Now, A Sermon for Young Men and Young Women

DELIVERED ON THURSDAY EVENING, MARCH 19, 1874,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, The vision that
he sees is for many days to come, and he prophesies of the times that
are far off" Ezekiel 12:27.

ONE would have thought that if the glorious Lord condescended to send
His servants to speak to men of the way of salvation, all mankind would
delight to hear the message. We should naturally conclude that the
people would immediately run together in eager crowds to catch every
word–and would at once be obedient to the heavenly command. But, alas,
it has not been so! Man's opposition to God is too deep, too stubborn
for that. The Prophets of old were compelled to cry, "Who has believed
our report?" and the servants of God in later times found themselves
face to face with a stiff-necked generation who resisted the Holy
Spirit as their fathers did.

Men display great ingenuity in making excuses for rejecting the message
of God's love. They display marvelous skill, not in seeking salvation,
but in fashioning reasons for refusing it. They are dexterous in
avoiding Divine Grace and in securing their own ruin. They hold up,
first, this shield and then the other to ward off the gracious arrows
of the Gospel of Jesus Christ which are only meant to slay the deadly
sins which lurk in their bosoms. The evil argument which is mentioned
in the text has been used from Ezekiel's day right down to the present
moment, and it has served Satan's turn in tens of thousands of cases.
By its means men have delayed themselves into Hell.

The sons of men, when they hear of the great Atonement made upon the
Cross by the Lord Jesus, and are bid to lay hold upon eternal life in
Him, still say concerning the Gospel, "The vision that he sees is for
many days to come, and he prophesies of times that are far off." That
is to say, they pretend that the matters of which we speak are not of
immediate importance, and may safely be postponed. They imagine that
religion is for the weakness of the dying and the infirmity of the
aged, but not for healthy men and women.

They meet our pressing invitation, "All things are now ready, come to
the supper," with the reply, "Religion is meant to prepare us for
eternity, but we are far off from it as yet, and are still in the
heyday of our being. There is plenty of time for those dreary
preparations for death. Your religion smells of the vault and the worm.
Let us be merry while we may. There will be room for more serious
considerations when we have enjoyed life a little, or have become
established in business, or can retire to live upon our savings.
Religion is for the sere and yellow leaf of the year's fall, when life
is fading, but not for the opening hours of spring, when the birds are
pairing and the primroses smiling upon the returning sun. You prophesy
of things that are for many days to come, and of times that are far
off."

Very few young people may have said as much as this, but that is the
secret thought of many. And with this they resist the admonition of the
Holy Spirit, who says, "Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not
your hearts." They put off the day of conversion as if it were a day of
tempest and terror, and not, as it really is, a day most calm, most
bright– the marriage of the soul with Heaven. Let every unconverted
person remember that God knows what his excuse is for turning a deaf
ear to the voice of a dying Savior's love! You may not have spoken it
to yourself so as to put it into words. You might not even dare to do
so, lest your conscience should be too much startled–but God knows it
all.

He sees the hollowness, the folly and the wickedness of your excuses.
He is not deceived by your vain words, but makes short work with your
apologies for delay. Remember the parables of our Lord and note that
when the man of one talent professed to think his Master a hard man, He
took him at his word and out of his own mouth condemned him! And in the
case of the invited guests who pleaded their farms and their
merchandise as excuses, no weight was attached to what they said, but
the sentence went forth, "None of these men that are bidden shall taste
of My supper." God knows

the frivolity of your plea for delay. He knows that you, yourself, are
doubtful about it, and dare not stand to it so as to give it anything
like a solemn consideration.

Very hard do you try to deceive yourself into an easy state of
conscience concerning it, but in your inmost soul you are ashamed of
your own falsehoods. My business at this time is, by the aid of the
Holy Spirit, to deal with your consciences and to convince you even
more thoroughly that delay is unjustifiable, for the Gospel has present
demands upon you, and you must not say, "The vision that he sees is for
many days to come, and he prophesies of the times that are far off."

