A pastor's counsels to young Christians...

Chapter I. Introductory Remarks, 5

II. The Foundation of Christian Hope, . . 8

III. Dangers op Young Christians, ... 19

IV. Decision op Character, 35

V. Social Intercourse, 48

TI. Formation op Habits, 64

TIL Amusements, 80

Till. Intellectual Improvement, .... 97

IX. Study op the Bible, 112

X. Self-Knowledge, 127

XI. Christian Progress, 140

XII. The Christian in Prosperity, . . . 156

XIII. The Christian in Adversity, . . .173

XIV. Christian Manliness, 189

XV. The Vineyard and Laborers, . . . 205

XVI. The Christian at the Close of Life, . 220

XVII. The Christian in Heaven, .... 231

XVIII. The Happiness of Heaven, .... 249

A PASTOE'S COUNSELS TO YOUNG CHRISTIANS.

CHAPTER I.

Introductory Remarks .

THERE is no spectacle on which a truly benevolent mind looks with more sincere pleasure, than on a company of young persons coming out from the world, renouncing its follies and vanities for the love they bear the Saviour, and making a public profession of their faith. But still, every such spectacle, interesting as it is, awakens feelings, not only of heartfelt joy, but also of deep solicitude. The thought cannot fail to be suggested, How will these professed converts hold out? Are they all real disciples, and born of the Spirit? If they are true Christians, what kind of Christians will they prove ? "Will they be ornaments to the Church, and strengthen it, and carry to a higher elevation the standard of piety ? Or will they hang as dead weights upon it ; disappoint the hopes of their brethren ; prove recreant to duty ; backslide, and thus bring a reproach upon the cause of Christ? These are most important questions, and it is impossible to answer them in advance. Time only can determine. It is well to look at the bright side. No advantage is to be derived from foreboding evil. On the contrary, it is our privilege, and it is our duty, to take as favorable a prospective view as circumstances will permit, and cherish the delightful hope that the entire number of those denominated M Young Converts," are destined to become both ornaments and pillars in the Church of the living God.

The religious character of a young disciple is, in a great measure, unformed, although he may have been born again. Whether he will make a warm-hearted, active, whole-souled, consistent Christian, — staying up the hands of his pastor, aiding his brethren, and ready to every good work, — or whether he will be a cold, indolent, wavering, double-minded, niggardly professor, — a grief to his pastor and other Christian friends, remains to be decided. Very much depends upon the manner in which he commences the Christian life, and the views he takes of its duties and responsibilities. If he supposes that now, because he has a hope of being saved at last, and has joined himself to the number of God's people, he has nothing to do but to float quietly and at ease down the stream of human life, he is very much mistaken. Whoever commences his Christian course, must at the very outset, have before him a

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 7

high standard of attainment in holy living, or he will probably have, in after life, little more than a " name to live," and will never accomplish anything: for the Master worth namino-.

It is with an affectionate regard for both the temporal and spiritual interests of the young, just entering their Master's service, that the following pages have been prepared ; containing counsels which it is hoped may help them shape their course in life, shun the dangers which they are certain to encounter, assist them in forming characters of usefulness and piety, prepare them for both the joys and sorrows incident to this mortal state, and animate and cheer them by presenting the blessedness awaiting them in heaven.

In the pages of this book, the writer begs leave to address his young friends with great familiarity, as if he were holding conversation with them by the fireside.

CHAPTER II. The Foundation of Christian Hope

Give diligence to make your calling and election sure. — 2 Pet. 1 : 10.

IN giving counsel to young professors, the first thing I would say to you, my dear friends, is, consider icell the groundivork of your piety , — the foundation on which you have built your hopes of heaven. I know of nothing more important for you, and everybody else, than this. It will be of little use to instruct you in respect to your duties, relations, dangers, and responsibilities in the various phases of Christian life, unless you are entitled to the name of " Christians."

There would be an absurdity in taking much pains to point out to a captain of a vessel bound for Liverpool, the dangers, the rocks, the shoals, the currents, to be guarded against in a voyage to the Sandwich Islands. It would be useless to talk to a man about the incidents he would meet with on his way from Springfield to New York, when he was going to Boston. So, as you are addressed on subjects appropriate to those who are going to Mount Zion, the first question for you to settle is, are you on the road thither?

There is no question which a person can ask of greater moment than, "Am I a Christian?" You will not put by this question as unnecessary because it has once or twice been before your mind, and you have come to a decision in regard to it with~some degree of satisfaction. There will never be a time until you get to heaven, if you shall be so happy as to reach there, when this question will not be an appropriate one for you to consider and carefully examine.

