Ah! what is to hold them back from evil!

(David Magie, "Advice to Youth" 1855)

Young people, you are in danger! In danger
from inward corruption and outward temptation!
In danger from your own native bias to evil, and
from the traps which are set for your feet!

It is proper for me to raise the voice of alarm.

It is enough to make one's heart bleed to see
multitudes of ardent, aspiring youth cast upon
the world, with its ten thousand allurements and
snares! Ah! what is to hold them back from evil!
How are they to be kept from the paths of the
destroyer? If God does not interpose, it would
seem as if they must inevitably perish!