Words to the Young

Let us not lose sight of the fact that we are probationers here, on test and trial, and that everything is at stake, to be lost or won. Individually we are daily deciding our own destiny either for eternal life or eternal death. If we would have eternal life, we must cooperate with God, and thus reach the Bible standard, conforming our characters to the character of our Lord Jesus Christ. All the heavenly intelligences are interested in the great strife that is going on, and angels long to have us earnestly seek for the crown of immortal glory. Let every soul strive most zealously during these precious hours of probation, to form the very character that he would wish to have completed and perfected when our Lord comes in power and great glory.

Listen to the words of John, that come down the lines to us: “Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure” (1 John 3:3). In this world we have temporal duties to perform, and in the performance of these duties we are forming characters that will either stand the test of the judgment or be weighed in the balances and found wanting. We may do the smallest duties nobly, firmly, faithfully, as if seeing the whole heavenly host looking upon us. Take a lesson from the gardener. If he wishes a plant to grow, he cultivates and trims it; he gives water, he digs about its roots, plants it where the sunshine will fall upon it, and day by day he works about it; and not by violent efforts, but by acts constantly repeated, he trains the shrub until its form is perfect, and its bloom is full. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ works upon the heart and mind as an educator. The continued influence of His Spirit upon the soul, trains and molds and fashions the character after the divine model. Let the youth bear in mind that a repetition of acts, forms habit, and habit, character. “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man” (Luke 21:36). Are you, my youthful friends, able to look forward with joyful hope and expectancy toward the day when the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall appear? and will He confess your name before the Father and before His holy angels?

The very best preparation we can have for His second coming, is to rest with firm faith, with trust and unshaken confidence, in the great salvation brought to us at His first advent. We must believe that Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. Is He your personal Saviour? Are you, because the love of Jesus is abiding in your heart, saved from making mistakes and errors? Is the love of Christ a living, active agent in your soul, correcting, reforming, refining you, and purifying you from your wrong practices? There is need of cultivating every grace that Jesus, through His suffering and death, has brought within your reach. You are to manifest the grace that has been so richly provided for you, in the small as well as in the large concerns of life.

There are young men and young women who are very much opposed to order and discipline. They pay no heed to rules for rising and retiring at regular hours, but burn the midnight oil, and then lie in bed in the morning for one or two hours after daylight. At night they depend upon artificial light; for they regard the expenditure of money for artificial light as a trivial matter, and break up all the precious habits of order. They idle away their time in the morning hours, and thus make it necessary to stay up at night, and use fuel and light for which there must be extra expense, when, had they properly employed the early hours, there would have been no need of late hours. It is true they will make the excuse for their late hours, that they cannot get through their work. They will say, “There are things that I must do before I can retire for the night.” Would it not be well to break up the habit of turning the precious morning hours into night, and turning the hours of night into day by the use of artificial light?

How prevalent is the habit of turning day into night, and night into day. Many youth sleep soundly in the morning, when they should be up with the early singing birds, and be stirring when all nature is awake. Let youth practice regularity in the hours for going to bed, and for rising and they will improve in health, in mind, in spirit, in disposition. Let them purpose in their hearts that they will bring themselves under discipline, and practice orderly rules. God is a God of order, and it is the duty of the youth to observe strict rules; for such practices will work for their advantage.

As far as possible, it is well to consider what is to be accomplished through the day. Make a memorandum of the different duties that await your attention, and set apart a certain time for the doing of each duty. Let everything be done with thoroughness, neatness, and dispatch. If it falls to your lot to do the chamber [house] work, then see that the rooms are well aired, and that the bed clothing is exposed to the sunlight. Give yourself a number of minutes to do the work, and do not stop to read papers and books that take your eye, but say to yourself, “No, I have just so many minutes in which to do my work, and I must accomplish my task in the given time.” If the room is decorated with little ornaments, and you would have an eye single to the glory of God, let these little idols be stored away; but if this cannot be done, and these ornaments must be exposed for your admiration, then handle them expeditiously. Do not take them up, one after another, and as you dust them, dream over each one, and hesitate and admire, keeping it in your hand as though you were loth to replace it. Let those who are naturally slow of movement, seek to become active, quick, energetic, remembering the words of the apostle, “Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord” (Romans 12:11). —The Youth’s Instructor, September 7, 1893.

—To be continued in the next issue.