YOUNG MEN

Henry Law, London,

I plead no small authority for this address. The blessed Jesus used the pen of John to warn the Asiatic Churches. Apostolic letters form a precious portion of God's word. In thus writing, then, I move in heavenly track. But hallowed means, without the Spirit, cannot ensure success. May He give His wonder-working aid! Then these weak words may sow a glorious crop.

Give me your youthful ears. I come with feelings most deep, most true, most lively. Personally, indeed, I cannot claim knowledge of each separate case. But lack of acquaintance prevents not warm affection for you, as a class. Paul ardently avowed his "great conflict," his throes of agony for those who never saw his face. (Col. 2:1). Love for one's country is real as love for individuals. Christian philanthropy expands wide arms, and zealously casts bread on many waters. Strangers have sought and won the souls of strangers. Therefore, turn not from me because I am unknown.

I am alive to your many claims on sympathy — they are real, strong, peculiar. Allow me to unfold them. Though young, you have commenced an endless course. Your bodies are the caskets of inestimable treasure. You have received, and must retain, imperishable life. Count — but count you cannot — the days of eternity; they are the period of your being. You must exist concurrent with all time. The sun of heaven can never set. The darkness of hell can never see a dawn. In this light, or in this gloom, you must rejoice or wail. But which? ah! which? The rapid path of this brief life conducts you to a changeless home. If in your little day you become one with Christ, His heaven is yours forever. If you continue aliens to His grace, you pass to all the miseries of a graceless doom. Can I see your vessel commencing such voyage, and not inquire, Have you the pilot and the chart? Fellow-immortals, in this letter read the yearnings of my heart, that you may reach the harbor which is endless joy.

The present morning will, probably, decide the future day. Tastes now acquired will grow with your growth, and strengthen with your strength. Impressions deepened on the yielding tablet often prove to be indelible. The path now chosen will, probably, retain your steps; to advance will be most easy, to recede how hard! Scripture emphatically asks, "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?" Look at that aged tree; its slant shows how the sapling-twigs were bent. Habits and customs now taking root will scarcely be uprooted. Streams at their source may be directed. The rolling river, who can turn? Your present bias may be unchanging. Pause, then, I pray you, and consider which threshold are you crossing — under what captain are you now enlisting? This is the time to listen to the tender cry, "Those who seek Me early shall find Me." Yield now to the Spirit, and He will seal you to the day of redemption.

Thus I call you to your watch-tower. Beware! for a malignant eye intently marks you. Your deadly foe knows well his opportunity. Experience has taught him the time most favorable for his trade. His every net is spread to entrap careless feet. His snares are mainly laid for novices. He sweetens his intoxicating cup to suit the inexperienced taste. He knows what doors will yield to a slight touch — what baits will catch unwary prey. Your present age is too often thoughtless, and secure; therefore his most crafty arts will cluster round your path. He is aware too that chains now riveted will hold you fast; that false maxims now imbibed will obtain the power of truth; that baneful principles now ingrafted will be written as on a rock.

Therefore, his main struggles are on the battle-field of youthful hearts; here he has gained most signal triumphs, and firmly reared his frightful throne. This, then, is the moment when faithfulness should hasten to your rescue. Clasping tenderly your hands, I would guide you from his ways of ruin. If you resist in the name of the Lord, you are safe. Say, then, will you resist, or will you yield! Awake and face, like men, this foe. Guilt makes him cowardly. Stand firm, and he will flee. Tempt he may — tempt he will — but to compel, he has not power. The outcome, which is life or death, now trembles in the balance. Turn from him. Look upwards to your gracious Savior. He will tread Satan under your feet shortly.

My pen moves eagerly, because my hopes are warm. Thoughts of Jesus — the ever-living, the ever-loving — encourage me. If Satan be strong, Jesus is Almighty. The cry of faith will bring Him swiftly to your side — and all the hosts of heaven obey His bidding. Enlist beneath His banner, and you conquer. You cannot fail. Sure victory is yours. He will equip you in the whole panoply of God. On your heads He will place the helmet of salvation. Heads so defended cannot descend to hell. If you join the flock of the Good Shepherd, the faithful promise is your heritage — "My sheep shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. My Father, who gave them Me, is greater than all; and none are able to pluck them out of my Father's hand." John 10:28, 29.

