The
Christian Father's Present to His Children
by John Angell James
THE PREVAILING OBSTACLES WHICH PREVENT
YOUNG PEOPLE FROM ENTERING ON A PIOUS LIFE
"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and
broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But
small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few
find it." Matthew 7:13-14
Our Lord has most explicitly taught us, my dear children,
that the entrance to the path of life is attended with difficulty--and is
not to be accomplished without effort. Into that road, we are not borne by
the pressure of the thronging multitude, nor the force of natural
inclination. No broad and flowery avenue attracts the eye; no siren songs of
worldly pleasure allure the ear.
"Strive to enter in at the narrow gate--for many will
seek to enter in, and shall not be able." This implies that there are
obstructions to be removed, and difficulties to be surmounted.
The fundamental and universal obstruction with which
everyone has to contend, and which can be removed only by the power of the
Holy Spirit—is the darkness and depravity brought upon human nature by the
fall; and the indulged sensuality, prejudice and enmity of the carnal mind.
But this prevailing depravity manifests itself in various specific forms,
according to the different circumstances, constitutions, ages, and tempers
of its subjects. It is an inward and universal evil, exhibiting its
opposition to true religion in an immense variety of ways.
1. Self-conceit is not
uncommonly to be met with in the character of the young, and is very much
opposed to the spirit of true piety. This is a sort of epidemic disease,
which finds a peculiar susceptibility in people of your age to receive it.
Young in years and experience, they are very apt, nevertheless, to form high
notions of themselves, and to imagine that they are competent judges of all
truth and conduct. They decide—where wiser minds deliberate. They
speak—where experience is silent. They rush forward with impetuosity—where
their sires scarcely creep. They think themselves quite as competent to
determine and to act—as those who have witnessed the events of threescore
years and ten.
This disposition shows itself oftentimes in reference to
business; and the bankrupt list has, a thousand times, revealed the
consequences. But it is seen in more important matters than business. In the
gaiety of their spirits, and in the mirth of youthful energy, they see no
great need of true religion to make them happy; or if some religion be
necessary, they do not think it requires all that solicitude and caution
with which older Christians attend to its concerns. They think they are not
so much in danger as some would represent. They shall not take up the
humbling, self-abasing, penitential piety of their fathers—but adopt a more
rational religion. They have their reason to guide them, and their strength
to do all that is necessary—and therefore, cannot see the need of so much
fear, caution, and dependence.
My children, be humble—or else pride and self conceit
will be your ruin! Think of your age and inexperience. How often already
have you been misled, by the ardor of youth, in cases where you were most
confident that you were right. When the Athenian orator was asked, what is
the first grace in oratory? he replied, Pronunciation; the second?
Pronunciation; the third? still he replied, Pronunciation. So, if I am asked
what is this first grace in true religion? I reply, Humility; the second?
Humility; the third? still Humility! And self-conceit is the first, and the
second, and the third obstruction!
2. Love of worldly pleasure
is a great impediment to true piety. It has been most wickedly said, "Youth
is the time for pleasure—manhood is the time for business—old
age is the time for religion." It is painful to observe, that if the
two latter parts of human life are neglected, the first is not. Young people
too often answer the description given by the apostle, "Lovers of pleasure
more than lovers of God." In youth, there are many temptations to this
wicked propensity; the senses are vigorous, the spirits lively, the
imagination ardent, the passions warm, and the concerns of life but few and
feeble. Hence many give themselves up to the impulses of their corrupt
nature, and are held in alienation from a life of piety—by a love of
pleasure. Some are carried away by a vain and frivolous love of dress and
show; others by a delight in mirth and parties; others by games, balls, and
theatrical performances; others by the sports of the field; others by
intemperance and debauchery.
It is admitted that all these gratifications are not
equally degrading in themselves, nor equally destructive of reputation and
health—but if indulged as the chief good, they may all prevent the mind from
attending to the concerns of true religion. A predominant love of worldly
pleasure, of any kind—is destructive in every point of view. It unfits you
for the pursuits and the toils of business, and thus is the enemy of your
temporal interests; it often leads on from gratifications which, in the
opinion of the world, are decent and moral, to those which are wicked and
immoral; it is incompatible with the duties and comforts of domestic life;
it hinders the improvement of the understanding, and keeps the mind barren
and empty; it prevents you from becoming the benefactors of our species—but
its greatest mischief is, that it totally indisposes the mind for true
religion, and thus extends its mischief to eternity! in short, if cherished
and persisted in, it ruins and damns the soul forever!
