beyond the present to the future. Sense deals alone with the things that are "temporal," faith deals with the things that are "eternal." To the eye of sense the world will appear substantial, attractive, and permanent, and all beyond it dim, shadowy, and unreal. But to the eye of faith the reverse presents itself; the world assumes its true character-empty, polluted, and passing away, while the future unfolds itself filled with great, solemn, and eternal realities. Your decision, then, must be made, if made aright, in the exercise of that faith which is the "substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” You must lose sight of the world's tinsel and vanities, and turn a deaf ear to its syren song; regarding it as "dazzling but to blind, as leading but to bewilder;" you must contemplate it as one of your greatest foes, against which you have need to be armed at every point. And, O my reader, what a formidable foe it is? How beguiling and ensnaring, how treacherous and fatal! And shall this be your choice? What if you realise all that its rank and wealth, its honours and its pleasures promise, and gain the stake for which you cast the die—you lose your own soul! And is that nothing? Is it nothing to lose yourself, and be cast away? But what if you choose Christ as your portion? oh, blessed choice will that be! Christ is just the Saviour and Friend, the Counsellor and Guide that you need at the present moment. The period has arrived when you must cease to be cradled in the soft indulgence and repose of a parent's home. You have now become, in an important sense, independent and responsible. You are to think and compare, to decide and act for yourself. Your bark-to speak figuratively-is launching out alone upon the stormy and uncertain sea of life. You are no longer to creep, as you have been wont, along the shore, gliding upon its smooth and shallow waters, sheltered and shaded by its overhanging mountains; but stretching out upon the deep broad ocean, you are about to spread your daring canvas to its winds, braving and breasting its huge billows. What a scene now opens upon you! The green hills are fading in the distance; your home is receding from your view, while before you stretches a broad waste of waters, the crested wave, and the endless blue sky. And does no one stand upon the shore you have just quitted, watching with tearful eye, and with thrilling heart, and with tremulous hope, and with silent prayer, the precious bark, as "From billow to bounding billow cast, Like the fleecy snow on the stormy blast?" Yes! there is one-a parent, it may be-perhaps a mother-gazing with unblinking eye upon its every movement. And many a sigh is heaved, and many a tear is shed, and many a prayer ascends, unheard and unseen by others, but of which the "record is in heaven, and the witness is on high." You, my reader, are the individual whose present course I have been depicting. You are on the eve of commencing the untried and perilous voyage of life. How much of its future history depends upon the decision which you may make at its commencement! The choice lies between Christ and the world. A life of religion, or a life of worldliness. A life for the glory of God, or for the gratification of self. A life for time, or for eternity. A life for heaven, or for hell! Thus to one question the great matter is reduced. I have placed before you the consequences of choosing the world as your portion. Listen, while I remind you of some of the blessings that will result from your making choice of Christ. He will be your Redeemer, "mighty to save" you from hell. He will be your Hiding-Place from the "wrath which is to come." He will be your Friend, loving you at all times. He will be your Brother, tender and faithful, sympathising with all your sorrows. He will be your Counsellor, imparting wisdom and direction in all your perplexities. He will be your Leader, guiding you every step. He will be your Advocate in heaven, pleading your cause with the Father against all the assaults of your enemies; and He will at length bring you there, to dwell with Him for ever. Will you, then, for a single moment, place Jesus and the world in competition? Can you hesitate and demur which you will choose? suaded to commence life with Christ. Oh, then, be per I do not ask you, Christ does not require it of you, Christianity does not demand it of you, that you lay down your rank, or relinquish your wealth, or resign your influence, or sunder the ties which bind you to family, to friends, and to the world. This were to oppose yourself to the arrangements of that all-wise Providence, which has ordained all the circumstances of your life, which has mapped every step of your journey, which has appointed the bounds of your habitations, and which directs all the minutiae of your history from first to last. But I do ask you, and Christ invites you, and your best interests plead with you, to enter upon life with making the Lord Jesus your Saviour, your friend, your portion, your everlasting treasure. Oh, begin its important duties, its high responsibilities, its many and varied trials, with a saving knowledge of His person, with an entire reliance upon His salvation, with an assured interest in His love, with a heartfelt experience of His grace, with a soul surrendered to the possession and government of His Spirit. Upon the threshold of the path now opening before you Jesus stands, and in gentle and persuasive accents, says, "Give me thy heart." Yield to His request, and you are happy for time and for eternity. Go in prayer, go in faith, go in sincerity and in truth to the altar of God, and there, before men and angels, exclaim, "I AM THE LORD's.” Oh, blissful moment that finds your heart at rest in Jesus! 6 "Here, Lord! I give myself away, But have you chosen the world as your portion? Have you resolved and decided for the sinful, unsatisfying, wounding, false, and disappointing world?—the world that passeth away? Then let it be! You have chosen the world in preference to Christ, the creature in preference to God, hell in preference to heaven. Then let it be! And as saints and angels, the Church below, and the Church above, witness your mad choice, they will together chant in mournful strains the deathdirge of your soul "She has chosen the world And its paltry crowd; And an endless shroud! She has chosen the world With its misnamed pleasures; She has chosen the world Before heaven's own treasures. "She hath launched her boat On life's giddy sea, For eternity; Is not in her view; And her aim is far From the harbour true. "When the storm descends From an angry sky, Shall the vessel fly? |