YOUTH WARNED!
A sermon by John Angell James, preached in Carrs Lane Meeting House, on Sunday Evening, January 4th, 1824, and addressed particularly to young men.
"Likewise, exhort the younger men to be sober minded." Titus 2:6
I wish it were possible, young men, for me to disclose to you the deep solicitude and earnest desire for your welfare, with which I meet you this evening, and commence this effort of ministerial fidelity—such a knowledge of my feelings and my motives would ensure me your serious and candid attention. In selecting you as the special objects of my address, I have been influenced by a painful conviction, which I would be glad to have disproved, that there was scarcely ever a period when such admonitions as those which I shall deliver on the present occasion, were more needed by people of your gender and age. Without pretending to say that the youth of this generation are more corrupt than those of former times, I will assert that their moral interests are now exposed from various causes to very imminent peril.
The improvement and diffusion of modern education, have produced a bold and independent mode of thinking, which, though it be in itself a benefit, requires a proportionate degree of religious restraint to prevent it from degenerating into lawless licentiousness. It is probable also, that of late years parents have relaxed the salutary rigor of domestic discipline. Trade and commerce are now so widely extended, that our youth are more from beneath their parents' inspection than formerly, and consequently more exposed to the contaminating influence of evil company. The habits of society in general, are becoming more expensive and luxurious. And in addition to all this, the secret but zealous efforts of infidelity to circulate written works, which by attempting to undermine revealed religion, aim to subvert the whole fabric of morals—have most alarmingly increased irreligion and immorality.
But whatever are the causes, the fact to me is indubitable, that multitudes of the young men of the present day are exceedingly corrupt and profane. Such a state of things rouses and interests all my feelings as a father, a minister, and a citizen—I am anxious for my own children, as well as for the youth of my flock, my town, and my country. You are to be the fathers, young men, of the next generation; and most solicitous do I feel that you should transmit true religion—and not vice, to posterity. Listen then with seriousness to what I shall this evening advance, from motives of pure and faithful affection.
I shall direct your attention to that solemn portion of sacred Scripture which you will find in Ecclesiastes 11:9. "Rejoice, young man, while you are young, and let your heart be glad in the days of your youth. And walk in the ways of your heart and in the sights of your eyes; but know that for all of these things God will bring you to judgment."
The design of Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes seems to be this—after detailing the good things of life to the widest extent, setting them in the strongest light, and granting to them every possible advantage which their most passionate admirers contend for—to demonstrate, that as they are attended with so many inseparable evils, are so short-lived in their continuance, so unprofitable in the hour of death, and so utterly useless in the eternal world beyond the grave, they are insufficient for the needs, and inadequate to the happiness of the soul of man.
No one was more capable of forming a correct opinion on this subject than Solomon; since no man ever commanded more resources of earthly delight than he did, or ever more eagerly availed himself of the opportunities which he possessed—and yet he grew disgusted and dissatisfied with sensual pleasures, and at length give us the sum total of worldly enjoyment in those two ciphers—vanity and vexation of spirit. His testimony, therefore, is to be considered (not as the cynical declamation of an ascetic, who had never tasted sensual indulgence—but) as that of a man who had drunk the cup of earthly pleasures to its dregs—and who found those dregs to be wormwood, gall, and poison! "I have seen everything that is done under the sun. Look at it! All is vanity and vexation of spirit!" Ecclesiastes 1:14.
I am aware that some expound the language of the text as containing an intimation of Solomon's willingness to allow young people the full gratification of their senses, and the indulgence of their appetites, coupled with an admonition to let their pursuit and enjoyment of pleasure be regulated by a reference to the judgment of God, as it is recorded in the Scripture, and will be published at the last day. Although I do not think this is the meaning of the text, because the terms employed in the passage are generally used by the sacred writers in a bad sense, as importing criminal indulgence, yet there is nothing in the sentiment to which, when properly explained, I object.
I allow youth all that pleasure which the Word of God sanctions, and which his sentence in the day of judgment will not condemn. I would say, "Young man, enjoy yourself, your senses are in full vigour, your imagination lively; it is the spring season of your existence, gratify your genius and your taste. And as long as your pleasures accord with the letter and spirit of revelation, and will secure the approbation of God in the judgment day—they are innocent and lawful. But take heed how you allow yourself any gratification until you have tested it by the Word of God, and proved it to be innocent."
I am quite willing to make the Scriptures the standard of our pleasures, as well as of our duties. Religion and melancholy are not as some think synonymous terms. Piety is as far from gloom as noontide is from midnight. "Its ways are ways of pleasantness and all its paths are peace." There is joy and peace in believing, a peace that passes understanding, a joy unspeakable and full of glory. Religion gives the substance of happiness for the shadow; the reality for the name. It allows all that enjoyment of the comforts of earth—which is not incompatible with the pursuit of eternal salvation in heaven.