Several Classes of Young Men Specially Addressed—The Traveller by Sea or Land—The Orphan—The Prodigal—The Pious Youth
I select as the first whom I particularize, those who have lefi or are soon to leave their native country, whether for a permanent residence abroad, or only for a season. Numerous and very different are the causes which lead to this temporary or lasting expatriation. In some cases, it is a mere curiosity to see the world; in others a restless, dissatisfied, and indolent disposition; in others a still worse cause; while in some it is a step to which they are called by the plans of Providence, and which circumstances render, if not absolutely necessary, yet every way proper. Whatever may lead to it, however, it is always a course of danger, and sometimes of sorrow. That young man who can step from his native shores into the vessel which is to bear him to a distant part of the earth; who can see the land of his nativity recede from his view, till its spires, hills, and cliffs are lost amidst the mighty waste of waters; who can utter his adieu to the friends, and scenes of his childhood which he very probably may never revisit; who can forget the perils of the sea, and the danger of tropical climates, which he is about to encounter, — and all this without some degree of heart-sickness, or at least, evident sadness — must have a heart too cold and too hard to be at present the residence of piety and virtue, and affords little hope for the future. Insensibility under such circumstances marks a callous mind; while sadness and even sorrow are an honour, and not a weakness, to the youth who rather weeps than utters his last adieu.
If it be a bad cause that takes you to sea, you will have time for reflection upon the voyage. Use it well. As you pace the deck at night, keeping your watch, with the moon and the stars speaking silently to you of God, think of your course, meditate upon your conduct; give conscience leave and time to speak, and listen to its voice. Imagine you see a mother’s form lighting on the deck, pointing to heaven, and saying as she smiles through her tears, u Repent, my son, repent, and come back to us reclaimed: we wait to receive you to our arms, and to our hearts.” Hear that gentle voice coming to your ears when nothing else is heard but the whistling of the wind, the dashing of the waves, and the creaking of the masts and rigging. Many a youth in those solemn moments has considered his evil ways, and turned from them to God. Cut off from many temptations and companions which beset him on shore, he has had wisdom given him to be sorry for the course he ran, has resolved to forsake it, and has returned home when the voyage was over, to heal by his good conduct the wounds he inflicted by his untoward behaviour in the hearts of his parents.
But if these scenes are not enough to awaken reflection, and to startle conscience from her slumber, may I hope that the roar of the tempest will do it? Then, when the vessel, with her sails torn, her masts injured, or gone by the board, is driving before the fury of the gale, on a.rocky and lee shore, and the horrors of shipwreck and a grave among the monsters of the deep are before you, then think of your ways, then look back upon your wicked career, and cry to God for mercy through Christ: if you perish at sea, perish beseeching for pardon through the blood of the Lamb; or if you survive the storm, let its perils never be forgotten, nor the purposes and good resolutions which in the hour of danger it led you to form. Do not smile at your fears and remorse, as some unhappy youths do, when you find that the vessel has outlived the tempest, and you are safe.
The moral dangers of foreign travel are most imminent. You are then not only more than ever, and farther than ever, removed from parental inspection and restraint, but you are removed also from the control of friends and of public opinion. You will have an opportunity, if you choose to embrace it, for gratifying to the greatest excess every youthful passion and every criminal appetite; and multitudes are swept into an early grave abroad in consequence of their enormous lusts, or else become confirmed for ever in habits of immorality. Read with attention the following impressive fact.
The motives which lead young men to sea are rarely laudable, and often criminal, as the following fact will prove: —
Two young men, the children of pious and wealthy parents, felt themselves exceedingly displeased at being constantly refused the family carriage on the Lord’s day. It was in vain they urged their confinement during the week, as a sufficient reason why they should be thus indulged on the Sunday. It was the father’s settled rule, that the authority which commanded him to rest, included also his servants and cattle; he therefore turned a deaf ear to their entreaties and remonstrances. In their madness, or in their folly, they determined to resent this refusal, by leaving their situations and going to sea. Intelligence of this step was transmitted to the Rev. John Griffin, of Portsea, and he was requested to make diligent inquiry, and on finding them to use every possible means to induce them to return home. After some search, he found them in a rendezvous house, and introducing him self, he stated his business, and urged their return. He, however, urged in vain; for, bent upon the fulfilment of their design, they thanked him for his advice, although determined to reject it. Among other reasons for their return, he urged the feelings of their parents, and especially those of their mother. “Think,” said the good man, “what must your mother’s situation be, after years of anxious watching and fervent prayer; after looking forward to this time, when in your society and in your welfare she hoped to meet a rich reward for all that she had suffered on your account: yet in one moment, and by one imprudent step, she finds you plunged into misery, the depths of which you cannot conceive of, and herself the subject of a wretchedness she has never deserved at your hands.” In the heart of the youngest there was a sense of gratitude, which answered to this appeal; and bursting into tears, he expressed his sorrow for his conduct, and his willingness to return. Still, the eldest remained obdurate. Neither arguments persuaded him, nor warnings alarmed him. The carnage had been repeatedly refused; he had made up his mind to go to sea, and to sea he would go. “Then,” said Mr. Griffin, “come with me to my house; I will get you a ship, and you shall go out as a man and a gentleman.” This he declined, assigning as a reason, that it would make his parents grieve, to have it said that their son was gone as a common sailor; as a common sailor, therefore, he would go. “Is that your disposition?” was the reply. “Then, young man, go,” said Mr. Griffin, “and while I say, God go with you, be sure your sin will find you out, and for it God will bring you into judgment.” With reluctance, they left him; the younger son was restored to his parents, while all traces of the elder one were lost, and he was mourned for, as one dead.