The evidence on this subject is not fixed and permanent. We may have what we call very good evidence to-day, and but little to-morrow ; or we may, unexpectedly to ourselves, find evidence which bears very hard on the other side, and which may nearly or quite balance the evidence in our favor, so that our minds may still be held in doubt.

In this great and important matter, I would lead your minds to a thorough and careful discrimination.

In the first place, let us give a few moments' attention to several particulars which sometimes, but not always, attend true Christian experience, but which do not of themselves constitute evidence of piety.

1. A sudden waking up of the mind to the subject of religion, does not determine that a person is a Christian. There are many persons who, during their whole lives, have given hardly a moment's serious thought in a personal, practical way, to eternal things. They attend church, are interested in able and well-composed sermons on evangelical themes ; but religion as a personal, experimental matter, has engaged none^ of their attention. In a time of revival, or general religious interest, this class of persons are often suddenly aroused from their apathy, and are led to think and talk much on religious topics ; and not unfrequently they apply the subject to themselves with a considerable degree of anxiety and interest. But this is no evidence of piety. The mind may be for a time awakened, and then relapse again into the same state of stupidity and sloth ; just as a person can be awakened from a natural sleep for a few moments, and then fall to sleep again just as before.

2. Emotion is not conclusive evidence of piety. By emotion is meant an involuntary excited state of mind, occasioned by some object or subject brought before it. Sometimes the emotion is pleasant, sometimes painful. The objects that awaken our emotions are much diversified. They may pertain solely to this world ; they may pertain to eternity. There is nothing more adapted to excite emotion than religious truth. There is much difference, however, in different individuals in this respect. The minds of some persons, by the contemplation of the word of God, and the fearful realities of the world to come, are wrought up to a high degree of feeling : others are excited but a very little. The minds of the two classes are different constitutionally : you might as well try to make their countenances look alike, as to make them feel alike. But involuntary feeling, or emotion, is not religion. Because a person has a great deal of it. it does not follow that he is a Christian, neither because he has but little, does it follow that he is not a Christian. Emotion is good in its place : it subserves a useful purpose by leading to a right course of voluntary mental action, and then it is the action which is virtuous, not the emotion. Very frequently emotion is not followed by virtuous action, and then it may be asked, what is it good for?

Take an illustration : Two persons walk together into a military hospital, crowded with the suffering and the dying. The spectacle produces in one, intense painful excitement, and he cannot bear the sight of. what is around him. and he proposes to his companion to retire. "Xo." says the other, whose feelings and nervous sensibilities are but little excited, "let us look about, perhaps we may find an opportunity to do some good here." At this moment a person is brought in with a limb shattered by a cannon-ball, and which must be amputated ; and the surgeon wishes one of these men to assist. One of them replies, "It pains me so much to see suffering that I cannot do it," and he makes for the door. The other individual instantly and cheerfully steps forward to hold the mangled limb, or catch the blood, or help tie the arteries, and in all ways to contribute as much as possible for the relief of the poor sufferer. Now which of these is the benevolent individual, — the one whose feelings were so much excited that he left the room, or he that remained calm and lent his assistance ? This illustration is designed to show that mere emotion, i. e., excited feeling, is no proof that a person is good or bad ; but it is voluntary exercise of the will that determines the character.

Now a person's feelings may be very much excited on the subject of religion ; his emotions may be extremely vivid and strong, and yet he may not be a Christian ; and, on the other hand, one may be almost destitute of emotion, and yet his will, or his heart, may be right in the sight of God. The question is not so much how does a man passively feel, as what is it his sincere, fixed, permanent purpose to do ?

3. JVo sudden transition from a state of great distress and fear, to one of joy and hope, constitutes evidence of piety. Such a change, it is true, does often accompany a real change of heart ; but not always. Some of the best Christians I ever knew, could never tell the moment, nor the hour, no, nor the day when light first began to dawn in the soul, any more than we can tell the precise moment when day begins to break in the east. While many sincere Christians have experienced no such sudden, conscious change from darkness to light, and from fear to joyful hope, there have been multitudes who have had this experience in a high degree, whose subsequent lives and deportment gave decisive evidence that it was all a delusion, and that they had no more religion than they had before.

There is reason to fear that many regard this as their chief evidence that they have passed from death unto life ; viz., that at such a time, and place, they felt a great change in their feelings, — the burden was removed from their minds, and they felt happy; whereas, taken by itself, that is no evidence at ail, for it is an experience very common both to true Christians and self-deceivers.

