The Sensible Thing for Young Men to Do
By Meade Mac Guire
I HAVE met young men who never gave the subject of religion enough serious, candid thought to recognize their obligation in the matter. But as they have considered the question in the light of the following statements, they have generally become interested: 1. There is a God, a supreme Being, who created the universe, and upholds and maintains all things by His power. 2. This Being created you, and sustains your life moment by moment. He made you an intelligent, reasoning being, endowed with the power of choice. 3. He must have had a purpose in creating you; and since He gave you reason and the power of choice, He must, to be consistent, reveal His purpose to you. Otherwise you might work at cross-purposes with Him, blindly, without any desire to do so. 4. Obviously, therefore, God must have revealed to men His purpose in creation, and that revelation is the whole Bible. No other book even claims to be the revelation of the Creator of all things. 5. I say the whole Bible, for it would not be consistent to think that an Almighty God, who paid the price of His own Son to save all men, should then permit the revelation of His plan to become so mixed with the work of men, and confused, that the great mass of His people could not understand it without the help of an expert. 6. By studying this Bible, we find that God plans to give eternal life to men in a future world as real and tangible as this world, with all its pleasures and blessings, and infinitely more, and none of its curses and sorrows. But this eternal life is only given on conditions. 7. But it is not alone the future life for which this revelation provides. Future salvation requires present good character, which can be secured only through obedience to the instructions in this Book. Character is the only true basis of success and happiness in this life. One may have a pretty fair counterfeit, but never a character acceptable to God, unless the life is connected with Him by obedience. 8. These are strenuous times. Business and pleasure, education, society, money getting, all are pressing. But sound logic and common sense declare that a man owes something to his Maker. He can not afford to go blindly at cross-purposes with the Almighty. 9. As a matter of fact, God's word is not the dry, dull book, centuries behind the times, that many suppose. The inspired prophecies758describe the stirring scenes of our times most graphically, and tell of the crisis of the ages, which is just before us. 10. Both the Bible and all human experience teach that the race has a mighty enemy, the devil, or Satan, who has gathered about him tremendous forces of evil, and is determined to destroy every soul. In view of all these considerations, are you not convinced that to be a practical, consistent, and reasonable young man, you should get yourself a Bible, and from it seek to become acquainted with God, and with His plan for your life, and strive to learn and obey the conditions that will satisfy Him, and bring you happiness and success in this life, and secure to you eternal life?