After the lapse of a considerable time, a loud knocking was heard at Mr. Griffin’s door. This was early in the morning. On the servant’s going down to open the door, she found a waterman, who wished immediately to see her master. Mr. Griffin soon appeared, and was informed that a young man under sentence of death, and about to be executed .-on board one of the ships in the harbour, had expressed an earnest desire to see him, urging, among other reasons, he could not die happy unless he did. A short time found the minister of religion on board the ship, when the prisoner, manacled and guarded, was introduced to him, to whom he said, “My poor friend, I feel for your condition, but as I am a stranger to you, may I ask why you have sent for me; it may be that you have heard me preach at Portsea.” “Never, sir. Do you not know me?” “I do not.” “Do you not remem ber the two young men whom you, some years since, urged to return to their parents and to their duty?” “I do! I do remember it; and I remem ber that you were one of them.” “I have sent, then, for you to take my last farewell of you in this world, and to bless you for your efforts to restore me to a sense of my duty. Would God that I had taken your advice; but it is now too late. My sin HAS found me out, and for it God HAS brought me into judgment. One, and but one consolation remains: I refused the offer of going to your house until I could be provided for, assigning as a reason, that it would make my parents unhappy to have it said their son was a common sailor. A little reflection showed me the cruelty of this determination; I assumed another name, under which I entered myself; and my chief consolation is, that I shall die unpitied and unknown.”
What the feelings of Mr. Griffin were at this sad discovery may be more easily conceived than described. He spent some time with him in prayer, and offered him that advice which was best suited to his unhappy case. The prisoner was again placed in confinement, and Mr. Griffin remained with the officer who was then on duty. “Can nothing be done for this poor young man?” was one of the first inquiries made after the prisoner wa« withdrawn. “I fear not,” replied the officer; “the lords of the admiralty have determined to make an example of the first offender in this particular crime. He unfortunately is that offender; and we hourly expect the warrant for his execution. Mr. Griffin determined to go immediately to London, and, in humble dependance upon the Lord, to make every effort to save the criminal’s life, or to obtain a commutation of the sentence. It was his lot, on the day of his arrival in the metropolis, to obtain an interview with one of the lords of the admiralty, to whom he stated the respectability of the young man’s connexions, his bitter and unfeigned regret for the crime which had forfeited his life; and, with that earnestness which the value of life is calculated to excite, ventured to ask, if it was impossible to spare him. To his regret, he was informed that the warrant for his execution had been that morning signed, and was on its way to the officer whose melancholy duty it was to see it executed. With compassion the nobleman said, “Go back, sir, and prepare him for the worst. I cannot tell what is to be done; but we are shortly to meet His Majesty in council, and all that you have urged shall be then stated: mav it prove successful.” Mr. Griffin returned, but discovered that the morning of his reaching home was the time appointed for the young man’s execution. Joy, and fear, and anxiety, by turns, possessed his mind, as, within a few minutes after his arrival, came a pardon, accompanied with the most earnest request to go immediately on board, lest the sentence of the law should be executed before he could each the ship.
Upon the issues of a moment now rested the life of a fellow-creature, and perhaps the salvation of an immortal soul. The minister reached the harbour, and saw the yellow flag, the signal of death, flying, the rigging manned, and, for aught he knew to the contrary, the object of his solicitude at the last moment of his mortal existence. He reached the ship’s side, and saw an aged man leaving it, whose sighs, and groans, and tears, proclaimed a heart bursting with grief, and a soul deeper in misery than, the depth of the waters he was upon. It was the prisoner’s father! Under the assumed name, he had discovered his wretched son, and had been to take his last farewell of him. Yes, it was the father who had brought him up in the fear of the Lord; who in his earliest days had led him to the house of God; and who, when lost, had often inquired in prayer, “Lord, where is my child?” Fearfully was he answered; he had found him, but it was to part, never in this world to meet again. Such, at least, must have been his conclusions in that moment, when, having torn himself from the embrace of his son, he was in the act of leaving the ship. The rest is told in a few words: with Mr. Griffin he re-entered the vessel at the moment when the prisoner, pinioned for execution, was advancing to ward the fatal spot, whence he was to be summoned into the presence of God. A moment found him in the embrace, not of death, but of his father; his immediate liberation followed the knowledge of his pardon; and a few days restored the wanderer to the bosom of his family. The interesting nature of this fact will, it is presumed, be a sufficient apology for its length.. It is given on the authority of an individual who had it from the lips of Mr. Griffin himself, who was an eminent and much honored minister of the gospel. It is a fact replete with salutary warning to all young men, not to neglect the advice of pious parents, nor to violate the commands of God; while at the same time it admonishes them, if unhappily they have done so, to repent of their sins, and to alter their course, instead of fleeing from restraint to the dangers of a seafaring life. Wherever they go, their sins follow after them, and sooner or later will find them out. In some few cases, the fugitive who has, like Jonah, fled from duty to sea, has been overtaken by the fearful visitations of the Almighty, and brought to repentance by a mixture of judgment and mercy; but in by far the greater number of instances, those who betake themselves to the sea, under the influence of indolence, unsettledness, or sin, be come abandoned in character and miserable in circumstances.