I. For, first, granted for a moment that the message we bring to you
has most to do with the future state, yet, even then, the day is not
far of–neither is there so great a distance between now and then that
you can afford to wait. Suppose that you are spared for threescore
years and ten! Young man, suppose that God spares you in your sins till
the snows of many winters shall whiten your head? Young woman, suppose
that your now youthful countenance shall still escape the grave until
wrinkles are upon your brow? Still, how short will your life be! You,
perhaps, think 70 years a long period, but those who are 70, in looking
back, will tell you that their age is as an hand's breadth!

I, who am but 40, feel at this time that every year flies more swiftly
than the last! And months and weeks are contracted into twinkling of
the eyes. The older one grows, the shorter one's life appears. I do not
wonder that Jacob said, "Few and evil have the days of the years of my
life been," for he spoke as an extremely old man. Man is short-lived
compared with his surroundings–he comes into the world and goes out of
it–as a meteor flashes through yonder skies which have remained the
same for ages. Listen to the brook which murmurs as it flows and the
meditative ear will hear it warble–

"Men may come and men may go, But I go on forever."

Look at yonder venerable oak, which has, for 500 years, battled with
the winds–what an infant one seems when reclining beneath its shade!
Stand by some giant rock which has confronted the tempests of the ages
and you feel like the insect of an hour! There are persons here tonight
of 70 years of age who look back to the days of their boyhood as if
they were but yesterday! Ask them, and they will tell you that their
life seems to have been little more than a wink of the eye– it has
gone like a dream, or a lightning's flash–

"What is life? 'tis but a vapor, Soon it vanishes away."

Therefore do not say, "These things are for a far-off time." for even
if we could guarantee to you the whole length of human existence, it is
but a span.

And there comes upon the heels of this a reflection never to be
forgotten–that not one man among us can promise himself, with anything
like certainty, that he shall ever see threescore years and ten! We may
survive and by reason of strength we may creep up to fourscore
years–yet not one of us can be sure that he shall do so–the most of
us will assuredly be gone long before that age. No, we cannot promise
that we shall see half that length of time! You young men and women
cannot be certain that you shall reach middle life. Let me check
myself! What am I talking of? You cannot be certain that you will see
this year out and hear the bells ring in a new year! Yes, close upon
you as tomorrow is, boast not yourselves of it, for it may never come.
Or, should it come, you know not what it may bring forth to
you–perhaps a coffin or a shroud.

Yes, and this very night, when you close your eyes and rest your head
upon your pillow, reckon not too surely that you shall ever again look
on that familiar chamber, or go forth from it to the pursuits of life.
It is clear, then, that the things which make for your peace are not
matters for a far-off time. The frailty of life makes them necessities
of this very hour. You are not far from your grave–you are nearer to
it than when this discourse began. Some of you are far nearer than you
think. To some, this rejection comes with remarkable emphasis, for your
occupation has enough of danger about it, every day, to furnish Death
with a hundred roads to convey you to his prison in the sepulcher! Can
you look through a newspaper without meeting with the words, "total,"
or, "sudden death"?

Traveling has many dangers and even to cross the street is perilous.
Men die at home and many, when engaged about their lawful callings, are
met by death. How true is this of those who go down to the sea in
ships, or descend into the heart of the earth in mines! But, indeed, no
occupations are secure from death–a needle can kill as well as a
sword–a scald, a burn, a fall may end our lives quite as readily as a
pestilence or a battle. Does your business lead you to climb a

ladder? It is not a very perilous matter, but have you never heard of
one who missed his footing and fell, never to rise again? You work
amidst the materials of a rising building–have you never heard of
stones that have fallen and have crushed the workers?–

"Dangers stand thick through all the ground

To push us to the tomb,

And fierce diseases wait around

To hurry mortals home."

