NEGenWeb Project
Resource Center
Church

     THE apostle Paul in his first epistle to the Corinthians (xvi. 13) has given us the watchword for this chapter, "Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong." This was a bit of wise and timely counsel to the Corinthian people. Beset with danger as they were on every hand, Paul, like the general of an army, would inspire courage and strength in words like these. He not only foresaw the danger, but with the courage of a Christian hero, sought to render the aid necessary to avert it. The advice and counsel here given contains the principle and the means by which every young man may avert like dangers in this aggressive age with the zest and avidity of a Christian hero. The charge is founded upon three things fundamentally essential to success in any attitude or vocation in life. First, watchfulness. He who carelessly gropes about in life is sure to land unexpectedly in some unseen pitfall. Of the

Christian life this is doubly true. Second, 'faith." The man without faith (if there is such a thing) is like a vessel at sea without a helm, left to the mercy of the storm and wave. But with his faith founded on the "Rock of Ages," he stands safely anchored amid the furious storms and lashing waves. Life's storms may spend their fury, and its turbulent waters their violence upon him, but unharmed he plays about on its bosom as the vessel upon the tempestuous sea. And third, manliness. "Quit you like men" simply means to bring into activity all the functions and principles of true Christian manhood. These three factors fitly joined together, and the fortification is securely built. But that there is need of such a fortification--that there are dangers, dangers many, dangers great (dangers great because unseen), dangers at home and dangers abroad, dangers on land and dangers on sea, dangers in business and dangers in society, dangers in literature and dangers in illiteracy--all alluring the minds of our young men, and opening to them the gates to vice and crime--is a fact which does not require the inspiration of Paul to reveal. But look where you will and you can see the way fraught with danger. A paragraph from Rev. M. Rhodes, D. D., is to the point

just here.* Speaking of the multitude of young men who have not realized these dangers in time to avert them, he says: "One is scarce more alarmed at the number in the toils of ruin than at the tardiness with which the imperiled learn the lesson each day furnishes. Hundreds refuse to learn at all: giving all advantage to the many agencies of destruction, they open their eyes where they had better be closed, and close them where they should always be open. As you have seen the ivy twine around the shattered timbers of a deserted dwelling, so our young men grow up amid the ruins of other lives, but sadly indifferent to the causes of such unspeakable disasters, and as seemingly blind to the sad results that hang all about them, just as the fragments of men lie strewn upon a battlefield. Here is one who betrays his trust: the secret place of his plunder is found out, and he blows his brains out. Here is another, led on by unholy love of place and power, who is at last thrust down to the blackened infamy of a poor demagogue, to pine away in guilty seclusion, or curse the day he was born. Here is another who has given himself up to sensuality, until, lower than the beasts, his heart and brain are

as foul as a nest of reptiles. Here is another who from tippling has come to be a drunkard, and having already reeled out of all respectable service and society, he reels on until crime and death overtake him, and to parents or wife and children he commits the painful legacy of a blasted life and memory. Of these how great is the army in all our cities! and daily they die, and daily they are reinforced. The ways and consequences of evil have been clearly shown, and it would seem that the young men would but need to open their eyes to learn wisdom, and to escape the perils that beset them on every hand. The appeal to reason alone, one would think sufficient to guard the steps and shield the character of men from the evils that destroy; but withal the ranks fill up as fast as they diminish."

     In view of this status of things, Paul's charge to the Corinthian people sounds like a battle charge. Ah! It is one. It discerns the enemy over yonder fort, and the many dangers lying before it. It views the great field on which life comes to its grandest victories or suffers its most sorrowful defeats. This great apostle, standing upon the highest battlements of eternity, and as God's watchman viewing the scene with its eternal issues, and

moved by inspiration of the Holy Ghost, has sounded the warning voice down along the ages, "Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong." This charge in itself is inspiring, and calculated to beget among his hearers a righteous enthusiasm, a desire to be somebody, and to do something worthy of commendation. In short, the injunction appeals to our better nature and holier aspirations.

     Every young man has aspirations--some high, others not so high. But all have aspirations. They are inherent factors by generation. True, they do not develop into perspicuity in every one, neither do all the blossoms of trees develop into fruit. Nevertheless the blossom containing the germ was there. And so with our aspirations.