There are some who are gone, or about to go abroad, at the call of dutjr. Their course of life lies that way, and they are yet happily free from. vice, and even from unsteadiness of temper. To” J. would say, Leave not your native land withil and decided religion as your companion in if you have left it without this friend, protector, arid guide, instantly seek its possession. Religion will soften the pang of separation from your relatives, will open a source of happiness on the voyage, and will cover you with a protecting shield, amidst the dangers of a foreign land. As you travel, or as you dwell among a strange people, often alone and without a friend with whdrh to converse, you will feel, and sadly feel, your forlorn and desolate condition: and when the hour of sickness comes, and you are laid up with a fever or consumption in a land of strangers, 0 think of the long nights, and weary days of restlessness and pain, with no mother, no sister near to nurse and comfort you, no, none but strangers, and they perhaps speaking a language you do not understand I — will not religion be needed then? Would not religion soothe you then? Yes, it would be your nurse, your friend, your comforter, your support. How many, in scenes like these, have taken up the words which the poet has put into the lips of Alexander Selkirk, in his solitude on the island of Juan Fernandez: —
“My friends, do they now and then send,
A wish or a thought after me 1
0 tell me I yet have a friend,
‘Though a friend I am never to see.
“How fleet is a glance of the mind!
Compared with the speed of its flight,
The tempest itself lags behind,
And the swift winged arrows of light.
“When I think of my own native land,
In a moment I seem to be there:
But alas! recollection at hand
Soon hurries me back to despair.
>’•
“But the searfowl is gone to her nest,
The beast is laid down in his lair,
Erven here is a season of rest,
And I to my cabin repair.
“There is mercy in every place,
And mercy, encouraging thought!
Gives even affliction a grace,
And reconciles man to his lot.
“Religion! what treasure untold,
Resides in that heavenly word!
More precious than silver and gold,
Or all that this earth can afford.”
And what an exquisite illustration of the power of religion to comfort, support, and animate the mind in the most forlorn and distressing circumstances, is to be found in the journal of that most interesting traveller, Mungo Park. He was in the heart of Africa, alone and unprotected. He had just been robbed and stripped by a ferocious banditti, and the following is the account he gives of his feelings, and his relief: “After they were gone, I sat for some time, looking around me with amazement and terror. Whichever way I turned, nothing appeared but danger and difficulty. I saw myself in the midst of a vast wilderness, in the depth of the rainy season, naked and alone, surrounded by savage animals, and men still more savage. I was five hundred miles from the nearest European settlement. All these circumstances crowded at once on my recollection, and I confess that my spirit began to fail me. I considered my fate as certain, and that I had no alternative but to Ije down and perish. THE INFLUENCE OF RELI GION, however, aided and supported me. I reflected that no human prudence or foresight could possibly have averted my present sufferings. I was indeed a stranger in a strange land, yet I was still under the protecting eye of that Providence who has condescended to call himself the stranger’s friend. At this moment, painful as my reflections were, the extraordinary beauty of a small moss, in fructification, irresistibly caught my eye. I mention this to show from what trifling circumstances the mind will sometimes derive consolation; for though the whole plant was not larger than the top of one of my fingers, I could not contemplate the delicate conformation of its roots, leaves, and capsule, without admiration. Can that Being, thought I, who planted, watered, and brought to perfection, in this obscure part of the world, a thing which appears of so small importance, look with unconcern upon the situation and sufferings of creatures formed after his own image? — surely not! Reflections like these would not allow me to despair. I started up, and, disregarding both hunger and fatigue, travelled forward, assured that relief was at hand: and I was not disappointed. In a short time, I came to a small village, at the entrance of which I overtook the two shepherds who had come with me from Koama. They were much surprised to see me: for they said, they never doubted that the Foulahs, when they had robbed, had murdered me.”
What can more beautifully or afTectingly prove and illustrate the power of religion in the most trying circumstances and appalling danger, than this touching fact. Let me therefore entreat you to seek the same source of consolation. Not only take the Bible in your trunk, but its influence in your heart. Cat off from the means of grace, surrounded by Pagan, Mohammedan, or Popish rites, all of them superstitious, and some of them polluting, you will be in danger of losing all sense of piety when you need it most. Fear God, and you will be safe and happy, wander or rest wherever you may; for He is there: reverence his presence, obey his authority, enjoy his favour and you are blessed. You may die, and leave your bones in a foreign land; but, as one of the sages of antiquity said, “Every place is equally near to heaven.”
J?
ORPHANS.
