A Word to Young Men and Women Leaving Home

IT appears to be the appointed lot of many of our young people that, when their early education is finished, they have to contemplate the prospect of leaving the parental roof and going out into the world to make their first serious start in life. The greater number proceed to pursue a trade or occupation in order to earn an immediate livelihood; a very few, to prosecute their more advanced studies with a view to entering upon one or other of the learned professions. Home-leaving is a special experience of our Highland youth. There is little or no field for their energies among the quiet remote glens and townships of the land of their birth, and not a few are compelled by sheer necessity to go abroad in order to secure a respectable subsistence. Thus they flock to the larger towns of their native Scotland, to the great metropolis of England and other centres of industry there, and still further, to the United States and far distant Colonies.

Now, it cannot be denied that this time of home-leaving is a very critical one in the history of young men and women, and that their future for weal or woe may largely depend on how they will act at this important stage in their career. It is certainly a season of intense anxiety for affectionate parents, and if these parents fear God, they will be much in prayer at “the throne of grace,” seeking grace and guidance for themselves and for their children who are about to launch upon the ocean of a largely unknown future. The times in which we live are becoming increasingly perilous to the souls of the young, and it would therefore become fathers and mothers, while desiring an honourable temporal career for their offspring, to be all the more diligent in seeking first and foremost for them an interest in “the kingdom of God and His righteousness.” They ought to be deeply concerned as to what associations their young friends should form in their new spheres of activity, and ought to warn them against the many traps and snares that the devil is bound to lay for their feet in their new and unaccustomed surroundings.

It is not our intention, however, in this article to address parents, but rather sons and daughters who are starting life, or who have already started it, at a distance from their native hearths, in our large cities at home, or in the Colonies abroad. Many such saw a good outward example in the home of their childhood; some of them are the children of truly pious parents. A few, we hope, are endeavouring, by the grace of God, to walk in the footsteps of the flock of Christ, whom they have seen and known. We trust we shall say something more or less appropriate to the case of these various classes.

1. Our first counsel is: Do not forget the religious privileges of your childhood. There is a great tendency on the part of unconverted youth to forget these; the remembrance of them is apt to arouse the sleeping conscience; and it is the work of Satan and the carnal mind to keep the conscience at ease in order to secure, effectually, the final destruction of the sinner. We would therefore exhort our youthful readers to endeavour to retain a lively recollection of their early privileges—the family worship observed day by day in the home, the regular attendance of Church from Sabbath to Sabbath, the worthy example and admonitions of parents and friends, the texts of Scripture and verses of Psalms learnt from time to time, the simple Scriptural worship, without modern sensational mixtures, observed in the sanctuary, and the solemn and happy Communion seasons when many of God’s people gathered from far and near to celebrate the dying love of Christ, and to have humble and holy fellowship with one another in the various exercises of God’s worship. The very recollection of these things amid the swirl and bustle of a large city, or even amid the solitudes of a distant prairie, may, by the divine blessing, awaken the soul to concern about the things of God and eternity. To deliberately forget them is to court a destruction that is eternal.

2. Our second word of counsel is: Do not be satisfied with any kind of public worship which the modern Church may offer you, but seek out, if possible, some place where the Gospel of Christ is faithfully declared according to the Scriptures, and where the worship is simple and Scriptural. Some young people make no conscience of this; they greedily run to places where they know there is almost nothing but what gratifies the carnal mind. Fine music is all they desire; and if they get that, they are satisfied, though they hear no gospel or saving truth from the pulpit. It is difficult, indeed, to know what to recommend in many parts of the country where Ritualism and Rationalism prevail in the Churches. It were better to sit at home and read the Bible and good books than to be saturated with such poisonous elements. In England, for example, young people from home are apt to think that the Presbyterian Church will afford a safe house of refuge, but this is a mistake. The Presbyterians there have descended a long way on the down grade, and there is much more of “the truth” to be

found among the Baptists (especially the Strict Particular), the Calvinistic Congregationalists, and the Evangelical Episcopalians. While we do not commit ourselves to any of these bodies, we believe there are some excellent men among them, who faithfully instruct their hearers in fundamental truths. We have, however, special pleasure at the present moment in recognising a little movement in London among young friends from this side of the border for services conducted after the ancient Presbyterian form, which we believe to be a faithful reproduction of New Testament worship, and we trust that many will rally to the standard, and that the Lord will grant an abundant blessing.

