PASSING by a theater this week in the neighborhood of New Cross, we saw a row of chiefly young people waiting in the pouring rain to gain admittance to a day performance. We felt an inward grief, especially when we considered, that if it had been the house of God about to be open instead of a playhouse, much less rain than was then falling would have kept persons at home. But in this pleasure-seeking age, folly and diversion will be had at well-nigh any risk or cost.
Young friend, into whose hand this little messenger may fall, take heed of the first step into a course of sinful pleasure. We address this chapter to you, who perhaps may be one frequently overlooked in the house of God, and your presence there practically ignored.
Then let me direct you to one who has something to say unto you worthy of your attention. He who speaks was a man famed for wisdom, which God bestowed upon him in answer to his prayer. Hear what he says under the inspiration of the God of heaven, who gave you natural life, and to whom you are indebted for every blessing you enjoy.
“Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth”; for He is above your parents, your companions, your master, or your mistress, and claims your first thought and service. He says “I love them that love Me; and those that seek Me early shall find Me.”
Robert Traill, who preached A.D. 1696, says in his sermon on “the throne of grace”: “O that young people would try and use this throne of grace betimes! They would find Christ very gracious to them. He would discover His beauty, and give them of His love, that would cool their thirst after sinful pleasures. They might grow rich and strong in grace before they grow old; or if they died young they should be transplanted to a better soil, and be nearer the Sun of Righteousness than they can be in this world.
Turn ye to the Scripture of truth, and listen to its counsel: “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to Thy word.” Paul commended young Timothy because from a child he had known the holy scriptures, “which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”
Good Josiah in the eighth year of his reign, when he was yet young (16), began to seek after the God of David his father; ten years later, having purged the land from idolatry, he repaired the house of the Lord, and during the repairs a book was found which had been set aside by some of the former kings or priests who had done evil in God’s sight. This book contained some solemn curses against those who disobey the law of God, the reading of which made Josiah tremble, and rend his clothes as an expression of his grief. Thereupon he sends the book to the prophetess, with this message, “Go and inquire of the Lord for me, and for them that are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found: for great is the wrath of the Lord that is poured out upon us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord, to do after all that is written in this book.” After the delivery of the message, the words were solemnly confirmed to be true by the prophetess, with a “thus saith the Lord.” But she sent this comforting message to the young king: “Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humblest thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes, and didst weep before me: I have even heard thee also, saith the Lord. Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace; neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place, and upon the inhabitants of the same.”
Young friend, has your heart ever trembled at God’s word? Have you ever feared the terrible consequences of sin and unbelief against God? Have you considered Sour latter end? Do you know that you were born in sin, and under the curse of God’s broken law? We ask you these questions because the fear of the Lord in its buddings is commonly attended with such thoughts of heart, or alarm and uneasiness of mind, and indicates life in the soul, which we would have you cherish and not trifle with.
But has this gospel tract fallen into the hands of one who says, “I can do nothing” and has some head knowledge that grace is sovereign, and not purchased by seeking? Young friend, did you ever try to do anything? Because, if you have never tried, how do you know? Allow me then to ask, Who has taught you what we premise, the Lord, or man? If you have learned it from man only, it may be working a spirit of fatalism, and settling you on a bed of sloth. “The slothful hideth his hand in his bosom, it grieveth him to bring it again to his mouth.” Your helpless, needy, dependent state as a sinner, is a greater cause why you should seek the Lord. It is graceless souls that need grace, it is helpless creatures that require help; it is dependent children that require support. If the Lord teaches you, your eyes will be in a measure opened to see what you were blind to once; your ears will be made to hearken; and your heart will be no longer silent, for there will be the desire, the cry, the look, the anxiety to possess a something from the Lord which to your apprehension you are at present destitute of.
Solomon gives some reasons why a youth should remember NOW his Creator (and to seek Him is to remember Him). Because the “evil days” will corner and “the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them.” If your life is spared, the keepers of the house will one day tremble; and those that look out of windows (the eyes) be darkened; fears will be in the way, and desire shall fail, “because man goeth to his long home.” Therefore remember Now thy Creator, and if betimes you truly seek the Lord, and turn your back upon the vain pleasures of this world, and your willing feet carry you to the house of God, and the salvation of your soul be your chief concern; should you live many years to become hoary, it will be a crown. of glory to you, being found in the way of righteousness.
Solomon saith of those who get wisdom (the fear of the Lord, and His gift), “She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace, a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee.”
Read the first chapter of Proverbs from the loth verse to the end. Observe the invitations, the warnings, the cautions, the encouragements; they are far better expressed than any words of ours, and are the call of God to you into whose hands this little book may fall, should you have an ear to hear.
“Remember thy Creator,
In life’s young morning, Now:
Ere sorrow’s hand impresses
Its furrows on thy brow;
While life’s bright sun is smiling,
And care is distant yet,
Heed not the songs that tempt thee
Thy Maker to forget.”
New Cross, Dec. 8th. S. Br