4. It is no evidence of piety that a striking passage of Scripture is accidentally or providentially brought before the mind, I have heard of persons indulging hope on as slight ground as this, — they opened their Bibles at random, and their eye first lighted on a passage like this : r Thy sins are forgiven thee ;" or f 'Be of good comfort ; rise, he calleth thee ; " and this was regarded as a special providence bidding them hope. Now to build a hope of eternal life on a foundation like this, is like attempting to lay the corner-stone of a house in mid air. One has just as much to support it as the other. Similar in character to this, is the practice of some of relying for evidence of their acceptance with God on dreams, and visions, and fancied supernatural voices. The piety of all such, if this is all the evidence they have, will be as evanescent as their dreams. Nor

5. Does the good opinion which others may have formed of us, constitute evidence of our piety. There is no doubt but the Apostles had a good opinion of Judas until he betrayed his Master, and of Ananias and Sapphira until they lied to the Holy Ghost, and attempted to deceive God. And so they had of Simon Magus, until he proposed to purchase with money the power of communicating the Holy Spirit by the imposition of hands. It is comparatively an easy matter to deport ourselves so as to make a good impression on the minds of those who judge only by the external appearance. Others may think well of us, and express very strongly their confidence in our piety ; but there must be other grounds for us to believe that we are Christians than that others think we are.

Again, it is no evidence that we are Christians that we have had vivid and soul-inspiring conceptions of the happiness of heaven. The descriptions we read in our Bibles of the glories of heaven, and the ideas we may obtain from the language of others on the subject, mav so work upon our imaginations, as almost to transport us to that world in fancy, and we seem, as it were, already to see the golden streets of the New Jerusalem, and hear the songs of the redeemed, and behold the crowns which we ourselves shall wear. Xow these conceptions of the heavenly state, so far as the material imagery is concerned, may be nothing but poetry, and probably are nothing but poetry in our minds, if the presence of God and holiness do not constitute in our estimation the chief ingredients of the glory and blessedness of that world where we hope to dwell. Nor, finally, is it any sure evidence that we are Christians, that ice have at times manifested considerable zeal in religion. Zeal is a good thing, and very desirable. I wish there was much more of it than there is. But there is a zeal in religion which is "not according to knowledge." and there is sometimes a zeal, not objectionable in itself, which is not based on evangelical experience. It has been by no means uncommon for the most zealous reformers — revivalists, and even revival preachers who in fiery zeal would distance all their brethren — to apostatize, and thus evince that their zeal was not for God's glory, but for themselves, or for the denomination with which they were identified.

I have thus specified at considerable length, a number of things which very often accompany true piety, and some of them nearly always, but which are distinct from piety itself, and are no certain criteria of it, and should not be relied on, as they sometimes are, as evidence that it exists. We will now consider,

Secondly, in what genuine piety does consist. And I will endeavor to give a definition of it at once comprehensive and brief. True piety consists in a supreme love of God, implying a fixed, intelligent, voluntary, permanent choice of God as the supreme good or portion of the soul, and a choice of his service as the great end and object of life, and all for Ms glory. This is only a paraphrase of the language of our Saviour, in which he answers the same question : " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength ; that is the first commandment."

We have here, in a few words, the sum and substance of all true holiness, whether it be on earth, or in heaven, — a free, determined, permanent love and choice of God and his service. The great question, then, for each one of us to ask is, "Have I, under the enlightening and regenerating influences of the Holy Spirit, made this choice ; ami living under the influence of this great purpose?" If you can settle this point, my friends, you can answer the question whether you are Christians or not. To assist you in this matter, I will mention a few things which are involved in this purpose, and inseparable from it.

1. A renunciation of the world as your chief good. If you have chosen God as your portion, you must have given up the world. " Ye cannot serve God and Marumon."

2. Repentance ; implying a sorrow for sin, and a forsaking of it.

3. Faith in Christ ; a belief in his human and divine nature — in his power and willingness to save by his atoning blood, and a humble reliance upon it for pardon.

4. A Christian life — a life of obedience — a life of prayer — a life of duty, — in short, a life of unreserved consecration to God, desiring to spend and be spent in his service. This is all implied in this great purpose which underlies everything pertaining to religion, and which constitutes the essence of true piety.

This work of analyzing and scrutinizing your hopes should be continued as long as life lasts, and be oft repeated.

You should have stated and regular seasons for self-examination as well as for prayer, at which the question should come up, not merely "What kind of a Christian am I?" but, "Am I a Christian at all ? " And you should not dispose of the matter in a brief, summary way, by asking a few questions. There is too much at stake here — salvation or misery, heaven or hell, will be the issue. And that you may arrive at a correct result, you must earnestly seek the aids of the Holy Spirit, for without his assistance it will be of no avail. Your deceitful heart, in concert with the adversary, will be likely to overpower your weak judgment, and cause you to think that you are something when you are nothing, unless God help you.

