thousand, and his songs 
 one thousand and five ; whilst on botany, ornithology, and 
 zoology, and chemistry, and I know not what else beside, 
 he "Was facile prtticeps, the highest scholar of his age. 
 
 I think of Solomon as a walking encyclopaedia. I think 
 of his palace yonder, in Shushan, as hbrary, museum, 
 laboratory, herbarium, all in one. He was a thinker. He 
 was a student. He was a philosopher. He was a man of 
 extraordinary versatility. The accomplishments of twenty 
 
 4 
 
 1 '1 
 
278 
 
 Talks with Young Men. 
 
 average men centred in him. He lived many lives in one. 
 He tapped every conceivable resource pf happiness. 
 
 And, all through, he kept this one life-aim before him, 
 to find out v^^herein lay man's highest good, how he could 
 best fill up his allotted term on earth. And with what 
 result ? Lo, I see him thoughtfully standing in the vestibule 
 of the palace ; and, as he looks round upon all his vast 
 domain, and recalls the experience of these past eventful 
 years, he draws a long, deep sigh that whispers of "vanity 
 and vexation of spirit," and then he says (and the weighty 
 words have come echoing down the long corridor of ages), 
 '^This is the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God 
 and keep His commandments : for this is the whole oj 
 
 tt 
 
 man. 
 
 Did you notice that I left out a word just now ? If you 
 have your Bibles before you, you will see that the word 
 " duty," in the text, is printed in italics, indicating that it 
 has been supplied by our translators, and does not exist in 
 the original. Indeed, I think it mars the text ; at least it 
 makes it express but half its meaning. No doubt Solomon 
 is pointing to duty, but this is not the main thought in his 
 mind. He has been eagerly prosecuting the inquiry, how 
 man can attain to his fullest and highest development, can 
 reach his truest dignity, can fulfil the end of his being. 
 The more he does so, the more shall he be in the line of 
 his supreme happiness and duty. The Septuagint rendering 
 brings this out exactly, " Fear God, and keep His command- 
 ments : for this is the whole man." Without religion, a 
 man is not whole, not complete : there is a great gap in his 
 being; let him have wealth, and rank, and honour, and 
 fame, and knowledge, and art, and science, still he needs 
 something else to make him a whole man, a " man " in the 
 noblest sense of the word, a man as he was originally 
 created in the image of his Maker ; and that something 
 
 The Conclusion of the Whole Matter, 279 
 
 else is here said to be the " fear of God, and the keeping 
 of His commandments." 
 
 This expression stands for genuine personal religion, 
 "the fear of God," denoting the inward principle; and " the 
 keeping of His commandments " the outward practice. 
 
 Tell me, then, my brothers, is there a truth more import- 
 ant than this which I could urge on your consideration 
 to-night ? or is there one which may be more truly said to 
 hold within itself the condensed substance of all these 
 monthly addresses ? Why, sirs, if there is one wish for 
 you that I have above another, it is that each of you may 
 feel — aye, and may own — that you need true godliness to 
 make you complete ; that, without a living, earnest piety, 
 though you may have every other endowment, there is still 
 a sad, a terrible want about you — a want which nothing else 
 can supply. 
 
 Do not prate, my dear brother, about your manliness, so 
 long as you know not God : why, no matter what be your 
 y6ars, or your strength, or your gifts, or your resources, 
 "you are not yet a whole man till you have the grace of 
 God in your heart " God created man a living soul," not 
 a dead soul : and so long as your soul is dead, you lack the 
 supreme element of your dignity, and that which gives you 
 your noble and peerless place in creation. 
 
 An old Arabian philosopher used to pray : " O God, be 
 kind to the wicked. Thou hast been sufficiently kind to 
 the good in making them good." And underneath that 
 prayer there lies a great truth ; for there is no endowment 
 that any of you can possess that is half so precious as 
 converting grace. I tell you, I do honestly feel, that if you 
 take away from me my religion, you rob me of my manhood ; 
 you bring me down, by a quick descent, immeasurably 
 nearer to the beasts of the field. To a vast degree, my 
 self-respect, my dignity, my honour, have gone. You have 
 
il 
 
 r8o 
 
 Talks with Young Men, 
 
 quenched the h'ght within nly soul. I am now but a two- 
 legged brute (with all the misfortune of knowing my 
 wretchedness). 
 
