ADVICE TO THE YOUNG FROM AN AGED COUNSELOR.
By Ethan Lanphear
“Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.” IT is the violation of this command that has brought untold suffering and sorrow to the children of men. Young people often pay but little attention to this warning. They think possibly there will be time to reform after marriage. Many a young woman has found, when it was too late, that this was a deceptive hope. No Christian young woman should allow herself to become engaged to any young man not established in good moral and religious life, however smooth and affable he may be in her presence. He may use deception. The depraved young man who would play the role of lover will often put on an appearance of manliness and manifest a sort of respect for religion. He may attend church occasionally for no other purpose than to meet young ladies of a religious character to form their acquaintance, or possibly to have an opportunity to walk home with them. Girls should be on their guard against wolves in sheep’s clothing. Parents often fail to caution as they should. They allow their daughters to associate with wealthy men’s sons because of their wealth, and many a girl has thrown herself away for life because of things that glitter and shine. The rich man’s son, brought up in idleness, is the most dangerous man to choose for a husband; for he depends upon father’s wealth for the future. A girl may think that if she marries such a person she will get a good home; but when father is gone and money11spent, poverty comes without a remedy. The husband resorts to idleness and bad habits, and the last state of the woman, with a family of children to care for, is worse than the first. There is little hope of reform in such a man; and yet how many such cases there are in the world. Never should a girl consent to marry any young man who has not a trade or a business, so that he can support a family; neither should she consent to marry a young man that is in the habit of lounging about saloons and hotels, or one that uses tobacco or liquor in any form, or uses profane language, or frequents theaters, the dance, or gambling and card-tables. All promises to reform will be of no avail. When the honey-moon is over, and the couple settle down to the realities of life, the promises will too often be disregarded. No Christian should ever marry a known sinner; neither should a Sabbath-keeper ever marry a Sunday-keeper, or one who cares for no day. This is being unequally yoked together, and such cases mean trouble ahead. If there is a family, the children are likely to become infidels, or to care for nothing, and quite often the Christian parent falls out by the way. I have known companions of this kind, when matters were going unpleasantly, to taunt each other about their religion. Better turn aside before the danger comes! Young women, one and all, be on your guard against a deception that is able to bring you untold sorrow.