Notwithstanding all that can be done by sanitary laws, fevers are not
unknown and deadly strokes which fell men to the ground in an instant,
as a butcher slays an ox, are not uncommon. Death has already removed
many of your former companions. You have ridden into the battle of life
like the soldiers in the charge at Balaclava. And, young as you are in
this warfare, you have seen saddles emptied right and left around you.
You survive, but death has grazed you. The arrow of destruction has
gone whizzing by your ear to find another mark! Have you never wondered
why it spared you? Among this congregation there are persons of
delicate constitution. It grieves me to see so many fair daughters of
our land with the mark of consumption upon their cheeks.

Full well I know that lurid flame upon the countenance and that strange
luster of the eyes–signs of exhausting fires feeding upon life and
consuming it too soon! Young men and women, many of you, from the
condition of your bodily frames, can only struggle on till middle
life–and scarcely that–for beyond 30 or 40 you cannot survive. I fear
that some of you have, even in walking to this place, felt a suspicious
weariness which argues exhaustion and decline. How can you say, when we
talk to you about preparing to die, that we are talking about things
that are far off? Dear Souls, do not be so foolish! I implore you, let
these warnings lead you to decision! Far be it from me to cause you
needless alarm, but is it needless? I am sure I love you too well to
distress you without cause–and is there not cause enough?

Come now, I press you most affectionately, answer me and say, does not
your own reason tell you that my anxiety for you is not misplaced?
Ought you not, at once, lay to heart your Redeemer's call and obey your
Savior's appeal? The time is short! Catch the moments as they fly and
hasten to be blessed. Remember also, once again, that even if you knew
that you should escape from accident and fever and sudden death, yet
there is one grand event that we too often forget, which may put an end
to your day of mercy all of a sudden. Have you never heard of that
Jesus Christ of Nazareth who was crucified on Calvary, died on the
Cross, and was laid in the tomb? Do you not know that He rose again the
third day? And that after He had spent a little while with His
disciples, He took them to the top of the Mount of Olives and there,
before their eyes, ascended into Heaven, a cloud hiding Him from their
view?

Have you forgotten the words of the angels, who said, "This same Jesus
who is taken up from you into Heaven shall so come in like manner as
you have seen Him go into Heaven"? Jesus will certainly come a second
time to judge the world! Of that day and of that hour knows no man–no,
not the angels of God! He will come as a thief in the night to an
ungodly world! They shall be eating and drinking, and marrying and
giving in marriage just as they were when Noah entered into the
ark–and they knew not until the Flood came and swept them all away! In
a moment–we cannot tell when! Perhaps it may be before the next words
escape my lips–a sound far louder than any mortal voice will be heard
above the clamors of worldly traffic–yes, and above the roaring of the
sea.

That sound as of a trumpet will proclaim the day of the Son of Man.
"Behold, the Bridegroom comes: go you out to meet Him," will sound
throughout the Church. And to the world there will ring out this
clarion note, "Behold, He comes with clouds, and every eye shall see
Him, and they, also, which crucified Him." Jesus may come tonight! If
He were to do so, would you, then, tell me that I am talking of far-off
things? Did not Jesus say, "Behold, I come quickly!" and has not His
Church been saying, "Even so, come Lord Jesus"? His tarrying may be
long to us, but to God it will be brief. We are to stand hourly
watching and daily waiting for the coming of the Lord from Heaven! Oh,
I pray you do not say that the Lord delays His coming, for that was the
language of the wicked servant who was cut in pieces, and it is the
mark of the mockers of the last days, that they say, "Where is the
promise of His coming?"

Be you not mockers, lest your bands be made strong, but listen to the
undoubted voice of prophecy and of the Word of God, "Behold, I come
quickly." "Be you, also, ready, for in such an hour as you think not
the Son of Man comes." Now, then, it is clear enough that even if the
Gospel message did concern only our life in another world, yet still it
is unwise for men to say, "The vision is for many days to come, and he
prophesies of the times that are far off."

