doing all possible good; first fitting ourselves for usefulness by culture, and then earnestly doing the work assigned us? Let us remember that never till we have really 'done well' for ourselves and our generation, for the Church and the world, will the blessed Redeemer utter the language of approval. He never passes hollow compliments. He never flatters His servants. As accountable and responsible beings we must do life's work well; and then when we give in our account, He will say in tones that will send a thrill of pleasure through our whole soul, and linger in our memories for ever, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.' And having assisted in the work of the Redeemer, we shall eternally participate in His joy. But if time be wasted, gifts perverted, privileges abused, and we be a curse to ourselves and our race, the great Master will say in language we shall feel to be infinitely just, 'Cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' And the everlasting recollection of all the chances and possibilities of the past lost for ever is enough to make him bitterly gnash his teeth. The thought of a soul that was made to know, love, and enjoy God here, and then to be happy in His service for ever, being worse than a blank in God's universe will add keenness to the worm which never dies and the fire which is never quenched. Talent and genius sent down deep into hell, employed for ever in the service of devils, will be a fearful reflection for gifted men in perdition; especially when they think that if they had only been wise they might have been high up in glory and

I

eternally employed in the pure and lofty service of the most high God.

What shall your eternity be? I put the question solemnly. Perhaps I ought to ask, What shall your future life on earth be? Because the future life will be just what the present makes it. I say then, by the grace of God helping you, endeavour to fit yourselves for the post Heaven intends you to оссиру, that you may fill it with credit to yourselves, honour to the Church, and to the glory of Him who deigns to employ you. Are you young and anxious to prepare yourselves usefully and honourably to spend life? Do not let present opportunities pass unimproved. If you do, you will be damaged in mind and character for ever. It is impossible to recall the past and do what you ought to have done then. You may work hard now, but you cannot make up for past neglect. If youthful opportunities be lost, you may do much perhaps in after life; but you can never become the grand men you might have been had each part of life been properly attended to. Let this truth sink deep into your heart. But if youth be gone, do not waste what remains of life in unprofitable regret. Make the best of existing circumstances. Rightly use what is available. Though much is already lost, all is not lost, blessed be God! 'Go thou thy way till the end be'; it may be really or comparatively near, still thou hast yet something to do for thy generation and thy God. Well, then, go and do it, however trifling and insignificant it may appear. And rest assured in thy hallowed toil, that God is not an indifferent spectator of humble work and feeble service. No; 'thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.' For all right work the merciful God

affords encouragement now and for ever. 'To him that hath shall be given' : if a man rightly use what he already possesses, he shall have more, he shall even have abundance, a hundredfold here, and in the world to come everlasting life. But it is equally and solemnly true, on the other side, 'from him that hath not shall be taken away that which he hath.' He shall lose present privileges and blessings, and be cast into eternal perdition at last, as a just punishment of his evil deeds. From such an end may the loving God save us!

Having besought young men in the former part of this treatise to help themselves, looking at self-help as an invaluable principle, may I now plead on their behalf for all the help that ministers and Church officers can possibly afford them? If young men are to be thoroughly fitted to meet the infidelity of the age, to grapple with materialistic scientific theories, and to do efficient service for Christ and the community, does it not appear clear that they must be taught and trained according to the need of the times? It will pay the Churches to look well after young men. Probably there is no department of labour in which ministers can engage that will be so remunerative. We have suffered defeat, suffered the loss of the most thoughtful and capable young men in many instances, suffered in ten thousand cases the enemy to gain an advantage over us, because we have left young men to struggle unaided through mental difficulties. Surely wiser measures will be adopted in the future by all concerned for the progress of our common Christianity. Some have aided young men in the past; would that all who are able might do so in time to come!

CHAPTER VII.

THE NEGLECT OF EARLY CHRISTIAN CULTURE FREQUENTLY

ENTAILS SORE PUNISHMENT IN LATER LIFE.

VERY young man ought deeply to ponder a passage occurring in the Book of Job: For Thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth.' Indeed, both old and young are here furnished with matter for grave reflection. The subject has a double application, for while it specially applies to the young, it also applies to the aged. Like two streams coming from one source and flowing on to one sea, or two trees growing from one root, as we sometimes see in the fields and woods of our country, so this subject unites in itself the commencement and the close of life; or, lessons for the bloom of youth and the decrepitude of age.

The neglect of early Christian culture often brings physical punishment in later life. Sin is an evil thing. It is positively odious to God. It must ever be so from the purity and perfection of His nature. He cannot look upon sin.' He turns from it, just as you turn your face from what is disgusting. Light is opposed to darkness, truth is opposed to error, right is opposed to wrong; and God is and ever must be opposed to evil. Sin is condemned by all the laws of God,-by the laws of nature and by the laws of the Bible. The revelation of nature forbids excess and self-abuse; the revelation of Scripture

prohibits this with greater clearness and stronger emphasis, just as the light of the sun exceeds the light of the moon. Sometimes persons transgress the Divine law ignorantly, but frequently it is a guilty ignorance. That is, they might have understood both the laws of nature and the laws of the Bible better had they properly employed their time and opportunities. And so we presume that we shall be judged and punished at last, not by what we do know of the Divine law, but by what we might have known.

Now all sin is, not only evil and condemned by all the laws of God, but the evil thing is physically injurious. It blights and curses all it touches. It burns like fire, it stings like a serpent, it bites like a ferocious animal, it devours like a wild beast. And woe to the man who dares to trifle with sin! Be sure your sin will find you out'; and probably at times, in places, and in ways you do not expect. I knew a man in the north of England who occupied a very respectable position in society for a quarter of a century. But he was guilty of early sin, and it all came out six months before his death; and the disgrace and misery, not only embittered his latter end, but probably took him to his grave sooner than he would have gone there. The fear of the evil you do being discovered, and the social and moral disgrace when it is found out, are fearful torments, and no doubt act injuriously upon your physical health by destroying your peace of mind.

But evil also acts injuriously by producing positive physical disease. This is done beyond all question in ten thousand ways and instances. Go to the slums and alleys of our large towns and cities, and visit the hospitals and asylums reared by the kindly hand of charity, to afford