Litchfield enquirer., 1846-10-08
PERILS OF YOUNG. MEN.

| The Rev. Mr.. Barnes, in his admirable
discourse on the importance ofthe Sabbath to
young men, just published in International
Preacher, has the following beautiful and
striking illustration of the perls to which
young men are exposed along their path in
life:
1t is not sufficient to have escaped from
one danger; to have emerged trium phantly
from one form Of temptation. The Young
man must have escaped every danger, must
have gone safely through all forms oftempt.
alton. There is often point in young
| mans life when he seems to have escaped
danger, but which is, in fact, the prelude to J
| his ruin.
lie has passed through one form OF per-
IL, and seems to be safe, and yet from that
point he will move to destruction, The
mind liuger little while, and then, when
apparently safe, new danger will arise,
and though the struggle may lie arduous and
torturing, it will be too late for rescue. On
the great river that flows west of the Rocky
Mountains 10 the ocean, there is a place
where the waters are compressed by the
rocks into narrow channel, where the riv-
er suddenly falls many feet, pitching aud
tum5ling over the rocks. The passage is
| by no means unattended with danger, but
| Ii is not unfreqnently made in boat. Yet
below that fall there is a greater. danger
still. The waters appear smooth, gliding
onwatds, as if there was no lreachery in its
flow. The boat having shot down the mar
row passage, is seen to stop, and to lie with.
out motion on the bosom of the waters. 1t
neither goes forward nor backward, nor TO-
wards either shore, as if there was a mo.
rnent OF deliberation in which way it should
go. Soon it begins to move, not forward
but in circular direction. 1t moves So
gently, that one who knew not the perils of
the place would feelno alarm; but then COM
mences the fearful struggle. Round it is
swept with increasing velocity, in spite of
the efforts of the boatman. Every oar is
| piled every nerve of tho oarsman is stretch
ed; every effort possible is made at the bow
and the stern to turn the boat from the cur
rent. 1t goes round and round, and ronuJ.
in spite of death-like exertions, increasing
in rapidity as the circles grow smaller, I'M
til having reach ID the centre, in an instant,
the boat and all its crew disappear. Rare
is it that fragment of the boat is seen
afterwards, Or that body that is lost is re
, covered. so there are points in the lives oil
young men, when they seem to have esca,
ped the greatest perils, and when there see ms
to be no dangerous tendency in any direction
: Yet soon there is movement, perhaps com
mensing far from the vortex; and there is
struggle, but the current sweeps into ruin
The young men who are lost by intempranct
and sensuality, do not perish without q
struggle. They do not fay tn cir oars calm.
ly down, and let the current sweep them on
1t is after many struggle-when too late
it is after many conflict, when the power
tina. bears them forward has secured firm,
grasp, that they perish. Now, what the
young man needs for his safety, is for some
steady influence in favor of virtue that shall
bear him through every danger; some pow
er acting on his soul at every point-when
he seems 10 be safe, and when he is seen to
be in danger - when he has escaped one
manifest place of peril, ard when he glides
into more dangerous position, though he
seems TO BE- safe; some steady influence that
shall accompany him up to manhood, and
place him in safety on that elevation beyond
all the dangers that beset youth.