     Aspiration is not simply a desire to be somebody, but also the means by which we become somebody. "Aspiration," said the late Beecher, "means tendril, twining, or anything else by which one climbs upward, holding on by the way to whatever will support it while a higher reach is being made. Some plants take hold by twining around, some by little roots, some by tendrils, some by hooks, and some by leaves that catch like anchors. But all these things take hold, not for the sake of staying

where they take hold. but only as a stay from which they may climb higher. And so it is with man's aspirations. We grasp things above us by every part of our nature, one after another, not for the sake of remaining there, but that we may reach yet higher." And hence our first counsel is,

     Be true to your aspirations. Be true to the intuitive desires of your better nature. Your aspirations unconsciously rise to a high standard of manhood. We look with admiration upon any one actuated by these principles of true manhood. He commands universal respect. Friends cluster about him in multitudes. And sometimes, I fear, we almost feel unduly proud that God has created us with such strong capabilities, and with such grand possibilities before us. This is true to the extent that even the most vile almost envy the lot of' those who are true to their intuitive desires and aspirations. All aspire to true manhood, and are never fully satisfied without it. And while it is not possible for all to rise to positions of public trust and honor, it is possible for all to rise to the honor and dignity of a true gentleman. True manhood is within the reach of all. Your aspirations rise to that altitude. Be true to them.

     But this counsel from Paul involves two general

ideas, viz.; character and action. Both are essential to true 'manhood. "Character," one has well said, "is the goal of luau's intuitive desires--of his purest aspirations--and gives tone to his action. Action on the other hand gives strength to character." And the reader will readily see that while it is possible to have action without character, (devils have that) that on the other hand character without action is absolutely impossible and unknown. The important question therefore is, how shall we so guide and control our actions as to realize the end of our aspirations in the attainment of the principles and character of true manhood? Aside from the Bible God has given us an excellent code of law, written in every man's heart--I mean conscience. It is so excellent that God has said in His word (Rom. ii. 14) that "they which have no law are a law unto themselves." Hence whatever is not in perfect accord with that law--whatever is repulsive to our better natures, to our intuitive aspirations--whatever conscience condemns, is certainly not conducive to our standard of true manhood. And, vice versa, whatever is in accord with conscience--God's law in our hearts--is just as certainly conducive to true manhood. Hence noting a few things of a negative char-

acter--things which are repulsive to our intuitive ideas of true manhood--will perhaps direct our minds to proper conceptions of the positive qualities of true manhood. And let it be noted

     1. That indolence is intuitively regarded as a stigma upon mankind. Ever since God said to our first parents "in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread," industry--the opposite of indolence has been the world's motive power. It is the busy men who keep the world moving. It is the busy men who sustain society, and who project the progress in our business circles. It is the busy men who are leading the world in the progress of civil and religious liberty. But the lazy man is always full of trouble. He is never content with himself or with his lot in life. And he never succeeds. He has fault to find with every one but himself, and is the most miserable man on earth. Besides being a burden to himself, he is a real pest to society. The multitude of tramps that are a curse to our land, and a blotch upon the fair name of our country, is but the fruitage of indolence. The very idea of indolence is repulsive to the principles of true manhood, and a sure introduction to worse things. It is the gateway downward. Dr. Timothy Dwight, in giving his observations on

this point says: "Among all those who, within my knowledge, have appeared to recover sincerely penitent and reformed, I recollect only a single lazy man, and this man became industrious from the moment of his apparent, and I doubt not, real conversion." This is but one of a multitude of testimonies from men of large pastoral experience, and observation on the same point.

     The late Dr. Wise describes the idle young man thus: "His place in society is aptly illustrated by certain books in a Boston library, which are lettered 'Succedancum' on their backs. 'Succedancum!' exclaims the visitor,, 'what sort of a book is that?' Down it comes; when lo! a wooden block, shaped just like a book, is in his hands. Then he understands the meaning of the title to be 'in the place of another;' and that the wooden block is used to fill vacant places, and to keep genuine volumes from falling into confusion. Such is an idler in society; a man in form, but a block in fact; living for no high or noble end; a benefactor or blessing to nobody--not even to himself--a dumb, despised 'Succedancum' among mankind."

     And hence we conclude that the indolent man is a well nigh hopeless case, and that he who despises

honorable industry, however hard he may try to be respectable, is a reproach to his Creator, a reflection upon his kind, and a drag on society that merits punishment and utter abatement. Indolence is quick consumption to every principle of true manhood. For, just as inactivity undermines the physical constitution and begets weakness and disease, so indolence undermines the whole constitution of man's higher nature and leaves him an intellectual and moral wreck. Young men, awake! "Quit you like men, be strong."

