A Sermon Preached by the Rev. A. N, Rowland in Union Church, Shanghai write unto you young men because you are strong, and the Word of God abide th in you, and the evil one." D. 1 John 2, 14.
The meetings in Peking of the ment, which is the legacy and will World's Christian Student Move-' of one who gathered up into himment have directed minds to the, self and the meanings and powers importance of young manhood: of manhood before he died at 30. and young womanhood for the} Three times has the New Testament Kingdom of God, especially in} brought this rejuvenating power to times that move so fast as bear on history, (1) when it ap-Both Church and School are some-j peared in the worn-outworld of what to blame concerning those in] ancient Rome (2) when it was the teens and twenties. The Sun-s translated into the popular speech day School focusses the child; the} at the dawn of modern history, Church perhaps specializes on the] (3) when it was read with new elderly person. Thus the most eyes 50 years ago as a gospel for critical period of life seems to fall}/man in his entirety. between two stools.
Ever since Jesus rested his In the Old Testament the refer-Kingdom on the shoulders of young ences to the young are almost in-men like himself the power of a variably in a despondent and new expectation has been continual-pessimistic vein, as if very little ly welling up. Often enough his could be expected from them. consideration for the children has "Even the youths shall faint and|}een noted. But to dwell only on be weary, and the young men his tenderness is to misrepresent shall utterly fall."
That is thelhim. Quite as notable is his uncharacteristic standpoint, and it is! usual interest in young men, and very different from the modern) theirs in him, his unstinted faith attitude. We feel that the respon-]into them, and theirs in him, besibility for progress rests upon the] cause he was strong and they were shoulders of the young. And the} strong. That is why, I think, reins of power have been placed! John brackets young men with the with increasing confidence in their] "fathers" in this passage, both be-hands. So far as I can see tholing "little children" in the eyes evident advance which has been] of the heavenly Father. We know made in tolerance, humanity and|how it goes against the grain to such qualities is largely due to give the new generation an equal this fact. Our most important) place with the old. That is the progress during the last 50 years} gist of Stevenson's essay on is not due to discoveries and in-|"Crabbed Alge of Youth," Gosse's ventions in the material world, as} story of "Father and Son" and so many think, it depends rather! the popular drama "Milestones," on this fact, as I believe, that the! But Christianity equalizes the two direction of affairs has been given generations: the young are made more and more to the younger responsible as well as the old. this has also much to do with the people. And I should say that me Spreit or Inquiry. hope with which we look forward] What then- is the secret of a to the issues of our time.
God] young men's strength Obviously knows there are things enough to] not experience of knowledge of the daunt us, what with economic] spirit of counsel, but some other problems, industrial strife and in-kind of equality. (1) First there ternational. complications. France, is the spirit of inquiry, of ques-Turkey.
Russia, Egypt, India, tioning. It is said that the young Ireland! What evils they suggest/ men of modern Ohina are born and forebode! Yet we have the/with a question mark in their strong conviction that we are not/ minds. That is the first sign of going to fail, that our best davy their power: their influence can are still to come. begin nowhats else. teen te reopen a a preci Shing int i i i When the Pessruisa Reaarpine Yourn.
On the other hand, as I havejare distributed, old institutions said, the tone of the Jewish} are tested. No doubt it leads to Scriptures is pessimistic. They are! disintegration, but that is the half-always grieving over a fall from way house to new realities, new the higher standards of an older} unities, that express the ever-day. They represent on the whole advancing thought and will of God. the standpoint of the elders. And] It is our temptation, as we grow I imagine this is still more com- in years, to cease our questions. pletely true of other religions. We They may lead to disturbance or! know, for instance, the position disillusionment, and we are too accorded to age at the expense of tired to abide the answer to them. youth in the Confucian Scrip- We cover the situation with the tures. What then is the reason} philosophy of "Maskee."
Why for the new outlook in Christen-should we raise this point or that?! sible to faith, and faith, as Dean dom. It is due to the New Testa-' It will mean giving up familiar ways, Church said, is a "vision and an getting out of customary grooves. So middle-age is tempted to renounce its questions. It is the strength of young men (and women) that they persist in asking them. They are not so enamoured of the old, or fearful of the new. So they question old standards, test accepted' conclusions, investigate venerable sanctions. And this prepares the way for truth, by throwing aside the ereed that no longer grips the mind, the custom that has ceased to be helpful the method of service that no longer suits the situation. Thus mankind marches on less encumbered towards its high destination. And we must pray to be kept young, that we may always be willing to test our thoughts by the truth of God and all things by the evidences of Hlis will. Here is the kind of strength from which the Evangelist expected so much.
Tue Disparn or Shrery.
Another secret of a young man's strength lies in his readiness for adventure. He is willing to go out upon a quest, taking the buffets of opposition on the right hand and on the left as part of those invigorating experiences that make life worth living. It is a sign of disappearing youth, whatever the number of the years, when a man has, no zest (for putting ideals into practice. Sir Francis Bacon puts it pungently, "Men of age object too much, consult to long, adventure too little, repent ioo soon."
The truth is that men mostly get settled into courses that use up all their dynamic in details and consume their ardour in committees. The only chance for adventure is in the heart of youth. And once it is admitted there it becomes a source of power. For men usa, not by what they receive but by what they are ready to dare. Particulars have recently been published of Sir Edward Shackleton, whose life, closed in its prime, has been like a streak of gold in a pleasure loving age. It seems that at the age of 16 he was profoundly dissatisfied with the prospect of the ordinary smooth paths that lead from a public school to the respectabilities of a rather mechunical world. His whole nature was clamouring for adventure, something better than a safety appointment and a pension at 60. It was the poems of Robert Browning that kept prompting him to take the uncharted way. And into that great sea of adventure he moved with effects that have been felt for the good of us all. The powers of the world to come largely reside in youth's spirit of adventure. The burdens of our time will never be lifted, and its problems never solved by the cynical spirit that so often prevails in the midst of the years. But nothing is impos-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.