I have been looking for this particular essay for many years now. I had heard parts of it quoted by various people from time-to-time and wanted my own copy. The beauty of the Internet is that you can sometimes find the most obscure things. So, yesterday, I finally found what I'd wanted after being reminded of it in a sermon I recently uploaded by the late J. T. Pugh, and then going to a place a friend of mine calls: "the google god."
I'm not sure if the date of the publication is the first time this article appeared in print, but I hope you enjoy and glean as much from Dr. Gordon's essay as I do.
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I'm not sure if the date of the publication is the first time this article appeared in print, but I hope you enjoy and glean as much from Dr. Gordon's essay as I do.
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“If
I Were Twenty-one Again”[1]
Dr.
James L. Gordon
July
31, 1923
DISRAELI, in one of his
novels, places these strange words on the lips of a certain character: “Youth
is a blunder, manhood is a struggle, and old age a regret.” That is a
falsehood. For those who live right and walk circumspectly, youth is
opportunity, manhood is achievement, and old age is a holy memory.
Life has two ends, a
beginning and an ending. A certain old preacher once said: “At twenty we know everything;
at seventy we know nothing.” Matured wisdom, like old wine, has a peculiar
quality. We know just a few things at seventy, but we know what we know.
The bread of wisdom cannot
be baked in a quick oven. The sweetest cream comes of quiet browsing. Every
silver hair which crowns the brow of knowledge cost a thought. Experience is a
great teacher, but she asks a high price for every bit of knowledge she sees
fit to impart. Therefore, the man of years has a wisdom which he may reveal
without the impoverishment of himself, and it is to the enrichment of all those
who will listen.
1. If I
were twenty-one again, I would give twenty minutes every day to special
physical exercise. All things being equal, happiness depends on health, health
depends on digestion, digestion depends on the blood, the quality of the blood
depends on the circulation, and the circulation of the blood depends on
exercise. Health is life's first prize.
2. If I
were twenty-one again, I would study and strive to be an original thinker. The
only real difference between the stupid man and the man who is “original” is
the vital fact that one man thinks, and the other does not. Do not “take things
for granted “—take them for what they are worth. Think your way through
prejudice, precedent, custom, convention, style, fashion, and all the forms of
modern folly, and get at the heart of things. Socrates' brain was not a whit
better than yours, but he wore a thinking cap. Think your way in, and you will
have some difficulty in thinking your way out. Apply your mental X-rays to
every unanswered question and every unsolved problem. Have faith in your own
conclusions when to the subject before you you have applied every test known to
reason, knowledge, and experience. Be original. You can if you will try.
3. If I
were twenty-one again, I would steer my life by a few fundamental convictions.
A man without conviction is as weak as a door hanging on its lower hinge.
Luther was great because he crowned every great emergency with a great
decision. In an age of uncertainty he knew what to do. When all others were in
doubt, he was in full possession of himself. A clear conviction is as a
searchlight shining through mountains of mist on a stormy, starless night. A
strong thought rooted in the soil of the brain lends fiber to the quality of a
man's thinking. One great idea clearly defined and nobly enthroned, is as a
blazing torch in the darkness. Have a conviction.
4. If I
were twenty-one again, I would put quality into every thought, word, and deed.
A Christian is a person who does ordinary things in an extraordinary way. One
day, twenty centuries ago, a carpenter built a cross. That cross has been
lifted into the sacred incandescence of spiritual glory. It stands today and
forever on the sky line of history. The horizon of our civilization, encircling
the earth, begins and ends with the cross of Calvary. Its four great arms like
shafts of living gold have shed a halo over art, music, drama, and philosophy.
It marks for us the most revered place on earth's geography. It stands for us
as the most distinguishing landmark on the wrinkled surface of our rolling
planet. It marks the dividing line between things ancient and modern, and
stands exactly at the center of history. Little thought the humble carpenter
when He was building the cross, that its rough boards touched by the sacred form
of the world's Redeemer would miraculously flame into sign and symbol for the
sacramental hosts of a world-conquering religion.
“In the cross of
Christ I glory,
Towering o'er the
wrecks of time;
All the light of
sacred story
Gathers round its
head sublime.”
5. If I
were twenty-one again, I would try to achieve one splendid success in some
worthy realm of human effort. A taste of success in youth is as a taste of
blood to a young lion. The man who has failed at everything is likely to be
small, mean, bitter, quarrelsome, fussy, critical, oversensitive, and generally
lacking in faith in himself and everyone else.
6. If I
were twenty-one again, I would crowd at least one kind act into every
twenty-four hours. Arthur C. Benson, looking back on a prolonged period of
sickness, said: “I cared nothing for my personal success in that hour; nothing
for any small position I had gained, nothing for the books I had written, —what
alone concerned me was the thought that I had helped some poor pilgrim and made
his way straighter, easier, and smoother.”
Kindness is the velvet of social intercourse.