When, then, I sketch your perils, my object is to awaken, rather than discourage. Your tender years are healthy blossoms, and not seared leaves. Life's dawn is often the dawn of grace. Scripture sweetly tells of youthful hearts surrendered to the Lord. The early piety of Joseph, Samuel, David, Josiah, Daniel, and others, gild the earlier story. Timothy and Titus shine brightly on the later page. The evening calls of Manasseh and Nicodemus flash as rare meteors. Yours is the age sparkling with conversions. No marvel Jesus loves His own with everlasting love. His delights are with His children. It is His joy to dwell in them, and to have their hearts as His abode. Hence He sends forth His Spirit to win them early to His faith and service.

Let me not be here mistaken. No circumstance of time or place binds the free Spirit. Salvation is of sovereign grace. "The wind blows where it wills — so is every one that is born of the Spirit." "It is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy." But still encouraging annals record, with clear intent, how lovingly the Spirit breathes upon the young. All soils are not adapted for all seeds; gems are not found in every quarry; flowers will not bloom in uncongenial climates. Thus, old age is not the frequent receptacle of grace. But you are young; therefore, hope views you hopefully. My friends, confirm my hope. I beg you, blight it not.

While I grant that difficulties — baffling human effort — raise barriers against all conversion — while I allow that Omnipotence alone can soften any heart — while I read that the very power of God, which brought again Christ Jesus from the grave, must energize to quicken a dead soul (Eph. 1:19, 20), still hope's liveliest pinions hover over you.

There is hope; because your hearts are warm, affectionate, and tender. You are disposed to love what shines as lovely, and to turn with repugnance from the vile and odious. Thus when Christ in all the charms of His most glorious beauty is commended, and Satan in all his loathsome hideousness is exposed, you quickly feel how sweetly the One attracts — how frightfully the other scares. Your glowing frame of mind aids me, when I call you to love the One, and to abhor the other.

Kindness now melts you. You meet friendliness with friendship. Hardness repels you, and dislike begets dislike. Hence when I tell how Jesus loves our race — how His heart yearns to support us — how He endured all agony to save; and when I show Satan, in contrast hating with deadliest hate — using all deceit and malice to destroy — ever warring against happiness, and having hellish joy in man's endless misery; I pause, expecting your grateful, generous response. Surely you will return Christ's love with all your love. Surely you will recoil with horror from the horrid fiend.

Again, the trampling feet of life-long sin have not yet hardened you as a battered highway. Passions indulged and lusts caressed have not expelled the blush of shame. You are not as rocks devoid of soil. You are not impenetrable as ice congealed. Therefore I burn with hope, that this good seed may gain admission and take root.

Conscience in you is not yet seared. Your eye is not perverted to mistake evil for good. Unvitiated taste discriminates the bitter and the sweet. An inward voice tells you which is the broad and which is the narrow road. Will not this counselor endorse my warning!

But let me add, that this hopeful period will rapidly depart. While I speak, its sands decrease. Tremble, lest old age should over take you in a Christless state. Bitter is the anguish, which laments, "I stifled convictions in my youth, and now I cannot turn — it is too late."

Dear friends, my zeal is strong to save you from such woe.

Other motives in long train constrain me. Smile not incredulous, when I name your present influence. Do not think that you are unknown — unnoticed. You are not the worthless chaff on which feet regardlessly tread. You are not vile weeds which no hand gathers. You live not as they on whom no eye is fixed. You move not as they whom none are quick to follow. Some comrade — some friend — some neighbor — some younger member of your house will surely adopt your ways. You may be slow to think it, but you are a guide. Your example may be life or death. Whether you soar to heaven, or sink to hell, you will not go alone. Believing this, most earnestly I pray that many in heaven may call you blessed — that none in hell may, hissing, point at you.

But soon youth expands into manhood. Parents depart — their children take their seats. You, whom I now seek to train, may soon train others. The family will call you head, and yield obedience to your rule. Shall the household be Christian or worldly! Shall they be Christ's jewels or the devil's chaff! Shall they be precious heirs of life, or brands of fire unquenchable! Under God, this may depend on your present choice. Give yourselves now to Christ, and from you shall flow "rivers of living water." Once truly His, you will be His forever, and in every station, every condition — parent, friend, neighbor — you will allure, attract and lead to heaven. Do you marvel if, feeling this, I thus entreat you!

