This world is full of niches that have to be filled, of paths that have to be trod, of work that has to be done.
Pouring continually into it there are millions of human beings who are capable of being fitted to fill those niches, to traverse those paths, and to do that work. I venture a step further and assert that every human being, without exception, who arrives at the years of maturity must, in the nature of things, have a particular niche and path and work appointed for him; and just in proportion as a man finds out his exact work, and walks in or strays from his peculiar path, will be the success of his life. He may miss his aim altogether, and his life turn out a failure, because of his self-will, or, perhaps, his mistaken notions; and there are few sights more depressing than that of a round young man rushing into a square hole, except that of a square young man trying to wriggle himself into a round hole. What the world wants is “the right man in the right place.” What each man wants is to find his right place.
But the fact that man may, and often does, make a wrong choice, that he may try to traverse the wrong path, to accomplish the wrong work, and do many things in the wrong way, is a clear proof that his course in life is not arbitrarily fixed, that he has been left to the freedom of his own will, and may therefore fall short of the best, though he may be fortunate enough to attain the good or the better. Hence devolves upon every one the responsibility of putting and finding an answer to the question—How shall I make the best of life?
And let me say here in passing that I venture to address young men on this subject, not because I conceive myself to be gifted with superior wisdom, but because, being an old man, I stand on the heights and vantage ground of Experience, and looking back, can see the rocks and shoals and quicksands in life’s ocean, which have damaged and well-nigh wrecked myself. I would not only try my hand as a pilot to guide, but as, in some sense, a buoy or beacon to warn from dangers that are not only unseen but unsuspected.
Every young man of ordinary common sense will at least aim at what he believes to be best in life, and the question will naturally arise—What is best?
If a youth’s chief idea of felicity is to “have a good time;” to enjoy himself to the utmost; to cram as much of sport, fun, and adventure into his early manhood as possible, with a happy-go-lucky indifference as to the future, he is not yet in a frame of mind to consider our question at all. I feel disposed to say to him—in paraphrase—“be serious, man, or, if ye can’t be serious, be as serious as ye can,” while we consider a subject that is no trifling matter.
What, then, is best? I reply—So to live and work that we shall do the highest good of which we are capable to the world, and, in the doing thereof, achieve the highest possible happiness to ourselves, and to those with whom we are connected. In the end, to leave the world better than we found it.
Now, there is only one foundation on which such a life can be reared, and that foundation is God.
To attempt the building on any other, or to neglect a foundation altogether, is to solicit and ensure disaster.
But supposing, young man, that you agree with me in this; are fully alive to the importance of the question, and are desirous of obtaining all the light you can on it, then I would, with all the earnestness of which I am capable, urge you to begin on this sure foundation by asking God to guide you and open up your way. “Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find.” “Commit thy way unto the Lord, and He will bring it to pass.” Without this beginning there is, there can be, no possibility of real success, no hope of reaching the best. With it there may still be partial mistake—owing to sin and liability to err—but there can be no such thing as absolute failure. Man’s first prayer in all his plans of life should be— “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?”