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 BV 4310 .D26 1887 
 Davidson, John Thain, 1833 
 
 1904. 
 The city youth 
 
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 A'umOer 
 
THE CITY YOUTH, 
 
THE CITY YOUTH 
 
 J. TRAIN 'DAVIDSON, D.D., 
 
 .AUTHOR OP 
 TALKS WITH YOUNG MEN," " FOREWARNED— FORBARMED/' BTC 
 
 A. C. ARMSTRONG AND SON, 
 
 714, BROADWAY. 
 
 1887. 
 
PREFACE, 
 
 HOW one's heart warms towards the fine young 
 fellows who month by month are pouring into 
 the metropolis, and the other great commercial centres 
 of the country ! 
 
 Life is all before them, with its difficulties and 
 dangers, its temptations and opportunities, its successes 
 and discouragements ; and one must be unfeeling 
 indeed who does not look upon them with kindHest 
 interest, and is not ready with the hand of help and the 
 word of generous sympathy. 
 
 There is no class of persons who so well repay with 
 responsive attention and grateful appreciation any 
 efforts made on their behalf. 
 
 The youths for whom the following plain and homely 
 addresses are chiefly intended, like those to whom they 
 were originally delivered, are lads of from sixteen to 
 twenty years of age, who have left the parental roof, and 
 have come up to push their way in the busy crowded city. 
 
 Magna civitas, magna solitudo, is an old proverb 
 
vi Preface. 
 
 whose truthfulness many a young man can confirm ; no 
 place perhaps seeming to him more lonely than the vast 
 metropolis, whilst as yet amongst its teeming thousands 
 there is scarcely one whose hand he can grasp, or 
 whose face he can recognise. 
 
 It has been the author's aim, in the preparation of 
 these pages, to supply a genial and useful Friend^ who 
 will talk cheerily yet seriously to the new-comer, and 
 put him on his guard against the moral dangers by 
 which he is certain to be beset. May he bespeak for 
 this Friend a kindly welcome and a patient hearing ? 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. PAGB 
 
 I. A YOUTH VOID OF UNDERSTANDING • . • I 
 
 II. A YOUNG MAN FROM THE COUNTRY , , . I'J 
 
 III. KEEP THYSELF PURE ... • • • 35 
 
 IV. MAKING SHIPWRECK OF THE SOUL , . . 51 
 V. "AS THE MAN IS, SO IS HIS STRENGTH" , . Cy 
 
 VI, "LORD, I WILL FOLLOW THEE: buf " , . 81 
 
 VII. FEARING THE LORD FROM ONE'S YOUTH , . 95 
 
 VIII. PAUL'S SISTER'S SON lOQ 
 
 IX, "WHOSE SON ART THOU, YOUNG MAN?" . . 12$ 
 
 X. CLOAK, BOOKS, AND PARCHMENTS • • . Ijg 
 
 XI. FORSAKING EGYPT . , , . , . .13 
 
 XII. MEN OF THE WORLD 67 
 
 XIII. A GOOD SOLDIER OF JESUS CHRIST ♦ . . 181 
 
 XIV. A MAN IN CHRIST ••••••• I97 
 
Vlll 
 
 Contents, 
 
 XV. KEEPING THE HEART WITH DILIGENCE 
 XVI, THE RASH PENKNIFE 
 XVII. PLANTS GROWN UP IN THEIR YOUTH 
 XVHI. RIGHT, BUT NOT PERFECT . • 
 
 XIX. NOT FAR FROM THE KINGDOM • 
 XX. THE ANCHOR OF THE SOUL . 
 
 PAGE 
 
 . 211 
 
 . 22T, 
 
 . 251 
 . 265 
 . 279 
 
A YOUTH VOID OF UNDERSTANDING, 
 
** At the window of my house I looked through my casement ^ and 
 beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths^ a young 
 man void of understanding''' — Proverbs vii. 6. 
 
A YOUTH VOID OF UNDERSTANDING, 
 
 THE sight that met King Solomon's eye as he sat at 
 the window of his palace in Jerusalem is, unfortu- 
 nately, by no means a rare one in our own time. A first- 
 floor window in a main street of any of our great towns 
 may afford the same spectacle any day of the year. 
 
 Solomon, you must remember, was not only a monarch 
 and a magistrate, but also a minister and a moralist ; and 
 no doubt studied, with feelings of responsible interest, the 
 manners and behaviour of the people over whom he ruled. 
 
 A learned and accomplished man he was, but pre- 
 eminently a student of character. We know that he 
 grappled with all departments of science — with botany, 
 for example ; for " he spake of trees, from the cedar that 
 is in Lebanon to the hyssop that springeth out of the 
 wall," from the majestic pine to the humblest lichen or 
 moss ; in a word, from the highest to the lowest forms of 
 vegetation. 
 
 With natural history, for " he spake also of beasts, and 
 of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes ; " that is, 
 of the four grand departments of animated nature, from 
 the annelida to the higher vertebrata. 
 
 With chemistry, as we may gather from many a hint in 
 his writings, and from the echoes of a tradition not yet 
 extinct; for the alchemists were wont to claim him as 
 
4 The City Youth, 
 
 their leader, and to boast of his accomplishments in their 
 mystic art. 
 
 But, whilst he gave attention to material science, and 
 with a museum stocked wdth all the wonders of creation 
 found in every flower, and bird, and beast, an object of 
 research, he evidently felt that, after all, " the noblest 
 study of mankind is man ; " his forte lay in the direction 
 of moral philosophy, in the sense of the philosophy of 
 morals ; and this Book of Proverbs is the grandest 
 dissertation ever written upon the theme. 
 
 I have said he was a student of character; and here 
 he has given us not a few sketches, drawn to the life. 
 
 Pacing the broad piazza which for centuries continued 
 to be named after him, " Solomon's porch," or sitting at 
 the open lattice of the proud palace he had reared, he 
 had ample opportunity for studying human life as it 
 existed in the Capital ; and with a pen dipped in more 
 than mortal wisdom, he drew many a striking portrait, 
 that now lies before me on these pages, fresh as when it 
 was limned three thousand years ago. 
 
 The sluggard, the drunkard, the miser, the spend- 
 thrift, the tale-bearer, the libertine, the speculator, the 
 simpleton — each passes in turn before his observant eye, 
 and each receives, as he deserves, a royal castigation. 
 
 As I read our graphic text, the scene is all before me. 
 
 There, like a petrified dream, stands the regal palace 
 in all the snowy splendour of its virgin marble ; and, 
 looking up, I see at yonder window the sagacious monarch 
 gazing intently on the crowd below. 
 
 The day has faded into twilight, and the twilight now 
 melts into night, and the lamps are lit ; but still, fanned 
 by the soft evening air, and spellbound by the stirring 
 scenes beneath, the king, unobserved, sits wrapt in con- 
 templation. 
 
A Youth Void of Understandijig, 5 
 
 With his own eyes he sees — yes, he sees — the artfulness 
 of the tempter, the impudence of vice ; he marks the trap 
 set, the bait taken, and the fool caught; and, on the 
 morrow, as he writes out in detail the humiliating story, 
 he begins with these words of my text : ** At the window 
 of my house I looked through my casement, and beheld 
 among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths a 
 young man void of understanding." 
 
 It is my business to turn Solomons observation to 
 account to your advantage; and I learn, first, the special 
 perils of great cities. 
 
 Is it not surprising how human nature remains the 
 same in every age ? how the description, written thousands 
 of years ago, of the temptations that then assailed the 
 youth of Jerusalem and Tyre, and other cities of the East, 
 answers so precisely to what we see in our own day ? 
 
 The counsels and warnings, therefore, of the ancient 
 sage are as valuable and fitting as ever. 
 
 There is not a word in this Book of Proverbs that is 
 obsolete or out of date. Young man ! don't lay your Old 
 Testament upon the shelf, as if it were superseded by the 
 New. The brief and pithy aphorisms of Solomon were 
 never more needed than now. They are, in the words of 
 Tennyson, 
 
 "Jewels, five words long, 
 That on the stretch'd forefinger of all time, 
 Sparkle for ever." 
 
 Indeed, the moral dangers of which they warn you have 
 become greatly intensified. The vastness and multitudi- 
 nousness of many of our modern cities provide a secresy 
 which is congenial to vice. 
 
 Nowhere is it so easy to be a homo incognitus as in 
 London. 
 
 In yonder little village or clac^un, where you spent your 
 
6 The City Youth, 
 
 early days, dared you take a forbidden path, you were at 
 once a marked man. Every house, so to speak, was made 
 of glass ; everybody knew his neighbour ; you were quite 
 aware that one false step might be the- ruin of your 
 character ; and you were closely hedged round by influ- 
 ences that greatly robbed temptation of its power. 
 
 But, in a community like this, these influences are 
 unknown. You can bury yourself in the metropolis as 
 completely as in an African desert, or an Indian jungle, 
 or an American prairie. You can elude the gaze of all 
 woq know you. 
 
 You can disappear for a couple of days, if you please ; 
 vanish from society for a season, and crop up again as it 
 suits you. You can plunge into a vortex of iniquity, and 
 nobody but God and your own conscience know anything 
 of it. 
 
 This enormously adds to the power of temptation ; that 
 you may pluck the poisonous fruit unobserved. Only 
 keep the inward monitor quiet, and you may run unde- 
 tected and unchallenged into every excess. 
 
 Then, in all great towns, solicitations to vice abound 
 as they do not elsewhere. Every passion has a tempter 
 lying in wait for it. 
 
 Whatever be your temperament or constitution, a snare 
 will be skilfully laid to entrap you. Moreover, vice 
 clothes itself here in its most pleasing attire, and not 
 seldom appears even under the garb of virtue. 
 
 It is sometimes said that great cities possess great 
 advantages. So they do. 
 
 Opportunities of intellectual culture ; religious privileges 
 of the highest order; openings for usefulness on every 
 side. True ; but till the character is decidedly formed, 
 how little do these avail as a counterpoise to the fascina- 
 tions of sin ? 
 
A Youih Void of Understandi7ig. 7 
 
 Ah ! one would have thought Jerusalem was the place 
 to live in— and be safe. ** The holy city." The dwelling- 
 place of God. Jerusalem, with its magnificent temple, 
 its stately services, its unceasing devotions, its countless 
 priests, and awe-inspiring prophets ! 
 
 There, you would suppose, if anywhere on earth, virtue 
 would have its shrine, and profligacy be unknown. 
 
 Yet, from yonder window, the king saw what brought 
 the blush to his cheek. Ay, and when, a thousand years 
 after, ** a greater than Solomon " made His entry into that 
 city, what was the impression that was made upon His 
 mind } I suppose that, as Christ came down the slopes 
 of Olivet, and Jerusalem, bathed in the soft sunlight, burst 
 upon His view, with its glistening domes, and minarets, 
 and palaces, whilst the hum of its busy industr}' fell upon 
 His ear, I suppose the crowd expected to see transport 
 and exhilaration in His face. Was it so } Oh no ! Such 
 a vision of its sin rose up before Him, obliterating the 
 landscape from horizon to horizon, that He burst into 
 tears and sobbed aloud. *' He beheld the city, and wept 
 over it." 
 
 Ah ! think you not that, were the Son of man on earth 
 to-day, there is yet more in the sight of this metropolis, 
 to bring the moisture to His eyes } How few who climb 
 the three hundred and forty-five steps of the iMonument of 
 London, and from that dizzy height look around upon the 
 scene below, upon the miles and miles of affluent streets, 
 and palatial warehouses, and busy markets, think of the 
 sins and sorrows that are seething there, and find the tear 
 of deepest feeling steal down their cheek ! 
 
 And yet, who knows not, that beneath the fair surface 
 there lies hid a Pandemonium ! 
 
 Young man! *'I know thy works, and where thou 
 dwellest, even where Satan's seat is." 
 
8 The City Youth. 
 
 Secondly, I learn from this passage the evil of late 
 hours. Verse 9 : "In the twilight, in the evening, in the 
 black and dark night." Just so. The devil, like the 
 beast of prey, stalks forth when the sun goes down. 
 " Every one that doeth evil," said Christ, ** hateth the 
 light." As darkness settles down upon the city, vice 
 creeps forth from her secret lurking-place, and foul vermin 
 in human form crawl the streets. ^Midnight on earth is 
 hell's mid-noon. London asleep } No. All the demons 
 of the pit holding high carnival. Iniquity wide awake. 
 Debauchery awake. Lust awake. Now comes the ban- 
 quet of Bacchus. Now is heard the click of the gambler's 
 dice, and the thousand-voiced shriek of loathsome blas- 
 phemy. Now is the time for unlawful amusements, and 
 mad convivialities, and lascivious revelry. 
 
 Now Jezebel spreads her net, and Delilah shears the 
 locks of Samson. 
 
 Now the music is in full blast ; the dance in wildest 
 whirl ; the wine foaming to the lip of the glass. 
 
 Now, around your hotel doors, and tavern bars, and 
 theatre gates, there hang the cormorants of darkness, 
 incarnate fiends of either sex, who with dexterous insinua- 
 tion make friends of the simple, and lure them off into the 
 mouth of hell. 
 
 Policeman ! flash your lantern on that face, and say if 
 its leery look is not suggestive of the pit. 
 
 Hark to the noisy orgies of that dancing crew who 
 make the whole house shake with their boisterous mirth. 
 Ah ! not all those peals of unclean laughter will persuade 
 me that there is not misery enough within some of those 
 hearts to rival the agonies of the place of woe. 
 
 Oh ! strange place, verily, is London at midnight ? As 
 Big Ben booms twelve, Satan empties out his kennels on 
 our streets, and, ere the morning dawns, a work of moral 
 
A Youth Void of Jjnderstanding, g 
 
 havoc and ruin, and shame and devilry, hath been wrought 
 which all eternity will not repair nor efface. Young men, 
 take it kindly when I bid you beware of late hours. Your 
 health forbids it ; your principles forbid it ; your moral 
 sense forbids it ; your safety forbids it. Leave that latch- 
 key at home, my young brother ; you have no occasion to 
 need it. 
 
 Don't tell me that I'm an old wife, and that youth must 
 have its fling and spree. No man with a grain of common- 
 sense will misunderstand my appeal. 
 
 I maintain that purity loves the light ; and I have seen 
 it over and over again, that late hours have proved a young 
 man's ruin. Ah ! I might tell you of one, as promising 
 a lad as I ever had under my ministry, the only son of his 
 mother, and she a widow, who in an evil hour began to 
 tamper with temptation. I took him to be a Christian, 
 and looked for him to be his parent's comfort and support ; 
 but he began to be late of returning at nights ; hours thiit 
 should have been spent at home would be spent at the 
 tavern-bar, until the craving was begotten ; then he com- 
 menced to tamper with other things ; tamper with truth, 
 tamper with chastity, tamper with his master's money ; 
 on he went from good to bad, from bad to worse, from 
 worse to worst, till the spirit was broken, and the healili 
 shattered, and at length death laid its hand upon hi.:; 
 bloated brow ; and for many a month thereafter his weep- 
 ing mother (who has since died of a broken heart) would 
 take out, week by week, a few flowers to yonder cemeterv, 
 and scatter them on his grave ; and as they dropped from 
 her fingers, she would rend the air with her bitter wail, 
 ** Oh, Henry, my son, my son, would God I had died for 
 thee, my son, my son ! " 
 
 Thirdly. The next warning given in the text is the 
 ddiiger of foolish company, *' I beheld among the simple 
 
Tio The City Youth. 
 
 ones." You know what this word " simple " means in 
 the Book of Proverbs: silly, frivolous, idle, abandoned. 
 You could almost predict with certainty the future of one 
 who selected such society. ** He that walketh with wise 
 men shall be wise ; but the companion of fools shall be 
 destroyed." Hardly any young man goes to a place of 
 dissipation alone. At least at first. 
 
 Of the 10,000 lads that every year go to the bad in 
 London, I will venture to assert that the ruin of ninety 
 per cent, is due to bad company. We all want company 
 of some sort or another; and if you are not particular, you 
 will get plenty of it here. Specially in slack times. For 
 the past year or two trade has been dull, business has 
 been bad. Scores of young men can get nothing to 
 do. And idleness, unhappily, is very demoralising. It 
 inclines a man to rely upon others, and not upon himself; 
 to eat their bread, and not his own. 
 
 It often amazes me how so many men, whom we see 
 lounging about with their hands in their pockets, look so 
 fat and comfortable. I can never understand how they 
 live, much less how they are able to indulge in this and 
 that expensive diversion or amusement. 
 
 I know of only four ways of getting money ; no more. 
 You must inherit it ; or you must work for it ; or you must 
 beg for it ; or — you must steal it. But these gentry to 
 whom I refer certainly have not inherited money ; they do 
 not work for it ; they do not beg ; and — I must leave with 
 you the responsibility of saying how they get it. 
 
 Always give a wide berth to lazy, indolent fellows, who 
 have no stomach for good hard work. 
 
 Horatius was once told that he might have as much 
 land as he could plough in one day with a yoke of oxen ; 
 and if a man is really willing to throw off his coat and 
 buckle on to genuine hard work, it rarely happens that 
 
A Youth Void of Under stayiding, 1 1 
 
 he is long idle. Don't loiter "among the simple ones," 
 unless you wish to be reckoned " a youth void of under- 
 standing." 
 
 I have seen stout, hearty young men, with the ruddy 
 glow of country health on their cheeks, and the odour of 
 the farmhouse or the peat smoke still about them, evi- 
 dently come up to town to enter business; and they had 
 not been here three weeks before they were set upon by 
 these vampires, and enticed to haunts where they were 
 robbed of all purity and self-respect. 
 
 The worst of it is, that it is commonly the finest natures 
 that are first pounced upon. The man of a cold, mean, 
 stingy temperament is let alone. It is the good-hearted, 
 amiable fellow, with open countenance, and warm heart, 
 and generous disposition, that is at once seized by these 
 vermin of the pit, and poisoned with every kind of pollu- 
 tion. You buoyant and exhilarant natures, full of fun 
 and frolic, ready with your wit, and song, and hearty 
 laughter, I tell you, it is you that are specially in 
 danger. 
 
 You had better take care with whom you associate. 
 There are men who will fawn upon you, and flatter you, 
 and call you good company, and patronise you wonder- 
 fully, and take you anywhere you wish to go ; and — allow 
 you to pay all expenses. 
 
 Don't laugh, for it is perfectly true. It is always the 
 case, that if a good lad and a bad lad go together to some 
 place they had better avoid, it is the former that has to 
 settle the bill. The other fumbles in his pocket for his 
 purse, but it is never forthcoming at the right moment. 
 
 As a rule, a companion of loose character is the most 
 mean and selfish of creatures. He will slap you familiarly 
 on the shoulder, in the " Hail fellow, well met " style ; 
 and then he will bleed you, and poison you, and dupe you, 
 
12 The City Youth, 
 
 until he has got out of you all he can, when he will cast 
 you off, and search for another victim. 
 
 Oh ! there is not a day but some " green-horn " is 
 thus caught and wheedled, to discover, too late, what a 
 simpleton he has been. What is insanely called *' the 
 social glass " has carried more men to destruction than all 
 the arsenic and strychnine in the world. 
 
 I am not forgetting, dear lads, that many of you meet 
 with a special class of temptations, hardly known by 
 those who can come home of an evening to their warm 
 domestic circle. It is somewhat freezing, when your 
 day's work is over, to have nowhere to go to but a solitary 
 lodging. 
 
 Your social instincts must have play. And I think the 
 happy Christian families of London might do a little more 
 than they do, in throwing open their doors, and offering 
 hospitality, to friendless young men of high principle and 
 unblemished character. 
 
 Lodgings may be very comfortable, and landladies very 
 kind ; but you do want sometimes to sit at a table where 
 three or four are gathered round in an innocent game or 
 in lively chit-chat. 
 
 You want occasionally to make one of a merry group 
 around the cozy fireside. It is good for us all to have a 
 hearty romp with the little ones, and even to submit to the 
 teasing and bantering of those who are wicked enough to 
 laugh at some of our rustic angularities. 
 
 You are far away, some of you, from the dearest circle 
 you know on earth. God bless every bright and pious 
 household in the metropolis that offers you a smiling 
 welcome ! 
 
 Now, serious as are the perils of the great city, and the 
 dark night, and evil company, a youth of intelligence and 
 Christian principle may escape them, and pass scatheless 
 
A Youth Void of Understanding, 13 
 
 through them ; but — ** a 3'oung man void of understand- 
 ing ! " why, he has not a chance. 
 
 Solomon looked down from his palace window, and 
 beheld — what ? a fool ! A silly, senseless youth, with no 
 mind of his own, with no command of his will, the slave of 
 his passions, ready to be entrapped. 
 
 Such a young gentleman is no rara avis in this city. I 
 daresay, if his portrait were taken, you would see him, 
 with hat at an angle of forty-five degrees, showy scarf- 
 pin that cost exactly ii|:/., gilt-headed cane, and hands 
 'plunged into his breeches' pockets. 
 
 ** A young man void of understanding" — what a pitiful 
 description ! God's noblest handiwork wrecked and ruined. 
 
 What does the inspired sage mean by "understanding" ? 
 It is more than wisdom ; it is more than knowledge ; it is 
 both, and something beside. By all means get wisdom, 
 get knowledge ; *' but, with all thy getting, get under- 
 standing." It is a mind well balanced by the grace of 
 God ; it is the highest form of common sense, sanctified 
 by a genuine piety. 
 
 No man's understanding can be called thoroughly sound 
 until it has been brought under the power of the truth as 
 it is in Jesus. Your only security against the perils of the 
 city, of the dark night, and of evil company, your only 
 safety amid the lusts that attack the flesh, and the 
 scepticisms that assail the mind, is a living faith in God, 
 a spiritual union with Christ. 
 
 I tell you, young brother, you must have a religion of 
 some kind. You cannot do without it. Men have tried 
 to get on without any religion, but have found it won't do. 
 
 The very multiplicity of false religions only shows that 
 a faith of some kind is necessary. 
 
 Unless you can make me believe you have no soul, I 
 will not believe you can do without a religion. 
 
14 Tne City Youth, 
 
 Some of you are daily confronted with infidelity. You 
 meet it in your workshops ; it assails you in the street. 
 
 Well, what has it ever done for the world, or for 
 humanity ? Are you enamoured of it, for its beauty and 
 beneficence ? Some time since, in the Hall of Science, a 
 mere youth stood up and said, " I renounce my mother's 
 teaching. I renounce my mother's Bible. I renounce 
 my mother's faith," till even Charles Bradlaugh said, ** Stay, 
 young man. Not so fast." 
 
 David Livingstone, the great explorer, said that, having 
 lived with men of all sorts of creeds and faiths, he was satis- 
 fied that the very worst form of religion was better than none. 
 
 Oh, pause, my friend, before you lay to one side this 
 grand old Book, that has lifted up millions out of 
 barbarism, and has kindled in yonder firmament the only 
 star of hope for our peiishing race. 
 
 If there be one of you whose feet have wandered from 
 the right way, I beckon you back to the faith you have 
 forsaken and the Saviour you have despised. In the name 
 of God, I bid you shake yourself free of all your dreary 
 infidelities, and accept the Gospel that your father loved, 
 and that smoothed the last pillow of your sainted mother. 
 Perhaps you look to me and say, ** Ah, sir, you know 
 nothing of our doubts and difficulties." 
 
 Brother, I know them all. I have sailed through seas 
 of darkness and speculation till I questioned whether there 
 be a personal God, whether my soul is immortal, whether 
 this Bible is Divine. I have drifted on waves of doubt till 
 the land was almost out of sight ; but, thank God, He has 
 brought me through the tempest and the gloom to the 
 quiet harbour of evangelical trust. 
 
 It is no unreasoning, sentimental emotion, but a firm, 
 intelligent faith on which I find I can live, and on which 
 I mean to die. 
 
A Youth l^id of UncLrstanding. 15 
 
 And now, in His name, I call aloud to any of you who 
 are tossing on the wild, tempestuous main of unbelief, or 
 are like to be whelmed in the vortex of passion : — There 
 is a rock of safety, there is a harbour of repose ; come 
 and find rest unto your souls ! Amen. 
 
A YOUNG MAN FROM THE COUNTRY. 
 
** Behold^ I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, that is cunning 
 in playing^ and a 7iiighty valiant man^ and a man of war, and prudent 
 in matters, and a comely person, and the Lord is with hitn,"— 
 I Samuel xvi. i8. 
 
II. 
 
 A YOUNG MAN FROM THE COUNTRY, 
 
 KING SAUL wished to engage a Court minstrel. He 
 wasn't well ; he had a malady of the nerves, or of 
 the temper, or probably both : and sweet music seemed 
 to soothe him, and charm the trouble away. So he 
 wanted a skilful player, and a presentable sort of man 
 moreover, who could go out and come in before him. 
 
 Not a doubt, a good salary would attach to the office. 
 When monarchs take whims they have generally to pay 
 for them. 
 
 Whether he advertised for a suitable person I cannot 
 say; but one of his subordinate officers happened to be 
 acquainted with a young man who seemed to be just what 
 was wanted ; so he came to the king, and said to him, 
 " May it please your Majesty, I have just seen a young 
 man who will meet the case ; he is a farmer's son, 
 belonging to Bethlehem, and he possesses these various 
 qualifications : he is cunning in playing, and a mighty 
 valiant man, and man of war, and prudent in matters, and 
 a comely person, and the Lord is with him." 
 
 Now, many testimonials which young men carry about 
 with them are hardly worth the paper on which they are 
 written ; but this certificate of character is so genuine 
 and so comprehensive, that it is worth our looking into 
 for a little. 
 
20 • The Ctiy Youth. 
 
 There is not a single historical personage before the 
 Christian era of whom we know so much as we do of 
 David ! His life fills a larger space in the Bible than that 
 of any other man. As the shepherd, the fugitive, the 
 Court favourite, the minstrel, the psalmist, the king, the 
 warrior, his history is full of incidents which, in modern 
 language, might truly be called " sensational ; " it is 
 crowded with events more strange and stirring than are 
 commonly depicted on the stage, or woven into the pages 
 of romance. 
 
 In our passage we meet v/ith him as still but a young 
 man ; and there are five distinct things mentioned about 
 him, which you may find it interesting and useful to 
 consider. 
 
 Slightly altering the order for the sake of convenience, 
 I shall take them thus, and the alliteration (for there are 
 five P's) may help your memory : — his person, his pastime, 
 his patriotism, his prudence, and his piety. His person, 
 or physical form, described as " comely," or attractive ; 
 his pastime, or favourite accomplishment, which was 
 music, for he was ** cunning (or skilful) in playing; " his 
 patriotism, " a mighty valiant man, and man of war ; " 
 his prudence, he is described as ** prudent in matters ; " 
 and last, but not least, his piety, " and the Lord is with 
 him." 
 
 We begin at the lowest, and advance to the highest. 
 • I. I wish to say something to you about his persoity his 
 pleasing and attractive presence or address. 
 
 Some one says to me, *' You may pass over this matter, 
 it is a point of little importance." I beg your pardon ; it 
 is not a point of little importance. 
 
 Certainly, a great deal of emphasis is laid upon it here ; 
 again and again the inspired penman calls attention to it. 
 
 Don't think for a moment that I would encourage 
 
A Young Alan fro7]i the Coimtry, 2 1 
 
 personal vanity, or have men much taken up about their 
 outward appearance ; we have a check to that folly in 
 the words we were reading to-night, " j\Ian looketh on 
 the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the 
 heart." 
 
 A man may have a very shabby exterior, and yet be a 
 true nobleman. 
 
 M. Renan speaks of St. Paul disrespectfully indeed, but 
 perhaps truthfully, as " the ugly little Jew : " and yet, we 
 all know that though "his bodily presence" may have 
 been ** weak," that man had moral weight enough to 
 shake the world. 
 
 There are deformed men, and dwarfs, and cripples, who 
 command instant and profound respect ; whilst there are 
 fine-looking, strapping fellows, who are only big boobies. 
 Sometimes, though the casket is very poor, there is a 
 glorious jewel within. 
 
 No one, then, will be so stupid as to misunderstand 
 what I am going to say about David's person. 
 
 Well, the Bible is emphatic in celling us that he was a 
 remarkably good-looking young man. 
 
 Strange enough, we have so full a description of him, 
 that I verily believe, if I had brush and colours beside me, 
 I could dash off a tolerably accurate sketch. 
 
 Not very tall. In this respect his eldest brother, Eliab, 
 had the advantage of him. It is clear that the prophet 
 Samuel was struck with the height of his stature. 
 
 Perhaps it was just as well that David was of moderate 
 height, as he contrasted the more strikingly with Saul, 
 whom he supplanted, and with Goliath, whom he 
 beheaded. 
 
 The 1 2th verse states that "he was ruddy, and withal 
 of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to." Our 
 text describes him as " a comely person," and in the 
 
22 The City Youth, 
 
 next chapter it is again asserted that he was "ruddy, 
 and of a fair countenance." 
 
 A fine, fresh, healthy complexion. A stout, square- 
 built, manly fellow. 
 
 He had an admirable physique ; had his head screwed 
 on the right way; and was of immense strength and 
 agility. 
 
 He was a powerful athlete ; so swift in running that his 
 feet were " like hinds' feet ; " so strong in muscle, that 
 even ** a bow of steel was broken by his arms ; " and 
 withal so lithe and nimble, that with one vault he *' could 
 leap over a wall." 
 
 A splendid fellow, thoroughly manly in his bearing, 
 and so courageous that, whether it was a giant that stood 
 in his way, or a lion, or a bear, he was not afraid to 
 grapple with him. 
 
 There was nothing effeminate about him. Although 
 the youngest of eight sons, and as pet of the family called 
 David (which means darling), he bore no features of a 
 spoiled child, but on the contrary, was as noble and 
 chivalrous in character, as he was handsome and comely 
 in person. 
 
 Perhaps you would be surprised to see, in running 
 through the Bible, how frequent is the allusion to bodily 
 form. Why, I could give you quite a string of names of 
 persons, both male and female, who are described as 
 having been "comely" to look to. 
 
 The body, no doubt, is but the tabernacle, the shell ; 
 but don't despise it ; it bears the stamp and image of God. 
 
 Many of us, it is true, have, in this respect, nothing to 
 be vain of; but, nevertheless, we can do a good deal, by 
 personal tidiness, and discipline, and culture, towards 
 self-improvement. Slovenliness is often stamped upon a 
 Hian's outward perh'on. There are boors that seem not 
 
A Young Man from the Cou7itry. 22i 
 
 to have an idea of polite manners or gentlemanly bearing. 
 Their slouching gait and uncouth habits repel every one 
 who has a spark of refinement in him. 
 
 You may have nothing to boast of, either as to figure or 
 birth, and yet be every inch a gentleman. 
 
 But suppose a man has a fine physique, he had better 
 retire into his own heart, and ask himself a question or 
 two. Ought not the animal to be the expression of the 
 spiritual ? Should there not be some correspondence 
 between the body and the mind } Ought a man to have 
 a noble head, and nothing in it } Or a handsome face, 
 but a deformed soul } 
 
 The prominent feature about David is his manliness. 
 No littleness about him. 
 
 He was ** a young man from the country." None the 
 worse for that. 
 
 As I read the story of his life, I smell the breath of the 
 new- mown hay, and I hear the bkatings on the Bethle- 
 hem hills. 
 
 A good many of us have come from the country. And 
 some are silly enough to be ashamed of it. 
 
 Be proud of it. Be proud if you know all about yoking 
 the horses and herding the cattle, or even (as Mr. Glad- 
 stone said one day when addressing the young men of 
 Glasgow University) about blowing the country forge, or 
 keeping the toll-gate. 
 
 A thousand times rather an honest, ruddy, country lad 
 like David, though smelling of the hay or heather, than 
 your smart town dandy (made up of ring, cane, and cigar, 
 and perfumed with musk or lavender), whose very gait 
 seems to tell how large is his conceit, and how scanty are 
 (lis brains ! This is all I have to say about David's 
 person. 
 
 II. But now for a few words, secondly, upon \i\^ pasiim^ 
 
24 The City Youth. 
 
 Every sensible man must have some pastime. We can- 
 not be always working. We are not mere machines; both 
 body and mind demand occasional relaxation. 
 
 Some of us, to be sure, have but little time for it ; all 
 the more needful to make good use of what we have. 
 
 Well, David's favourite pastime was music. He had 
 evidently quite a genius for it. Our text tells us he was 
 ** cunning in playing." From many a testimony, we learn 
 that he could finger the harp with singular dexterity. 
 Long before his wonderful musical talent brought him 
 under the notice of King Saul, he would relieve the 
 monotony of his shepherd-life by the sweet strains of his 
 lyre, and would make the peaceful valleys of Judah to 
 resound with melody. 
 
 Nor was his gift only instrumental. He not merely 
 played, but sang. He was called **the sweet singer of 
 Israel ; " and there is a passage in the apocryphal book 
 Ecclesiasticus, which says, *' With his whole heart he sang 
 songs, and praised Him that made him." 
 
 So passionately devoted was he to the art, that he even 
 invented and constructed musical instruments for himself; 
 for you remember the Prophet Amos speaks of those who 
 ** invent to themselves instruments of music, like David." 
 
 In the LXX version of the Old Testament — that copy 
 of it from which our Lord and His Apostles generally 
 quoted — I find, strange to say, an additional Psalm to the 
 hundred and fifty in our Bibles. 
 
 I was reading it the other day ; would you like to 
 hear it ? 
 
 It is entitled *'A genuine Psalm of David." "Small 
 was I among my brethren, and youngest in my father's 
 house ; I tended my father's sheep. IMy hands formed a 
 muoical instrument, and my fingers tuned a psaltery. And 
 who shall tell my Lord } The Lord Himself, He hears. 
 
A Young Man from the Coimtry, 25 
 
 He sent forth His angel, and took me from my fatner's 
 sheep, and He anointed me with the oil of His anointing. 
 My brothers were handsome and tall ; but the Lord did 
 not delight in them. I went forth to meet the Philistine, 
 and he cursed me by his idols. But I drew his own sword 
 and beheaded him, and removed reproach from the 
 children of Israel. Praise ye the Lord." 
 
 Well, I want you to observe that David consecrated this 
 great gift of his to the highest ends, and that he found 
 music to be most enjoyable when it was linked with sacred 
 themes. 
 
 What a pity, that so sublime a gift is often prostituted 
 to ignoble ends ! What a shame, that it is so frequently 
 consecrated to the devil ! 
 
 And, what vile rubbish you do sometimes listen to, under 
 the name of music ! 
 
 I\Iy dear friends of both sexes (for there are really few, 
 either young men or young women, who have not some 
 musical talent), cultivate your voices, and make the best 
 use of them you can. What are we to think of those 
 people who sing with all the skill at their command at 
 their little social parties and domestic gatherings, but 
 keep their lips closed in the House of God ? If you have 
 any gift of this sort, should not the Lord have the best 
 of it } 
 
 Learn from this young man of Bethlehem. 
 
 Sacred music is the grandest of all music. In ancient 
 times there were no strains to compare with those of 
 Judah's minstrelsy; and the demand even of the heathen 
 strangers was, '* Sing us one of the songs of Zion." 
 
 The Hundredth Psalm, sung to the tune of **Old 
 Hundredth," has more majesty than anything to be listened 
 to in all the music-halls of Europe. 
 
 The grand chorales of Luther did quite as much as 
 
26 The City Youth. 
 
 his preaching, to arouse the people from their slumber of 
 spiritual death. 
 
 Now, hundreds of you are crazy about music. It is 
 your chief pastime. And an elevating one it is, if wisely 
 directed and controlled. 
 
 By all means cultivate it ; have your voices trained ; and 
 if possible learn to play the flute, or the violin, or the 
 piano, or the organ ; but, above all, make it your chiefest 
 aim, as David did, to employ the faculty in the service 
 and for the glory of God. 
 
 III. I point you now to his patriotism. 
 
 The text calls him *' a mighty valiant man, and a man 
 of war ; " but I must have you notice that David's courage 
 and chivalry were not confined to camps and battlefields, 
 but characterised his whole life. 
 
 If ever man loved his country, it was he. If ever there 
 was a noble, chivalrous, magnanimous, unselfish spirit, it 
 was he. 
 
 His heroic fearlessness of danger was constantly put to 
 the proof. 
 
 Like Paul, he was truly " in perils oft." What with 
 encounters with wild beasts, attacks by treacherous men, 
 and wars without number, he was always getting into 
 danger; and every one must notice that his Psalms are 
 full of imagery taken from slipping down precipices, 
 hiding in rocks and caves, and so forth ; indicating many 
 hairbreadth escapes, and a spirit of dauntless and in- 
 vincible ardour. 
 
 The truth is, that, where his country's interests were at 
 stake, his life was at its service. 
 
 No mere ambitious self-seeker was David ; he was as 
 genuine a patriot as ever lived. 
 
 Now, I deem it not beyond my province, to commend 
 to you this elem.ent of his character. 
 
A Young Man from the Country. 27 
 
 A prosaic, money-making age (when competition js 
 excessive, and multitudes are at their wits' end to provide 
 for themselves a living), is not, perhaps, the most favour- 
 able for the development of heroism. We are called *'a 
 nation of shop-keepers ; " and we have no reason to take 
 oifence at the title, so long as we do not allow ourselves 
 to be wholly absorbed with trade and the pursuit of gain. 
 
 True men, nature's noblemen, are scarce ; and Gold- 
 smith was right when he said : — 
 
 " 111 fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, 
 When wealth accumulates, and men decay." 
 
 A healthy and unselfish public spirit needs to be 
 cultivated. 
 
 We want a larger number of young men, who, not 
 content to see their country's honour and weal in the 
 hands of a select few, are ambitious of contributing their 
 quota to the formation of a healthy public opinion ; and 
 will willingly bear burdens, and take rubs, and forego 
 conveniences, if they can in any way advance the national 
 welfare. I am not going to touch upon politics ; but to 
 whatever political camp you belong, remember there are 
 religious questions, educational questions, social questions, 
 which claim your thoughtful attention ; ay, and there are 
 services, which, however humble be your sphere, you may 
 hope to be able to render to your country and the State. 
 
 I believe that the large extension of the electorate will 
 lead to a more widely-diffused interest amongst the people 
 in important subjects which used to be canvassed only by 
 a select few ; and that, among young men particularly, 
 the spirit of an intelligent patriotism will be intensified ; 
 and even a laudable ambition awakened to have a place, 
 in time, in the highest council of the nation. 
 
 There must be some here who well remember how, 
 during the Franco-Prussian War, many a young German, 
 
28 The City Youth. 
 
 knowing his country was likely to be invaded, hurried 
 home from a safe and lucrative position in England and 
 America, to take his place in the line of battle, and, if 
 need be, pay the penalty with his life. And when the 
 war rolled over into France, many a young Frenchman 
 went from quiet homes in distant and safe parts of his own 
 land, to march with disorganised armies, and under doubt- 
 ful generalship, through great and constant hardships ; 
 destined, alas ! to find in a few weeks a nameless grave. 
 
 Well, they only did their duty. And I am as certain 
 as I am of my own existence, that there are scores of 
 young patriots here, who, under similar circumstances, 
 would do precisely the same. 
 
 But, happily, patriotism does not always demand the 
 battlefield for its exhibition. There are bloodless achieve- 
 ments within the reach of all of you, by which you can 
 nobly serve your fatherland. 
 
 And let me say this, that the first and most obvious 
 duty which a man owes to the commonwealth is to see 
 that he is no burden to it. 
 
 In fact, it is in vigilant industry and sound common- 
 sense, employed about a man's daily calling, that he makes 
 his first contribution to the nation's wealth and weal. 
 
 Ay, there are battles to be fought in Cornhill and 
 Lombard treet, in Manchester and Liverpool, and thou- 
 sands of other places at home, that demand a persever- 
 ance, a pluck, and a heroism, quite as great as though you 
 were summoned, with rifle and knapsack, to the jungles of 
 Burmah or the mountains of Afghanistan. 
 
 Only possess, as did David when but a stripling, the 
 true spirit of the patriot, and I undertake to say your life 
 will not be spent without the opportunity of serving 
 your country and your "■ generation by the will of God ere 
 you fall on sleep." 
 
A Young Man from the Country, 2C) 
 
 IV. I point you now to his prudence. 
 
 The text describes him as " prudent in matters " — i.e., a 
 young man of sound judgment, of sterling common-sense. 
 
 This is a wonderful recommendation to a man, no 
 matter what kind of ofiice he has to fill. 
 
 Next to piety — and we are coming to that immediately 
 — there is no endowment more valuable than what in 
 England goes by the name of good common-sense. 
 
 A man may have brilliant talent, extensive learning, 
 dashing cleverness, and even undoubted genius ; and yet, 
 for all that, if he has not the other thing, he may turn out 
 in business a fool, and his life prove an utter failure. 
 
 Now, you cannot read the life of David without seeing 
 how justly he merited the recommendation that he was 
 '* prudent in matters." 
 
 Even as a mere lad he showed singular judgment. 
 Many a youth would have fairly lost his head when taken 
 from the sheep-folds to the palace. David didn't. Three 
 times over it is declared of him that ** he behaved him- 
 self wisely." 
 
 There wasn't a bit of conceit about him. For one 
 thing he was never ashamed of his somewhat humble 
 birth. Indeed, he seemed to glory in it. He was con- 
 stantly alluding to the matter, speaking of himself as 
 "taken from the sheep-folds, from following the ewes 
 great with young." "Who am I, O Lord God, and what 
 is my house, that Thou hast brought me hitherto .?" 
 
 One thing I particularly notice about him is the care he 
 took of his aged father and mother. Knocked about the 
 world himself, and stepping from one elevation to another, 
 he never forgot the old folks at home ; for we are told in 
 the twenty-second chapter, that "he went to Mizpeh of 
 Moab, and he said unto the King of Moab, Let my father 
 and my mother, I pray thee, come forth, and be with thee, 
 
o The City Youth, 
 
 o 
 
 till I know what God will do with me. And," it is added, 
 ** he brought them before the King of Moab ; and they 
 dwelt with him all the while that David was in the hold." 
 , Is there anything more contemptible than for a young 
 man who has risen a bit in the world to be ashamed of 
 his lowly origin ? 
 
 Perhaps he is now in a bank, or in a merchant's office ; 
 but his father is a small crofter in a Highland glen, or 
 keeps a little shop in a country village, or earns his living 
 as an honest blacksmith ; and my young gentleman would 
 not for all the world that that were known ! Out upon 
 such mean-spirited snobbishness ! 
 
 I sometimes hear it said that the weak side of young 
 men is very weak, and I am forced to believe it. 
 
 There is indeed no class of animal for whom I have a 
 more sovereign contempt than the fops and puppies, the 
 smart young blades, who are ever studying their gold 
 rings through an eye-glass stuck in one eye, and whose 
 peculiar expression of face conveys the idea that the 
 whole world has a bad smell to them. 
 
 Bah ! such idiocy ! I deny to such creatures the name 
 of men. 
 
 I trust, my robust and manly hearers, you will give them 
 a wide berth ; do not associate with them ; and always 
 remember what is commanded in the Law of Moses 
 against the harnessing of an ox and ass together. 
 
 ** Prudent in matters." This word ''prudent" is just a 
 contradiction of ** provident," and provident literally means 
 looking before you, providing for the future. 
 
 The one hundred and twelfth Psalm is just a portrait of 
 a wise and righteous man ; and in it David says that such 
 a person will '* guide his affairs with discretion," and in 
 consequence, " will not be afraid of evil tidings." If you 
 
A You72g Man from the Country. 3 1 
 
 are prudent in your affairs, you will not spend all you earn 
 upon immediate gratification, but will endeavour to make 
 some provision for after days, and for those who possibly 
 may be dependent on you. 
 
 I suppose there were no Life Insurance offices in 
 those early times, or I feel sure David would have taken a 
 wise step, which I urge upon every young man ; and the 
 sooner you take it the better. 
 
 I had a great deal more to say under this fourth head ; 
 but I would show myself far from "prudent" were I to 
 detain you much longer : so I hasten to the 
 
 v., and last point of all, David's piety — *' And the Lord 
 IS with him." Last, but far from being least. You are 
 keeping in mind the various particulars in this compre- 
 hensive testimonial. His person, his pastime, his patriot- 
 ism, his prudence, and now, finally, his piety. This was 
 his noblest recommendation ; he carried God with him 
 into all the minutest details of life. 
 
 The very principle of his daily being was that which he 
 expressed in the sixteenth Psalm, " I have set the Lord 
 always before me ; because He is at my right hand, I 
 shall not be moved." 
 
 No one can intelligently read his sacred songs without 
 seeing that the central spring of his religious life was 
 humble dependence upon the Divine Deliverer who was 
 one day to suffer and die for the sins of men. 
 
 St. Paul tells us, in the 4th chapter of the Romans, that 
 David based his hope upon the transfer of his sins to 
 Another, and the imputation of the Messiah's merits to 
 him ; in other words, that he possessed an evangelical 
 faith. This was the keynote of his whole life, ** O, my 
 God, I trust in Thee." ''What wait I for.? My hope is 
 in Thee." "Thou art my trust from my youth." There 
 
32 The City Youth, 
 
 is not a personage in Scripture history whose piety attained 
 a higher standard. He was "a man after God's own 
 heart. The breathings of his soul in these wonderful 
 Psahiis have for ages been, in the whole Christian Church — 
 alike Greek, Latin, Puritan, and Anglican — the chosen 
 expression of the most profound 'devotion. 
 
 Now, my dear friends, you may have all the other 
 qualifications described here, yet, if you lack this, you 
 are awfully incomplete : you cannot be presented to the 
 King, nor stand, harp in hand, before His face in 
 glory. 
 
 Oh ! were I to send any young friend of mine out into 
 the world, equipped for the battle of life, and did I seek 
 for him the highest joy and the truest success, I would 
 say to him, '* First of all, clear all terror out of the future. 
 Let all be right between you and God. Take all your 
 sins to that rill incarnadine that flowed from the open 
 wounds of Jesus : and take Christ as your chosen friend 
 and guide." 
 
 A friend was one day speaking to the late learned 
 Dr. Duncan, of Edinburgh, about religious life in England, 
 and was contrasting southern theology with the robust 
 and stern orthodoxy of Scotland, and he let fall the 
 expression, *' It is like a limpet, it has no bone in it." 
 
 "Ah, well," replied Dr. Duncan, "a limpet is not a 
 strong thing, but it cleaves fast to the rock." Cleave to 
 the rock, my dear friends, and you will not be swept away 
 by those strong currents of error or torrents of temptation 
 which are sure to sweep around you. 
 
 " Ah ! " you may say to me, *' but did not David fall ? 
 Who was it that murdered Uriah, that seduced Bathsheba, 
 and was often over-mastered by his lower passions ? " I 
 think that, to such questions, Thomas Carlyle gives the true 
 answer when he asks, " What are the errors, the crimes of 
 
A Yoic72g Man frotn the Country, 33 
 
 a life, if the inner secret of it, the temptations of it, the 
 agony, the remorse, the fearful struggle are forgotten ? " 
 David's career he considers to be the truest emblem ever 
 afforded of a man's desperate fight with iniquity, and eager, 
 determined reaching forth after the noble and the pure. 
 
 Ah ! that's it. Some of you have far harder struggles 
 than others, struggle with fierce passions, struggle with 
 dark and awful doubts ; but, the harder the struggle, the 
 grander the victory. *' Blessed is the man," not who 
 escapeth temptation, but "who endureth temptation; for 
 when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life which 
 God hath promised to them that love Him." 
 
 Come out then, and manfully pronounce yourselves upon 
 the side of Christ. 
 
 Decide what the principles of your life are to be, and 
 stand by them at any cost. Have more manliness than to 
 heed the jeers of the scoffer. 
 
 The world is always for compromise ; compromise 
 between truth and error, between right and wrong. 
 
 If a man dies for his flag, the world calls him a hero ; 
 but if he is prepared to die for a principle, it calls him a 
 fanatic. Yet the latter is the nobler of the two. 
 
 Oh ! my brothers, open your eyes towards the world 
 celestial ; towards God and eternity ; towards a glorious 
 heaven and an amaranthine crown 1 
 
 Your physical person, indeed, shall decay, and even 
 your intellectual powers may become dimmed with age, 
 but there is one part of you that shall never know weak- 
 ness nor decrepitude, one part that hath an immortality 
 vhich neither sun nor stars can claim. Yes ! 
 
 ** This spirit shall return to Him 
 Who gave its heavenly spark ; 
 Yet, think not, sun, it shall be dim, 
 "When thou thyself art dark I 
 
34 T'he City Youth, 
 
 No ! It shall live again, and shine 
 In bliss unknown to beams of thine,— • 
 
 By Him recalled to breath, — 
 Who captive led captivity, 
 Who robbed the grave of victory, 
 
 And took the sting from death I " 
 
 May God abundantly bless you all ; and grant that in 
 your persons, your pastimes, your patriotism, your pru- 
 dence, and your piety, you may — like the young shepherd 
 of Bethlehem — be worthy of commendation ; and at length, 
 through the favour of the King of Heaven, may each of 
 you stand, harp in hand, before His presence for ever." 
 Amen. 
 
KEEP THYSELF PURE. 
 
•' IVhail Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy 
 Ghost 1 "—I Corinthians vi. 19, 
 
III. 
 
 KEEP THYSELF PURE. 
 
 DO not be surprised at the intensity of this remon- 
 strance. Only think what a conception St. Paul 
 had of the purity which Christ required ; think what a 
 sink of iniquity was the city of Corinth ; remember that 
 some of the converts were becoming entangled in its 
 sensuality ; and you will not wonder that, with a very 
 shudder of soul, the Apostle wrote these words — ** What 1 
 know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy 
 Ghost } " Oh, it was a trying place, especially for young 
 men to live in, that gay, dissolute metropolis of Achaia ! 
 