II. But, secondly, I have to remind you that our message really deals
with the present. The blessings of the Gospel have as much to do with
this present life as with existence beyond the tomb. For observe,
first, we are sent to plead with you, young men and women, and tenderly
to remind you that you are, at this hour, acting unjustly and unkindly
towards your God. He made you and you do not serve Him. He has kept you
alive and you are not obedient to Him. He has sent the Word of His
Gospel to you and you have not received it. He has sent His only
begotten Son and you have despised Him. This injustice is a thing of
the present–and the appeal we make to you about it is that in all
reason such conduct should come to an end. Oh, may God's Holy Spirit
help you to end it!

If I feel that I have done any man an injustice, I am eager to set it
right. I would not wait till tomorrow. I wish to make amends with him
at once. Yes, and even when I have forgotten to render assistance to
some needy widow, I chide myself and feel uneasy till I have attended
to the matter. Do you not feel the same? Would you willfully wrong or
neglect another? I feel sure you would not! How is it, then, that you
can be content to be unjust to God? Cruel to the dear Lover of the
souls of men? And antagonistic to the loving pleadings of the Holy
Spirit? That first chapter of Isaiah–you remember it, how striking it
is! Why, if men had hearts that were at all tender it would break them!
Read it–"Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth. I have nourished and
brought up children, and they have rebelled against Me. The ox knows
his owner, and the ass his master's crib; but Israel does not know; My
people do not consider."

It is the wail of God Himself over man's unkindness to his Maker! Young
man of honor, young man of integrity, does nothing speak to your
conscience in this? "Will a man rob God?" You would not rob your
employer! You would not like to be thought unfaithful or dishonest
towards man! And yet your God, your God, your God–is He to be treated
so basely, notwithstanding all His goodness? As Jesus said, "For which
of these works do you stone Me?" So does Jehovah say, "I have made you.
I have kept the breath in your nostrils. I have fed you all your life
and for which of all these good things do you live without Me, and
neglect Me, and perhaps even curse My name? For which of these do you
sin with a high hand against My sacred Law?"

Now, can you think it right to remain in so wantonly unjust a course of
life as this? Can it be right to continue to wrong your God and grieve
His matchless love? Provoke Him no more, I pray you! Let conscience
lead you to feel that you have dealt ill with the Lord. Come to Him for
forgiveness and change of heart! O Spirit of God, make this appeal to
be felt by these beloved young men and women! Again, our message has to
do with the present, for we would affectionately remind you that you
are now at enmity with your best Friend–the Friend to whose love you
owe everything! You have grieved Him and are, without cause, His enemy!
Can you bear this thought? I know a little child who had done something
wrong and her kind father talked to her, and at last, as a punishment,
he said to her in a very sad voice, "I cannot kiss you tonight, for you
have grieved me very much."

That broke her little heart. Though not a stroke had been laid upon
her, she saw sorrow in her dear father's face and she could not endure
it. She pleaded and wept and pleaded again to be forgiven. It was
thought wise to withhold the kiss, and she was sent to bed, for she had
been very wrong. But there was no sleep for those weeping eyes and when
mother went up to that little one's chamber she heard frequent sobs and
sighs, and a sorrowful little voice said, "I was very, very naughty,
but pray forgive me, and ask dear Father to give me a kiss." She loved
her father and she could not bear that he should be grieved.

Child of mercy. Erring child of the great Father of spirits, can you
bear to live forever at enmity with the loving Father? "Would He
forgive me?" you ask. What makes you ask the question? Is it that you
do not know how good He is? Has He not portrayed Himself as meeting His
prodigal son and falling upon his neck and kissing him? Before the
child had reached the Father, the Father had reached the child! The
Father was eager to forgive, and therefore, when the son was yet a
great way off his Father saw him and ran, and had compassion. Say no
longer that we are talking of things of a far-off time! It is not so. I
am speaking of that which, I pray, may be true to you tonight, that you
may not remain enemies to God even another hour, but now may become His
dear repenting children and fly into your tender Father's arms!