1. Let our young people study well what society they shall keep. They are in danger from two classes of persons—from the positively base, who only seek their ill, and from unwise friends who shower mistaken kindness upon them. It may be comparatively easy to keep clear of the former class, but it is not so easy to resist the attentions of the latter. The unwise friends are from the same Highlands as themselves, and were brought up with the same religious privileges; but they have got largely rid of what they consider the out-of-date and antiquated notions of their fathers, and now freely indulge in the concert and the dance and attendant frivolities. They have also got wider in their views of the Sabbath, and regard it very much as a nice holiday with a religious service thrown in to keep up devout appearances. We would warn our young Highland people who have the least tenderness of conscience, and who are afraid of being carried away with the swirl of gay society and the deadening influences of frivolous amusements, to be courteous to these unwise friends, but to keep at a respectable distance from their societies and schemes of pleasure.—“He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but the companion of fools shall be destroyed.”

2. Our next word is: Remember that you have the same God to do with abroad as at home—in England, America, the Colonies, as in Scotland. The heathen nations in ancient Jewish times had their national gods; and while they looked upon the Lord Jehovah as a real God, they only regarded Him as the national God of Israel. And this erroneous view of things still has a place in the human mind. One would be apt to conclude from the policy of many that they thought there was one God for Scotland, another for England, and a third for the Colonies. It is the same God, however, everywhere, to Whom we shall be accountable at death and the judgment seat. His Word is the same, and His Sabbath the same, however men may twist and adapt them to suit their own pleasure. And to whom much has been given, of them much shall be required, no matter what corner of the earth they may wander to. It is an encouraging thought that the God of grace in Jesus Christ may be sought and found in any part of the globe, however far from external privileges, but it is also a very solemnising thought, especially for the careless sinner, that the all-seeing eye

of a holy and just God is as distinctly fixed upon him in the wilds of South America or Australia as when he sat by the hallowed fireside of his quiet home in the Highlands of Scotland.—“Thou, God, seest me.”

1. A last word of counsel is: That young men and women should, in all their calculations respecting their future work in life, and the place of their activities, take into account the directions of God’s Word, and the bearings which work and place shall have upon their spiritual interests. The greatest thing in the world is not to make money or secure outward honour and comfort. These may be had at too dear a price—the loss of the immortal soul for eternity. Young people, for example, should not turn their back too lightly on the public means of grace, and the sound of a faithful gospel, for the sake of purely temporal advantages. We do admit that Providence often shuts them up to the step of emigration to a distance, away from much that is valuable in the way of external privilege. But it is at all times a serious matter to forsake the spot in which God first gives you birth and sustenance, and if this is carelessly done, you may live to rue the day, and may procure a curse and not a blessing in your haste for worldly advancement and success.

The exhortation of the inspired Solomon is much needed—“Remember, now, thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them” (Eccles. iii. 1); and Christ, as heavenly Wisdom, through the same pen still gives the gracious assurance and promise, “I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me” (Prov. viii. 17).

Obituary.—Death has been busy again during the last month, and we mourn the loss of at least three quiet, humble Christian persons, personally known to us in the north—Mr. Robert M’Bain, The Croft, Newtonmore; Mr. William Miller, Olrig, Caithness; and Mrs. Andrew, Union Street, Wick. These belonged, we believed, to the meek of the earth, and their removal is a loss not only to their friends but to the cause of truth. Mr. W. Miller was a man of particular discernment in spiritual things, and we cannot forbear quoting a few remarks from a letter of his we received in January. After referring to his prolonged illness, he adds: “But can I say ‘With us He dealt not as we sinned?’ O to get to that spot with Ephraim—Jeremiah, 31st chapter, verse 18. What is in that chapter from beginning to end! But it is the Holy Spirit that can give us eyes to see and hearts to receive it. Philpot, speaking of receiving the truth and the love of the truth, said, ‘Thousands of professors receive the truth in their judgments, and the way of salvation in their creeds, but are neither saved nor sanctified thereby.’”