 It was equally famous for its wealth and its profligacy. 
 Situated upon an isthmus that divided the Adriatic and 
 ^gean seas, the one bringing to it the commerce of 
 Europe, and the other the merchandise of Asia, it grew 
 into unequalled opulence and splendour. It was London 
 and Paris in one. It combined the worship of Plutus and 
 Venus. The extravagance of its luxury was only matched 
 by the depth of its licentiousness. There was everything 
 there to excite the passions and gratify the senses. Archi- 
 tecture, proverbial to this day, lined its streets with 
 palaces. Pillars of porphyry and marble met the eye on 
 every side. Temples, and columns, and statues bewildered 
 the beholder. Amid exquisite boulevards of acacia and 
 palm, alabaster fountains threw up their crystal spray, 
 
38 The City Youth, 
 
 whilst around polished basins stood all manner of sculp- 
 tured forms, and figures of burnished brass. 
 
 From golden minarets and silver domes the morning 
 sunbeams gleamed and glittered in fitful radiance ; and 
 when the shades of evening fell, voluptuous music floated 
 in its harbours, and melted away in its orange and myrtle 
 groves. Through the populous streets sped luxurious 
 equipages, brilliant with all the fashion and gaiety of 
 Greece ; no conceivable element was wanting to brighten 
 existence, and to banish care. The markets of Corinth 
 were stocked with every delicacy of Oriental extravagance ; 
 the mirth of all nations sported in her Isthmian games ; 
 and the beauty of all lands sat by night in her theatres, 
 paced her moonlit terraces, danced upon her stages, and 
 threw itself upon the altar of her stupendous dissipations. 
 Corinth was at that time the Vanity Fair of the Roman 
 empire. 
 
 You might be tempted to say — Ah ! no Christian could 
 remain pure in such a place ; impossible amid so many 
 bewitching temptations to keep one's garments unspotted 
 by the flesh. So some of the young men of Corinth 
 thought. They said, " It's no use trying to live a sinless 
 and holy life here. We are tempted as no other men are. 
 We are tempted above that we are able, and there is no 
 way of escape." The Apostle knew that they spoke thus, 
 and he wrote to them that it was an entire mistake. In 
 this very letter he said, ^' There hath no temptation taken 
 you but such as is common to man : but God is faithful, 
 who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are 
 able : but will, with the temptation, also make a way to 
 escape, that ye may be able to bear it." 
 
 I believe some of you young men have just the same 
 notion that these Corinthians had. You think it is almost 
 hopeless to grapple with the temptations that assail you. 
 
Keep Thyself Pure, 39 
 
 You say London is quite as trying to one's principles as 
 ever Corinth was. Perhaps so ; yet even in Corinth there 
 were those who remained proof against contamination. 
 
 The grace of God proved sufficient for them. The 
 warnings and entreaties of the Apostle were the means of 
 preserving them. 
 
 Of course, he is here writing to Christian men ; to 
 persons who had once, indeed, been as vile as their 
 neighbours, but were now (as he says in the nth verse) 
 *' washed, and sanctified, and justified, in the name of the 
 Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." It was of little 
 use to exhort others to a life of purity. An unbeliever has 
 neither the stimulus nor the aids to holiness which a 
 follower of Jesus has. An unconverted man regards him- 
 self as his own property, and naturally feels that he may 
 deal with that property as he chooses. It is a very miser- 
 able state to live in, for it is to be "without God, and 
 without hope in the world." 
 
 It is to live the life of a dog. A few years of animal 
 gratification, and then to be shelved out of the way by the 
 sexton's spade, and become the food of worms. Nay, it is 
 unutterably worse than that, for " after death is the judg- 
 ment," and then a measureless eternity — an eternity of 
 darkness and despair. Oh, none of you, surely, are going 
 to be content with such a destiny ! Well, what is the 
 other alternative ? There is only one other — to be the 
 redeemed of the Lord Jesus. See what the last verse of 
 this chapter says, "Ye are not your own: for ye are 
 bought with a price." St. Peter, writing to Christians, 
 explains this fully : " Ye have not been redeemed," or 
 bought, he says, " with corruptible things, such as silver 
 and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ." 
 
 Christ gave His own blood, that is, His life, for our 
 salvation, that all who believe in Him, and accept of Him, 
 
40 The City Youth, 
 
 should be saved ; and if we believe, He claims us as His 
 own. We are forthwith His property, and are bound to 
 place ourselves, with all our powers, all our faculties, all 
 our gifts, at His disposal. 
 
 This is not a hardship, but a joyous liberty. And the 
 secret of it is, that He puts His Holy Spirit within us, 
 making us new creatures, with new desires, new likings, 
 new motives. 
 
 Our body then becomes the residence or "temple" of 
 this Divine Spirit, and all its members at His sole bidding 
 — hands, feet, brain, tongue, lip, every part of our physical 
 being, under His control. 
 
 This is the idea that fills the Apostle's mind in the 
 passage before us ; and, when he contemplates the possi- 
 bility of such a person, redeemed by Christ, and inhabited 
 by the Spirit, suffering himself to be defiled by the faintest 
 touch of fleshly pollution, the colour rises to his cheek ; 
 yea, he is as startled and horrified as would an ancient 
 Jew have been who saw a carcase taken into the temple. 
 or swine's flesh offered upon the altar ; and he breaks out 
 into the indignant remonstrance, " What ! know ye not 
 that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost ? " 
 
 This is not the first time we have found the body 
 described as *'a temple." ''Destroy this temple," said 
 Jesus to the Jews, probably laying his hand upon His 
 person as He said it, '' and in three days I will raise it 
 again." The Evangelist immediately adds, *' He spake 
 of the temple of His body." It is a very solemn and 
 suggestive metaphor. There is no edifice that ever was 
 consecrated by Anglican or Roman prelate that is really 
 so sacred as the body of a Christian. 
 
 The temple at Jerusalem has for ages been laid in 
 ruins, and the magnificent ritual of which it was the centre 
 and symbo. has been swept away; in this spiritual and 
 
Keep Thyself Pure, 41 
 
 Gospel dispensation under which it is our privilege to 
 live, there is no warrant for the outward rite of conse- 
 crating persons or buildings or places to the Lord, and 
 every such ceremony savours of superstition ; the only 
 temples God now owns are the two which Paul so clearly 
 defines in this epistle; first, the spiritual society of His 
 own people in the aggregate (iii. 16), ** Know ye not 
 that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of 
 God dwelleth in you ? " and, secondly, the fleshly frame 
 of each individual believer, " Know ye not that your body 
 is the temple of the Holy Ghost ? " 
 
 Young men ! There are considerations springing out 
 of this truth, which, were no eyes but yours likely to 
 read these pages, I might press upon you with a plainness 
 of speech you are not accustomed to hear; but I would 
 to God that the refinement which is demanded in a printed 
 address of this sort found its equivalent in society, in the 
 practices of daily life, and in the columns of the secular 
 press. 
 
 Perhaps the most common and plausible of all pleas 
 with which the impure satisfy themselves and quiet an 
 upbraiding conscience, is the very notion which the 
 Apostle here challenges and denies : " Our bodies are 
 our own ; we may do with them what we will." But they 
 are not your own, says Paul ; that is to say, if you make 
 the feeblest profession of being Christians, if you entertain 
 the smallest glimmer of the hope that you are saved, your 
 bodies are the purchased property of the Lord, and are 
 consecrated by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 What an argument against self-indulgence, in any of the 
 many forms it may assume ! These are, as we are told in 
 this chapter, sins " against the body ; " desecrations of 
 God's own temple ! 
 
 Now, remember what the Apostle has already said' 
 
42 The City YotUh, 
 
 *'If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God 
 destroy." 
 
 He is awfully jealous of the purity of His temple ! But 
 you must not imagine that it is only one form of vice 
 against which you are here warned ; for it is not by 
 violations of the seventh commandment only that the 
 body is dishonoured. Any kind of carnal indulgence, or 
 pampering of the flesh, whether it be in sleep, or in 
 eating, or drinking, or in .dress, or in luxurious living, falla 
 within the category. 
 
 Christ is said to dwell in us by His Spirit ; and the 
 building must be kept clean and in order for such an 
 occupant. But, I daresay some of you read such expres- 
 sions as meaning only that He dwells within our hearts ; 
 and so you attenuate the thought until it passes lightly 
 over you ; but, mark you, Paul speaks of Christ as dwell- 
 ing in *' our mortal bodies," and there must be some very 
 searching truth underlying such language. For how can 
 Christ dwell in a body that is stained by li:st or excess } 
 Will He enter a temple like that ? You recollect that, 
 when He was about to visit the Jewish Temple of old, and 
 found its hallowed precincts defiled by oxen, and sheep, 
 and doves, and them that bought and sold. He made a 
 scourge of cords, and drove out all the vile intruders. 
 
 And rest assured, that, although it should be by the 
 scourge of sore affliction and painful trial, He will have 
 you purged from all uncleanness, if He is to make you 
 His habitation. 
 
 Oh, my brothers ! I almost upbraid myself for address- 
 ing you in such calm and measured tones, when, to my 
 certain knowledge, there are so many young men, and 
 possibly some who are reading these pages — ay, men who 
 bear the Christian name — who are not fit to be touched 
 with the glove of innocence, and who are galloping on to 
 
Keep Thyself Pure, 43 ' 
 
 the profligate's doom ! Oh, it seems to me as though I 
 ought, throwing all false delicacy aside, to entreat and 
 beseech of you in burning words to shun the path of 
 licentiousness, and *' cleansing yourselves from all filthiness 
 of the flesh and of the spirit, to perfect holiness in the 
 fear of God." 
 
 It is within my personal knowledge that there are young 
 men in some of our metropolitan mercantile houses, 
 respectable in appearance, and gentlemanly in bearing, 
 who, through vicious indulgence, have already gathered 
 a hell around them, from whose tortures they can find no 
 escape. 
 
 Allured by wicked companions, the conscience drugged 
 by opiates, and the passions inflamed by wine, they have 
 slid down to the utmost moral degradation, till, by their 
 own confession, they have come to wallow swinishly in 
 the foulest sink of nastiness, to herd with the very scum 
 and refuse of society, and to revel amid the infernal orgies 
 that are nightly celebrated in the haunts of nameless 
 infamy. And yet conscience would not let them alone ; 
 and they have come to tell me how, with every recollection 
 of the purity they had for ever lost, the iron has entered 
 their soul, and they were the victims of an agony that was 
 unendurable ! 
 
 How did they begin } They began by being irregular 
 in their habits, careless in making acquaintanceships, 
 tampering with stimulants, taking to billiard-playing, and 
 theatre-going, and gambling; then, on to drinking bouts 
 at taverns, midnight larks with the human offal of the 
 streets, and finally, every conceivable form of hideous 
 debauchery and Satanic revelry ! Ah ! let me ask, with 
 the Apostle, "What fruit had ye then in those things 
 whereof ye are now ashamed } for the end of those things 
 is death.'* 
 
44 The City Youth. 
 
 Oh, the heartlessness of vice ! It is not so long ago 
 since a young man of good family, excellent prospects, 
 and pleasing iddress, died mi.iorably like a dog in Paris, 
 at the hands of her whom he had ruined. He had been 
 what is called a generous ^oul, a jolly good fellow, and 
 had plenty of boon companions who joined with him in 
 his dissipations, and often, with maudlin fervour, pledged 
 their never-dying friendship. Yet — will you believe it ? — 
 when that body lay cold and still in the Morgue yonder, 
 behind the towers of old " Notre Dame," with none to 
 claim it and give it decent interment, there was not one 
 of all his fast associates that paid it the tribute of a visit, 
 not one to shed a tear over his cold clay, of all the 
 depraved profligates that had sponged him, and joined in 
 his hilarious orgies. 
 
 Such is sin. Iscariot, stung with remorse, flings down 
 the thirty pieces of silver on the temple floor, saying to 
 the priests and Pharisees, who were too well pleased at 
 his awful crime, ** I have sinned, in that I have betrayed 
 the innocent blood." But listen to their reply : ** What is 
 that to us } See thou to that ; " nor did they heave one sigh 
 of pity, as the wretch went straight and hanged himself. 
 
 There are plenty who will try to persuade you that 
 it is a sign of weakness to be pure. There are brutes 
 of men who will toss their heads, and make dramatic 
 attitudes, and boast of their own indiscretions ; and ask the 
 right-minded young man if he would not like to do the 
 same. And then, if he look displeased, they will call him 
 verdant, or puritanical, and a:k if he is still tied to his 
 mother's apron-strings. And, unless you are prepared to 
 stand that vulgar bluster, unless your heart in its purity 
 recoils with disgust, you are all but certain to be caught; 
 and from the gates of hell shall ascend another shout of 
 victory. A good man of seventy-five once said, ** God has 
 
Keep Thyself Pure. 45 
 
 forgiven me all the sins of my lifetime. I know that ; but 
 there is one sin I committed at twenty, that has taken the 
 charm out of my whole life, and to this hour has never 
 ceased to trouble me." 
 
 Take warning. There is a sense in which the precious 
 jewel of purity, once lost, can never be regained. "Keep 
 thyself pure." There are special reasons why I should 
 dwell with solemn emphasis on this matter. A wave of 
 moral uncleanness has been rolling over the land. To 
 its infinite disgrace a portion of the press is pandering 
 to the lowest tastes of the community, and under the 
 hypocritical plea of exposing the evil that it may be 
 eradicated, is working untold mischief. I know that 
 many will differ from me, and rather applaud the writers, 
 who have been exposing to public gaze depths of iniquity 
 such as Sodom never surpassed. But my conviction is 
 deliberate and unchanged, that any good that may be 
 done, is enormously counterbalanced by the evil that is 
 wrought. Why, we see it. A perfect epidemic of impurity 
 has been overspreading the country. The innocent and 
 guileless are made familiar with matters that should never 
 be whispered in their ear. A prurient inquisitiveness is 
 awakened ; the conscience is defiled ; and the record of 
 loathsome vices only stimulates imitation. 
 
 Against those who justify the publication of all that is 
 nauseous and disgusting, I undertake to bring the voice 
 of Holy Scripture, and would remind Ihem of the Apostle's 
 words, that " it is a shame even to speak of those things 
 which are done of them in secret." 
 
 Truly did Pope write in his essay on man : — 
 
 " Vice is a monster of such frightful mien, 
 As, to be hated, needs but to be seen ; 
 Yet, seen too oft, familiar with its face, 
 We first endure, then pity, then embrace.* 
 
46 The City Youth. 
 
 My friends, I feel that it is more than time to break 
 through the spurious and artificial propriety that has 
 sealed our lips in regard to what the Apostle terms sins 
 against the body. Beneath the thinnest layer of outward 
 decency, there is in this metropolis a seething mass of 
 moral corruption, sufficient to bring down upon us the 
 hot thunderbolts of the Almighty's ire. We talk of our 
 Christianity, our civilisation, and refinement ; yet there is 
 a Sodom in our midst that is sending forth pestilential 
 effluvia on every side, and yearly swallowing up thousands 
 of our youth to their eternal destruction. 
 
 Oh, my lads, my heart burns with indignation as I think 
 of the fiends in human form that are ever seeking to 
 entrap the unwary, and lure you within the meshes of a net 
 from which there is no escape. I remember what a thrill 
 went through me, as I first gazed upon the gloomy walls of 
 the Prison de la Roquette, in Paris, which is set apart for 
 criminals that are condemned to be executed, and read 
 over those huge hideous iron gates the inscription, 
 ** Abandon hope all ye who enter here!" But hardly 
 less hopeless are those who once enter upon the path of 
 the profligate. Facilis descensus Avetiii. 
 
 Oh, keep a thousand miles from the verge of the pit ! 
 Avoid everything that is likely to act as an incentive to 
 sin ; all such places, and associates, and habits, and books, 
 and drinks, and pleasures as tend to inflame the lowest 
 passions of your nature, and make you an easy, if not a 
 certain, prey. Determinately abstain from every practice 
 that is even questionable, not to say unlawful. Make it 
 your rule to do nothing of which conscience does not 
 distinctly say, ** This is right." If there is any doubt, let 
 not the devil have the benefit of the doubt. 
 
 Remember, the principle which the Apostle laid down 
 in regard to sacrificial meats is one of general application ; 
 
Keep Thyself Pure, 47 
 
 ** He that doubteth is condemned if he eat, because he 
 eateth not of faith, for whatsoever is not of faith is sin." 
 Never drug your conscience with the lie that that cannot 
 be wrong to which your natural desires would carry 
 you, for such a plea would justify every form of 
 iniquity. 
 
 God has placed us in a world of temptations, as Adam 
 was placed in a garden containing forbidden fruit, that 
 we may be tried, and disciplined, and tempted ; and 
 ** happy is the man," says St. James, not who never 
 meeteth, but *' who endureth temptation: for when he is 
 tried, he shall receive the crown of life." You cannot 
 escape this battle — there is no discharge from the war ; 
 you must either be beaten or win, and those who have 
 been in the thickest of the fight and have conquered, 
 shall receive the richest reward. 
 
 Never be persuaded to go near any place of unlawful 
 pleasure. If you wilfully throw yourself in the way of 
 temptation, you cannot offer up that prayer, " Deliver us 
 from evil." 
 
 Two young men stood one evening at the door of a 
 place of sinful amusement. 
 
 It was the first time they had ever done so; but the 
 night was dark, and just once for a lifetime they thought 
 they might, unobserved, slip in. They tried to feel at 
 ease ; but, as they were entering, one of them felt, as he 
 thought, the touch of an invisible hand upon his shoulder, 
 with a whisper, ** Don't go in ! Don't go in ! " 
 
 Whose hand was that? A mother's hand, or the 
 shadow of it, fifteen years in the grave. He started back, 
 fled from the spot, and within fifteen minutes was in his 
 own lodging, and on his knees, praying, "Lord, hold 
 Thou me up, and I shall be safe." His companion went 
 in, lost his character, and his peace, and his self-respect. 
 
48 The City Youth. 
 
 And that night dated the commencement of a course that 
 ended in remorse and shame. 
 
 Beware of the beginnings of sin, the first thoughts of 
 wickedness. Blessed are the pure in heart. 
 
 Keep your foot, then, on your animal nature; let your 
 flesh be in absolute subjection to your spirit. Paul says 
 (i Cor. ix. 27), "I keep under my body;" but the Greek is 
 (see the Revised Version) ** I buffet or pummel my body." 
 Ay, and sometimes it needs a good heavy pummelling to 
 keep, it in its own place. Even habits that are not in 
 themselves sinful may, through constant indulgence, obtain 
 a mastery over you, and so involve you in wrongdoing ; for 
 there are many forms of self-indulgence not absolutely 
 prohibited, which, with certain natures or constitutions, 
 are certain to get the upper hand unless sternly resisted. 
 
 It may be drink, it may be card-playing, it may be 
 slothfulness, or a too dainty appetite, or novel-reading, or 
 love of dress : every one of which has proved, in many 
 instances, the fatal snare. Show, then, that you — that is, 
 your higher nature — are master : and smash the idol if 
 you are beginning to worship it. A gentleman well 
 known to you by name. Sir J. Allport, the late popular 
 secretary to the Midland Railway Company, and a true 
 friend to young men, openly stated that he owed much of 
 his success in life to a resolution he had early made, that 
 he would never allow any habit to be his master. He 
 instanced smoking, of which he found himself becoming 
 so fond, that he was simply miserable if he had not his 
 pipe. Well, he knew there was no sin in smoking, but 
 as soon as he perceived the habit was getting the ascend- 
 ency over him, smash went the pipe, and he said, " No 
 more tobacco for me ; " and he has kept his word. Now, 
 that was a brave act; and that is precisely how you 
 should deal with every indulgence which threatens to get 
 
Keep Thyself Pure, 49 
 
 the better of you, and to injure or defile the temple of 
 your body. 
 
 Just one thought more, and I close. Perhaps you think 
 of these bodies as mere temporary tabernacles, movable 
 tents of little value, and soon to be taken down and 
 dissolved. There is a certain measure of truth in this 
 of course, and St. Paul does not forget, in his second 
 epistle, to dwell on it. But in a higher sense, the 
 Christian's body is not a tabernacle, but a temple, a per- 
 manent and enduring structure. Need I say that I am 
 alluding to the doctrine of the resurrection, and to the 
 fact that, from the ashes of the sepulchre these bodies 
 shall rise again ? 
 
 Think of these remarkable words of inspiration : " If 
 the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell 
 in you. He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also 
 quicken your mofial bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in 
 you." We have a bodily as well as a spiritual immortality. 
 
 Oh, with what a magnitude of interest and importance 
 does this thought invest these corporeal frames, these 
 fleshly temples 1 There are no beings on earth but our- 
 selves to whom this continuity of existence is given. It 
 confers upon our bodies an awful indestructibility, at the 
 thought of which the perpetuity of mountains, and suns, 
 and stars sinks into nothing. Will you dishonour an 
 edifice that has been erected for eternity } Will you 
 violate a temple that is to stand for ever } 
 
 Some time ago an aged saint was being borne to his 
 burial. He had been poor, very poor, and with indecent 
 haste and carelessness they were shuffling his coffin out 
 of their way, as though glad to get rid of him, when 
 an old minister who observed it, said, ** Tread softly, 
 for you are carrying a temple of the Holy Ghost." A 
 temple lAh, yes ; to rise again fair and faultless on the 
 
 4 
 
50 The City Youth, 
 
 glorious morn ! No infirmities then ; no crack nor 
 flaw! 
 
 As I was travelling by railway last week, there sat beside 
 me a midcile-aged man who some time ago had met with 
 an accident by which his arm was broken. He was now, 
 however, seemingly well recovered. At a certain station 
 another passenger entered, who at once recognised my 
 neighbour, and asked him if his arm was whole again. I 
 was struck with the reply. ** Better, thank you, but will 
 never be sound again till the resurrection. Oh (added 
 he), will not that be a blessed day, when all imperfections 
 shall be done with for ever, and we shall arise the glorious 
 temples of the Holy Ghost ! " 
 
 Is it possible, then, you can be too careful in keeping 
 such temples holy } Now, indeed they are liable to decay, 
 and need to be sustained by food, and rest, and discipline, 
 and temperance ; but by-and-by they shall spring up, 
 phoenix-like, from the ashes of the tomb, fashioned like 
 unto Christ's glorious body, crystal temples, as it were, of 
 transparent splendour, and no more liable to perish. 
 
 Oh, young men ! Tread the sensual, the carnal, the 
 bestial, beneath your feet, and grasp the amaranthine 
 crown of immortality. 
 
 Now, I pray to God that ye do no evil ; and **that your 
 whole spirit, and soul, and body be preserved blameless 
 unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." Amen. 
 
MAKING SHIPWRECK OF THE SOUL. 
 
" Holding faitk and a good conscience: which^ some having put away^ 
 concerning faith have made shipwreck.'''^ — I Timothy i. 19. 
 
IV. 
 
 MAKING SHIPWRECK OF THE SOUL. 
 
 I DO not wonder that such an illustration should readily 
 occur to the mind of Paul. He had not forgotten his 
 terrible experience in the autumn of 62, just three years 
 before. For fourteen weary days — the fierce Euroclydon 
 blowing, and neither sun nor stars appearing — he had 
 been tossed up and down on the angry sea of Adria, the 
 vessel a mere plaything to the gale. Indeed, it was by a 
 miracle that he and his fellow-passengers were saved, for 
 the ship was shivered to pieces on the reefs of IMelita ; and 
 only by clinging to boards and broken pieces of the vessel 
 did they ultimately escape safe to land. 
 
 Nor was this by any means his sole experience of the 
 dangers of the deep. In writing two years earlier to the 
 Church at Corinth, he made mention of ** perils of the 
 sea" he had already encountered, and stated that "thrice 
 he had suffered shipwreck." 
 
 As the first Christian missionary, he had made repeated 
 voyages from Caesarea to Tarsus, and Antioch, and Cyprus, 
 and various parts of Asia Minor, and had probably been 
 eyewitness of many a sad maritime disaster. 
 
 I daresay, as the large Alexandrian corn-ship in which 
 he made his last voyage left the quiet port of Myra on 
 a fine August morning, he and his fellow-passengers had 
 little thought of the adventures they were going to meet 
 
54 The City Youth, 
 
 with. There is something singularly exhilarating and 
 delightful in setting forth upon the sea. It is pleasant to 
 '(^yti the vessel gently gliding out of the harbour, to see the 
 wind beginning to fill the outspread sails, and to be con- 
 scious of the speedening motion as the ship gets fairly out 
 into its native element, and leaves the land behind. I love 
 to stand upon the shore as I did oftener than once last 
 summer at the Isle of Man, and, with telescope in hand, 
 watch some noble brig leaving the port in all the pride of 
 sail, " walking the waters like a thing of life." There is 
 not a prettier sight to be seen than such 
 
 " a stately ship. 
 With all her bravery on, and tackle trim, „ 
 
 Sails filled, and streamers waving, 
 Courted by all the winds that hold them play." 
 
 We almost forget the dangers that lie before her as we 
 gaze upon her elegant proportions, when, like a milk-white 
 swan arching its proud neck over the rippling waters of a 
 lake, she floats gaily out upon the azure main. 
 
 But, through what trouble and conflict may she have to 
 pass ere she drop her anchor in the port once more I 
 What tempests may howl around her, what seas break over 
 her ! How may her great masts groan, and her timbers 
 strain, and her sails be torn to shreds in the sudden 
 storm ! What hours of seeming agony may she have to 
 spend, as she rolls ungovernable in the trough of the sea ! 
 Ay, and who can tell but that gallant ship may yet be 
 shattered on the rocks, disappearing in a night in the 
 fathomless abyss, whilst in the morning not a bubble 
 marks the spot where she had gone down. I noticed in 
 the newspaper the other day that a bark had foundered off 
 the coast of Cumberland — three of her crew Demg lost — 
 which less than two months ago I saw quietly loading in 
 the harbour. 
 
Making Shipwreck of the SouL 55 
 
 Now, I fancy that such a contrast as I have drawn was 
 in the mind of the Apostle, when he wrote the words of 
 our text. He is speaking of a class of disaster yet more 
 sad and awful, ay, and more frequent too. 
 
 The records at Trinity House may inform us how many 
 ships have been wrecked in one year, but, ah ! where is the 
 record that shall tell us how many souls have been lost ? 
 How many young men, for example, who left their peace- 
 ful, pious homes, perhaps a few years ago, and have been 
 launched upon the open sea of city life with all its dangers 
 and temptations, have, within the past few months, been 
 caught by some fierce blast of vice or error, and hurled 
 to moral and spiritual ruin ? 
 
 Paul was writing to an admirable young man of excellent 
 principles and decided religious character — a youth who 
 possessed both a sound faith and good conscience ; but he 
 did not think it out of place to give him a word of faithful 
 warning ; and that word I propose to address to you this 
 evening. The Apostle calls it a ** charge;" meaning 
 thereby especially solemn and earnest injunction. 
 
 "This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, 
 according to the prophecies which went before on thee, 
 that thou by them mightest war a good warfare ; holding 
 faith and a good conscience, which some, having put 
 away, concerning faith have made shipwreck." 
 
 Carrying out the illustration before us, there are three 
 things I want to speak to you about to-night ; a fair start, 
 a good equipment, and a fatal disaster ; God grant you 
 may all carry away some wholesome lessons with you. 
 
 I. A fair skirt. This thought is suggested by St. Paul's 
 reference to the early promise whigh Timothy gave of a 
 pious and useful life. When he speaks of **the prophecies 
 that went before on him," I understand him to allude not 
 
56 The City Youth. 
 
 to inspired predictions, in the usual sense of the term, but 
 to the hopes which had been cherished, and the anticipa- 
 tions which had been expressed, regarding him, even fronj 
 his childhood. 
 
 People who knew the lad, his character, his training, 
 his environments, augured for him a bright and honour- 
 able career. They said, *' That boy will turn out well. 
 He will be a good man. He will make a mark on society. 
 He will live to purpose." 
 
 And those *' prophecies " were justified. First, by the 
 fact that he came of a good stock. His father, it is said, 
 was a Greek, and probably not a genuine convert to Chris- 
 tianity ; but, as nothing is said of him, and not even his 
 name given, it is surmised that he had died during his 
 son's infancy. The care of the boy thus devolved upon his 
 mother, Eunice, and his grandmother, Lois ; and they 
 were, both of them, excellent and pious Christian ladies. 
 They had received the truth during the Apostle's visit to 
 Lycaonia ; and there can be no doubt that they resided 
 under the same roof, and that under their united care 
 young Timothy was brought up in a happy Christian 
 home. Oh, what an unspeakable advantage is that I 
 What language can express the blessing that comes of a 
 wise and godly upbringing ! Many of us owe more than 
 ever we can tell to the holy influences that gathered round 
 us in our early days. Oh, with what tender and delightful 
 associations is that paternal dwelling linked ! We shall 
 never forget the dear old home where our infancy was 
 spent ; and the pleasant Sabbath evenings, the fervent 
 prayers, and the loved ones who have now, it may be, 
 passed away. It brings the moisture to the eye as we 
 recall those happy days, and think, perhaps, how far we 
 have wandered from the character we then possessed, and 
 the promise we then gave. And, ah ! there is one whose 
 
Making Shipwreck of the SouL 57 
 
 person formed the very centre of that blessed circle, one 
 we almost worshipped with our love, we thought her more 
 angelic than human ; a lump comes up into our throat as 
 we mention her name, mother! We thought no one ever 
 had such a mother as we. And all the more, if (as pro- 
 bably in Timothy's case) she was a widow, did she com- 
 mand the whole empire of our heart's affections. 
 
 Ay, and old grannie Lois, too, we remember how she 
 would take down her spectacles from the chimney corner, 
 and show us Bible-pictures that delighted our young 
 minds, and then would urge us to givQ our lives to God. 
 
 " Still o'er these scenes my memory wakes'; 
 And fondly broods with miser care : 
 Time but the impression deeper makes. 
 As streams their channels deeper wear.'* 
 
 I don't for one moment doubt that many of you have 
 come from a home just as dear and holy as Timothy's at 
 Lystra was. Ail your early surroundings were in your 
 favour. If you haven't turned out well, you should have 
 done so. You came out of an admirable nest. The ship 
 was launched from a first-rate building yard. 
 
 Secondly. Those ** prophecies " were justified in the 
 case of young Timothy, by his thorough acquaintance 
 with Holy Scripture. 
 
 What is that we read in Paul's Epistle to him (iii. 15, 
 Revised Version) ? " From a babe thou hast known the 
 sacred writings, which are able to make thee wise unto 
 salvation." From a babe. It is the same Greek word 
 which Luke uses wlicn he says, " And they brought unto 
 Jesus infants, that He would touch them." 
 
 As soon as he was capable of learning anything he was 
 taught the Word of God. The first impressions his mind 
 received were of religious truth. His mother, as a pious 
 Hebrewess, regarded it as her main duty to her child, to 
 
58 The City Youth, 
 
 make him acquainted with Holy Scripture. Of course 
 the New Testament was not yet written, and the reference 
 is to the writings of Moses, the Psalms, and the Prophets. 
 But the young child's mind was stocked and saturated 
 with Divine truth. This was fitted to be to him an 
 incalculable blessing. Such instruction may be expected 
 to have a salutary influence on the whole future life. 
 
 A boy who knows his Bible, and is well up in Scripture 
 studies, starts life with great advantage. He gives promise 
 of keeping on the right rails. Many of you are thus 
 privileged. You have the Bible at your finger ends. 
 Thanks to your early training, you are no strangers to the 
 Word of God. You have had an excellent religious up- 
 bringing. Your memory is stored with precious passages 
 of Scripture. It won't be the fault of your parents, or 
 your Sunday School teacher, if you turn aside .from the 
 right way. 
 
 Thirdly. There was yet another thing that justified those 
 early " prophecies " of a good career for Timothy. And 
 this was the personal character of the lad. He was a 
 well-disposed, quiet, thoughtful, serious youth. He never 
 gave his mother any trouble. He was steady, honest, and 
 moral. He bore an excellent character in his native place. 
 
 We read as much in the Acts of the Apostles, for it is 
 there stated that *' he was well reported of by the brethren 
 that were at Lystra and Iconium." 
 
 It is a good sign of a young fellow, when, in the town 
 and village where he was born and bred, every one is 
 ready to speak well of him. 
 
 Thus we have seen what is meant by a fair start in life. 
 
 It is like a vessel gliding down the slip on the launching 
 day, when, all the hammering ended, and gay bunting 
 flying everywhere, and loud huzzas rendering the air, she 
 softly slides out into the open main ! Who. ow such a 
 
Making Shipwreck of the SouL 59 
 
 day; would augur her lying ^a pitiful wreck on some 
 foreign reef? 
 
 II. Now for the good eqiiipinent. It is thus described: 
 ** Holding faith and a good conscience." Two very 
 excellent and necessary things. Shall we call conscience 
 the compass to direct the ship's course, and faith the sails 
 that are to impel her on her way } 
 
 Well, no vessel that wants either of these things is fit to 
 go to sea. 
 
 Without the one, her path through the deep will be 
 uncertain, and therefore dangerous ; without the other, 
 she will have no force to carry her forward. 
 
 I understand the Apostle, in this passage, to mean by 
 *' faith " the system of doctrine commonly called the 
 Gospel : " The Christian faith," as it is often styled ; the 
 compendium of truth regarding the way of salvation ; not 
 excluding, however, a sincere belief and acceptance of it. 
 
 A man has a poor chance of a happy and successful 
 voyage over the sea of life, if, in entering upon it, he lacks 
 either a good conscience or a sound faith. 
 
 First. "A good conscience." I take them in this order, 
 because, generally, the whisper of conscience is heard 
 even prior to the adoption of a definite faith. In matters 
 of spiritual navigation, the compass is fixed before the 
 canvas is set. I do not hesitate to say, you may find 
 thoroughly conscientious men who are not yet believers. 
 Paul could testify before the council, speaking even of his 
 life prior to conversion, " ]Men and brethren, I have lived 
 in all good conscience before God until this day." Con- 
 science is the testimony or secret judgment of the soul, 
 giving its approbation to actions that are good, or reproach- 
 ing it with actions that are evil. Something of this is 
 found in every man that is born into the world. As soon 
 as intelligence begins and reason dawns, it gives evidence 
 
6o The City Youth. 
 
 of its existence. But this inward monitor maybe crushed, 
 may be perverted, may be bribed, may be benumbed ; and 
 then it becomes a bad conscience, like a will-o'-the-wisp, 
 leading a man astray. Yours, sir, is a bad conscience, 
 when, without upbraiding you and making you miserable, 
 it allows you to go into bad company, to frequent the 
 haunts of dissipation, to profane the Lord's day, to neglect 
 His ordinances, to read unclean literature, and to satisfy 
 yourself with all sorts of vain excuses. 
 
 Yours is a drugged and evil conscience, William, when 
 you can lie down to rest at night and sleep soundly, 
 though you have offered no prayer to God, and have no 
 reason to know that He is at peace with you. Oh, thank 
 God, young men — ay, even though you be not true 
 Christians — if, at your every departure from righteousness, 
 that mysterious monitor in your breast sounds the alarm. 
 
 *' Yet still there whispers the small voice within, 
 Heard through gain's silence, and o'er glory's din ; 
 Whatever creed be taught, or land be trod, 
 Man's conscience is the oracle of God." 
 
 "A good conscience" is one that is tender, sensitive, 
 and pure ; like a sound compass, whose magnetism has not 
 been injured, it will guide you aright. To be altogether 
 safe and good, it must be under the direction of God's 
 truth ; for the mere moralist may be scrupulously con- 
 scientious, and yet far from the standard which the Gospel 
 requires. 
 
 Gentlemen, let me urge you all to see to it, in setting 
 forth upon the sea of active life, that you are furnished 
 with a good conscience, else I see nothing but shipwreck 
 before you. 
 
 Like the noble Paul, " herein exercise yourselves, to 
 have always a conscience void of offence toward God and 
 toward man." 
 
Making Shipivreck of the SozcL 6i 
 
 But, secondly, you want something- more. If you are 
 to be fully equipped, you must also have a sound and 
 living faith. You will not come to much good without 
 this. A compass is an admirable thing, but you will 
 not come much speed if that is all the ship is provided 
 with ; there must also be the unfurled canvas, which, filled 
 with the breath of heaven, will give it energy and motion. 
 A living faith must be based on a definite creed. You 
 cannot be a believer unless there is something that you 
 believe. There is an affectation very popular at the 
 present day, to believe nothing. Our young philosophic 
 friend says he will keep his mind open and uncommitted ; 
 he has a horror of dogma ; he will keep a good conscience, 
 but will have no fixed religious creed. 
 
 My good sir, you may just as well send a schooner out 
 to sea without an inch of sail upon her, and expect her 
 to reach the distant port, as imagine that, without a 
 clearly formulated belief and a personal faith, you can 
 cross the ocean of life, and make for the celestial heaven. 
 
 No, no. Take away a young man's religion, and he 
 is the easy prey of all manner of evil. If you want to 
 destroy a man's morals, rob him of his Bible. 
 
 A brig fifteen hundred miles out from land, without 
 one square yard of canvas, is better off than a young 
 man who has no religion and no faith. 
 
 You may be very well conducted, you may be steady, 
 you may be clever ; but you want more than all that to 
 equip you for the work of life. No natural gifts can take 
 the place of a spiritual religion. 
 
 A man's very accomplishments have proved his ruin. 
 Who will deny that decided genius has shipwrecked many 
 a promising life ? I have not a doubt that Burns, and 
 Byron, and Shelley, and Goethe, and Paine, and Vol- 
 taire, that each of them, in the absence of a sustaining 
 
62 The City Yoiiih, 
 
 faith, suffered moral disaster just in proportion to his 
 genius. 
 
 If a ship is heavily freighted with costly treasures, all the 
 more does it need to have its sails well spread to the wind. 
 
 There is no class of persons that so stir my loving 
 sympathy as young men in a big city, especially if they 
 are comparatively strangers and alone. A too limited 
 salary to live on ; solicited on all hands to drink, or go 
 into bad company ; their religion caricatured ; their purity 
 and principles laughed at ; why, unless God Almighty 
 help them, they must go under. 
 
 But God will help you, if you put your trust in Him. 
 Don't part with your Christian faith, whatever you do. 
 *' Hold faith and a good conscience," and you will brave 
 the heaviest storm. 
 
 In youi: lodging, though it may be a back room and on 
 the fourth floor, keep a Bible always on your table, as a 
 testimony that you mean to stick to the faith of your 
 fathers. Every morning before you leave your room, 
 every night before you lie down, pray to the God whom 
 this book reveals. Make that little room your Gibraltar, 
 your Sebastopol, your Mount Zion. Never come out of 
 it without committing yourself anew to your Saviour. 
 
 Thus furnished with a good conscience and a true faith, 
 you will sail the voyage of life in safety, and at last reach 
 the everlasting haven. But stay, our text tells us 
 
 III. Of a fatal disaster — a spiritual shipwreck. The 
 Apostle says that some persons — and he goes on to 
 mention two instances, " Hymeneus and Alexander " — 
 having put away a good conscience, and lost their faith, 
 had become morally shipwrecked. 
 
 Paul does not for a moment hint that Timothy would do 
 so. Nay, as he indicates in his Second Epistle, he was 
 sure he would not do so. 
 
MaJdng Shipwreck of the SouL ^2^ 
 
 He who had begun the good work in him, would carry 
 it forward to perfection. 
 
 Where there is a genuine work of grace, it will not be 
 allowed to die. But we do well to be upon our guard, 
 and especially must be careful how we trifle with conscience. 
 The fatal course, usually, is this : First, put away a good 
 conscience ; secondly, lose your faith ; and thirdly, make 
 shipwreck of your soul. 
 
 The compass is thrown overboard ; the sails are cariied 
 ' away ; the vessel is shattered on the rocks. 
 
 Nearly every man who goes wrong begins by tampering 
 with conscience. He stifles its admonitions, subdues, 
 crushes, silences it ; or, if it will not be quiet, pays no 
 heed to its remonstrance. This goes on for a time, and 
 then his Christian faith gives way. His moral errors 
 distort his judgment and poison his mind. The heart 
 soon aff"ects the head. Going on in an evil course, he 
 begins to doubt ; he is an easy prey to infidel thoughts ; 
 and away go all his religious convictions. Now remember, 
 the Apostle shows himself here a true dissecter of human 
 nature. I can witness to the accuracy of his diagnosis. 
 I have seen it hundreds of times. 
 
 Two young fellows begin life on parallel lines. They 
 are equals as regards intelligence, and alike in character 
 and religious faith. They are thrown in the way of the 
 same class of temptations. 
 
 The one remains steadfast ; will not yield an inch ; 
 stamps his foot on every solicitation to impurity and vice ; 
 is conscientious in money matters to a fraction; is honour- 
 able and straightforward, and above a shadow of reproach. 
 The other yields to the tempter; gets ofl" the rails of 
 virtue ; drives conscience behind him ; sinks deeper into 
 uncleanness ; and presently loses his character and self- 
 respect. 
 
64 The City Youth, 
 
 If I tell you the sad fact that one of these young men has 
 become a scoffer ; that he has thrown off Christianity, and 
 is now next door to an Atheist ; will you take two minutes 
 to guess which of the two it is ? Ah ! too well you know 
 that when a good conscience is put away, faith soon 
 follows ; and then there is nothing to look forward to but 
 spiritual shipwreck! Most men who become infidels do 
 so because they wish to be unfettered in their indulgence 
 in sin. 
 
 So long as a young Christian keeps a good conscience, 
 I am not much afraid of his lapsing into scepticism. 
 
 Hymeneus and Alexander are both mentioned again in 
 the Second Epistle, but in neither place to their credit. 
 The former took up some whim about the *' resurrection 
 being already past," but he became a dangerous character, 
 for " his word ate as doth a cancer," and he " overthrew 
 the faith of some." The latter, who was a coppersmith, 
 or rather brazier, must have been brazen-faced enough, 
 for "he greatly withstood the Apostle's words." 
 
 Neither of them came to good ; they perished in their 
 unbelief. 
 
 Foolish men ! they hoisted their mutinous flags, and 
 thought to draw away after them the whole Christian fleet: 
 and, lo ! there they are, lying two pitiful wrecks, over 
 which the wind moans its eternal dirge. This has been 
 the history of hundreds and thousands since. 
 
 I was looking not long ago upon a full-sized statue of 
 Voltaire, and as I gazed upon the leering, vapid counte- 
 iKince of the great infidel jester, I thought of the vain boast 
 with which he summed up his whole literary life : *' I am 
 tired of hearing it said that twelve men were enough to 
 establish Christianity. I hope to show that only one is 
 necessary for its destruction." Poor Voltaire ! " 
 
 Christianity lives — never had more life than now : and 
 
Making Shipwreck of the SouL 65 
 
 he is forgotten, save for the moral evil which he wrought ! 
 Ah ! I have known repeated instances of young men 
 whose career opened with every promise of happiness and 
 success ; but having put away a good conscience, and 
 having lost the faith, they are to-day like melancholy 
 wrecks, whose broken spars and dreary rafters, clad in the 
 crape of seaweed, protrude above the wild waters that 
 surge and wash over them : and as a messenger from 
 Trinity House,, from the House of the Holy and ever- 
 blessed Trinity of Heaven, I come to-night to fix a beacon- 
 light upon the spot, and say to everyone of you, ** Be ware! 
 Beware I " 
 
''AS THE MAN IS, SO IS HIS STRENGTH" 
 
** As the man is^ so is his strength.'''' — ^Judges viii. 21, 
 
V. 
 
 '*AS THE MA^ IS, SO IS HIS STRENGTH:* 
 
 IT is a strange and tragic history that of Gideon, the fifth, 
 and for many reasons the greatest, of all the Judges of 
 Israel. As the curtain rises upon him, we behold a man 
 in the prime of life, busily engaged in agricultural toil. 
 Like many a fine and noble spirit since, he sprang from 
 humble birth, and felt no shame in owning it. He said, 
 " My family is poor in IManasseh, and I am the least in 
 my father's house:" (by which he probably meant the 
 youngest, for, as we shall find, he was a man of tall and 
 commanding presence). The old gentleman, Joash by 
 name, kept a farm at Ophrah, in the country of Gilead ; and 
 on our first acquaintance with Gideon, he is busy thresh- 
 ing wheat for the family, not on the open threshing-floor, 
 but in a concealed corner behind the wine-press, in order 
 to hide it from the IMidianites. This warlike Arabian 
 race, like other nomad tribes, invaded the fat country of 
 Palestine every year, especially about the time of harvest, 
 and an infinite nuisance they were to the people of Israel. 
 Like the Bedouins of the present day, they would come 
 down in great hordes, trampling the fields, plundering the 
 vineyards and gardens, and laying their hands on cattle 
 and grain, and everything they could carry away. This 
 sort of thing had now gone on for seven years, and the 
 people could endure it no longer; yet no leader seemed 
 
70 The City Youth, 
 
 to arise who was equal to the occasion. At last, the Lord 
 summoned Gideon to the task, and the call came to him 
 as he was busy with his flail. Never was man more taken 
 by surprise. It was the last thing he had dreamt of. But 
 in his case, as with many, the call to a post of honour and 
 distinction came whilst he was industriously pursuing the 
 common duties of life. So it was with Moses, to whom 
 the voice of God came as he was tending the sheep ; so 
 it was with David, who was similarly occupied ; so it was 
 with Matthew, busily engaged in the revenue office, when 
 Christ called him to discipleship ; so with Simon and 
 Andrew, with James and John, mending their fishing-nets 
 on the shores of Galilee. It is to the busy, not the 
 idle ; to the contented, not the ambitious ; to the humble, 
 not the vain, that the posts of eminence and usefulness 
 generally open up. Whatever your present sphere, fulfil 
 its duties thoroughly and well ; this is the likeliest course 
 to future advancement. Your work, my lad, can scarcely 
 be humbler than flogging corn with a flail ; but do it to 
 the best of your ability; and when you least expect it 
 preferment will come. Well, as time is limited, we must 
 leap over an interval, and come upon our hero as he is in 
 the thick of battle with the Midianites, in the valley of 
 Esdraelon. Here we find him, at the head of an army 
 of 32,000 men, encamped by the brook or well of Harod. 
 The enemy, as it appears, was immensely more numerous : 
 but, lest the glory of victory on the side of Israel should 
 seem to belong to man, that host must be diminished in 
 numbers ere the battle is begun. By two operations of 
 an extraordinary character the reduction is accomplished. 
 In the first place, General Gideon, as divinely instructed, 
 issues a proclamation to his men, that, if there are any 
 timid or faint-hearted ones amongst them they may back 
 cut and retire. If you had but seen the effect ! Fine 
 
**As the Man is, so is his Strength,*^ 71 
 
 soldiers they were ! Instantly 22,000 bolted, and, showing- 
 the white feather, scampered off to the mountains of 
 Gilead. The remaining 10,000 are still too large a host; 
 another thinning process must be applied. They were 
 all therefore taken down to the waterside, and a thirsty 
 company they were, and lazy too ; for, whilst 300 
 of them smartly lapped the water from their hands like 
 men in haste, 97 per cent, lay down leisurely to drink. It 
 was but a small thing that marked the difference between 
 them, still it indicated a specific quality ; and as all the 
 cowards had been sent about their business, so all the 
 languid and lazy ones are now dismissed. Remember, 
 young men, when the Lord is about to do a great work by 
 human instrumentality He must have men of courage and 
 men of energy. You are never good for much in His 
 service unless you are both brave and active. 
 
 Well now, what about the select three hundred ? They 
 are divided into three companies of a hundred each, every 
 man being supplied, in addition to his sword, with a 
 trumpet, a lamp, and an earthenware pitcher. (The 
 pitcher merely served to conceal the lamp, or rather torch, 
 until the moment it should be required.) Some silly 
 people make fun of Gideon's army, as if they acted like 
 a set of maniacs ; I assert, on the contrary, that, in view 
 of the methods of warfare of those times, the plan they 
 adopted was admirably fitted to secure the end in view. 
 It was arranged that at dead of night they were silently 
 to approach the enemy at three different points, and at 
 one and the same instant, following the example of 
 Gideon, were to smash the flagons, hold aloft the torches, 
 blow the trumpets, and shriek the war-cry, "The sword 
 of the Lord and of Gideon." They would be made of 
 tough material, any army that would not be startled out 
 of their senses by such a demonstration. The manoeuvre 
 
72 The City Youth, 
 
 had the desired effect ; the enemy were stricken with 
 panic, and thrown into hopeless confusion : and, being 
 unable to distinguish friend from foe, went on slaughter- 
 ing one another. The routed Midianites fled towards the 
 Jordan, only, however, to find their path of flight inter- 
 cepted, for the Ephraimites had seized the lower fords, 
 and cut off all who attempted to escape. The upper fords 
 were held by Gideon himself, who followed in pursuit of 
 two eminent Midianitish chiefs, named Zeba and Zal- 
 munna, and had crossed the river a little below the Lake 
 of Gennesaret. On that, the western side of the Jordan, 
 however, his victory was not credited, and the people 
 refused to side with him ; the men of Succoth and Penuel 
 in particular making themselves obnoxious, and denying 
 bread to Gideon's faint and hungry, but brave, little army. 
 Gideon vowed they would catch it when, having captured 
 the two princes, he should return that way. And he was 
 as good as his word ; for he levelled the tower of Penuel 
 to the ground, and taking thorny branches of the trees, 
 administered severe corporal castigation to the men of 
 Succoth. In those days eminent captives taken in war 
 were generally put to death ; and no doubt Zeba and 
 Zalmunna made sure that if they were taken prisoners, 
 that would be their fate. I see the brave and intrepid 
 Gideon overtaking them, and their owai men fleeing ofl" in 
 dismay. I see the two proud chiefs, high-mounted on 
 their camels, with armour gaudily adorned, and brilliant 
 jewellery on nose and ear, on neck and arm. I hear the 
 jingling of the golden chains, and the crescent-shaped 
 collars and trappings of the camels. Gideon had merci- 
 fully intended to spare the lives of these Arab sheikhs. 
 But he is smarting under the loss of his elder brothers, 
 and he has a suspicion as to who it was that shed their 
 blood. The first question he puts is, " What manner of 
 
** As the Alan is, so is his Strength ^ 73 
 
 men were those wnom ye slew at Tabor ? " The reply 
 of the haughty chiefs was significant, " As thou art, so 
 were they ; each one resembled the children of a king." 
 ** i\Iy own brothers ! " exclaimed Gideon, as the dark 
 scowl gathered upon his brow. '' Jether, my firstborn, 
 get up and slay them, and avenge your uncle/ blood." 
 But the lad feared, for he was but a beardless youth. 
 There is a moment of terrible suspense. Like noble sons 
 of the desert, Zeba and Zalmunna prepare for their fate 
 without fear or weakness. But shrinking from the thought 
 of meeting death at the hand of that smooth-cheeked boy, 
 and looking upon the massi-ve form of the stalwart, lordly 
 Gideon, they entreat that he himself shall be the execu- 
 tioner ; adding, in the words of my text, ** For as the man 
 is, so is his strength." 
 