Kindness is the oil in the cogs of life's machinery. Kindness is the
controlling spring which holds back the slamming door. Kindness is the burlap
in the packing case of every day's merchandise. Kindness is the color in the
cathedral window which, woven into beautiful characters, shuts out the hideous
sights of the world which is all too practical. Kindness is the carpet on life’s
floor which deadens the sound of shuffling feet and adds warmth to silence.
Kindness is the satin lining of the silver casket. Kindness is the plush on the
chair. Kindness is the green grass near the hard pebbles of the road. Kindness
is the touch of an angel's hand.
7. If I
were twenty-one again, I would live in the light of every grand experience.
Life has its sunbursts. There are moments which are sweet, and days which are
divine. There are events which crowd an eternity into an hour. There are
experiences which cause the heavens to be opened, and grant to the weary
pilgrim a vision of the rainbow round about the throne. There are evenings when
the stars seem to be living diamonds, and there are nights when northern lights
fling trembling vibrations like divine reflections across the sky. Thank God,
for every experience rich and rare. Live in the light of your experience.
8. If I
were twenty-one again, I would have two or three choice friends among the older
people. They know the way. They have learned the meaning of life. They can be
depended upon in the hour of emergency. They have traveled over the same road.
They yearn for the compliment of your confidence. They would like to be of
service to you. They would like to count you among their few favorites. They would
like to be of assistance to you in your plans and schemes. They would glory in
your success, and boast among their friends of your achievements. Cultivate the
friendship of the folks who are older.
9. If I
were twenty-one again, I would read the Bible through once every twelve months,
and I would read the four gospels over and over again as often as possible. The
heart of the Bible is the life of Jesus. Everything in the Old Testament grows
into, and everything between the Acts and the Revelation grows out of, the four
Gospels. These sweet, quaint stories are written in a phraseology Oriental and
richly colored. Broad reading will lead to a proper interpretation. The great
thoughts of the Master’s mind are set forth in incident, accident, event,
conversation, and familiar dialogue.
10. If I
were twenty-one again, I would identify myself with some great unpopular cause.
Courage is the finest test of character. If you think you are right, have your
say. Be downright, upright, and outright. Stand fast, stand firm, stand erect,
stand alone. Stand with your back toward the past, and with your face toward
the unfolding of God's plan and purpose for humanity. Stand, and having done all,
stand. Dare to differ. Dare to discuss. Dare to dispute. Dare to deny. Dare to
defy. Be indifferent to the indifference of indifferent men. Remember the brave
words of William Lloyd Garrison: “I will not excuse, I will not equivocate, I
will not retreat an inch, I will be heard.” To be first in advocating a noble
cause is to be lonely, but to be thus lonely is to be lofty. I would rather
stand alone, than creep and crawl with the crowd. I would rather stand alone for
God than, moping, move with the multitude.
11. If I
were twenty-one again, I would spend a little time every day in the realm of
the beautiful. Luther always placed a flower on his desk before he began to
write. His stormy nature needed the soothing influence of beauty's touch. We
all need it. A beautiful poem, a sweet song, a lovely picture, a rare literary
gem — the touch of the beautiful — once a day. The nearest practical approach
to this for the average person is in a well-ordered notebook, carefully conned
and reviewed. Most great men have kept and carried a notebook. The things we “note,”
are the things which stay with us. Because the quotation is brief enough to be
written in a notebook, it is, therefore, easy of mental absorption. A line or two
read over every day for a month will commit itself to memory. Did you ever try
it?
Take a poem of three or four verses — read it
over once every day with emphasis and fervor, and at the end of four or five weeks
the poem is mentally yours. Try it. Crowd your brain with gems. Fill your soul with
the beauty of a thousand lovely thoughts. Let the walls of your imagination be
all alive with the living jewels of well-selected ideas. And do it while you
are young, when the passing moments are yours, —”while the evil days come not,”—
when the duties and responsibilities of life press so thick and hard that there
does not seem to be a moment for soul culture or spiritual brooding.
12. If I
were twenty-one again, I would give the flower of my .youth to Jesus Christ. I
would begin life with Him. I would not wait until my hair had grown white in
the service of sin, and then offer to the world's Redeemer the ashes of a
misspent life — I would begin with Jesus. I would not try to understand all He
said or all that has been said about Him. I would just surrender my life to Him.
Just that. I would take Him for my hero, my ideal, my peerless one, my soul's
partner, my secret fellow, my heart's joy — nothing less than that. And I would
have hung on the wall of my room the wonderful face of Jesus. And I would have
on my dressing table something which would bring to my mind and memory all the
sweet hymns which I had ever heard sung about Jesus,—” My Jesus, as Thou wilt,”
“Sun of my soul, Thou Saviour dear,” “Jesus, the very thought of Thee, “ “Jesus,
Thy name I love,” “Jesus shall reign whene'er the sun,” “Jesus, I my cross have
taken,” “Jesus, Saviour, pilot me,” and “Jesus, Lover of my soul,”— and in
every hour of triumph, sorrow, or perplexity I would sing them over to myself.
I would create a real Jesus in the hidden realm of thought.
