Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1907-03-01
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l21.EpibE'
WARNING TO THE YOUNG.

By Rev. A. W.

RSJolce, " young man, IN tiny 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. 11:0.
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. Sated, 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-
tunitles. 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 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,
II 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
sions.
On his thirty third birthday-a 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 lifes dull road, so dim and dirty,
/ have dragged on to thirty.
And what have these years left to me?
Nothing, except three-and-thirty.
| ne Hdu SOWu 10 lle Wllu.
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.
Ah, how many, when it was too late
have regretted vainly the sins of theil
youth. Hartley Coleridge was the gift
ed son Of a gifted father. He was
young, brilliant, highly educated, with
every prospect for great future, but
he wasted his opportunities, and little
by little became 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 l should be all
Which once, alas l might have been
And now my years are 20,
And every mother hopes her lamb,
And every happy boy alive,
May never be what now l am.
Let us think, however, Of the injunc
ton of the text as an incentive to no
bic 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 goot
angels, yes, and of your Lord and Sa
vior, Christ, who said: 81 am com,
that ye might have life and have i
more abundantly." He would not rol
you of any real true joy in life. Rath
er He would add to every pure pleas
| ure the browning ioy of all-the knoWl