Lectures to Young People

[airIam2worship]

The sentence was, "Depart, you cursed, into  everlasting fire." And is it so, that this prison is built for eternity—that these flames are kindled for eternity—that these bolts, and bars, and chains, bespeak an eternal residence in these vaults of despair? Will not some messenger come hither from yonder blissful regions, though it be ten thousand millions of ages hence—to tell you that this long night of suffering will yet be succeeded by a morning of peace and joy? No, sinner! There are no such tidings in store for you! You were sentenced there for a period as unlimited as the duration of God; and your sentence is irreversible!

I inquire now of the conscience of every youth present, who is devoted to sinful pleasure, whether these meditations upon the judgment, do not throw an aspect of terror over the course which he is pursuing; and whether he dare persist any longer in a course which must so certainly lead to such a dreadful result? If this life of vanity and pleasure had no connection with eternity—or if it were itself to be eternal, however pitiful a portion you might find in it—we might consent, with less reluctance, to leave you to your wretched choice. But connected as it is with a course of illimitable and unutterable suffering—do not wonder that we call upon you with pressing importunity to abandon it!

Do you ask whether you must abandon all the amusements of the world? I answer—Abandon all upon which you dare not ask the blessing of God—all which crowd out of your thoughts the realities of eternity—all which you are unwilling to think of in connection with the prospect of dying—all for which you would dread that God should bring you into judgment. Do you ask, again, what those amusements are in which you may safely indulge, while you are yet unreconciled to God? I reply—by asking what amusement you would choose if you were just ready to be enveloped in the flames of a burning house; or if you were under sentence of death, and had but one hour more, before you should ascend the scaffold? Do you spurn at the suggestion of trifling in circumstances like these? Then say not that we are superstitious when we tell you that you have no time to waste in amusement, while yet your whole work for eternity is before you, and for anything you can tell, each passing hour may be your last!

cont

[airIam2worship]

Do you plead for a single indulgence? Do you say, let me go into one more scene of vain recreation, and cheer my heart once more in these days of my youth, and then I will abandon the vanities of the world forever? My young friend, the very resolution is a cheat: but even if it were not, who has told you that that one scene of recreation may not occupy the whole period given you to prepare for eternity; and that you are not subjected to the alternative of turning your back upon it, or of certainly losing heaven? Is it rational—rather is it not the height of madness—to waste a single moment, while you are suspended between an eternal heaven and an eternal hell?

I leave this solemn subject, beloved youth, with your consciences. I entreat you to make a serious and practical application of it. I pray the God of all grace to bring it seasonably to your remembrance, and give it its legitimate influence over your feelings and conduct. But if all which has been said shall appear to you as an idle tale; if, after having been warned of the solemnities of the judgment, you are prepared to rush back to a course of sinful pleasure—then I must leave you with the same awful irony, and the same solemn admonition, with which I began this discourse. "Be happy, young man, while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but know that for all these things God will bring you to judgment."

http://www.gracegems.org/
Our literature is public domain—use it in any way you desire.
No monetary donations accepted. "Freely you
have received, freely give." Matthew 10:8