Special Rules for Young Men

• For one thing, resolve at once, by God’s help, to break off every known sin, however small.
• Resolve, by God’s help, to shun everything which may prove an occasion of sin.
• Resolve never to forget the eye of God.
• Be diligent in the practice of your Christianity.
• Resolve that wherever you are, you will pray.

*From J. C. Ryle’s Thoughts for Young Men (pp. 65-84).

“The Lord’s Prayer is like a bomb ticking in church, waiting to explode and demolish our temples to false gods” (William H. Willimon & Stanley Hauerwas, Lord, Teach Us: The Lord’s Prayer and the Christian Life, 47).

“There is no telling the harm that is done by associating with godless companions and friends. . . . You must remember, we are all creatures of imitation: precept may teach us, but it is example that draws us” (J. C. Ryle, Thoughts for Young Men, 60).

Extol is my favorite metal band. This song is their newest release, an extra track from the Extol Deluxe Edition available now on iTunes. Enjoy!

“Note that we began, not with moral problems and ethical dilemmas; we began with prayer. . . . We are a people whose moral lives are shaped liturgically. Our ethics is a by-product of our worship” (William H. Willimon & Stanley Hauerwas, Lord, Teach Us: The Lord’s Prayer and the Christian Life, 47).

“Read [the Bible] with the prayer that the Holy Spirit’s grace will help you understand it” (J. C. Ryle, Thoughts for Young Men, 57).

“The Bible is God’s merciful provision for sinful man’s soul, the map by which he must steer his course if he would attain eternal life. . . . Young men, I charge you to make a habit of reading the Bible, and not to let the habit be broken” (J. C. Ryle, Thoughts for Young Men, 56).

“We have no idea of how to live until we first know who God is. So when we say that God’s name is holy, that tells us how we ought to live. Knowing the Creator tells us where the creation is meant to move” (William H. Willimon & Stanley Hauerwas, Lord, Teach Us: The Lord’s Prayer and the Christian Life, 46).

“Difficulties which seem like mountains shall melt away like snow in spring. Obstacles which seemed like giants in the distance, will dwindle into nothing when you actually face them. The lion that blocks the way that you are traveling and causes you great fear, will prove to be chained and unable to harm you. If men believed the promises more, they would never be afraid of their assigned duties [underline added, CCS]” (J. C. Ryle, Thoughts for Young Men, 55).

Ahab has just gone postal on his quadrant and declared a “curse” against “Science.” The following is Starbuck’s musing, addressed to Stubb, regarding Ahab’s tumultuous way: “I have sat before the dense coal fire and watched it all aglow, full of its tormented flaming life; and I have seen it wane at last, down, down, to dumbest dust. Old man of oceans! of all this fiery life of thine, what will at length remain but one little heap of ashes!” (Herman Melville, Moby Dick, 493)