The use of freedom.
"Being let go, they went to their own company." We have here an apt illustration of—
I. AN ACT INCIDENTAL TO LIBERTY. "Being let go"—the hand of restraint being taken off them—"they went to their own company;" they followed the bent of their own inclination, and went to those with whom they were in sympathy. This is the constant accompaniment of human freedom. As soon as the parental hand is relaxed, as soon as the teacher's eye is off them, as soon as the restraints of home and the guardianship of elders are removed, the young take their own course, follow their own bent, choose their own company. We never know what men really are until we take away the bonds by which we hold them in check, and they go "whithersoever they will"—whither their own principles allow, and their own tastes direct them.
II. THE WISDOM OF THOSE WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR OTHERS. It is of little use to hold the reins so tight that, as long as they are held by a firm hand, there can be no wandering. What is to be the event when the reins must be thrown up? What will be the course chosen when they whom we guard are "let go"? If we do nothing mere and better than carefully imprison within walls of correct behavior, we shall be bitterly disappointed with the result. It is our wisdom and our duty to provide for the hour when those for whom we are responsible will be "let go," and when they will assuredly go to their own company—will seek out those persons and those things with which they sympathize. We can only do this
These, and these only, will lead the young, in the days when they act for themselves, to shun that which is wrong and to pursue that which is holy, wise, useful.
III. THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF FREEDOM. Young people!
1. You will soon stand at the point where you will decide on your own course.
2. If, then, you are right at heart, you will walk in the path of life; choosing the company of the good, the ways of wisdom.
3. If, then, your heart is not right with God, you will be tempted to follow an evil bent. It will be a most perilous hour with you.