The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1881-08-24
Omr Contributors.
Friendly Counsels to Young Men
BY REV. n. R. RAYMOND, D. D.,
MARION, ALA.

Though youth has gwen way to matu-
rity, and we must feel and speak as men,
yet thought loves to linger about the
scenes of early life, and in the back-look
of memory our hearts often throb in uni
son with the warm impulses of young
men around US. We would say cheering
words to them, hoping to awaken and
nourish in them the noblest ambition.
Without being less cheerful, they need not
be giddy. Retaining all the ardor and
vivacity of ife's morning, they can be
sober-minded and discreet. The apostle
Paul charged Titus to urge young men
to be sober-minded. If youthful indis-
erection is pardonable, youthful discretion
is highly commendable. 1t is life unto
thy soul and grace unto thy neck, says
the proverb.
Be young men of principle Base your
conclusions of thought and life on truth,
and never on error or falsehood, however
fascinating. 1t was noble position Da-
vid occupied when he avowed CT have
chosen the way of truth" The bane OF
society is unprincipled men, the brief
record of whose lives is thus stated
in the Bible "The way of truth have
they not known" A celebrated English
statesman, who held office under both
Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth, gave
this reply to one who inquired how he
managed to keep his place under two
such opposite sovereigns: "By always
initiating the willow instead of the oak"
How different the man of principle |
Like the giant of the forest, he will not
bend to every passing breeze. Popular
ity and party, place and power, are with
him trifes compared with truth and in
tegrity. This unfinching devotion to
principle is the main element of true
manliness. 1t makes men of worth, val
ued for their worth, and worth more still
than many value them. The motto is an
admirable one that Tennyson is said to
have had wrought in the tiles on the
pavement of his entrance hall: "The
truth against the world"
Select your associates for the purity
and uprightness of their character rather
than on account of any mere social or
worldly endowments The discovery of
vicious principles and corrupt tastes in
such as you have invited to your conf
dence is sufficient cause for breaking up
the fellowship. He that walketh with
wise men shall be wise, but the companion
OF fools shall be destroyed" You cannot
afford to run this risk. Your character
is too precious; your soul too precious.
You may properly act friendly part
even towards corrupt men. GAS ye have
opportunity do good to all men," But
while living in charity towards all, make
companions of those only whose influence
will be elevating. Moral wrecks strew
the beach of young manhood, because no
heed is taken to the warning of the Spirit,
Evil communications corrupt good man
ners." fear there is too much truth in
the affirmation Of John B. Cough, which
he bases on his own fertile experience,
that you cannot take away the effect of a
single impure thought that has lodged
and harbored in the heart. You NAV
pray against it, and by Gods grace you
may conquer it but, says he, it will,
through life, cause you bitterness and an
guish. Set your face, then, like flint
against any intimacy with those who
have God and his religion in contempt.
If they say, Come with us; cast in thy
lot among us: my son, walk not thou in
the way with them refrain thy foot from
their path; for their feet run to evil"
Be cautious about the reading matter
with which you store and feed the mind.
There is dark side to the boast that this
is an age of books. These "ships of
thought" as Bacon terms them, bringing
their cargoes from all ages and lands, the
product Of minds Of every moral tone,
enter our homes and Libraries freighted
often with fatal poison. 1t was only a
quarter Of an hour, says John Angel
James, that a bosom friend permitted me
to examine an immoral book, and he
avows that there is nothing he would not