 Now I have made an effort to set the picture fairly 
 before you, that you may form your own opinion as to 
 what those desert chieftains meant. And yet I think the 
 purport of their words is not obscure. Since they must 
 die they would rather fall by the hand of a strong man, 
 and a great commander such as Gideon, than by the hand 
 of a mere stripling like his son ; and that, first, because 
 his stout arm would be more likely to despatch them 
 quickly, and save them from a painful and lingering death ; 
 and, secondly, because such an end would be less igno- 
 minious. It was on the same principle, that, at a later 
 date, as recorded in the next chapter, Gideon's own son 
 Abimelcch, when he met with a fatal blow at the tower 
 of Thebez by a stone thrown from a woman's hand, 
 entreated his armour-bearer instantly to despatch him with 
 his sword. This is how the story is told. "And a certain 
 woman cast a piece of a millstone upon Abimelech's head, 
 and all to break his skull. Then he called hastily unto the 
 young man his armour-bearer, and said unto hin^., Draw 
 
74 The City Youth, 
 
 thy sword and slay me, that men say not of me, a woman 
 slew him." So, these bronzed warriors of Midian shrank 
 from the thought of being slain by a lad, and therefore 
 begged his strong-armed father to give the blow ; and 
 methinks it was an ancient proverb of the East that leaped 
 to their lips, as they added, ** For, as the man is, so is his 
 strength." 
 
 Like many a wise saw of the olden time, the text 
 contains much truth in small bulk; and I shall borrow 
 from it a few hints, to make my subject practical. 
 
 I. Plainly, the first meaning of it is, that, as a man 
 is physically, so is his strength. If we are to estimate 
 him by his muscular strength, we must take into account 
 his bodily form, his age, his health, his build, his stature. 
 Gideon belonged, as we may say, to the order of nature's 
 nobility. He was a man of splendid figure and bearing, 
 of a tall and commanding presence. That arm of his 
 could do mighty execution, whether it wielded the flail, 
 or the sword, or the prickly branches of the thorn-trees at 
 Succoth. Whatever work it undertook, it would do with 
 thoroughness and effect. When the two warrior chiefs 
 were questioned as to the men they had slain at Tabor, 
 they replied to Gideon thus, " As thou art, so were they ; 
 each one resembled the children of a king." Now, it is 
 perfectly true, that we cannot give to ourselves a handsome 
 mien, nor add one cubit to our stature ; nevertheless, it is 
 equally true — and of none more true than young men — 
 that we can do much to promote our health, to build up 
 our constitution, and even to give dignity to our physical 
 presence. By a regular life, by moderation m diet, by 
 scrupulous temperance, by due bodily exercise, by habits 
 of order and cleanliness every one of you can do not a 
 little in this direction ; and in many a case it is easy to 
 perceive, on our first glance of a man, either, on the one 
 
*^ As the Man is, so is his Strength,'*^ 75 
 
 hand, that he is loose and slovenly in his habits, or, on 
 the other, that he is orderly and regular. The younger 
 lads before me will forgive me saying this is of far more 
 importance than some of you imagine ; and the eminent 
 success and rapid advance of many a youth has, to my 
 certain knowledge, been due in no small measure to his 
 personal appearance, and pleasing and manly bearing. 
 Of course, there are walks of life where this will not show 
 so much ; but, as a rule, it is safe to say that, given a 
 good address, a smart and gentlemanly (not slouching 
 and clownish) exterior, a young man's chances of prefer- 
 ment are decidedly greater, and the axiom generally holds 
 good, that, as the man is, even in outward physique, so 
 is his success and strength. 
 
 II. Take it in another way ; as a man is inteUectuallyy 
 so is his strength. I use the word *' strength '' here, as 
 meaning power of work, capacity for accomplishing the 
 ends of life, and making the world the better for his 
 existence. I suppose that, during the past hundred years, 
 no proverb has been more often quoted, as none has been 
 more largely illustrated, than the pithy aphorism of Lord 
 Bacon, " Knowledge is power ; " a truth to which a wiser 
 than Bacon virtually gave expression 3,000 years ago, 
 when Solomon wrote — '* If the iron be blunt, and he do 
 not whet the edge, then must he put to more strength ; 
 but wisdom is profitable to direct." I don't need to tell 
 you, young men (for you know it as well as I), that the day 
 for stone hatchets and blunt axes is past ; and that, from 
 the humblest craft to the most exalted, in order to 
 succeed, it is requisite to have intelligence and brains. 
 I have heard some of our wealthy self-made city men say, 
 that out of every hundred youths who come to them, not 
 five have really got a head on their shoulders , they want 
 gumption, shrewdness, and sound common-sense. 01 
 
76 The City Youth. 
 
 course, you must have education. In these days of School 
 Boards and technical instruction, and evening classes of 
 all sorts, a man is sadly handicapped without a thorough 
 schooling ; but mere schooling will never give a man 
 common-sense. You want to have your eyes open, and 
 your wits awake ; to be sharp, and ready, and active. 
 The quick-witted Jack will generally have the advantage 
 over the slow-witted giant. The commerce of England 
 is not indeed in the hands of learned scholars ; but it is, 
 for the most part, in the hands of shrewd, clear-headed, 
 practical men, who understand their business, and know 
 how to push it. There are lads who come up from the 
 country to London, thinking they will be such an acquisi- 
 tion to the metropolis, that the moment they knock at 
 the door of a merchant's office, they will immediately be 
 invited to an excellent situation ; but are startled to find 
 that they are not in such demand. The fact is, many of 
 them are such mulls and greenhorns, that nobody would 
 accept their services for nothing. They have moved all 
 their days in a narrow groove, and have no idea how to 
 get out of it. Tliey want pliableness and versatility. And 
 unless they take on a little of this, and intelligently adapt 
 themselves to their work, they had better take the first 
 train back to whence they came. [Send this sermon, 
 with my compliments, to your country cousin who talks 
 of coming up to town to look out for a situation.] This 
 age of keen competition demands men of brains : and it 
 is mind that conquers matter. Throughout tliis little 
 island of ours, to-morrow and during the rest of the week, 
 majhinery will be set in motion, doing the work of five 
 millions of men ; in other words, the machines of England 
 Lind Scotland will this week weave as much cloth, and 
 prepare as much food, and supply the world's inhabitants 
 with .is many commodities as (if made by hand) would 
 
^* As the Man is, so is his Strength^ 77 
 
 require the combined active industry of the whole adult 
 population of the globe. Thus intellect becomes an 
 equivalent for strength, and mind means money. In real 
 power of work, the skilled artisan leaves the mere labourer 
 far behind, and the thoughtful clerk the mere mechanical 
 penman ; so that as a man is in intelligence so is his 
 strength. 
 
 III. There is still another use which I would make of 
 the text. This old adage admits of a yet higher applica- 
 tion. Indeed, in no sense is it more widely and markedly 
 true than this : as a man is viorally and spiritually, so is 
 his strength. Character and faith, I will venture to say, 
 more than anything else, determine your power of over- 
 coming difficulty and of accomplishing good. This is the 
 sure gauge of your personal force in society and in the 
 world. Without a moral backbone you may as well be a 
 jelly fish, for any real, solid good you will accomplish. 
 There must be a foundation of stern principle, or you will 
 be weak as water. A man with a resolute conscience will 
 always be a power. Of course conscience may be 
 prejudiced and perverted : and we must remember this, 
 and neither attempt to make our own conscience a law 
 unto others, nor judge them harshly because their standard 
 is different from ours. Sternly upright men may have 
 crotchets, at which other men, equally good, can only 
 laugh. Pascal truly said that the meaning of the word 
 " character " varies with the parallels of latitude and longi- 
 tude. Your moral sense may be drugged by the air it 
 breathes, as men get giddy in wine vaults without tasting 
 alcohol. I heard on Friday of a gin-palace proprietor 
 who makes a practice of sitting before his bar on Sundays 
 with a large Bible lying open on his white apron. I am 
 told that in Birmingham bronze idols are made in thou- 
 sands for the Hindoos, by men who every Sunday pray 
 
78 The City Youth. 
 
 for their conversion. IMost of us probably think such men 
 must have queer consciences ; but so we think also of the 
 Highlander who dares not shave on the Sabbath, and of 
 the Welshman who considers that for a Christian to play 
 a game at football is a sin. I admire the gallant General 
 Gordon as a soldier, but I would as little like him for a 
 Prime Minister as I would trust him as a theologian. It 
 is a grand thing to have a conscience at once sensitive 
 and sound ; to have an acute moral sense and a robust 
 common sense combined. There are no finer young men 
 in this city than those, who, to a clear, practical, all-round 
 intelligence, add **a conscience void of offence toward 
 God and toward man." Such a lad is all but certain to 
 get on and to do well for this world, not to speak of the 
 next. Character, let me assure you, is the best capital in 
 the end. A youth of keen sagacity, and at the same time 
 high moral tone, is an article of great marketable value. 
 I have known young fellows — they are not young now — 
 w^ho never met with success, and insisted that Providence 
 had an implacable spite against them, whereas the secret 
 of their failure lay in the rottenness of their own character. 
 They could not be trusted ; and knew it. Unstable as 
 water, they could not excel. When a man's life is wrong, 
 and his heart is wrong, he must be weak. It cannot be 
 otherwise. "As the man is, so is his strength." Without 
 high self-respect, you carry no momentum with you. Isn't 
 it Robert Burns who says — 
 
 ** I waive the quantum of the sin, 
 The hazard of concealing; 
 But, oh ! it hardens all within, 
 And petrifies the feeling " ? 
 
 Why, to mention a single virtue, as a man is in truthful- 
 ness, so is his strength. To be absolutely transparent, 
 honest to the backbone, above the shadow of suspicion, is 
 
'* As the Man is, so is his Strength^ 79 
 
 a splendid possession. *' Is he as good as his word ? 
 Does he mean precisely what he says ? Can he be 
 implicitly replied upon?" An emphatic "Yes" to such 
 questions is a young man's '* Open, sesame ! " before 
 which the treasure houses of life throw back their doors 
 for his entrance. Mirabeau, the notorious infidel, once 
 said, ** If there were no honesty in the world, it would be 
 invented as a means of getting wealth." Strict integrity 
 is a thing of high commercial value. Young men, see 
 that ye be faithful in that which is little. Slur no part of 
 your work. Be above all eye-service. Be as careful of 
 your employer's time as of your own. Regard his interests 
 as yours, and let stern truthfulness rise to be a very 
 instinct of your being. This will give you a position of 
 strength not to be otherwise attained. 
 
 I have just a word more. As I look at that noble, coura- 
 geous, successful champion, Gideon, I find myself saying, 
 *' As the man is in faith, so is his strength." Ah! that's 
 the main point of all. What a work that brave soul accom- 
 plished, all through unshaken confidence in his God ! Not 
 by human means verily. Like the barley-cake of which one 
 of his soldiers had dreamed, that it tumbled into the host 
 of JMidian, and fell upon a tent, and overturned it ; his faith 
 demolished ever}^ difficulty that stood in the way; until, 
 with a mere handful of half-starved men, he so routed and 
 scattered the hosts of Midian and Amalek (though they 
 *' lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude "), 
 that, as the sacred historian tells us, "they lifted up their 
 heads no more." 
 
 Be that faith yours, young men, and you shall be 
 strong, and shall overcome the wicked one. There is 
 no strength in the world to compare with that which 
 faith imparts, especially the faith which lays hold of 
 a risen and all-sufiicient Redeemer, and accepts and 
 
8o The City Youth. 
 
 realises Divine pardon through Him, and the guarantee 
 of all needed grace. The splendid undertakings of an 
 Alexander, a Hannibal, a Caesar, are nothing to the 
 achievements which it has accomplished : the most glorious 
 conquests of which history informs us, over armed squad- 
 rons of Persians, of Gauls, of Romans, sink into insignifi- 
 cance : for before it mountains of difficulty have been 
 removed and cast into the sea; it has burst open gates 
 of iron, has arrested the sun in its race, stopped the 
 course of the moon, muzzled raging lions, and quenched 
 the flames of fire ; it has mastered legions of passions, 
 quelled the turbulence of lust, overcome the world, driven 
 the devil to flight, and thrown open an entrance to the 
 palaces of heaven ! Be that faith yours, my brothers 
 and all the Zebas and Zalmunnas of fierce temptation 
 shall fall before you ; your life shall be spent to purpose : 
 and, like Gideon, you will serve your country and your 
 generation by the will of God. Good-night; and may 
 God give every one of you His blessing ! Amen. 
 
''LORD, I WILL FOLLOW THEE: BUT- 
 
'*Lord, I will follotb Thee: but * — LUKE ix. 
 
VI. 
 
 « LORD, I WILL FOLLOW THEE: BUT " 
 
 FINISH the verse, you say; complete the sentence. 
 No, I will not ; for it is of little matter what the 
 excuse or objection happen to be so long as some ** but " 
 block up the way, and render this excellent resolution 
 null. Probably, there is not one of you who has not, at 
 one time or another, under the influence of solemn im- 
 pressions, determined to be a Christian ; you have felt 
 the claims of religion ; you have vowed you would be a 
 disciple of Jesus ; but, just as you were about to pass the 
 Rubicon, and make an unconditional surrender of your- 
 self to Him, something held you back, and hindered you 
 from a full and final decision ; you said, '* Lord, I will 
 
 follow Thee: but " 
 
 I have reason to know that, at these monthly services 
 during the past year, many serious thoughts have been 
 awakened, and many holy purposes formed. It has been 
 my great privilege, month by month, to address a large 
 body of young men : and I thank God^for the evidence 
 that has been afforded that these addresses have not been 
 altogether in vain ; the Holy Spirit has been striving with 
 some of you, and awakening within you the earnest desire 
 to join yourselves to the Lord ; some of you have done 
 so, and found it the happiest step you ever took in life ; 
 but others of you are still undecided, delaying from month 
 
84 The City Youth, 
 
 to month the great and final issue; and, thereiore, I v/ant 
 this evening to gather up some of the difficulties and 
 objections that have blocked your way, and hurling them 
 to one side, to persuade you to settle the grand question 
 to-night ; not only forming the half resolution of our 
 text, but going further, and saymg, " Lord, why cannot I 
 follow Thee now ? " 
 
 If there are any young men here who discard the Bible, 
 reject Christianity, and throw contempt upon evangelical 
 religion, it is just as well that I should state at the outset 
 that they wdll have the opportunity of quietly retiring, for 
 I have little to say to them to-night. At another time I 
 shall be most happy to have an earnest talk with them, and 
 discuss some of the questions that trouble them ; but my 
 aim this evening is to address a few helping words to you 
 who fully acknowledge the claims of the Christian religion, 
 but by various influences are hindered and deterred from 
 a personal surrender to Christ. You w^ould follow Jesus, 
 only there is a " but " in the w^ay. You would join the 
 Church, take your place at the Lord's table, openly avow 
 your religion, and lead a truly Christian life, but there 
 is a something that keeps you back. Ah ! what multitudes, 
 besides the man who uttered these words of the text, have 
 had a mind to enter on a life of godliness, but have 
 stumbled at the very gate ! Do not Felix, and Agrippa, 
 and Simon Magus, and Demas, and others, stand up 
 before our eyes in Scripture as solemn warnings against 
 indecision ; men whose names appear on the sacred page 
 in connection with deep but fruitless convictions; re- 
 minding us of ships which, when night is spread upon 
 the sea — and from the shore we gaze out upon the breadth 
 of waters — emerge for a moment from the darkness as 
 they cross the quivering pathway of the moonbeams, and 
 then disappear for ever in the silent gloom Step for- 
 
''Lord, I will Follow Thee: but '* 85 
 
 ward then, and state your difficulties, that we may see 
 what they are worth. Out of a host I shall mention 
 five. 
 
 I. First, here comes a man who says, " Lord, I will 
 follow Thee ; but / want a little more enjoyment out of 
 life before I become a Christitnir His notion is that 
 religion is decidedly a melancholy affair, and that from 
 the moment that he becomes a follower of Christ, he 
 must bid adieu to all merriment and pleasure. 
 
 The idea is a total mistake, but it is exceedingly 
 prevalent, and keeps many a young person back from a 
 decided profession. I wish I could succeed — I often try 
 it — in persuading you, not only that you do not sacrifice 
 your happiness in joining the Lord's service, but that only 
 then do you begin to know what real happiness is. Only 
 then do you enter the realm of light and liberty. Secretary 
 Walsingham, an eminent statesman in the time of Queen 
 Elizabeth, in the latter period of his life, retired to a quiet 
 spot in the country. Some of his former gay associates 
 came to him, and made the remark that he was now 
 growing melancholy. *' Not melancholy," replied he, 
 *' but serious." The mistake of those frivolous courtiers 
 is precisely the mistake made by thousands, that of con- 
 founding seriousness with melancholy. The deepest joy 
 is serious, and being serious is stable. The noisy little 
 brook that babbles over the stones is dry in summer ; but 
 the deep river flows silently along, and alike in drought 
 and frost yields a plentiful supply. I do not wish merely 
 to repeat the commonplaces of the pulpit, and reiterate 
 w!iat has been said over and over again ; but, if there is 
 one of you who is holding off from a life of godliness, 
 under the impression that it is a demure and sad one, I 
 want to set you right to-night, and explode the silly 
 fallacy. You never were more completely victimised than 
 
86 The City Youth, 
 
 when the devil made you believe that life minus the fc^r 
 of God is happy. I turn the tables on you, and assf^rt-^ 
 backed by the declarations of this infallible Book; by 
 the testimony of thousands who, coming to Christ, have 
 been enfranchised with a joy they never knew before ; 
 and by the wailing confession ,of other thousands who, 
 rejecting religion, have found existence scarcely endurable 
 — that, so long as you stay out of the kingdom of Christ, 
 you can have no gladness worthy of the name. The 
 knowledge of the love of God in Jesus, the consciousness 
 of peace with heaven, the sweet hope of a blessed im- 
 mortality, the moral strength and courage which Divine 
 grace imparts ; these will do more to smooth the lines 
 of care from your brow, to give buoyancy to your heart, 
 and sparkle to your eye, and elasticity to your step, than 
 all the gay pleasures of the world put together. 
 
 Let me correct that expression, '* the pleasures of the 
 world." Satan has stolen it, and used it as a weapon 
 against religion. (I was alluding just now, of course, to 
 sinful, or at least frivolous, enjoyments.) The pleasures of 
 the world, I hold, are, strictly speaking, for Christians aloiie. 
 Suppose that a man of wealth buys a fine property, erects 
 a superb mansion, lays out beautiful grounds, stocks an 
 exquisite garden, and so forth ; does he then thrust his 
 own sons and daughters outside his demesne, and bid 
 strangers come and take the enjoyment of all } Certainly 
 not. He may, if he is large-hearted and generous, permit 
 strangers to enter, but he says, ''My children have the 
 first right here." So, God has furnished this world with 
 all that is pleasurable and beautiful in it, first for His 
 own children ; and if they do not avail themselves of 
 their right, it is their own fault. 
 
 Come along ; enumerate what you call the pleasures of 
 the world ; make out the inventory ; and when I have run 
 
^^ Lord, I will Follow Thee: but " 87 
 
 my eye down the list, and ticked off every one that is in 
 any way morally objectionable, I shall present you with a 
 splendid catalogue to which Christians have the first and 
 truest claim. Pleasures indoor, outdoor; pleasures rural 
 and urban ; pleasures of nature and art. I claim first of all 
 for Christian young men the exhilarating pleasures of the 
 tennis racket, and the croquet mallet, and the cricketer's 
 bat, and the golfer's club, and the angler's rod, and the 
 sportsman's gun, and the cyclist's steed. Where God- 
 fearing youth are assembled, let wit and hilarity abound, 
 and the shout of innocent laughter rend the air; let 
 heathful sports expand the chest and strengthen the 
 muscle ; let the graceful oar dip the stream, and the 
 evening tide be resonant of boatman's song, as the bright 
 prow splits the crystal billow. Away with the notion that 
 the pleasures of the world are denied to a believer ! There 
 is no single pleasure which a manly nature can relish 
 which is not permissible to a Christian. I repudiate with 
 scorn the idea that when a man begins to follow Christ, 
 he is p'uched, dwarfed, shut up. Rather is he enlarged, 
 cnnol)led, and bet free. I think, then, that I have disposed 
 of the first obj-^ction to your immediate entering on the 
 Chri.^tian life. 
 
 II. The next objector comes forward and says, "Lord, 
 I would follow Thee; but the nalwe of my business pre- 
 vc.'i/s lut-y I need not say that I am not picturing a 
 fanciful case ; again and again have persons come to 
 me, speaking in this way, " Sir, I feel the force of what 
 you say, and the duty of being a decided disciple of Christ ; 
 but, in point of fact, it is a sheer impossibility. One 
 must make his living ; and there are so many things in 
 the business I am in that are not altogether square and 
 correct, that I cannot play the Christian without acting 
 the hypocrite. I envy the man who can make money, 
 
88 The City YontL 
 
 and keep a clear conscience too ; but, unhappily, placed 
 as I am, that is impossible with me. I would follow 
 Christ, but my calling prevents me." 
 
 I am sorry to say that, were consciences generally as 
 tender as that young man's, most congregations in London 
 would lose a good many of their members. It is a sad 
 thing that the Poet Laureate of England should have 
 occasion to say — 
 
 *• Who but a fool would have faith 
 In a tradesman's ware or his word?" 
 
 Almost every day things are coming to light, which show 
 that with many manufacturers, mechanics, and traders, 
 there is one code of morality for home, and another for 
 the factory, office, or shop. Almost every article that can 
 be purchased for money engages the ingenuity of a class 
 of men who determine to make it yield its percentage of 
 imposture. What with the use of bad material in the 
 workshop, concealment of flaws in the execution, forging 
 of trade marks, adulteration, trickery in the sample-room, 
 knavery in the office, cheating on the part of small dealers, 
 and downright lying on the part of wholesale merchants 
 and agents, it is difficult to know what is genuine ; and 
 swindling has been elevated almost to the dignity of a 
 science. Somehow, the pottles do not always show the 
 same strawberries all the way down ; and it is not only 
 fruiterers that place their best goods on the surface. To 
 quote Lord Tennyson again — 
 
 " Chalk, and alum, and plaster are sold to the poor for bread, 
 And the spirit of murder works in the very means of life.'' 
 
 When you were little boys, you wrote on your copybooks, 
 in large round text, "Honesty is the best policy;" but, 
 now that you are men, you are asked to change the motto 
 for another, " It's all grist that comes to our mill." Well, 
 
^' Lord, I will Follow Thee: but '* 89 
 
 this being so, you do not find it easy, my brother, to be a 
 Christian. I do not wonder. God " desireth truth in ihe 
 inward parts." In tones of thunder He exclaims, ** Shall 
 I count them pure with the wicked balances, an.l with the 
 bag of deceitful weights } " In the six thousand years 
 that have passed since Adam's day, it has never once been 
 to a man's interest to do wrong. The smallest sin brings 
 its retribution. Be straightforward and fear not, though 
 the heavens should fall. When Adam Clarke was a young 
 man, his employer once bid him stretch short measure to 
 make it enough ; but his reply was, ** Sir, I can't do it ; 
 my conscience won't allow me." He lost his situation, 
 but God found him another. Now, I say to you, young 
 men, that, should there be any of you who are hindered 
 from religious decision, and from open profession of 
 Christ, by things in your business which conscience dis- 
 approves, your duty is clear, though it is very trying ; 
 make a change as fast as possible. It never pays in 
 the long run to have God against you. It all depends 
 on how your m^oney comes to you, v/hether it is better to 
 have it or to want it. Be sure of this, that character and 
 a good conscience are the best capital. If you have 
 a living to earn, remember that you have a soul to 
 save. 
 
 III. Number three starts up, and, in loud and self-assert- 
 ing tones, proclaims that he has a mind to be religious, 
 but docs not find that Christians are any better than other 
 piople. Til is is a polite way of hinting that they are 
 possibly a little worse. I met with a case in point only 
 the other day. I was visiting in the same house with a 
 man who had been under deep religious impressions, and 
 v.-as " almost persuaded," but he had been repelled by the 
 conduct of certain persons who bore the Christian name. 
 "They were the most unprincipled fellows I ever knew, 
 
QO The City Yoitth, 
 
 and their religion disgraced everything they touched." 
 Stop, my friend; say, "their hypocrisy disgraced every- 
 thing they touched:' To speak the truth, it was not their 
 religion, but their want of religion, that made them the 
 rogues and scamps they were. There is no man so unlike 
 Christ, and so far from Him, as the man of counterfeit 
 piety. But you must not condemn religion because of its 
 counterfeit. You would not throw away a good Bank of 
 England note because you once saw a forged one. If 
 religion were not a good thing, a valuable thing, men 
 would not try to counterfeit it. The counterfeit article 
 only proves the worth of the genuine. But you always 
 talk more about the former than about the latter. If there 
 is a bad shilling in the plate, all the worthy deacons must 
 have a good look at it, and make their remarks upon it ; 
 but the good shillings are passed over without notice. 
 And this because the bad ones are so rare as compared 
 to the genuine. If a religious man is mean, overbearing, 
 uncharitable, unmoral, everybody talks about him , but 
 if his conduct and life are in strict harmony with his 
 profession, no one thinks of making a remark. For this 
 reason, the bad specimens appear to be more numerous 
 than they really are; and the enemies of Christ make the 
 most of this fallacy. In this matter, the experience of 
 each of you is just as valuable, up to its measure, as 
 mine; but as an act of simple honesty, I am bound to 
 say, coming in contact as I do with all sotts and varieties 
 of men, that, though religious sneaks are to be met with, 
 they are a very small minority; and that by far the 
 finest characters I know — the most honourable, con- 
 scientious, liberal, large-hearted, benevolent men I ever 
 meet with — are decided followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 All other things being equal, a man will be more of a 
 gentleman by the fact of his being a Christian : he will be 
 
^^ Lord, I will Follow Thee: but " 91 
 
 a kinder master, a more trusty servant, a safer companion, 
 a better friend. If you have to take a two hundred miles' 
 journey by rail, I do not think you will select the vacant 
 seat in a carriage filled with betting men or infidels ; they 
 are not generally the most charming company; any one 
 out of that lot is more objectionable every way than all 
 the imperfect Christians you may meet with from Land's 
 End to John o' Groat's. Don't let the faultiness of some 
 professors, then, hinder you from deciding to follow 
 Christ. 
 
 IV. "I would be a Christian," says another, "but j'^« 
 knffw all these things are matters of mere speculation. 
 We cannot arrive at ceiiaiitty on the subject of religion^ 
 The objection is plausible, but it is shallow and insuffi- 
 cient. In reply, I have to say, first, that the evidence in 
 favour of Christianity is far stronger than that demanded 
 in respect to other matters w hich you daily accept, and in 
 which great interests are involved ; and in the second 
 place, that that evidence furnishes the fullest demonstra- 
 tion of which the nature of the subject admits. You 
 cannot have mathematical proof for moral subjects. You 
 cannot demonstrate the truth of the Gospel by chemical 
 experiments in a laboratory, or by a black-board and a 
 piece of chalk. There are presumptuous dolts who 
 deniand a kind of proof which in the nature of the Cdse is 
 impossible. It is only the ignorant and thoughtless who 
 imagine that moral evidence is necessarily inferior to what 
 is called mathematical proof. This sacred book corncs to 
 you as a revelation from God, and its divine origin is 
 sustained by the most conclusive, though moral, evidence. 
 Open your minds to that evidence, and the light will 
 stream into them. The difficulties into which you are 
 plunged by a rejection of the Gospel are vastly greater 
 than any which attend its acceptance : and the most 
 
92 The City Youth, 
 
 credulous of men are not those who bow their assent to 
 it, but those who believe it to be, from first to last, a 
 stupendous lie. No, sirs ; when you think of the varied, 
 mirltiplied, concurrent, cumulative evidences in favour of 
 the religion of Jesus ; evidence from fulfilled prophecy, 
 and established miracle; evidence from history, sacred 
 and profane ; evidence from monument and sculpture ; 
 from ancient manuscript and tradition ; from more than 
 sixty sacred books, written by some forty inspired authors ; 
 from millions of happy lives made bright and beautiful by 
 the Gospel, and millions of peaceful deaths, many of them 
 triumphant in the ecstasy which that Gospel inspired ; 
 when you see all these lines of evidence converging to one 
 focal point, how can you fail to bow in adoring reverence 
 before the truth thus confirmed and established, and yield 
 yourselves up to its transforming power ? 
 
 V. I am only to name another objection, and it is 
 perhaps the most insidious and fatal of all. " Lord, I 
 will follow Thee; but — there is no hurry; there is time 
 enough'' Remember, a resolution like that, though it 
 quiets conscience, is worth nothing. The purpose to 
 delay turns the very resolve into a sin. To carry out even 
 your best intentions, you need the grace and help of God ; 
 but that help will not be given to put into execution a 
 resolution that is itself sinful. If you say, **I.ord, I will 
 
 follow Thee : but " you only contradict yourself, for the 
 
 plain English of it is, ** Lord, I will not follow Thee." 
 Unless you are brought up to the point of immediate 
 decision; unless in the very moment of saying, '* I will 
 follow Thee," you rise up, and make the start on the 
 Christian life, the vow is utterly valueless. 
 
 Oh ! my brothers, I know not what fresh argument to 
 plead, what new illustration to employ. There are hearts 
 here that are hardening under these repeated appeals ; and 
 
*^ Lord, I ivill Follow Thee: but " 93 
 
 if they do not quickly yield, all spiritual feeling, all capacity 
 for holy resolve, shall be gone for ever. 
 
 Some time since, in a little watering-place in the west 
 of Scotland, I was pointed to a spot where, a few years 
 ago, a sad and strange incident had occurred. Several 
 workmen were engaged in calking the bottom of a vessel 
 that had been drawn up on the sandy beach. On a sudden 
 the cry was raised that the ship was listing over, and all the 
 men started to their feet, and hastened to escape — all but 
 one poor fellow, who was late in stirring, and the huge 
 hulk fell upon him, imprisoning his lower extremities and 
 loins, but leaving head and chest uninjured. At first it was -/ 
 thought there was little danger, for the ship rested gently 
 on him, and the sand was soft. So they tried to shore up 
 the vessel, and willing hands brought ropes, and blocks, 
 and wedges, and earnest strength. But they soon dis- 
 covered that the thing was impossible, from the nature of 
 the bottom. The man was jammed there, and they could 
 not extricate him. There was just one awful hour 
 before the advancing tide would cover him. Oh ! with 
 what agonising entreaty did he appeal to them to rescue 
 him. It was too late. He saw the tide of death approach- 
 ing, but he had not the power to rise and escape ; and 
 none could deliver him. Another hour ; and as the 
 vessel calmly rose and glided on the waters, the pale 
 corpse floating into shore seemed to preach the solemn 
 lesson, that even a few moments' delay may be fatal. 
 
 And so has it happened with many a soul, that, trifling 
 with his season of grace, has resolved to get up and follow 
 Christ at some future day ; but that day came, and he 
 could not stir ; all capacity for resolve had passed away ; 
 his heart was dead and motionless as a stone. If you 
 have but half a desire then to follow Christ, let no "■ buts " 
 block the way, those flimsy objections which drown so 
 
94 The City Youth. 
 
 many in perdition, and mal;e you the hiti of Satan's 
 ridicule : but instantly arise, and say with Peter (though 
 in a Divine strength that will not fail you), " Lord, why 
 cannot I follow Thee now ? I will lay down my life for 
 Thy sake." Amen. 
 
FEARING THE LORD JFROM ONE'S YOUTH. 
 
** ///iy servant fear the Lord from my youth:'— -l Kings xviil 12, 
 
VII. 
 
 FEARING THE LORD FROM ONE'S YOUTH. 
 
 IN these monthly addresses I have generally taken some 
 Scriptural illustration as the backbone of my subject, 
 At one time I have selected a good man as an example, 
 and at another time a bad man as a warning ; each is 
 useful in its way. There are times when you want a word 
 to encourage and stimulate ; and there are times when 
 you need a word to caution and deter. The Bible is a 
 wonderful book in this respect. All phases of human 
 character are here pourtrayed. Scarcely one of you who 
 may not here find his prototype ; and even among the 
 Scriptural names that are less known and talked about, there 
 are some that will quite repay your attention. 
 
 I fancy most of you know very little about the man who 
 uttered these words of our text — perhaps do not even know 
 his name. He is worth your study, notwithstanding. The 
 mere fact of his making this noble and manly declaration 
 awakens my interest in him. I feel that is a man I should 
 like to know something about. 
 
 Suppose, then, we take him for our subject this evening. 
 There are not less than twelve Obadiahs mentioned in the 
 Old Testament ; but the two most prominent are — (i) The 
 individual before us in this chapter, who was the king's 
 chamberlain in the reign of Ahab ; and (2) The author 
 of one of the minor prophecies, which bears his name. 
 
 7 
 
98 The City Youth. 
 
 According to Jewish tradition, these are the same person ; 
 Obadiah the chamberlain was also Obadiah the prophet. 
 But this appears to me to involve chronological discre- 
 pancies, and so I discard the notion. The said prophecy 
 is believed to have been written about six hundred years 
 before Christ ; but Ahab's reign occurred fully three cen- 
 turies earlier; so we may dismiss the idea that the person 
 before us was the inspired prophet who wrote so solemnly 
 of the judgments that were to fall upon Edom. 
 
 I am speaking to you to-night of a layman, not of an 
 ecclesiastic. We are taken into the court of one of the 
 vilest monarchs that ever sat on the throne of Israel. 
 Ahab's career shows us the depth of wickedness into which 
 a weak man may fall (even though not altogether devoid of 
 a conscience and of some good impluses) when he yields 
 himself to the guidance of another, and especially a woman 
 who is resolute and unscrupulous. We read of him in the 
 twenty-first chapter, that there was none like him, who 
 sold himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, 
 "whom Jezebel his wife stirred up." Unhappy man! 
 Solomon tells us, that "whoso findeth a wife, findeth a 
 good thing ; " but that all depends on the character of 
 the woman he has found. Many a man has had his heart 
 broken by a rib taken from his own side. Ahab was fool 
 enough to give his hand to the vilest female character 
 mentioned in sacred history. She was the Lady Macbeth 
 of that time ; and so great an influence did she acquire 
 over her husband, that the country was virtually under her 
 rule. This Jezebel was the daughter of Ethbaal, King of 
 Tyre, who had been a high-priest of goddess Astarte 
 (supposed by some to be the same as Venus), and, con- 
 sequently, had been trained up in one of the most debasing 
 forms of idolatry that ever cursed the earth. No doubt 
 she was a splendid, showy woman ; and Ahab, caught by 
 
Fearing the Lord from One' s Youth, 99 
 
 the glitter, fell into a fatal trap. I am afraid there is not 
 much use in giving advice on this subject, and yet — with 
 the wretched career of this ill-matched couple before us — 
 I am bound to cry, *' Beware ! " to any of you who are 
 attracted rather by style and beauty than by moral worth. 
 As might be supposed, this unscrupulous woman was a 
 fierce hater of the true religion, and violently persecuted 
 the prophets of Jehovah. It is not a little remarkable 
 that, whilst such wickedness and idolatry reigned at Court, 
 Obadiah, a pious man, and a devout worshipper of God, 
 should have possessed such influence with the king, as 
 to be able to retain his position and high office as Lord 
 Chamberlain or mayor of the palace. I have no doubt it 
 was in spite of his religion, and because, like Daniel at 
 the royal court of Babylon, he w^as found to be thoroughly 
 trustworthy and conscientious. It has often been a grand 
 testimony to Christianity, my' dear young men, that' even 
 those who have secretly detested and openly opposed it, 
 have been glad to have for their confidential servant, or 
 steward, or clerk, a sincere disciple of Jesus. Obadiah 
 used his influential position for good. Instead of sacrific- 
 ing his convictions and shelving his principles, as many 
 a man would have done, he remained true ; and gladly 
 availed himself of the opportunity which that position 
 afl"orded him, of throwing the shield of protection over the 
 Lord's persecuted prophets. At the risk of his own life, 
 he concealed a hundred of them in caves, and fed them 
 there with bread and water. And we are expressly told 
 that this action of his was the outcome of his fervent 
 piety ; it was because *' he feared the Lord greatly." 
 
 How great was the influence he possessed in high 
 places was shown during the terrible famine which 
 devastated Samaria. In the third year of that famine, 
 when nearly all the brooks and fountains were dried up 
 
lOO The City Youth, 
 
 through the long want of rain, and the horses and cattle 
 were perishing, the king arranged with Obadiah that they 
 should divide the land between them, and go in search of 
 any remnants of herbage that might still be found near 
 the beds of streams and springs, so as, if possible, to 
 preserve the beasts alive. Accordingly we read, "Ahab 
 went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way 
 by himself." Whilst on this solitary journey, whom 
 should he happen to meet but the great and awe-inspiring 
 prophet Elijah, who had disappeared from view since the 
 commencement of the famine, but now instructed Obadiah 
 to go direct to Ahab, and tell him, "Behold, Elijah is 
 here ! " Obadiah did not like this errand at all. He 
 thought it would seem as though there were some 
 collusion between himself and the mighty seer who was 
 so feared and detested at court, and that his own life 
 would fall a sacrifice. At the same time. he wished the 
 prophet to understand that he was unchanged in his 
 devotion to Jehovah, and would certainly do whatsoever 
 was required of him ; and, to show the genuineness of his 
 sincerity, he added these words of our text, " I thy servant 
 fear the Lord from my youth." 
 
 There are two valuable lessons we are to carry away 
 from these words of Obadiah. 
 
 And the first is, the importance of earty decision for God, 
 Our subject was not a particularly young man at this time : 
 that is plain from his language ; but his religious earnest- 
 ness had dated from early life. There are scores of fine 
 young fellows who fully intend to be Christians some day; 
 but they do not feel the pressing urgency of the claims 
 of religion; and so they don't come up to the point of 
 decision. They forget that even though their life should 
 eventually become thoroughly changed, it will be im- 
 mensely to their loss by-and-by that the change did not 
 
Feariiis^ the Loi'd from One s Youth. lOl 
 
 take place in youth. It is the bitter regret of many an old 
 Christian, and will be so to his dying day, that he only 
 began truly to fear the Lord when the best part of his life 
 was gone. Old Thomas Fuller, in his racy way, points 
 to three Old Testament characters, who respectively gave 
 their youth, their middle life, and their old age to God, 
 and, unhappily, gave Him no other part. Young King 
 Jehoash was a pious man only for the earlier years of his 
 life, wherein his uncle, Jehoiada, the priest, instructed 
 him. Jehu, bad in the beginning, and worse in the 
 end of his days, was in middle life an earnest worshipper 
 of Jehovah, and a zealous reformer. And IManasseh was 
 in youth and in middle life a gross idolater, filling Jeru- 
 salem with his wickedness ; but in the end of his days 
 he humbled himself, and became a true penitent. These 
 three together might yield material for one satisfactory 
 life. Take the morning, and rise then with Jehoash ; 
 the noon, and shine with Jehu ; the evening, and set with 
 IManasseh. Well, this appears to have been Obadiah's 
 method, for, just before he fades from our view, we find 
 him testifying that he had *' feared the Lord from his 
 youth." It was a favourite idea, a hobby in short, of 
 that singular and austere sage Thomas Carlyle, that a 
 select few of cur race are to be set up for the admiration 
 and iniitation of the rest : and though, no doubt, the 
 Chelsea philosopher pushed it too far (as he was in the 
 habit of doing with most ideas that possessed him), the 
 notion is a sound and scriptural one. The Bible teaches 
 as much by example as by precept, and it seems to me 
 that the grand lesson of Obadiah's life — and it is but a 
 very brief biography we have — is the unspeakable value 
 to a man, all through his career, of starting with fixed 
 religious principles, and sticking to them at all hazards. 
 With such a dissolute queen as Jezebel upon the throne, 
 
I02 The City Youth. 
 
 and such an unprincipled weakling as Ahab for king, the 
 influences around the youth must have been as bad as 
 bad could be ; yet he set the Lord ever before him, and 
 sternly resisted the temptations that assailed him. 
 
 His piety took the complexion of an awe-inspiring sense 
 of a personal God. It is important, my brothers, to notice 
 this. We all know that religion presents itself in different 
 individuals under somewhat different aspects, though in 
 each case equally genuine. But, I do think, there is no 
 form in which it is more valuable to a young man than 
 that of a profound and all-pervading sense of the personal 
 presence of God, and of our accountability to Him. The 
 most bold and brazen-faced infidel I ever encountered 
 said to me, when our conversation ended, ''Though I 
 deny all those things you believe, I frankly tell you I can 
 never get over a feeling deep withm my heart that there 
 is some one somewhere to whom I am accountable." 
 When this feeling is under the direction of true religion, 
 it is the most wholesome force by which a man's life can 
 be guided. It was this thought that proved so powerful a 
 factor in Joseph's life, and kept him back from sins into 
 which otherwise he would have fallen. I know (for you 
 have told me) that some of you are at times terribly tempted. 
 Though friends think you guileless and innocent, there is 
 not a ditch of wickedness so foul, that you have not almost 
 fallen into it. Positively, you have been on the verge of 
 moral suicide. And, what was it that, more than anything 
 else, held you back from the pit of pollution } It was the 
 felt presence of a personal God. When men abandon this 
 ground, and, carried away by the teachings of modern 
 materialism, think of the Deity only as the great presiding 
 force in nature, there is no longer any sound basis of 
 morality or virtue. 
 
 When that singular man, Joseph Barker, whose life has 
 
Fearing the Lord from One^s Youth, 103 
 
 recently been published, was lecturing against Christianity 
 he found this to be true. He says, " Often when 1 came 
 to be acquainted with the men who had invited me to 
 lecture, I was ashamed to be seen standing with them in 
 the streets, and I shrunk from the touch of their hand as 
 from pollution." " When I saw their character," he goes 
 on to say, ** it went far towards convincing me that, 
 whether religion was founded in truth or not, it was 
 necessary to the virtue and happiness of mankind. It 
 prepared me still further to return to Christ, and brought 
 me a step or two nearer to His side." 
 
 I quite believe, if you will allow me to say so, that some 
 of you, who would hardly venture to call yourselves real 
 Christians, are most favourably inclined towards religion, 
 only you will not come up to the point of a full and absolute 
 decision. But this is just where your danger lies : for these 
 half-religious feelings are apt to satisfy you, whilst, until 
 you have actually given your hand to Christ, you are as 
 absolutely unsaved as if you were a railing infidel. Oh ! 
 my brothers, get out of your mind the idea that there is 
 anything weak or eileminate in being on the Lord's side. 
 In your deepest soul you do not believe that lie of the 
 scoffer. Thank God, there is a correspondence between 
 your inmost conscience and the teachings of the Bible that 
 you cannot get over, a concurrence between the breast and 
 the Book, which tells that He who inspired the one inspired 
 the otl 3r. Long ages ago Tertullian wrote, " Testimonium 
 animce naturaliter ChristianDs" — "The testimony of the 
 soul is naturally Christian ; " in other words, the Gospel, 
 and it alone, meets and answers the long pent-up, inarti- 
 culate sigh of our burdened humanity. Dr. Livingstone, 
 speaking of the races he found in the heart of Africa, said, 
 "Why fine-looking men like these should be so Jow in the 
 moral scale, can only be attributed to the non-introduction 
 
I04 The City Youth, 
 
 of that religion which makes those distinctions among 
 men, which phrenology and other ologies cannot explain. 
 The religion of Christ is unquestionably the best for man. 
 I refer to the comprehensive faith which has spread more 
 widely over the world than most people imagine ; and 
 Ml.o.e votaries, of whatever name, are better men than 
 any outside the pale." I want to-night, with the help of 
 God, to prevail on some of you to come over at once from 
 the region of hesitancy to that of decision ; and I shall 
 regard my sermon as an utter failure, should no one here 
 be thus persuaded. You are in the foaming rapids of 
 temptation, hurrying you down (though you know it not) 
 to certain ruin, and you are working away with a broken 
 oar ; if God Almighty do not help you, you will go under, 
 and be lost. To-night there is thrown over to you a stout 
 cable that never yet has snapped : " Believe on the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." 
 
 The second lesson we carry away with us from the 
 text is, the importance of courage in openly avozving our 
 religious decision. The first thing is to have sound prin- 
 ciples ; and the second thing is not to be ashamed of 
 them. We all know young men who are more than half 
 disposed to come over to the side of Christ, but they can't 
 make up their minds to encounter the opposition, and 
 chafQng, and ridicule which they know they should have 
 to meet with. Well, I do not altogether wonder. Even 
 the Apostle Peter was frightened out of his profession, 
 and winced before a servant girl ! It is about the greatest 
 trial to which a man's faith can be subjected, to have to 
 stand the sneers and jeers and banter of ungodly com- 
 panions. But if we are satisfied that the teachings of tlie 
 Christian religion are true, it is a sheepish and unmanly 
 thing to reject them because we are afraid of being teased 
 or laughed at. Obadiah's piety must oftep have put his 
 
Fearing the Lord from One's Youth, 105 
 
 life in danger; but, for all that, he did not disavow his 
 faith in Israel's God. At the very time when the high- 
 handed queen was trying to root up the worship of Jehovah 
 out of the land, and to put to death all who abetted it, we 
 are told that " he feared the Lord greatly/' Ay, the fear 
 of God took away every other fear. The best way to 
 get over the dread of opposition or ridicule, is to have 
 the constant feeling that God Himself is at your side, 
 looking upon you, pleased when you confess Him, grieved 
 when you disown Him. 
 
 Besides, all the chaffing and opposition will soon spend 
 itself if you are firm. It is when you quake, or cower, or 
 wince a little, or lose your temper, or apologise, or try to 
 compromise, that the enemy becomes most insolent. Don't 
 yield an inch ; and he will soon hold his tongue. The 
 man who scoffs at another's religion is generally a most 
 contemptible coward. In his soul he knows he is in the 
 wrong box, and that makes him weak. It was a remark- 
 able saying of the Duke of Wellington, that *Mn war the 
 moral is to the physical as ten to one." That is to say, 
 that, if the soldiers know and feel in their conscience that 
 right is on their side, they are ten times as brave as when 
 they are not very sure about it. I don't want to touch on 
 politics, but I do believe that this has something to' do 
 with some of those rather shameful repulses which, within 
 the last year or two, our troops have met with in different 
 parts of the world. Well, when you know you are stand- 
 ing on sure ground, you can afford to despise the shots 
 that are fired at you by godless men. Nay, more, the fact 
 is, it is a great help to you, if your faith is genuine, to 
 meet with a little opposition at times. A man is none the 
 worse a Christian for having occasionally to stand up for 
 his principles. It makes your religion more real, and 
 gives you greater confidence in its power. 
 
io6 The City Youth, 
 
 And this explains what many a young man has said to 
 me, " Sir, I have found it to be an immense advantage to 
 me as a Christian to be a member, a communicant of the 
 Church. I have felt that I was committed to the side of 
 Christ, and it has emboldened me to resist temptation." 
 
 I wish that some of you dear fellows would look at the 
 matter in this light. You used to go to the Lord's table, 
 but you have given it up. It doesn't say much for a man's 
 inner life when this is the case. Perhaps your certificate 
 of church membership is lying at the bottom of your desk, 
 unused. Our own church-books tell us of young men who 
 came for some months to the sacrament, and then gave 
 it up. I Avould not utter one reproachful word. No doubt 
 your conscience forbade you to come ; and if it was so, it 
 w^ould have been a far graver sin to partake. But, you 
 don't need me to tell you that is not a satisfactory state to 
 live in. Far from it. And it grows upon one. This is 
 just the way many lapse back into practical heathenism. 
 They do not mean to, but they get on the incline, and 
 slip down imperceptibly. Oh, it is a grand thing to see 
 a man taking his stand as a pronounced and thorough 
 Christian, and meeting all the solicitations of vice and 
 assaults of ridicule with the manly declaration of Obadiah, 
 ** I fear the Lord from my youth." 
 
