East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1860-03-08
From the y. Y. Evening Post
"Tast Young Men" i'm the Pulpit
The Fast Young Mm Of 1000 b. e., and
the Fast Young Nan Of 1000 II. ID.

The Fast Young Nan Of 900 B. e., and
the Fast Young Man Of 1000 n. ID.
Rev. ELDRIDoE G. Brooks, of the
Twentieth street Universalist Church,
preached last Sunday afternoon the eighth
of his series of dscourses on the "Repre-
sentative Characters in the Old Testa-
ment " choosing for his subject "Absolom,
the Fast Young Man, The text was
from Samuel, xiv, 25, and XIV, /:
ain all Israel there was none so much
praised as Absolom for his beauty. :"
And Absolom prepared him chariots, and
horses, and fifty men to run before him."
After reviewing the character of Abas
lom, as recorded in the Scriptures and
supported by the corroborative testimony
of ancient historians, and showing that
his mode of extravagant living, his crimes,
his base ingratitude to his royal father,
the fact that his death was caused by one
of the personal attractions of which he
was so proud, and was buried in ga great
pit in the wood" and covered with
nameless heap of stones, the speaker pro-
ceeded:
And after this review of this career
need say why he reached this end, or
that only too graphically he represents
the methods, tendencies and inevitable
results of a Fast Young Man? Life is
ever, through all change of time or cir
cumstance, essentially the same. Names
and dates differ; scenery, costumes and
actors change; situations and attitudes
vary; but it is essentially the same great
drama that is constantly acted over and
over again on the stage of the world.
Substitute Bloomingdale road for the
riding courses of Judea-the brown stone
fronts and luxurious appointments of
modern aristocracy for the dwelling and
furniture of the Jews--or the drinking
shops, the gambling hell and the house
of assignation or prostitution of to-day
for the hauuts Of the dissolute in the
shadow Of Mount Zion-and with this
difference, the fast young man of this city
and to-day, whether one of the roughs or
one of the ton, whether on the Bowery or
on Broadway, is the same in his cardinal
estimate of life, in substantive aims and
character, and in the direction and ten
dency of his course, as this fast young
man of two thousand eight hundred years
ago. Absalom is dead; and the great
heap of stones piled above his dishonored
body has crumbled, and his burial-place
is forgotten; but never since he so ignom-
iniously ended his career have there fail
ed to be those who in some way were re-
enacting his part; and to-day there are
vast numbers in the world who have only
to look to him, in the kind of life he
lived, in the kind Of character he formed,
ip the kind of death he died, to see what
essentially is their life-what the charac-
ter towards which they are aiming, and
what, unless they change themselves be-
times, will be the kind of death they will
surely die"
In viewing Absalom as type Of a class,
the speaker proceeded to refer specially
to three things among many others:
l. The grief and disappointment he oc-
casioned.
III. The low estimate of life on which
he acted.
III. The speedy and dishonora able
end which he reached.
Under the first head the speaker al
luded to the misery caused in families by
the dissolute young men of the present
time. In the second place, our subject
teaches that, looking at Absalom, as the
type of class, we see the ignoble esti-
mate of life of which 'fast" career is
born. Absalom did not Ire; he only
grovelled He saw no grand or noble
meaning in existence He recognized no
great principles to which life should con-
form, and no lofty or generous aims by
which it should be filled. All its more
serious employments and soberer satisiac-
tons were to him very dull and prosy
things, altogether without flame orsparkle.
He thought of himself only as body
seldom or never as a soul. Life to him,
therefore, was simply season to possess,
to enjoy, to sport, to drink, to dash and
to make a display. And if any serious.
minded friend ever ventured to speak to
him of God and responsibility, and his re-
ligious needs and duties, he doubtless
only laughed and turned away, saying,
Time enough for that-perhaps sneering.
ly pronounced all such talk only "gam.
mon" and "cant."
And here we have the estimate of life
upon which every fast or vicious career
proceeds. This, indeed, is the definition
of "fast" young man, one who forgets
that he is anything more than a body, oil
that he is in this world for any other OBJ
iect than for mere enjoyment.
But it is time that we come to the fina
lesson of our subject. Absalom, as the
result of his fast and dishonored life, died
a young man, an ignominious and dishon
ored death. And this, as you do not neet
that should say, only illustrates tn,
general law. II 'Jast" life cannot be hret
wih mpmity. In this field of waste anC
disorder, as in every other, Gods violated
law, however it may be forgotten, nevei
fails to assert and vindicate itself
"The vicious die early" They fade lik,
shadows, or tumble like wrecks and ruin
into the grave--often when quite young
almostalways before forty. "Bloody men,
says the psalmst, "shall not live out hal
their days." and the remark is equal.
true of "last" men. They live unsteady
spend their twelve hours in six; turn nigh