_Annual Sermon to the Young_
'... When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither
thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy
hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou
wouldest not.... And when He had spoken this, He saith unto him, Follow
Me.'--JOHN xxi. 18, 19.
The immediate reference of these words is, of course, to the martyrdom
of the Apostle Peter. Our Lord contrasts the vigorous and somewhat
self-willed youth and the mellowed old age of His servant, and shadows
forth his death, in bonds, by violence. And then He bids him,
notwithstanding this prospect of the issue of his faithfulness, 'Follow
Me.'
Now I venture, though with some hesitation, to give these words a
slightly different application. I see in them two pictures of youth and
of old age, and a commandment based upon both. You young people are
often exhorted to a Christian life on the ground of the possible
approach of death. I would not undervalue that motive, but I seek now
to urge the same thing upon you from a directly opposite consideration,
the probability that many of you will live to be old. All the chief
reasons for our being Christians are of the same force, whether we are
to die to-night, or to live for a century. So in my text I wish you to
note what you are now; what, if you live, you are sure to become; and
what, in the view of both stages, you will be wise to do. 'When thou
wast young thou girdedst thyself, and wentest whither thou wouldest.
When thou shalt be old another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither
thou wouldest not.' Therefore, 'Follow Me.'