Chapter 20.
ON A START IN LIFE.
To YOUNG MEN.
Our readers are necessarily divided, with regard to this subject, into two classes-those who have started in life, and those about to start. It is for the benefit of the latter that we especially write. There is no doubt that the most critical moment for a young believer is when he is called upon to make a start for himself, to begin the voyage across the great ocean of life, with apparently no hand on the tiller but his own; we say, apparently, for reasons that will be seen further on.
The Start
To start is a very real thing, but may take place actually in a variety of ways. To young men, for whom we now write, it occurs when the well-thumbed lesson books are finally laid aside, and the new clerk takes his seat for the first time on the high stool, or the sailor-boy steps on board his first ship, or the apprentice gets his first instruction in his future trade, or the undergraduate first dons the cap and gown. That which makes the act so serious, is not the mere fact that the steps which were only yesterday directed to the well-known school, are now turned to the office, the ship, the workshop, or the college, but that the boy has all at once sprung into the man. It is true that at times he seeks to blossom into the "genus homo," even at school, but this is distinctly premature, and all such attempts are justly checked. But when once a boy enters a profession, a trade, or any other calling, and begins to fight the battle of life, he justly expects to be considered and regarded, at least, a young man.
The Dangers
Herein lies the chief danger for the young Christian. Up to this time he has taken all that his parents have told him for granted.
He has steadily attended the well-known church, chapel, meeting, or Sunday school, where he first learned the value of the blood of Christ; and, shielded in a comfortable home from temptation, he has caught, hitherto, but stray glimpses of the sea of wickedness without. But now comes the time when his principles are to be tested. He is sent away to a strange town, he lives in lodgings, he is thrown amongst a set of godless, careless, and often immoral young men; he is surrounded on every side with new and strange temptations. O, how many dear bright young believers have made shipwreck of their faith on these fatal rocks which are met with on first sailing out of the harbor of home! It is not too much to say that one week at a time like this, largely determines a young man's fate for years.
How to Meet Them
If being forewarned and therefore forearmed, he leaves his home a bright, happy Christian, prepared to stand for God, and test, in a fiercer fight, the strength already gained in many a little skirmish at school; if he firmly believes in the truth that if the devil is resisted, he will flee from him, and shows his colors at the first opportunity at his work and in his leisure hours; if on the first night in his lodgings he opens his Bible, and, after reading God's Word, prays to his Father in heaven, the victory is as good as won. In the first place, he is at once saved from a thousand temptations by showing his colors, for the really vicious at once shrink away from an openly declared Christian, and will seldom long trouble a man who at once stands up for Christ; in the second place, the stand he has taken, to a certain extent commits him for the future, and makes his life comparatively easy after the first week; and, thirdly, he having honored God, God will honor, protect and strengthen him.
We Have a Father to Guide Us
But now there is another matter, and it is this. We spoke of the young man starting on the voyage of life, his hand apparently holding the tiller, and guiding the ship. Now many a young man, and even a young believer, thinks that this is not only apparently, but is really so, and that he is the architect of his own fortunes, and that it is his will that is to direct his future life. Many accept Christ as their Savior who have but a very faint idea of what it is to accept God as their Father, and yet the one relationship is as true as the other; and if the one makes them happy for eternity, the other is certainly the secret of true happiness for time. There is a wonderful difference between the young man who goes forth rejoicing in his own strength and sagacity, and thinks that he can outwit the world; and the humble Christian, who leaves home placing the tiller of the little vessel of his life into his Father's hand, and trusts Him to guide him aright through the dangers and difficulties of each day. "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not to thine own understanding." Do not think that any detail of your new life is too small for God to guide you in. The choice of your business, of your future home, of your companions, should all be entrusted to Him; and He will greatly own and honor such confidence, and lead you in the very best path. For it is folly to suppose that if we have a loving and all-wise Father, He would or could do anything else. The poet's words are indeed true:
“All that God does, or suffers to be done,
That we ourselves should do,
Could we the future of our lives as clearly scan,
As He does now.”
The Bible Our Chart
Start, then, in life with a definite trust that "God will guide"; and though you apparently are steering the ship, get all your orders from above, so that, after all it is His hand, not yours, that is really holding the tiller. One other word and we have done. A ship requires a chart and compass as well as a rudder. Now the Christian's chart is the Word of God, which shows him his course plainly down here, telling him that his first object should ever be, under all circumstances, the glory of God; that he is left here for this very purpose, not to please himself, but Christ.
The compass is the conscience, instructed by the Word of God, that tells me in an instant when I am out of the true course.
Make a Good Start
We would, in closing, again entreat every young man just about to sail out of the harbor, to make a good start. If he wavers at first, or yields a little for the sake of peace, he will not get it; but on the contrary, he may be drawn on, little by little, from bad to worse, until no outward sign of Christianity is left at all. A bold front at first, saves a great deal of trouble and fighting, afterward. Be sure, however, that the trust is not your own strength, but that every step is taken with prayer and dependence on God. As for the future, leave that with your heavenly Father, seeking only to live each day more truly to His glory than you did the day before. Such a course is worth a hundred sermons, for who can tell the mighty power of the unconscious influence exercised by a consistent Christian life?