For you my tenderest sympathies are awakened, and my most affectionate anxieties engaged. You are, indeed, away from home; for you have no home but that which you occupy as an apprentice, shopman, or clerk. The grave has closed over your father and mother; and that habitation once the scene of your childhood, and which you then never entered but with delight, is now the residence *>f strangers. That threshold you will never cross again. A. father’s hand, a mother’s smile, will welcome ydu no more to that abode; but you can never pass¥t even now, without looking up to the chamber window, within which the quiet nights of childhood were slept away in compara-. five innocence and peace, and saying with a sigh, r< My mother,
Life has pass’d
With me but roughly, since I heard thee last.’”
Oh! this is a cold and selfish world. Those who should have loved and befriended you, if not for your own, yet for your parents’ sakes, have for gotten you; and perhaps, even in the circle of your relatives, you find scarcely any one who interests himself in your behalf. There was an orphan of old, who cheered himself thus, “When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.” He found it so, and left his experience upon record for your encouragement and hope. Go to the same God by faith, by trust, and prayer, and seek his favour, his guardianship and guidance. He will be your friend, and never forsake you. He will be a father to you, and will never be removed by death. He styles himself, and it is one of his tenderest titles, “the Father of the fatherless.” His friendship will be more than a compensation for all you have lost, and he will raise you up other friends on earth. What have you lost in earthly parents, which cannot !• than made up in God? “What have I rcjj&k** say you,” what have I not lost. They were my dearest, my kindest, my most valuable friends: their counsels guided me, their care protected me, their daily converse was the joy of my life, their sympathy revived me, and their bounty supplied my wants. And now they are gone, how justly may I say, that my dearest comforts and hopes lie buried with their precious remains.” “Well, but cannot God counsel you, protect you, converse with you, sympathize with you, supply you, far more effectually than they did? Your father and mother are dead, but God, your heavenly Father, can never die. If you commit your way to him, by holy fear and earnest prayer, he will guide you through all the intricacies of life, protect you amidst its dangers, comfort you under its sorrows, and conduct you safely, notwithstanding your gloomy prospects, through this mortal life, till you come at last to your father’s house in peace. Seek to have God for your Father, and you will never want a friend. Choose religion, and you will never want a portion. Unite yourself with the church of Christ, and you will never want a home.
But at the same time, you should be told that you can expect no safety bat from piety. Left at an early age without the guides and guardians of your youth, without the check and restraint that even a distant father, while he lived, imposed by his correspondence, you will be an object for Satan’s wiles, and for the arts of those who lie in wait to deceive. There are many who date their ruin from the day of their parent’s death, and consider that event as the commencement of their downward career. Some to hush their sorrows, increased by the selfishness and unkindness of friends, have plunged into dissipation: while others who had hitherto felt a parent’s admonitions an impediment to a life of sin, have rushed into vice, as soon as this obstacle was removed by death. If either of these dangers be yours, may your parent’s venerable shade appear to your imagination, as troubled by your misconduct, and warn you from a course of sin, which, if persisted in, will lead to destruction. You have lost them for a season, and will you by sin lose them for ever.
PIOUS YOUNG MEN.
You form a happy and an important class, if not a numerous one. Receive my congratulations on the rich and sovereign mercy which has called you out of darkness, and made you the children of light. Bless God, that while so many are walking according to the course of this world, and fulfilling the desires of the flesh, and of the mind; you are walking in the ways of Godliness and peace. And while you are thankful, be humble, circumspect, and prayerful. You are, and will be exposed to great and sore trials of your steadfastness. Perhaps you are placed in a situation, where you find not one likeminded with yourself. You alone are “faithful found among the faithless,” and will need great grace to stand your ground against the annoyance, ridicule, and opposition, with which your religion will be assailed, by a set of gay, dissipated, and irreligious youths. It is of vast importance, that you should at once, and without hesitation, let it be seen and known, that you fear God. Let there be no attempt to conceal your principles, or your practices. Let those with whom you are to associate, know at your first entrance among them, that you profess to regard the claims of religion. If you begin by concealing your principles, it will be extremely difficult to exhibit them afterward, and thus your life will be wretched under the stings of conscience re proaching you for cowardice, and the dread of open avowal. Moreover, you will often be obliged, or tempted, at any rate, in order to keep up the delusion, to do things which you know to be wrong, and thus bring much remorse into your bosom. Remember who has said, “Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he corn eth in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” Pray much and pray earnestly, and believingly, for MORAL COUR AGE. Entreat of God to be with you. Beseech him to stand by you, and uphold you with a strength greater than your own. You will be in imminent peril without great watchfulness. Every ingenious art and device will be tried to shake your constancy. The licentious or sceptical work will often be placed in your way. You will be besieged, and if the smallest breach be made, in even the outworks of your character, the advantage will be plied against you till the whole is carried by storm, or capitulation. The first temptation presented by your companions will be to small offences, to matters of doubtful or debateable propriety, and if these succeed, they will become more bold. Steel your heart against ridicule. Betray no irritability. Bear all with dignified meekness. Petulance will only provoke to greater annoyance. Forbearance on your part, will be most likely to induce them to desist. They will soon feel that it is useless to laugh at a man, who accounts their scorn his praise, and who glories in their reproach as his honour; and they will at length respect that firmness of mind, strength of principle, and heroism of character, which their assaults can neither break nor bend. It will tend much to your defence and stability, by inspiring them with respect, if you are skilful in your business, and possess a well cultivated mind. Strive to be superior in all that constitutes the clever tradesman or professional man, and the man of knowledge. Convince them that although religion is the enemy of sin, it is the friend of all that can benefit and adorn humanity. Study well, and deeply, the evidences of revealed religion, and make yourself intimately acquainted with the method of meeting all the objections of the popular infidelity of the day. But especially be consistent. Let your piety be unvarying and universal, and interwoven with the whole texture of your character. It should produce, not only the fear of God, but the love of man: it should blend the amiable and the devout, the cheerful and the
