nsel, from authority, from particular guidance? This must of
course vary according to the age. The young man or the young woman
does not brook the treatment which is fitting for the child. And the
attempt to enforce it will surely show itself wrong. Just as setting
the child on the footing of the young man or the young woman is
mistaken also; and that too will appear. As to the mode of treatment,
discretion, and (if I may use the word, for there is no other which
answers to it) _tact_, must decide upon this. But as to the principle
of it, as to that which should be the governing purpose of all
treatment of the young, its intention and its end, let us take from
the lips of the father of Absalom his word "safe." If it meant only in
that case, is he alive? still the word is to be noted: Is he safe? Or
is it well with him? It is the safety of the young--its being well
with them--which all who have their interests in charge should to the
utmost of their power care for.

And what do we mean by their safety? We know there are some in these
days who ask the question--"Are you saved?" meaning by that, "Have you
the eternal salvation?" It is a presumptuous question, and if answered
at all is answered presumptuously. It is forestalling the everlasting
things. Safety as we speak of it is not that. But--peril tracks the
course of the young, peril in some way perhaps of deeper hazard than
our fathers knew. There is that peril as old at least as Solomon, and
which he expressed in this way: "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." Follow, that
is--putting the poetry aside--follow the life of selfish pleasure and
indulgence to which thou art inclined. There has always been that
peril. It has run upon the courses of the world's youth all down the
ages. But now its lines are darker--at all events than they were in
the days of the writer of Ecclesiastes--"Know thou," _he_ said, "that
for all these things God will bring thee into judgment." And we may
say this too. But there is a large number of young persons now who
will answer: "We do not know this: we know nothing about God: who He
is, or _whether_ He is. If we are not to walk in the ways of our heart
and the sight of our eyes, to please ourselves and care for nothing
else, you must say to us something beyond this, that God will bring us
into judgment."

Brethren, he