Let me then urge you, my friends, — especially those of you who have recently, as you hope, espoused the cause of Christ, — to diligently and faithfully " examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith ; prove your own selves ; and give diligence to make your calling and election sure."

DAXGEKS OF YOUXG CHRISTIANS. 19

CHAPTER III. Dangers of Youxg Christians

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, vralketh about, seeking whom he may devour. — 1 Pet. 5: 8.

THE life of a .Christian has often been compared to a journey, or pilgrimage through an enemy's country, where the traveler will be continually opposed, harassed, perplexed, and tempted, as he passes along. The comparison is a very apt one. Those who have tried the Christian life have found it so. This world is a revolted province of God's kingdom, and although it is not always to be thus, it is now, and has been since the apostasy, to a very great extent, in subjection to the "j^rince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience ;" — in other words, the devil. Through what he claims (though wrongfully) as his domains, the Christian must pass on his way to Mount Zion. As might be expected of such an enemy, he will dispute every inch of ground in the pilgrim's pathway ; — will throw obstacles in his course ; — and will tempt him to turn aside from the straight and narrow road.

Sometimes the adversary will flatter, and sometimes threaten him, and will use a thousand methods, no matter what, provided they answer his purpose, to hinder the Christian on his journey. Probably the adversary is never more busy than when he is tempting young converts. He dislikes to lose them from his ranks ; but if they will persist in their determination to forsake him, and go to heaven, he will use every artifice to render them as inefficient and useless Christians as possible.

There is ground, therefore, for comparing the Christian life to a journey through an enemy's country, beset on every side with difficulties and dangers. Perhaps, however, we sometimes lay too much at the door of Satan and his allies. We all have a principle of evil within ourselves, — evil hearts of sin and unbelief, — and we are often tempted, as the Apostle James says, when we are "drawn away of our own lusts, and enticed." Certain it is, that there is something in our hearts, but partially sanctified, to appeal to ; and unless we keep a strict watch over ourselves, we shall be sure to fall in with the designs of the adversary, and yield to his suggestions. How much of our danger, and how many of our temptations, proceed from the devil, and how many come from ourselves and other sources, it is impossible for us to say. It is of but little consequence to us from what

DANGERS OF FOtJNG CHRISTIANS. 21

source they corne. since they actually exist, and we have got to encounter them.

I shall now proceed to point out some of the most prominent of these dangers, for the benefit of all those who are just setting out on their pilgrimage to heaven.

Having had considerable experience in the world. and many opportunities of observation. I hope, my voune friends, that I mav be able to give you such instructions and warnings of the dangers and temptations which will be almost certain to assail you. as may enable you to guard against and resist them. It is an old but correct saying. " to be forewarned is to be forearmed."

1. The first danger which I shall mention — and it is one of the first to which a young Christian is exposed — is a feeling of security; i. e.. — an impression that there is no danger. When a person fully makes up his mind to serve God. and actually forms the great purpose to do so. and consecrates himself to him and his service, he generally feels strong ; he has committed himself. He enters upon his Christian life, and he finds it pleasant. The love of God is shed abroad in his soul, and it is sweet. He enjoys himself better than he ever did before. Go to him. and ask what he would sell his religion for. and go back to the

service of sin. and become an enemv of God.

and he would answer. "Xot for ten thousand worlds ; " " Nothing shall ever separate me from the love of Christ." In the case of a real convert these feelings are sincere ; nothing can be more so. They are all very well. It is pleasant and very desirable to see them. Indeed, without them, there could be but little if any evidence of piety. Now the danger is, that the convert, in the ardor of his love, and in the pleasure he takes in looking away from earth to heaven, will feel that the battle is fought, the enemy vanquished, and the victory won. If it is suggested to him, " Perhaps by and by you may forsake Christ, yield to temptation, and again, partially at least, become a willing captive to Satan," he exclaims with Hazael, "Is thy servant a dog, that he should do this thing?" It seems so unreasonable, and so sinful to depart from Christ, and serve the god of this world, that he thinks it impossible that he should ever do it. Now this is the very point of danger against which I wish to put you on your guard, — an overweening self-confidence that you are proof against temptation, and the assaults of the adversary. How confident Peter felt that he should not deny his Lord ! That confidence was, no doubt, the suggestion of Satan, and it was the occasion of his fall. Peter was forewarned too. Christ told him that Satan had laid a plot to catch him, and that he would be successful. Peter didn't believe it, and strongly asserted that he would be the last man in the world to deny his Master. And yet the poor man did it.

