Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1907-01-18
s7.'TIA|zN| ~,
1,,o49,U., ;.
lthG
z1SSszSsszSzsszsSSs@
WARNING TO THE YOUNG.
-zys5zSSS5ss7:;s=55s ss=:s===SSS5:o:ss5ss55zS5S

by hSV. u. w. SnYQer.
Rejoice, o young man, in thy youth,
and let thy heart cheer thee in the days
of thy youth, and walk in the ways of
thine heart, and in the sight of thine
eyes, but know thou that for all these
things God will bring thee into judg
ment.-Eccl. 11:9.
So said Solomon-Solomon the great,
the wise, the magnificent. He had drunk
to the full of all the pleasures" that
the world could give him and at the
last in his old age he could find no
pleasure in them. Stated, worn, weary,
he said:
vanity, vanity, all is vanity"
Very likely he was thinking Of the
Solomon that then was and the Solo
mon that might have been-recalling
his superb gifts, his magnificent oppor
tunities. Perhaps he had been think
ing Of the time when as a boy he as
cended the throne of David, of the time
when God appeared to him in a dream
by night, saying; ASK what l shall
give thee Who ever had such an
offer? And yet, with all the world to
choose from, the young Solomon said:
"Give thy servant an understanding
heart to judge thy people, that l may
discern between good and bad"
Well would it have been for him had
he remained Of that mind. But even
Solomon was not always wise. With
luxury came temptation; with success
came sin; with sin came sorrow. In
the end came WEAKNESS and a dreary
gift of years when he could only say,
Il have no pleasure in them"
Looking from his roof garden wall
he saw the young men go trooping by
and, thinking Of the time when he, too,
was young and full of the joy Of life,
he said:
"Rejoice, o young man, in thy youth,
and let thy heart cheer thee in the days
Of thy youth, and walk in the ways Of
thine heart, and in the sight of thine
eyes but know thou that for all these
things God will bring thee into judg
ment."
God had brought Solomon into judg-
ment. In his old age he was paying
the penalty that always comes soon or
late. The sins of his youth, of middle
age of old age, had found him out at
the last. AS it was with him it will
be with all that walk in wicked ways.
What wonder that he said: "Know
that for all these things God will bring
thee into Judgment" SO said Solomon.
He found it to be so in the days of his
sin-darkened old age. Yes, for wasted
opportunities and sinful self-indulgence
God was bringing him into Judgment.
All literature is full of such confess
sions.
On his thirty-third birthday time
when a man should be at his best, the
very age when the Redeemer gave his
life for. us all-Lord Byron said:
Through life's dull road, so dim and dirty,
| have dragged on to three-and-thirty.
And what have these years left to me?
Nothing, except three and-thirty.
He had sown to the wind.
He was reaping the whirlwind. What
wonder that still later in his short life
he should say:
My days are in the yellow leaf,
The flower, the fruits of love are gone.
The worm, the canker and the grief
Are mine alone.
All, how many, when it was too late,
have regretted vainly the sins Of their
youth. Hartley Coleridge was the gift
- o~Sr {aI 60 l.
young, brilliant, highly educated, with
every prospect for a great future, but
he wasted his opportunities, and little
by little became a slave to strong drink.
While yet young he wrote on the fly
leaf of his Bible, his dead mothers
gift:
When | received this volume small
My days were barely II,
When it was hoped | should be all
Which once, alas! l might have been.
And now my years are %,
And every mother hopes her lamb,
And every happy boy alive,
May never be what now | am.
Let us think, however, of the iniunc-
ton of the text as an incentive to no
BILE purpose and high hopes.
Rejoice, O young man, in thy
youth You may. You should. Know
that in doing it you have the sympa-
thetic interest of all good men and good
angels. yes, and of your Lord and Sa-
vior, Christ, who said: II am come
that We might have life and have it
more abundantly." He would not rob
you of any real true JOY in life Rath-
er He would add to every pure pleas
ure the browning joy of all-the knowl-
edge of God and the peace Of God,
which passeth all understanding.
THE POWER OF RELIGION.
By Rev. Henry Knott
Text.-"Be We therefore perfect even
as your Father which is in heaven is
perfect Matthew 5 4S.
The Sermon on the Mount contains
the sum and substance Of Christianity.
In other words we find it to be the very