     But it will be noted

     2. That inferior society is likewise repulsive to our better natures. People generally have very crude conceptions of the power of social influences. And young men in particular seldom if ever realize the influence which society is wielding over them. No doubt the reader is familiar with the English proverb, "Tell me the company you keep, and I'll tell you who you are. Tell me with whom thou goest, and I'll tell thee what thou doest." And still more familiar with the Spanish proverbs; "He that goes with wolves learns to howl"--"He that lies down with dogs gets up with fleas." However familiar and common--place these sayings may seem, they contain more truth

than is ordinarily placed to their credit. We look upon the society of the indolent and rude, and how revolting their conduct! And yet how frequently we laugh at their folly and then fall into line with them. But to be true to yourselves--to your intuitive aspirations--you must shun evil associations as one of the wicked one's most fruitful snares. Be friendly to all, and ever ready to be a benefactor to the vilest. But enter the society and make bosom companions of those only whose lives are pure and good. Solomon did not speak at random when he said (Prov. xiii. 20), "He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but the companion of fools shall be destroyed." But to insure your safety and to realize the light of your purest ambitions you need to reject the society of the vicious; shun the agreeable infidel and the accomplished profligate; lay it down as a fixed rule that no brilliancy of connection, no allurement of rank or fashion, that no affected agreeableness of any kind, no wit or flattery, shall tempt you to associate with those of their kind. Make this an absolute rule and you will have a job's hedge built about you.

     3. Profanity is another matter that is extremely repulsive to every element or principle of refine-

ment. This is one of those foul habits of life which will bring shame upon any countenance. And it is one of the direct fruits of evil associations. There are some sins for which there is no excuse whatever. They are not a source of pleasure, are no special luxury or source of comfort in any sense; but they come by sheer force of habit. Profanity is one of that kind. And it is one of those fearful sins which God will punish in the fullness of his wrath. He has not said in vain, "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy 'God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain." Nay, he means it all, and yet, notwithstanding the fact that our very natures revolt from it, and that conscience condemns it, nay, that God has placed his curse upon it--notwithstanding all this, what a common sin profanity is! The time has now come when it really seems fashionable with a certain class of young men to swear. But let us not forget that it is not always manly to be in fashion. Better far be true to yourselves and to him who holds in the balance your eternal interests, than bend to the silly rules of fashion. Contrary to every law of refinement, a fatal blotch upon character, a heinous, sin before God, profanity is one of those

disreputable things to be treated with utter contempt by all respectable people. It will defile any man's heart, spoil his character, and demoralize all his noblest aspirations. Young men, let not this fearful sin beguile you; "quit you like men, be strong."

     But we note just one more of those negative repulsive features in life so 'dangerous and fatal to the interests of young men:

     4. Intemperance. To the intelligent and refined nothing is more revolting than drunkenness. Even the drunkards regard themselves with shame in their hours of sobriety. It is said of a prominent lawyer in the east, that when a young man, he was addicted to the use of strong drink. While in a state of drunkenness and dissipation he was tumbling and wallowing in the gutter, and while his drunken companions engaged in a scene or revelry and shame about him, an artist by means of a pencil sketch took the young man's picture, including the whole scene. Before his recovery to sobriety he fell into one of those terrible states called "delirium tremens." While in this awful condition the artist again did ample justice to the scene. At length the whole scene with all its surroundings was photographed. After
     14

his recovery to sobriety and a right mind, the artist called upon the young man, saying, "Mr.--, I have some pictures here I wish to show you." "Ah, indeed," replied the sobered man, "I shall look at them with pleasure." He viewed the pictures with more than ordinary care and scrutiny. In the one he saw the subject wallowing in the gutter amid a scene of revelry and shame, his hair disheveled, his garments all torn, and rolled in mud and filth. In the other he saw the subject now tossing in bewilderment and agony, then madly rushing hither and thither about the room; now bruising and Mangling his fists against the wall, supposing himself in a combat with one of his fellows; then in a fit of fright trying to climb the very walls to escape "the old fellow" hard upon his heels. As the young man thus viewed the subject of this heart-rending scene, his eyes persistently said, "Thou art the man." At length, overcome with conviction, and in deep agony of soul, he cried, "I have been the fool, and ruin the mocker, but God helping me I will bid adieu to the use of rum." The man's sight of himself was enough. And so it is alike revolting to all. But alas! how few take warning from the scenes about them. The sin of intemperance is the climax of

