to the word of God, which to a regenerated soul, is found to be sweeter than honey, and more excellent than the choicest gold; but this will add to your happiness, rather than diminish it. We would then affectionately and earnestly exhort and entreat you, to “remember now your Creator in the days of your youth." This will be your best security against all the dangers and temptations to which you are exposed; this will secure to you" the favour of God which is life, and his loving kindness which is better than life." Delay not your conversion; every day is lost time, which is not spent in the service of God. Besides, procrastination has proved ruinous to many. Eternity is at hand; the judgment day must be met, and how can we appear there, without piety? This is our only preparation and passport for heaven. Dear youth, be wise, and secure an inheritance among the saints in light. God invites you to be reconciled. Christ extends his arms of mercy to secure you. Angels are waiting to rejoice at your conversion, and to become your daily and nightly guardians. The doors of the church will be opened to receive you. The ministers of the gospel, and all the company of believers, will hail your entrance and will welcome you to the precious ordinances of God's house. And, finally, remember, that "now is the accepted time and the day of salvation."

XIX. SEEK divine direction and aid, by incessant, fervent prayer. You need grace to help you every day. Your own wisdom is folly, your own strength weakness, and your own righteousness altogether insufficient. "It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps." But if you lack wisdom, you are permitted to ask; and you have a gracious promise, that you shall receive. Whatever we need will be granted, if we humbly and believingly ask for it. "Ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you.", "Be careful for nothing, but in every thing with prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God."

Faith and prayer are our chief resource under all the various and heavy afflictions of this life. When all

other refuges fail, God will hide his people who seek Him in his secret pavilion, and shelter them under the shadow of his wings. Prayer is essential to the existence and growth of the spiritual life. It is the breath. of the new man. By this means he obtains quick relief from innumerable evils; and draws down from heaven blessings of the richest and sweetest kind. Possess your minds fully of the persuasion, that prayer is efficacious, when offered in faith and with importunity, to obtain the blessings which we need. God has made himself known as a hearer of prayer: yea, he has promised that we shall have, as far as may be for his glory and our good, whatever we ask. The most important events may be brought about by prayer. One righteous man, by fervent and effectual prayer, has been able to shut heaven and open it again. How often did Moses by his prayers avert the divine wrath from the people of Israel! That man who has access to a throne of grace will never want any thing which is really needful. "God will give grace and glory, and no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly." "But He will be inquired of by the house of Israel for this thing that he may do it for them." Banish, as most unreasonable, the idea that prayer is a dull or melancholy business. Such a sentiment must have been invented by Satan; for it never could have been suggested by reason, or taught by experience. Intercourse with the greatest and best of all Beings must be a source of exalted pleasure; and surely, man can have no greater honour and privilege conferred upon him, than to be admitted to converse intimately and confidentially with the God whom angels adore. The experience of every saint attests, that "it is good to draw near to God;" and that "one day in his courts is better than a thousand." I need not be afraid, therefore, to counsel the young to cultivate the spirit of prayer, and to be constant in its exercise. "Pray without ceasing.' "Be instant in prayer." It will not spoil your pleasures, but will open for you new sources of enjoyment, far more refined and satisfactory, than any which prayerless persons can possess. Prayer is

the only method by which intercourse between heaven and earth can be kept open. Often, too, in the perfor mance of this duty, a taste of heaven is brought down to earth; and the pious worshipper anticipates, in some degree, those joys which are ineffable and eternal.Prayer will, moreover, be your most effectual guard against sin and the power of temptation:

"For Satan trembles, when he sees
The weakest saint upon his knees."

XX. I CONCLUDE my counsels to the young, by a serious and affectionate recommendation to every one who reads these pages, to make immediate preparation for death. I know that gay youth are unwilling to hear this subject mentioned. There is nothing which casts a greater damp upon their spirits, than the solemn fact that death must be encountered; and that no earthly possessions or circumstances can secure us from becoming his victims, on any day. But if it is acknowledged that this formidable evil is inevitable, and that the tenure by which we hold our grasp of life is very fragile, why should we act so unreasonably, and I may say, madly, as to shut our eyes against the danger? If, indeed, there was no way of preparing to meet this event, there might be some reason for turning away our thoughts from immediate destruction: but if by attention and exertion, it is possible to make preparation for death, then nothing can be conceived more insane, than to refuse to consider our latter end.-How often are we called to witness the decease of blooming youth, in the midst of all their pleasures and prospects! Such scenes have been exhibited within the observation of all of you. Dear friends and companions have been snatched away from the side of some of you. The grave has closed upon many whose prospects of long life were as favourable as those of their survivors. Now, my dear young friends, what has so frequently happened in relation to so many others, may take place with regard to some of you. This year you may be called to bid farewell to all your earthly prospects, and all your beloved relatives. The bare possibility of such

an event ought to have the effect of engaging your most serious attention, and of leading you to immediate preparation. Do you ask what preparation is necessary? I answer, reconciliation with God, and a meetness for the employments and enjoyments of the heavenly state. Preparation for death includes repentance towards God for all our sins, trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and reliance on his atoning sacrifice, regeneration of heart, and reformation of life; and, finally, a lively exercise of piety, accompanied with a comfortable assurance of the divine. favour. In short, genuine and lively piety forms the essence of the needed preparation. With this your death will be safe, and your happiness after death secure; but to render a death-bed not only safe but comfortable, you must have a strong faith, and clear evidence that your sins are forgiven, and that you have passed from death unto life. Be persuaded, then, before you give sleep to your eyes, to commence your return unto God, from whom like lost sheep you have strayed. "Prepare to meet your God." "Be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of man cometh."

Seek deliverance from the fear of death by a believing application to Him who came on purpose to deliver us from this bondage. With his presence and guidance we need fear no evil, even while passing through the gloomy valley and shadow of death. He is able by his rod and his staff to comfort us, and to make us conquerors over this last enemy.

COUNSELS TO CHRISTIAN MOTHERS.

WHEN I address myself to Christian Mothers, I do not mean to intimate that those who cannot with propriety be thus addressed, stand in no need of admonition. Alas! that in a Christian country there should be mothers who have nothing of the spirit of Christ. Young persons often promise themselves that they will attend to religion after they are married and settled in the world. How preposterous is this! It ought rather to be their resolution not to think of entering into a state involving such weighty responsibilities, and the exercise of so many virtues, until they have become the possessors of true religion. Without piety how is it possible for any woman rightly to fulfil the duties of a wife, and especially of a mother? Some correct views on this subject probably led the legislators of one of the provinces of Holland, as I have read some where, to enact a law, that whenever any persons applied to be united in marriage, they should produce evidence that they were in the full communion of the church. But this was a dangerous misapplication of a sound principle. Just as in the case of civil rulers, it is exceedingly important that they who are appointed to rule over men should be truly pious; but it is a sad mistake in legislation, to make the profession of religion a qualification for office. But while I would not have a law requiring piety as a qualification for entering into the band of matrimony, I would still insist upon it, that no woman, destitute of religion, is fit to become a wife and mother. Only think of it-an irreligious mother! If it were not so common, the very expression would excite emotions similar to those which we experience, when we

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