I have to remind you, however, of much more than this, namely, that you
are this night in danger. On account of your treatment of God and your
remaining an enemy to Him, He will surely visit you in justice and
punish you for your transgressions. He is a just God and every sin
committed is noted in His book–there it stands recorded for His
Judgment Day. The danger you are in is that you may, this moment, go
down into the Pit–and while sitting in that pew may bow your head in
death and appear before your Maker in an instant–to receive the just
reward of your sins. We

come to tell you that there is immediate pardon for all the sins of
those who will believe in the Lord Jesus Christ–and that if you will
believe in Jesus, your sins, which are many–are all forgiven you!

Don't you know the story (you have heard it many times) that the Lord
Jesus took upon Himself the sins of all who trust Him, and suffered, in
their place, the penalty due to their sins? He was our Substitute, and
as such He died, the Just for the unjust, to bring us to God. He laid
down His life for us, that "whoever believes in Him should not perish,
but have everlasting life." Will you refuse the salvation so dearly
purchased but so freely presented? Will you not accept it here and now?
Can you bear the burden of your sins? Are you content to abide for a
single hour in peril of eternal punishment? Can you bear to be slipping
down into the open jaws of Hell as you now are? Remember, God's
patience will not last forever! You have provoked Him long enough!

All things are weary of you. The very earth on which you stand groans
beneath the indignity of bearing a sinner upon its surface! So long as
you are an enemy to God, the stones of the field are against you and
all creation threatens you. It is a wonder that you do not sink at once
to destruction! For this cause we would have you pardoned now and made
free from Divine wrath now. The peril is immediate! May the Lord grant
that the rescue may be so. Do I hear you ask, "But may pardon be had at
once? Is Jesus Christ a present Savior? We thought that we might,
perhaps, find Him when we came to die, or might obtain a hope of mercy
after living a long life of seeking."

It is not so. Free Grace proclaims immediate salvation from sin and
misery! Whoever looks to Jesus at this very moment shall have his sins
forgiven! At the instant he believes in the Lord Jesus, the sinner
shall cease to be in danger of the fires of Hell. The moment a man
turns his eyes of faith to Jesus Christ he is saved from the wrath to
come. It is present salvation that we preach to you–and the present
comfort of that present salvation, too! Many other reasons tend to make
this weighty matter exceedingly pressing. And among them is this–there
is a disease in your heart, the disease of sin–and it needs immediate
cure.

I do not hear persons say, if they discover an incipient disease in
their systems, that they will wait a while till the evil is more fully
developed, and will then resort to a physician. The most of us have
sense enough to try to check disease at once. Young man, you have a
leprosy upon you! Young woman, you have a dreadful malady within your
heart! Do you not desire to be healed now? Jesus can give you immediate
healing if you believe in Him. Will you hesitate to be made whole? Do
you love your mortal malady? Is hideous sin so dear to you? O that you
would cry to be saved immediately, then Jesus will hear you! His Spirit
will descend upon you and cleanse you. He will give you a new heart and
a right spirit, yes, and make you whole from this time forward and
forever! Can you wish to have so great a blessing postponed? Surely a
sick man can never be cured too soon.

The Gospel which we preach to you will also bring you present
blessings. In addition to present pardon and present justification, it
will give you present regeneration, present adoption, present
sanctification, present access to God, present peace through believing
and present help in time of trouble! And it will make you, even for
this life, doubly happy. It will be wisdom for your way, strength for
your conviction and comfort for your sorrow. If I had to die like a dog
I would still wish to be a Christian. If there were no
hereafter–though the supposition is not to be tolerated–yet let me
live for and with Jesus, my beloved Lord! Balaam chose the righteous
man's death. I choose it, too. But quite as much do I choose the
righteous man's life, for to have the love of God in the heart, to have
peace with God, to be able to look up to Heaven with confidence and
talk to my heavenly Father in childlike trustfulness is a present joy
and comfort worth more than worlds!