 I have never yet been able to find any nobleness in a 
 man who had no rehgion. Prince Bismark once said that, 
 if you take the average native Parisian, — he being, of course, 
 an Atheist, — and if you take away his tailor, his hairdresser, 
 and his cDok, what is left is Red Indian. Joseph Cook tells 
 us he had not been in Paris a week before he was perma- 
 nently cured of all intellectual respect for French scepticism. 
 Thomas Carlyle wrote, a few years ago, with reference to 
 those who were being carried off their feet by the evolu- 
 tionary doctrines of Darwin : " It is a sad and terrible 
 thing to see men professing to be cultivated, and yet looking 
 round in a purblind fashion, and finding no God in this 
 universe I And this is what we have got : all things from 
 frog spawn : the gospel of dirt the order of the day. The 
 older I grow, — and now I stand upon the brink of eternity, 
 — the more comes back to me the sentence in the catechism 
 which I learned when a child, and the fuller and deeper its 
 meaning becomes, • What is the chief end of man ? — Man's 
 chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him for ever.' " 
 
 The late Vice-President of the United States (who was 
 a sincere Christian of .the old-fashioned sort, who had 
 repented of his sins and put his trust in the Lord Jesus 
 Christ), when addressing a body of young men, shortly 
 before his sudden death, said, "I believe in a robust Chris- 
 tianity. If ever there was a time in our country, that time 
 is now, when young men should read, reflect, think, and 
 act according to the teachings of God's Holy Word, and 
 give thought and effort to purify, lift up, and carry our 
 country onward and forward, so that it shall be the leading 
 Christian nation of the globe. You will be disappointed in 
 many of your hoj>es and aspirations ; but, gentlemen (he 
 
 The Conclusion of the Whole Matter, 281 
 
 went on to say), when friends turn their backs upon you, 
 when you lay your dear ones away, when disappointments 
 come to you on the right hand and on the lefv there is one 
 resource for a true and brave heart ; and that is an abiding 
 faith in God, and a trust in the Lord Jesus Christ" Lord 
 Bacon used to say that in the unforced tendencies of the 
 young men of the age, you have the best materials for 
 prophecy as to the social and political future of a nation. 
 When Catiline -attempted to overthrow the liberties of 
 Rome, he began by corrupting the young men of the city ; 
 showing discernment enough to perceive that what consti- 
 tutes the strength and safety of a community is the virtue 
 and integrity of its rising youth. 
 
 Give us a generation of young men who " fear God and 
 keep His commandments," and the highest prosperity of 
 our country is secured. There is a power in a living 
 Christianity, which even its enemies are unable to deny. 
 Charteris, a notorious scoundrel of his time, once said to a 
 man who was distinguished for his religious principles, 
 "•I would give a thousand pounds to have your good 
 character." "Why?" inquired the other. " Because I 
 could make ten thousand pounds by it," was the reply of 
 the detestable rogue. 
 
 It was the testimony of the gre^t Napoleon that in war 
 the moral is to the physical as ten to one. When I resided 
 in a wooded part of Scotland, I used to notice that the 
 trees nearest the light at the edge of a dense forest had 
 larger branches than those in the interior, and that the 
 same tree would throw out a long branch towards the light, 
 and a short one on the other side towards the dark recess 
 of the forest. Just so, a man grows towards the light to 
 which he turns. If you turn towards God, all your nobler 
 powers and faculties will develop and strengthen, you will 
 attain to a loftier manhood, your good principles will grow 
 
 I ii 
 
II 
 
 V 
 
 282 
 
 Talks with Young Men, 
 
 stronger, your character will acquire robustness and vigour , 
 but if you turn towards mammon or the flesh, your nature 
 will become dwarfed and stunted, and whatever manliness 
 you have will eventually wither away. I would say this 
 with more than wonted emphasis, because it is the thing 
 that so many fools deny; who, running straight in the 
 teeth of our text, talk as though religion imparts a softness 
 and stupidness to its possessor, and takes what is manly 
 out of him. Yes, most of us know something of the slang 
 terms in which it is common with a certain class to throw 
 ridicule upon decided and godly young men, as though they 
 were mamby-pamby " muffs" and simpletons ; whereas it 
 is on the side of the scoffers that there is cowardice, and all 
 that is contemptible, and unmanly, and mean. I had in 
 my hand the other day a brick taken from the excavations 
 they are making in the City, in what is the site of the old 
 Roman wall, a brick believed to have been last handled 
 before Christ was on the earth ; and it was as perfect as 
 though it had been made a month ago ; long ages have passed 
 over it, and millions and millions of feet have trodden over 
 the ground in which it lay, yet it is as strong and durable 
 as when the Romans laid the foundation of ancient Londi- 
 nium. So it is with this text of ours, which, though written 
 a thousand years before the Incarnation, declares a truth 
 as accurate to-day as when Solomon penned it, that nothing 
 short of " the fear of God, and the keeping of His com- 
 mandments," can make one a whole man. 
 
