The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1878-04-18
sunday-schooi Lessons.
ESQ Did Not l."

AS WE walk through HiStory WIN
Diogenes' lantern in our hand, it is al
WAYS pleasant to come upon an honest
and q noble man Such an n was
Nehemiah, the rebuilder and reformer
of Jerusalem. He stands in the Script
ure gallery of characters as John
Hampden's statue stands in the line OF
illustrious worthless which TANKS the
entrance to the British Parliament.
Nehemiah was a man who under
stood the power Of that prodigious
word s.no." When he left the Persian
capital at Sbushan, he went down to
Jerusalem, determined to do something
to relieve his suffering people there.
The dear old city was in ruins. The
Jews who had returned thither from
Babylon were oppressed and plundered.
| The same kind of abuses had crept in
which have disgraced some of u city
| governments. Nehemiah lays hold of
| practical reforms with al unsparing
hand. First, he u the people
with a trumpet peal to "rise up and
build'' the ruined walls. Then he
abolishes the oppressive taxation, and
| the dissertations of the Sabbath and the
Temple. His predecessors in Office had
| been receiving big salaries, and had al
lowed their underlings to fleece the
people. Nehemiah might have cited
their example as a precedent, and fol-
lowed in their wake-after the manner
in which greedy ~officeholders or plum
derers thrust their arms into public
treasures in our day. But his simple,
manly statement is, $50 did not L, be-
cause of the fear of God" Nobly said!
We wish every young nan would write
those sharp, ringing words in his note
book, and determine to make the same
answer whenever he is tempted to do a
selfish or a wicked act.
The most tremendous word in the
English language is the short yet
mighty word NO. It has been the
pivot on which innumerable destinies
have turned, for this world and the
next. Spoken at the right moment, it
has saved multitudes from disgrace,
from ruin
The downward pull of sin is ire
mendous. To be able firmly to say
"Yet will / not'' requires the grace
from above in the heart. There is a
subtle pull, also, in the drift of sinful
fashion and usage which carries away
every one who is not we'll established
on a Bible conscience. Three-fourths
of all the persons who are drowned on
the seashore are swept out by the under
tow. This the secret influence which
takes hold of so many of the church,
members and carries them off into ex-
travagant living, into sinful amuse-
ments and all n of worldly con-
formities. Every true Christian is
bound to be a nonconformist. If he is
not well anchored for Christ, he is
swept away by the undertow. The
bottom of the great deep is strewed
with such backsliders.
l would press this truth home upon
every young man who reads this arti-
Gle: Your salvation depends on your
ability to say emo" When your
principle is put to the test, ask Gods
help and stand firm. y
In every school the difference is
clearly marked between the boy who
has moral pluck and the boy who is
mere pulp. The one knows how to say
"No.H The other is so afraid of being
thought "verdant' that he soon kills
everything pure, and fresh, and manly
in his character, and dries up into a
premature hardness of heart. Five
lads were once gathered in. a 20 at
boarding-schnol, and four of them en-
gagged in a game of cards, which was
expressly forbidden by the rules. One
of the players was called out. The
three said to the quiet lad, who was
busy at something else: "Come, take a
hand with us. 1t is too bad to have the
game broken up" 81 do not know
one card from another" THAT makes
no difference" exclaimed the players.
1--WE will showyou how. Come along"
Now, that was a turning,,point in that
lads life. He nobly said: "My father
does not wish me to play cards, and !
will not disobey him." That sentence
settled the matter and settled his posi-
ton among his associates. He was the
boy who could say "No;'' and thence
forward his victories were made easy
and sure. / well remember the pres
sure brought to bear in college upon
every young man to join in a wlne-
drink or to take a hand in some contra
band amusement. Some timber got
well seasoned. Some of the other sort
got well rotted through with sensuality
and vice. The Nehemiahs at college
have been Nehemiahs ever since. The
boy was father of the man.
The only motive that could hold back
the brave nonconformist at Jerusalem
was a cody conscience: $50 did not
l, because Of the fear of God" This
ev~er-present principle held him firm
when temptation struck him, as the
undercurrents strike against the keel.
What. the fear of God did for Nehemiah,
faith in the Lord Jesus will do for you.
Christ must be to you a pattern, and
He must be to you a power. It is not
enough to believe on Jesus. You must
"add to your faith courage" (for that is
the real meaning of the word translated
virtue in our English Bibles).
Then, with Christ as your model and
Christ as your inward might, you will
always be able to face down temptation
with the iron answer, $50 will not l."
-T. L. Cuyler, d. D., in N. Y. Inde-
pendent.
Profitable Reading.