 This word has a special application to some of you. I 
 nevLT knew a church like this for drafting men off in scores 
 to all parts of the world. Nay, the hundreds of young men 
 who have passed through this congregation, and are now 
 juivhing their fortunes in one or other of the British colonies, 
 the number I say is surprising. I am told that in South 
 Africa there is a well-doing batch of young men, who are 
 thiuking of calling themselves " The Colebrooke Colony." 
 God bless them, every one ! I am sure they could not 
 say in the words of Barrington, ** Be it understood, we left 
 
Fearirjg the Lord from One s Youth, 107 
 
 our country for our country's good ; " for we miss them 
 much, and were loth to part with them ; but, if it is for 
 the good of those distant regions, we shall be reconciled 
 to the loss. I believe that some of them have had, and 
 that some of you will have, nearly as difficult a part to act 
 as Obadiah had at the Court of Queen Jezebel. But oh, 
 for a faithful and courageous testimony ! It is a grand 
 opportunity that God gives you. It is some of our very 
 best young men that get these important openings 
 abroad ; and I suppose we ought to be thankful for it, 
 for they spread the good seed far and wide. I know that 
 some who have gone to the ends of the earth ** feared 
 the Lord greatly " whilst they were here ; nor have I a 
 doubt, that they are true to their principles still, and in 
 the spirit of Christian heroism, are never ashamed to say 
 to the tempter, ** I fear the Lord from my youth." God 
 help you all to be thus faithful and true 1 
 
 In this crowded audience, there are sure to be some who 
 have not yet begun to "fear the Lord." If you do not 
 look sharp, youth will soon be gone, and you will never be 
 able to make this text your own. Dear brothers, I want 
 to get hold of one or two of you to-night. Your life will 
 never be right till your heart is right with God. No out- 
 ward moral patching will do. You want a new principle 
 within you, and that is faith in Christ as your Saviour. I 
 Gall on you now to believe in Him, who has taken away 
 the guilt of all who put their sole trust in Him. Here is 
 the only guarantee of a pure, moral, noble life. Through 
 rejecting Him, hundreds are every year falling a prey to 
 vice, and sinking down to hopeless ruin. Oh, if Athens 
 of old grudged her seven young men, who (according to 
 the legend) were yearly chosen by lot out of her citizens 
 to be devoured by the monster Minotaur ; if she grudged 
 this yearly sacrifice, and the whole city was kept in 
 
io8 The City Youth, 
 
 constant fright, not knowing on whom next the fatal lot 
 would fall ; I say, if Athens stood appalled at the sight 
 of seven of her young men being every year consigned to 
 destruction, how ought London to stand aghast at the 
 thought, not of seven, but, I fear, of seventy times seven, 
 who every year are sacrificed on the altars of Bacchus, 
 and Venus, and Plutus, and other false gods that steal the 
 heart from Jehovah ! As many an Athenian parent, 
 according to the story, used to look upon his sons with 
 tears of yearning love, wondering if it were possible that 
 one of them would next fall a prey to the insatiable 
 demon ; so, to-night, I look around me on this goodly 
 company, and knowing that Obadiah's method is your 
 only security against the countless snares that beset you 
 in this city, I beseech you all to be worshippers of the 
 one living and true God, and to meet all the assaults of 
 the tempter and the sneers of the scoffer with the firm 
 and decisive reply, ** I fear the Lord from my youth." 
 Amen. 
 
PAWS SISTER'S SON. 
 
^ PauPs stsUr's son."— Acts win. i6. 
 
VIII. 
 
 PAUVS SISTER'S SON. 
 
 YOU see we have not yet exhausted the young men of 
 Scripture. It would be strange if we were to pass 
 over without notice the smart and plucky youth who saved 
 the life of the Apostle Paul. To the promptness and 
 courage of that nameless lad, the Christian Church, ay, 
 the world, owes more than it will ever be able to express. 
 
 But for him, in all human likelihood, the Apostle would 
 have been massacred. He would have been cut off in 
 the midst of his usefulness, and before his great life 
 work was half done. 
 
 Moreover, we should have had the misfortune to be 
 deprived of some of his noblest Epistles, which were 
 written subsequent to the date of the event before us. 
 
 There is no story in Bible -narrative which may not teach 
 something; let us see whether this may not yield us a few 
 wholesome lessons. 
 
 We do not know much of Paul's nephew ; in fact, we 
 know nothing more of him than is recorded in this pas- 
 sage ; but the little that we do know is worth thinking 
 over. Of the family of the Apostle we have no informa- 
 tion of an authentic character beyond this — that he had 
 a married sister resident in Jerusalem. As Paul had been 
 brought up in the straitest sect of Judaism, *' a Hebrew 
 of the Hebrews," ** the son of a Pharisee," we may take 
 
112 The Ci!y Youth, 
 
 for granted that this lady belonged to the same class of 
 religionists ; and, as neither she nor her family are once 
 mentioned by her brother, and as, moreover, during his 
 visits to Jerusalem he seems never to have put up at her 
 house, we may fairly presume that she stuck to the ritual 
 of her Jewish fathers, and had no sympathy whatever with 
 the new-born Christian religion. It is possible she thought 
 her brother a dangerous heretic and revolutionist, and 
 deplored the course he was pursuing. But *' blood is 
 thicker than water," and her natural affection was stirred 
 by a rumour that reached her, that a plot was being hatched 
 for his assassination. 
 
 How did this come about ? 
 
 The exasperation of the Jewish rabble against Paul was 
 fierce and wild in the extreme. They were positively mad 
 in their rage against him. ** Men of Israel, help ! " they 
 had shrieked aloud ; " this is the man that teacheth all 
 men everywhere against the people, and the law, and the 
 temple ; ay, and that has dared to bring Greeks into the 
 temple, and pollute the holy place." " Away with him ! " 
 they cried ; ** Away with such a fellow from the earth ! 
 for it is not fit that he should live." 
 
 Nay, as though they were a company of maniacs escaped 
 from Bedlam, they tore off their clothes, and threw dust 
 into the air, and were ready to pull the accused man to 
 pieces Through the moderation, however, of the chief 
 captain Lysias, he was rescued from the infuriated mob. 
 
 A detachment of soldiers was sent down to snatch him 
 from their hands, and to bring him to the one spot in 
 Jerusalem where he would be perfectly safe, the castle or 
 barracks of Fort Antonia. It was whilst he was there, 
 under the protection of Claudius Lysias, that a base con- 
 spiracy was formed to get rid of him. A sad picture 
 indeed it gives us of the state of Jewish thought and feeling 
 
Paulas Sister^ s Son, 113 
 
 at that period, that, amongst men who professed to be 
 zealous for religion, such a plot was possible ; and not only 
 this, but that it met with the covert approbation of a por- 
 tion of the Sanhedrim. Forty determined men entered 
 into a solemn compact, bound themselves with an oath, 
 that not one of them would touch food until Paul should 
 be slain. But how were they to get at his person } Their 
 ingenuity was equal to the occasion. 
 
 Going to those of the priests and elders whom they 
 knew to be bitterly hostile to Paul, they disclosed to them 
 the secret, and secured their co-operation. These priests 
 and elders were to persuade the council, or Sanhedrim, of 
 which they formed a part, to send a polite message to the 
 castle, requesting the commandant to bring down Paul to 
 them on the morrow, that more full inquiry might be made 
 about him. Meanwhile the conspirators would be lying 
 in wait, and at a fitting opportunity they would rush forth 
 and put him to death. 
 
 But a secret known to upwards of forty persons, and 
 demanding the complicity of a good many more, was likely 
 to ooze out. In some way or other it reached the ear of 
 the Apostle's sister; and I can quite understand how it 
 would do so, if she was, as I have conjectured, herself a 
 bigoted Pharisee. She just caught a whisper of the fact, 
 that a huge conspiracy had been concocted to get rid of 
 her brother ; and that, on his way down from the castle 
 to the Sanhedrim to-morrow, he was to be assassinated. 
 There was no time to be lost. It was not easy for herself 
 personally to thwart the plot, but she had a son, active and 
 obliging, and in God's providence he was the means of 
 saving his uncle's life. Hastening off to Fort Antonia, 
 he found access to his relative, who, though in military 
 custody, was not just now exactly a prisoner; and he 
 acquainted him with the facts of the case. 
 
 8 
 
114 ^/^^ ^^(y Youth, 
 
 If ever man had a cool head on his shoulders it was the 
 Apostle Paul. His good sense was equal to the occasion. 
 It is perfectly true that within the past twenty-four hours 
 the Lord had appeared to him in a vision, and assured 
 him of his safety. He had cheered the heart of His 
 servant by telling him that, as he had borne testimony 
 for his Master in Jerusalem, so would he also do in Rome. 
 It was clear, therefore, from this, that the murderous con- 
 spiracy would be foiled. 
 
 But Paul quite understood that the Divine purposes 
 and promises are consistent with human efforts, nay, 
 imply the faithful use of means. The heavenly assurance 
 he had obtained only encouraged him to take what 
 *seemed the wisest steps for his own safety. So, imme- 
 diately sending for one of the centurions of the garrison, 
 he requested him to conduct his nephew to the chief 
 captain, as he had something of importance to tell him. 
 With a soldier's promptness and generosity the man did 
 as he was asked. ** Here is a young man," said he to 
 Lysias, the chief captain, " whom Paul wishes me to 
 introduce to you, as he has some matter of consequence 
 to communicate." 
 
 Lysias was one of those affable, frank, kind, open- 
 hearted men, with whom at once you feel perfectly at 
 home. In the heartiest way he took the lad by the hand 
 (noticing, perhaps, that he was a little shy or nervous in 
 the presence of so high a functionary), and drew him 
 aside into a quiet corner, asking him, *' What is it you 
 have to say to me?" 
 
 The youth told him all the facts that had come to the 
 knov.ledge of himself and his mother ; and asked him, in 
 the event of the Jews requesting him to bring down Paul 
 on the morrow to the council, not to yield to their request. 
 Lysias was sharp enough, in a moment, to grasp the 
 
Paur s Sister* s Son, 1 15 
 
 situation, and make up his mind as to the course he 
 should pursue. 
 
 ** Don't tell anybody that you have seen me," said he to 
 his young informant : ** keep the matter quiet ; and I will 
 secure your uncle's safety." 
 
 Thereupon, letting the lad depart, he ordered two 
 hundred soldiers to be equipped, seventy cavalrymen, and 
 two hundred lancers or spearmen. ** Have them ready 
 at nine o'clock this very night," he said to two of the 
 centurions. The thing was done. At nine o'clock that 
 night, had you been in Jerusalem, you might have dimly 
 descried in the darkness the heavy gates of the Antonian 
 barracks rolled back, and a cavalcade issuing therefrom 
 into the silent streets, in the centre of which was Paul 
 mounted on horseback, with a long and dreary ride of 
 thirty-five miles before him. This would bring him to 
 Antipatris, where they were to halt and rest a fev/ hours, 
 pushing on next day to Csesarea, where the Governor 
 Felix had his official residence, to whom Lysias was 
 sending Paul. 
 
 I need not further pursue the story ; for I have brought 
 these details before you just for the purpose of bringing 
 out in clear relief the valuable services which this young 
 man rendered to the Apostle, entitling him to the heart- 
 felt gratitude of the Christian Church of all after ages. 
 
 Our subject this evening you m.ay think not quite so 
 instructive and interesting as usual, but I am sure this 
 youth is mentioned for a purpose ; and I mean to take 
 away four practical thoughts from the narrative. 
 
 I. First, we learn that hiunhle and nameless individuals 
 are sometimes of great service in the ivorld. There are 
 anonymous ministries in life that are of unspeakable 
 importance. The agent is unknown or forgotten, but the 
 
Ii6 The City Youth. 
 
 deed lives for ever. Many a well-known name stands out, 
 even on the page of Scripture, whose owner never rendered 
 any service to society that can for a moment compare with 
 the act of this nameless Jewish lad. The youthful form of 
 "Paul's sister's son" appears for a moment out of the dark- 
 ness ; and then at once relapses into the darkness again. 
 
 As ships meet during night at sea, a moment together 
 when words of greeting are spoken, and then off and away, 
 never to cross each other's path again; as a figure appears 
 upon the canvas of a moving panorama, for an instant 
 arresting every eye, and then glides past, never to be 
 looked on more ; so, in the page of history, and so in our 
 own observation, some individuality suddenly appears in 
 the foreground, and fills an important mission, and then 
 as quickly vanishes, and is forgotten. 
 
 I put the question only last week to an intelligent Chris- 
 tian person who is well acquainted with the Bible : " Do 
 you remember what an unspeakably valuable service was 
 rendered to the Church of Christ by a nephew of St. Paul, 
 in saving the life of the great Apostle } " The reply was, 
 ** I do not recollect the mention of any such person in 
 Scripture." (The narrative before us had clearly made 
 but little impression on that mind.) Well, perhaps, some 
 of you are at times tempted to a feeling of discouragement, 
 because you are never likely to occupy a position of 
 prominence or distinction. 
 
 Outside of your own family your name is not known, 
 nor ever likely to be. You are destined to a place of 
 obscurity. 
 
 Never mind that, my friend. You may do splendid 
 work for society, and for the Lord, though your name is 
 seldom heard. The craving for notoriety, the desire to 
 have your name in every one's mouth, is often a serious 
 drawback to real usefulness. i\Iany a noisy and fussy 
 
PauPs Sisters Son. 117 
 
 philanthropist, whose personality is constantly thrust before 
 the public, is doing a far less solid and valuable work, 
 than some quiet and unobtrusive Christian labourer, who 
 is toiling amid the neglected children of our lanes and 
 slums. We take a very superficial view of human life, if 
 we do not see that many of the men the world can least 
 spare are those whose sphere is in the background, and 
 whose names are rarely heard of. 
 
 It has often been said, that there are few things better 
 fitted to humble a young man than to be thrown into this 
 great world of London ; for, however conspicuous he may 
 have been in the country town or village he came from, 
 here he is at once lost in the mighty throng. 
 
 And yet, if a man has anything in him, any latent 
 energy and *' stuff," and especially if he has the grace of 
 God, it is certain he will not be long without finding scope 
 for its exercise ; and often the opening turns up in the 
 most unlooked-for quarter. I will undertake at any 
 moment to bring you a modest lad, doing good philan- 
 thropic work, rescue work, in one of our poor mission 
 districts, who, in the sight of God and of all wise men, is 
 worth fifty of your idle vulgar " swells," who imagine that 
 all men admire them, and that all women are in love with 
 them, and who are positively not worth the food and 
 oxygen they consume. 
 
 II. The next thing I wish to point out to you from 
 this story is the value of promplness in action. Had the 
 youth before us paused an hour or two, in all human 
 certainty the Apostle would have been slain. The value 
 of his act lay in the ready smartness with which he did it. 
 Off instanter to the castle, the moment he hears of the 
 dark plot that has been formed. It is a life-long dis- 
 advantage to many a youth that he is so slow and lethargic 
 in his movements. 
 
Ii8 The City Youth. 
 
 In these busy days in which we live time means money ; 
 and the young fellow who looks as though he were half- 
 asleep, and cannot spring at once to the call of duty, will 
 be left far behind by his more agile companion, who docs 
 with promptness and despatch whatever work is committed 
 to him. 
 
 The proverb, " Slow and sure," sound though it often 
 is, is responsible for a good deal of wasted time ; for there 
 is many a case in which "prompt and sure" would be a 
 wiser adage. 
 
 Sir Walter Scott, when writing on one occasion to a 
 young man who had just obtained a situation, gave this 
 good advice : '* Beware of a propensity which easily besets 
 you — I mean what women call dawdling. Let your motto 
 be Hoc age. Do instantly whatever is to be done, and 
 take your recreation after business, never before it." 
 
 Remember, my friends, dispatch does not mean hurry. 
 Hurry is the mark of a weak mind, dispatch of a strong 
 one. 
 
 When a regiment is under march, the rear are some- 
 times thrown into confusion because the front are lazy 
 and irregular ; so the whole arrangements in a house of 
 business may be retarded and thrown out of gear, be- 
 cause the lads who do the initial work are trifling and 
 dilatory. 
 
 The dawdler, indeed, is generally more of a hindrance 
 than a help ; like a squirrel in a revolving cage, he has 
 the appearance of being busy, but accomplishes no 
 results ; has a hundred irons in the fire, but few of them 
 are hot, and with the few that are he only burns his 
 fingers. 
 
 It is said of one who came to great distinction in the 
 House of Commons, that the first occasion of his opening 
 his mouth in that assembly was when, as quite a young 
 
Paulas Sister's Sun. 119 
 
 man, he rose and gave prompt expression to his views on 
 some question that was before the House. 
 
 He sat down nervous, and ; fraid he had made a 
 bUinder. In a few minutes a little piece of paper was 
 handed to him with two words written on it by the 
 greatest statesman of the day ; and these words were : 
 ♦' You'll do." 
 
 The incident yielded him so much stimulus and en- 
 couragement that he retained that morsel of paper as one 
 of his greatest treasures ; it was preserved as an heirloom 
 in the family ; and to-day may be seen in the hall of the 
 mansion, handsomely mounted and framed, pointing the 
 lesson to all young men who enter, to be prompt, decisive, 
 and courageous : " You'll do." 
 
 There is no reason in the world why this promptness 
 of action should be associated, as I believe it often is, 
 with sharp practice and an indifferent morale ; no reason 
 why the most godly, trustworthy, and conscientious young 
 men should sometimes be the most slow and lethargic. 
 We live in a prompt universe, and all through the handi- 
 work of God we find that time is kept to a second. Every 
 world sweeps round its orbit without loss of a single 
 moment ; there is no such lesson in punctuality as astro- 
 nomy teaches. 
 
 This is just another way of saying that God Himself is 
 prompt and punctual. 
 
 Imitate Him ; fall in line with the stars ; what your 
 hands find to do, do it with your might. 
 
 I am the more anxious to impress this upon you, 
 because, to speak frankly, there is an epidemic of laziness 
 abroad, and I meet even with young men who have caught 
 the infection. Sheer unwillingness to work. A horror 
 of anything like sustained exertion. Look down the 
 advertisement columns of the newspapers, and how often 
 
I20 The City Youth. 
 
 you will read, "A young man desires a light situation.* 
 Ward Beecher got a letter from such a youth, asking him 
 to find him an easy berth. He replied as follows : — 
 
 *' If you wish an easy berth don't be an editor. Do not 
 try the law. Do not think of the ministry. Avoid school- 
 keeping. Let alone all ships, stores, shops, merchandise. 
 Abhor politics. Don't practise medicine. Be not a 
 farmer nor mechanic ; neither be a soldier nor sailor. 
 Don't work. Don't study. Don't think ; none of these 
 are easy. Oh, my friend, you have come into a hard world. 
 I know of but one easy place in it, and that is the 
 grave I " 
 
 But, to return to our subject, I remark, 
 
 III. That there is here pleasing evidence of the play 
 of natural affection. The promptness of the youth is 
 notable, as indicated in the sixteenth verse. The instant 
 he heard of the conspiracy against Paul he went straight 
 to the castle to see if it could be thwarted ; but I do not 
 think it was any sympathy with the Christian cause that 
 stirred him, 
 
 I have already given you my reasons for believing that 
 his mother and he were stiff Judaists of the straitest sect 
 of Pharisees. We know that the family were so. Paul 
 tells us there was not a more bigoted man on earth than 
 he himself once was. Indeed, he confesses he was simply 
 ** mad " against the Christians, and was exceedingly 
 *' zealoas for the traditions of his fathers." St. Luke says, 
 *' He made havoc of the Church," and " breathed out 
 threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the 
 Lord." What he himself had once been in feeling and 
 conviction, his sister and her family were still. They 
 would have nothing to do with him. They would not 
 have him to their house. 
 
 But the rumour of a base attack upon his person 
 
Paul's S'sfers Son. 121 
 
 touched the tender chords of their hearts. Natural alTcc- 
 tion triumphed over the bitterness of religious animosity. 
 
 The chivalrous spirit of the young man was roused ; 
 and, by all means, his uncle must be saved from the plot 
 that had been laid for him. 
 
 We applaud the lad for this. He was better than his 
 creed. It was a fine trait of character, this loving concern 
 for his relative. No doubt he imperilled his own safety 
 in exerting himself for that of Paul. Perhaps the Apostle 
 had him in mind when, subsequently, he wrote to Timothy, 
 ** If any have children or nephews, let them learn first 
 to show piety at home." His own nephew set a good 
 example. 
 
 Without venturing to be too personal, I may just throw 
 out the hint that, possibly, some of you might do well to 
 take a leaf out of his book. I have known men who, 
 when they got on a bit, seemed to forget that they had 
 any relatives in the world. As the chief butler, in the 
 story in Genesis, when he himself was lifted up to a high 
 position in Pharaoh's household, forgot all about Joseph, 
 who was still bound in prison ; so, to the shame of our 
 poor human nature, it has too often happened that pro- 
 sperity and success have eaten out the finer feelings, and 
 developed a detestable selfishness. God forbid that any 
 of you should ever disregard the ties of birth and blood, or 
 " hide yourselves from your own flesh." There is not 
 a finer sight to be looked upon —and I am glad to tell you 
 I have often seen it here — than a young man who has got 
 on well in the world sending substantial help to a widowed 
 mother, or taking in hand the education of a younger 
 brother, or saving so much from his weekly wage < r 
 quarter's salary, to help some other relative who was in 
 need. Verily I say unto you, such a man shall in no wise 
 lose his reward. 
 
122 The City Youth, 
 
 IV. I would like to say one thing moie before I close. 
 The narrator of this whole story, you are aware, was 
 St. Luke ; and Dr. Farrar, I see, infers from the fulness 
 of the details that St. Luke received the full account from 
 the youth himself. Of course, he was the only person 
 who could relate what passed between the Apostle and 
 himself at the interview in the castle ; but sure I am, that 
 Paul, who did not hesitate to turn his lodging into a place 
 of worship, and his prison-cell into a sanctuary, would not 
 let his nephew go ivithout speaking to him about his soul. A 
 natural diffidence, perhaps, would prevent the lad repeat- 
 ino- it ; but, let us hope the word was blest to his en- 
 lightenment and salvation. Paul's rule was to be *' instant 
 in season, out of season," to .seize every opportunity, to 
 bear testimony for Christ, " in the palace, and in all other 
 places ; " and who can doubt that he used his endeavour 
 to bring his own sister's son to Jesus } But, what the 
 issue was, we do not know. A man may have every 
 natural amiability, and yet be unsaved. Even kinship 
 with the greatest of the apostles will not save a soul. 
 
 There must be a personal knowledge of, and devotion 
 to Him for whom Paul was willing to suffer the loss of 
 all things, even of life itself, that he might but advance 
 His kingdom. There must be genuine self-surrender to 
 the living Christ 
 
 Oh, what a grand day will it be for our country, when 
 the great body of her sons, disccirding the follies and 
 indiscretions of youth, shall rise to the dignity of a 
 Christian manhood, and bear aloft the unsullied standard 
 of t]-uth and righteousness! 
 
 Mere political power and material pro'^perity, upheld 
 and guided by no spiritual forces, and allying themselves 
 to none of the higher elements of our nature, will only 
 sink their worshippers deeper in a hopeless abyss. But, 
 
PauPs Sister'' s Son, 1 23 
 
 let these be linked with a pure and living Christianity ; 
 let the teachings of this deathless Book be interwoven 
 with all our commerce and legislation ; then may we 
 augur brighter days for the land of our fathers, when 
 
 every wrong shall be redressed, and every sore be healed ; 
 
 • 
 
 *' When crime shall cease, and ancient fraud shall fail, 
 Returning justice lift aloft her scale; 
 Peace o'er the realm her olive wand extend, 
 And white-robed innocence from Heaven descend." 
 
 The Lord hasten it in His time. Amen. 
 
" WHOSE SOiV ART THOU. YOUNG MAN?** 
 
** Whose son artihoti, young man? ''—I Samuel xvil £8, 
 
IX. 
 
 « WHOSE SON ART THOU, YOUNG MAN?'* 
 
 THE curtain rises upon a scene that occurred, as 
 nearly as we can calculate, about one thousand and 
 sixty years before Christ, when two armies stood face to 
 face with one another at the pass of Ephes-dammin, 
 among the frontier mountains of Judah. The little river 
 Elah divided them, the Philistines being encamped on 
 that side, the Israelites on this. Day after day, a fierce- 
 looking fellow, ten feet and a half in stature, and clad 
 from head to foot in armour of brass, stood forth on the 
 opposite slope, and with stentorian voice shouted across 
 defiant insult to the army of Israel, and challenged them 
 to produce a man to fight with them. It seemed that 
 no one was prepared to grapple with so ugly a foe. 
 Morning and evening, for forty successive days, did this 
 mountain of braggadocio step out with insolent mien, and 
 fling his defiant challenge at the hosts of Israel. 
 
 At this juncture, a short, fair, sunburnt youth — David 
 by name — arrived in the camp, sent by his father v/ith a 
 hamper of provisions for three of his brothers who were 
 serving in the army. Of course, the lad soon learnt what 
 was going on. In fact, he heard with his own ears the 
 rough voice of the monster Philistine, and his very soul 
 burned within him. All the patriotism of his nature was 
 stirred. **By the help of God," he vowed, "I shall lay 
 
128 The City Youth. 
 
 the giant low." To omit details, and cut the story short, 
 young David undertook the task. Destitute of armour, and 
 provided only with a good sling and a few pebbles from 
 the brook, he went forth to meet his foe. The vauntful 
 champion laughed the stripling to scorn. But the brave 
 and dauntless lad knew what he was about ; and having 
 charged his sling, he, with extraordinary force and precision 
 of aim, sent the stone hurling right into the giant's fore- 
 head, who gave a groan, staggered, and fell to the ground. 
 David then ran up, stood upon the prostrate body, and 
 snatching out of its hand the sword, cut off the head, and 
 brought it in triumph to King Saul at Jerusalem. 
 
 I am not surprised that when this shepherd-boy (ushered 
 in and introduced by Abner, commander-in-chief) entered 
 the Royal presence with the ghastly trophy, his fingers 
 clutching the hair of Goliath's head, the king looked at 
 him with admiring wonderment, and put the plain, straight- 
 forward question of my text, " Whose son art thou, young 
 man ? " 
 
 It was natural that Saul should wish to know something of 
 the antecedents of so brave a youth ; doubtless, he wanted 
 all the particulars about his age, the place of his birth, his 
 upbringing, his occupation, and so forth ; but he conceived 
 that such signal valour must be hereditary and ancestral ; 
 so his first and main inquiry touched the parentage of the 
 juvenile warrior, " Young man, who was your father?'* 
 
 The question, short and simple as it is, is suggestive of 
 some practical thoughts on the subject of personal responsi- 
 bility, and faithfulness to the traditions of one's pedigree ; 
 or, it may be, in the way of warning against lineal weak- 
 nesses and vices ; so you must excuse me being frank with 
 you to-night, and must not deem it an impertinence, if I 
 look straight into the face of every brother before me, and 
 inquire, *' Whose son art thou, young man } '* 
 
** W/iose Son art Thou, Young Man 7'''' 129 
 
 Whatever views we may hold upon the subject of 
 heredity, there cannot be a doubt as to the fact, that 
 qualities, moral, intellectual, and physical, are transmitted 
 from father to son. In thousands of instances we see 
 certain tendencies and idiosyncrasies handed down through 
 successive generations. 
 
 Sometimes it is positively amusing. Without a mistake 
 I can recognise in that boy's handwriting the pen of his 
 father, and of his grandfather too. In other cases we see 
 the hereditary transmission in peculiarities of figure or 
 stature; in the tones of the voice; in hesi;ancy or volu- 
 bility of utterance ; in dimness or nearness of sight ; or, 
 perhaps, in the early whitening of the hair, or, what is 
 worse, the loss of it. Some families are noted for long- 
 evity; others for good looks ; others for love of adventure. 
 The aquiline nose runs in the line of the Buonapartes ; 
 the large lip in the House of Hapsburg; the bakl head 
 in the House of Hanover. In some instances there is a 
 certain expression of countenance traceable to the third or 
 fourth generation. I call on one of you at your lodging, 
 and take up the portrait album on your table ; and instantly 
 say, as I point to a photograph there, though I never saw 
 the original, " You don't need to tell me who that is ; one 
 can see at a glance that you are a chip of the old block." 
 IMental qualities are transmitted too. I am not much of a 
 phrenologist, but I have only to look at that lad's head to 
 see from the bumps, that, like his/<7/c'r, he is a mechanical 
 genius ; in another case it is musical talent that descends ; 
 in another, the love of poetry; in a fourth, the gift of 
 acquiring languages. And what is yet more to the point, 
 moral tendencies, bad, good, and indifferent, are passed 
 on from parent to child. Only last week I heard of a case 
 in which a confirmed slave of alcohol actually said, " My 
 father was a drunkard, and my grandfather was a drunkard 
 
 9 
 
I30 The City Youth, 
 
 before him ; I shall be a drunkard too ; we belong to a 
 race of drunkards. I may as well accept my fate, it cannot 
 be helped." So a fiery temper seems in certain instances 
 to be perpetuated in successive generations ; the father 
 fiercely passionate, the son and the grandson irate too. 
 There are conspicuous cases of close-fisted greed being 
 ancestral. The old gentleman would save up every penny 
 he could scrape together; his son is a miser, his grandson 
 is a screw. You never hear of any of that family giving 
 to a good object ; they are all born to handle the rake 
 rather than the pitchfork, to gather together rather than to 
 scatter abroad. 
 
 On the other hand, noble and generous features of 
 character appear sometimes to run in the blood. You 
 are a kind warm-hearted man ; your parents were so 
 before you. You are sternly upright and truthful ; a more 
 scrupulously straightforward man than your father never 
 lived. In some families there is a long-continued line of 
 religious earnestness. Those old well-thumbed tomes of 
 Puritan theology, that big old-fashioned Bible, bearing 
 date of more than a century ago — they tell what kind of 
 a stock you have come from, and what a legacy of prayer 
 you have fallen heir to. If there could be anything like a 
 pious momentum coming from a long line of Christian pro- 
 genitors, some of us ought to be godly indeed. St. Paul 
 was not afraid of being misunderstood by Timothy, when 
 he wrote to him, *' I thank God when I call to remem- 
 brance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt 
 first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice." 
 
 And this suggests the truth, that on the mother's 
 side, perhaps even more than the father's, this law of 
 heredity seems to prevail. When David answered King 
 Saul's question, he made no mention of his mother, but 
 there is nothing in that omission; for he quite under- 
 
** Whose So?i art Thou, Young ManT' 131 
 
 stood the monarch's object, that he wished to know his 
 family connection. David's parents were still both alive, 
 ' and he wasn't the lad to forget them ; we know how, at a 
 later period, when his own life was imperilled, he got 
 -hem removed out of the way of danger, and entrusted 
 them to the care of the King of Moab at Mizpeh, saying, 
 ** Let my father and my mother, I pray thee, remain with 
 thee, till I see what God is going to do for me." I have 
 always thought that his touching words in the 27th 
 Psalm speak of the ardour of his filial affection, and how 
 he dreaded the hour when his parents should be taken 
 from him, " When my father and my mother forsake me, 
 then the Lord will take me up." And in a later Psalm, the 
 35th (when, perhaps, he had already passed through this 
 heavy trial), he says, "I bowed dov/n heavily, as one that 
 mourneth for his mother." Oh, if I wanted to touch a 
 tender chord in your hearts, and make you — some of you 
 — put your sleeve to your eyes, I would speak of the 
 loved one that bore you, that dandled you on her knees, 
 that first taught you to lisp a prayer, and that many a time 
 hushed you softly to slumber, when your infant lips had 
 said ; — 
 
 "Now I lay me do\\Ti to sleep, 
 I pray thee, Lord, my soul to keep ; 
 If I should die before I wake, 
 Take me to Heaven for Jesus' sake." 
 
 Blessings on her whitening head ! Ah, brother ! could 
 I be near you in the hour of strong temptation, when you 
 are ready to belie all the holy memories of a pious home, 
 I would whisper in your ear the question — till you would 
 start back with loathing from the vice to which you were 
 going to yield — " Whose son art thou, young man } " 
 
 But, to escape diffuseness, and make the subject pointed 
 and practical, I have four things to say to you to-night. 
 
132 The City Youth, 
 
 I have somewhere read that the ancient Greeks had in 
 their army faultless slingers, who used to fling leaden 
 bullets, on which were inscribed the words, " Take this," 
 and they were never known to miss. I would be as direct 
 and personal now, in projecting the lessons of this little 
 text ; and would strike some of you — not where David 
 struck Goliath, in the head, but where Nathan struck 
 David — in the heart, as I still press the question, " Whose 
 son art thou, young man ? " 
 
 I. My first word is to those of you ivlio have sprung 
 fiom a loivly parentage. If there is anything more utterly 
 contemptible than for one who has risen a bit in the w^orld 
 to be ashamed of his humble origin, it is the conduct of 
 him who ridicules his low-born brother. They are a 
 mean pair. I admire the prompt, straightforward answer 
 which David gave to the king. No *'hum'ing" and 
 " ha'ing " about it, but a smart, manly reply, *' I am the 
 son of thy servant Jesse, the Bethlehemite." He knew 
 that his social position was the humblest ; but he did not 
 hesitate for a moment to acknowdedge it. Indeed, he 
 often dwelt upon the fact in after life ; and when God had 
 raised him to be the highest personage in the land, he 
 always spoke with pleasure, almost with pride, of his lowly 
 birth. He felt it no reproach to have been " taken from 
 the sheep-folds ; from following the ewes great with young," 
 to feed his people Israel. In his inspired utterances we 
 find words like these : " I have exalted one chosen out 
 of the people;" **I took thee from the sheep-cote;'* 
 ** The man who was raised up on high." 
 
 Sometimes we hear it remarked, with a sneer and a 
 curl of the lip, concerning some young man who is 
 doing well, and carrying all before him, ** Oh, he has 
 risen from the ranks ! " Well, the more honour to him, 
 if it is so ; and the more shame upon the silly, coii- 
 
^^ Whose Son art Thou, Yoiuig Man?^'* 133 
 
 tcmptible snobbishness that could be guilty of such an 
 utterance. It is in no spirit of a cheap Radicalism that 
 I say this. It is not a question either of patrician or 
 plebeian sympathies at all. I will venture to say it is 
 simple common-sense. It seems strange that any intelli- 
 gent mind can think otherwise. Some very weak people 
 talk of "blue blood," and of their high connections, 
 and their family crest, and so forth ; forgetting that it 
 would be something infinitely greater to boast of if they 
 could tell of a saintly lineage; of progenitors who, by 
 their good works, had proved a blessing to the world. 
 There are some of the highest families in the land whom 
 it would hardly be polite to remind of their ancestry. The 
 less said about it, the better. Blue blood, as it is called, 
 is by no means the purest blood. I believe that some of 
 you have far more reason to be proud of your pedigree, 
 than could you trace it to Tudor or Plantagenet. Never 
 be ashamed of the bonnie old couple, though they are a 
 little homely in their ways, and sometimes make a slip or 
 two of grammar, and know nothing of the fashions of the 
 world. The hands of Jesse, the Bethlehemite farmer, 
 were somewhat horny, and his wife a plain, unpretend- 
 ing body; but their son was proud to take them on a 
 visit to IMizpeh of ]Moab, and introduce them to the kin,"-. 
 
 II. ]My next word is upon the heavy responsibilitv that 
 rests on you ivho have been boni in the line of a Christian 
 parentage. We shall not talk of rank now, but of character. 
 You come out of a godly nest. Your father was a man of 
 God, your mother a sincere believer. I don't ask if they 
 were perfect. There are no perfect people now, and I do 
 not suppose there were any perfect people then. I dare- 
 say you think they were sometimes a little too strict, 
 perhaps severe. It is a matter of opinion. Possibly you 
 would be a better man to-day, if you had got a little more 
 
134 The City Yoidh. 
 
 chastisement in your boyhood. Be that as it may, they 
 were earnest, God-fearing, consistent people. You re- 
 member how they loved the Bible, and the throne of grace. 
 You remember how regularly every evening the old man 
 would take down his spectacles from the chimney corner, 
 and read a chapter from the Old Book, and then offer up 
 a prayer — such a prayer! Then, on the Lord's Day, how 
 you were taught to prize the sanctuary ! The singing, 
 perhaps, was not first-class, and the sermons a trine long 
 and heavy ; but there was an unction and solemnity about 
 the whole service that tenderly impressed your young 
 heart. 
 I ** Still o'er these scenes your memory wakes, 
 
 And fondly broods with miser care ; 
 Time but th' impression deeper makes. 
 
 As streams their channels deeper wear." 
 
 ** Whose son art thou, young man.?" If you are not 
 proud of your sire, you should be. Let me tell you that 
 the purest blood this world has ever known is that of a 
 Christian ancestry. It throws all other nobility and aristo- 
 cracy into the shade. I do not mean to suggest that any 
 one will be a Christian merely because his father was one 
 before him. It is but too plain that grace does not run 
 in the blood. The Bible itself teaches us this. Moreover, 
 it affords us many an instance (such as Ahazand Manasseh) 
 of prodigal sons begotten of godly fathers. Still, I main- 
 tain that it is an unspeakable advantage to have been born 
 and brought up in a pious home. A long line of Christian 
 inheritance is something to rejoice in. When a man can 
 make out a genealogical tree of his own family, and point 
 out to me, that root, stem, branch, and twig were all holy, 
 I say he has good cause to thank God, and esteem himself 
 as belonging to the peerage of the skies, Weil did William 
 Cowper say — 
 
** Whose Son art Thou, Young ManV* 135 
 
 *' 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." 
 
 ** Whose son art thou, young man ? " It is a frightful 
 aggravation of a man's guilt, when his whole life is a 
 contradiction given to his father's counsels and his 
 mother's prayers ; when the child of a godly ancestry 
 tramples on all the holy traditions and memories of the 
 past, and determinately breaks through the moral fences 
 that had been set around him. Such persons generally 
 make an awful rebound. The worst of men are apostates 
 from the purest faith. Tell me what good influence a young 
 man has resisted and defied, and I will give you the gauge 
 of his depravity. I never knew a case of a son of godly 
 parents becoming an outcast, who did not fall even lower 
 than the average of outcasts. He became the most har- 
 dened of rebels against God, and his conversion seemed 
 less probable than that of others. Oh, you who have come 
 of a saintly stock, it is not enough that you shun the career 
 of the prodigal ; God will not- let you off with being just 
 as good as ordinary men ; you ought to be conspicuous for 
 your Christian character. When I think of the blessings 
 that were showered upon your cradle, of the hymns and 
 verses you used to learn in boyhood, of the prayers that 
 were offered to God on your behalf, and of the bright and 
 beautiful example that was ever set before you in your early 
 home, 1 cannot help taking the words out of King Saul's 
 lips, and saying, ** Whose son art thou, young man ? " 
 
 III. I am not afraid to put the question even to those of 
 you who have had no such advantage. I thank God that 
 I have seen many a clean bird come out of a foul nest. 
 In that vestry, over and over again, have I been det ply 
 touched, upon making inquiry, to find from some dear 
 
136 The City Youth, 
 
 young person who was asking the way to Zion, that all 
 domestic influences had been against him. " My father, 
 I am sorry to say, is a freethinker." *' My father doesn't 
 believe in religion, never enters a place of worship." ** My 
 parents are both godless." All the more, my dear brother, 
 would we surround you with our love and sympathy. It is 
 dreadful to think of the upbringing which some have had ; 
 their father mingling a profane oath with almost every 
 sentence, never uttering the name of God but to blaspheme 
 it ; asserting that the Bible is a pack of lies ; spending 
 most of his leisure hours in the public-house ; and reeling 
 home only to make his dwelling a hell on earth — it is a 
 mighty testimony to the power of Divine grace, that one 
 out of such a family should be found striving to live a 
 virtuous and Christian life. My brother, do not be dis- 
 couraged. God is able to make you stand. If ever a man 
 might have been supposed to have had bad blood in his 
 veins, it was Hezekiah, who was the son of one of the 
 worst monarchs that ever reigned over Israel. He was 
 cursed with a most polluted parental example. One might 
 have said of that young man that he was born to vice. And 
 yet he turned out a devout and holy man of God. Yes, 
 Divine grace is stronger even than blood. History can 
 supply many an instance, to the praise of Him who ofttimes 
 finds the brightest diamonds in the darkest mines, and the 
 richest pearls in the deepest seas. 
 
 IV. One thought more. I feel that I cannot part with 
 the text without giving it a purely spiritual meaning, in 
 respect of which there are but two paternities, and one 01 
 other of these each of you must own. Would to God that, 
 as I address to you all the question, "Whose sons are ye, 
 young men } " you could with one voice reply, " Behold, 
 now are we the sons of God." ** Ye are of your father, the 
 devil," said Christ, with awful plainness of speech, to the 
 
** Whose Son art Thou, Young Ma7i?^^ 137 
 
 unbelieving Jews ; and let it never be forgotten that, unless 
 we are the subjects of Divine adoption, we are all **the 
 children of the wicked one." Oh, let all questions of mere 
 human parentage sink into insignificance before this ! Can 
 you look up to the great God above you, and say, ** My 
 Father" ? This is what He wants you to do. As St. Paul 
 says, ** He hath predestinated us unto the adoption of 
 children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good 
 pleasure of His will ; " and again, " Ye are all the children 
 of God by faith in Christ Jesus." Through Christ you 
 have access into this royal household ; for " as many as 
 receive Him, to them gives He power to become the sons 
 of God, even to them that believe on His name." I entreat 
 you all to settle this great matter now. 
 
 ** Return, O wanderer, to thy home, 
 Thy Father calls for thee ; 
 No longer now an exile roam, 
 In guilt and misery. 
 
 Return, return ! " 
 
 I tell you that, whether you realise it or not, you have, each 
 of you, Royal blood in your veins. Your pedigree traces 
 back to the King of kings. St. Luke goes right up to the 
 foimtain head when he finishes his genealogical table thus : 
 "Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, 
 which was the son of Adam, which was the Son of God." 
 Awake to the glorious fact, and claim your high inherit- 
 ance ! Amen. 
 
CLOAK, BOOKS, AND PARCHMENTS, 
 
*' The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus^ when thou comest 
 bring with thee^ and the books ^ but especially the parchments.'" — 
 2 Timothy iv. 13. 
 
X 
 
 CLOAK, BOOKS, AND PARCHMENTS. 
 
 AMONG the three or four thousand stars, which, on a 
 clear moonless night, the naked eye can discern in 
 the vault of heaven, there are only a few which astrono- 
 mers have been wont to recognise as stars of the first 
 magnitude. Not more than twenty, or, if you include 
 Regulus, twenty-one, have been allotted to this group, 
 which with the dazzling Sirius at the head of the list, 
 includes such beautiful objects as Argus, Auturus, Capella, 
 Vega, and others whose names are less familiar to you. 
 Were I now to hand to each of you a blank sheet of 
 paper, and ask you to write upon it the names of the 
 twenty-one greatest and most illustrious men that have 
 ever lived, — men who stand out conspicuous in history by 
 the brilliance of their genius, the force of their character, 
 and the services they have rendered to our race, — I have 
 no doubt that these lists, when returned, would show a 
 vast variety of opinion, and that some would contain 
 names which others would exclude. But I am much 
 mistaken if on every paper, without exception, I would 
 not find a prominent place given to the name of the 
 Apostle Paul. Probably, it would not be going too far to 
 say, that, with the single exception of that greatest of 
 men, that more than man, *' the Man Christ Jesus," no 
 one ever lived who has laid the world under heavi ;r 
 obligation, or whose life has made a deeper mark upon 
 
142 The City Youth. 
 
 human history. The smallest details in such a life possess 
 an interest all their own. Nothing is too trivial to com- 
 mand our attentive study. I have selected the text before 
 us, unimportant as many might judge it to be, because it 
 throws some interesting side lights upon the great Apostle. 
 
 This Epistle possesses a peculiar interest as being the 
 last letter which St. Paul wrote. It may be looked upon 
 as in some sense the dying utterance of that noble man. 
 He felt that the work of his life was nearly done. And 
 no grander words ever dropped from a human pen than 
 those in the seventh and eighth verses, which are prac- 
 tically the conclusion of this Epistle (for the sentences that 
 follow may be regarded in the light of a postscript to 
 the letter ; something written after, some messages and 
 directions he thought well to append). The words I speak 
 of are these — 'fit peroration to the testimony of his life : — 
 ** I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I 
 have kept the faith : henceforth there is laid up for me a 
 crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous 
 Judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but 
 unto all them that love His appearing." Oh ! that you 
 and I, when our term on earth comes to a close, may be 
 able with similar comfort to survey the past, and with 
 similar hope to contemplate the future ! 
 
 There is little doubt that this letter was written at Rome, 
 where the Apostle was at present a prisoner, and where 
 he was likely to remain. Winter was coming on, and his 
 somewhat emaciated frame was less able than formerly to 
 withstand the cold. He remembers that when he was 
 last at Troas, he left his heavy overcoat there, in charge 
 of his friend Carpus, probably because he preferred to 
 take a portion of his journey on foot. He will be sure to 
 need it as the weather becomes more severe, so he requests 
 Timothy, who is now at Ephesus, to bring it with him 
 
Cloak ^ Books y ajid Parchments. 143 
 
 when he comes west to Italy. Then he misses those 
 pleasant companions, his little stock of books, which he 
 had felt obliged to leave behind him in Asia, and he 
 would fain have them also brought, that they may relieve 
 the monotony of his prison life. But, above all things, 
 he desires to have his " parchments," or vellum-rolls, the 
 rolls of prepared skin, as I take it, on which the ancient 
 prophecies were transcribed, constituting for him there- 
 fore his Bible. Nothing will so cheer him in the loneliness 
 of his cell as to have these precious documents beside 
 him, so that he may pore over the writings of David, and 
 Isaiah, and Jeremiah, and the other inspired men of old. 
 ** Bring with you my overcoat, my library, and my Bible." 
 Such, in the language of modern life, is St. Paul's three- 
 fold request, showing that he was not indifferent in regard 
 to his health, his mental culture, or his spiritual welfare. 
 The '* cloak" will benefit his body, the ** books " his 
 mind, the *' parchment " his soul. I wish all of you, my 
 young friends, to give attention to each part of your 
 tripartite nature : and therefore, I propose that you should 
 carry away this evening a plain and practical lesson from 
 each of the three articles mentioned in the text, and 
 
 I. Take care of your bodily health. There is some- 
 thing very touching in the request which Paul makes to 
 Timothy, that he would fetch him " the cloak he had left 
 at Troas." Under what circumstances it had been left 
 there we cannot ascertain, but these are easily conceived. 
 Paul, as a laborious missionary, was a great traveller, and 
 a large proportion of his travelling was necessarily by sea. 
 The rough ungainly ships of those times, and the stormy 
 weather that often prevailed on the Mediterranean and 
 -^gean Seas, made a stout "overall" indispensable. It 
 is just possible that he had woven that cloak himself, out 
 of the black goats' hair of his native province, Cicilia ; 
 
144 The City Youth. 
 
 for he was not ashamed to say to the elders of Ephesns, 
 as he held up his hands, horny and stained with his 
 humble toil, *' Ye yourselves know that these hands have 
 ministered unto my necessities." Who can tell but that 
 with a few books and parchments, that travelling cloak 
 was all he had in the world ? 
 
 I daresay that, rough as it was, it was now " the worse for 
 the wear." I daresayit had covered him in many a storm of 
 rain, and had often been splashed with the brine of the 
 Adriatic or Archipelago. It is not of much value : but now 
 that he sits shivering in his damp cell, and the long nights 
 are coming on, he bethinks him of the old great-coat he 
 had left at Troas, and begs Timothy to bring it with him ; 
 and the significance of the request is intensified by his 
 further urgency in the twenty-first verse, that his dear friend 
 would make an effort to come before the severe weather 
 should arrive : ' Do thy diligence to come before winter." 
 
 By all accounts Paul was not a man with a robust frame. 
 Tradition states that he was pale, and spare, and of fragile 
 build. Yet how enormous the work that man was able 
 to get through, and how severe the strain put upon his 
 strength 1 No doubt his rigid temperance had something 
 to do with the measure of health he sustained. He 
 ** kept his body under," and nourished all his energies 
 for the service of his IMaster. 
 
 It is>ot unbefitting, especially at this season, that I 
 should say a word to you about taking care of your health. 
 Young men are often particularly neglectful on this matter. 
 Many is the man whose constitution has been undermined 
 for life by his own carelessness as a youth in respect of 
 food, rest, and clothing. I am not speaking just now of 
 immoral excess. I am presuming that I am addressing 
 virtuous and high-principled men. I have seen not a few 
 fine young fellows drop off into chronic dyspepsia or con- 
 
Cloak y Books ^ and ParcJiments, 145 
 
 sumption, whose lives, I feel certain, might have been spared, 
 had they been more attentive to the ordinary laws of health. 
 When a young man, and especially one who has come from 
 the pure air of the country, spends from eight to ten hours 
 a day in a close office, scarcely breaks his fast, perhaps, from 
 nine to six, sits up late at night, takes little or no exercise, 
 and goes out in all weathers unprotected from the cold, 
 it is no more than we may expect, if his constitution gives 
 way, and a rasping cough begins to sound the too signi- 
 ficant alarm. When I see the way that some of you come 
 out of an evening in drenching rain, or in a biting east 
 wind, I feel much inclined to remind you of Paul's request 
 for his overcoat ; or to quote the refrain of an old Scottish 
 ballad, " Tak' your auld cloak aboot ye." Such neglect 
 has too often laid the seeds of bronchitis, or rheumatism, 
 or pulmonary disease. Not that I believe in wrapping 
 up too tightly. In one of his lectures to his students, 
 ]\Ir. Spurgeon, with his wonted good sense, says, *' If any 
 of you possess delightfully warm woollen comforters, with 
 which there may be associated the most tender remem- 
 brances of mother or sister, treasure them, — treasure them 
 in the bottom of your trunk, — but do not expose them to 
 any vulgar use by wrapping them round your necks. If 
 any brother wants to die of influenza, let him wear a warm 
 scarf round his neck; and then one of these nights he 
 will forget it, and catch such a cold as will last him the 
 rest of his natural life." That is sound advice ; but it 
 is just possible to go to the other extreme, and by an 
 utter regardlessness of your apparel, expose yourselves to 
 a chill whose effects may be most serious. However, I 
 have no degree of M.D., and will say no more upon the 
 s'ubject ; but I could not resist saying so much upon the 
 old cloak that Paul left at Troas. 
 