My children, beware of this most dangerous propensity for
worldly pleasure! Consider where it leads—check it to the uttermost—and ask
grace from God to acquire a better taste. "What a hideous case is this—to be
so debased in the temper of your minds, as to lose all the laudable
appetites and advantages of an intellectual nature; and to be sunk into the
deformity of a devil, and into the baseness of a brute! To be so drenched in
deadly delights—and in sensual, fading, and hollow pleasures—as to forego
all real and eternal satisfactions for them—and to entail insupportable and
endless miseries upon yourselves by them!" Yes, if you live for worldly
pleasure, and neglect true religion, you are giving up an exceeding great
and eternal weight of glory, for light and frivolous gratifications, which
are but for a moment! You are, for the sake of a few years' empty mirth,
entailing everlasting ages of unmitigated torments!
Besides, though worldly pleasure temporarily gratifies—it
does not really satisfy! When the honey is all sucked—it leaves a sting
behind! And then, what are the pleasures of the world, compared with those
of true piety—but the shadow to the substance; the stagnant pool to the
fresh and running fountain; the smoking candle to the midday sun? Shall
worldly pleasure cheat you of eternal salvation?
3. Prejudice against the ways of true religion as gloomy ,
keeps many from yielding to its claims. Many young people seem to compare
true religion to a dark underground cavern, in descending to which, you
leave all that is joyous in life; which is impervious to the light of
heaven, and inaccessible to the melodies of creation; where nothing meets
the eye but tears, nor the ear but sighs; where the inhabitants, arrayed in
sackcloth, converse only in groans; where, in short, a smile is an offense
against the superstition which reigns there, and a note of delight would be
avenged by the dreadful master of the place, with an expulsion of the
individual who had dared to be cheerful!
Is this true religion? No, my children, I will give you
another figurative view of it. "Wisdom has built her spacious house with
seven pillars. She has prepared a great banquet, mixed the wines, and set
the table. She has sent her servants to invite everyone to come. She calls
out from the heights overlooking the city. 'Come home with me,' she urges
the simple. To those without good judgment, she says, 'Come, eat my food,
and drink the wine I have mixed. Leave your foolish ways behind, and begin
to live; learn how to be wise.'" Proverbs 9:1-6.
This is a metaphorical description of true religion under
the name of wisdom, and the figure of a feast. It is declared in Scripture,
and all the saints in the universe will confirm the truth of the assertion,
that "Wisdom's ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace."
4. A thoughtless, heedless temper
is with many, an obstruction to piety. There is frequently, in people of
your age and circumstances, a peculiar thoughtlessness of mind—a lack of
calm consideration and steady reflection. They do not deliberate and ponder.
Their minds seem as light as thistle-down, and as volatile as the butterfly.
They are always walking, talking, smiling—but rarely thinking. The
meditative mood, the contemplative attitude, is never theirs. If you want to
find them, never look for them at home—but watch for them abroad. Their
extreme thoughtlessness prevents them from giving due heed to the concerns
of true religion. Though they are immortal creatures, lost sinners invited
to salvation, destined to eternity, and hastening to heaven or hell—they
have scarcely ever had a serious thought upon the subject—even these
momentous topics are treated with the utmost lightness of mind.
If the eye of any one of this class should range over
these pages, let me beseech him to look at his picture, and ask himself if
he can admire it. O! my young friend, cannot the high themes of eternity
make you serious? Placed as you are, on this earth, between the torments of
the damned and the felicities of the redeemed—with the preparations for
judgment going on, and the scenes of eternity opening before you—will you
laugh out your little share of existence, and flutter through life,
until, like a bird dropping into a volcano, you fall into the bottomless
pit! Let these things soberize your thoughts, and bring you to the subject
of true religion, with something like an appropriate seriousness of mind.
5. Evil companions have
often proved an obstruction to young people in the ways of piety. Young
people are generally inclined to company, and too often it proves a snare to
them. Many a hopeful youth, that seemed at one time setting out in the ways
of piety, has been arrested in his career by some unsuitable associate, with
whom he has joined himself in the bonds of friendship; and thus he who
seemed beginning in the spirit, has ended in the flesh—leaving his pious
friends to exclaim, in the tone of grief and disappointment—"You did run
well; who hindered you?" How difficult is it, when a young person is first
brought under the influence of genuine piety, to break from his former
mirthful companions! And yet, if he would persevere in his new course, it
must be done! In such cases the bonds of association must be broken. You
must give up your friends—or your salvation; and can you hesitate?
6. The misconduct of professing Christians ,
especially if they be our parents, proves to many young people a stone of
stumbling at the entrance of the path of godliness.
They have seen the 'open immorality' or the 'secret
hypocrisy' of those who profess to be partakers of true piety, and, under
the influence of disgust and disappointment, are ready to conclude that all
are alike—and that there is no reality in religion, no truth in Scripture. I
know that these things must often prove an obstruction in their way, and
have produced, in some instances, an unconquerable antipathy to the ways of
godliness. Yet is it rational to have our minds thus prejudiced against
Christianity by the apostasies of those who were only its 'pretended
disciples'? But can that system be divine, you exclaim, among whose
followers there are so many hypocrites? Can that system, I reply, be
otherwise than divine, which has outlived them all, and triumphs alike over
the apostasies of its superficial friends, and the opposition of its real
foes?