t serious, the useful and the happy. You should seek, by the steady, consistent influence of example, as well as by the occasional and well-timed persuasion of direct address, to reclaim those who are gone astray. You should judiciously, and affectionately, warn your associates, who are seeking the pleasures of sin, of their danger. You may be honoured to convert them from the error of their ways, and save their souls from death. It is astonishing what small means may sometimes do much good, even when nothing is said, and where it is only the power of example that operates. As a proof of this, I will mention a fact which I know to have occurred in the history of a well-known and successful minister of the gospel. At the time of leaving home, he was strictly moral, and had some veneration for godliness; but soon be came careless and indifferent. He could not, however, give up all attention to the welfare of his soul. It was his custom to retire to his room for prayer on Sundays between the public services of religion; neglecting it at all other times, and being ashamed to pray in the presence of his fellow-apprentice. Aware of the sinfulness of his conduct, and wanting the courage and resolution to change, he earnestly and sincerely besought God to raise up some one in the house to help and guide him in this momentous concern. After a time, a third apprentice was taken into the business. The first night he slept in the house, on retiring to bed, he fell on his knees, and continued some time in prayer. The effect of this upon the mind of the youth whose history I am relating was instantaneous and powerful. It seemed to him as if a voice, in impressive accents, said, “Behold the answer of your prayer: there is the individual sent to guide you into the way of true religion.” Serious reflection followed; his conscience was awakened; his heart was interested; and decided piety was at length the result. He was introduced by his companion to a circle of pious friends, and after a year or two exchanged secular for sacred pursuits, went to college, became a minister of the gospel, and has been greatly honoured by the usefulness both of his preaching and his publications. And I have heard him say, that he traces up all his usefulness to the prayer of that youth, who had the moral courage to bend his knee and acknowledge God before his new companions, from whom he plainly saw he should receive no countenance in the habits of piety.
This fact should be a motive and an encouragement to those who have any sense of religion never to conceal it, but to let their light shine before others, that they, seeing their good works, may glorify God their heavenly Father.
PRODIGALS.
By such, I mean those young men who find their picture drawn by the pencil of inspiration in that most touching and beautiful of all our Lord’s parables, usually denominated the “Prodigal Son,” and which is contained in Luke xv. Oh could I hope that some of this class will read these pages, I should entertain the further expectation that what I now address to them would be the means, under the blessing of God, of conducting them from the paths of sin to those of wisdom, piety, and peace. You have left your father’s house, because, perhaps, you could not endure its rules and restraints, and have well nigh broken your father’s heart, after having considerably impoverished his circumstances by your idleness, extravagance, and dissipation: and you are still going on in the career of vice and destruction. Permit me to plead with you, first on your own account. I need not ask if you are happy; for it is impossible you should be, unless folly, sin, and shame can make you so. Oh no, there are moments when you are awakened by reflection to the horrors of your situation, and, under the united influence of remorse and despair, are ready to put an end, by suicide, to your miserable existence. You have proved the deceitfulness of sin, which promised you pleasure, and has inflicted unutterable misery. You have found the yoke of Satan to be galling iron to your neck, instead of the happy freedom under which his service was set forth to captivate your youthful imagination. Rise, deluded, degraded, and half-destroyed youth, against these murderous tyrants, who have brought you to the brink of the pit, but have not yet, with all their artifice and cruelty, thrust you into it. You are not yet irrecoverably ruined for earth, nor inclosed in the prison of hell. Bad as you are, there is hope for you; yes, even for you. Turn,
0 turn, from the road that leadeth to destruction. Think, I beseech you, upon your parents, not quite, but almost crushed into the grave by your evil ways. It is not yet too late to restore their peace of mind, so long broken by your misconduct; nor the elasticity of their frame, so heavily pressed down by years of trouble, brought on by your guilty wanderings. “None but a parent’s heart can know the anguish of parting with a sweet babe.” But there is an agony deeper and more inconsolable than that. It is occasioned by a vicious son. I have seen one of the tenderest and best of mothers console her mind on the death of a darling child by the hope that it was with Christ in a better world. On the same day
1 have seen another mother pour forth, from a heart which no consolations could reach, tears of bitterness over a perverse and wicked son, and have heard her say, “The death of an infant ij nothing to this: would that my son had died in his infancy!” Hasten, hasten, young man, that by your reformation you may spare your mother the anguish of saying with her last breath, “I am dying of a broken heart; my son, my wicked and unhappy son, has killed me.” Unless you soon repent, and arise, and go to your father, and say, “Father, I have sinned against Heaven, and in thy sight,” you will lie down in the grave of a parricide, and have inscribed, by the finger of public infamy, upon your tomb, if a tomb shall be given you, “Here lies the murderer of his father and his mother.” The last stab, however, is not yet given to them; the dagger of your unkindness, and your profligacy, has not yet reached the vital part, and all the other wounds, if not perfectly healed, may be mollified by your reformation. Yes, that venerable pair may yet say, if you will permit them to do so, by your conversion to God, and consequent holiness, “It is meet that we should make merry: for this our son was dead, and is alive again; was lost, and is found.” Brothers, who had long since disowned you, as far as they could do it, may yet restore to you their fraternal love. Sisters, who once regarded you as their joy and boast, when they saw you leave your father’s home, a fair and promising youth, but who, in your fallen condition, could never hear your name pronounced without blushes and tears, shall again, if you repent, exclaim with throbbing hearts, brother!” 0 prodigal, return; return by true repentance and faith to God, your Father in heaven, and in the same state of mind to your father on earth. Both are looking out for you; both will receive you; both will rejoice over you. Numerous instances might be mentioned to awaken hope, and encourage this return. Do not despair ‘of amendment. Do not say there is no hope. None, not even you, are too bad to be reclaimed. Read the beautiful parable to which I have already referred. What prodigal can wander farther, sink lower, or seem more out of the way of recovery, or more remote from the region of hope, than he was; yet he was restored. And why was the parable spoken, and why was it written, but to encourage hope, in cases seemingly the most deplorable and abandoned?