 II. Mainluui ihc cidiure 0/ ike mind. "Give attention 
 
 10 
 
146 The City Youth, 
 
 to reading," Paul wrote to Timothy in a former letter; 
 and it is abundantly evident that to the utmost of his 
 power he did so himself. From his early years he had 
 been trained to be a thinker. He had, no doubt, attended 
 some elementary classes in Tarsus, and he had enjoyed 
 the instructions of the learned Gamaliel at Jerusalem ; 
 and we cannot read his epistles without seeing evidence 
 that he had considerable acquaintanceship with Grecian 
 literature. Of course, we cannot ascertain what books 
 those were which he requested Timothy to bring with 
 him, but we can well understand how, in the weary 
 monotonousness of his prison life, his active mind longed 
 for such literature as he possessed ; and now that he was 
 feft almost alone, their companionship would be pecu- 
 liarly acceptable. Demas, he says, has forsaken him ; 
 Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia, Tychicus 
 to Ephesus ; Erastus is staying at Corinth, and Trophimus 
 is lying ill at Miletus; so that, with the exception of 
 Luke, he has not a friend near him. Under these 
 circumstances we do not wonder that he craves for the 
 society of books. Endowed with high mental powers, Paul 
 did not let them lie waste. He believed in the culture of 
 the mind, and was in full sympathy w'ith the sentiment which 
 the poet Young breathes in his *' Night's Thoughts," — 
 
 " The more our spirits are enlarged on earth, 
 
 The deeper draught shall they receive of heaven." 
 
 The Apostle's request to have his books sent him is not 
 without its lesson for every one of you. Do not let your 
 minds lie fallow\ Do not be so engrossed with business, 
 that you rarely open an instructive book. Do not forget 
 that your intellect wants to be stimulated and fed, as it 
 cannot be if you think of nothing but bills, and accounts, 
 and orders, and invoices, and what is vulgarly and 
 expressively called *'shop." A sailor, who had circum- 
 
Cloak ^ Books ^ a7id Parch?nenls, 147 
 
 navigated the globe with Captain Cook, was pressed by 
 his friends to give them some 'account of the wonders 
 he had seen, and at last consented to do so on a certain 
 evening. A large and eager company assembled, in 
 expectation of a great intellectual treat ; when the rough 
 mariner thus began and ended his description of his 
 travels: — "I have been round the world with Captain 
 Cook, and all that I saw was the sky above me, and 
 the water beneath me." 
 
 And, truth to tell, there are young men who show little 
 more discernment than that blunt sailor. They have no 
 intellectual ambition, no 'hirst for knowledge, no passionate 
 desire for self-improvement. If business is going on well, 
 and their salary is regularly paid, and they have enough to 
 eat and drink, they are content. They rarely open a book, 
 or read a line ; or, if they do, ten to one it is some fourth- 
 class novel, or comical newspaper. There is no systematic 
 study ; no training of the mind, no whetting or sharpen- 
 ing of the intellectual faculties. 
 
 I warn you, young men, against so ignoble a use of what 
 is, in some respects, the best part of life. Not a few of you 
 have enjoyed the advantages of a first-class education. Your 
 scholastic curriculum being now over, you are engaged in 
 a warehouse or office, which occupies the largest share 
 of your time and energy. You must devote yourselves 
 thoroughly to the work. You must throw yourselves heartily 
 into the interests of the business you have entered. But, 
 surely this does not mean that you are to regard your 
 mental education at an end, and abandon all the studies 
 you had just legun to appreciate. God forbid 1 There 
 are few of you that have not some leisure time for the 
 cultivation of the mind. Books are pleasant companions, 
 and when they are of a high order, most useful and 
 profitable companions too. ** Reading," says Bacon, 
 
14 S The City Yuuih, 
 
 " makes a full man." By intercoarse with lofty thinkers, 
 your character becomes elevated, and your minds expanded. 
 In a well-stocked library you become citizens of the 
 intellectual world, and talk with the noblest and the best 
 of all past ages. There is no reason why the merchant 
 should cease to be the student ; w^hy a man of business 
 may not also be a man of learning. 
 
 Your reading should be select, and yet wide and liberal. 
 St. Paul himself, though a Christian missionary, was fami- 
 liar with the heathen poets of his own day, and even in 
 preaching the Gospel did not hesitate to quote them. 
 
 Some one once remarked that if he were shut up in a 
 solitary cell, and were allowed the companionship of three 
 books, he would choose Shakespeare, Bunyan, and the 
 Bible; nor is there anything to condemn in such a selection. 
 Your reading may be varied without being indiscriminate. 
 It is not necessary that a book should be religious in order 
 to be wholesale and useful. The oldest library of which we 
 read in history had this inscription carved over the gate- 
 way, ^vyy]^ iarpetov, " medicine for the mind ; " nor was 
 the title out of place, although the shelves may have 
 contained no works of theology or devotion. Bad books 
 are not to be touched, whether the poison is atheistical 
 or sensuous. I have known young men dip into such 
 volumes just to see what they are like ; a prurient taste 
 w-as awakened, and they devoured them to the last word. 
 It is said that a serpent cannot let go what it has once 
 begun to swallow; down it must go whether the reptile 
 choose or not.) So it is, generally, with one who begins 
 to read a bad book. Make a clean sweep of all literary 
 rubbish ; read only that which is " good to the use of 
 edifying." Lord Bacon's opinion upon books he thus 
 expressed: That histories make men wise; poels, witty; 
 mathematics, subtle^ natural science, deep ; moral ph.lo- 
 
Cloak y Bjoks, and Pai^chmcnts, 149 
 
 sophy, grave ; logic and rhetoric, able to debate. As you 
 would possess such qualities then, your reading must be 
 catholic and extensive. A well-read, well-informed, and 
 cultured man has a double enjoyment of life, and the 
 time that is spent in wholesome study never turns out 
 to be time thrown away. This brings me to the last 
 lesson which the text suggests. 
 
 III. Especially see to the welfai-e of the soul. I have 
 already expressed the opinion, that by " the parchments " 
 mentioned, the Apostle probably refers to the sacred 
 Scriptures. The *' books" alluded to are supposed to 
 have been made of a species of paper, formed out of the 
 fibrous leaves of the papyrus, a kind of reed which grows 
 abundantly in the River Nile. For more important and 
 precious documents the prepared skins of animals were 
 employed : and as the manufacture of this material was 
 carried to great perfection at Pergamos in Asia I\Iinor, it 
 took its name from that city, a word which has contracted 
 into " parchment." With a slight sensational touch, which 
 is pardonable. Dr. Farrar says upon this passage, " Were 
 these parchments precious rolls of Isaiah, and the Psalms, 
 and the lesser prophets, which father or mother had given 
 him as a long-life treasure in the far-off happy days, when 
 little dreaming of all that would befall him, he played, a 
 happy boy, in the dear old Tarsian home } " 
 
 Accepting the idea that he refers to the ancient Scriptures, 
 we can' easily understand how he accentuates this last item 
 of his three-fold request : " But especially the parchments." 
 He would rather have God's inspired Word than all other 
 books together. He would prefer to bear the cold, and 
 to miss the intellectual stimulus which his limited library 
 would give him, to be deprived any longer of the sacred 
 oracles of God. 
 We do not need this reference to show how Paul loved 
 
150 The City Youth, 
 
 his Bible. His epistles are steeped in the lofty inspirations 
 of Moses, and David, and Isaiah. There is scarcely one of 
 the ancient prophets whom he does not quote. He was 
 thoroughly familiar with the Jewish Scriptures. As he states 
 in the previous chapter, he believed them to be inspired of 
 God, and to be ** profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for 
 correction, for instruction in righteousness." In the long 
 and dreary hours he had to spend in that Roman dungeon, 
 it would be an incomparable solace to him to have the 
 companionship of those " holy men of old, who spake as 
 they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 
 
 My dear friends, however limited be your reading, see that 
 the Bible has its rightful place. It is said that in the British 
 Museum alone, there are so many books that the mere 
 mechanical reading of them would demand a thousand years. 
 So you cannot read everything — you must make your selec- 
 tion ; but oh! let this peerless volume reign supreme in your 
 library. Let it be the monarch of your bookshelves. There 
 is an old Latin proverb, which is good enough so long as 
 the Bible is out of account, " Cave ab homine iiniiis libri'^ — 
 i.e., " Beware of a man of one book." But when that one 
 book is the Book of God, the counsel may be inverted ; for 
 there is no man more to be sought after than the man who 
 daily feeds from this table, and drinks from this well. 
 
 " Especially the parchments." Let no general reading, 
 however excellent and instructive, elbow this to one side. 
 Be diligent students of God's Word, "and," as Dr. Dodd- 
 ridge said, *' you shall be excellent scholars ten thousand 
 years hence ; " whereas, however proficient in secular know- 
 ledge, if the Bible be neglected, you shall be unfitted for 
 the occupations of the redeemed in heaven. 
 
 Many of you live in private lodgings, and your stock of 
 books is small ; all the more reason that it should be select ; 
 but let the Bible be the most prominent book upon your 
 
Cloak, Books, and Parchments. 1 5 i 
 
 table. Let its conspicuous presence there be a test imony to 
 every visitor that you are not ashamed of your colours, and 
 have chosen Scripture to be '* a lamp to your feet, and a light 
 to your path." It is not necessary to confine it to your bed- 
 room or parlour. Thank God, there is, as I know, many an 
 office and counting house in the city — and I might add many 
 a workshop too — where you can at any time lay your hand 
 upon the sacred volume. There are Christian merchants, 
 and tradesmen, and artisans who keep a copy ever by their 
 side, that they may apply to it for counsel, and have the 
 stamp of its sublime teaching upon all their daily employ. 
 
 You have a richer Bible than ever Paul possessed. Those 
 clumsy, greasy ** parchments," written by laborious scribes, 
 would form a strange contrast to such triumphs of modern 
 skill as are now sent out in millions from the great 
 repository in Queen Victoria Street ; and you can place in 
 your waistcoat-pocket treasures of inspiration, which in the 
 Apostle's time would have taxed the strength of a man to 
 carry. The greater, then, your responsibility. Oh, make 
 good use of your Bibles ! 
 
 Above all, accept without delay the Divine salvation re- 
 vealed. Let all be right now between your souls and God. 
 Do not put off for a single day the most momentous of all 
 questions. Dr. Johnson had engraven upon his watch the 
 motto, "Epx^Tai vvt^, ** The night cometh,'' to remind him, as 
 often as he inquired of it the time, that his season of oppor- 
 tunity was slipping away. You will never have a likelier 
 season than the present. In this closing hour, this 
 Sabbath evening, so blessed and still, when everything is 
 so favourable, the hymns so sweet, the Saviour so near, the 
 Spirit so earnest, the conscience so active, the heart so 
 tender, eternity so awful, God so urgent, and the gate of 
 mercy so wide, let every one of you decide for a Christian 
 life ; and may God give you His richest blessing ! Amer-. 
 
FORSAKING EGYPT. 
 
'■^ By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king : Jor 
 he endured, as seeing him who is invisible "—Hebrews xi. 27. 
 
XI. 
 
 FORSAKING EGYPT, 
 
 YOUNG men ! I have asked you to meet me this 
 evening, that I may point out to you the secret of a 
 happy, noble, and successful life. I always look forward 
 with special interest to the second Sabbath of the month, 
 when I have the opportunity, not only of addressing so 
 -many of you in this place, but (through the help of the 
 press and your hearty co-operation) of speaking words of 
 counsel and cheer to hundreds outside of this building, 
 away in the provinces, and in Scotland, and in the 
 colonies, and in distant regions of the earth. 
 
 To-night I have a text which will not fail to interest you. 
 Probably the Jews are not far wrong in regarding the man 
 to whom these words refer as the greatest personage in all 
 history. We shall grant, at least, that he was the greatest 
 in Old Testament history. I remember, when visiting the 
 national museum at Naples, and standing in the corridor 
 of marble sculptures, surrounded on every side by colossal 
 forms of Zeno and Socrates, and Plato, and Sophocles, 
 and Homer, and hundreds of the wise and great of other 
 days, it seemed as though I were transported back to an 
 earlier age ; and I never read this eleventh chapter of the 
 Hebrews without feeling as though I stood in a gallery 
 of statuary, and were gazing on the sculptured figures of a 
 distinguished group, long since passed into the heavens, 
 of whom the world was not worthy." The first form that 
 
156 The City Youth, 
 
 arrests my eye is that of a young man standing by a kind 
 of rude altar, with an innocent lamb by his side : and I say, 
 "That is Abel." Then, a little to the right, I notice a 
 man with dignified and heavenly mien, apparently holding 
 close communion with His Maker: and I say, ** That is 
 Enoch." A few steps further, and I see, carved in ela- 
 borate sculpture, a ship-builder of no common ambition, 
 his plans and his tools beside him, and timber for such 
 a vessel as had never floated on the sea: " Noah ! " I at 
 once exclaim, and the whole story of the Deluge instantly 
 flashes before my mind. And so I walk round the 
 gallery, and quickly recognise such eminent figures as 
 Abraham, and Jacob, and Gideon, and David, and Samuel, 
 and many others ; but, amongst them all, there is not one, 
 perhaps, to compare in grandeur of character with him 
 of whom my text tells us, that " by faith he forsook Egypt, 
 not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured, as 
 seeing Him who is invisible." 
 
 There is much more recorded of Moses in the passage, 
 but we need not go beyond these w^ords, which tell us of 
 his escape from Egypt, his defiance of Pharaoh, and his 
 fixing his eye on the invisible God. *' Which things are an 
 allegory ; " and my purpose to-night is to show you that, 
 by following (in these three particulars) his noble example, 
 you will fulfil the grand purpose of your existence here, 
 and secure in the world to come life everlasting. You 
 must each of you forsake Egypt, bid defiance to the prince 
 of darkness, and fix your eye on the invisible God. 
 
 I. You must forsake Egypt. There we have all been 
 born. I take for granted you understand me. For, just 
 as Canaan represents the state of rest and liberty which 
 we enter and enjoy when we become the people of God, 
 so Egypt stands, in Scriptural symbolism, for that con- 
 dition of carnality and spiritual bondage in which, alas 1 
 
Forsaking Egypt, 1 57 
 
 we all are by nature. Yes, it is indeed a dark picture 
 that is usually suggested by that historic land wlicrc the 
 Pharaohs reigned, where the pyramids of Memphis lift 
 their summits to the sky, and where the sluggish Nile 
 from its seven mouths pours its waters to the sea. 
 
 When I say we are natives of Egypt, I mean that w^e are 
 all by nature in a state from which it is necessary to escape, 
 servants of the flesh, and slaves of the devil. This is the 
 two-fold thought which ** Egypt " expresses. First, a 
 mere fleshly or animal existence. Living for the gratifica- 
 tion of our lower nature. Asking " What shall we eat ? " 
 and " What shall we drink ? " and " What clothes shall 
 we wear ? " and " What worldly delights shall we enjoy ? " 
 
 The food of Egypt was not only plentiful, but it was 
 gross and stimulating. It pampered the body. It inflamed 
 the passions. " There," said some of the coarser spirits, 
 as they smacked their lips, ** we sat by the flesh-pots, and 
 did eat bread to the full. We remember the fish, which 
 we did eat in Egypt freely ; the cucumbers, and the 
 melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic." 
 Apparently, they thought of nothing higher, made a god 
 of their belly, gloried in their shame, and minded earthly 
 things. To gratify the lower wants of their being 
 seemed to be really their main object in life. Now, this 
 is substantially the condition of all men till they are born 
 from above. Our whole life prior to conversion is de- 
 scribed in the Bible as a ** living to the flesh." There may 
 be, and we know there are, vast differences and degrees ; 
 but, as St. Paul says, including himself in the number, ^ 
 " w^e all had our conversation in times past," or (as the 
 Revised Version has it), ** we all once lived in the lusts 
 of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the 
 mind ; and were by nature children of wrath, even as 
 others." 
 
158 The City Youth. 
 
 To yo'ing men, Egypt, in this sense, often presents 
 special charms. The power of sin lies in its pleasure. It 
 is useless, it is silly to deny that, in the indulgence of our 
 sensual appetites, there is no gratification. It is just the 
 I vehemence of the temptation that tries what grit of right 
 principle a man has in him. 
 
 But then, remember, the pleasures of the sensualist are 
 the preludes of a misery that words cannot paint. Ah ! 
 you may talk of the hilarity of the wine cup, the merriment 
 of gay society, the rare enjoyment to be found around a 
 gambling-table, or in the company of her ''whose house is 
 the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death ; " 
 but well you may know of all such pleasure, that by-and-by 
 "it biteth like a serpent, it stingeth like an adder." "If 
 ye live after the flesh,'' says St. Paul, " ye shall die." 
 
 There was a young medical student who went out to pro- 
 secute his studies in Paris. He caught the moral infection 
 of its licentiousness and infidelity. There was an inward 
 struggle between the conscience and the flesh. " Shall 
 I forsake Egypt ?" was the question. The flesh prevailed, 
 and he said "No." Here are his very words : "I know 
 that I can enjoy life in my own way about so many years. 
 I shall parcel out my money to last so long a time, and no 
 longer. When my time is up, my revolver shall end all." 
 His prediction was but too true; and when, within but a 
 few years, his pale and breathless form was one day found 
 lying in hi. own blood, one could almost have believed 
 that a voice was whispering, "The way of transgressors is 
 hard." The great thing which a young man needs in a 
 crisis of temptation, is instant decision for the right. If 
 you tamper and hesitate, the game is half lost. Leave no 
 time for temptation to accumulate. " Forsake Egypt." 
 You must surely have noticed that, in relation to all sins 
 of this character — sins of the flesh— St. Paul's counsel is, 
 
Forsaking Egypt, 159 
 
 ** Flee ! *' Take to your heels. It may seem like coward- 
 ice, but it is true heroism. *' Flee youthful lusts." Like 
 Joseph, hasten instantly out of the way of the tempter ; 
 saying, as Moses did to Pharaoh, ** Thou shalt see my face 
 no more ! " 
 
 But, secondly, it is also a state of bondage. It is slavery 
 of the worst kind. Till you become a Christian, my 
 brother, your life is just a toiling endeavour, under the 
 worst of taskmasters, to " make bricks without straw," to 
 prepare the materials of satisfaction w^ithout any of the 
 elements that are indispensable. The giddy youth, who 
 tosses his head like a wild horse, and talks of his ** free 
 life," is about the greatest slave upon God's earth. *' We 
 be Abraham's children," said the Jews to Christ, " and 
 were never in bondage to any man ; how sayest thou then, 
 ye must be made free } " Ah ! replies Jesus, it is the truth 
 that makes free. 
 
 '* He is the freeman whom the truth makes free, 
 And all are slaves beside." 
 
 Can a man, think you, be called free, merely because he 
 is not the inmate of a prison, because his limbs are not 
 bound with chains of iron 1 Ah ! you know better than 
 that. You know that there may be more freedom, in its 
 highest sense, with the poor African slave, than with the 
 wretched tyrant who holds the lash over him. There are 
 fetters of the soul, moral chains, forged of such material, 
 and riveted with such strength, that he who wears them, 
 though his comrades call him a free lance, and a dashing 
 blade, is unspeakably more a bondman than the convict 
 in his cell. There is no greater slavery than that of the 
 man over whom his own passions and vile habits domineer. 
 Can he be called his own master who is always at the 
 bidding of some imperious lust, or ungovernable appetite } 
 Do you call that man free, for example, who lately came 
 
i6o The City Youth. 
 
 to my door, and in desperation asked me what was to be 
 done, because no power on earth could keep him back 
 from drink ? It is idle to talk of liberty whilst you are 
 the servants of the devil. If you spare sin, it will not 
 spare you. You may cross seas and mountains to reach 
 a land of freedom, but, if you have not been emancipated 
 from sin, your prison is everywhere, and nothing but the 
 grace of God, and your hearty acceptance of the Gospel 
 of Christ, can dash these shackles from off your limbs, and 
 send you forth into the joyous freedom of which David's 
 cxhilarant soul was conscious when he exclaimed, " I will 
 walk at liberty, because I keep Thy statutes." 
 
 II. Yoii must defy the prince of dai-hiess. What cared 
 Moses for the threats of Pharaoh, when he knew that 
 he was obeying the voice of God ? What mattered it 
 to him, though the Egyptian despot raged and fumed, 
 and menaced him with all sorts of evil ? His mind was 
 made up, to follow the bidding he received from above. 
 God and his own conscience were to decide his course. 
 The fact is, Pharaoh feared Moses more than IMoses 
 feared Pharaoh. Gentlemen, believe me, this moral 
 courage is one of the grandest endowments a young man 
 can possess. Through want of it many fall and fail. Very 
 varied are the forms in which the prince of darkness pre- 
 sents himself, and deters you from forsaking Egypt. 
 There are thousands of young persons who are more tiian 
 half-inclined to become Christians, but are kept back from 
 a full decision by certain fears that stand in their \va\-. 
 How many, for example, are in mortal dread of being 
 laughed at, ridiculed ("chaffed," I believe, is the wortl) 
 by their ungodly associates } In the same office, or shop, 
 or house of business, there are coarse fellows who haven't 
 a serious thought, and who take delight in flinging their 
 vulgar banter and derision on everything religious. It is 
 
Forsaking Egypt. l6i 
 
 no easy matter to stand such jeers. In fact, most of us 
 would much rather encounter fierce opposition than that 
 silly, empty ridicule. It tries the temper. It stirs up all 
 the evil that is in you. It puts your principles to the 
 proof. It was an Irishman, I believe, who said, " he 
 would rather meet the devil to his face once a week, than 
 have these petty daily attacks upon his religion ; an angel 
 could not stand that." There is nothing more hard to 
 bear than reproach, in whatever form it comes. I have 
 often thought it a remarkable expression that is used in 
 reference to Moses, in the verse before our text, that he 
 ** esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the 
 treasures of Egypt." Moses, then, had to bear reproach 
 for the sake of Christ, and he bore it gladly. Like the 
 apostles in after ages, he ** rejoiced that he was counted 
 worthy to suffer shame for his name." Old John Trapp 
 has a quaint remark somewhere, to the effect that if we 
 can bear taunts and jeers for Christ's sake, it argues we 
 mean to stick to Him ; just as among the Jews, by IMoses' 
 law, the servant that was content to be " bored in the ear 
 with an awl," signified that nothing would tempt him away 
 from his master. Whenever you are chaffed or ridiculed 
 for your religion, then, just think that if you can endure 
 such " boring," it speaks well for your attachment to 
 Christ. The late Dr. George Wilson, of Edinburgh, used 
 to speak with admiration of the stern moral courage of 
 the ancient Athanasius, who, when told that the whole 
 world was against him, simply replied, " Then I am 
 against the world." Wilson was not much of a poet, but 
 he sometimes tried his hand at it. 
 
 ** Yes, I do honour thee for those brave words, 
 Against the heretic so boldly hurled ; 
 * Though no one else believe, Til hold my faith, 
 I, Athanasius, against tlie world.' 
 
 II 
 
1 62 The City Youth, 
 
 Thy faith is mine (but that is not my theme) ; 
 
 'Tis thine example I would preach to all ; 
 Whatever each believes and counts for true, 
 
 Of things in heaven or earth, or great or small. 
 
 If he believes it, let him stand, and say, 
 
 Although in scorn a thousand lips are curled, 
 
 Though no one else believe, I hold my faith, 
 Like Athanasius, against the world." 
 
 Then, some are deterred from a decided Christian life by 
 the dread of the inward conflict they will have, as they 
 think, to undergo ; the bitterness of true repentance ; by 
 the thought of the sinful pleasures they must forego, the 
 giddy company they must abandon, and the responsibilities 
 they must assume. Not a few are frightened away from 
 personal religion by the idea that, if they become Chris- 
 tians, they must give up all kinds of social enjoyment ; no 
 more must they laugh, or sing, or make merry ; henceforth 
 their life must be as solemn as a funeral dirge. Others 
 have frankly "told me, that the reason they keep aloof, is, 
 that it is now impossible for them to shake themselves 
 loose from certain habits that would be inconsistent with 
 a life of piety. ** I forsake Egypt ! 1 become a devout 
 believer, and live a holy life ! The thing is impossible. 
 My habits are too confirmed, my feelings too blunted ; the 
 enemy has got too strong a hold upon me for that. ' 
 
 These are a few of the bugbears with which the devil 
 seeks to frighten you ! Oh, my friend ! come away out of 
 Egypt at once, and do not *' fear the wrath of the king." 
 Ninety-nine reasons out of every hundred that frighten 
 people against religion are utterly false and baseless. 
 Christ's is not a hard hand, nor a sour and gloomy face. 
 To become a believer is to come into the land of glad- 
 some sunshine and of glorious liberty. If you have 
 served the devil for twenty years, don't serve him a day 
 longer. God's grace is all-sufficient. Satan has not a 
 
Forsaking Egypt, 163 
 
 chain which that grace cannot snap in a moment. There 
 is not a vice that has got hold of you which you may not 
 completely conquer. The devil is a hard master, and will 
 not let you go if he can help it ; but God is stronger than 
 he ; so come away, come away, " not fearing the wrath of 
 the king." 
 
 III. Lastly, you must fix your eye on the unseen God. 
 You must ** endure as seeing Him who is invisible." 
 ** Behold," says St. James, *' we count them happy which 
 endure." And well may we do so, when we think of the 
 many and glorious promises made to them. ** Blessed is 
 the man that endureth temptation ; for when he is tried 
 he shall receive the crown of life : " *' He that endureth 
 to the end shall be saved." 
 
 Now the secret of this Christian steadfastness and perse- 
 verance is given us here, and given in very remarkable words. 
 As St. Paul told the Christians at Corinth, we are to ** look 
 at the things that are not seen." The most important hour 
 in a man's history is that in which he acquires this new, 
 this spiritual faculty. The great mass of men, and all men 
 until they receive the Spirit of God, are blind to spiritual 
 things. They can only look on things that are seen. 
 They are living wholly in a world of sense and sight. 
 They are dealing only with the tangible and material, 
 with things that can be touched and handled ; but have 
 no discernment of things that are beyond the range of 
 bodily vision. Oh, I would like you to think of this ; for 
 it is no breach of charity to suppose that some here are 
 still living on this lower plane. Your minds are entirely 
 occupied with the visible and the concrete ; with matters 
 of the shop, the office, or the household ; with your 
 stock-in-trade ; with buying and selling, lending and 
 borrowing, bargaining and investing ; with pounds, shil- 
 lings, and pence ; with bonds, and shares, and deben- 
 
164 The City Youth, 
 
 tures ; with pound weights and pint measures ; with 
 wubs of cloth, and reams of paper, and bags of rice, and 
 boxes of tea, and casks of sugar, and waggons of coal ; 
 with accounts, and invoices, and bills, and bank-books, 
 and ledgers ; with food, and drink, and clothing : and 
 when you sum up these, you sum up all you are dealing 
 with ; from day to day, from week to week, from month 
 to month, looking only to what is " seen and temporal," 
 devoting the powers of an immortal soul to the interests 
 of a material and dying world, with the almost certainty 
 of continuing so to do till fever or paralysis throw you on 
 your back, and you wake up, too late, to discover that 
 your soul has never pierced through the veil of flesh, and 
 • gazed on ** Him who is invisible ! " 
 
 Ah 1 you will never " endure " with a life like that ! 
 '* Can thine heart endure, saith the Lord, or can thine 
 hands be strong, in the day that 1 shall deal with thee?" 
 Thank God, some of you have had your eye« opened to a new 
 world altogether. You can say, " One thmg I know, that 
 whereas I was blind, now I see." By far the most moment- 
 ous period in one's history is the time when this change 
 takes place ; when from living wholly for the flesh, and for 
 the world, you begin to live for the invisible and eternal. 
 
 In the diary of the late Charles Kingsley I find the 
 following entry, written when he was quite a young man. 
 "June 1 2th. — I have been .for the last hour on the 
 seashore, not dreaming, but thinking deeply and strongly, 
 and forming determinations which are to aff'ect my destiny 
 through time and through eternity. Before the sleeping 
 earth, and the sleepless sea and stars, I have devoted 
 myself to God ; a vow never (if He gives me the faith I 
 pray for) to be recalled." Those of you who have made 
 this act of self-consecration, must feel that life now becomes 
 a far nobler and sublimer thing than ever it was before. 
 
ForsaJzing Egypt, 165 
 
 Even the simplest mind is raised and expanded, by con- 
 verse with eternity, and fellowship with God. 
 
 But, your contemplation of the invisible must not be 
 a mere abstract dreamy devotion, a waiting afar off on 
 Heaven's eternal glorious King. There must be a personal 
 surrender of yourselves to God, founded upon a living and 
 intelligent faith. I do earnestly recommend every one of 
 you, within whose heart there glows a ray of Christian hope, 
 to take a sheet of paper, and write down with ink and pen, 
 in your own simple words, the truths on which that hope 
 is based. Try, in your own natural language, to formulate 
 your creed. Don't copy from a book, not even from the 
 Bible ; but, just in the most artless way, make a statement 
 of your Christian faith. You will find this eminently useful. 
 It will give clearness and crispness to your belief. It will 
 inspire you with confidence and courage. David JMalcolm 
 was a young man of twenty-one, who was deeply impressed 
 under the preaching of McCheyne of Dundee, and, as his 
 subsequent life proved, became a true Christian. That he 
 might clearly realise his own doctrinal position, and be 
 able to resist the prevailing currents of error, he wrote out 
 a statement of his belief, in these words : " I believe in 
 God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, 
 each carrying on His work, not separated, not divided. I 
 believe these three constitute the Godhead. I believe in 
 the Father as the Creator, in the Son as the Redeemer, 
 and in the Holy Spirit as the Sanctifier. I believe in the 
 IIt)ly Bible,. and in the counsels of eternity. I believe in 
 G-)d's foreknowledge, predestination, sovereignty, and I 
 believe in His electing love, through the meritorious death 
 of His Son. I believe that Jesus commissioned His apostles 
 to go into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every 
 creature ; and now I have His declaration, calling upon 
 me to believe and live. I believe in the everlasting joy 
 
1 66 The City Youth. 
 
 and felicity of the redeemed, and in the endless perdition 
 of the unsaved. D. M." 
 
 He was but an artisan, but his creed was manly and 
 clear : he found it enough to live upon, enough to die 
 upon. He met his death by accident : caught by some 
 revolving machinery, he was fatally injured, called very 
 suddenly to face eternity; but " he endured," he knew no 
 fear, his spirit, rejoicing, passed within the veil. 
 
 How many of you, wken you reach home to-night, 
 could sit down and write out in a few lines your creed, the 
 truths on which you rest your hopes for eternity.? It 
 never can be right with you till you are able to do this. 
 A man whose business affairs are all in a muddle will 
 never be a successful man ; and it is just as true, that if 
 the interests of your soul are all in a muddle, there is little 
 hope of your wearing the eternal crown. Oh, clear up the 
 whole matter now ; come and get salvation on God's terms. 
 Turn your back on Egypt, and your face toward Canaan ; 
 and keep your eye fixed on Him who is invisible. So shall 
 you endure to the end, and, enduring to the end, shall be 
 saved . Amen. 
 
MEN OF THE WORLD, 
 
*^ Men of the worlds which have their portion in this hfe»^-» 
 Psalm xvii. 14. 
 
XII. 
 
 MEN OF THE WORLD, 
 
 TO every young man there comes, sooner or later, the 
 brief but startling message which God addressed to 
 Abraham when he was in Ur of the Chaldees — ** Get thee 
 out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy 
 father's house, unto a land that I will show thee." You 
 cannot always abide in the home of your childhood. Dear 
 as the old paternal dwelling may be, and fragrant with 
 the sweetest memories, the time comes when you mu*st 
 bid it "good-bye," and set forth to push your own way 
 through the w^orld. There is, perhaps, no period in our 
 history more solemn and important than the day when we 
 pass the threshold of the home which has sheltered and 
 nourished our infancy, and fairly embark on the cares and 
 responsibilities, the doubts and difficulties, the temptations 
 and trials, of active life. It is a serious time for every one. 
 Thank God for the buoyancy of youth. Thank God 
 for the tendency to look on the bright side of things, and 
 to paint the future with fair and pleasing colours. But it 
 gives no good promise of a young man's career when he 
 trips gaily and lightly away from under the paternal roof- 
 tree, and talks of that step as though it were an escape 
 and an emancipation. Apart from the sundering of 
 domestic ties — and a man is not a man if he has no 
 heart — it is a momentous business, this embarking upon 
 life. It is terribly real. It is no occasion for nonsense 
 and frivolity. Many a proud crest must be shorn, many 
 
170 The City Youth, 
 
 a good sword shivered, before those who rush so nimbly 
 into the battle-field shall come forth with the spoils of 
 victory. Every young man entering upon life carries with 
 him a certain force or momentum, and upon the direction 
 that is given to that force depends his future career and 
 happiness. 
 
 When two friends were one day visiting Mr. Boulton's 
 steam-engine manufactory at Birmingham, that gentleman 
 met them at the entrance, and said, " I sell here what 
 everybody is desirous of possessing — powers Now the 
 energy of youth is power. Power, when rightly used, to 
 accomplish incalculable good ; but when misapplied, to 
 work immeasurable evil. 
 
 You cannot sufficiently remember that " entering upon 
 life" means vastly more than mere "commencing busi- 
 ness." The two expressions are often used as if they were 
 synonymous. But, in launching forth upon the responsi- 
 bilities of life, you have something more to attend to than 
 worldly business — something more to acquire than money. 
 You are giving shape to your whole future destiny. You 
 are stamping your character for eternity. You are deter- 
 mining the career of an immortal spirit. The grand 
 mistake which, I fear, the mass of young men make at the 
 outset is this — they think only of the present world ; they 
 aim at securing " a portion for this life," but leave the next 
 life all unprovided for. Am I not right in saying that 
 this is the case with a vast majority } A dear, thoughtful 
 young fellow, who is in a house of business in the city, 
 comes to me for a little conversation ; he tells me of his 
 religious difficulties, of his inward conflicts and struggles, 
 and his desire to live a Christian life ; and ere we part 
 I say to him, " Now, how many in your establishment 
 seem to be at all seriously inclined } " How many in 
 that huge drapery business ? How many in that bank } 
 
Men of the World, 1 7 i 
 
 How many in that workshop ? Ten to one his reply is, 
 •' There is just one I know of that is a real Christian ; " 
 or *' Just two or three that take any interest in these 
 things." Ah! it is the old story; as Jesus said of the 
 strait gate, *' few there be that find it." J\Ien of God, 
 that have their portion in heaven, are rare and hard to 
 find ; on every side you are elbowed and crowded by 
 ** men of the world, which have their portion in this life." 
 I look you straight in the face, my brothers, and ask, *' To 
 which group do you wish to belong } '* If to the latter, 
 I don't know what brought you here, nor have I any 
 message for you ; if to the former, I hope to say a few 
 words that will cheer and help you on your way. 
 
 If you are told of such and such a person, that he is ** a 
 man of the world," what do you understand by the ex- 
 pression } What impression does it leave on your mind } 
 If it is intended to mean, merely, that he is a man of 
 peculiar sagacity, one who knows what he is about, who 
 is thoroughly wide-awake, and up to business, I have 
 nothing to say against such a character ; the parable we 
 were reading "''' shows that such shrewdness is rather to be 
 ** commended ; " but I think the general purport of the 
 expression will be allowed to be that which is evidently 
 David's meaning in the text, a man who has no spiritual 
 yearnings, no holy aspirations ; a mere earthworm, selfish, 
 sordid, and greedy of gain ; whose supreme or only 
 thought is to make money, and have his nest well-feathered 
 here. From such a character, may you all join with the 
 Psalmist in praying, ** Good Lord, deliver us." ' 
 
 I have two things to speak about to-night, as suggested 
 by the contrast in the text : — ist, Men of the world, and 
 their portion ; 2nd, The man of God, and his. 
 
 * Luke xvi. i-i2. 
 
172 The City Youth, 
 
 I. ThiiiTi of the p07iio7i ivhich belongs to men of the world. — 
 There is not a greater mistake than to imagine that you 
 will be heart-rich as soon as you become purse-rich. ** Oh," 
 thinks one, " if my salary were only at such a figure ; if I 
 had so much money safely invested ; if I could but jump 
 into that splendid vacant situation, wouldn't I be jolly ; my 
 cup of happiness would be full 1 " Now I have to tell you, 
 not on my own authority, but on the authority of Scripture, 
 backed by the experience and testimony of myriads, that 
 that calculation is utterly wrong. You may be a thousand 
 times more wealthy than you are to-day, and — a thousand 
 times more miserable. I am not saying a word against 
 wealth in itself; were I to do so, I should be a fool ; but 
 against the notion which says, ** Give me money, and 
 happiness follows as a matter of course." There is no 
 truth I could more easily confirm, by endless illustrations 
 from real life, than this, that, as the Bible says, '' A man's 
 life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he 
 possesseth." There is many a Midas in this city to-day, 
 at whose touch everything seems to turn into gold, who 
 would frankly tell you he had a far lighter heart, when, as 
 a young clerk, he was earning /^6o or £%q a year. The 
 wealthy Sir Charles Flower only spoke for many a rich man 
 like himself, when, to a beggar, who asked him for money 
 to get a piece of bread, he said, " I would gladly give you 
 a sovereign, if you would give me vour appetite." The old 
 dissipated Marquis of Queensberry would sit yonder in his 
 fine house at Twickenham, and, looking out on the Thames, 
 murmuring so pleasantly along, could only say, '* I am sick 
 of hearing people praise tha<- eternal river ; it does nothing 
 but flow, flow, flow." Rir' do make happy ; but it is 
 not the riches of the po at the riches of the mind 
 
 and heart. The riches of taste, of culture, of affection, 
 and, above all, the riches of God's grace, which impart 
 
Men of the World, 173 
 
 capacities of deep and intense enjoyment, otherwise un- 
 known. 
 
 Although every age has had its philosophers and its 
 moralists, proclaiming that money wull not bring happiness, 
 it is as little believed to-day as ever it was. Men 
 read it in their Bibles on Sunday, and hear it from the 
 pulpit, and inwardly feel it to be true ; but on Monday 
 morning, as they walk through the City, they nudge one 
 another, and say with a merry twinkle, ** Deceitful thing — 
 riches ! dangerous thing — money 1 Very ! " and off they 
 go to see how smart they can be, and how thoroughly they 
 can banish every other thought from their mind. It is a 
 very solemn thought for any of you who are mere '* men 
 of the world," that, though you should be ever so success- 
 ful, though your gains indeed should be far beyond your 
 expectation, what you have got is only " a portion for this 
 life." You are not endowed — to the extent of a single 
 farthing — for the life that is on the other side of the grave. 
 You cannot carry your gold there, nor your shares, and 
 bonds, and furniture, and shops, and warehouses. All, all 
 must be left behind ! It is a fine " portion" indeed ; but 
 only for ** this life ! " The hour is not distant when it will 
 be divided amongst others ; and you 
 
 ** Shall have no share in all that's done 
 Beneath the circuit of the sun." 
 
 I have often in the country been amused at observing the 
 dismay of the farm-yard hen, when, after having brought 
 up a brood of aquatic fowls, the young ducklings plunge 
 with plashing into the water, and leave their foster-mother 
 on the bank. It is well known, that if a quail or partridge 
 sit upon the eggs of another species of bird, the young, as 
 soon as their wings are formed, and they have a chance, 
 will fly away and assort with their own species. And 
 when Jeremiah looked upon that sight, he just saw a 
 
174 The City Youth, 
 
 picture of the way in which men of the world are treated 
 by the riches that they have hugged and fostered. ** As 
 the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not (that 
 is, for herself), 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." 
 
 Man of the world, think of all the earthly things you 
 have that give you satisfaction ; make up the inventory ; 
 call it, when complete, your *' portion in this life ; " and 
 then tick oft' each particular, and say, ** This, this, this 
 must be left behind." " For we brought nothing into 
 this world," saith Scripture, " and it is certain we can 
 carry nothing out." That is, nothing material, nothing 
 earthly. Those of us who are Christians will carry a 
 great deal out with us when we are launched into eternity, 
 because all the spiritual riches we possess remain good at 
 the gate of the grave, and indeed are only the tiny seeds 
 of what shall prove an ever-enlarging harvest ; but death 
 is a strainer which holds back every mere material posses- 
 sion ; and if this has been our only wealth, we wake up 
 beggared for eternity ! 
 
 But it is more than this I am now wishing to impress 
 on you ; even as regards the present life — and not 
 taking our future being into account at all — men of the 
 world find their portion insufficient to m:.ke them happy. 
 If a splendid demesne and a princely income are enough 
 to banish sadness, who more to be envied than the 
 proprietor of Chatsworth ? Situated amid the romantic 
 scenery of the Peak, environed with parks that almost 
 equal one of the smaller counties in extent, watered by 
 a beautiful river, surrounded by magnificent prospects, 
 and enriched with historical associations, it is probably 
 one of the finest residences in the world. Everything 
 tliat imagination could invent, or wealth supply, has been 
 
Iilen of the World. 175 
 
 provided to add to the comfort of its occupant. Yet, 
 what is that I read, as I walk up the entrance-hall of 
 this Aladdin-like palace ? On a small tablet, engraven in 
 Latin, is the touching inscription, ** I finished it in my 
 year of sorrow." 
 
 " I have run," said the gay Lord Chesterfield, — and if 
 ever there was a thorough man of the world, it was he, — 
 *' I have run the silly rounds of business and of pleasure, 
 and have done with them all. I have enjoyed all the 
 pleasures of the world, and consequently know their 
 futility, and do not regret their loss. I appraise them 
 at their real value, which in truth is very low : whereas 
 those who have not experienced them always overrate 
 them. They only see the gay outside, and are dazzled 
 with the glare ; but I have been behind the scenes, and 
 have seen all the coarse pulleys and dirty ropes which 
 exhibit and move the gaudy machine. I have seen and 
 smelt the tallow candles which illuminate the whole 
 decorations, to the astonishment and admiration of an 
 ignorant audience. I look back on all that is past as one of 
 those romantic dreams which opium commonly produces ; 
 and I have no wish to repeat the nauseous dose. Shall 
 I say that I bear this with resignation } No ; I bear it 
 because I must, whether I will or no. I think of nothing 
 but killing time the best way I can, now that it has become 
 my enemy." Oh, what a dreary confession, from a man 
 who had almost everything that earth could provide to make 
 one happy ! I think I have said enough to show that all 
 that " men of the world " have is " a portion in this life ; " 
 and that that is but a poor, unsatisfying portion at the best. 
 
 II. Now, I want you to look with me for a few moments 
 at the contrast, as suggested by David's words in the next 
 verse — "As for me, I will behold Thy face in righteousness: 
 I shall be satisfied, when I awake with Thy likeness." 
 
176 The City Youth, 
 
 The contrast is very marked and emphatic. "As for me," 
 says the Psahiiist, " I am not a man of the world, nor 
 have I my portion in this life ; I have got something 
 better to think of and seek after — a treasure in the 
 heavens that faileth not — a portion that is sure to satisfy." 
 "As for me : " he speaks of himself as quite an exception, 
 a rare case, one separate from the common throng. Ah ! 
 it is just here and there that we meet with such a man, 
 who, as he passes through this little life, keeps his eye 
 fixed on immortality. And these are the happiest men 
 after all, the happiest even in this world. David did not 
 mean that he had no portion here, for that he had ; but 
 the previous Psalm tells us where his heart was set: " The 
 Lord is the portion of mine inheritance." " Ah," you say, 
 "that's religion ; that would not make him happy." Well, 
 listen to what he immediately adds — " The lines are fallen 
 to me in pleasant places ; yea, I have a goodly heritage." 
 As though he said, " There is not one of you men of the 
 world that is to be envied as I am." 
 
 So thought Martin Luther : when a considerable sum of 
 money was on one occasion sent to him, he declined to 
 accept it, and said in his prayer that night, " Lord, Thou 
 must not think to put me off with a portion like that ; I 
 want Thyself." 
 
 I have reason to know that I am just now looking into 
 the faces of some who are not happy. You are not at rest ; 
 you are not satisfied ; your heart still is empty ; you have 
 not got that which can make you supremely glad. There are 
 elderly men here, who have been trying for twenty, thirty, 
 and forty years to suck out happiness from the world, and 
 they have failed ; and some of you, my younger brothers, 
 are just going to make the same experiment, and meet 
 with the same failure. I wish, with God's help, to put 
 you on the right track. I want each of you to take 
 
Men of the World, 177 
 
 up David's words, ** As for me," and follow the plan 
 which he adopted. There were two things in which he 
 placed the secret of true happiness : the one was seeking 
 God as his Saviour; and the other was being made like 
 Plim in character. 
 
 I. "I will behold Thy face in righteousness." I think if 
 you study the Bible, you will find that when reference is 
 made to the ** face of God," there is generally allusion to 
 Jesus Christ, His Son. We are said to behold Him " in 
 the face of Jesus Christ." The Psalmist means that he 
 will fix his eye on God, as reconciled to him through the 
 righteousness of the Redeemer. He will enjoy the light 
 of His favour. He will bask in the sunshine of His smile. 
 
 This, believe me, is the first secret of a happy life. If 
 you want to know the joy of a heart at rest, the first thing 
 you have to do is to get right with God. I am persuaded 
 that many of you feel this to be true. You say, I would give 
 all I have in the world to know that God is at peace with 
 me, that my sins are pardoned, and that my soul is saved. 
 My friends, this is^ precisely the joy I wish you to secure 
 now, and to enter life with. Not to go doubting and 
 fearing for the best years of your life, until perhaps the 
 heart gets thoroughly hardened, or you give up the whole 
 matter in despair; but to have all put straight now between 
 your God and you : and to go forth to the business of life 
 with the buoyancy and exhilaration of those who can 
 say — 
 
 *' The Lord Almighty is my friend, 
 And who can prove a foe ? " 
 
 Oh, that you were brought to make a complete surrender 
 of yourselves to Jesus Christ, to be not only saved by Him, 
 but ruled and guided by Him every hour of your being : 
 what a spring and charm it would throw into your life — 
 never known before ! This Divine Book tells us that there 
 
 la 
 
178 The City YoiUlu 
 
 is another light besides that of reason, another impulse 
 besides that of nature ; and that this light and impulse, 
 proceeding from God, introduce us to a new and most 
 blessed experience. As that thoughtful and devout French 
 believer, Lacordaire, wrote, speaking of his own conver- 
 sion : "He who has never known such a time, has not 
 fully realised life. Once a real Christian, the world did 
 not vanish before my eyes ; it rather assumed nobler pro- 
 portions, as I myself did. Instead of a mere empty, fleeting 
 theatre of ambition, alike petty whether deluded or 
 achieved, I began to see therein a sufferer needing help ; 
 a mighty misfortune resulting from all the sorrows of ages 
 past and to come : and I could imagine nothing compar- 
 able to the happiness of ministering to it, with the help 
 of the cross and the Gospel of Christ." 
 
 Oh, my brothers ! before whom there lie the toils and 
 difficulties, the disappointments and trials, of an unknown 
 future, I tell you that there is but one foundation on which 
 you can build up a manly noble and blessed life, issuing in 
 a serene death and a glorious immortality, and that founda- 
 tion is the knowledge of Christ as your personal Saviour. 
 Let " men of the world " have their portion in this life, but 
 as for you, may you " behold God's face in righteousness." 
 
 2. ** I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy like- 
 ness." Satisfied when ? " When I awake." This is 
 commonly interpreted as having reference to the morning 
 of resurrection, when, aroused from the long slumber of 
 the tomb, the perfected saint shall arise in the image of 
 his Saviour. That precious psalm agrees well with this 
 view in which David says, "Thou wilt not leave my soul in 
 Sheol [i.e., the place of departed spirits) ; Thou wilt show 
 me the path of life : in Thy presence is fulness of joy : 
 at Thy right hand are pleasures evermore." And, trulv, 
 the moment of resurrection will be the first moment in our 
 
Men of the World, 179 
 
 history, \vhen, in the fullest, amplest sense of the word, 
 we shall be able to say, " I am satisfied ! " ** I have all 
 that I can desire." 
 
 Oh, tell me, have your eyelids ever opened with the 
 earthly dawn, and found you saying, with the first 
 moments of returning consciousness, *' I am satisfied " ? 
 Rather, have not care, and depression, and a feeling 
 of life's monotony weighed down your o\vn spirit, as 
 another day called you forth to its duty and routine ? 
 Did not the morning sunshine seem only to mock the 
 languor and dulness of your frame ? There are many 
 persons to whom the first hour of the day is often one of 
 peculiar heaviness of spirit. I have known young men 
 who have had to contend with a singular melancholia for 
 some time after rising in the morning. The world seemed 
 such a tame, meaningless routine, and each day but a 
 tramping of the tedious treadmill. Ah ! you want some- 
 thing nobler than the prospect of gain to give a sparkle 
 and a beauty to life, and to make the heart truly glad I 
 and that nobler thing is the prospect of being like God. 
 He created man at the first ** in His own image, after His 
 own likeness ; " till man lost that image in the fall, he was 
 perfectly happy ; and now his heart will never be com- 
 pletely satisfied again until that image is restored, and he 
 awakes in the Divine likeness once more. This is the 
 prospect that cheers a true Christian, *' We know that 
 when He shall appear we shall be like Him, for we shall 
 see Him as Pie is." 
 
 May I persuade you all to make the Psalmist's choice 
 your own — each of you to write your own name, so to 
 speak, in the last verse of this Psalm, and to say, "As for 
 me (here take in the name), I will behold Thy face in 
 righteousness ; I shall be satibfied, when I awake, with 
 Thy likeness " ? I entreat you, not indeed to despise this 
 
l8o The City Youth, 
 
 world, or affect to treat it with disdain, — a course worthy 
 only of a Pharisee or a hypocrite, — but, whilst diligent in 
 business, and able to enjoy to the full such material com- 
 forts as Heaven bestows, to keep in its own place the 
 earthly mammon, and by faith to lay hold of " the true 
 riches," which rust can never tarnish, nor thief plunder, 
 nor misfortune carry away, and which even now Christ 
 waits to bestow upon every one of you. Amen. 
 
A GOOD SOLDIER OF yESUS CHRIST. 
 
**A good soldier of Jcsiis Christ P— 2 TiMOTHY ii. 3. 
 
XIII. 
 
