Page:TheYoungMansGuide.djvu/114

 a good sign, if he pays heed to the warning voice, and he is happier in his sadness than he was formerly in his sinful pleasures. This is not despair, but a salutary fear of God.

4. Despair consists rather in a voluntary and deliberate renunciation of ail hope of attaining everlasting happiness, and a refusal to have recourse to the means of salvation. But is it possible, O merciful God, that any one can have so little trust in Thee, so little confidence in Thy fatherly love, as to imagine Thee to be unwilling to pardon?

I only wish I could transport him who thus despairs to the far-off land where Jesus lived and suffered for our sake. Behold, I would say to him, here was your Redeemer born, here He lay in the manger for your sake, and yonder, on a mountain near to Jerusalem He shed His blood upon the tree of the cross. Now, then, tell me, are you a man ? If you are a man, this precious blood was shed for you. Tell me again whether you truly repent of your sins and are deter- mined to forsake them without delay, to forsake them, not at some distant day, but at once? If this be the case, then away with your doubts; go on your way rejoicing, and trust in God !

5. Dear reader, in whatever circumstance you may find yourself, trust in God ! If you find it difficult to curb your unruly passions, to fly from the dangers by which your soul is menaced, to avoid the occasions of sin, and resolutely to turn a deaf ear to the magical enchantments of the world, then, O young man, take courage, trust in God, pray — pray — pray to God with confidence! And if you have to serve an apprenticeship, and submit to the drudgery of learning your business, and if you