Young men and women, in preaching the Gospel to you, we are preaching
that which is good for this life as well as for the life to come. If
you believe in Jesus you will be saved now, on the spot, and you will
now enjoy the unchanging favor of God, so that you will go your way,
from now on, not to live as others do, but as the chosen of God,
beloved with special love, enriched with special blessings, to rejoice
every day till you are taken up to dwell where Jesus is. Present
salvation is the burden of the Lord's message to you and therefore it
is not true, but infamously false, that the vision is for many days to
come, and the prophecy for times that are far off.

Is there not reason in my pleadings? If so, yield to them! Can you
answer these arguments? If not, I pray you cease delaying. Again would
I implore the Holy Spirit to lead you to an immediate decision.

III. My third point is that I shall not deny, but I shall glory,
rather, in admitting that the Gospel has to do with the future. Albeit,
that it is not exclusively a Revelation for far-off times, yet it is
filled with glorious hopes and bright

prospects concerning things to come. The Gospel of Jesus Christ has to
do with the whole of a young person life. If you receive Jesus Christ
you will not merely have Him tonight, but that faith by which you
receive Him will operate upon your whole existence throughout time and
eternity.

Dear young Friends, if you are saved while yet you are young, you will
find religion to be a great preventive of sin. What a blessing it is
not to have been daubed with the slime of Sodom–never to have had our
bones broken by actual vice! Many who have been saved from a life of
crime will, nevertheless, be spiritual cripples for life! To be
snatched out of the vortex of vice is cause for great gratitude, but to
have been kept out of it is better! It is doubly well, if the Grace of
God comes upon us while we are still untainted by the pollution of the
world, and have not gone into excess of riot. Before dissolute habits
have undermined the constitution and self-indulgence has degraded the
mind–it is, above all things, well to have the heart renewed!
Prevention is better than cure, and Grace gives both.

Thank God that you are still young–pray earnestly that you may now
receive Divine Grace to cleanse your way by taking heed, according to
His Word. Grace will also act as a preservative as well as a
preventive. The good thing which God will put in you will keep you. I
bless God I have not to preach a temporary salvation to you at this
time. That which charmed me about the Gospel when I was a lad was its
power to preserve from sinning. I saw some of my school companions who
had been highly commended for their character. They were a little older
than myself and became sad offenders when they left home. I used to
hear sad stories of their evil actions when they had gone to London to
be apprenticed, or to take positions in large establishments.

And I reasoned, thus, with myself–"When I leave my father's house I
shall be tempted, too, and I have the same heart that they have.
Indeed, I have not been even as good as they have been. The
probabilities are, therefore, that I shall plunge into sin as they have
done." I felt horrified with that. I could not bear that I should cause
my mother to shed tears over a dissolute son, or break my father's
heart with debauchery. The thought could not be endured and when I
heard that whoever believed in the Lord Jesus Christ should be saved, I
understood that he would be saved from sinning, and I laid hold upon
Jesus to preserve me from sin–and He has done it! I committed my
character to Christ and He has preserved me to this day. And I believe
He will not let me go. I recommend to you, young men and women, a
character-insurance in the form of believing in Jesus Christ!

Dear young woman, may that modest cheek of yours never need to blush
for shameful deeds. May your delicate purity of feeling never be lost
through gross defiling sin–but remember, it may be so unless the Lord
keeps you. I commend to you the blessed preserving power of faith in
Christ Jesus which will secure for you the Holy Spirit to dwell in you
and abide in you, and sanctify you all your days. I know I speak to
some who shudder at the thought of vice. Trained as you have been by
Christian parents and under the holiest influences, you would rather
die than act as some who disgrace their father's name. I know you
would. But you must not trust your own hearts. You may yet become as
bad as others or worse than they unless your natures are renewed–and
only Jesus Christ can do that–by the power of the Holy Spirit. Whoever
believes in Him has passed from death unto life. He shall not live in
sin, but he shall be preserved in holiness even to the end.