 A GOOD SOLDIER OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 PEACE-LOVING people as we are, military matters 
 have for some months engaged an unusual amount 
 of public attention. Unhappily, we are becoming only 
 too familiar with the art of war. The language of the 
 camp and the mess-room is on every one's lips. The 
 first thing we look at in the morning paper is the 
 news regarding our gallant forces now engaged in a 
 distant land. The main topic of conversation is the 
 merits of the military undertaking on which we have 
 launched. No names are so much talked of as those of 
 distinguished officers, who have sacrificed their lives for 
 the honour of their country. And the warmest sympathies 
 of our heart are stirred towards the brave who have fallen 
 in battle, or are now in the midst of danger ; and towards 
 the bereaved relatives of those who will no more return to 
 their embrace. One thing is certain, the old spirit of 
 patriotism is not dead. The fire of dauntless valour, of 
 invincible courage, of loyalty to queen and country, glows 
 as brightly as ever in the British soldier's breast. What- 
 ever may be the issue of the present contest in the East, 
 it has already proved that our gracious Sovereign has, in 
 her army, a host of valiant and noble men, whose discipline 
 is perfect, whose hearts are true as steel, and who are 
 worthy of the nation's confidence and admiration. Tlie 
 
1 84 The City Youth. 
 
 rank and file of the British army have always borne a high 
 reputation ; but it is a special feature of the present 
 campaign, that it has brought into prominence the soldierly 
 qualities of the commanding officers, whose pluck, and 
 daring, and self-denial have been exhibited, alas ! at a 
 costly price — too large a proportion of such men having 
 fallen in the forefront of battle. There are lessons for all 
 of us to learn from the heroism and devotion to duty of 
 such men as the lamented General Earle and Sir Herbert 
 Stewart ; whilst the name of General Gordon is now, 
 throughout the civilised world, a synonym not only for all 
 that is noblest in humanity, but for a lofty godliness and 
 saintly chivalry, which have rarely been equalled, and 
 certainly never surpassed. Thank God, the day is past 
 when a man of piety was a rara avis in the British army, 
 and when soldiers scarcely uttered the Divine name but 
 to blaspheme it ; a remarkable and blessed change has 
 come ; there are godly, praying men in every branch of the 
 service ; and when a soldier is a Christian, he is generally 
 one to the backbone ; he is decided and fearless in his 
 testimony. The present excellent Chaplain-General to 
 the Forces stated the other day at Portsmouth, that the 
 generosity, the devotion, the courage of a soldier's witness 
 for God, had often shamed, and yet inspired him. ** I 
 know their faults, their temptations, their dangers," said 
 he, ** but I know much more. I have ever felt their warm- 
 hearted appreciation of any effort to induce them to be 
 better men ; the readiness with which they respond to 
 sympathy ; the eagerness with which they listen to any 
 plain and simple pleadings for God. It has been my 
 privilege," he added, "to be placed with officers whose 
 words have spurred me on, and whose lives have stimulated 
 my flagging energies. And it has been my joy to see 
 some of the men to whom I have ministered leading new 
 
A Good Soldier of Jesus Christ, 185 
 
 lives, growing more pure and truthful, more manly and 
 temperate, more loyal to their true INIaster, Jesus Christ." 
 
 Our thoughts having recently been so much in this vein, 
 I thought of bringing before you this evening y^«r military 
 officers presented to us in the New Testament, each of 
 whom is, in some respects, worthy of our imitation. I refer 
 to the four centurions of Scripture, two of whom are men- 
 tioned in the Gospels, and two in the Acts of the Apostles. 
 
 '* Centurion," I need scarcely tell you, was the name 
 given to an officer of a certain rank in the Roman army. 
 The Romans generally divided the army into legions ; 
 each legion into ten ** bands" or cohorts; each cohort 
 into three maniples ; and each maniple into two centuries, 
 consisting of one hundred men apiece. Thus, there were 
 sixty centuries in a legion, and each of these was under 
 the command of a centurion. The word " legion " was 
 not always confined to its strict military sense, but was 
 used to express any large number ; thus the demoniac of 
 Mark v. 9, said, '* ]\Iy name is Legion, for we are many ; " 
 and our blessed Lord, in the hour of His betrayal, said, 
 " Thinkest thou that I cannot pray to ]\Iy Father, and He 
 shall presently give Me more than twelve legions of angels .?" 
 
 Now the four oflicers I am to introduce to you this 
 evening may be thus distinguished, taking them in their 
 Scriptural order. i. The centurion of Capernaum, or 
 the man of faith. 2. The centurion of Jerusalem, or 
 the man of deep emotion. 3. The centurion of Csesarea, 
 or the man of prayer. And 4. The centurion of the 
 Augustan band, or the man of kindness of heart. 
 
 The personal names of the two former we do not know ; 
 the third was called Cornelius, and the fourth Julius. All 
 these men were presumably Gentiles by birth, and I can- 
 not positively assert of every one of them that they were 
 brought under the power of God's saving grace ; but each 
 
1 86 The City Youth, 
 
 possessed qualities or features which made them worthy 
 of our imitation. 
 
 I. The first in the list is the ceniurion of Capernaum. Pro- 
 bably there was a small Roman garrison stationed there, 
 and this man was the officer in charge. Whatever his pre- 
 vious history had been, it is evident that he had felt the 
 emptiness of heathen superstition, and was now attaching 
 himself to the Jewish religion, and to the worship of the 
 one true God. He believed in the Divine power of Jesus, 
 and being in trouble, ventured to apply to Him for help. 
 
 At home he had a trusty and beloved servant, who was 
 apparently at the point of death. All the medical skill 
 of the town had failed to save him, and the sufferer was 
 lying in the agony and helplessness of hopeless paralysis. 
 The kind-hearted officer believed that Jesus could effect 
 the cure, yet scarcely dared to approach Him with the 
 request. He was evidently a man much esteemed in 
 Capernaum, and he had endeared himself to the Jewish 
 community there by the warmth of his affection, and the 
 munificence of his liberality. Indeed, he had, at his own 
 expense, built for them a synagogue. So that the Jewish 
 elders were only too willing to do a service for him, and 
 to be the bearers of his petition to Christ. Whilst they 
 are off upon the errand, he bethinks himself that he has 
 been guilty of too great a presumption ; so he sends other 
 friends to the Master, requesting Him not to stoop so low 
 as to come and enter his dwelling, but to speak the healing 
 word at a distance, and his servant will be restored. And 
 his mode of reasoning is given, that we may see the artless- 
 ness and simplicity of his faith. " If," he argues, " I 
 myself, though in a subordinate office, find my servants 
 and inferiors instantly obedient to my will, so that, if I 
 say to this man, Go, he goeth ; and if I say to that man. 
 Come, he cometh ; and if I say to my servant, Do this, he 
 
A Good Soldier of Jesus Christ, 187 
 
 doeth it ; how much more will Christ, who is Lord over all 
 the hosts of heaven, have power to send at once some view- 
 less messenger of healing, and make the sufferer well 1 " 
 
 The Lord was struck by so remarkable a faith, the like 
 of which He had not yet seen in Israel. 
 
 Now, that Roman officer stands forth as an example to 
 us all. Who would have expected to find in the military 
 garrison at Capernaum such a faith ? Thank God the army 
 furnishes many a noble instance of a simple, but robust 
 confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ. Some of the most 
 fervent believers I have ever known have been officers in 
 the Queen's service. It is far from easy to maintain a 
 religious profession there. If a man's piety is only skin- 
 deep it will soon be knocked out of him ; but if it is real, 
 if it is genuine, the very opposition it meets with makes 
 it grow hardy and fearless. Some of you, probably, think 
 your position is nearly as trying. You want to act the 
 Christian, but all the influences in your house of business 
 are dead against you. Well, remember, if God gives you 
 grace to be faithful, to stick to your colours, and not yield 
 an inch of principle, your faith will grow stronger by the 
 resistance it meets with ; you will advance to the forefront 
 of living and decided believers, and will one day bless God 
 for all the trying discipline through which you were made 
 ** a good soldier of Jesus Christ." 
 
 II. The next military officer to whom I would draw your 
 attention is the cc7tturio7i ivho stood by the cross of Jesus. 
 In order to prevent the possibility of any rescue, even at 
 the last moment, the authorities had stationed there a 
 quaternion of soldiers with their officer. It was the 
 common practice to give to these men, as perquisites, the 
 clothing of the victims who were crucified ; and St. John 
 tells us, with painful realness of description, how the 
 soldiers, with loathsome avidity, divided the garments of 
 
1 88 The City Youth, 
 
 Jesus amongst themselves ; but finding the under-vest 
 woven and seamless (so that to rend would be to spoil it), 
 they cast lots as to which of the four should have it. Then 
 they sat down and watched the last writhings of the innocent 
 sufferer. 
 
 When we consider that even the priests, and scribes, and 
 elders — lost to every sense of right feeling — ^jeered and 
 reviled the Crucified One, we can scarcely wonder that 
 the rude and ignorant soldiery took their share in the 
 shameless ribaldry ; *' that at their midday meal they 
 pledged in mock hilarity the dying Man, cruelly holding 
 up towards His burning lips their cups of sour wine, and 
 echoing the Jewish taunts against the weakness of a King 
 whose throne was a cross, and whose crown was thorns." 
 
 In pleasing contrast to their profane levity was the 
 solemn and reverent attitude of the officer over them, on 
 whom all the circumstances of the occasion made a pro- 
 found impression. Whatever may have been hitherto his 
 opinions regarding Jesus, the wondrous scenes of Calvary 
 convinced him not only that He was guiltless, but that 
 He was Divine ; and when he listened to His latest 
 utterance, " Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit," 
 and saw the earthquake, and all that was done, his 
 feelings overcame him, and he burst out with the excla- 
 mation, " Certainly this was a righteous man ; " nay, 
 more, as St. Matthew records, "Truly this was the Son of 
 God." With the instinct of a new-begotten faith, he 
 perceived that that death of agony was vicarious, that the 
 rigliteous had suffered in room of the guilty, and that the 
 sinless substitute was truly Divine. 
 
 Thus, at the beginning of Christ's ministry, and at 
 its close, He was the object of a centurion's faith. In 
 the one case, the faith was begotten by the sight of the 
 living ; in the other, of the dying Saviour. This officer 
 
A Good Soldier of Jtsus Christ, 189 
 
 was deeply moved. It is often a very tender heart that 
 beats under a soldier's uniform. It does not take much 
 sometimes to touch their deepest nature. A more impres- 
 sible class of men I have rarely ministered to. I have 
 seen the salt tears dropping from eyes that were not 
 accustomed to weep. Some appeal to their earliest 
 memories ; some earnest presentation of the Saviour's 
 love; some pressing entreaty to live a new and nobler 
 life, would awaken springs of emotion in strong men 
 who would march unmoved in the foremost line of 
 battle. 
 
 I like this centurion's bold and fearless avowal. He 
 is not afraid to compromise himself, or risk the hostility 
 of those around him. ** Beyond a question," says he, 
 "this is the Son of God." And we know what St. John 
 says, that ** Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the 
 Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God." We 
 want a little more of this direct, unhesitating faith, 
 and crisp, outspoken confession. There are so many of 
 us who have only a sort of half-belief of Christian truth ; 
 and as for testimony, we never open our lips for our 
 Master. Oh ! let us take a leaf out of the book of these 
 Roman officers, and boldly avow our faith in Jesus, both 
 as our living Saviour and as our perfect sacrifice. 
 
 III. The next military officer I have to introduce to 
 you bore the aristocratic name of Cornelius. The Cor- 
 nelii were a family of high position in Rome ; and as the 
 Emperor Julian classes this officer amongst the fev/ 
 persons of distinction who in the earliest days of Chris- 
 tianity embraced that religion, it is more than likely that 
 he belonged to this patrician stock. He took the over- 
 sight of the Roman military station at Cossarea, and com- 
 manded a company who were called " the Italian band," 
 probably because most of the soldiers who originally 
 
190 The City Youth, 
 
 composed it had been levied in Italy. But, as we find 
 amongst ourselves such titles as *' the Coldsteam Guards," 
 •'the Sutherland Highlanders," and suchlike — indicating 
 the quarter out of which the corps was originally drafted, 
 though now they may have no connection with it — the 
 term "Italian band" may just have chanced to be the 
 name by which the regiment of Cornelius was known. 
 Anyway, the men were fortunate enough to have in 
 their superior officer a beautiful character, who is thus 
 described, ** A devout man, and one that feared God with 
 all his house, who gave much alms to the people, and 
 prayed to God alway." 
 
 A high testimony, is it not ? What a blessing it must be 
 to a regiment to have over them a God-fearing, benevolent, 
 and prayerful man ! What an influence for good it must 
 have upon the rank and file ! I think of Cornelius specially 
 as a man of prayer. Even when he was but very dimly 
 acq'-iainted with Christian truth, he was unremitting in the 
 constancy and fervency of his prayers; and to the effectual 
 and fervent prayers of this righteous man we owe the intro- 
 duction of the Gospel to the Gentiles. Remember, Christ 
 had as yet been preached to none but to Jews only. But, 
 in answer to the unwearied pleadings of this pious officer, 
 the Lord sent Peter down from Joppa to Ca^sarea, where 
 he preached a sermon that roused the whole neighbour- 
 hood, and brought large numbers to the feet of Jesus. 
 None of you can tell what blessings you are reaping to-day 
 from the unwearied intercessions of that pious officer. Oh, 
 the power of believing prayer ! No wonder Queen ]\Iary 
 said she feared John Knox's prayers more than all the 
 armies of her enemies ! 
 
 Thank God, we have, amongst the defenders of our 
 country, a large number of praying men. A gentleman 
 told me the other day, on the best authority, not only that 
 
A Good Soldier of Jesics Christ, 191 
 
 . there are many such at present in our army at the Soudan, 
 but that united prayer-meetings are held amongst them : 
 and on the evening preceding each of the great and 
 anticipated encounters, there were knots of pious soldiers 
 on their knees together, committing their cause to God. 
 
 It is well known that General Gordon was, in this respect, 
 a true Cornelius. Whilst resident in Gravesend, on military 
 duty there, he had a large class of boys, to whose spiritual 
 welfare he devoted himself; and in connection with this 
 a pleasing incident is told, that illustrates the confidence 
 he had in the efficacy of prayer. A friend one day enter- 
 ing his private room, observed upon the wall a large map 
 of the world, certain portions of which were dotted over 
 vi.h little pins which were stuck into the sheet. On 
 inquiring the meaning of this, he was informed that each 
 of these pins denoted a spot where one of the general's 
 former pupils was now located, and the good man in this 
 way kept them individually before his mind, and daily 
 brought every one before the Lord in prayer. A friend 
 who laboured with him in Christian work amongst the 
 lads, says that General Gordon invariably took his share 
 of the duty of opening and closing the school with prayer. 
 ** Well do I remember him," says that friend, " as he 
 prayed at these meetings ; with his right hand over his 
 eyes, and his left hand supporting the elbow of the right, 
 he would stand, and in his quiet, humble way, speak with 
 God. In all he did and said, he was marked among us 
 for his deep humility." After Gordon had been called 
 away from that work, he still remembered it at the throne 
 of grace ; and wrote, saying, ** I daily twice pray for the 
 welfare of the school and teachers." I believe that 
 his singular prayerfulness arose out of his intense con- 
 sciousness of the reality and nearness of a personal 
 God. God \^as not to him, as He is to many, a mere idear 
 
192 The City Youth, 
 
 a remote abstraction. He was the most real of all persons, 
 and to be consulted and obeyed at every turn. Believe 
 me, my brothers, this is the secret of a strong and noble 
 life. What calmness, what imperturbable serenity of mind 
 it gave to the hero of Khartoum ! Like the Psalmist, he 
 could not only say, ** I have set the Lord always before 
 me ; " but he could add, ** Because He is on my right hand, 
 I shall not be moved." If you are to be true, and, in the 
 best sense of the word, successful men, follow the example 
 of this modern Cornelius, and " pray to God alway." 
 
 But IV. I must now, in a single word or two, bring 
 before you the last of the New Testament centurions, into 
 whose character we have some insight ; and this was 
 Julius, also stationed for a time at Csesarea, and attached 
 to a cohort called the Augustan band. The term 
 "Augustan," derived from the title of the Roman Emperor, 
 was as common as the term ** Royal " is amongst our- 
 selves ; and, probably, the company referred to were 
 veteran soldiers originally enrolled by Augustus as a 
 bodyguard. But this it is not of much consequence to 
 determine. Our interest culminates in the officer who 
 seems to have had command, and who (to his honour be 
 it said) stands out conspicuously in the narrative as a 
 courteous, honourable, and kindly man. To his charge 
 St. Paul was delivered, when he was sent a prisoner from 
 Palestine to Rome. The voyage to Italy was undertaken 
 in a ship of Adramyttium, and proved, you recollect, one 
 of much hardship and danger. The first part of it, 
 however, was so prosperous, that the very next day after 
 they started, they arrived in the harbour at Sidon, sixty- 
 seven miles north of Cce area. Ihere they halted for an 
 hour or two, and, as we are informed, ** Julius courteously 
 entreated Paul, and gave him liberty to go unto his friends 
 to refresh himself.'* It is not improbable that the two 
 
A Good Soldier of Jesus Christ, 193 
 
 years' imprisonment the Apostle had already undergone 
 had told unfavourably on his health ; and sea-sickness 
 may also have added to his discomfort. It is pleasant 
 to know that he had, as a fellow-passenger in that rough 
 Alexandrian corn ship, so excellent a friend as Luke, the 
 beloved physician, who possibly had been officially en- 
 gaged as medical attendant to the passengers. Luke 
 would have many opportunities of observing the treatment 
 which Paul received at the hands of Julius : and in the 
 graphic story which he tells, there are repeated indications 
 that the Roman centurion showed his notable prisoner all 
 consideration and urbanity. We thank him for this. We 
 like to think that the noble and self-denying Christian 
 missionary was not treated harshly or unkindly : and around 
 the name of Julius there lingers a pleasing fragrance, as 
 ^.ar excellence a man of polite and gentlemanly bearing. I 
 turn to that name in a standard Bible Dictionary, and I 
 find the following designation of its bearer : " The cour- 
 teous centurion of Augustus' band, to whose charge St. 
 Paul was delivered when he was sent a prisoner to Rome." 
 A man of benevolent disposition and obliging spirit. 
 
 There is often a great deal of true refinement and 
 generosity of heart under the military cloak. There is 
 no evidence that this man was a Christian, but he was 
 just the sort of man whom the truth, when it lays hold 
 of, makes a beautiful and attractive character. Some of 
 us might do well to take a lesson from him. " Love as 
 brethren," says St. Peter, " be pitiful, be courteous." 
 Sympathy for others and consideration for their feelings, 
 are indispensable features of a true gentleman. The 
 distinguished soldier I have so often referred to was 
 thus considerate, almost to a fault. Perhaps next to 
 his faith in God, nothing was so prominent in his 
 character as his disinterestedness, and desire to benefit 
 
 13 
 
194 The City Youth, 
 
 his fellow-men. He was the most unselfish mortal ever 
 known. He rejected a fortune in China, and refused a 
 salary in the Soudan. He cared nothing for honours 
 or applause, and such medals as he had he did not 
 scruple to turn into money for the relief of those in want. 
 While he was in Gravesend he not only taught a company 
 of poor lads on the Sunday, but he would also have them 
 at his house on weekdays, feeding, and clothing, and even 
 lodging them. Three or four of them were, on one 
 occasion, laid up with scarlet fever in his own residence, 
 and one of these, now a man of twenty-nine, related how 
 the General used to care for them in their sickness, and 
 how he would sit up with them at night, and talk to 
 them, and soothe them, until they fell asleep. " General 
 Gordon's face," says another, ** all the time I knew him, 
 wore an habitually serene aspect of peace, compassion, 
 kindness, and of inward joy and strength." We know 
 that his favourite book and pocket companion, next to 
 his Bible, was the " Imitation of Christ," and into the 
 image of his Divine INIaster he wonderfully grew. Thus, 
 it is not too much to say, that Gordon — " hero among 
 heroes," as the Prime Minister called him — combined 
 in his own person the excellencies of the four centurions 
 of Scripture. 
 
 Such men are not raised up by God without a great 
 purpose : and surely one part of that great purpose is to 
 stimulate others, and especially younger men, to follow 
 their splendid example. I take it to be a hopeful sign of 
 our time, that all the world has joined in its tribute of 
 admiration to a man who was, above all things, distin- 
 guished as " a good soldier of Jesus Christ." It speaks 
 well for the age, that it appreciates so highly those quali- 
 ties of character that made him illustrious. 
 
 Strive to make these qualities your own. You may not 
 
A Good Soldier of Jesus Christ, 195 
 
 indeed be called to a military life, in the usual sense of 
 the term, but you are all called into the service of Christ. 
 I go recruiting to-day for my Royal Master. I want 
 you all to enlist forthwith in the army of the faithful. 
 
 ** Stand up, stand up, for Jesus 
 The strife will not be long ; 
 This day, the noise of battle, 
 
 The next, the victor's song. 
 To him that overcometh, 
 
 A crown of life shall be ; 
 
 He with the King of Glory, 
 
 Shall reign eternally ! " 
 
 Amen. 
 
A MAN IN CHRIST. 
 
*' / hiew a man in Christ about fourteen years ago.** — 2 Cqrin 
 TUIANS xii. 2 
 
XIV. 
 
 A MAN IN CHRIST, 
 
 IT is plain that that person was none other than Paul 
 himself. The verses which follow make this perfectly 
 clear. Why, then, does not the Apostle frankly say so } 
 Why does he speak of himself in the third person instead 
 of in the first ? Simply because he wished to avoid even 
 the semblance of boasting. He did not want to be egotist- 
 ical. Bold and fearless as Paul was, and able to assert 
 his position and authority when occasion required, he was 
 a singularly modest man. He knew that the grace of God 
 had done much for him ; but he did not hesitate to ac- 
 knowledge that "in himself, that is, in his flesh, the"re 
 dwelt no good thing." No one.can study the life of this 
 remarkable man without observing that his humility in- 
 creased with his years, till his one governing desire came 
 to be that self should be extinguished, and Christ 
 magnified. If it seems odd to you that Paul should speak 
 of himself in the third person, you should remember that 
 many other writers have done the same. Thus John con- 
 stantly does so in his Gospel; and, amongst profane 
 authors, the practice is far from rare. 
 
 Very well. Paul tells us something about himself — 
 something that happened to him about fourteen years pre- 
 viously. He had a remarkable vision. He was lifted up, 
 in some mysterious way he could not understand nor explain, 
 
200 The City Youth, 
 
 into the third heavens, where he heard such glorious things 
 as no mortal tongue could utter. God was pleased to honour 
 liim, above other men, with an express revelation. Appa- 
 rently, Paul had never said a word about it to any one until 
 now. It had remained a secret between him and his God. 
 
 1 am not going to guess what it had been about. We 
 shall not even stay to inquire what is meant by the '* third 
 heaven." What I want you to notice is, that when Paul 
 looked back fourteen years, his recollection of himself at 
 that time was of " a man in Christ." lie could look further 
 back than that (as he did in writing his Second Epistle to 
 Timothy), and recall the time when, so far from being ** a 
 man in Christ," he was *' a blasphemer, and a persecutor, 
 and injurious." But about twenty-five years before the words 
 of our text were written, the Lord met him, and called 
 him into the kingdom of His grace ; and, from that 
 memorable hour, he had been " in Christ," a new creature. 
 
 I wonder if it is possible, looking back on his career, 
 to put our finger on the very occasion to which our 
 text refers. This Epistle is believed to have been written 
 in the year a.d. 6o. Going back fourteen years, we arrive 
 at the year a.d. 46 ; and, as nearly as we can calculate, 
 that was the period when he made his second journey 
 to Jerusalem. Well, it is interesting to notice that when 
 Paul, at a time long subsequent to this, was, as a prisoner 
 of Christ, giving to an excited throng a review of his past 
 life ; and making his noble defence before the authorities, 
 he said, "And it came to pass, that when I was come 
 again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I 
 was in a trance." 
 
 Possibly, this was the very vision to which our text 
 refers. Perhaps it was then, as his soul was poured out 
 to God in his devotions in the temple, that it was given 
 to him to be mysteriously abstracted from all earthly 
 
A Man in Christ, 20I 
 
 things, and borne into the immediate presence of the 
 Most High. 
 
 Another view has been suggested, which is reasonable 
 and interesting. If you study the chronology of the 
 Acts of the Apostles, you will find that it was just about 
 fourteen years before this Epistle was written that, 
 in his evangelistic travels, he visited the town of 
 Lystra. Whilst preaching there, he noticed a poor cripple 
 in the audience, who was eagerly attentive to the truth. 
 He felt a deep interest in the man, and with a voice of 
 authority, that carried with it the healing power, he com- 
 manded him to rise and stand upon his feet. There was 
 an instantaneous and perfect cure. The crowd who wit- 
 nessed it were filled with amazement, and, believing that 
 Paul and his companion Barnabas were deities come down 
 to earth in human form, fell at their feet to worship them ; 
 and, had they not been prevented, would have offered 
 sacrifices to them. 
 
 Meanwhile, the news of these things spread. The Jews 
 in Antioch and Iconium heard of the stir the Apostles 
 were making, and hurried to Lystra to counteract the im- 
 pression. They were only too successful in their effort, 
 for the people, no longer reckoning Paul to be divine, 
 became now persuaded that he was an emissary of evil. 
 The revulsion, had it not been serious and dangerous, 
 would have been ridiculous. The fickle and excitable 
 mob became as wild in their fury as they had been in 
 their delight. They proceeded to stone the unprotected 
 missionary, until he lay helpless and unconscious on the 
 ground ; and then they dragged what they supposed to be 
 his corpse outside the gates of the city. 
 
 But Paul was not dead. Stunned indeed he was. but not 
 killed. He had fallen into a heavy swoon that looked 
 like death ; but whilst the disciples in an agonised group 
 
202 The City Youth, 
 
 stood around his pale form, his consciousness returned, 
 he rose upon his feet, and proceeded to resume his 
 labours as though nothing had occurred. Who can tell 
 that it was not during that period of coma that he was 
 mysteriously wafted to the third heavens, and beheld the 
 vision of God, which afterwards left so deep an impression 
 upon him ? 
 
 Be this, or be it not, a correct view of the matter, what I 
 have to do with this evening, and what I wish to fasten your 
 attention on, is the fact that, looking back so many years 
 on his past history, Paul could unhesitatingly speak of 
 himself as *'a man in Christ." 
 
 By this he meant a Christian. He used the same form 
 of expression when speaking of others. In writing to the 
 Romans, he sent his kindly greeting to his own cousins 
 Andronicus and Junia, who were converted to the Lord 
 before himself; and he did it in these words: — "Salute 
 Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen, who were in Christ 
 before me." 
 
 Thank God, not a few young men whom I am now 
 addressing are sincere believers ; and I am sure that each 
 of you feels, in looking back upon your past history, what- 
 ever red-letter days you may have, that by far the most 
 important date you can recall, is the time when you 
 became '* a man in Christ." 
 
 Sometime ago I addressed you from the text (taken from 
 the 1 7th Psalm), ''• Men of the world." This evening we leap 
 to a higher platform. Nothing short of this will content me, 
 that you be, all of you, " men in Christ." The line that 
 divides these two states is very marked and clear. j\Ian, 
 in a state of nature, is living under a three-fold dominion, 
 that of the world, the flesh, and the devil ; only by union 
 with Christ does he escape from all. The Bible uses each 
 form of expression to denote our natural condition. If 
 
A Man in -Christ, 203 
 
 David speaks of the unregenerate as " men of the world," 
 Paul speaks of them as being ** in the flesh," and John as 
 "children of the devil," But, indeed under this triple 
 empire all are living who are not '* in Christ." Escaping 
 from one, you escape from all ; serving one, you are 
 servants of all. So long as you are on the platform of 
 nature, you have no part in Christ. It must be granted, 
 that even those who are out of Christ (because they have 
 never been in Him) are of all grades of character. Some 
 are of a very high morale, virtuous, cultured, and refined ; 
 others are sunk in the lowest mire of sensuality and 
 ignorance ; but, so long as they know not Christ, they are 
 all in the same boat, and all drifting towards the same 
 terminus. Hard as it is to say it, the blatant infidel, who 
 scoffs at religion, and vomits out his loathsome blasphe- 
 mies at the very name of Jesus, and the superstitious 
 enthusiast, who thinks to earn his right to heaven by 
 fastings, and prayers, and endless ceremonies (God forbid 
 that I should judge them, or say what their eternal future 
 will be, but this, at least, is as clear as the words of 
 Scripture can make it), they are alike out of Christ, they 
 are yet in their sins, they have no link uniting them to the 
 kingdom of the blest. 
 
 The supreme question then for every one of you, my 
 brothers, beside which every other question sinks into 
 utter insignificance, is this, " Am I a man in Christ ? " 
 Nor is the question so difficult of answer as some would 
 fain make it to be. Were Paul on the earth now, and 
 visiting the towns and cities of England as he did those 
 of Asia Minor eighteen centuries ago, in clear and 
 ringing tones he would preach the same unchanging 
 Gospel, ** testifying both to the Jews, and also to the 
 Gentiles, repentance toward God, and faith toward our 
 Lord Jesus Christ." Repentance and faith. Faith and 
 
204 The City Youth, 
 
 repentance. I do not say which is first, for there is no 
 true faith without repentance, and there is no true repent- 
 ance without faith. But this is as certain as the voice 
 of God can make it: ** Except ye believe, ye cannot 
 be saved," and, ** Except ye repent, ye shall all like- 
 wise perish." Now God bids us do both, and He would 
 not enjoin them if they were impossible. Salvation is 
 thus brought within the reach of every one of you. Here 
 are Bible words : ** God commandeth all men everywhere 
 to repent; " "This is His commandment, that ye believe 
 upon His Son Jesus Christ." The very sternness of these 
 ommands has always seemed to me encouraging. What 
 God orders me to do must be possible for me to perform. 
 He does not mock me, by bidding me do what cannot 
 be done. I have heard a man say, " Well, I cannot be- 
 lieve, and I cannot give up such and such sin : " but the 
 ** cannot" was really the "will not." You could, if you 
 would. The difficulty is of a moral kind. None the less 
 great on that account, it is true : but then the Holy Spirit 
 is ready to help you over it, and all the responsibility is 
 yours. God is waiting to meet you, and to " work in you, 
 both to will and to do." 
 
 Why is it, that every one of you is not ** a man in 
 Christ " } It is possible, that some of you are held back 
 by animal passions and appetites. You know you ought 
 to be a Christian, but there are pleasures of the flesh which 
 you are not prepared to forego, and so you put from you 
 the hope of eternal life. Botanists tell us of a singular 
 plant, called the Dioiiea vittscipula, the leaf of which, as 
 soon as a fly alights upon it, curls over and kills it, crush- 
 ing it to death. Such a leaf is almost every form of 
 unlawful pleasure. In the worst times of the RomiJi 
 Inquisition there used to be a horrible form of punishment 
 for heretics, called "the virgin's kiss." The culprit was 
 
A 3 fan in Christ, 205 
 
 pushed forward to kiss an image of the virgin, when, lo, 
 its arms immediately enclosed him in a deadly embrace, 
 piercing his body with a hundred hidden spikes. Ah ! 
 have not some of you found sensual indulgence to be like 
 that beautiful and seennngly harmless figure ? You yielded 
 to the solicitation, and it has embraced you with the clasp 
 of death, and ** pierced you through with many sorrows. 
 Believe me, if you could see sin as it really is, you would 
 no more be caught in its embrace than you would be 
 hugged by a leper. Do not say the case is hopeless, and 
 that you must yield to the tempter. ** God is able to make 
 you stand." There were Josephs even in the court of 
 Egypt, there were Daniels in Babylon, there were Pauls 
 amid the beasts of Ephesus, and there are young men in 
 this building, who, amid frightful storms of temptation, 
 are only striking their roots deeper and deeper into the 
 soil of holy principle. By God's help, dash that brim- 
 ming cup to the ground. Sever that companionship which 
 you know is leading you on to the pit. Fling those dice 
 away from you for ever. Tear to atoms those sheets of 
 unclean literature. Turn your back upon that saloon of 
 questionable amusement. For, be well assured of this, 
 that, indulging in these things, you cannot be partakers of 
 Christ, as it is written, " So, then, they that are in the 
 flesh cannot please God/* 
 
 A couple of months ago a locomotive engine was 
 speeding along the North Welsh line, whilst the two men 
 who were in it lay fast asleep. A sharp-eyed signalman, 
 from his look-out box, was alert enough to see how 
 matters stood, and without an instant's delay telegraphed 
 in advance to lay a fog-signal on the line, that the detona- 
 tion might rouse the sleepers. Happily, it was done in 
 time ; and startled from what might have been a fatal 
 slumber, the men shut off steam, reversed the engine, and 
 
2o6 The City Youth, 
 
 averted a terrible calamity. It is no breach of charity 
 to suspect that some of you are hasting on to destruc- 
 tion, but know it not, for your conscience is asleep ; 
 and I would lay a fog-signal on the line that, ere you 
 pass another mile, the crashing sound may rouse you to 
 your danger, as you hear the voice of eternal truth declar- 
 ing : " If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die ! " 
 
 Or, perhaps, it is intellectual difficulties that are keeping 
 you back. '* Oh," says one, ** I should have been a man 
 in Christ long ago, but, you see, there are some things in 
 religion which my mind cannot accept." The man will 
 not admit that he is an infidel. He is mightily offended if 
 I call him an atheist or a sceptic. Well, what are you ? A 
 Freethinker? Perhaps he won't accept even this title. 
 He says, *' Well, I hold liberal views in religion." And 
 when I begin to question him, I find he is so liberal, that 
 he is giving up every doctrine, every truth, giving up the 
 Bible itself, giving up Christ, giving up God, giving up 
 immortality ! For, if you once begin on this line, you 
 don't know where to stop. 
 
 Oh, man, even intellectually, there is every motive to be 
 a Christian ! Religion alone raises issues and contempla- 
 tions fitting our highest powers. Apart from it, life is but 
 a round of evanescent trifles. God has made you for 
 something grander and nobler than mere physical concerns, 
 Even the old heathen poet, Ovid, wrote : Os homini siiblim-: 
 dedit ccelumque tiiei'i jussit ; i.e., " God gave man a counte- 
 nance looking upwards, and bade him fix his thoughts or 
 heaven." ** Oh, but," says one, '* I do believe in God, but 
 I follow the light of Nature." Light of Nature forsooth ! 
 They have the light of Nature in China ; they have it in 
 Patagonia ; they have it in Burmah ; they have it in Turkey. 
 Ah ! little good it does them. Rich soil, exquisite flowers, 
 delicious fruits, glorious mountains, splendid stars ; but 
 
A Man m Christ, 207 
 
 no civilisation, no homes, no happiness. Is there any 
 influence, or philosophy, or religion upon earth, that has 
 developed the homo as the Gospel of Jesus has done, that 
 has drawn out all that is best and noblest in humanity, 
 and set man upon a pedestal of dignity and power ? A 
 man is never so much and truly a man, as when he is " a 
 man in Christ." 
 
 I make it a rule never to introduce politics in the 
 pulpit, and I do not mean to violate that rule now ; but 
 in giving you the testimony of the present Prime 
 Minister of England to the value of the old-fashioned 
 Gospel of your forefathers, I quote the words of one of 
 the most brilliant and accomplished men whom the world 
 has yet produced, a man whose marvellous intellectual 
 gifts are only equalled by the grandeur of his moral cha- 
 racter. Said Mr. Gladstone, — and I set his judgment 
 against that of all the philosophic sceptics and freethinkers 
 of the age : — " Whatever I may think of the pursuits of 
 industry and science, and of the triumphs and glories of 
 art, I do not mention any one of these things as the great 
 specific for alleviating the sorrows of human life, and 
 encountering the evils which deface the world. If I am 
 asked what is the remedy for the deeper sorrows of the 
 human heart, what a man should chiefly look to in his 
 progress through life, as the power that is to sustain him 
 under trials, and enable him manfully to confront his 
 afilictions, I must point to something very different — Lo 
 something which, in a well-known hymn, is called 'The 
 Old, Old Story,' told of in an old, old Book, and taught 
 with an old, old teaching, which is the greatest gift ever 
 given to mankind." 
 
 Happy the nation whose Premier is not ashamed to 
 bear such a testimony ! I am thankful for it just now. 
 The conflict between faith and scepticism is assumng 
 
2o8 The City Youth, 
 
 an alarming character. The prevailing current of our 
 modern philosophy is opposed to revealed religion : and 
 many men, whose names stand high in the scientific 
 world, shake their heads at every mention of the super- 
 natural ; whilst a large number of journalists give wide 
 circulation to every argument against Christianity. En- 
 couraged by this, there are young men weak enough to 
 say, ** Oh, father's religion was all a delusion ! There's 
 nothing in it after all ; it v/ill not stand the light of scien- 
 tific investigation." 
 
 And- what is the result.^ Do these men, so intel- 
 lectually superior to their brethren, and so far above 
 the level of young men's Christian associations, and 
 • everything of that sort — do they immediately give them- 
 selves to noble and elevating pursuits .^ Do we fmd them 
 foremost in efforts to relieve the destitute, to instruct 
 the ignorant, and to lift the squalid little ones out of the 
 gutter of degradation .? By no manner of means. Such 
 heroic and philanthropic work is left for the followers of 
 Jesus ; whilst the proud rejectors of the Gospel think only 
 of selfish gratification, and shaking themselves loose of 
 the wholesome restraints of religion, exclaim, ** Let us 
 break his bands asunder, and cast away his cords from us." 
 " He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh ; the Lord 
 shall have them in derision." Ah ! I have known young 
 men in this very church, who at one time seemed to be in 
 Christ, and were vigorously engaged in Christian work. 
 They abandoned the faith ; at once gave up all their self- 
 denying labours, and are now sinking in the vortex of 
 moral wretchedness and despair. Just opposite where I 
 w^as staying on the coast of North Wales, there was picked 
 up an empty bottle, in which was found a morsel of paper, 
 apparently torn out of an old account book ; and on the 
 paper these words were written, evidently in a young 
 
A Man in Ck>2st, 209 
 
 man's handwriting: "Sinking fast in Lat. 53°. Send 
 this to my father in Norfolk." (The address, as well 
 as the names of the writer and the vessel, were given.) 
 
 And, oh ! how many a sad message, telling of moral 
 shipwreck, might be sent from the latitude of this city! 
 How many a young man, foundering in the abyss of 
 infidelity or lust, might have written from London such 
 a slip as this: — "Lat. 50° 30' N., and long. 5° 48' 
 W. Sinking fast ; Send to my father in ." 
 
 If any of you are in peril, God grant you may be rescued 
 to-night ! The lifeboat is at hand — the same that has 
 saved millions such as you. The name of that lifeboat 
 is Christ ! Won't you step in at once, and be safe ? 
 Paul never had reason to regret his doing so. For 
 more than fourteen years he had been in Christ, and every 
 year confirmed his confidence in his Saviour. I hear him 
 shouting, " There is now therefore no condemnation 
 to them that are in Christ Jesus 1 " Ah ! some of you, 
 dear fellows, can " sing of His mighty love, mighty to 
 .save." I have known you as "men in Christ," if not for 
 fourteen, at least for two, or four, or seven years, and you 
 have found Him worthy of your trust. You may not have 
 had visions like the Apostle, nor been w^afted to the third 
 heavens of seraphic rapture ; but you have felt the peace, 
 the joy, the strength which Jesus gives ; and you permit 
 me to say, as I now do in closing, to as many here as are 
 not yet " men in Christ" (endorsing with my feeble words 
 the testimony of the greatest statesman of the age), if there 
 is one thing that can prepare you to encounter the trials 
 of life, to brave its difficulties, and overcome its tempta- 
 tions, — one thing that can nerve you for duty, and comfort 
 you in trouble, — it is neither wealth, nor fame, nor art, nor 
 science, but "the old, old story" of the Gospel, and the 
 knowledge of Him who is the living centre of it. 
 
 14 
 
KEEPING THE HEART WITH DILIGENCE. 
 
*'■ Keep thy heaj't with ail diligence: for out of it are t/ie issuer of 
 ///^."--Pko VERBS iv. 23. 
 
XV. 
 
 KEEPING THE HEART WITH DILIGENCE. 
 
 OF all the proverbs that fell from the pen of Solomon, 
 this is one of the most memorable and important. 
 
 Suitable for every age, and for every condition, it is — as 
 indeed it was intended to be — specially suitable for young 
 men. We all have our share of temptations, but it is not 
 too much to say that you are exceptionally exposed to 
 danger. The devil arti'ully sets his snares to entrap you. 
 You need to be particularly weitchful, and thoroughly pre- 
 pared for your adversary. 
 
 He lays siege to every part of your being ; but it is the 
 heart that he mainly seeks to capture. You may observe 
 that in this chapter the wise man points to several parts 
 of your frame that must be guarded with especial care. 
 
 Verse 24, " Put away from thee a froward mouth, and 
 perverse lips put far from thee. Let thine eyes look right 
 on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Ponder 
 the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established." 
 
 Thus heart, mouth, lips, eyes, feet — each and all need 
 to be carefully guarded ; but it is supremely and pre- 
 eminently necessary to guard the first of these ; hence he 
 says, ** Keep thy heart with all diligence," or, as you read 
 in the margin, "above all keeping." 
 
 That is to say, give especial and exceptional care to tlie 
 cubtody of thy heart; and he adds a good reason for this 
 
214 The City Youih 
 
 advice : ** for out of it are the issues of life/' The tone of 
 your character; the forces of your being; the influences 
 which you wield ; the work you will accomplish ; all 
 « are, to an enormous extent, determined by the condition 
 of your heart. As the fountain is more important than 
 the streams that flow forth from it ; as the reservoir is of 
 more consequence than the conduit-pipes; as the root is 
 of more moment than the branches ; as the metropolis 
 is more important than the towns and villages scattered 
 over the provinces : so the heart exceeds in importance 
 every other part of our complex being ; for from it comes 
 the vital force that controls and energises all. Were I a 
 physician or anatomist, I could easily show that, from a 
 physical point of view, the text is literally true ; but it is 
 not less true in the moral and spiritual sense in which the 
 wiiter meant it. 
 
 Now let us all see if we can get some real practical 
 good out of this pithy aphorism of King Solomon. 
 
 The first thing that strikes me, as I look into the text, is 
 that some of you?- hearts are not ivorth keeping. 
 
 MetLinks the very best thing you can do is to get rid 
 of them as soon as possible. I am speaking in the hear- 
 ing of some unconverted men, and I say the sooner you 
 get a new heart the better. God is very plain in telling 
 us no good can come out of these corrupt, degenerate 
 hearts that we all have by nature. I daresay there are 
 many here who have only too much reason to suspect that 
 their hearts are not as yet right with God. The Prophet 
 Zechariah's words are perhaps only too accurate a descrip- 
 tion of you. He says, "They refused to hearken, and 
 pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears that they 
 should not hear. Yea, they made their hearts as an 
 adamant stone, lest they should hear the words which the 
 Lord of Hosts sent by His Spirit." That adamant heart 
 
Keeping the Heart with Diligence', 215 
 
 can never receive the saving truth of the Gospel, nor feel 
 the love of Christ. I do not ask you to i.eep it ; I bid 
 you get rid of it as fast as you can. 
 
 And if there is within you but the feeblest desire after 
 God, here is His message to you. ** A new Heart will I give 
 you, and a new spirit will I put within you. I will take 
 away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you 
 a heart of flesh." Remember, no patching up or repiiring 
 of the old Adam will do ; you must get a new xiature., " Ye 
 must be born again." 
 
 There is a vast amount of precious tinif iC/Si. a great 
 part indeed of many a man's lifetime thrown d'f^Tf in vain 
 efforts to get some good out of an unregencra^-e heart, to 
 amend the character and life, to do better for the future, 
 to turn over a new leaf, without first of all getting a 
 radical change within. 
 
 If every page of the book is soiled, to what purpose is 
 it to turn the leaf ? Ah ! I have known men spend ten, 
 fifteen, twenty of the best years of their life in this 
 hopeless business, only to give it up in despair ; and then 
 they came — ^just where I would have every unconverted 
 brother here to come — to that Divine and Almighty 
 Saviour, who is ready to bless, and who says, **A new 
 heart I will give you." 
 
 Surely, a heart is not worth keeping or repairing, of 
 which Christ says, as He says of every natural man — " Out 
 of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, 
 fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies." The idea 
 of wishing to retain a heart like that ! Why, there is not 
 a horrible thing, but the seed of it is within us ; and the 
 first thing we have to see to is, that we are made new 
 creatures in Christ Jesus. 
 
 Oh, weigh this matter well ; for many is the man that 
 has gone on stumbling to thirty, forty, fifty, and sixtv VL\'irs 
 
2i6 The City Youth, 
 
 of age, trying all the time to live a Christian life, but 
 failing, because he did not start — where every sinner who 
 is to be saved must start — at the foot of Calvary's cross, 
 pleading with God for that which is never sought in vain, 
 a new and heavenly nature. There are plenty of men in 
 these days who, as Jeremiah says, would " heal the hurt of 
 the soul slightly." They are loud about cultivating the 
 intellect, directing the principles, elevating the tastes, and 
 regulating the habits; but it is all useless, unless you 
 begin at the heart. If the reservoir from which our 
 houses are supplied with water contain some poisonous 
 fluid, what should we think of the sagacity of the counsel- 
 lor who advised laying down new pipes, or fitting up fresh 
 cisterns, or introducing a newly-invented species of stop- 
 cock ? All would be in vain till the fountain head itself 
 were made pure. So, you may lay down excellent rules 
 for your daily life ; you may resolve to do this, and abstain 
 from that, and fashion your conduct according to some 
 faultless standard; it is but a fruitless endeavour, until you 
 have obtained the new heart. 
 
 But now I am going to suppose that this primary and 
 fundamental matter has been attended to, and that a good 
 work has been begun within you. 
 
 It may be but a spark of Divine grace you possess, but 
 that spark will never die. What I have further to say, will 
 be based upon the assumption that you do know some- 
 thing, however little, of the reality of the Christian life. 
 
 Availing myself, then, of what seems to be the metaphor 
 that was in the mind of Solomon, namely, the idea of a 
 reservoir of water whose streams carry life and blessing 
 around, there are four pointed applications I would make 
 
 of this text. 
 
 And first, I say, that inasmuch as " out of the heart are 
 the issues of life," it is important to keep the reservoir full. 
 
Keeping the Heart with Diligence. 217 
 
 In certain towns of England, during the past two 
 summers, in which the ramfall has been abnormally small, 
 there has been no little dread of a famine of water. 
 Families have been placed on a restricted supply, and in 
 every possible way the element has been economised, 
 because the water in the reservoir was getting low. A few 
 weeks more of drought, we were told, and there would not 
 be a gallon left. The reservoir was insufficient for the 
 purpose it had to serve. One of the most beautiful of 
 promises is given to the righteous man in Isaiah : — " Thy 
 soul shall be like a spring of water, whose waters fail 
 not ; " a brimming fountain, a running-over well. 
 
 I suppose it was from this passage that our Lord was 
 quoting when on the last, the great day of the feast. He 
 cried aloud, *' He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture 
 hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." 
 That just means, in the style of Oriental phraseology, his 
 very soul shall be a teeming reservoir of all gracious 
 thoughts and wholesome influences. 
 
 Now, it is bad enough to have an empty head (and 
 empty heads are not unknown amongst us), but an empty 
 heart is worse still. For, other things being equal, a man's 
 force in the world is just in proportion to the fulness of 
 his heart. 
 
 We have known men that were, seemingly, without heart, 
 icy, phlegmatic, cynical, unimpassioned beings, incapable 
 of a really warm and generous impulse. Such men are 
 mere ciphers in society ; they accomplish no good. There 
 maj^be a prim correctness about their behaviour; but as 
 regards any moral influence in the world, they are nobodies ; 
 they carry no momentum. 
 
 Suppose the fires of a locomotive engine are out, or 
 nearly out, you will not make it go at express speed by 
 giving it a fresh coat of paint ; but you may as well think 
 
2i8 The City Youth. 
 
 to do so, as expect, by any outward culture, to make one 
 who is destitute of heart a real power in the world. 
 
 Heart is power. There may be no genius, there may be 
 but slender intellectual acquirements, there may be very 
 limited knowledge ; yet, if there be a full and gracious 
 heart, charged with zeal, and fervour, and enthusiasm, the 
 man will make his impress on those around him. Better 
 even the mistakes and blunders of an earnest man, w^hose 
 pulse beats strong, and whose soul is full up to the brim 
 and running over, than the cold correctness of one who 
 never feels deeply about anything. 
 
 Oh, sirs, it is the emptiness of the heart that makes us so 
 feeble. I have noticed that young men in business gener- 
 ally make but a poor job of it, if they do not throw their 
 whole heart and soul into the work they are at ; ten to one, 
 they will potter away for a year or two, and then give it 
 up in despair. So with any branch of study you wish to 
 acquire (and every intelligent commercial man should keep 
 up his reading, and his thinking, and carry forward the 
 culture of his mind) ; if you are giving your spare time to 
 some department of literature, or the acquisition of some 
 foreign language, go at it with all the energy you possess ; 
 only thus will you meet with success. 
 
 Ah ! but this is specially important in that one thing in 
 which most people betray least heart of all ; in religion. 
 
 Verily, we all want more heart in our Master's service. 
 Some of you are doing a good work in the mission district, 
 or in the Sunday School, or in some other sphere equally 
 good and useful ; but at times you feel flat and languid, 
 and cannot get yourselves up to the mark of active energy ; 
 why ? Ah ! my friends, the service-pipe would give out 
 plenty of water if the heart were full. God give us all big 
 hearts, filled to the brim with love and holy zeal. 
 
 Secondly. Seeing that out of the heart are the issues 
 
Keeping the Heart with Diligefice, 2ig 
 
 of life, s/rwe with all diligence to keep it pure. A full 
 reservoir is not enough ; the water must be clean. It is 
 of no use our having new pipes in our houses, and fresh 
 mains under the streets, unless the source from which the 
 supply comes is pure. Dr. Frankland tells us in his weekly- 
 report every Wednesday whether or not our London water 
 is fit to drink, whether it contains solid matter and live 
 organisms, or not ; but, when it is bad, he does not bid us 
 look to our pipes, but bids the companies look to the supply. 
 At times it is not exactly faultless ; and I remember 
 a gentleman remarking he could stock a fairly good 
 aquarium with the animal life that was found in his own 
 cistern. 
 
