That boy was saved through faith. His firm belief in his father’s word saved him. Had he persisted in holding on to the bushes through doubt or hesitation it would have meant his death. To be saved, every boy must forsake his hold on sin, yield himself to Christ’s power and mercy, and then will he find to his joy, that Christ saves to the uttermost. (Heb. 7:25).
THE TIME TO BE A CHRISTIAN.
Solomon said there is “a time to every purpose under the heaven,” (Eccl. 3:1) and no purpose is greater and no time more important than when a boy becomes a Christian. Youth is the most important period of one’s life. It is the time when the faculties are most susceptible, heart tender and will pliable; the time when tastes and biases are created, habits acquired and character formed for future weal or woe. No other period affords greater possibilities of long usefulness as well as opportunities for peculiar usefulness.
A staff-officer, riding over the field of battle during the Civil War, was attracted by a body lying under a tree, handsomely dressed, with a fancy sword. He removed the covering and looked into the sweetest and handsomest face he had ever seen. It was that of a boy, a temporary aide to some officer. In his pocket was found a Testament in which was written “James Simmons, N. Y. My son, ‘Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth.’” (Eccl. 12:1).
That is it, youth. The best and most profitable time for piety. Jeremiah and John the Baptist loved and worshipped God in their youth. Josiah knew the Lord at eight years of age. Timothy knew the Scriptures and loved Christ from a child. Polycarp accepted Christ at nine, Jonathan Edwards at seven, Isaac Watts at nine, Adam Clarke at four, William Penn at nine, Matthew Henry at eleven, Robert Hall at twelve, Augustus Toplady at sixteen, while Joseph Griggs not only became a Christian very young but wrote the hymn—
“Jesus! and shall it ever be
A mortal man ashamed of Thee!”
when but ten years of age.
Some years ago the “Golden Rule” sent letters of inquiry to prominent men of the land asking several questions, one of which was: “At what age did you become a Christian?” It was found on receiving the answers that out of one hundred and forty-nine less than one in ten became Christians later than twenty years of age; twenty-nine were so young that they did not remember; at least sixty-three professed Christ before they were eighteen. Nine-tenths of all saved persons are saved before twenty. “Why this?” you ask. Physiologists say “the cells of the brain change as we grow old until finally there are ruts in them.” Carlyle explains it thus: “In younger years the whole mind is, as it were, fluid, and capable of forming itself into any shape that the owner of the mind pleases. The mind is in fluid state, but it hardens up gradually to the consistency of rock or iron, and you cannot alter the habits of the old man, for as he began he will go on to the last.” To procrastinate in youth is to jeopardize one’s soul in age.