St. Paul daily globe., 1895-12-15

Copyright, 1895. by Newspaper Sermon
AsSociation.)
"Walk by the spirit and ye shall not
fulfill the lusts of the tesh."-Gal. ",
10,
In these lines we have succinctly
stated the philosophy of right living.
OF all the questions that confront us
none is SO important as the question
how to live. This is far more import
ant, and, in practical way, for most
of us far more difficult than the ques-
tion how to get living. Yet what
multitudes of people address them
selves almost Exclusively to the latter
question. The great aim of life with
them is to get ON in a material way.
Many of US show a singular want
of wisdom. We realize that to master
trade or business, or profession,
is task that demands toll, persist
ence, watchfulness and constant
thought; but we all expect to master
the art of living we'll without any
great difficulty. At any rate, in the
beginning of active life, before wehave
been sobered and disciplined by ex-
perience, we think much less serious
ly of how to live than of how to get
on in the world.
But soon we meet with many kinds
of temptation; we find opposition
both in the world about us and with
in ourselves, in our untempered nat
ures. We discover that it is harder
than we thought to live up to our
ideas, poor as they may be, and then
we grow discouraged, and, unless
nerved by strong influences, we
sink our ideal lower and lower, until
morally and spiritually, our life is
thinly disguised or openly confess
Sed failure. There is almost no sad
der spectacle than that of the en-
thusiastic, impressionable youth, full
of dreams and ideals, being slowly
transformed into the sordid man or
woman, whose life becomes a mere
daily grind for material ends, or a
feverish devotion to the lower forms
of pleasure.
There are two prominent qualities
of youth that interest us greatly
The first is what I may call it's pos
sibility-its abounding vigor and
hopefulness, it's optimistic antici-
patton of success in whatever direct
ion its currents Of power may move.
"In the bright lexicon of YOUTH -
said Bulwer, "there is no such word
as fail" Youth, too, has fine and
quick instinct for the ideal In this
possibility Of youth lie the vital
germs of all noble endeavor, all
! heroic sacrifice and all great
/; achievement.
+ A second prominent quality of
youth closely associated with the
former is it's temptability. To the
muftifarious appeal of the world and
life without there is quick suscepti-
hilfty within. The inexperience of
youth invites temptation, and it's
very strength is a snare. The young
are naturally generous in taking
risks, as well as in everything else,
and their native fearlessness is as
yetsunqualified by caution. There
are certain common forms of temp
tation which especially assail young
men. l wish to notice several of
these.
L. In the first place there is the
temptation to Illicit or excessive
physical self-indulgence. This is one
of the most common and, think we
must admit, one of the most danger
GUS kinds of temptation. In youth
the natural appetites are keen, pas
sions are strong, and discipline is
still wanting. The sense of true val
ues has scarcely been acquired. AS a
young man seldom knows the worth
OF money, so a young man seldom
knows the worth of life.
The temptation to physical self-in-
dulgence is the more dangerous, be-
cause the mischievous consequences
of excess do not Immediately appear;
at least this is true in many cases,
since the reparative energy of nature
is so vigorous that the damages are
quickly made good. The vitality of
youth seems to give one almost an
immunity from the evil results of
violating natures laws, and this ap-
parent immunity constitutes a peril.
2. There is, in the second place,
the temptation to Incidence. I do not
mean by this that the average young
man is instinctively lazy, but 1 do
mean that almost every one is tempt
ed to slight his work, and to get
around difficulties in the eaiest way,
instead of squarely meeting and
overcoming them. In school the use
of the pony" is familiar to MANY
a student, but many a young man
out of school has his pony" his
device of some sort, for escaping
downright hard work.
We see the evil consequences of
this form of temptation in the crime
of defalcation, into which sometimes
young men fall because they are i'm
patient to be rich, or to enjoy the
luxuries of wealth, and are unwilling
to give the time and hard labor that
are absolutely necessary to the hon.
est requirement Of wealth.
The confirmed social leech - the
man who lives by his wits-began
his contemplate career by yielding
to the temptation to evade down
right hard work.
8. In the third place there is the
temptation to conceit and self-will.
Few men know as much at any other
period of their lives as they do when
they are from eighteen to twenty
three years of age. Sometimes the
sophomore period begins earlier, and
sometimes it lasts longer. Mastered
by his conceit Of superior knowledge,
full of self-will, and undisciplined as
yet by the hard falls which life will
give him bye and bye, young man
often has small respect for the opin-
ions and advice of his elders, and he
is impatient of restraint. Now,
usually, one does not disregard grav-
itation, especially if he is climbing a
mountain, or walking on the edge of
a precipice; but it would be safer to
disregard gravitation in these cir
cumstances than to disregard certain
moral principles in early manhood,
or indeed at any other time of life.
In the one case the carelessness is
very likely to result in bruised and