Let me tell you, my dear friends, that one of the most common, and one of the most successful temptations of the adversary is, to persuade young converts that they are in no danger of being overcome ; and .when he has once made and confirmed that impression, he has more than half gained his purpose.

2. A second danger to which the young convert will most assuredly be exposed is, temptation to an indolent, slothful spirit in regard to religious duties. Sometimes, when the Christian retires to pray, read his Bible, and meditate, a lethargic spirit will steal over him. Perhaps he has been making considerable bodily exertion, and is fatigued. His mind is somewhat inactive, his spirits flag, and he is tempted to hurry over his devotions, if not to omit them altogether. Bodily ease, or sloth, pleads, "It is only for once, and the lack of interest and engagedness to-day may be made up to-morrow by a little extra time or extra engagedness. " Beware how you yield to these pleadings of sloth. Depend upon it, this temptation is a bucket of water thrown by Satan to quench the flamo of your piety. If you yield to it once, you will give him a decided advantage over you, and you will be almost certain to yield again; and every time you yield, you will grow worse and worse, until in a little while, this slothful spirit will become habitual. Your closet will become a cold, uninteresting place, and you will be tempted to neglect it altogether. Let this spirit of indolence get the ascendency in the closet, and it will be certain to rule everywhere. It will lead you to read your Bible in a listless, careless manner, until by and by you will read it but seldom. It will keep you at home from the prayer-meeting, and from the house of God, if you happen to be a little tired ; and the duty of meditation and self-examination will be laid aside entirely. I repeat the caution, my friends : beware of an indolent, slothful spirit. Very often, and I may say generally, it is a stepping-stone to spiritual declension. If Peter had watched and prayed with Christ in the garden, instead of going to sleep, it is not probable he would have denied him. So, my young friends, if you will resist this indolent, stupid spirit, rouse up your sluggish minds, chide your cold hearts and say, " Get thee behind me, Satan," you will immediately find the flame of your love, which was flickering, and almost expiring in its socket, lighting up again into a bright and cheerful glow, and God will smile upon and bless you.

3. A third danger to which the young Christian is exposed is icorldly-mindedness. The world is full of temptations. One of them is pleasure.

There are pleasures both innocent and desirable : there are others which are evil and only evil. In tempting the young Christian, the adversary would

not be likely to select those which are gross and groveling in their nature, but those which are innocent in themselves, becoming wrong only by excess, or by being enjoyed at improper times and places. You will be in much danger, my friends, from temptations to gratify the pleasures of taste. God has created us with susceptibilities to a high degree of enjoyment by beholding what is beautiful. And He has made a great many, and a great variety of beautiful things for us to look upon. Now the danger is, that in gratifying this principle of taste, you will be led, imperceptibly, to the exercise of the sinful passions of pride and vanity. The same taste which admires gay flowers, admires also gay clothing and costly ornaments : and here is where you may very easily, by excess, be betrayed into sin.

The pleasures of sense constitute another wordly temptation of which you are in danger. These pleasures are all proper in their place, and when laid under suitable restraint : but nothing is more easy than to pass the boundary of innocence. The appetites may be enjoyed with moderation, if confined within the limits which God has prescribed for them. Taking: advantage of this appointment of Providence, the devil will tempt c you to intemperance in the use of what is lawful, or to gratify your appetites in an unlawful way.

Avarice is another worldly temptation of which you are in danger. The accumulation of property by honest industry and frugality, with a proper end in view, is not forbidden — it is lawful; but "the love of money is the root of all evil." Avarice and covetousness God has ranked among the most hateful, soul-destroying sins. A temptation to get rich, it is probable, is one of the strongest and most insinuating of any that will ever assail you. Commencing life with a laudable desire to earn an honest livelihood and to gain a moderate competence, unless you are on the watch, you will find yourselves, before you are aware of it, " making haste to be rich." Gold will become your idol, and you will be found worshipping at the shrine of Mammon. Worldliness in this form is one of the strongest, and one of the most common temptations that ever assails the Christian. Deluded by the belief that he is only providing things necessary for himself and his own household, before he suspects the real state of the case, the Christian is often making everything subservient to one object ; and that is, to gather up riches. He is lured from the pilgrim's path, and turns aside to visit the silver mine kept by Demas, from which there is but little hope of his return. He becomes so much engaged and absorbed with his w muck-rake," that he loses sight of the glorious crown which is shining over his head, and which might be his. Our Lord is very full and explicit in his instructions on the subject of worldliness : " The cares of this world, and the cleceitfulness of riches, choke the word and it becometh unfruitful."