My dear young Friends, if God shall be pleased to change your hearts
tonight, as I pray He may, you will be prepared for the future. You
have not fully entered into the battle of life. You have your way to
make, your professions and trades to choose. You, young women, are
still under the parental wing. You have domestic relationships to form.
Now, consider how well prepared you will be for life's work and service
if you give your hearts to Jesus. Young man, you will be the right man
to enter a large establishment–with the Grace of God in your heart you
will be a blessing there. Though surrounded by her snares in this
wicked city, the strange woman will hunt in vain for your precious
life. And other vices will be unable to pollute you.

Young woman, you will have wisdom to choose for your life's companion
no mere fop and fool, but one who loves the Lord as you will do–with
whom you may hope to spend happy and holy days! You will have placed
within yourself resources of joy and pleasure which will never fail.
There will be a well of Living Water within you which will supply you
with joy and comfort and consolation–even amid trial and distress. You
will be prepared for whatever is to come. A young Christian is fit to
be made an emperor or a servant, if God shall call him to either post.
If you want the best materials for a model prince, or a model peasant,
you shall find it in the child of God! Only, mark you, the man who is a

child of God is less likely to sink into utter destitution because he
will be saved from the vices of extravagance and idleness which are the
frequent causes of poverty.

And, probably, on the other hand, he is less likely to become a prince,
for seldom has God lifted His own children to places so perilous. You
will be ready, young man, for any future, if your heart is right with
God. And know when I think of you, and of what the Lord may make of
you, I feel an intense respect, as well as love, for you. I hope none
of us will be lacking in respect to old age–it is honorable and it is
to be esteemed and reverenced–but I feel frequently inclined to do
homage to our youth. When a celebrated tutor entered his schoolroom, he
always took off his hat to his boys, because, he said, he did not know
which of them might yet turn out to be a poet, a bishop, a lord
chancellor, or a prime minister!

When I look at young men and women, I feel much the same, for I do not
know what they are to be. I may be addressing, tonight, a Livingstone,
or a Moffat! I may be speaking, tonight, to a John Howard, or a
Wilberforce! I may be addressing a Mrs. Judson, or an Elizabeth Fry! I
may be speaking to some whom God will kindle into great lights to bless
the sons of men for many a day, and afterwards to shine as the stars
forever and ever. But you cannot shine if you are not lighted. You
cannot bless God and bless the sons of men unless God first blesses
you. Unregenerate, you are useless! Born again, you will be born for
usefulness. But while you are unconverted your usefulness is being
lost. I will not insinuate that I expect everyone here to become
famous. It is not even desirable. But I do know this–that everyone
whose heart shall be given to Jesus will be so useful and so necessary
to the Church and to the world, that this world without them would lack
a benefactor–and Heaven's company would be incomplete unless they
joined its ranks.

Oh, the value of a redeemed soul! The importance of a young life! I
wish I could multiply myself into a thousand bodies that I might come
round and take the hand of every young person here, as he or she shall
leave the Tabernacle, and say, "By the preciousness of your life, by
the hallowed uses to which you may be put, by the good that you may do
and by the glory you may bring to God, do not think of pardon and Grace
as things of the future, but now, even NOW, lay hold of them, and they
will become to you the great power by which you shall benefit your
generation and go down to the grave with honor."

When I grow gray, if God shall spare me–may I see around me some of
you with whom I speak today–who shall be some 20 years younger than
myself, of whom I shall say, "My former deacons and elders are either
very old or have gone home to Heaven. The dear men of God who were with
me when I was 40 years of age have passed away. But those whom I
preached to on that night in March, 1874, have come to fill their
places! Those dear Sisters who used to conduct the classes, teach the
school and manage the various societies for the poor, have gone and we
have followed them to their graves and wept over them. But here come
their daughters to fill their places."