 A good deal of just indignation has been awakened- 
 on account of the character of the water supplied to some 
 parts of East London ; but nobody proposes to blame 
 the plumbers, nor tear up the street mains ; for the 
 mischief lies further back than that. A foul reservoir 
 means spreading the seeds of pestilence and death. 
 
 Precisely so ; if the heart be not pure, you may be cer- 
 tain the thoughts will not be pure, nor the conversation, 
 nor the life. You had need to have pure hearts, my 
 brothers ; else there is not a chance for you in this 
 metropolis. 
 
 Now, the thought I have here is the importance of a 
 scrupulous conscience, and thorough transparency of 
 character. You sometimes hear persons say of such an 
 individual, *' I like that man ; he is so true and straight- 
 forward ; one can see him through and through." Such a 
 nature is always attractive ; a nature that loathes duplicity 
 or double-dealing in any form, that scorns prevarication 
 and inuendos, but must always be open and candid in 
 everything. If the heart of a man lacks this quality, it 
 will soon show itself in his books, in his accounts, in 
 
220 The City Youth, 
 
 his mode of transacting business ; and will be a constant 
 source of moral weakness. 
 
 God knows there are scores of men going about London 
 that are just big shams, complete in-takes ; they are all 
 ** made-up ; " there is nothing genuine or real about them. 
 The transparent man will be above-board in everything, 
 and particularly in regard to his religion. 
 
 If you are a Christian, never be ashamed to show your 
 colours. It is a cowardly thing for a youth, v/ho has 
 been on his knees and read his chapter in the morning, 
 to take his dinner in yonder chop-house in the City, 
 without so much as asking God's blessing on his food. 
 Did you ever count how many out of thirty young fellows 
 seated at some of those tables, had principle enough, 
 and courage enough, first of all, to acknowledge the 
 Giver of all good ? What is our religion worth, if we 
 are frightened out of it by a look or a sneer? 
 
 God help you to be brave and fearless, where principle 
 is at stake ; ay, and glad of the opportunity, not to parade 
 your piety, but to bear your testimony. 
 
 Thirdly. I have just this to say in conclusion : Keep 
 your heart tnmquil ; seek to have a soul calm, and peace- 
 ful, and at rest. 
 
 We live in a fast, feverish, exciting age. With large 
 numbers of commercial men the pulse beats too swiftly, 
 the nerves are overstrained, the mind is held on the rack ; 
 and this state of things is far from favourable, either to 
 bodily or spiritual health. 
 
 Be assured, unless the heart is kept in peace, the life 
 will not be liappy. 
 
 The state of the heart has far more to do with one's 
 comfort, and prosperity, and success, than most people 
 imagine. 
 
 Oh, it is a ^rnnd thing to know the meaning of that 
 
Keeping the Heart with Diligence, 221 
 
 promise, **Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose 
 mind is stayed on Thee." When Josias Wilson was 
 minister of this church, he observed one Sunday, sitting 
 opposite him in yonder gallery, a good man, whom he 
 knew to be in a world of trouble ; and he gave out the 
 hymn (reading it with impressive emphasis, as he looked 
 straight into the man's face) — 
 
 " Trust in the Lord, for ever trust. 
 And banish all your fears." 
 
 It was like a voice from heaven to the man ; he went 
 home strengthened, and ** encouraged himself (like David) 
 in the Lord his God." You are all but certain to meet 
 with troubles. Most likely some of you will get sadly 
 knocked about in the world, you will meet with reverses 
 and disappointments, but a heart that is fixed on God can 
 bear all these things with equanimity. 
 
 In the end of my Bible there is a map of Egypt and 
 Palestine, and drawn across it there is a curious line in red 
 ink, denoting the journey of God's covenant people through 
 the desert to the Promised Land. You never saw a more 
 strange and fantastic scratch. 
 
 I put a pen into my infant's hand, and she says, ** Papa, 
 I will write a letter : " and — if you only saw such a queer 
 zigzag scrawl ! But is not the pathway of the Lord's 
 chosen just such a track ? As Moses sang in his dying 
 song, ** He led them about, and instructed them." Ay, 
 but the red track comes out at Canaan. My Christian 
 brother, your pathway is wisely traced out for you, yes, 
 and in crimson too, for the bleeding Saviour has gone 
 before. 
 
 Have faith in God, and leave your future with Him. If 
 you have Him for your Friend, your heart should never be 
 disquieted about earthly things. I remember a story of 
 
222 The City Youth, 
 
 a Swiss martyr, who, on the day of his execution, — he was 
 burned at the stake, — ^just before the fire was kindled, 
 craved permission to say a word to the judge who had 
 condemned him. In the presence of all the people, he 
 addressed him thus : *' Sir, I have but one last request to 
 make, and it is that you will now approach, and place your 
 hand first upon my heart, and then upon your own, and 
 tell this multitude which of the two beats most violently." 
 I need not say the judge dared not fulfil the request, but, 
 full of rage, gave instant command to light the pile. 
 
 Ah ! my dear friends, may God help each of you, 
 with all diligence, to keep your heart full, and pure, and 
 transparent, and tranquil, and, from it, as from a clear 
 mountain spring, there shall issue influences of health and 
 benediction, to gladden your own lives, and to bless all 
 around you ! Amen. 
 
THE RASH PENKNIFE. 
 
*^ And it came to pass that, when Jehudi had read three or four 
 leaves, J ehoiakim ait it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire.''^ — 
 Jeremiah xxxvi. 23. 
 
XVI. 
 
 THE RASH PENKNIFE. 
 
 ON a recent occasion I spoke to you of one of the 
 best men of the Bible ; this evening I am to speak 
 of one of the worst. On that occasion we had before us 
 the good son of a bad father; to-night we have before us 
 the bad son of a good father. I find it much more easy and 
 pleasant to speak to you of a very godly man than of a very 
 wicked one ; and in most of these monthly addresses I 
 have been tempted to take for my subject such men as 
 Joseph, and David, and Jonathan, and Solomon, and 
 Josiah, and Timothy ; but it won't do to confine ourselves 
 to these ; there are bad men prominent in Scripture-story 
 as well as good, and if the latter have been set up for 
 our example, none the less have the former been set up 
 for our warning. I come in contact with so many truly 
 earnest Christian young men, men who set their faces like 
 a flint against every form of iniquity, and are unwearied 
 in their efforts to do good, that I forget how many there 
 are of an opposite character, who, though they know what 
 is right, keep outside of all our churches, or if they drop 
 in to attend a service, never allow themselves to be known, 
 never identify themselves with the Church of Christ, never 
 come clean over to the Lord's side. As a matter of course, 
 the minister cannot know them ; they are afraid to be 
 " caught," as they foolishly put it ; they think they will 
 
2 26 The Ctiy Youth, 
 
 have more liberty if they keep themselves disconnected 
 with a regular congregation. My dear friends (for I know 
 there are many of you here), it is a great mistake. Do 
 you think that God would have founded a Church upon 
 the earth if it were not necessary ? Do you think you 
 can be as strong to face the difficulties and battles of 
 life standing alone, as if you were united with a band 
 of Christian brothers ? Do you think your inner life can 
 prosper whilst you have no fellowship with the saints ? 
 Some of you have come from a godly home, and from a 
 place where the Sabbath is kept holy ; and there is a 
 sort of freedom you are conscious of in London, freedom 
 to do as you like, no one watching you, no one observing 
 you : and you fancy that freedom will be impaired if you 
 come and give us a shake of your hand, and throw your- 
 self into the interest and work of a living active Church. 
 
 Not in the least, my friend. Of course, if you wish to 
 lead the life of the libertine, if you are going to plunge 
 into vice and folly, and sell your soul for a little short- 
 lived earthly pleasure, you may quite as well keep away ; 
 but if you desire to live a manly, honourable, and useful 
 life ; if you are disposed to listen to the united voices of 
 reason, of conscience, of the Bible, and of the Spirit of 
 God (all of which voices are urging you to choose the 
 path of truth and virtue, and temperance and piety) : then 
 by all means come and join us, for, in the words of Moses 
 to Hobab, we have to say to you, *' We are journeying 
 unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it to 
 you ; come thou with us, and we will do thee good ; for 
 the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel." 
 
 But you say, what has all this to do with the text ? We 
 shall see that immediately. The main thing brought before 
 us here is the fearful career of one who wilfully resisted the 
 irtriving of the Spirit of God ; and I propose, in the first 
 
The Rash Pe?ikni/e, 227 
 
 place, to bring the story before you, and then to draw 
 from it the solemn lessons it suggests. 
 
 Well, then, it is the cold month of December. Jchoia- 
 kim is sitting in one of the rooms of his splendid winter- 
 palace at Jerusalem, and a company of his lords and 
 senators are with him. A warm fire is blazing on the 
 hearth. As they sit chatting together in lively conversa- 
 tion, and not improbably flushed with wine, a messenger 
 named Jehudi enters, carrying in his hand a roll, consist- 
 ing of several pieces of parchment, and immediately 
 proceeds to read it aloud to the king. The royal group 
 bend forward to listen. Every eye is fixed — every ear is 
 strained ; all know that it is a Divine prediction, which 
 has come through the lips of the prophet Jeremiah. 
 Baruch, the scribe, had taken it down at his dictation ; 
 and now Jehudi is reading it aloud, word for word. Watch 
 the countenance of King Jehoiakim. See how the frown 
 gathers on his brow. His cheeks become pale with rage 
 — his lips are compressed. He stamps his foot upon the 
 floor, and, rising up in haste, snatches the roll out of 
 Jehudi's hand, cuts and hacks it in pieces with his knife, 
 and then thrusts the tattered vellum into the blazing fire, 
 gazing on it with vindictive fury, until it is consumed to 
 ashes on the hearth. Poor, silly Jehoiakim 1 As though 
 ^he hacking and burning of the roll would hinder the 
 judgments it predicted. 
 
 But, the whole case is so remarkable, I must take you 
 back a little, and tell you something of the history of this 
 infatuated young man, whose career of wickedness began 
 by despising the religion of his good father Josiah, and 
 reached its climax by hacking the Bible with his penknife, 
 and pitching it into the fire. Yes, he had one of the 
 best of fathers. In all the annals of the kings of Judah, 
 there is not a name that commands more respect than 
 
2 28 The City Youth, 
 
 that of Josiah. From his early boyhood to the close of 
 his life, he was a devout, humble follower of the Lord. 
 For thirty-one years he reigned over Judah, and during 
 all that period set a noble example to his people, and 
 sought and obtained the blessing of Heaven. I shall not 
 stay just now to inquire how it was that, on the death of 
 Josiah, Jehoiakim's brother, by name Jehoahaz, was raised 
 to the throne. But so it was, that he was preferred by the 
 people. It was not long, however, that he was destined 
 to reign. Foolish youth, he turned his back on all the 
 good precepts and the holy example of his father ; and the 
 crash came very quickly. Listen to the brief story. 
 *' Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began 
 to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem . . . 
 and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord." 
 The King of Egypt sent and carried him off a captive to a 
 foreign land, and there he came to a miserable end. 
 
 On this, Jehoiakim became king. One would have 
 thought he might have learnt a lesson from his brother's 
 fate. When he compared the peace and prosperity which 
 his godly father had enjoyed with the disasters which the 
 wicked Jehoahaz had brought upon himself, even common 
 sense might have prompted him to choose the path of 
 righteousness. But, no ; for oh ! it is wonderful how 
 many thousands of men, at the outset of their career, are 
 apparently stone-blind to their own interest. Even putting 
 the claims of religion out of the question, they go right in the 
 teeth of their future welfare and advantage. Positively, 
 they seem intent on making the rope that is to strangle 
 them. I have marked the career of some young men, 
 who have begun life with good prospects and high promise ; 
 and, verily, if ever men deliberately committed suicide, 
 they did. Moral suicide, if not physical. They have been 
 cautioned in respect to certain evil cours:s, and they have 
 
The Rash Pcnkiii/e, 2 2g 
 
 run into them with their eyes open, doing their utmost to 
 kill conscience, to slay their moral sense, to destroy every 
 good aspiration within them, and they have succeeded. 
 And what were they then ? Let a man's conscience be 
 destroyed ; let his spiritual instincts (if I may use such a 
 term) be extinguished, and what is left ? He may be a 
 walking human automaton, but I cannot call him a ??ian / 
 
 Sirs, don't forget that it is just that which is noblest in 
 you, and which brings you nearest to God, that Satan 
 tempts you to trifle with and destroy. I suppose Jehoiakim 
 intended, after a while, to change his course, and walk in 
 the steps of his good father. Inhere are some men who 
 think they can serve their lusts, and serve the world for 
 a few years ; and then, perhaps at thirty, or thirty-five, or 
 forty, turn right round, and become happy Christians. 
 They will, first of all, squeeze the world as they would an 
 orange, and get out of it all the sinful enjoyment they can ; 
 and then rinse the mouth with repentance, and give the 
 rest of their days to God. 
 
 Of all the follies that can seize a young man, this is 
 the worst. It is a red-hot lie of hell. You are just 
 taking that course now which you are going to pursue 
 through life. Have you noticed, that in the long list 
 we have in the Old Testament of the Kings of Judah 
 and Israel, the first thing that is mentioned concerning 
 almost every one of them, as soon as the name is given, 
 is simply this : "And he did that which was right in the 
 sight of the Lord;" or, *' And he did evil in the sight 
 of the Lord " ? Just two lines of rail, one leading to 
 the right, and one to the left ; he chose one, and in almost 
 every case went on as he began, and pursued it to ,the 
 end. Jehoiakim chose the left, and it proved a steep 
 incline ; with quickening pace, and without a halt, he 
 hastened down his mad career of God-defying wickedness, 
 
230 The City Youth. 
 
 until he tossed away from him every serious thought, and 
 at last defied his Maker to His face, and, tearing up the 
 very Book of Heaven, thrust it into the ashes of the fire. 
 
 But I am anticipating. This is what he would not 
 have dared to do at the beginning or in the middle of his 
 career. It was wilfully neglected warnings that hardened 
 his heart. He had not been long upon his throne, before 
 the King of Babylon came up to Jerusalem and bound 
 him. The wretched man is held fast in iron chains. 
 Poor creature ; the meanest of his subjects would not 
 change places with him. In all likelihood, he is to be 
 dragged off to adorn Nebuchadnezzar's triumph in the 
 streets of Babylon. In his misery he cries to Heaven, 
 and God has mercy upon him. The heart of the con- 
 queror relents, and Jehoiakim is set free. His position, 
 indeed, is far from what it once was ; still it is one of com- 
 parative comfort and ease. How will he use it ? Another 
 chance is given him ; is he going to turn over a new leaf, 
 and walk in his father's steps ? Alas ! there is not a trace 
 even of a wish to amend. The unhappy youth betrays no 
 sign of repentance. All his troubles have failed to teach him 
 wisdom. He is still the same self-willed reprobate as before. 
 
 Surely, God will now give him over to destruction. He 
 will leave him to his bitter fate. He will say, *' He is 
 joined to his idols, let him alone." Oh, how wonderful is 
 the Divine forbearance ! He pursues him still with en- 
 treaty and warning. As I gather from the twenty- sixth 
 chapter. He sends the prophet Urijah, to expostulate with 
 the infatuate monarch. But how does Jehoiakim deal with 
 him } He seeks to get hold of him to put him to death ; 
 and, even after the prophet has in terror fled into Eg}i)t, 
 he sends after him, captures him, and, apparently by his 
 own hand, slays him with the sword. Nay, he tries to get 
 hold of Jeremiah too, but the Lord preserves him. 
 
The Rash Penhvfe. 231 
 
 You will hardly believe it possible that, after this, 
 Jehoiakim should have space for repentance ! Ah ! my 
 dear brothers, there is nothing in the world so wonderful 
 as the longsuffering- of God. Truly, He bears long with 
 us. Often do I marvel that He has been so patient with 
 me. We may look with astonishment upon this Jewish 
 monarch, but is it not possible that some of you have so 
 sorely tried and strained His forbearance } And yet H3 
 is still saying, " How can I give thee up ? " 
 
 Jehoiakim's last opportunity was now to come. The Spirit 
 of God comes upon the prophet Jeremiah, and inspires him 
 with a message from Heaven. Baruch, the scribe, is sum- 
 moned, to take it down in writing from his lips. I see him 
 coming to the prophet's chamber with ink and pen and 
 sheets of parchment. The Divine afflatus conies upon 
 Jeremiah, and he utters strange words, full of awful and 
 alarming significance, which Baruch immediately writes 
 down ; and when the message is finished, he rolls up the 
 parchment, and at Jeremiah's orders takes it to the court of 
 the temple, where crowds of people are assembled (for it 
 happens to be the day of a great fast), and reads it aloud 
 in the hearing of the multitude. The people are awed and 
 amazed. One of them, named IMichaiah, instantly hastens 
 off to the palace, and, finding a number of the princes 
 gathered together, acquaints them with what has taken 
 j:)lace, and gives them the substance of the prophecy. 
 They, too, are filled with alarm, and say, "We will surely 
 tell the King of all these words." 
 
 Presently, one of these is commissioned to go into the 
 monarch's presence and inform him. Jehoiakim, profess- 
 ing great indifiference, has yet his curiosity roused, and 
 wishes the document itself to be brought to him. So 
 Jehudi runs, and fetches the roll, telling of the awful 
 judgments that are about to descend upon the throne and 
 
232 The City Youth. 
 
 upon the land, and proceeds to read it aloud to the King. 
 The tragic sequel you already know ; and I cannot put it 
 more concisely than in the words of the text: "And it 
 came to pass, that when Jehudi had read three or four 
 leaves, he cut it with his penknife, and cast it into the 
 fire that was on the hearth, until all the roll was con- 
 sumed in the fire that was on the hearth." 
 
 So Jehoiakim's day of grace closed. In that moment the 
 door of mercy was shut against him for ever ! His doom 
 was sealed. The Spirit of God was quenched. The man 
 was given up. 
 
 Not, observe, that his life was ended ; he lived at 
 least four years after this ; but he had sinned away his 
 day of grace, and never more was God to ply him with 
 the offers of mercy. His soul's ruin was now complete, 
 and, as for his body, it was only waiting to be cast — shall I 
 say } — into a dishonoured grave. No, not even this ; " His 
 dead body," said the prophet, " shall be cast out, in the 
 day to the heat, and in the night to the frost. He shall 
 be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn, and cast out 
 beyond the gates of the city." 
 
 Here ends one of the most awful careers described in 
 the Bible. The candle burns out, and is extinguished in 
 smoke and stench ! I suppose few of you are familiar 
 with the story — a story so full of solemn warning, and, 
 therefore, I have brought it before you. Young men ! 
 unsaved young men, I hold up Jehoiakim before you, and 
 say, Beware ! I wish I were now only beginning my 
 sermon, for there is little time left to dwell upon the 
 lessons which this subject suggests. Perhaps you will bear 
 with me if, in a word or two, I point out the chief of 
 them. 
 
 I. It is very noticeable, that those who, in their early 
 days, have resisted holy influences, generally turn out the 
 
71i2 Rash Penknife, 233' 
 
 viost wicked of men. This, indeed, is a fundamental law 
 of character. Just as a good man, who is good notwith- 
 standing a very bad upbringing, and despite the most 
 pernicious examples around him, is not unfrequently one 
 of the best of men, so a youth who has come from a godly 
 home, and turns out evil himself, is one of the worst 
 characters you can meet with. 
 
 I hardly know an exception to this rule. Nor can you 
 much wonder that it is so. I say, it is just what we might 
 expect. When a man deliberately tramples on conviction, 
 and resists the dealings of God's Spirit, he uses the most 
 effectual means to sear his conscience and harden his 
 heart. If, in early days, you have been hedged round 
 with Christian influences, and loving counsels, and bright 
 examples, and fervent prayers : and you have withstood 
 all these things, you are just the person most likely to 
 make a rebound to the other extreme, and plunge head- 
 long into gross iniquity. 
 
 It is an awful thing to say — but it is true — that some 
 of the most depraved and abandoned young men in 
 London to-day have come from pious homes, and are the 
 children of godly parents. I seldom preach here without 
 having in my audience some one who has only been a few 
 weeks in town, and is not yet *' up " to its habits and 
 ways. And when he gets among a lot of young fellows 
 who are dashing and loose, and too familiar with vice, he 
 feels green, stupid, sheepish. He is ashamed that he 
 cannot enter into their ways; ashamed that he does not 
 understand their vocabulary, that one glass of wine makes 
 him giddy, that one cigar makes him sick ; and he hopes 
 he will soon be as well versed as these sharp blades are, 
 in the outs and ins of gay city life. 
 
 What ! ashamed of innocence ! ashamed of puritv ! 
 ashamed of being uncontaminated ! Silly man that you 
 
234 The City Youth, 
 
 are — this is what you should rather glory in. Look here, 
 sir; if there is any real manliness in you, any true 
 courage and nobleness of character, you will, in your 
 heart, despise those flippant fools, who are treading their 
 jewel in the mire; you will thank God, from the depths 
 of your soul, that you know so little of their ways ; and 
 your vow will be, '* O my soul, come not thou into their 
 secret ; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou 
 united." But, should it be otherwise, should you be 
 caught by the glare, and tempted to join them in their 
 career, I warn you that, in all likelihood, you will turn out 
 the worst of the lot, and your end will be more speedy and 
 awful. 
 
 II. There is another solemn truth I wish to bring before 
 you, and it is this. If a man^s religion is not genuine and 
 heart-deep^ it often happens that troubles and calamities only 
 drive him further aivay from God. What effect had all his 
 misfortunes and disasters upon Jehoiakim ? Did they 
 soften him ? Did they incline him to a better course of 
 life } Not a bit. He grew worse than ever. 
 
 Now, this is one of the things that have startled me much 
 in my experience as a minister. It has happened not once, 
 nor twice, but over and over again before my eyes. There 
 have been men here who bore a fair character, and were 
 even engaged in Christian work : and trouble has fallen 
 on them, business has collapsed, their monetary affairs 
 have all gone wrong, or other trials have come, and the 
 immediate effect has been to sour them against religion 
 and against God, and in some cases to send them right 
 ever into the abyss of infidelity. Do you remember what 
 IS written of King Ahaz ? It might be written of many a 
 one besides him. ** In the time of his distress did he 
 trespass yet more against the Lord." Yes, with some 
 men, the more they suffer the more they sin. Adversity 
 
The Rash Penhiife. 235 
 
 angers them against God. It is well known that times of 
 pestilence, whilst they have brought out an unwonted 
 religious earnestness on the one side, have brought out an 
 unusual amount of wickedness on the other. The plague 
 of London developed the vices of the metropolis to a 
 frightful extent. I\Ien patrolled the streets singing ribald 
 songs beside the dead cart. When a ship is wrecked, and 
 about to go to the bottom, if some fall on their knees and 
 pray, others fly to drink and cursing. Nothing is a truer 
 touchstone of character than the way in which a man 
 treats the chastenings of God. Don't take it for granted 
 that when sickness or trouble comes to you it will lead 
 you to Christ ; it is quite as likely it may drive you further 
 from Him than before. 
 
 III. There is yet a third lesson strikingly taught us by 
 the story of Jehoiakim. As the heart gets hardened in sin, 
 there is a groiving unwillingness to listen to the voice of God, 
 It is not unlikely that when Jehoiakim was a little boy, 
 he was one of those who heard his good father reading 
 the law of God aloud to the people in the temple, and 
 binding them in solemn covenant to serve the Lord (of 
 which we have a full account in 2 Kings xxvi.); but, 
 when he grew older, he would not listen to that law — he 
 shut his ears against the warnings of the prophets ; he 
 actually put to death the faithful Urijah, a messenger of 
 God ; he sought to get hold of Jeremiah ; and when he 
 could neither slay nor silence him, he cut in pieces and 
 burnt to ashes the prophetic roll. 
 
 Human nature is still the same. As soon as a young 
 man begins an evil course, and resolves to take his fill 
 of sinful pleasure, he acquires a hatred of his Bible, and 
 a disinclination to attend the house of God. If he 
 cannot silence God's ministers, he will keep as far as 
 possible from them, and shut his ears against all good 
 
236 The City Youth, 
 
 counsel. I know a man living over there in one of those 
 streets, to whom the sound of the church bells is so hate- 
 ful, that in the warmest day in summer he will close all 
 his windows, if possible, to keep it out. He was once 
 a very different man, but now the devil has got such 
 possession of him, that he abhors every vestige of re- 
 ligion ; and I verily believe that were you to "^ut a Bible 
 into his hand, he would cut it in pieces with his penknife, 
 and pitch it into the fire. If I want to know something of 
 your state of heart, I ask, what value do you put on, and 
 what use do you make of, the law of God ? 
 
 Young men, prize the Bible. Make it your daily study. 
 Listen to it as the voice of God. Take it for a lamp to 
 your feet, and a light to your path. Cherish every solemn 
 conviction ; encourage every serious thought. If you have 
 not yet done it, begin the Christian course to-night. Be- 
 gin it by looking straight to Jesus as your Saviour. Say 
 not, you are waiting for Him ; He is waiting for you. 
 To-night, ere you go to rest, down on your knees, and 
 cry, " Lord, I give myself to Thee." I engage for Him 
 that He will not reject you. He will impart to you — what 
 no one else can give you — the secret of a happy life, a 
 peaceful death, and a glorious eternity 1 
 
PLANTS GROWN UP IN THEIR YOUTH. 
 
" That our sons may Oe as plants ^roivn up m their youths—- 
 Psalm cxliv. 12. 
 
XVII. 
 
 PLANTS GROWN UP IN THEIR YOUTH. 
 
 THE whole verse runs thus : *' That our sons may be 
 as plants grown up in their youth, that our daughters 
 may be as corner-stones, polished after the similitude of a 
 palace." 
 
 Scene. — A handsome Oriental residence ; enter, and 
 look around. The form is quadrangular ; in the centre is an 
 open court or square, with windows looking into it from 
 every side. 
 
 The ancients, in their building arrangements, did just 
 the opposite of what we do. We construct our houses 
 with the garden in front or behind. They built them with 
 the garden inside. And so, when you entered the porch 
 you found yourself in a court, with the rooms all around. 
 In the houses of the wealthy this court was laid out with 
 wonderful taste, adorned with shrubs and trees, -svith foun- 
 tains and fishponds, and elegant statuary. In some in- 
 stances it was paved with coloured marbles, shadowed 
 by olive and acacia trees, and surrounded by a piazza, 
 whose entablature rested on columns or pilasters (called 
 by the Greeks, caryatides), which were commonly carved 
 after the figure of a woman dressed in long robes. 
 
 Now, I think I catch the idea in the mind of the sacred 
 poet. 
 
 Two objects in that central court specially arrest his eye ; 
 the one being the young but sturdy trees that grow up so 
 
240 The Ci'y Yoiiih. 
 
 vigorous within the enclosure, and the other the polished 
 pillars or pilasters that stand so gracefully around ; and to 
 his mind they are respectively the suggestive emblems of 
 the sons and daughters of a pious and prosperous house- 
 hold. 
 
 Happy thought ! May it be well illustrated in the 
 homes of England ; and especially when, by-and-by, the 
 Christmas reunions come, and brothers and sisters, and 
 other dear ones who have for months been separated, 
 meet once more under the old roof-tree : and love, and 
 innocent mirth, and festivity abound, may there be many 
 a reproduction of the pleasing picture which this psalm 
 contains ! 
 
 Perhaps it may seem to you at first glance as though the 
 two emblems should be reversed ; the daughters being the 
 graceful trees which grow within the atrium or court, and 
 the sons the solid pillars that support the building ; but 
 the writer guideth his pen wisely : and, whilst my special 
 aim this evening is to justify the metaphor he applies to 
 right-minded and well-doing young men, I will venture to 
 say, and I am sure your gallantry will endorse the remark, 
 that the girls are an equally important part of a Christian 
 household ; that daughters unite families and bind them as 
 corner-stones join walls together, and that, like polished 
 pilasters, they contribute at once to the beauty and 
 security of the structure. When sons are nobles in spirit, 
 and daughters are maids of honour, the home becomes a 
 palace. Would that all our homes were after this pattern I 
 " Happy the people that is in such a case ; yea, happy is 
 that people whose God is the Lord." 
 
 " That our sons may be as plants grown up in their 
 youth." Such is the Psalmist's prayer. It does not mean 
 overgrown lads ; youths that are prematurely men ; '* old 
 heads on young shoulders ; " for, if there is an objection- 
 
Plants Grown up in their Youth, 24 i 
 
 able class of beings on the earth, it is this. Sometimes 
 you hear the excuse offered for the follies of youth,," Boys 
 will be boys ; " but what else would you have them to be ? 
 In my opinion it is quite as common a mistake that " Boys 
 will be men." Before their beards are as long as their 
 teeth, they put on the airs and assume the importance of 
 full-grown men. The smooth-cheeked laddie, who is just 
 from school, struts along the pavement with his high hat, 
 ana his cane, and his pipe, and everything but the conception 
 what a little fool he is ; and youths of eighteen or twenty, 
 who ought to know better, think it manly to drink stimu- 
 lants for which they have no liking, and to frequent places 
 of amusement where they will learn nothing that is good. 
 
 No, no ; the royal Psalmist's prayer countenances no 
 folly of that sort. But, if it is foolish for a lad to " ape 
 the man" while he is but a boy, I shall tell you what is 
 worse ; and that is, for a youth who has reached the years 
 of manhood, to be still in taste and intelligence only a boy. 
 In truth, we sometimes see it, — let the arrow stick where 
 it is needed, — the jacket and the satchel have been thrown 
 aside, but little else. There is still the same frivolity and 
 want of ballast, the same light behaviour, and larking, and 
 practical joking, which were pardonable in a boy, but 
 which are inexcusable in a man. 
 
 I think, then, none of us will misunderstand the text. 
 David is not praying that the youth of the land should 
 have any abnormal precociousness, or should be in any 
 way ahead of their years ; but the picture before his mind 
 — suggested by those blooming palm-trees, olives, and 
 acacias that skirt the atrium — is that of vigorous, health- 
 ful, upright, manly, and ingenuous youth ; and he feels 
 that this, if realised, would be the highest glory of the land. 
 
 God grant that, in this sense, "Our sons may be as plants 
 grown up in their youth," 
 
 t6 
 
242 The City Youth, 
 
 Three thoughts may probably have been uppermost in 
 tne mind of the sweet bard of Israel, as he breathed this 
 prayer. For the young men of his counlry he desired a 
 healthful frame, a solid character, and a hidden life. 
 
 I. A hcalthftd frame; a strong, robust, vigorous 
 physique. It has been said that, as righteousness is the 
 health of the soul, so health is the righteousness of the 
 body. Of course, we know that there are stout, healthy, 
 muscular men, who are by no means distinguished as 
 being either intellectual or spiritual. 
 
 The type of man you generally associate with a boxer, 
 wrestler, or prize-fighter, is not exactly the highest 
 ideal of humanity. That mountain of flesh, and sinew, 
 and bone may compete with an ox ; he may form a good 
 exhibit at a cattle show ; but, as regards all the qualities 
 that ennoble men, he may be a very poor specimen indeed. 
 All very true ; but we must not run into the opposite 
 error of encouraging the notion that thoughtful, refined, 
 cultured, religious men must be pale-faced and delicate, 
 pitifully dyspeptic, with a stooping gait, and a suspicious 
 cough, and with a supreme contempt of a sound physical 
 development. I am glad to observe that in our Young 
 Men's Christian Associations more attention is now being 
 paid to the cultivation of the physical powers. 
 
 A well-equipped gymnasium is a valuable adjunct to 
 such an institution. 
 
 Vigorous athletic exercise is a grand thing for expand- 
 ing the chest, bracing the system, and cheating the doctor 
 and the sexton alike. If this is kept in its own place, it 
 has a distinctly favourable effect upon the mind, and I 
 will even say, is conducive to spiritual health. Within the 
 past few years, we have seen that some of the first athletes 
 of Oxford and Cambridge have, at the same time, been 
 most successful students, and devoted Christians. 
 
Plants Grown up in their Youth, 243 
 
 Most men who are given to study, know how swift and 
 easy are mental processes on some days which on others 
 are tardy and difficult, because the mind catches vigour 
 from the body, and the very thoughts are freshened up 
 when the outwaid frame is in the glow of health. 
 
 A walk in the clear crisp morning air, how it seems to 
 invigorate th*i h-rain 1 A game upon the cricket-field ; a 
 swim beyond the breakers ; a gallop on horseback over the 
 breezy dowv.s ; a skating race upon the frozen lake ; how 
 any of these quickens the faculties, and makes us more 
 ready for whatever brain work we have to do. 
 
 It is possible that the imagination may act most bril- 
 liantly under other conditions ; that, as the pale dyspeptic 
 student burns his midnight oil, there may come the most 
 vivid flashes of fancy, and coruscations of genius (as is 
 shown in such writers as Don Quixote and Allan Poe) ; 
 but the higher and more solid intellectual faculties are 
 benumbed or paralysed ; or, if they do any good work, it 
 is at a terrible expense to whatever health remains. 
 
 You who have a sound and well-disciplined body, with 
 the appetite and elasticity that go along with it — even 
 though you cannot boast of more than a mediocrity of 
 talent, and are unpossessed of wit and imagination — will 
 outstrip, in the race for real happiness and usefulness, 
 those nervous and morbid creatures whose only compen- 
 sation is the occasional gleam of a fitful and spasmodic 
 genius. 
 
 All the more important is it, you should attend to your 
 bodily health, because, to many of you at least, the atmo- 
 sphere in this vast city is so different from the purer air 
 in which your early life was spent. Yet, London is not 
 only the healthiest city in the world, but, as the official 
 statistics show, has actually a lower race of mortality than 
 many a country district. No fear of your health if your 
 
244 ^'^^^ ^^iy Youth, 
 
 will use the proper means, keep early hours, avoid unlaw- 
 ful amusements, discard all stimulants except as medicine, 
 OJse simple wholesome food and plenty of it, take enough 
 of exercise, and do your work in the daytime, not in gas- 
 light. Remember, one hour's sleep before midnight is worth 
 two after twelve has struck. 
 
 Tell all your friends London is a noble place for young 
 men, if they will behave themselves. I have now been 
 here nearly a quarter of a century, though the native of 
 a rural parish ; and, whilst an eminent physician assured 
 me twenty years ago I could not hold out five years in the 
 metropolis, I am stronger to-day than I was then, and, 
 please God, don't mean to get upon ** the aged and 
 infirm " list for a while to come ! 
 
 No young lad need be afraid to come to this modern 
 Babylon, if he brings a fairly sound constitution, and good 
 principles, with him. There is no place like it. Its scope 
 is larger, and its opportunities and advantages more 
 numerous, than in any other town or city in the world. 
 
 Nowhere will you find a nobler race of men, or stronger 
 in all the elements of a vigorous, healthful manhood. 
 
 I am within the rightful province of the pulpit, young 
 men, when I entreat you, in order that you may be fully 
 qualified for the task of life, to use" every means to secure 
 and maintain a condition of full, normal, physical vigour. 
 
 *' 111 fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, 
 When wealth accumulates, and men decay." 
 
 God grant that Britain may long have a just pre-eminence 
 for a stalwart, vigorous, and manly race, and that her sons 
 may everywhere be like sturdy plants grovvn up in their 
 youth ! 
 
 II. A solid character. Yes ; for I apprehend that the 
 devout Psalmist, when he uttered this prayer, was thinking 
 
Pla7its Grown zip in their Youth, 245 
 
 also of moral power. A quaint writer says, " If a man is 
 to grow, he must grow like a tree ; there must be nothing 
 between him and heaven." 
 
 The figure in the text is tropical, and certainly the writer 
 had in his mind's eye some such tall and stately species of 
 growth as he refers to by name in another Psalm, where 
 he says, " The righteous shall flourish as a palm-tree ; he 
 shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon." *' Character," says 
 Foster, " should retain the upright vigour of manliness ; 
 not let itself be bent and fixed in any specific form. It 
 should be like an upright elastic tree, which, though it may 
 accommodate itself a little to the wind, never loses its 
 spring and self-dependent vigour." 
 
 I know it has been said, that the weak side of young 
 men is very weak. Youth is prone to excess, and, on the 
 sunny side of twenty, there is a tendency to carry more 
 sail than ballast. 
 
 Nothing is more injurious to a man than incessant 
 frivolity. To be always running after pleasure betokens 
 a low type of humanity. Youth should be happy, but 
 serious too. Continued levity emasculates the soul. To 
 be ever cackling may befit a goose, but not a man. Timely 
 merriment is wholesome ; but there is something better 
 than laughing, after all. The author of " John Gilpin " 
 must have possessed a rich fund of humour; yet Cowper 
 complained of the fellow-clerks in his office, that "to 
 giggle and make giggle " appeared to be the end of their 
 life. It is a fine thing to see a young man with some 
 solidity about him ; some moral backbone ; to see (as 
 we sometimes do) stamped upon such an one's very face, 
 and gait, and manner, the self-respect that accompanies 
 truthfulness, integrity, and goodness. When Stephen of 
 Colonna fell into the hands of his base assailants, and they 
 asked him in derision, ** Where is your fortress ? " " Here," 
 
246 The City Youth, 
 
 he at once exclaimed, laying his hand on his heart. It is 
 an old adage that '* knowledge is power," but it is still 
 more true to say, that '' character is power." Let there be 
 that about a young fellow which impresses all who meet 
 him with a sense of his thorough genuineness and high- 
 toned principle, it is worth more than words can express. 
 But, on the other hand, without solidity of character, mere 
 cleverness counts in the long run for but little. " A good 
 name," says the wisest of men, ** is better than precious 
 ointment ; " and a bad name is offensive as asafoetida. A 
 pointed cannon is nothing to a pointed finger. It was said 
 of Alexander I. of Russia, that throughout his great empire, 
 his own personal character was equivalent to a constitution. 
 
 I have often seen mere youths, whose dignity of bearing 
 was like a coat of mail to them, and to others was a 
 perpetual sermon. *' Under whose preaching were you 
 converted ? " said one young man to another. " Under no 
 one's preaching," was the reply, ** but under my cousin's 
 practising." 
 
 Ah ! a consistent life, whose manifest aim is not the 
 pursuit of pleasure, but the performance of duty, is 
 mightier in its testimony than all the eloquence of the 
 I'ulpit. There is not one of you, however great your 
 disadvantages, who should not aspire to this. The very 
 things that seem to keep you down, and thwart your 
 usefulness, may prove to be in your favour. I am told 
 that the submarine telegraph cable in Bass's Straits, 
 weighing ten tons a mile, was actually floated to the 
 surface by the seaweed which attached itself to it. 
 
 In like manner you may be lifted above the common 
 level, notv/ithstanding all the natural difficulties which 
 would keep you down ; ay, these very difficulties may be 
 ultimately the means of your elevation. 
 
 Aim then, young men, at solidity of character. See 
 
Plants Grown up in their Youth. 247 
 
 that you carry with you a moral momentum, that shall 
 drive before it the trivialities that encumber so many, and 
 prove their ruin. 
 
 Devote your spare hours to something better than play- 
 going, novel-reading, dominoes, or billiards. " Sow 
 billiards, reap fools," said a blunt sage, and he added, ** I 
 never knew a first-class billiard-player that was worth the 
 powder and lead it would take to shoot him." You are 
 made of better stuff than you can afford to throw away 
 upon such inanity. 
 
 Grow up like young palms, stretching upward toward 
 heaven ; or, if you prefer it, like solid English oaks (which 
 are supposed to form an appropriate emblem of our 
 national character), not stunted, nor dwarfed, nor pollarded, 
 but reaching out and up towards Him who made you. 
 
 But now I come to the most important point of all. 
 
 III. A hidden life. Doubtless, what chiefly struck the 
 eye of the Psalmist, as he looked on those young trees, was 
 their exuberant vitality. 
 
 Whence the height of their stems, the extension of their 
 branches, the greenness of their foliage, the fulness of their 
 bloom } There was a life within, which, springing from the 
 root, made itself felt to the remotest leaf and fibre. Under 
 the warm and genial influence of a tropical climate, shel- 
 tered within the enclosure, yet open to the light, and rain, 
 and dew, those trees were no doubt pictures of full 
 luxuriant life. 
 
 That life came from God. Man's power is marvellous, 
 but it stops short of this. Alike in the vegetable and 
 animal world, he has pushed his explorations almost to 
 the fontal spring of being ; but he reaches a point where 
 his keenest research is arrested. He can neither under- 
 stand nor imparl life. 
 
248 The City Youth, 
 
 It is equally so in the spiritual domain. Each of you 
 needs that which no human power can communicate, and 
 without which the fairest religious profession is only a 
 painted corpse. Personal and saving religion is no 
 development from within, no product of moral evolution ; 
 it is something whose germ must be imparted to you by 
 the Holy Spirit ; and without which germ you are, in the 
 sight of God, absolutely dead. 
 
 Oh, I would have you all realise this great truth ! You 
 may be fine fellows, as I am sure many of you are, with 
 robust bodies, and clear hands, and generous dispositions, 
 and an irreproachable character : but that is not enough. 
 
 "One thing thou lackest." And that one thing God 
 only can give you. 
 
 D. L. Moody tells us that after the Battle of Pittsburgh 
 he was visiting the hospital. In the middle of the night 
 he was roused up, and told that a man in one of the wards 
 wanted to see him. As he entered, the man called to him, 
 and said he wished him to help him to die. '' My dear 
 friend," said Moody, " I would take you right up in my 
 arms and carry you into the kingdom of God if I could, 
 but I can't do it ; no man can do that. I cannot help you 
 to die." "Then who can ?" exclaimed the dying soldier, 
 *' Jesus Christ can. He came for that purpose." 
 
 And all through the long night the earnest evangelist 
 kept pleading with and for that poor man, and setting 
 before him the two great truths which our Lord preached 
 to Nicodcmus, truths which should always go together; 
 the two ''musts" of John iii., "Ye must be born again ;" 
 "The Son of man must be lifted up." He showed him 
 that the life of heaven must be begun within the soul now, 
 and that it is begotten by gazing on the uplifted Redeemer 
 crucified on Calvary for us ; and ere the first streaks of the 
 morning reddened the eastern sky, the soldier said, " It is 
 
Plants Grown up in their Youth. 249 
 
 enough ; I see it ; Christ is mine," and went up in one of 
 God's own chariots to the land where the sound of battle 
 is heard no more. 
 
 Oh, what a blessed thing it is to possess this life ! 
 Vegetable life you can kill, animal life you can crush out 
 and destroy, but spiritual life no effort of man or devil can 
 exterminate. 
 
 St. Paul speaks of " the power of an endless life ; " the 
 Greek word is dtinanm (the original of our modern word 
 dynamite), and means a mighty and resistless force, a 
 vital energy that cannot be confined. 
 
 Not till you know something of this within can you 
 truly say with the Apostle, *' I live 1 " 
 
 Oh, remember that, as Cowper says, 
 
 *' He lives, who lives to God alone, 
 And all are dead beside ; 
 For other source than God is none. 
 Whence life can be supplied. 
 
 To live to God is to requite 
 
 His love as best we may ; 
 To make His precepts our delight, 
 
 His promises our stay. 
 
 But life within a narrow ring 
 
 Of giddy joys comprised, 
 Is falsely named, and no such thing, 
 
 But rather death disguised." 
 
 Who will not fervently join in the prayer of our text } 
 Who will not long for the day when the sons of Britannia 
 " shall be as plants grown up in their youth " } when 
 the young men of England, spurning the courses that 
 enervate and demean, shall rise to the height of a manly 
 dignity, and aim to be the guardians and benefactors of 
 their country ? 
 
250 The City Youth, 
 
 I recollect that, some years ago, a member of the 
 British Parliament, urging the increase of the army, 
 exclaimed in the House of Commons, " We have now no 
 allies on whom we can depend ; no treaties on which we 
 can rely ; all we have to look to is the iron and the gold 
 of England ! " It will indeed be a sad day for a country 
 when her security rests upon her army and her wealth, 
 when her main strength lies either in her arsenal or her 
 exchequer. May God give her a better defence than 
 these, even in the sound and Christian character of her 
 rising youth, a noble band of God-fearing and high- 
 principled men ! 
 
 *' Long may our hardy sons of honest toil 
 Be blest with health and peace, and sweet content ! 
 And oh ! may Heaven their simple lives prevent 
 From luxury's contagion, weak and vile ! 
 Then howe'er crowns and coronets be rent 
 A virtuous populace shall rise the while, 
 And stand, a wall of fire, around our much-loved isle." 
 
 Amen. 
 
RIGHT. BUT NOT PERFECT, 
 
" He did that which "was right in the sight of the Lord^ but not with 
 a perfect heart''— 2 Chronicles xxv. 2. 
 
XVIII. 
 
 RIGHT, BUT NOT PERFECT. 
 
 THIS man was a true type of large numbers of young 
 Englishmen and young Scotchmen in our own day, 
 who, with many excellent principles and good points of 
 character, are only half-hearted in religion. Amaziah is a 
 Scriptural person very little studied. Though there is 
 much to be learnt from the brief record of his life, few 
 people seem to have noticed it. I never met with a 
 sermon upon it. I suppose many persons, if you asked 
 them, could not tell you who Amaziah was. 
 
 Nor is it difficult to explain this. Some of those ancient 
 Jewish kings were conspicuous for their piety, and some 
 were notorious for their daring wickedness. This man was 
 neither the one nor the other. We are told in the Second 
 Book of Kings, that ** he did that which was right in the 
 sight of the Lord, but not like his father (or ancestor) 
 David." In his life and character there was a mingling 
 of the good and the evil. 
 
 But I imagine that on this account he was only the 
 truer type of the vast majority of men. Davids and 
 Josiahs, alas ! are few and far between ; so also, happily, 
 are Ahabs and Manassehs ; but Amaziahs everywhere 
 abound. 
 
 We shall make this man our study for a little, and, I 
 hope, shall carry away some useful lessons. 
 
254 The City Youths 
 
 There r.re three sources from which we obtain infor- 
 mation about him ; I shall avail myself of them all. 
 There is, first, the record in the Second Book of Kings ; 
 then there is the passage before us ; and lastly, there is 
 an interesting chapter in Josephus's ** Antiquities of the 
 Jews," which, though of course it has not the authority 
 of Scripture, is generally held to be rel'able. 
 
 Amaziah was twenty-five years of age when he succeeded 
 to the throne. As a boy he had been conscientious and 
 well-behaved. Josephus says, " he was exceeding careful 
 of doing what was right, and this when he was very young." 
 From the express mention of his mother's name, both here 
 and in the Book of Kings, I fancy she was a good and 
 pious woman ; and that her faithful training had much to 
 do with the early promise he gave of a useful and honour- 
 able career. Many a time, I daresay, Jehoaddan (for such 
 ^'?as her name) would take her son aside, and in fervent 
 prayer commend him to the God of his fathers, and tell 
 him of the heroic deeds of some of his saintly ancestors, 
 and point out to him the responsibilities which, in future 
 years, would devolve upon him. 
 
 Oh, who can estimate the influence of a godly mother ! 
 Don't many of you owe more than words can ever express 
 to the wise and gentle rule of her who gave you birth } 
 What tender and hallowed associations cluster round the 
 home of your early childhood ! John Wesley wrote :-^** I 
 remember that, when I first understood what death was, 
 and began to think of it, the most fearful thought it in- 
 duced was that of losing my mother; it seemed to me 
 more than I could bear, and I used to hope that I might 
 die before her." Ah ! there is no velvet so soft as a 
 mother's lap, no star so lovely as her smile, no music so 
 melodious as her voice, no rose so fragrant as the memory 
 of her love ! 
 
Right, but not Perfect, 255 
 
 The first thini,^ that Amaziah did when he was settled on 
 the throne was to avenge the murder of his father Joash. 
 A cruel conspiracy had been framed by the servants of the 
 palace, and they had slain the king upon his bed. His 
 son could not rest until these miscreants had been brought 
 to justice. If he had carried out the vindictive practices of 
 his own time, he would have destroyed their families too ; 
 but he called to mind an enactment in the law of Moses, 
 to the effect that children should not be made to suffer for 
 the sins of their fathers, and he spared them alive. Now 
 this showed that he was not unfamiliar with his Bible, and 
 that he was anxious to be merciful as well as just. liad 
 he not been acquainted with the Mosaic law, and had he 
 not had some elements of goodness in his heart, he would 
 no douLt have swept off the face of the earth, root and 
 branch, the whole families of those who had taken his 
 father's life. 
 
 The great exploit of his reign was a military campaign 
 against the Edomites. The country of Edom bordered 
 on Palestine, and in the days of King Jehoshaphat was 
 subject to Judah : but for some time the people had suc- 
 cessfully revolted, and Amaziah was seized with the 
 ambition to reduce them to obedience again, and so to 
 extend the glory of his kingdom. 
 
 There does not appear to have been any necessity for 
 this war. Like most wars, it sprang out of greed and the 
 lust for power. No doubt Amaziah would find some pre- 
 text for it; kings and governments always manage this. 
 But the simple fact was, he wished to be a bigger man, 
 and to have a wider empire ; so he set to work to gather 
 a magnificent army with which to invade and capture the 
 land of Edom. "Annexation" is the word. We know a 
 little about it in our own time. If a certain region of the 
 world, desirable for political or commercial reasons, is 
 
256 The City Youth, 
 
 weak and ill-governed, and a sort of "no-man's-land,** we 
 feel it our duty to ** annex" it, which, in some instances, 
 is neither less nor more than a piece of national larceny. 
 Well, Amaziah, having taken this job in hand, resolved 
 he would make it a success ; so, in addition to his own 
 army, consisting of 300,000 chosen men, he hired from 
 his neighbour Joash, the King of Israel, 100,000 soldiers, 
 all " mighty men of valour." For t^is he agreed to pay a 
 hundred talents of silver. 
 
