The Young Man Jeremiah 18:12 And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart. Mr. Quint in Hogg tells a remarkable story of an incident which happened quite recently in a great London club. He was chatting with a friend about a man who had died by his own hand. His friend spoke rather indignantly of such an ignoble termination to life, and characterised it — rightly enough — as a cowardly thing for a man to leave others to meet the troubles and reap the bitter harvest he had sown. A well-known scientific man, who was sitting close by, turned round and said, "I consider you have expressed a very harsh judgment. I don't consider it the action of a coward; and for myself, the only rest I can look forward to is the grave." Mr. Hogg's friend, thinking that perhaps the gentleman had lost some relative by suicide, qualified his remarks by saying that such crimes were generally committed with deranged minds, and that, of course, his words did not apply to a man irresponsible for his acts. "There is something worse than derangement," was the reply, "and that is despair." Mr. Hogg says that his friend was very much shocked at the words and at the tone in which they were uttered, and began to speak to the scientist as best he could about the love of God. He told him he could not imagine how those who accepted the help of God could ever despair. "Ah," was the sad reply, "I gave up my belief in God long ago, and I have had nothing but a deepening despair ever since. I repeat that the grave is the only rest I can hope for — the only home that remains for me." (The Young Man.) Parallel Verses KJV: And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart. |
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