The day, long looked for by Harold, came at last, when he was to leave his country home and go to the city, to fill a position there. Brought up by godly parents, and surrounded by every Christian influence from his earliest days, well taught in the Scriptures and familiar with the gospel, a sharp, clever boy, and a professed believer in the Lord Jesus. But he had never been tried. He knew nothing of the world, and little of his own heart. The godly restraints of a Christian home had kept him from the path of the wicked, and hedged him up on every side. Now he was going out into the wide, wild world, where his profession of being Christ’s would be tested to the utmost. Poor Harold, little did he know as he bade “Good-bye” to his fond parents on the platform, and waved his hand from the train window as he steamed out of the station, what awaited him in the great city.
He imagined it would be so grand to see life there; to be at liberty as a young man ought, and to have his choice of companions and society. The thought of going into sinful society never crossed his mind, he had no knowledge of what that meant, but, alas! the taste is easily acquired.
Harold went to his new situation full of hope. He was determined to rise in the world, and to use every power which God had given him to make his mark in business. He found his mates kind and social. Some of them invited him to their rooms to wile away the evenings. What he saw there is unknown, but in a few weeks’ time Harold had learned to gamble, and went to various kinds of amusements. On he went in the down ward path, along which so many of our dear young people are led to ruin for time and eternity.
His profession of being a Christian soon dropped. Alas! it was no more than a profession, for, as he afterward acknowledged, he “had never been saved.” As long as there was nothing to test, but everything to support him, he stood outwardly, at least, as a Christian—and there are many who are precisely like him—but when the props were removed, Harold soon found out his profession had no root and no foundation. After a year of city life, if life it can be called, Harold returned to his country home, a wreck in health and character. Nothing of a criminal nature, but ruined by bad company, late hours, and the excitement of worldly associates.
Poor fellow, there he lay, the world all behind him now, companions gone, and possibly an early grave awaiting him! He had heard before, how empty and unsatisfactory the world was; but now he knew it, and his weary, burdened heart longed for true rest and true repose. The gospel of the love of God in the gift of His Son, the Lord Jesus, and had at one time been so familiar to him, came to him now with fresh meaning. He was weary now, and it spoke of rest: thirsty, and it told of refreshment.
The gospel was the same as of old, but the difference was that he knew his need of it now.
He had learned in realty that he was a sinner, and as such, weary, heavy laden, longing for rest, he came to Jesus, and Jesus saved him.
In the Lord’s mercy he was raised up again, and enabled to testify to those who had known him in his unconverted days as a false professor, not to trust in a “name to live,” and to those who had shared the follies of his city life, he preached and testified of the Lord Jesus Christ who alone can save and satisfy.
Dear young friends, many have had to learn, through bitter experience that the world can never give anything which can give rest or satisfy. The apostles knew what it was when they said, “Love not the world.” “Be not conformed to this world.” “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.”
If our dear readers will only be obedient to these scriptures, from how much sorrow they may be preserved.