The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Chronicles — Section 413

2. Earll period qf life has its own peculiar offering to bring. If ago has its paticnco arnl ~ubruissivcncss, and if elderliness bas its cxpericnco, and if primo bas the fulnoss or its 8t.rcngth for 8crvice, and if young manhood has its hopefulness and its ardour t,h<'n has youth also its especial offering to bring to its Redeemer; it has its affection~ l\tC'ness, its trustfulness, its docility, its roadiness to obey, its beauty. Truly tho '.' fl_ow~r when o~ered in the bud" is "no vain sacrifice." 3. It saves the g,·owth o/ u1Jurious weeds m the garden of the soul. When the sense of sacred obligation is absent, youth is apt to let various evil habits grow up-habits which choke much that is good, which constitute a serious drawback to Christian worth, and which require much effort and much time also for their extraction. But when the early days are spent in the service and in the friendship of Christ, his holy ,vill bei □ g the one rule of the heart and life, such evil habits are unformed, and all the after-days are stronger and better and more beautiful for their absence. 4. Each period in life is a stepping- stone to the next, is a preparation for the next. We sow in youth what we reap in young manhood; as we go on our way we gather in the harvest of the thought and toil of the years that came before it. But this applies to our moral and spiritual character more perfectly than to anything else. How, then, can we afford to lose the great advantage of building up from the beginning? Our manhood will be much the weaker for an ill-spent youth, and much the stronger for a well-spent one. Our whole life will be greatly impoverished by the one, greatly enriched by the other. 5. Godly youth is a source of pure and deep joy to those whom the young should be most desirous of pleasing-to those that have loved them and served them with tenderest solicitude and unfailing devotion. II. Oun DUTY IN REGARD To IT. 1. To abstain most carefully from forcing it. No deadlier injury can be done to the young than forcing a religious habit; constraining them to affect a language and to make a profession which is unreal, which will soon break down, and which will leave the heart far less open to all heavenly influences than it would have been. 2. To encourage it in every way that is in our power; more particularly by the exhibition of a consistent life and the manifestation of a loving spirit toward them. Whom we win for ourselves we may lead to our Lord. IIL THE WISDOM .tJ..-,D THE DUTY OF THE YOUNG. This is to enter the service of Jesus Christ without delay. He does not require of them anything they cannot offer. He does not demand of them that they should use the language or do the work which is appropriate to other conditions; he asks them to receive him as their Divine Teacher, as their Divine Friend, as their Divine Lord. He asks them to trust, to love, to serve him to the height of their present power. This they can do; this they should do; this tbev will be truly 11nd dePply wise if they do. "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near."-C. Ver. 12..-Faithful work. "And the men did the work faithfully." It became a godly King of Judah to do anything and everything that was required for the strength and beauty of the temple. For in that sacred edifice centred the religious life of the nation, and there God manifested himself as nowhere else. With us religious thought and spiritual eaniestness are not thus localized; and though, after the manner as well as in the spirit of Josiah, we may concern ourselves much with the erection or the repair of some "house of the Lord," yet Christian zeal now shows itself in a hundred ways; il branches and bears fruit in all directions. There is, however, a sense in which it is all building. We who are at work for our Lord and for our neighbour are building up the kingdom of Christ, and, at the same time, are building up a peaceful, happy, holy community. It is probable that we have all undertaktln some specific work of this kind, some ministry; that we have committed ourselves to some office which ll'akes certain demands on our intelligence, our strength, our time. That being so, it is well that we realize the importance of" doing the work faithfully" which we have in hand. I. WHAT CONSTITUTES FAITHFULNESS. To be faithful is clearly a very different thing from being successful Some men are successful, as men count success, who are uot faithful in the sight of God; others are faithful who are not "successful." To be faithful is to act with rightful, emrnest, patient effort in the sphere in which 011r Lord has placed us. 1. Doing our work honestly, fairly, conscientiously, keeping in err, xxxrv, 1-33.] THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. 419