 Young men, equip yourselves as you like, physically, 
 socially, intellectually ; get on in business, and rise in the 
 world to the full extent of your ambition ; realise the 
 highest culture and proficiency to which you can aspire, — 
 I say to you deliberately, in His name whose servant I am, 
 that, unless your heart is dominated by " the fear of God," 
 and your life. ruled by the desire to '<keep His command- 
 
 The Conclusion of the Whole Matter. 283 
 
 nients," there is still about you a radical, a deplorable, a 
 fatal defect. 
 
 It is a defect, however, which, thank God,, may at once 
 be remedied : and I would most earnestly beseech as many 
 of you as are not Christians to put it to yourselves, whether 
 another of the most precious years of your life is to be 
 allowed to close without your having settled the great 
 matter, and joined yourselves to the followers of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. Oh, it is a grand thing, when one's feet are 
 in early life turned in the ways of righteousness, and when 
 you can say, as did the pious Obadiah to Elijah, " I, thy 
 servant, fear the Lord from my youth." 
 
 The God who claims your reverent and trustful con- 
 fidence (for this is really the meaning of the word '' fear " 
 in our text) is no such stern, implacable, and iron-armed 
 tyrant as some of you have been wont to imagine ;• but a 
 kind and merciful Father. The ignorant peasants of the 
 Brocken mountains in Saxony sometimes see, at sunrise 
 or sunset, a gigantic spectre on the mists of the opposite 
 hills, and tremble before what they think to be a super- 
 natural form; but it is only the shadow of their own 
 bodies, thrown in colossal size on the masses of floating 
 vapour by the rising or sinking sun. Such were the gods 
 whom the heathen conceived of; such is the deity whom 
 the natural heart always pictures — a grim and distorted 
 representation of man himself; as Jehovah says, in the 
 50th Psalm, *^ Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such 
 an one as thyself." The gospel brings to you a very dif- 
 ferent view of "Him with whom you have to do.'* It 
 reveals to you a God who not only stretches out to you 
 the hand of a father's love, but yearns over you with a 
 mother's tenderness. 
 
 Did you ever hear what Napoleon Buonaparte said at 
 St. Helena, when asked his opinion of the Christian 
 
284 
 
 Talks with Young Men, 
 
 religion ? He replied, "Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, 
 and I myself have founded great empires ; but upon what 
 did these creations of our genius depend ? Upon force. 
 Jesus alone founded His empire upon love, and to this day 
 millions would die for Him. This proves to me convincingly 
 His Divinity." 
 
 My brothers, you will not misunderstand the words " Fear 
 God " in our text. In one sense, I want you to get rid of the 
 fear of Him. I want you to know Him so well, and trust 
 Him so fully, that the thought of Him will never bring 
 you terror or alarm. St. Paul expressly says, " God has 
 not given to us the spirit of fear," that is, of dread and 
 cowardice. And St. John says, that " perfect love casteth 
 out fear." "The fear of God" in the Old Testament answers 
 as nearly as possible to " faith in God " in the New ; and 
 the dual exhortation in our text is just a summons to the 
 principle and practice of true religion, or to what the 
 Apostles call "faith and works." 
 
 Let the thought of a personal and present God be the 
 supreme factor in your daily life. Let not a morning dawn 
 upon you, nor an evening close, without a visit to the cross 
 of Christ, where faith shall ever find a Saviour, and peni- 
 tence shall always find a Friend. Bind yourselves to a 
 daily perusal of the Bible, and make it your companion 
 and guide. From Sunday to Saturday let no day pass that 
 shall not see you on your bended knees in prayer to God. 
 Make it a fixed principle with you to keep the Sabbath 
 holy. Join in fellowship with the saints, and attach your- 
 selves openly to the Church of Christ. You who once were 
 church-members in your country home, don't throw away 
 your religion now, when it is more necessary to you than 
 ever ; don't keep your " lines " stowed away at the bottom ol 
 your trunk ; don't withhold from us the note of introduction 
 you received from a pastor or Christian friend ; and don't be 
 
 The Conclusion of the Whole Matter. 285 
 
 ashamed to have the Bible always lying on your table as a 
 witness that you mean to live a Christian life. 
 