I knew a case, which is both a salutary warning against sin, and an encouragement to those who have gone far and long astray, to consider that it is never too late to repent. One winter evening, as I was sitting by the fire, I heard a knock at the door, and the servant announced that a person in the hall wished to speak to me. I went out, and found a shabby-looking, dirty, squalid creature, who, after some apology for the
intrusion, introduced himself as, the son
of. I had heard for many years of his
career, and lamented it, for his father’s sake, who was an eminent minister of the gospel, as well as for his own. Although I had known him in his better days, I did not recognise him in his prodigal appearance. As soon as he was seated in the dining-room, and I had the opportunity more clearly to see his degradation and wretchedness, I burst into tears, arid he too was affected to see that the knowledge of his career had not extinguished all my sympathy for his misery. I relieved him, and he departed. This youth, after being spoiled by his mother, whose only child he was, and who, though she erred in this instance, was in most others an admirable woman, became wayward at home, and unsettled abroad. He served his time with a professional gentleman, and at this period formed some bad associations, and contracted some bad habits, among which was a fatal propensity to drinking. By various plans formed, and broken, about settling in business, he wasted all his patrimony, and became dependent on his friends, still retaining his habits of idleness and drinking. One situation after another was found for him by those whose kindness he defeated in all their attempts to serve him; till at length, wearied in endeavouring to serve a man who would not serve himself, they were obliged to give him up. His ruin now was complete. He became a perfect vagabond, and roamed through the country, herding with the lowest wretches, sometimes begging, and resorting to all kinds of methods to procure a meager sustenance, and drag on his miserable life. On one occasion, he called upon a friend of his father’s in London, in such a beggarly, filthy condition, that before he could be admitted into the house a tub of water was placed in an out-building, that he might cleanse himself, a suit of old clothes was given him, and his rags instantly consumed. Thus clothed and relieved, it was hoped he might now do better, according to his promise: but in a few days, all was pawned, and he again clothed in rags, that he might drink with the few shillings obtained as the balance in this barter of decent apparel for that which merely covered his limbs. Thus he went on, till he had seen the interior of workhouses, lock-up houses, and prisons. He had associated with the offscouring of society, had be come hardened in vice, and almost stupified by want and wo; and, one should suppose, had been long lost to every sense of decency, and every hope or desire of reformation. Yet, this prodigal of prodigals did at last find his way back to his heavenly Father’s house. In his wanderings, he ram bled into a town, where he made himself known to a minister of the gospel, who felt an interest in him for his revered father’s sake. This gentleman, not discouraged or disheartened by the numerous disappointments which had already occurred, took him under his care, clothed him, and procured him support. The prodigal’s heart melted under this distinguished kindness; his mind opened to religious instruction; and repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ followed. He lived long enough to make a consistent profession of true religion, and died in the peaceful hope of that blessed world into which “nothing entereth that defileth, or worketh abomination, or maketh a lie.” His repentance, however, came too late to gladden the spirit of his mother; (his father died before his vicious course commenced;) her constitution was impaired by grief, and she sank broken-hearted to the grave. What a meeting in the heavenly world — who can imagine it? — of this hopeless disappointed, and sorrow-stricken mother, and this returned prodigal, the source of her deepest grief, and the hastener of her death!
Prodigal son, was there ever a seemingly more hopeless case than this? Is yours more hopeless? Turn, then, from your evil ways. God’s mercy, through Christ, is great enough to pardon even your sins, if you truly repent and unfeignediy believe in the promise of salvation. The Holy Spirit can change even your hard heart, if you wish to be changed, and if you pray in faith for the grace that is necessary to effect it.