those just mentioned. It is the natural bent of mind to go from bad to worse. It is the programme of too many of our young men to begin their ill--fated course with indolence; thence fall into bad associations, and there contract the evil habits of profanity and intemperance; thence launch into prison, or it may be from the gallows into eternity. 0 what a terrible sin that of intemperance is! The weak and the strong alike fall victims to its fearful rage. Some young men have the idea that it is a mark of manliness and dignity to smoke and chew and drink. But be assured, my young friends, that there is nothing either dignified or admirable in either. They are among those debasing and disreputable things to be shunned at all hazards. And the only safe basis of treatment in either case is, "Touch not, taste not, handle not."

     But another matter in our text claiming our attention is

     This charge of Paul bristles with snap and decision. It means a stirring, busy life. Paul had no patience with drones. And God has no place for them in his kingdom. And even the world has no use for them. Hence this charge, "Quit you like men, be strong," has a business as well

as a religious ring about it. And as a matter of fact we find that only the busy, stirring life is blest with true success. This has been a principle by which man has determined his success or failure, his weal or woe, ever since God said to our first parent, "by the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread." Industry has therefore become a fundamental principle to success in life, not by any arbitrary law of man, but in consequence of his disobedience it became a part of the divine economy.

     But the thought we desire more particularly to impress upon the reader's mind is that of decisive action. There is nothing more dangerous or disasterous (sic) to success in life than an undecided and negative sort of disposition. He who never knows when and what he wants or ought to do, will never turn the world upside down. It is decided and positive action that makes the mark. The same principle is also true of our decision of right and wrong. To parley with sin is half way yielding the fort. On the other hand, prompt and decided obedience to your honest convictions is half the conquest. "Order," it is said, "was heaven's first law." But decisive action was the basis of that law, and should be one of the first principles in the great law of life. The parleying of our first

parents with the devil led them to disobedience; and that disobedience has engulfed the human race in sin and ruin. Very often a positive "yes" or "no" saves a deal of trouble and sorrow, and sometimes the most signal failures. It is indeed no small accomplishment to be able to say positively "yes" or "no" at the proper time.

     Dear reader, let me impress upon your attention the importance of decisive action on your part in all matters involving moral principles. In all such cases the only safe way is a prompt and decided response to your intuitive convictions of right and wrong. Decided action is one of your best safeguards.

     But the apostle in his charge "quit you like men" at least implies

for the attainment of this end. For every department of life certain equipments are necessary. And this is especially true in the attainment of the end had in view by the apostle--a state where every energy, and faculty, and power of our being is to be brought into such exercise as to bring forth the true man. For character is not an attribute, but an acquirement. Hence as the elements of

character are fundamental principles in the development of true manhood, the equipments for the one must also enter the other. We can mention only a few of these essentials or equipments in the attainment of true manhood.

     1. Intelligence. --Illiteracy in this day of literary advantages in ordinary cases is a stigma upon humanity. God created man as an intelligent creature, and gave him endowments peculiar to himself. Aside from the advantages of our common schools, academies and colleges, literature like rivers of water is flowing over our land. But the important question is not how much shall we read? but what shall we read? This is the all-important matter. The term intelligence has become much perverted. The present idea of intelligence seems to be to know something about everything in print. But this is a false and pernicious idea of the term. Real intelligence does not consist so much in knowing something about everything, as in knowing much about some things. Mind culture does not consist so much in the quantity of literature perused as in the quality, the way it is read, and the amount of useful knowledge really acquired. Adam and Eve were wiser but decidedly worse off after they had acquired a

knowledge of good and evil than before. So the reading of inferior literature is not mental culture; neither does it contribute to any one's store of useful knowledge; neither is the fact of having read it a mark of increased intelligence. But on the contrary, the reading of inferior and trashy literature demoralizes instead of culturing the mind, depreciates one's appreciation of the pure and higher type of literature, and unfits the whole man for real literary work. Hence the importance of the utmost care in the selection of reading matter. Without this a high standard of intelligence is next to impossible. The world is blest with too large a store of the most chaste, scholarly and excellent literature of any age in all history, to pay any one to waste any of his precious time in the perusal of inferior reading matter. We need to seek first of all to get the best literature possible then to read slowly, thoughtfully and systematically. A famous lecturer recently said: "The bane of America is reading over--much, poorly." Another in the same strain has exhorted, "read between the lines." Suffice it to say that the best literature well read will mould (sic), shape and develop the intellectual and moral man as nothing else can do. Hence God has set his seal upon the value of

books, and set us the example in giving us the first and best Book. And then said, "Search the Scriptures."