 Never allow an unclean or profligate man to cross your 
 threshold. Whether you reside with a family, or live in a 
 private lodging on the first, second, or third floor, determine 
 that no bad book, or pamphlet, or newspaper, shall ever 
 enter your room. Let your stock of books be select, and 
 such as will benefit both heart and intellect. 
 
 Don't forget to write often to the dear ones at home. 
 If you have a brother or a cousin far away, and exposed 
 to special temptation, send him a letter of Christian counsel, 
 and tell him from me not to forget the God of his fathers. 
 
 Oh, if any of you have up till now been running on the 
 wrong line, I want you to shunt to-night; get upon the 
 safe rails, and turn your face Zionward. Is it a hardship 
 or an affliction, this godly life to which I beckon you ? 
 Nothing of the kind. As our text, rightly rendered, tells 
 you, it comprises the whole happiness of man. I do not 
 ask you to give up the pursuit of pleasure, but rather to 
 seek it where alone it can be truly found. The old Grecian 
 fable tells us that when Ulysses sailed past the island of the 
 Sirens, those mysterious sea-nymphs, who had the power 
 of charming by their songs all who were within hearing of 
 their voice, he listened a moment to the sorcerer's music ; 
 and, to prevent himself and crew from being lured to the 
 shore, he stopped their ears with wax, and had himself 
 tied to the mast of the ship. Thus, as the story goes, 
 they passed in safety the fatal strand. But, when Orpheus, 
 in search of the Golden Fleece, went by the same coast, he 
 being, you remember, a masterly musician, set up better 
 music than that of the Sirens, and so enchanted his crew 
 with his own sweet melodies, that, without the use of either 
 thongs or wax, they all sailed safely past the sorcerer's 
 isle. 
 
286 
 
 Talks with Youm Men. 
 
 \ 
 
 I do not propose to fill your ears with wax, or to hold 
 you back by thongs from the vain pleasures of the world : 
 but, by sounding sweeter music in your ear, offering you 
 richer joys than sense and sin can yield, I would disarm 
 
 it of its spell. 
 
 Come over to the Lord, my brothers all ; and you come 
 from a frozen waste to perpetual summer ; from a barren 
 wild to the land of brightness and beauty, of flower and 
 fruit, of sunshine and song. 
 
 The late David Burke said, towards the close of his days, 
 that his life might be divided into a series of fits or manias ; 
 that he began it with a fit poetical, then a fit metaphysical, 
 and a fit philosophical, and a fit rhetorical, and a fit political ; 
 each fit passing off in turn, and still leaving the heart empty 
 and unsatisfied. This is just v^hat, on a far grander scale, 
 Solomon did : he pulled out in succession every stop of the 
 world's great organ, struck every chord, sounded the full 
 diapason of earthly delight ; but lived to find that all such 
 music soon palls upon the ear — lived to place on record, 
 as the testimony of an experience never matched, and a 
 wisdom never equalled, the weighty truth I leave with 
 you to-night, as " the conclusion of the whole matter," that 
 in the fear of God^ and the keeping of His commandments is 
 comprised alike all the duty and all the happiness of man. 
 
 ff 
 
 STANDARD RELIGIOUS WORKS. 
 
 . — — — — — — " * 
 
 New and Enlarged [4^h] Edition, in Cheaper Form, 
 
 OF 
 
 CHARLES L. BRACE'S GESTA CHRISTL 
 
 A HISTORY OF HUMANE PROGRESS UNDE'R CHRIS- 
 TIANITY. With New Preface and Supplemen- 
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 Price reduced from $2,30 to $i.SO. 
 
 "It is especially adapted to assist the clergyman and religious teacher in his strug- 
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 '" It presents a storehouse of facts bearing on the influences of Christianity upon 
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 A NEW and REVISED EDITION, with NEW MAPS and ILLUSTRATIONS, 
 
 STAEEY'S SINAf Al PALESTIl. 
 
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 MOST ACCURATE WORK ON THE SUBJECT IN THE ENG- 
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 Rev. Dr. H. M. Field, Editor of " N. V. Evangelist*^ says of Stanley's "Sinai 
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 journeying through the Holy Land, and can bear witness at once to its accuracy and to 
 the charm of its descriptions. Of all the helps we had it was by far the most cap- 
 tivating.''* 
 
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CHOICE POPULAR BIOGRAPHIES. 
 
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 BY 
 
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 By Rev. Donald Fraser, D.D. 
 
 - By Rev. E. Paxton Hood. 
 
 By Rev. G. D. Boyle. 
 
 By Frederic W. Macdonald. 
 
 .. This series of books will be widely popular. It ~"-^'' "^^^^ 
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COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 
 
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