If your parents yet live, return to your father’s house, reformed, and do all that can be done to heal the wounds of his bleeding heart, and to wipe away the tears from a mother’s eyes. Make them yet rejoice that you are their son. In the evening-tide of their existence, let there be light. Let their gray hairs go down to the grave, not in sorrow, but in joy; and let it be a consolation to them on their death-bed, that they have received you, penitent and reformed, to their earthly home, and hope to meet you, and dwell with you for ever in their heavenly mansion. Or, if your repentance comes too late to stay their progress to the tomb, or cheer their hearts, sickened and saddened with the foreboding that they are parting from you for ever, go sorrowfully all your days, at the thought of having shortened their existence by your sins; but still comforted and sustained by the hope that they were among the spirits in heaven that re- •’oiced over your repentance, and that they gave utterance to their joys among the angels of God, saying, “Rejoice with us: for this our son was dead, and is alive; was lost, and is found.” There is a home for all truly penitent prodigals, in heaven; and there is a home for all impenitent ones, but it is — in hell.
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HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION OF THE CFIURCH OF ENGLAND. By GILBERT BURNET, D.D., late Bishop of Salisbury. With a Collection of Records, and a copious Index, revised and corrected, with additional Notes and a Preface, by the Rev. E. Nares, D.D. Illustrated with a Frontispiece and twenty-three Portraits on steel. Forming four elegant 8vo. vols. of near 600 pages each. $8 00.
To the student either of civil or religious history no epoch can be of more importance than that of the Reformation in England. It signalized the overthrow, in one of its strongest holds, of the Roman power, and gave an impulse to the human mind, the full results of which are even now but partly realized. Almost all freedom of inquiry — all toleration in matters of religion, had its birth-hour then; and without a familiar acquaintance with all its principal events, but little progress can be made in understanding the nature and ultimate tendencies of the revolution then effected.
The History of Bishop BURNET is one of the most celebrated and by far the most frequently quoted of any that has been written of this great event. Upon the original publication of the first volume, it was received in Great Britain with the loudest and most extravagant encomiums. The author received the thanks of both Houses of Parliament, and was requested by them to continue the work. In continuing it he had the assistance of the most learned and eminent divines of his time; and he confesses his indebtedness for important aid to LLOYD, TILLOTSON and STILLINGFLEET, three of the greatest of England’s Bishops. ‘’ I know,” says he, in his Preface to the second volume, “that nothing can more effectually recommend this work, than to say that it passed with their hearty approbation, after they had examined it with that care which their great zeal for the cause concerned in it, and their goodness to, the author and freedom with him, obliged them to use.”
The present edition of this great work has been edited with laborious care by Ur. Nares, who professes to have corrected important errors into which the author fell, and to have made such improvements in the order of the work as will render it far more useful to the reader or historical student. Preliminary explanations, full and sufficient to the clear understanding of the author, are given, and marginal references are made throughout the book, so as greatly to facilitate and render accurate its consultation. The whole is published in four large octavo volumes of six hundred pages in each — printed upon heavy paper in large and clear type. It contains portraits of twenty-four of the most celebrated characters of the Reformation, and is issued in a very neat style. It will of course find a place in every theologian’s library — and will, by no means, we trust, be confined to that comparatively limited sphere.
2 D. Appleton $ Co.’* Catalogue of Valuable Works.
BURNET ON THE XXXIX. ARTICLES.
An Exposition of the Thirty -nine Articles of the Church of England. By GILBERT BURNET, D.D., late Bishop of Salisbury. With an Appendix, containing the Augsburg Confession — Creed of Pope Pius IV, &c. Revised and corrected, with copious Notes and additional References, by the Rev. James R. Page, A.M., of Queen’s College, Cambridge. In one handsome 8vo. volume. $2 00.
“No Churchman, no Theologian, can stand in need of information as to the character or value of Bishop Burnet’s Exposition, which long since took its fitting place as one of the acknowledged and admired standards of the Church. It is only needful that we speak of the labours of the editor of the present ediiion, and these appear to blend a fitting modesty with eminent industry and judgment. Thus, while Mr. Page has carefully verified, and in many instances corrected and enlarged the references to the Fathers, Councils and other authorities, and greatly multiplied the Scripture citations — for the Bishop seems in many cases to have forgotten that his readers would not all be as familiar with the Sacred Text as himself, and mit!ht not as readily find a passage even when they knew it existed — he (Mr. P.) has scrupulously left the text untouched, and added whatever illustrative matter he has been able to gather in the form of Notes and an Appendix. The documents collected in the latter are of great and abiding value.”
PEARSON ON THE CREED.
An Exposition of the Creed. By JOHN PEARSON, D.D., late Bishop of Chester. With an Appendix, containing the Principal Greek and Latin Creeds. Revised and corrected by the Rev. W. S. Dobson, M.A., Peterhouse, Cambridge. In one handsome 8vo. volume. $2 00.
The following may be stated as the advantages of this edition over all others.
First — Great care has been taken to correct the numerous errors in the references to the texts of Scripture which had crept in by reason of the repeated editions through which this admirable work has passed; and many references, as will be seen on turning to the Index of Texts, have been added.
Secondly — The Quotations in the Notes have been almost universally identified and the references to them adjoined.