Brief Notes of a Sermon.

BY THE LATE REV. WILLIAM C. BURNS, M.A., OF KILSYTH,
MISSIONARY TO CHINA.

“Unto you therefore which believe, He is precious.”—I PETER ii. 7.

THERE are very few people who would not agree with the apostle when he says that Christ is precious to believers. All who have been educated in a Christian land, however incorrect their views and however dead their hearts, have a notion, at least, that but for Christ they could never get to heaven; and few or none would therefore contradict the assertion that He is a Saviour to be valued.

But when one comes a little closer and asks professing people why He is precious to them, and in what degree, the answers to this question are indefinite and vague. It is not of Christ Himself that most professors will speak. Some will say they need His righteousness; others that they hope in His death. But ah! the genuine child of God alone can say from the very bottom of his heart, “To me Christ is precious.” The heart is so very deceitful, my dear friends, that a man’s attachment to Christ may be nothing more than a name without his being aware of it. Most people’s knowledge carries them the length of a certain desire to have His merits and His blood laid to their account in the eye of God, while their hearts are yet entirely strangers to the words of the text. Christ’s righteousness cannot be separated from Himself, and nothing but faith in a living, conquering, reigning Jesus will save the soul—a faith that clings to Him above all in His character of a King, willing and able, yea pledged, to root out and destroy His people’s iniquities. Neither can His righteousness be separated from His presence in the believer’s soul; He only becomes “precious” by personal acquaintance, and therefore He can be so to none who live habitually at a distance from the mercy-seat. Faith brings about a very close connection between the soul and Him, and this is kept alive mainly by a sight of sin. In a word, we must know Him as our own Saviour, while it is not self-interest alone that makes us love Him. It is something higher—it is excellence seen in the Lord Himself that draws out the heart. No mere report of others about Him will do. He must be seen, believed on, and embraced as the portion of the soul. We must get such a sight of Him as would enable the soul to sing that sweet Psalm of thanksgiving to Jehovah-Jesus—

“I love the Lord, because my voice
And prayers He did hear;
I, while I live, will call on Him
Who bow’d to me His ear.”

If you are not God’s children, you can scarce go through that Psalm without faltering, and feeling a sad blank and an inability to fill out the words with your own experience.

But now to apply the subject more directly we shall briefly notice a few characteristics in believers themselves which seem to show that to them Christ is precious.

Innumerable marks might be given, but here is a distinguishing one—Christ is the object nearest to a believer’s heart. He dwells in the soul, nearer than any creature—more closely entwined round the heart-strings than aught beside.

Has Jesus ever got this near place to your heart, dear fellow-sinner? Has He got a deep seat in your soul? Is He reigning there as Lord of the conscience? Do you welcome Him in all His grace and love as a God and Saviour, willingly submitting yourself and all others to His sway? Who in this congregation knows anything of His drawing near thus? There is a deep conflict in that hour—a conflict that will hardly end without leaving some traces on the soul of a divine hand at work—traces not well to be mistaken nor lightly to be forgotten. Sin is cast out then from its vile dominion; the world is put down; every idol falls, and lies smitten and broken. The affections of the regenerate soul are set on things above; they cluster around the Lord Jesus. Its desires are fixed on His free salvation, and cannot rest amid the fleeting vanities of time. Now, my dear friends, what are you saying to this? Does no counterpart to such a transaction as we have described arise in your memory? If not, to you Christ is not precious.