I hasten to the sum and substance of my strong desires. I pray you to become Christian, not in name only, but in heart and soul, in reality and truth. A name to live is easily assumed. Barren profession may consist with inward death. Trees may be fresh in leaf and yield no fruit. But give yourselves in vital earnestness to serve your God in Christ. Cast yourselves humbly at the Savior's feet. Open the portals of your hearts, and entreat Him to come in. Plead with Him His own assurance, which cannot change and cannot be recalled, "Him that comes unto Me I will never cast out." Plead His office. He came "to seek and to save that which was lost." Plead your need; undone in self, you perish without Him. Plead the sincerity of your wish — your rejection of all other hope — your conviction of deep sinfulness — your knowledge of the power of His blood — your firm resolve to flee all other lords — your willing surrender of body, soul and spirit to His easy yoke — your steadfast purpose to hold Him by the hand of faith, until His blessings come. Act thus, and if the Gospel-page is true — and it is God's truth reaching above the heavens — your salvation is begun. Go on — go forward, and you will ever bless the day, when you gave ear to this address.

As a shield against all error, as a sword repelling every foe, as a magnet attracting to all good, let me now present the Word of God. Ascend this rock, and you may defy all surging waves of evil. The fortress is impregnable. At this momentous crisis, such counsel presses to the forefront. The aged, worn-out world seems to be tottering to its end. Old foundations are crumbling to decay. There is, indeed, much stir and bustle; but, amid all this restlessness, the thoughtful eye discerns weakness, decrepitude, senility. The main distemper is lack of reverence for Scripture. Poor dotards dream that they possess some inward light far brighter than the rays of heaven. Pride scorns to sit, as Mary, at the Savior's feet. Conceit denies that God is wiser than the creature man. It is free thought, we are told, to handle Scripture as some mocking cheat; it is brave reason to ridicule old truths, sanctioned by centuries of faith, and with the reverence of ages.

Young men, spurn these deluded drivelers. Surely your honest minds will scorn them. They exhibit, as bright discoveries of their wit, nonsense culled in exploded schools of skeptic thought. They crouch as slaves to by-gone infidels, and reproduce the oldest blasphemies. Believe me, there is no new deceit. The Father of lies has long since done his worst. He may repeat, but can no more invent. Their utmost genius is to dress anew the dolls with which old deists trifled. Turn from them as you would be saved, and give all reverence to the clear old Bible. Worthy it is, indeed, of all your confidence and all your love. Fix deeply in your minds that it is God's authoritative voice speaking from His highest throne. Be assured that every word, in its first form, came from the Holy Spirit. This is the motto written on its brow — "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God."

If this be true, then all is true. If this be false, the whole foundation of the fabric sinks, and faith totters without a resting-place. But the witness is true. Cling, then, to the Book, as the sure anchor of your hopes. Let no one rob you of life's dearest treasure. The noblest intellects have counted it to be their highest wisdom to do homage to its supremacy. From age to age the holiest of earth's sons have reposed with joy beneath its shade, and gathered fruit to life eternal. Make it, then, your chosen pleasure-ground. As you read, delights will swell until they exceed all bounds. Unfailing gleams of new and noble thoughts will brighten. You cannot exhaust the treasures of this mine. Fresh gems will ever sparkle. Each will outshine what was before admired. "Let, then, the Word of Christ dwell in you richly."

You anxiously desire to be well educated. "In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Col. 2:3.) Steeped in the Bible, you will be wiser than all skeptic sophists; you will rise to a pinnacle of elevated character, and soar magnanimously above the littleness of this little world.

But approach not with crude feet; for it is holy ground. It is no common volume which common intellect can master. The Spirit, who supplied the contents, has affixed His seal. He only can unloose. Read, then, with hearts craving His light. Read, too, with earnest search for the true riches of the sacred page. The Savior Jesus is the hidden wealth. His testimony is its true spirit. Unless you find Him, you find little. If He shines forth, you bask in the light of life. Let me beseech you then, read, pray, and be wise; read and receive salvation.

It borders on sacrilege to descend from this height to lower level. But let me not omit its fascinating charms for intellect. You have desire to be well versed in the best writings. Here your most glowing wishes will be gratified. Here the noblest thoughts live in the noblest language. The historic annals — mighty in the mightiness of truth — stride in majestic purity of style. The enraptured poetry soars on the loftiest wings of dazzling sublimity. Do pastorals delight you! The book of Ruth is touching in all the simple loveliness of rural scenery. Does tragedy entrance you! Job's grand severity is thrilling with varied and heart-stirring incidents. To be brief, the odes are melting melody; the narratives are pictures of real life; the traits of character disclose the secret workings of the heart. In beauty, pathos, and majesty, the Bible pales all other writings, as the mid-day sun blots out the canopy of stars. Bring forth the finest specimens of human pen, they dwindle into nothingness beside the Book divine. Do you doubt? Read constantly, and you will soon confess that its excellences far surpass report.