Lastly — The principal Syrnbola or Creeds, of which the particular Articles have been cited by the author, have been annexed; and wherever the original writers have given the Symbola in a scattered and disjointed manner, the detached parts have been brought into a successive and connected point f view. These have been added in chronological order in the form of an Appendix. — Vide Editor.
Jflagee on Atonement and Sacrifice.
Discourses and Dissertations on the Scriptural Doctrines of Atonement and Sacrifice, and on the Principal Arguments advanced, and the Mode of Reasoning employed by the Opponents of those Doctrines, as held by the Established Church. By the late most Rev. Wm. M’Gee, D.D., Archbishop of Dublin. Two vols. royal 8vo. beautifully printed. $5 00.
“This is one of the ablest critical and polemical works of modern times. Archbishop Magee i ruly a maleus hereticolum. He is an excellent scholar, an acute reaspner, and is possessed of a most extensive acquaintance with the wide field of argument to which hie volumes are devoted — the profound Biblical information on a variety of topics which the Archbishop brings forward, must endear dig name to all lovers of Christianity.’’ — Orme.
PALMER’S
TREATISE ON THE CHURCH.
A Treatise on the Church of Christ. Designed chiefly for the use of Students in Theology. By the Rev. William Palmer, M.A., of Worcester College, Oxford. Edited, with Notes, by the Right Rev. W. R. Whittingham, D.D., Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Maryland. Two vols. 8vo., handsomely printed on fine paper. $5 00.
“The treatise of Mr. Palmer is the best exposition and vindication of Church Principles that we have ever read; excelling contemporaneous treatises in depth of learning and solidity of judgment, as much as it excels older trratises on the like subjects, in adaptation to the wants and habits of the age. Of its influence in England, where it has passed through two editions, we have not the means to form an opinion; but we believe that in this country it has already, even before its reprint, done more to restore the sound tone of Catholic principles and reeling than any other one work of the age. The author’s learning and powers of combination and” arrangement, great as they obviously are, are less remarkable than the sterling good sense, the vigorous and solid judgment, which is everywhere manifest in the treatise, and confers on it its distinctive excellence. Tbe style of the author is distinguished for dignity and masculine energy, while his tone is everywhere natural; on proper occasions, reverential; and always, so far as we remember, sufficiently conciliatory.
“To our clergy and intelligent laity, who desire to see the Church justly discriminated from Romanists on the one hand, and dissenting denominations on the other, we earnestly commend Palmer’s Treatiseon the Church.” — N. Y. Churchman.
PAROCHIAL SERMONS,
BY JOHN HENRY NEWMAN, B.D.,
Fellow of the Oriel College and Vicar of St. Mary the Virgin’s, Oxford. The six volumes of the London edition complete in two elegant 8vo. volumes of upwards of 600 pages each. $5 00. $jr Mr. Newman’s Sermons have probably attained a higher character than any others ever published in this country. The following recom mendatory letter (is one of the many) received by the publishers during their progress through the press.
From the Bishop of North Carolina.
Raleigh, Nov. 28, 18*2.
Your letter announcing your intention to republish the Parochial Sermons of the Rev. John Henry Newman, B.D., Oxford, has given me sincere pleasuie. In complying with your request for my opinion of them, I do not hesitate to say, — after a constant use of them in my closet, and an observation of their effect upon some of my friends, for the last six years, — that they are among the very best practical sermons in the English language; that while they are free from those extravagances of opinion usually ascribed to the author of the 90th Tract, they assert in the strongest manner the true doctrines of the Reformation in England, and eri force with peculiar solemnity and efi’ect that holiness of life, with the means thereto, so characteristic of the Fathers of that trying age. With high respect and esteem, your friend and servant,. L. S. IVES.
HARE’S PAROCHIAL SERMONS.
Sermons to a Country Congregation. By Augustus William Hare, A.M., late Fellow of New College, and Rector of Alton Barnes. One volume, royal 8vo. $2 25.
i the most simple Ian
i forced
oy apt ana vanea illustrations- -will be delighted with this volume, which presents us with the workings of a pious and highly gifted mine
“Any one who can be pleased with delicacy of thought expressed in the most simple guage — any one who can feel the charm of finding practical duties elucidated and enforced by apt and varied illustrations- -will be delighted with this volume, which presents us wiUi workings of a pious and highly gifted mind,” — Qtiar. Review.
THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST;
Or, Hints respecting the Principles, Constitution, and Ordinances of the Catholic Church. By FREDERICK DENISON MAURICE, M. A. Chaplain of Guy’s Hospital, Professor of English Literature and History, King’s College, London. In one elegant octavo volume of 600 pages, uniform in style with Newman’s Sermons, Palmer on the Church, &c. $2 50.
“Mr. Maurice’s work is eminently fitted to engage the attention and meet the want? irf all interested in the several movements that are now talcing place in the religious community: it takes up the pretensions generally of the several Protestant denominations and of the Kornanists, so as to commend itself in the growing interest in the controversy between the latter and their opponents. The political portion of the work contains much that rs attractive to a thoughtful man, of any or of no religious persuasion, iri reference to the existing and po» bible future state of our country.”
A MANUAL FOR COMMUNICANTS;
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THE PRIMITIVE DOCTRINE OF
ELECTI O N:
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