The second mark of the believer’s value for the Lord Jesus is that he puts no society in comparison with His presence. No other company has such sweetness or such power to refresh and comfort and purify the soul. Here is a sure and unfailing test to detect the unregenerate. Some of them seem to take pleasure in religious society; others appear almost willing to cast in their lot with the people of God: but then they stop at that, and are satisfied without anything more. But ah! God’s true children cannot rest there; whether alone or in company they must have the presence of Jesus. Solitude loses all its sweetness, and the company of the most godly becomes insipid and profitless, unless the Lord be found in both. Try yourself again, dear fellow-sinner—do you know anything of this? Do you know what it is to meet spiritually with Christ? I fear many will answer Yes, without knowing what they say; and even those who do understand its nature fall far short of that blessed fellowship with the Father and the Son which the apostle spake of. Oh! we have all indefinite ideas of this at the best. You think it is merely some kind of feeling; no—it is deep, real, personal, spiritual in its nature. It is the very life of the soul, and it brings down actual, rich, and gracious blessings to the needy sinner who has found true access to Jehovah.

The third proof of the estimation in which Christ is held by his people, is, that, for His sake, and for the love they bear Him, they give up all known sins. Fellow-sinner! try yourself here. What sin have you given up for Christ? A deep-rooted love for sin reigns in every unconverted soul,—deluded men inflict severe penances on themselves that they may obtain a free license to sin afterwards; yes, and the world sets at nought present peace,—rejects salvation,—seals its everlasting doom, all to gratify its thirst for sin. Oh! how precious then, when a soul is really brought to mortify and deny all ungodliness! I know you cannot do this. Ah, no! ’tis beyond the power of man or angel,—no hand but Jehovah’s can do it. There can be no casting out of sin till God comes near and does the work for us. Christ must be precious indeed before the love of iniquity, which is born and brought up with us, is weakened and yields. Employ the Physician himself to do it by His Almighty Spirit, and He will bruise both sin and Satan under your feet.

The fourth proof that we shall now mention is, that, where Jesus is precious His ordinances are highly prized—we shall value His Word, alone, and in the family, as well as in the House of God. Not because we have received as a tradition that it is profitable so to do—not merely to follow the example of godly parents, nor because it is a good and universal custom to take it up at certain times. No; but because it is the channel of living waters from the upper sanctuary, and a Divine means of meeting with Jehovah, and of feeding on Christ by faith. And so also with His House, His Table, His Sabbath, we shall not wait on these merely because it is a statute for Israel for ever, that men should thus assemble to hallow the seventh day, but we shall value them as meeting-places with an absent Lord; above all shall we love His day because it is a proof of His resurrection, the standing witness in all ages that He came and died for men, and the sure token that, after appearing like a criminal at Pilate’s bar, and meeting an accursed death, the surety was set at large by Divine justice, and rose from the grave. “Why was this change made to the first day of the week,” the believer will say within himself;—”the Jew still keeps the old day, and why am I now keeping the Lord’s day, if not as a seal of my justification in the Beloved?” Let infidels answer that, and tell why the Christian world keeps that first day of the week; where in the book of history could you find a surer proof of His divinity? Ah! there is a testimony here that he is the only begotten of the Father, and this makes the Sabbath a precious day to the believing soul, and makes him desire to see all open violations of it arrested and put down, that others, as well as himself, may learn to use it as a time for rising beyond all that is seen, to the things within the veil, and for laying the soul anew by faith on the great foundation stone.

Again: God’s people are precious to the believer, and in some respects this is also a distinctive mark, though we shall not dwell

on it, as each one can easily apply it to himself; we would only say that they are often most precious to a genuine believer when they have nothing else to recommend them; he may also be apt to turn away from them when they are found in ease and prosperity, under the smile of the world; but, when he finds them in prison, naked, poor, forsaken,—ah! the heart of the child of God is drawn out to them in love, he sees them as they will be seen at the last great day with all the Lord’s beauty shining on them.

Another mark that Christ is precious to believers is that they are longing for His second coming. The way to heaven is to be in Christ—and heaven is to be with Christ, that is what makes it “far better to depart,” and what enables them to “hasten unto the day of God.”

Now what say you to all these marks of value for the Saviour? Not that your opinion of Him will make any difference. The preciousness of Christ stands eternally separate from your judgment of Him, and it has been attested by multitudes now in glory, and by thousands now in earth: but is He precious to you?—as a Redeemer—as a Sanctifier through His Spirit poured forth? For we speak not of a name to be found in history, or of a dead man like the false prophet, whose followers still speak of what he was on earth, though I fear that the Lord Jesus is little more than this in your hearts—carnal professors.

