Address to the Children 3
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III. It is now time to turn your attention to YOUR own Jubilee. "Our Jubilee," you say; "What! shall I have a Jubilee?" Yes, of course, if you live to be fifty years of age. The fiftieth year of your life will be your Jubilee. Now, here, let me solemnly ask you, and entreat you as solemnly to ask yourselves, how you wish to keep your Jubilee; in happiness or misery. Think of that birthday when you shall say, "I am this day fifty years old."
Now tell me how you would like that day to be spent. You will then be receiving the congratulations of your friends for your situation and circumstances--or else their pity. You will then be miserable or happy. You are ready to say, "How can I tell what will happen to me fifty years hence?" Why, I know very well there are many things in your future history which neither you nor anyone else but God can foretell. You cannot tell whether you will be rich or poor, sick or well, living in this country or abroad; but you can tell one thing, and that is, that if you are godly, you will be happy; and if you are wicked, you will be miserable.
But you are ready perhaps to say, "Why should I think about what will happen to me fifty years hence?" In answer to that, I admit it is of most pressing importance to consider what you are now; but at the same time I tell you, if you should be alive then, your condition will be influenced at that time--by what you are before. The future, my children, depends upon, and is influenced by, the present.
What you are today, will, to a considerable extent, determine what you will be tomorrow. So what you will be fifty years hence, depends, in some measure, upon what you are now. It is of great importance that you should be thoughtful about the future. I do not, I repeat, wish you to forget the present time in idle dreams about the future. There is always some present duty to be attended to. Mind that. Do that. And let nothing draw away your attention from that. But still, you must also look on to the future, for the future will come; and you must prepare and provide for it. Well, now, shall I tell you what will, in all probability, ensure you a happy Jubilee?
True religion, a good education, diligence in learning your business, good habits of general conduct, and striving to make others happy.
Begin with true piety. Remember your Creator in the days of your youth. Fear God. Love Christ. Hate sin. Seek to be good and holy. Read your Bible and pray to God daily. Think of the words you have learned—
'Tis Religion that will give
Sweetest pleasures while we live;
'Tis Religion must supply
Solid comfort when we die.
Next to this, be very anxious to improve your minds. Do not be idle at school. Eagerly desire to learn. Get knowledge. Knowledge is power, pleasure, and means of usefulness.
When sent apprentice, diligently learn your trade or profession, whatever it may be. Strive to excel. Do not be satisfied with mediocrity. And form good general habits of industry, punctuality, perseverance, frugality. Nor must you omit to endeavor to make others happy. I lately read, in the life of a very wise and very witty man, something like the following directions how to make every day happy.
When you rise in the morning, form a resolution to make, at least, one person happy that day. It is easily done. There is your mother, say a very kind word, or do a very kind action for her as soon as you see her. She will think upon it with joy all the day. There are your brothers or sisters, give up something you like and which they want—it will delight them all day. Or there is a poor widow or some other distressed person to whom you might give a penny, or, by your parents' permission, an old cast off garment—why, it will make them happy all day.
Now, as there are, you know, three hundred and sixty five days in the year, you would thus make three hundred and sixty five people in a year happy for a day. Now calculate, for most of you know a little arithmetic, how many people you would make happy for a day, supposing you are now ten years of age, and should live to keep your Jubilee. You can easily add that little sum. See how much happiness you may communicate in going through life! What a poor, base, contemptible life, it is to live wholly for ourselves! Besides, the way to be happy ourselves, is to make others happy—for selfish people cannot be happy people.
Now, my dear children, if you will follow my advice, and act thus, then your Jubilee will be kept with joy by yourselves and your friends; and you will say on your birthday, when fifty years old, "I this day remember what was said and done at Mr. James' Jubilee. I recollect Mr. Dale's address, and what was said to me in Mr James's little book, which he gave me, and which I have kept to this day. And it was that address, and that book, which had great influence, by God's grace, in making me this day what I am, holy, useful, and happy."
But, my children, if you do not attend to this advice, but act differently; if you live a wicked life, neglect to cultivate your mind and to learn your business, and should form bad habits, your Jubilee will be a miserable day when it comes. You will have a sad heart, a guilty conscience, and perhaps a broken constitution, and a miserable home, and will bitterly exclaim, "Oh, that I had hearkened to the advice given me at Mr James's Jubilee and in his little book!"
But here I must remind you that a large number of you will never reach fifty years of age. There will be no Jubilee for scores and hundreds of you. The grave, the grave will have received you to its dreary abode. Many of you will die before you are twenty years of age; many more before you are thirty, forty, or fifty. Let me entreat you, then, to prepare for death! How? By true religion. Piety is the only preparation for heaven. If you fear God and love Christ, death will be your gain. You will then keep Jubilee in heaven with the angels of God and the spirits of just men made perfect, on the banks of the river of life, and beneath the branches of the tree of life. He that has true religion may go on to meet death without fear, rejoicing in the hope of a glorious heaven and a happy immortality. Take the following maxims for your guide—
True religion will be your best friend for both worlds.
The eye of God is always upon you, and he is present when no other is near.
Godliness is the best of all things, for it makes bitter things sweet and sweet things sweeter.
What a boy would be as a man, let him seek to be that while a boy—the boy is the father of the man.
Jesus Christ, while young, was subject to his parents; a dutiful son is, therefore, like Christ, when he was young. And what an honor to be like Christ.
Sin is deceitful as well as wicked, leading you to commit great sins by first tempting you to little ones; and leading you into habits of sin by asking for only one sin at a time. "Only this once," is Satan's way of beguiling you into a course of sin. What ought not to be done at all should not be done once.
Avoid the first wrong step.
There are three things, which if lost, can never be recovered—time, opportunity, and the soul.
A holy and useful life is more to be desired than a long or a prosperous one.
Now, my dear children, in a very few years at most I must leave you, and I again say I hope you will keep this little book in remembrance of me. Carefully preserve it. Often look at it and read it. And as often as you read it think you hear me saying to you, "When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is: fear God and keep His commands, because this is for all humanity. For God will bring every act to judgment, including every hidden thing, whether good or evil." (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14)
Though I must leave you, yet God, I hope, will long preserve Mr Dale to you; and it is my prayer that he may keep his Jubilee in this congregation with as much pleasure as I am now spending my Jubilee year, and that many of you may keep it with him. If my ministry has not yet been blessed to you, I pray God that his may be. May you be his joy now, and crown of rejoicing in the day of Christ. Attend his ministry. Follow his counsels. Be his comfort. And when all the changes of this life are over, may I meet you in heaven, to keep Jubilee forever in the presence of God and the Lamb!
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