     Our hogs, horses and cattle are valued by their amount of flesh and their general appearance, but man is graded according to his intellectual and moral worth. This is developed by good books as by nothing else. With good books we are with the wise and good, and thereby growing better. Their very thought becomes ours, and their wholesome influence permeates our whole nature, operates upon every faculty, and stimulates our aspirations to better things.

     2. Another element in the development of true manhood is the careful culture of natural endowments.

     God has a place for every young man. And every young man has a place for himself. By cultivating natural talent natural preferences will assert themselves. And thus he will naturally fall into his proper place. It is not the mechanical but the natural skill which renders proficiency in service. This culture should be begun and carefully watched by the parents, taken up as a personal matter by the youth, and most carefully guarded and pushed by the young man.

     The idea cherished by some parents, and by many young men, that when school work is done, and manhood is fully reached, will be time enough to think about a life vocation or business, is dangerous and pernicious. When men breed horses, as the colts come on, and near the time for service, the owner studiously asks what is this and that one good for?--a draft horse, roadster, or what? His disposition and physical adaptability are carefully considered, and he is trained accordingly. But what of the boy? Give less attention to his disposition, natural preferences and physical adaptability than to the prancing and rollicking colt? Shame on the idea! This is injustice to the son, and wicked in the sight of God. The divine injunction "train up a child in the way he should go," means much. Parents, carefully watch and study your sons; boys, carefully study yourselves; young men, carefully cultivate and follow the bent of your natural talent. This rule scrupulously studied and heeded, and we will have more efficient service in all the varied departments of life's work, less fluctuating from one to another employment, less men unemployed, and far less tramps and vagabonds in our land. In order, therefore, to be able to comply with the apostle's

injunction, "Quit you like men, be strong," it is of paramont (sic) importance to look well to the culture of natural talents.

     3. The renewing of your natures by the Holy Ghost and the work of grace, is the crowning work in the formation and development of true manhood.

     Human nature, once a little lower than the angels, has fallen into a sad state of depravity. Paul clearly but painfully realized this fact among the Corinthian people; and in his charge "Quit you like men" looked beyond the natural to the renewed man. For it requires the culture of all man's endowments--natural and spiritual--to form a symmetrical whole, and to enable him to reach out to the full length of his possibilities. Rev. M. Valentine, D. D., LL. D., in his baccalaureate address for 1876, well said: "It is vain to dream of doing life's work in only the wreck of your powers --the mental ray obscured and confused, the loves of the heart in fetters to evil, the will in rebellion against duty, and the nerves of strength cut more than half in two. The war vessel is not prepared for honorable achievements, going forth to the perilous encounters of the high seas, with timbers rotten and riddled, with guns spiked, masts blown

away, and helm broken. The deep, disabling hurt of your nature must be healed, the enthralled powers given back to freedom, quickened into real life, renewed into orderly and victorious power. The recovery provided for human nature, restoring it into the divine image, returns manhood to man, and man to himself. As a requisite more essential than all other requisites for your true character, work and destiny as men, you must be true Christians. This is the one thing needful, without which your life, whatever may be the achievements in which it may spend its energies, will fail as to its true work, and in the issue it will prove

     Young man, the possibilities of true, Christian manhood, in all its glory, are before you. They are unmeasured: For "there is always room at the top." May your motto ever be, "Onward! upward!" Like the vine that holds and reaches, and holds and reaches, until in triumph it has wound its way from the ground to the utmost branch of the majestic tree, so hold on with one hand to your present position while you reach higher up with the other. Make every advance a

stepping stone for another. Be encouraged to leave the base things of earth, and step by step, and reach over reach, to rise higher and higher in the glory of your manhood, until at last, when the top of the Delectable Mountains of life shall have been reached, in songs of triumph you may gather there the crowns of victory, and step across on the shining shore of eternity to enjoy them forever and ever in the full glory of your true--your sanctified and glorified--manhood.

© 2003 for the NEGenWeb Project by Pam Rietsch, Ted & Carole Miller.