No, but we speak of Him who liveth and reigneth—dead, but alive again, and giving evidence at this hour in men’s souls that there is a King in Zion. Oh! the blindness of poor sinners, that they can see no beauty in Him. We look up to Jesus, and to the eye of faith He seems “the chief among ten thousand, the altogether lovely” One. We ask of you, and you say there is no beauty in Him. Whence is this? The god of this world hath done it. Lay this to heart, fellow-sinner; be alarmed; say, Alas for me! that He should be so precious, and that I should not feel it! Ah! my dear friend, would you like to taste and see that He is good,—you need no title to obtain it, but that He is God’s free gift to a dying world. Jehovah is testifying, “Behold I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation.” Only believe on Him, and you will find Him to be the stay and the rock of a sinking soul. Cry to Him like blind Bartimeus, and remain at His footstool until He bless you. It is high time to be up and awake. O that there were some among you becoming persuaded that there is a reality in Jesus—no fiction, no mistake, no overdrawn picture, but a real, divine, glorious Christ, ready to become your Intercessor with the Father—your friend in life and death—your all in all to eternity. If I see not that in Him, I am lost; if you see not that in Him, you are lost; but ah! you need not remain so. Do not despair—do not limit Him—put Him to the proof, for there is nothing He loves so well as to be tried and trusted by a poor hell-deserving sinner—do it at once—do it now.

And you, believer, press on. Do not think you know enough of Him. Oh! what is any discovery you have made compared with what is in Him! Paul had seen much of His glory and tasted much of His love when he said, “That I may know Him.” Paul could say in the same breath, “I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.” Yet it seemed to him that but a drop from the ocean had reached his breast, and so he adds, like one who as yet knew nothing of Him, “That I may know Him.” Ah! Paul felt that all he had seen was but a chink opened to let Immanuel’s glory into his soul. His glory! Oh, it will be the subject of eternal anthems. Make it all your boast now—be concerned for His glory—hate all that would intercept the shining of His countenance. Let sin be bitter to you. Let error be shunned. Error dims Him, sin offends Him; call upon Him, then, in sincerity and truth. Let us now draw near to Him in prayer. Fellow-sinners! will you not join us in seeking His face? Seek now, knock now, ask now. He is rich to all that call upon Him; and His heart-satisfying, enduring riches will begin to flow in upon your soul from the hour when you first can call Him precious.

A Fast Day for Rain in Australia.

SERMON BY THE REV. W. SCOTT.

AT the beginning of November last there was a great drought in Eastern Australia, and on the 13th of the month a fast-day was held in the Brushgrove-Grafton congregation, the following interesting report of which appeared in the Clarence and Richmond Examiner of Saturday, the 16th:—

Wednesday last was observed as a solemn fast, with humiliation and prayer for rain. Public worship was conducted in Brushgrove Church, where a large and representative congregation assembled. After preliminary devotional exercises, the Rev. W. Scott announced as the subject of meditation, 2 Chron. vi., 26, 27; vii., 13, 14; the subject being the part of Solomon’s prayer, at the dedication of the Temple, bearing on their own circumstances of drought: “When the heaven is shut up and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; yet if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou dost afflict them; then hear thou from heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, when thou hast taught them the good way wherein they should walk, and send rain upon thy land, which thou hast given unto thy people for an inheritance.” Why did Solomon anticipate such a calamity as the withholding of rain? He knew the fickleness of man, and his proneness to depart from God. God, moreover, had warned them by Moses in this matter—”Take heed to yourselves that