Considering the numberless instances of this kind which
have occurred, even from the beginning, I am persuaded that had not
Christianity been supported by Omnipotence, nothing more than its name, as
an ancient delusion—would have reached the nineteenth century. Nothing but
that which is sustained by a principle of divine life—could have outlived so
much internal decay—and so much external violence!
Besides, does not the 'perpetual effort to counterfeit',
prove its real excellence? For who counterfeits that which is worthless?
Look at the bright as well as at the dark side. Against the deserters and
renegades—there thronging millions, who have endured temptation, and
continued faithful unto death. Call up the noble army of martyrs, whom
neither dungeons nor fetters, scaffolds nor stakes could intimidate—who held
fast their principles, amid unheard-of tortures—and did not allow the 'king
of terrors' to pluck from their grasp, the doctrines of their faith.
Judge of true religion, as it demands to be tried, by its
own evidences, and not by the conduct of its 'professors'. Look at it in its
own light, and there you will derive a conviction of its truth and
importance, which would make you cling to it in a crisis—even though all
should forsake it. Is Christianity an imposture, because some of its
professors are false? As rationally may you conclude that there is no real
orb of day, because, by an optical illusion, mock suns are sometimes seen in
the atmosphere.
Remember, your neglect of true religion will not
be excused, on the ground of the misconduct of professing Christians. Your
obligations are in no degree dependent on the manner in which others
discharge theirs.
7. A spirit of procrastination
has considerable influence in preventing the young from
attending to the claims of true religion. This has been the ruin of
multitudes now in hell! How many among the lost souls in prison are now
regretting the cheat which was practiced upon their judgment—when they were
persuaded to put off the affairs of eternity until another time! Perhaps
there is not one in perdition but intended to be truly pious—at some
future period!
It is recorded of Archius, a Grecian magistrate, that a
conspiracy was formed against his life. A friend, who knew the plot,
dispatched a courier with the news, who, on being admitted to the presence
of the magistrate, delivered to him the letter, with this message—"My lord,
the person who writes you this letter begs you to read it immediately—it
contains serious matters!" Archius, who was then at a feast, replied,
smiling—"Serious affairs tomorrow," put the letter aside, and continued to
revel. On that night the plot was executed, the magistrate slain—and Archius,
on the morrow when he intended to read the letter, was a mutilated
corpse—leaving to the world a fearful example of the effects of
procrastination. My children, when God and the preacher say 'today', give
your attention to true religion! Do not reply 'tomorrow'—for, alas! tomorrow
you may be in—ETERNITY!
Young people are very apt to presume on long life—but on
what ground? Have they an assurance? No, not for an hour. Is it a rare thing
for young people to die? Go into any churchyard in the kingdom, and learn
the opposite from the dates on the tombstones. Have you any security in the
vigor of your constitution, from the melancholy change produced by decay and
death? "So have I seen a rose, newly springing up—at first it was as fair as
the morning, and full with the dew of heaven—but when a strong wind had
forced open its virgin modesty, and dismantled its too youthful and unripe
home, it began to decline become sickly. It bowed the head, and broke its
stalk; and at night, having lost some of its leaves, and all its beauty, it
fell into the fate of weeds." (Jeremy Taylor, "Holy Dying")
But, besides, admitting that you should live, is not your
inclination likely, if possible, to be less and less towards true
religion? Your acts of sin will be confirmed into settled habits.
Your heart will become harder and harder—for it is the nature of depravity
to increase. If you wished to extinguish a fire, would you wait until it was
a conflagration? If you wished to cure a cold, would you wait until it was a
raging fever?
What if God should withdraw His Spirit, and give you up
to total insensibility! For, consider His grace is necessary to salvation.
True religion is the work of God in the soul of man. Despised and rejected
today—is He not likely to abandon you tomorrow? and then what a situation
are you in! Like a barren rock, insensible both to the beams of the sun and
the showers of heaven!
You may presume on the protraction of life—but this
presumption is your curse and not your blessing. You would tremble with
indescribable horror at the thought of going this hour to the flame which is
never to be quenched! You would account it the climax of eternal ruin. But I
can tell you something worse than even this. What! worse than going
immediately to the bottomless pit! Yes! To live longer abandoned by God,
given up to the deceitfulness of sin and hardness of heart—left to fill up
still more to the brim the measure of iniquity—this, this is worse than
instant damnation! Horrible as it seems, yet it is true, that many now in
torment, wish they had been there earlier—and that they had not been
permitted to live and commit those sins which are the sources of their
bitterest sufferings!
These are among the most prevailing obstacles which often
prevent young people from entering on a life of piety. Happy are they who,
by the grace of God, are enabled to surmount them, and press through these
impediments into the kingdom of God!
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