 However, when the expedition was all prepared, and 
 just as he was setting out for the field of battle, a prophet 
 came to him, and in the name of God ordered him at once 
 to dismiss those hired soldiers from the King of Israel ; 
 adding that the Lord's favour was not with them, and 
 that they would be a source rather of weakness than of 
 strength. Amaziah was greatly put about by this. He 
 was most unwilling to send these stalwart men about their 
 business, and yet he feared to disobey the prophet. More- 
 over, he had already paid down a big sum for the hire of 
 them, and that money he could not recover. " What shall 
 we do," said he, ** for the hundred talents which I have 
 given to the army of Israel ? " And the prophet answered, 
 **The Lord is able to give thee much more than this." 
 It was a trial of the king's principle and faith in God. 
 And how did he act } What decision did he come to ? 
 He did the thing that was right. " Let the money go," 
 he said ; " we shall dispense with these Israelites, and 
 look to God for help," So he sent the men back to their 
 own. country. 
 
 But they were much offended at being thus treated. 
 They took it as an insult offered to them, and in passing 
 homewards through the land of Judah, they took occasion 
 to wTeak their vengeance on the people, and wrought great 
 mischief amorg them. 
 
Right, but 7iot Perfect. 257 
 
 Having got rid of these men, Amaziah led forth his 
 army against the Edomites, gaining a signal victoiy 
 over them in the valley of Salt, where ten thousand 
 were left dead upon the field. Other ten thousand he 
 took as prisoners, and bringing them to the top of the 
 steep cliffs of that rocky region, threw them over head- 
 long, so that they were dashed in pieces. 
 
 His very success, however, proved in the long run to be 
 his ruin. Elated with the splendid victory he had achieved, 
 he forsook the God of his fathers. Ho was foolish enough 
 to take back into his own country some of the idol gods 
 of Edom, and wicked enough to set them up as objects of 
 worship. Yielding himself to degrading superstition, he 
 actually bowed himself down before these heathen deities, 
 and burned incense unto them. 
 
 On this, a prophet came to him, and rebuked him for 
 his gross idolatry; but this only provoked the Kirg to 
 rage, who bid the prophet hold his peace, and threatened 
 to smite him if he interfered. The man of God replied 
 that he would indeed hold his peace, but warned the 
 King that he had incurred the wrath of the IMost High, 
 and that his destruction was not far off. 
 
 The prediction was fulfilled, and that in a remarkable 
 and tragic manner. Amaziah, puffed up with pride, seems 
 to have fairly lost his head. His great victory over the 
 Edomites gave him a thirst for further conquest. So, in 
 a vein of insolence, he sent a challenge to the King of 
 Israel to come and try their strength in battle. Had it 
 been a personal duel he proposed, the case would not 
 have been so bad ; but, unfortunately, the whims of kings 
 involve the sufferings of the innocent; and too often 
 thousands of lives have been sacrificed to one man's 
 capricious humour. King Joash seems to have been a 
 bit of a wit or a wag, for he sent him back a smart and 
 
 17 
 
258 The City Youth, 
 
 pungent reply, which must have stung Amaziah to the 
 quick. Many a wholesome truth old ^sop told with 
 emphasis by his witty fables ; and by the quaint little 
 story we were reading, Joash read his royal brother a 
 lesson he was in need of. He compares himself to a 
 stately cedar of Lebanon, and Amaziah to a sorry con- 
 temptible thistle, intimating that he scorned as much to 
 have anything to do with him, as a cedar would to affi- 
 ance his daughter to a weed. He made the pill even more 
 bitter to swallow, by adding, that a wild beast came and 
 trod down the thistle: the import of which it would not 
 be difficult for the King of Judah to understand. 
 
 Josephus tells us, that, on reading this letter, Amaziah was 
 more determined than ever to fight, and hastened to bring 
 his army to the field : but that, as soon as his men were 
 drawn up in battle array, a strange, unaccountable panic 
 seized them, so that they all fled in every direction, and left 
 their King alone, who was immediately taken prisoner by 
 the enemy. Moreover, to add to his humiliation, Joash 
 threatened to kill him, unless he would persuade the 
 people of Jerusalem, his own capital, to open their gates 
 to the conqueror. This Amaziah did ; but, not content 
 therewith, Joash broke down a part of the ancient wall, 
 and drove his chariot through the breach, leading his 
 royal prisoner captive behind him ; and not till he had 
 rifled the King's palace, and taken away all the costly 
 treasures of the temple, did he set him at liberty, and 
 return to Samaria. 
 
 The end of Amaziah was a sad one. Betrayed by his 
 own friends, who made a conspiracy against him in 
 Jerusalem, he fled to the city of Lachish, but they sent 
 after him, and slew him there. "This," adds Josephus, 
 " was the end of the life of Amaziah, because of his 
 innovations in religion, and his contempt of God." 
 
Right y but not Perfect, 259 
 
 I daresay it has occurred to you, as I have been re- 
 counting the story, that there was much more of what was 
 bad than of what was good in the life of this man ; and 
 you may wonder that it is said of him in our text, that 
 "he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord." 
 Something must be allowed, of course, for the times in 
 which he lived, and for the contrast with kings greatly 
 worse than himself; but there were not wanting certain 
 good elements about him ; and had he not given way 
 to a haughty temper and ambitious pride, his career 
 might have been a useful and a happy one. He was 
 acquainted with the Scriptures, and paid respect to the 
 ordinances of religion ; he had the desire to live a 
 virtuous and godly life ; but the secret of his failure was, 
 that his heart was not right with God. His goodness was 
 superficial, and therefore artificial ; it was not the outcome 
 of a regenerate nature. 
 
 Well, there may be nothing very novel, nothing exciting 
 nor entertaining, in the truth I am bringing out ; but I 
 know nothing that is more important to impress young 
 men with than this, that, for all your correctness of out- 
 ward life, your familiarity with the Word of God, your 
 respect for what is sacred, and your general amiableness 
 of character, you shall and must utterly fail in fulfilling the 
 great end of life, unless there is " the root of the matter" 
 in you, your hearts being renewed by Almighty grace. 
 
 IVIny it not be, that to some of you God is saying, " I 
 know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, 
 and art dead. Be w^atchful, and strengthen the things 
 that remain, which are ready to die ; for I have not found 
 thy works perfect before God " } 
 
 Now, do not misunderstand this word ** perfect." No 
 man is perfect, in the absolute sense of the term : thougli 
 we are to strive after this as the goal. No meaner standard 
 
26o The City Youth. 
 
 are we to set before us, than to ** be perfect, even as our 
 Father which is in heaven is perfect." But, if our own 
 experience and observation do not tell us, all Scripture 
 does, that ** there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth 
 good, and sinneth not." We are told of Job, that he was 
 ** a perfect man and upright : " and yet what does he 
 himself say ? '* If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall 
 condemn me ; if I say I am perfect it shall also prove me 
 perverse." It was not because Amaziah was not sinless 
 that his life proved such a failure, but because he was not 
 thorough-going in his principle and piety. 
 
 Let this be the lesson we bear away with us to-night. 
 No lesson more needed. English life at present seems to 
 be afflicted with a plague of levity. There is so much 
 hollowness and unreality, so much veneer in character and 
 work, that it behoves us to preach aloud the gospel of 
 thoroughness. A short time ago some workmen were en- 
 gaged in trying to remove a piece of old London wall. 
 They tried with hammers, then with pickaxes, then they 
 had to borrow the help of some stalwart navvies, but to 
 no purpose, the wall seemed to smile at all their efforts ; 
 at last they were obliged to have recourse to boring, and 
 blowing it up like a piece of solid rock. 
 
 That is hardly the way they build nowadays, for it is 
 dangerous for a man to lean against some of our brick walls. 
 
 Now, this is just an illustration of what I mean, the 
 want of thoroughness in every branch of industry and in 
 every walk of life. When a man's own character is not 
 solid, real, permeated through and through with Christian 
 principle, you cannot have any guarantee of the genuine- 
 ness of his work. They say that if you send to Birming- 
 ham an old copper coal-scuttle, a sovereign, and a gal- 
 vanic battery, they will send you back a thousand pounds 
 wurth of gold plate. Brummagem work is not confined 
 
Right y but not Perfect. 261 
 
 to such articles as these. Shams abound everywhere. 
 Gilt and paint carry the day. Ours is an age of tinsel. 
 
 And the worst of it is that this unrealness charac- 
 terises much of the religion amongst us. I sometimes 
 meet with a horrible form of Antinomianism, which 
 virtually says, "Anything will do for me, I am a disciple 
 of Christ ; " and so the work is actually more slovenly and 
 
 ^perfect because the individual claims to be " not under 
 the law, but under grace." Why, it is almost as monstrous 
 as the proposal a good young man made to his landlady, 
 that his own excellent Christian example should serve in 
 lieu of weekly payment for his lodgings. A man — I don't 
 care who he is — dishonours Christ, when any other person 
 is put to disadvantage by his piety. If you imagine you 
 are more free to do slip-shod work because you are a 
 Christian, I say it is precisely the reverse. 
 
 It is just because you claim to be the Lord's that any 
 sort of work will not do. Bearing His name, you are 
 responsible to Him for every detail of your daily life. 
 If your secular duties are more imperfectly discharged 
 because you are a believer, you do great wrong to the 
 Redeemer. If you snatch a little of your employer's time 
 to scatter tracts, or prepare for a Sabbath class, or even 
 to read your Bible ; or if, in business hours, your thoughts 
 are so given to spiritual themes that you cannot do justice 
 to your work, in any of these cases you do real harm to 
 religion. A man's piety is of the true sort only when it 
 helps to make him — if an artisan, a better workman ; if in 
 an office, a better clerk ; if behind the counter, a better 
 salesman than he would have been without it. Our re- 
 ligion is given us to be a universal blessing, to sharpen our 
 faculties, to quicken our diligence, to increase our likelihood 
 of success. If you have the grace of God in your heart, 
 as the spring of your whole life, you have the promise of 
 
262 The City Youth, 
 
 the first Psalm, "And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." 
 You have the guarantee of the highest of all success. 
 This may not always mean earthly abundance and ease ; 
 for it sometimes happens that a man's best days are those 
 in which he has the least of the world's smile ; but if your 
 heart is right with God, all must be well ; and we know 
 who has said that "the little that a righteous man hath, 
 is better than the abundance of many wicked." 
 
 Remember, then, that religion is something within 
 you, working outward from the centre, and that centre 
 a heart possessed by the grace of God. It is not, as 
 too many imagine it, a reformation commencing in the 
 outer circumference of one's life and habits, and then 
 working its way inwards to the core till the heart is reached 
 and changed ; nay, but it takes its start in the innermost 
 recesses of our being, and from thence reaches outwards, 
 till the whole character and conduct are brought under its 
 blissful sway. Ah ! brothers, you have the rough world 
 before you, with its buffetings, and its trials, and its diffi- 
 culties, and its snares ; and there is not one of you that 
 will not find your greatest need of all to be true religion- 
 Even Robert Burns wrote to a friend : — 
 
 " When rantin' roun' in pleasure's ring, 
 
 Religion may be blinded ; 
 And if she gie a random sting, 
 
 But little may be minded. 
 But when on life we're tempest-tossed, 
 
 And conscience but a canker, 
 A correspondence fixed wi' Heaven, 
 
 Is sure a noble anchor." 
 
 That correspondence with Heaven can be enjoyed only 
 through Him who is the "One Mediator between God 
 and man, the Man Christ Jesus." 
 
 Lord, let my hope rest there alone ! " Have you no 
 doubts, no fears } " asked a friend of Sir David Brewster, 
 
I'^ighi, but not Perfect, 263 
 
 the eminent scientific philosopher, as he lay on his bed of 
 death. "None; the blood of Christ has washed away my 
 sins ; I have life in Christ ; this I am sure of, for God 
 has said it." ** Have you no difficulty in believing the 
 bible.?" his friend further inquired, knowing how scep- 
 ticism prevailed amongst scientific men. " None," he 
 replied; adding, "Alas! few receive the truth of Jesus. 
 But why } It is the pride of intellect, forgetting its own 
 limits, stepping beyond its own province. How little the 
 wisest of mortals know of anything ! How preposterous 
 of worms to think of fathoming the counsels of the 
 Almighty ! " " But, do the Christian mysteries give you 
 no trouble 7 " "" No. Why should they ? We are sur- 
 rounded by mysteries. My own being is a mystery — I 
 cannot explain the relation of my soul to my body. Every- 
 body believes much which he cannot understand. The 
 Trinity and the Atonement are a great deep ; so is eternity; 
 so is Providence. It gives me no uneasiness that I cannot 
 explain them. They are secret things that belong to God. 
 I thank God the way of salvation is so simple ; no laboured 
 argument, no high attainment is required. To believe in 
 the Lord Jesus Christ is to live ; I trust in Him, and 
 enjoy His peace." 
 
 Such were among the latest words of one of the most 
 eminent of the scientific men of our day. It was my 
 privilege to know the man who uttered them. He was 
 constitutionally slow to believe anything that was not 
 established on good evidence. I thank God for the dying 
 testimony of such a man. It does me good to recall it, 
 and to tell it. What served for him, may do for you, and 
 for me. Oh, get the matter settled now ; come over at 
 once to the safe landing-place which the Gospel provides ; 
 so will you have the guarantee of a successful life, a 
 peaceful death, and glorious eternity ! Amen. 
 
NOT FAR FROM THE KINGDOM, 
 
*' Ihou art not far from the kingdom ofGod^—MA^YL xii. 34- 
 
XIX. 
 
 NOT FAR FROM THE KINGDOM. 
 
 YOU may be very near the kingdom, and yet never 
 enter it ; and of all cases of spiritual ruin, there are 
 none so melancholy, none so sad, as of those who were 
 almost saved, and yet were lost ! It has been a painful 
 feature of the disasters at sea that have occurred in our 
 time, that so many of them have happened to vessels just 
 at the close of a long and successful voyage, and when the 
 haven was in view. Never shall I forget the shock pro- 
 duced over twenty years ago, when the news reached us 
 of the foundering of the Royal Charter, with nearly all on 
 board. Ah ! melancholy story ! The mighty ocean had 
 been traversed in safety ; and the passengers, after their 
 long imprisonment, were making ready to step on shore, 
 when, almost within an arm's length of land, they were 
 swept into a watery grave ! 
 
 What became of this hopeful young lawyer I cannot tell. 
 Whether he actually reached and entered the kingdom he 
 was so near to, we are not informed ; but there is some- 
 thing so interesting in his character, and there are (as I 
 imagine) so many here this evening just in his position, 
 that it may be useful to us to inquire what is the precise 
 meaning of the text, and in what respects it could be 
 said of this man, that he was " not far from the kingdom 
 of God'." 
 
268 The City Yoicfh. 
 
 No doubt there is a sense, in which, until we are born 
 again, we are all equally far from the kingdom. The differ- 
 ence between the dead and the living, between the dark- 
 ness of midnight and the radiance of noon, is one — not of 
 degree, but of kind. Until we have entered the kingdom 
 of grace, we are all alike (^so says the Word) *'dead in 
 trespasses and sins : " and, amongst a number of corpses, 
 how can there be degrees of deadness or of vitality } 
 There is some truth here ; but it is truth that requires 
 to be wisely and guardedly stated. There is a hard and 
 extravagant way of stating it that is repugnant to thought- 
 ful and cultured minds, and sometimes brings the Gospel 
 into ridicule. There cannot be a question that, of persons 
 who are as yet unsaved, some are nearer to salvation than 
 others. There are circumstances in life, there are elements 
 of character, there are conditions of mind, which make 
 this man's case more hopeful than that, and his conversion 
 a thing less to be wondered at. Now, I am not going 
 to draw upon fancy, in suggesting certain things which 
 prove one to be near the kingdom of God ; but, making 
 a study of this young scribe, I shall point out four features 
 of his case, which probably brought to our Lord's lips 
 the words of my text. 
 
 I. He was " not far from the kingdom," because he had 
 begun to think seriously on religion. You observe that, in 
 his manner and language, there is not a trace of frivolity 
 or captiousness. It is true that Matthew says of him, 
 that he "asked Christ a question, tempting Him;" but 
 the word there employed does not necessarily embrace the 
 idea of the sinister or malicious, and denotes nothing more 
 than a spirit searching after truth. This spirit of earnest, 
 reverential inquiry is one to be commended and en- 
 couraged, and rarely leads a man into the entanglements 
 of error. 
 
A^ot Far frojn the Kingdom, 269 
 
 There are some minds so constituted as to have an 
 innate tendency to scepticism. They doubt everything. 
 They cannot accept any proposition until it is demon- 
 strated to them by an invincible logic. Remember, there 
 are two gates to our inner nature ; there is the gate of 
 the head, and the gate of the heart. Well, there are men 
 who say, " If you want to get at my soul, you must come 
 at it by the gate of the head. You must deal with my 
 intellect. You must convince my reason." 
 
 I am not one of those who will say sharp and severe 
 things to such persons. My sympathy with them is too 
 profound to speak to them reproachfully and bitterly. 
 Their mental agony is quite deep enough, without being 
 intensified by the cruel taunts of those who have no such 
 difficulties. It is when I see a man with the smallest 
 modicum of intellect, and the largest stock of self-conceit, 
 attempting to grapple with questions he is no more quali- 
 fied to touch than a little dog is to teach astronomy; when 
 I see such a man, ignorant, brainless, and incompetent, 
 deliberately plunging into scepticism, it is then that (I con- 
 fess) sympathy gives place to indignation, and that I think 
 of Solomon's adage: "A whip for the horse, a bridle for 
 the ass, and a rod for the fooi's back." 
 
 But this young barrister with whom Christ was dealing 
 was a man accustomed to think. His profession was one 
 fitted to sharpen his wits, and train him to weigh evidence. 
 There is no class of men more exposed to the assaults of 
 infidelity than the legal profession. Argument and con- 
 troversy are the very atmosphere in which they live. They 
 are so accustomed to ignore the emotions, and magnify the 
 reason, that it would almost seem as though the religion of 
 Jesus, which is a simple fiiatter of faith, had little chance 
 with them. And yet the legal profession has furnished 
 some of the most ardent followers of Christ and His Gospel. 
 
270 The City Youth, 
 
 From the days of ** Zenas the lawyer," for whom St. Paul 
 had a special regard and affection (for when he wrote to 
 Titus that he was going to spend the winter in Nicopolis, 
 he requested him to come, and " bring Zenas the lawyer " 
 with him) — I say, from the days of Zenas the profession 
 of the law has yielded many a bright ornament of the 
 Christian faith — as Blackstone and Wilberforce, and Chief 
 Justices Marshall, and Tenderden, and Campbell, and 
 Sir Thomas More, and last, but not least, I might name 
 the late Lord Chancellor of England, who (to his honour 
 be it said) on the Saturday would be seated on the wool- 
 sack, and on the Sunday might be seen teaching a class 
 in the Sabbath School. 
 
 Well now, a man may be said to be ** not far from the 
 kingdom," when he really thinks seriously upon religion. 
 Bear in mind, the converse is just as true. The person 
 who has no serious thoughts upon the subject is very 
 distant from salvation. 
 
 It is perfectly marvellous how little some people think 
 on the matter at all. The great evil is, we cannot get them 
 to think. I had rather hear a man start all manner of 
 difficult questions, and raise all sorts of objections, than 
 remain in that utterly dead, boorish condition of mind, 
 in which tens of thousands of our population are living, 
 as though they had no soul within them at all. 
 
 I have noticed a person with something wrong with 
 his hand. When informed by the physician that he 
 must lose a finger, how he sickened at the thought ! 
 "Doctor, can't you save it ?" he imploringly asks. Why, 
 he is as much taken up about that poor finger as though 
 it were worth the whole world to him. But if I say to him 
 you are going to lose your soul — no concern, no anxiety, 
 no dismay ! " Far from the kingdom of God ! " 
 
 A little boy picked up a bright stone, and ran with it to 
 
Not Far from the Kinordoin, 271 
 
 the jeweller's, and said, " What will you give me for this?" 
 The jeweller gave him sixpence, and the boy was pleased 
 and went away. He did not know its value. It was a 
 diamond, and was worth ;£'5o. So the great mass of people 
 do not know the worth of the soul ; they have no concep- 
 tion of it. When once they begin to realise this, their 
 case is hopeful. I have said a man is not far from the 
 kingdom when he has began to think seriously upon 
 religion. I emphasise that word " seriously." I hope 
 nobody will charge me with preaching a morose, gloomy 
 Christianity. But, at the same time I must frankly say 
 that one of the greatest evils of our day is levity, flippancy, 
 frivolity. There is a generation that seem incapable of 
 treating any subject other than lightly, and on its amusing 
 side. They must jest at everything. On the gravest 
 themes they must have their laugh and their joke. They 
 are never earnest and solemn. They are for ever flinging 
 out some poor criticism or wretched pun. Even religion 
 meets with the same treatment at their hands. 
 
 This is a dangerous aptitude, and should be sternly 
 checked. These are matters too sacred and awful to be 
 sported with. They dare not be handled but in a reverent 
 spirit. And because this lawyer — though not avowedly 
 a Christian — was evidently thinking seriously upon religion, 
 and (as proved by his intelligent question) was devoutly 
 feeling his way, and seeking further light, our Lord 
 looked him kindly in the face, and said, "Thou art not 
 far from the kingdom of God." 
 
 II. He was " not far from the kingdom," because he 
 had already begun to attach greater importajice to the spirit 
 than to the letter. I have the fullest conviction that 
 our Lord was struck with this feature of his case, and 
 regarded it as pre-eminently hopeful. Indeed, it was 
 quite remarkable. I am amazed to find a young Jewish 
 
272 The City Youth, 
 
 scribe so far advanced. He had come to see that the 
 spiritual side of religion was of far greater importance 
 than its ceremonial. " To love the Lord vvith all one's 
 heart, and to love one's neighbour as oneself, was more," 
 he said, ** than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices." 
 "■ True piety is more a thing of the heart and of the life, 
 than of outward observances and ritual. It is not by legal 
 forms, and services, and ceremonies, and so forth, that we 
 please God, but by a character and deportment that breathe 
 the law of love." This was astonishing to come from one 
 educated as he had been, and with so little opportunity of 
 Christian instruction. I wish we had him in England 
 to-day, to put to shame a lot of young, silly, empty-headed 
 Ritualists, that are all for form and religious show; and 
 appear to think that **the burnt offerings and sacrifices" 
 are the main thing, and a v>^ork of grace within, a very 
 secondary consideration. I honestly believe that were 
 our Lord personally on earth, and did He deign to take 
 notice of one of these full-fledged High Churchmen, who 
 make so much of " our beautiful service," and are such 
 sticklers for every punctilio of ritual, and such observers 
 of every form and every festival, and are so much superior 
 in their own judgment to other Christians, and so much 
 nearer to heaven, I verily believe He would startle him 
 with the statement, " Thou art far from the kingdom of 
 God." 
 
 The whole tone of our Lord's teaching indicated that 
 He regarded the self-complacent Pharisees, with all their 
 finical observance of outward ritual, their cleansing of the 
 cup and platter, their tithing of rue, and anise, and 
 cummin, and so forth, as standing in the outermost circles 
 of remoteness from the kingdom ; indeed. He was plain 
 enough to say that "the publicans and harlots" would 
 enter it before them. 
 
A^ot Far from the Kingdom. 2']2t 
 
 Amid so much superstition and mere externalism of 
 religious worship as existed around Him, it must have been 
 refreshing to the heart of Christ to meet with one who 
 rose above this low and miserable level, and was able, so 
 far, to break through the crust of a lifeless conventionalism, 
 as to see that rites and oblations, sacrifices and offerings, 
 were nothing, so long as the heart was not charged with 
 love to God and to man. Surely it is, or ought to be, ex- 
 ceedingly instructive to us (especially in times when there 
 is manifest in certain quarters a retrograde tendency, a dis- 
 position to make less of the spirit, and more of the letter), 
 it ought to be instructive, to notice how much real pleasure 
 our Lord derived from the sight of this young man's spiritual 
 penetration, and what beaming smiles of loving regard 
 He bestowed on one who was able thus far to tear himself 
 away from the artificialism of an almost obsolete ritual. 
 
 Do we not learn here that, when a man comes to 
 receive Divine truth in its spiritual meaning, and to 
 realise the need of a heart filled with holy love, he is in 
 a hopeful condition of soul ? As a German theologian 
 profoundly observes upon this passage : *' He who recog- 
 nises the worth of love is near the kingdom of God ; he 
 who has himself felt it, is in that kingdom." I may be now 
 addressing some one who cannot, who dare not, confidently 
 say that the love of God is shed abroad in his heart ; and 
 yet he can truly testify that he is beginning to see that the 
 real beauty of religion is here ; he can honestly assert — 
 
 " Thou hidden Love of God, whose height. 
 Whose depih unfathom'd, no man knows 
 
 I see from far Thy beauteous light, 
 Lily I sigh for Thy repose ; 
 
 My heart is pained, nor can it be 
 At rest, till it find rest in Thee." 
 
 Dear brother, " thou art not far from the kingdom of God/* 
 
 i8 
 
274 The City Youth. 
 
 III. This young man was pronounced " not far from the 
 kingdom of God/' because he was sincerely desirous of 
 acting up to the measure of light which he possessed. It is 
 evident that he was no frivolous caviller, merely wanting 
 to raise an argument and display his own cleverness and 
 learning. Nothing of the kind ; he was one sincerely and 
 anxiously groping and struggling towards the light — de- 
 sirous to know the will of God, in order that he might do it. 
 
 Now, you all remember that notable word of Christ's — 
 " If any man will do his will," rather, " If any man be 
 willing to do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether 
 it be of God." The humble and ingenuous seeker after 
 truth is rarely left in the dark ; and he who practises the 
 little that he does know is " nearer the kingdom " than he 
 who has large knowledge which he does not practise. 
 
 It is my misfortune occasionally to meet with persons 
 who are nothing if not disputatious and controversial : they 
 cannot touch a subject without getting into argument ; 
 they have a fatal facility of raising objections to every 
 evangelical doctrine : theological pugilists, religious 
 Ishmaels, their hand is against every man's. Well, these 
 persons are about the most hopeless to deal with ; you can 
 only leave them to their own miserable self-sufficiency. I 
 know no class further from the kingdom of God. I don't 
 think there are any of them here this evening, but if there 
 are, I would say to them, you had better just lay down your 
 weapons at once, and, as poor, helpless sinners, bow to 
 the plain teaching of this Book. I invite you back to the 
 good old-fashioned religion of your fathers, to the God 
 whom they worshipped, to the Christ they adored, to the 
 promises on which they leaned, to the cross on Vvhich they 
 hung their eternal hopes. You have not been happy a day 
 since you broke off from the Gospel anchorage, and you 
 will not be happy till you come back to it again. 
 
Not Far from the Kingdom, 275 
 
 But the text gives me comfort in regard to a class of 
 minds we are often anxious about. Have not most of us 
 got a friend whose religious condition has been making 
 us uneasy ? We fear he is getting off the rails. He has 
 imbibed some strange notions. His philosophical tenden- 
 cies are carrying him away from the old landmarks. We 
 hardly know what he believes. He doesn't know himself. 
 But one thing we do know, that, dear fellow, he is 
 honestly seeking the light. He is passionately thirsting 
 after truth ; and he is thirsting after it that he may make 
 it his own, and bring his whole life under its guidance 
 and power. Like this intelligent young barrister, he is 
 an honest, a simple-minded, a true-hearted inquirer. 
 Well, don't despair of him. He is quite as near the 
 kingdom as this man was, and Jesus said he was not far 
 off from it. Only cease not to pray, that the Gospel in 
 all its glory may shine into his soul. 
 
 IV. I have one thing more to say (and I hope none 
 of you will misunderstand it), this man was declared by 
 Christ to be ** not far from the kingdom of God," because 
 he was amiable and virtuous. He was strictly moral, cir- 
 cumspect, and pure. He was a gentleman, a man of sound 
 principle and good breeding. 
 
 I don't say this merely because he was a lawyer,' God 
 forbid. There are in that profession as consummate 
 rogues as ever walked the earth. There were fishermen 
 in Galilee as thorough gentlemen as you could meet with. 
 It is not a man's calling or his money that settles this 
 point. 
 
 But you see at a glance what sort of a person this 
 young scribe is. Courteous, refined, pure-minded, high- 
 principled, he is a gentleman, every inch of him. He has 
 not been the slave of his passions, he has not run a career 
 of riotousness and vice : he has been a moral, well-con- 
 
276 The City Youth. 
 
 ducted man, and because of this is " not far from the 
 kingdom of God." 
 
 Llark, I know that that amiability and virtue would not 
 bring him into the kingdom. All the graces and excel- 
 lencies of the most cultured humanity could not save 
 him. Moreover, had he been the vilest scapegrace upon 
 earth, Divine mercy could have dragged him out of the 
 mire, and pulled him into the kingdom. All true, and yet 
 I say, and say it with emphasis, because it needs to be 
 said, that his high-toned principle and character were in 
 his favour, and made his salvation more probable than had 
 they been otherwise. If Christ said that the " publicans 
 and harlots would enter the kingdom sooner than the 
 self-righteous Pharisees," it was not because the latter had 
 not plunged into open vice, or because He wished to put 
 a premium upon outward profligacy. All that He meant 
 was that the pride and self-esteem of these Pharisees placed 
 them, notwithstanding their moral correctness, at a further 
 distance from God than even the gross wickedness of the 
 class whom they despised. 
 
 It is perfectly detestable to hear the way in which some 
 well-meaning, but very foolish and ignorant, people speak 
 at the present day, as though depth in vice were the most 
 fitting qualification for receiving the Gospel. At mission 
 halls and revival meetings, things are said fitted to convey 
 the impression that other things being equal, the de- 
 bauchee, the libertine, and the profligate are positively 
 more acceptable to God than those whose lives are morally 
 pure ; and if some vile wretch has been picked up out of 
 the gutter of bestiality, and persuaded to utter the Gospel 
 ** shibboleth," he is trotted out before the community as 
 a living proof that, compared with the better classes of 
 society, drunkards and blackguards are the nearest to the 
 kingdom of God. 
 
Not Far fr 0711 the Kingdom, 277 
 
 I call this a blasphemous burlesque of the Gospel. I 
 say that this sensational evangelicalism is as hateful as it 
 is unscriptural. It is high time that public opinion was 
 brought to bear vehemently upon it. Had this scribe 
 (though in all other respects as we find him) been a gross 
 libertine, I undertake for my Master to assert that He 
 would not have addressed to him the words of my text. 
 So long as a man is going on in sin, he is searing his 
 conscience, and hardening his heart, and building up 
 obstacles against his return to God. Be you very sure 
 of this, "that all the way has to be travelled back, and 
 that downward slopes of iniquity are hard to climb 
 again." Let only the moral and upright man be as 
 free of self-sufficiency as presumably the awakened profli- 
 gate is, he is by so much the nearer to he kingdom of 
 God. 
 
 Ah ! brethren, I am addressing some this evening in 
 whom are united all these four elements of hopefulness, 
 which I have just been describing ; and yet they are not 
 saved ! Thank God you have begun to think seriously on 
 religion ; you do realise the much greater importance of a 
 new heart than all outward form and ritual ; you do sin- 
 cerely desire to act up to the knowledge you possess ; and 
 you have thus far been kept back from open and pre- 
 sumptuous sin : you are " not far from the kingdom ; " but 
 oh ! remember, what of that, if you be not in it ? Your 
 very nearness to it may be your danger. If some are so 
 very far away that their distance makes them almost de- 
 spair of ever reaching it, there are others (and you may be 
 of the number) that are so near that they never question 
 their safety, and so are in careless apathy. Those that are 
 far off may come to be nigh, whilst those that are nigh 
 may be shut out for ever ! The little distance that still 
 separates you from salvation, may prove as fatal as though 
 
278 The City Youth, 
 
 it were 10,000 leagues. A chain is utterly useless, if it be 
 but one link too short. 
 
 Oh, my brother ! I put it solemnly to you to-night. Is 
 there not one link wanting ? Can you face the coming 
 eternity with that chain still incomplete } 
 
 A young man was travelling on the railway at a part 
 where the gradient was exceedingly steep. He felt some- 
 what uneasy, and said to one beside him, "What if the 
 locomotive power should fail, where should we be } " 
 "Oh," said the other, "there is a powerful brake ^on the 
 engine." " But suppose that should fail, where should 
 we be.?" ** There's a brake at the end of the train." 
 " But if that also should give way, where should we land } " 
 "That depends upon the state of your soul." Have your 
 soul right with God, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 and whatever contingencies come, all must be well. Grasp 
 the hand of the Redeemer, and He will pull you up to the 
 eternal shore ! Amen. 
 
THE ANCHOR OF THE SOUL. 
 
An anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast. — HEBREWS vi. I9. 
 
XX. 
 
 THE ANCHOR OF THE SOUL. 
 
 THERE are many things which a sailor holds to be 
 essential when he goes out to sea. For example, he 
 must have sufficient provisions for the voyage ; he must 
 have an ample supply of rope and canvas, and a sound 
 helm, and an accurate compass, and so forth ; but there is 
 no article that is more absolutely indispensable than a 
 
 stout ANCHOR. 
 
 The captain who should go out to sea without this on 
 board would be deemed a madman ; and when, as some- 
 times has happened in a heavy storm, a ship loses her 
 anchor, the loss is incalculable. 
 
 An anchor, as you all know, is a heavy iron instrument 
 that is used to hold a vessel steady in a particular spot ; 
 and though we have no means of ascertaining the name of 
 the man who' invented it, there is not a doubt he has con- 
 ferred an inestimable blessing on the world, and has been 
 the means of saving thousands of human lives ; so that I 
 do not wonder to have often noticed, as a sailor tucked up 
 his sleeve, a little image of an anchor neatly tattooed upon 
 his arm. 
 
 The Apostle Paul was no stranger to the sea. Indeed, 
 he was an old sailor, not from choice but of necessity. As 
 the first Christian missionary, he had great distances to 
 travel; and though the risks and discomforts of a voyage 
 v/ere much greater in those times than they are now, Lc 
 
282 The City YuuiL 
 
 had to accomplish most of his long journeys by sea. I 
 suppose there were few of the leading ports on the 
 Mediterranean which he did not know nearly as well as 
 you and I know our own street. 
 
 Some of us, if we speak of nautical matters, are almost 
 certain to make a blunder. Landsmen as we are, we know 
 very little about the names of the various sails and other 
 parts of the furniture of a ship. The sailors laugh at us 
 when we speak of these things. It was quite different 
 with Paul. He was thoroughly at home on board ship. 
 He knew perfectly what he was talking about when he 
 borrowed a figure from the sea. Many were the tedious 
 voyages he had made, and many the narrow escapes. In 
 that dreadful storm he encountered in the Gulf of Adria, 
 when the vessel went scudding under bare poles, he was 
 the only self-possessed man on board ; and even after 
 captain and crew had given up hope,' and were expecting 
 every moment to go to the bottom, he turned a cheerful 
 look to them, and said, " Keep up your hearts, for not a 
 man of you shall be lost ! " 
 
 It was no light matter to cross the Mediterranean when 
 the fierce euroclydon was blowing. For fourteen terrible 
 days and nights were Paul and his companions tossed up 
 and down on the heaving waves, the groaning ship a mere 
 plaything for the gale, when suddenly amid the din of the 
 storm tlie sailors thought they heard the roar of breakers 
 Ihrougli t'.ie midnight gloom. At once they suspected that 
 some land was near, and dropping the lead, found they 
 were in twenty fathoms of water. Still, on the ship flics 
 before the gale ; lo, now the man on the look-out sees, by 
 a flash of lightning, a long white line of foam. Down 
 with the plumb-line again, depth only fifteen fathoms. 
 The}- are nearing the shore I They may be shattered on 
 the reefs ! Not an instant to be lost. Let Paul himself 
 
The Anc/io)- of the Soul. 283 
 
 describe to you what followed : " Then, fearing lest we 
 should have fallen upon rocks, we cast four anchors out of 
 the stern, and wished for the day." 
 
 The word anchor occurs only in one other passage in 
 the whole Bible, and that is where the same Apostle 
 speaks of " an anchor 0/ ihe souly both sure and steadfast." 
 
 1 want you all to see to it, that as you set forth upon 
 the open sea of another year you possess this spiritual 
 anchor. Dear young friend^;, you need it. You cannot 
 be safe without it. Life is a restless, unquiet sea, full of 
 trouble and danger. You are the ships that sail this sea, 
 and are exposed to its changes and storms. Many of you 
 are now just leaving the peaceful harbour of home with all its 
 tender influences, and are putting forth upon the wide and 
 open main ; and to your limited vision, I daresay, all at 
 present seems fair and prosperous ; but, remember, there 
 are rocks and quicksands to be avoided, and gales to be 
 prepared for, and treacherous currents to be resisted ; and 
 God, who does not wish you to be " tossed to and fro by 
 every wind of doctrine," nor drifted at the mercy of every 
 tide, nor shipwrecked on some hidden reef, has been 
 pleased to provide for you a noble anchor, so that you 
 may be held secure, and be able to ride out the fiercest 
 storm, 
 
 1 remember hearing of an infidel who, when laid upon 
 his last bed of sickness, was urged by his godless com- 
 panions not to show the white feather, but to hold on. 
 What do you think was the answer of the dying man } 
 With a face full of hopeless dismay, he looki d at them, 
 and said, "How can I hold on, when I have nothing to 
 hold by.^" Ah! he felt then the need of a spiritual 
 grapnel, something "sure and steadfast" to which he couhl 
 cling. But it is not only in the hour of death we require 
 it ; we need it all th.-cugh life. 
 
284 The City Youth, 
 
 Let us then have a little talk togethei about this " anchor 
 of the soul." 
 
 What is it 7nade of? You all know what ordinary 
 anchors are made of. In very early times there were no 
 such things known ; but large stones with a rope attached 
 to them were used for the purpose. By-and-by the 
 Greeks began to make them of iron, and their example 
 has been followed by all maritime nations. Remember, 
 anchor-making is a very responsible business ; for if the 
 workmen use bad material, or do their work carelessly, it 
 may prove the loss of a ship and of all the lives on board. 
 Anchors, therefore, are not made of cast iron, but o 
 wrought, tough, compact metal, strongly welded, and able 
 to bear the heaviest strain. Nowadays the famous 
 steam-hammer of Nasmyth or Massey is used in the pre- 
 paration of the metal, and at the Government dockyards 
 huge anchors are turned out whicli no conceivable force 
 will break. If anything in the world needs to be robust 
 and reliable it is an anchor, for on its strength hundreds 
 of precious lives may depend. 
 
 Well, what about our spiritual anchor.? Ah! of how 
 much more importance it is that it be durable, seeing the 
 interests here at stake are everlasting. You cannot afford 
 to run any risks with the soul, for it is more valuable than 
 the whole world. 
 
 As you all know, the most approved form of anchor has 
 two great blades, or "flukes" as the sailors call them, so 
 that whichever way it falls it will grasp the ground. May 
 I say that ours is similarly provided; and the Apostle 
 tells us what they are. He says that " by two immutable 
 things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we have 
 strong consolation ; " and when we study the passage we 
 see that these things are the promise and the oath of God. 
 These things make our anchor " both sure and steadfast." 
 
The Anchor of the SouL 285 
 
 When a man mnl<es a promise we take him at his word ; 
 in ordinary circumstances we do not doubt him. But it 
 is possible for him to forget, it is even possible for him 
 to lie. Not so with God. God can neither be forgetful 
 nor untruthful. Now, He has promised eternal life to all 
 who believe in Jesus, and surrender themselves to Him. 
 But He has done more than this. He has condescended 
 to give us His solemn oath. When men in their dealings 
 with one another require the most absolute certainty, they 
 swear by the name of the Highest, and that oath '* is to 
 them for confirmation an end of all strife." Is it not 
 wonderful that God should stoop so low as to confirm His 
 promise by an oath } 
 
 But observe, when men do this they always swear by 
 one greater than themselves. God has none greater than 
 Himself, so He swears by His own eternal being, saying, 
 ** As surely as I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in 
 the death of the wicked, but rather that he should turn 
 unto Me and live." 
 
 I remember how astonished and touched I was when I 
 first saw this truth. I wept with emotion at the thought 
 of God's love, and His eager desire that I should be 
 saved ; and I "■ fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope 
 set before me." I saw that His promise and His oath 
 were quite sufficient for me to cling to, and that they could 
 never, never fail. 
 
 Oh, my dear friends, it is indeed a ''strong consolation" 
 which the Gospel provides for you ; when you are linked 
 by faith to Jesus your soul is securely tethered. This 
 hope will never make you ashamed. It is a powerful, well- 
 wrought anchor, welded by infinite might upon the anvil 
 of the cross, and able to bear the severest strain. 
 
 Now, having seen what the anchor of the -soul is made 
 
286 The City Youth. 
 
 of, I want you to think of this question — Why do you need 
 it ? Why does a ship need an anchor ? To keep it 
 steady, you say, and save it from being carried away by 
 wind and tide. If the water were always calm, if there were 
 no strong currents nor gales, and if there were no such 
 things as rocks and quicksands, well, perhaps such an 
 article might be dispensed with. 
 
 But such conditions are hardly known in this world ; 
 certainly they are not known in spiritual experience. Oh, 
 how many influences there are around us that put us in 
 danger — temptations sharp and strong ; currents of false 
 teaching and soul-destroying error ; squalls of severe and 
 sudden trial ; and — woe be to us if we are not held fast 
 by the anchor of Christian hope ! 
 
 . Young men ! I tremble to think of the perils to which 
 some of you will be exposed. You are just at the time of 
 life when many forms of temptation are most subtle and 
 strong. Perhaps the year you are now entering may 
 bring you conflicts you had never imagined. Vice in its 
 most bewitching garb may do her best to ensnare you. 
 Wicked companions may try to laugh you out of your 
 religion. You will be like ships out at sea when a strong 
 current is running, or an adverse wind is blowing ; and if 
 you have no anchor you can scarcely escape destruction. 
 But, thank God, you are already furnished and prepared 
 for the danger ; and let it come in the direst form, you 
 will only find your holdfast the more secure. Many is the 
 dear young person I have known, whose Christian hope 
 made him proof against temptations which otherwise he 
 could not have resisted ; nay, the ordeal seemed to make 
 him a more firm and decided Christian than ever. You 
 can all understand that sometimes a stiff gale has only the 
 effect of making the anchor hold more tightly than before. 
 When it is first cast overboard, it may not catch hold or 
 
The Anchor of the Soul, 287 
 
 "bite the ground," as the sailors say; but let the blast 
 come, down goes the fluke till nothing can pull it out, and 
 the more the ship tugs, the faster its hold becomes. 
 
 So I have often seen it to be with young believers, 
 when they were made of the right stuff. In the shop or 
 office where they were apprenticed they had to face an 
 amount of ridicule and banter which it was very hard to 
 endure, but they not only stood the trial, but became more 
 decided and earnest than before, and more vigorous 
 Christians than others who had no such discipline to pass 
 through. 
 
 Then an anchor is of great value in preventijig a ship 
 from drifting. Perhaps the vessel has for some days been 
 making good progress ; wind and tide have been in her 
 favour, and she has been gliding gallantly along ; but 
 presently the wind lulls, and the current runs in the wrong 
 direction. What is the captain to do } Will he allow 
 himself to drift back, and lose all the headway he has 
 already made ? By no means. Down goes the anchor, 
 and he secures that if the ship does not advance, at least 
 it will not recede. 
 
 Young converts will soon find themselves in danger of 
 backsliding. It is marvellous how soon you " forget your 
 first love." The Epistle to the Hebrews is particularly 
 emphatic in its warnings against backsliding ; and if you 
 read from the Revised Version the first verse of the 
 second chapter, you will see that the Apostle pcems to use 
 the very illustration before us. ** Therefore we ought to 
 give the more earnest heed to the things that were heard, 
 lest haply zve drift away from themT It is this drifting you 
 need so carefully to guard against. Wiien you get out 
 into the world, you will find a strong current running dead 
 against you; the influence of irreligious society, and of a 
 spurious charity, will tempt you to abate your zeal, and 
 
2SS The City Youth. 
 
 to give up, one by one, holy practices and vital truths 
 which once were dear to you as life, and you will glide 
 unconsciously back into an easy-going formalism ; and 
 
 \ then, alas ! for your spiritual and eternal interests ! There- 
 fore, as St. John says, " Look to yourselves, that ye lose 
 not those things which ye have wrought, but that ye 
 receive a full reward/' Keep fast hold of your hope in 
 Christ, and you will be able to maintain your ground. 
 Never let go your spiritual anchor, and you will successfully 
 resist the strong currents aruund you. You will feel them 
 
 * no doubt, and a painful struggle you may have ; but you 
 will keep your ground. A ship at anchor may rock heavily, 
 and those on board may find the motion very distressing ; 
 but though they may suffer discomfort, they will not suffer 
 shipwreck. I do not say that the good hope through 
 grace will save you from temptation, and trial, and conflict, 
 but it will keep you safe amid it all. 
 
 Now we come to the last point. Where are you to cast this 
 anchor ? You may be quite sure that God would not have 
 provided for us this anchor of hope, nor intimated to us 
 its great value, if there were not some firm ground to 
 which we could attach it. The strongest anchor that was 
 ever made is of no use to a ship, unless there is some solid 
 basis by which it can grip. On nothing within ourselves 
 must it lay hold ; it must be thrown forth, and hooked 
 to that which is exterior to us. The mariner flings his 
 anchor out of the ship, away from and beyond his sight ; 
 down it goes with a splash by the vessel's side, and takes 
 hold of the floor of the great deep. Where it is to serve 
 any purpose, it disappears from view, it is hidden within 
 the watery veil. Well, it is just so with *' the anchor of 
 the soul." You recollect the words of St. Paul : ** We are 
 saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope ; for 
 what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for } But if we 
 
The Anchor of the SotiL 289 
 
 hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait 
 for it." 
 
 The same Apostle speaks of it ** entering into that 
 within the veil ; " and, perhaps, the expression strikes you 
 as a very curious one. Undoubtedly it is not usual to cast 
 anchors within curtains or veils. But when you think 
 over it the meaning is clear and beautiful. The meaning 
 of the word ''veil" takes us back to the worship of the 
 ancient Jewish sanctuary. You are, all of you, old enough 
 to know that the Hebrew tabernacle consisted of three 
 parts — the outer court, the holy place, and the Holy of 
 Holies. That innermost recess was regarded as the 
 special residence of God, and was typical of heaven. No 
 one dared to enter it but the high-priest, and even he only 
 once a year, namely, on the great Day of Atonement. 
 Well, the most prominent object within it was the Ark, 
 with the mercy-seat upon it, which spoke of a gracious 
 God, and of pardon for the sinner. You remember that 
 the Holy of Holies was divided from the rest of the struc- 
 ture by a beautiful and embroidered curtain which was 
 called *' the veil." Although the pious Jewish worshipper 
 never entered within that curtain, never saw behind it, yet 
 he knew perfectly what was there ; he knew the blessed 
 truth set forth by that mercy-seat, and all his spiritual 
 hope was based upon it. The anchor of his soul entered 
 into that within the veil, and took hold of the blood- 
 besprinkled mercy-seat of God. 
 
 Dear friends, surely I do not need to tell you that the 
 stoutest anchor is of no use unless it find suitable 
 anchorage ground. You do not wish to attach your ship 
 to a mass of floating seaweed, or to loose, shifting 
 shingle ; you want a solid rock, or a firm and compact 
 bottom, into which the flukes may catch without any risk 
 of the moorings giving way. 
 
 19 
 
290 The City Youth. 
 
 Ah ! it won't do to throw out your soul's anchor upon the 
 mere clemency or indulgence of an amiable God ; it won't 
 do to fasten the grapnel of your eternal hope to your own 
 good works or feelings ; such a hold is sure to fail. The 
 anchor must be fixed in the ground God has provided, and 
 nowhere else. It must lay hold on covenant mercy, on 
 nothing less than the finished work of Jesus. 
 
 Let me put it to you : Is Christ your only ground of 
 hope } Discard every other confidence, cling to Him 
 alone. 
 
 But perhaps the words " within the veil " make you 
 think of heaven. You say that, unlike the mariner, you 
 cast your anchor, not below, but above ; yonder, on the 
 other side of the clouds. Your language is, 
 
 *' Steadfast and sure, it cannot fail ; 
 It enters deep within the veil, 
 It fastens on a land unknown. 
 And moors me to the eternal throne." 
 
 And you are right. No one can challenge this sweet 
 truth. St. Paul speaks of " the hope which is laid up for 
 you in heaven." 
 
 Ah ! Perhaps some of you have as yet got no ancho?' ! 
 You are going forth into the future, with its unknown 
 dangers and storms, and are wholly unprepared ! Oh ! it 
 is a sad thing to live *' without God, and without hope in 
 the world." 
 
 Sir Humphrey Davy, a brilliant and successful man of 
 science of last century, with almost everything that the 
 world could give to make a man happy, once wrote to a 
 friend, " There is but one person I envy upon earth, and 
 that is the man who has a clear and fixed religious belief." 
 Alas ! how many all around us, who still lack this. 
 Intelligent and amiable, and with much to make them 
 happy, but still dark within. ** All at sea " in very deed 
 
The Anchor of the Soul. 291 
 
 as regards spiritual things, and with no anchor to cling 
 to! 
 
 What are you going to do in the coming storm ? To- 
 day the air may be calm, and the sky serene ; but the 
 clouds are gathering for such a tempest and riot of 
 elements as earth has never seen ; and woe betide those 
 who in that hour have no Saviour they can call their own ! 
 I thank God, it is not so with all of you. You have fled 
 for refuge to the true source of safety, and have no reason 
 to fear. Oh ! that every one of you could say, — 
 
 " My soul hath found the steadfast ground ; 
 There ever shall my anchor hold ; 
 That ground is in my Saviour Christ, 
 Before the world was, from of old : 
 And that sure ground shall be my stay 
 When heaven and earth have passed away." 
 
 Amen, 
 
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 Seminary-Speer Library 
 
 1 1012 01005 1888 
 
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