your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside and serve other gods, and worship them; and then the Lord’s wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit.” (Deut. xi., 16, 17; xxviii., 23, 24.) In his prayer Solomon sought to provide against the extremity of such threatened judgment; and he received a gracious promise from God that if, “when He shut up heaven, and there was no rain, His people humbled themselves and prayed, and sought his face, and turned from their wicked ways, then He would heal their land.” This explained their own service that day. They had here the fact that God providentially withholds the rain, and so “turns a fruitful land into barrenness”; and, again, the cause of this, “for the wickedness of them that dwell therein.” Such a warning providence was to “teach us the good way wherein we should walk.” This was little regarded nowadays, and secondary causes were all the talk in a time of drought. Here, however, they had the primary cause—the explanation that concerned them as moral agents—God making Himself known to a sinning people in judgment, by shutting up the heaven till they acknowledged their offence. King Solomon’s sublime utterance in this matter appealed to them now. And, when the heavens were as brass, distilling no dews; and the earth as iron, yielding no fruit, to whom could a people go but unto God? Wealth and substance, even where possessed, could not procure for them a drop of rain; nor could the husbandman plough or sow in hope, unless God watered his furrows. Solomon believed in a people praying for rain. They had a memorable instance afterwards in Israel, when Elijah, the Prophet, prayed earnestly that it might not rain, so that it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months; and prayed again and the heaven gave rain and the earth brought forth her fruit. (James v., 17, 18.) Prayer to God, then, in such a strait was their duty and privilege.

But whilst they had these Scripture principles to guide and encourage them under the Divine correction, it was necessary to recognise that God would not regard the prayer of those who went on in their trespass. The direction in the text had reference to those who prayed “towards this place,” namely, the Temple. That was where the sacrifices for sin were to be offered. Solomon, during his prayer, we are told, “stood before the altar of the Lord.” They were to do the same. Christ was their altar, their sacrifice. He was the way—the one Mediator for them with God, with whom they were to deal. They needed mercy. For this they were to confess their sin, and forsake it, that the tokens of Divine displeasure might be removed. This was made clear to Israel, later on, under Elijah. They had been mixing the worship of Baal with the worship of Jehovah. “How long halt ye between two opinions?” the Prophet asked. Before he would pray for rain, the supremacy of the true God and the purity of His worship were recognised and established before the nation in connection

with sacrifice. Thus they exclaimed, “Jehovah, He is the God.” This meant the overthrow of human inventions in worship. When a people repent, they turn from such idols to the true God. In the passage before them, when God shut up heaven and there was no rain, the people were to “humble themselves, and turn from their wicked ways.” Hence their own solemn fast. It represented, scripturally, a day of restraint from worldly business or pleasure, along with an abstinence from the ordinary comforts of life for the time. Such prayer, with fasting in emergent circumstances, had been attended with the Divine blessing: “Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.” (1 Peter v., 6.)

In closing, Mr. Scott appealed to the assembled congregation to maintain their loyalty to the Word of God, in its integrity, as their infallible guide, in the face of the infidelity and worldliness all around. He reminded them of the two great pillars of their religion, which it entrusted to them on the highest sanction: “Ye shall keep my Sabbaths, and reverence my Sanctuary: I am Jehovah.” (Lev. xxvi., 12.) In connection with these, he felt that their community had sinned a great sin. The Sabbath was openly and increasingly desecrated in various forms; the Sanctuary also was profaned by unscriptural practices, whilst many had forsaken the assembling of themselves together. God had permitted the drought and other evils to come upon them, yet there was His promise, If ye keep my Sabbaths and reverence my Sanctuary, “then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.” (Lev. xxvi., 2-4.) They were but a handful after all, as compared with the population around them, yet it was nothing with God to help whether with many or with them that had no power.

Solemn intercessory prayer followed, and the service was closed with praise and the benediction—the Psalm being, “O God, Thou to Thine heritage didst send a plenteous rain.” It is further to be recorded that rain began to fall in the evening after the service.

Roman Catholicism in New Zealand.—There is one grave feature in the promotion of Papists to positions of great responsibility which should not be overlooked. An esteemed friend sends us a portrait of the Right Hon. Sir J. G. Ward, the Premier of New Zealand, with the remark that he is putting all the Roman Catholics that he can into the Post Offices. Protestants stand no chance for any positions where he has a voice. And another friend raises a note of warning as to the mole-like way in which New Zealand is being managed by the Roman Catholics, without any notice being taken. What, we ask, can be done? Two things, for sure—to be instant in prayer to Almighty God, the Ruler of all, and active in instructing the people by every means and on each opportunity.—Monthly Record of the Protestant Evangelical Mission.