regretful and lamenting words fit into so many of our own cases to-day.
For, look at that young business man. He has been born and brought up in
the Church of Christ. He has gladdened more hearts than he knows by the
noble promise of his early days. Many admiring and loving eyes have been
turned on him as he took so hopefully the upward way. But a sifting-time
soon comes. A time of temptation comes. A time comes when sides must be
taken in some moral, religious, ecclesiastical controversy. This young
man is at that moment a candidate for a post that will bring distinction,
wealth, and social influence to him who holds it. And the candidate we
are so much interested in is admittedly a man of such outstanding talents
that he would at once get the post were it not that the holder of that
post must not have his name so much associated with such and such a
church, such and such political and religious opinions, and such and such
public men. He is told that. Indeed, he is not so dull as to need to be
told that. He has seen that all along. And at first it is a dreadful
wrench to him. He feels how far he is falling from his high ideals in
life; and, at first, and for a long time, it is a dreadful humiliation to
him. But, then, there are splendid compensations. And, better than
that, there are some good, and indeed compelling, reasons that begin to
rise up in our minds when we need them and begin to look for them, till
what at first seemed so mean and so contemptible, and so ungrateful, and
so dishonourable, as well as so spiritually perilous, comes to be faced
and gone through with positively on a ground of high principle, and,
indeed, of stern moral necessity. So deceitful is the human heart that
you could not believe what compelling reasons such a mean-spirited man
will face you with as to why he should leave all the ways he once so
delighted in for a piece of bread, and for the smile of the open enemies
of his church, and his faith, not to say his Saviour. You will meet with
several such men any afternoon coming home from their business. Sometimes
they have still some honest shame on their faces when they meet you; but