The peril and the wisdom of youth: a sermon to the young
Hew many human lives are nothing better than failures! How many souls are there that "make shipwreck of faith and a good conscience"! Over how many of the children of men do the wise and the holy mourn, as those who might have done well and wrought good, but who have turned aside to folly, guilt, and ruin! As a rule, these have gone astray in their younger days. Temptation assailed them when they were comparatively unarmed, attacked them when least prepared to resist, and they were overcome. Our text suggests—
I. THE PECULIAR PERIL OF YOUTH. Youth is endangered by three things.
1. The invitations of the unholy. "Sinners entice it." Companionship is dear to the young. and is very powerful over it. Its heart is open, trustful, responsive. It rejoices with a keen delight in the confidences of friendship. And when one whose advances have been received, and who has been welcomed as a congenial companion, says, "Come," it is hard for friendship to refuse; this more especially when the solicitation comes from him who has a strong will or an amiable and fascinating disposition. The heart of youth is very powerfully drawn, sometimes to good, but too often to evil, by the charm of early friendship.
2. The subtlety of sin (Proverbs 1:17). Sin makes a very fair promise, but its word is false, its coin is counterfeit.
3. The appeal to powerful instincts. The love of daring exploits has led many a young man to consent when sinners have said, "Come, let us attack the victim, that we may seize the prey" (Proverbs 1:11, Proverbs 1:12). Guilty violence shapes itself as manly daring. And the instinct of acquisition, the desire to obtain and to possess (Proverbs 1:13, Proverbs 1:19), often leads astray. Greediness of gain begins in a desire to be rich, an ambition to have abundance.
II. THE EARNEST SOLICITUDE OF THE WISE. There is an air of earnestness, a tone of deep solemnity, about these words of the wise man. "My son, if sinners entice thee," etc. (Proverbs 1:10); "My son, walk not thou in the way," etc. (Proverbs 1:15). Here is the urgency of a tender solicitude; here are the pleadings of profound affection. And why? Because the wise man (the father, minister, teacher) knows;
1. That sin means ruin to others (Proverbs 1:16). The path of evil is marked with blood: it is the track which is trodden by death itself; it is red with the blood of souls.
2. That sin is the supreme mistake. It is really laying wait for itself, to compass its own miserable end (Proverbs 1:18); it is robbing itself of all the excellency of life in order to secure its gains (Proverbs 1:19). Men too often "lose their life for the sake of the means of living." They expend on the means all those resources of their manhood which should be devoted to life itself. Sin is suicidal; the young who are yielding themselves to a life of ungodliness and guilt may well be the object of the most fervent anxiety, of the most tender, tearful pity of the wise.
III. THE WAY OF VICTORY. And there is no other way than that of decisive refusal at once. As soon as the alluring voice says, "Come," let the resolute reply be heard, "I will not." Let the lips of holy resentment open at once to say, "Depart from me, ye evil doers; I will keep the commandments of my God" (Psalms 119:115). To hesitate is to risk everything. Speak a strong, unwavering refusal on the spot.—C.