I pray that names honored in our Churches may never die out from our
midst. May the fathers live, again, in their children! It may not be my
honor to be succeeded in this pulpit by one of my own sons, greatly as
I would rejoice if it might be so, but at least I hope they will be
here in this Church to serve their father's God and to be regarded with
affection by you for the sake of him who spent his life in your midst.
I pray that all my honored Brothers may have sons and daughters in the
Church–yes, from generation to generation may there be those in our
assemblies of whom it shall be said–"These are of the old stock–they
keep up the old name."

Brothers and Sisters of my own age, we shall soon die. God grant us to
die at our posts! The standard-bearer will fall and in his last embrace
he will press the standard to his heart, for it is dearer than life to
him. But courage, my Brethren, our sons will urge on the sacred war and
carry on the good old cause to victory. What do you say, dear Ones? Do
not your hearts say, "Amen"? Young men, will you not take up the
bloodstained banner when we shall go our ways? Sons and daughters of
the faithful, will you desert your fathers' God? Oh, will it be that He
whom we love shall be despised by you? Will you turn your back on the
Christ who was All in All to us? No. It cannot be! Be of good cheer,
Abraham– Isaac shall succeed you! Jacob shall rise up to serve your
God! Jacob shall live to see his son Joseph, and even to bless Ephraim
and Manasseh–and so from generation to generation shall the Lord be
praised!

Thus far concerning this life. But now let me remind you, dear young
Friends, that if your hearts are given to Christ you need not tremble
about the end of life. You may look forward to it with hope. It will
come. Thank God, it will come! Have you never wished that you could
ride to Heaven in a chariot of fire, like Elijah? I did, once, till I
reflected that if a chariot of fire should come for me I should be more
afraid to get into it than to lie down and die upon my bed! And of the
two, one might prefer to die, for to die in the Lord is to be made like
our glorious Head! I see no joy in the hope of

escaping death. Jesus died, and so let me die! On His dear face the
seal of death was set, so let it be on mine, that I may talk of
resurrection as they cannot who shall be changed at His coming.

You need not be afraid to depart and be with Christ, which is far
better. Young people, whether you die in youth or old age, if you are
resting in Jesus you shall sit upon the banks of Jordan singing. As our
friends sang last night–

"Never mind the river."

The parting song will be sweet, but oh, the Glory! Oh, the Glory! I
will not try to paint it. Who can? The judgment will come, but you will
not tremble at it! On the right hand shall you stand, for who can
condemn those for whom Christ has died? The conflagration of the globe
will come. The elements shall melt with fervent heat, but you will not
tremble, for you shall be caught up together with the Lord in the
air–and so shall you be forever with the Lord! Hell shall swallow up
the unjust–they shall go down alive into the pit–but you shall not
tremble for that, for you are redeemed by the precious blood!

The millennial Glory, whatever that may be, and the reign with Christ,
and the triumph over death and Hell. And the giving up of the kingdom
to God, even the Father, when God shall be All in All, and eternity
with all its infinite Glory–these shall be all yours! If you had to go
through Hell to reach this Glory, it would be worth the cost! But you
have not to do any such thing! You have only to believe in Jesus and
even faith is the Lord's own gracious gift. "Look unto Me and be you
saved, all you ends of the earth." This is the Gospel. Look! Look!
Look! 'Tis but a look. Look, bleary-eyed Soul, you who can scarcely see
for ignorance! Look! You whose eyes are swimming in tears! Look! You
who see Hell before you! Look! You who are sinking into the jaws of
Perdition!

Look you ends of the earth, that are farthest gone in sin, if such are
here! You who are plunged deep in iniquity– look! 'Tis Jesus on the
Cross you are bid to look at–yes, Jesus at the right hand of God–the
crucified Son of Man exalted at the right hand of the Father! Look unto
Him, and be you saved, for He is God, and besides Him there is none
else. God grant you to look to Jesus, even now, for His name's sake.
Amen.

PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–Luke 18:1-23. HYMNS FROM "OUR
OWN HYMN BOOK"–95 (VER. II), 497, 492.
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