But this is inferior ground. Read, and you will gain far more than intellectual pleasures. You will acquire inward conviction, which nothing can gainsay, that heaven's own truth pervades the Book. Placing your hand on your responding heart — in face of every wile of every skeptic, of every sneer of every worldling, of every doubt of silly witlings — you will each one avow, "I feel, I know this volume to be true. It talks to me as man could never talk. It speaks to me as God alone can speak. It supplies comforts, which earth can never give. It fills with joys, all redolent of heaven. It chains unruly passions. It sanctifies the inner man." Happy this day, if I thus win you to luxury of thought, and rich reception of renewing truth.

I speak more earnestly, because other friends, most anxious for your weal, regard such counsels as, at least, indiscreet. They decry such study as too stern, forbidding, and severe for your dawning minds. They would lead you through worldly talk to love the world. They present, as congenial to your present taste, the froth and frivolity of daily news and modern gossip, and fiction's silly tales. Is it their perception of your state to regard your minds as only fit for childish toys! To encourage worldliness is not the road which leads to heaven. Let folly be the food of fools. Young eagles' eyes are turned at once toward the sun. Men learn not to climb heights by loitering in a plain. Show your manly nerve of mind by grasping at once the best, the wisest, the most bright of thoughts. Your life is nursery for the palace of the King of kings. Let present discipline fit you for such converse. Be persuaded. Cease to be triflers, and make the grand, the noble, the glorious Bible your chief study.

The present crisis demands another counsel. You enter life, when perils cluster round the Church of our forefathers. We boast that England's glory is the glorious Reformation. Forever blessed be our God for that bright day! Then, mighty heroes marched forth, as giants, waving the banner of the Word, and shouting, "The just shall live by faith." The thraldom of Rome's iron yoke was snapped. Men marveled that they had so long been fettered, blinded, oppressed. Before bold, wise, undaunted, holy preaching, the Dagon of ignorance, superstition, blasphemy, idolatry, fell low. Happy crowds flocked to the standard of pure truth. Many of these nimble champions sealed their witness with their blood. From martyrdom's charred embers the tree of Christian liberty sprang up. It ever since has lived; and, by God's blessing, may it ever live in England's soil! Sometimes, indeed, its leaves have been less verdant, and its branches have not vigorously spread — "We all do fade as a leaf." But Popery, with all its ceaseless arts, has never yet regained its wrongful sway.

But now, we see the hapless day, when many minds view with complacency, or something worse, this deadly foe. This backward look is our disgrace — our folly — and our grievous sin. It is sad proof, that imbecility is doing in our midst its weakening work. The shame of shames is that many preachers are thus in league with anti-Christ. Hence my main fear for you. Your confiding minds are slow to think that fatal error can tarnish pulpits, in which reformers stood — and sons of the Reformation profess to stand. But you must observe, that, stealthily, new ways are creeping in, and outward attractions — many and strange — are striving to bewitch the senses. Mark these things well, and probe their tendency.

It is good, when churches revive in all the garbs of decency and pure taste. It is good, when services are solemn; devout, and warm. In all we do for God, zeal cannot work too zealously. Hearty reverence commands respect. But turn aside — flee as from a plague-spot — when you see soul-slaying error lurking in ornaments and rites. Remember Christ is the first and last — the sum and substance of heaven-taught religion. In Him true worshipers assemble, pray, and praise. In Him true preachers preach. To Him they point. All ceremonial is an empty husk, which leads not to Him. Spiritual sight will soon grow dim, if it sees nothing but officiating show. Suspect the ministry in which Christ is obscured, His Gospel half concealed, and outward means raised to the place of justifying faith. This is priest-craft plotting for supremacy. This is declivity towards Rome.

While many minds thus tremble for our Church, let me look hopefully to you. Be true, I pray you, to yourselves, your country, your family, your Church, your Savior, and your God. As you would live happy, beloved, useful — as you would die honored, peaceful, blessed — as you would serve your generation well — as you would meet with confidence your coming Judge — as you would hear the glorious welcome, "Well done, good and faithful servant" — as you would enter into your Lord's own joy — as you would sit beside Him on His throne — as you would share the triumphs of those "who overcame by the blood of the Lamb, and the word of His testimony," enter the best of services, be good soldiers and servants of the Lord Jesus, be genuine, be firm, be manly, be consistent, be heroic for His holy truth. It gloriously shines in the Word — it is vividly embodied in our Articles — it was preached by the noble army of our martyrs — it was sealed in their still speaking blood. Let it be the health, the strength, the radiance of your lives!

Accept this exhortation from one who prays, "God bless you."