taken with perdition, how painful must be your reflection, that nothing was required of you to be saved but to obey so reasonable, so excellent, so necessary a law, and to receive so gracious, so kind, so merciful a Saviour? Nothing was required of you, but what you could have done and should have done; nothing but what would have made yourself as well as others more useful and happy, both in the "life that now is and that which is to come."

You had all needful opportunities; were born of pious parents, or at least in a Christian land; were favored with Sabbaths, sermons, prayers, counsels numerous and tenderly urged; - many years had the Saviour bent over you with bleeding hands and inviting voice, often had his friends fasted and prayed and wept for you; - but all was in vain! Will it not be then manifest that you wrought out your own destruction? And when the judgment shall have put the seal of eternity upon your character and condition, with what bitter sorrow must the language of despised wisdom visit your guilty and self-reproaching bosom, "Because I called, and ye refused, I stretched out my hand and ye did not regard it; but ye have set at naught all my counsels and would none of my reproof; I, also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh."

And then to think not only of the evil you have

done to yourself, but of your bad influence upon others. By continuing in impenitence and irreligion, you encouraged others to do the same. It would seem to be enough to have gone to eternal ruin alone; but to have influenced others to follow you, to execrate you as a guilty cause of their perdition this, as it seems to me, will be the most fearful ingredient in that cup of trembling, which a righteous judgment will press to the sinner's lips. This, I must believe, is the most terrible portion of what the Scriptures mean by "indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish."

And finally, to think not only of the evil you have done, but of the good you might have done. You might have allied yourself to the Saviour of the world, in accomplishing a work in which

angels would rejoice to engage. You might have been instrumental of promoting the glory of God in extending his kingdom. You might have blessed earth and blessed heaven-healed the sorrows of humanity below, and added to the songs of the redeemed above. You might have sent the savor of your goodness down through all time and all eternity,-you might have scattered its sweet perfume over your grave, and borne its fragrance thence to Heaven at your resurrection. You might have beheld a multitude of shining spirits redeemed from sin, encircling the throne of light and glory, as the fruits of your obedience to God.

You might thus have realized in your own person the fulfillment of the divine promise, "They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever." Yea, the great King of the celestial world might have called you forth in presence of angelic hosts, and placing a sparkling diadem upon your brow, have said to you, "Come, ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." / Come up hither and “sit with me on my throne; even as I also overcame and am sit down with my Father on his throne."

But all is lost, forever lost!

Say, dear youth, is not all this too much to lose? Come then to your duty. Come now. To-day if you will hear his voice harden not your heart." warning slighted may prove fatal; this call refused may leave you in sin forever.

This

CHAPTER XII.

MORAL POWER OF YOUNG MEN.

"Because ye are strong."

THE inspired writer addresses a word of instruction and encouragement appropriate to every age. The children he reminds of the tender and forgiving love of God; the fathers, of their mature experience and knowledge; the young men, of their moral power.

In this chapter I shall attempt to show you the GOOD which it is in your power to do, and how you may do it. It is very important that you should know what is meant by the "luxury of doing good."

The first and most indispensable step towards doing good in the highest moral sense, is to give yourself up to God, choose him for your supreme guardian and portion, prefer his favor before all other things, identify your interests and hopes with his kingdom, commit your personal salvation entirely to the Saviour, and make it your ruling object and ultimate end in life to "glorify

God and enjoy him forever," — in conferring both temporal and everlasting benefits upon his creatures. This is what is technically called conver sion. It is that moral change which the mind undergoes when it becomes reconciled and devoted to the divine government.

Let us then proceed to show the good which, with such a character, you may confer upon your fellow-beings.

1. Your parents.?

It was evidently the wise intention of the Creator, that the moral influences of virtue and religion should flow very much in the social and domestic affections. Of these, the paternal and filial are first and strongest. The influence of a son upon his parents, is in some respects greater than that of parents upon their son; for parental affection is usually stronger than filial. It may not be more excitable and ardent; but it is a deeper, more constant, more tenacious affection. A cause adequate to sunder the heart of a son from his parents and send him forth an exile from their dwelling, is by no means sufficient to sunder their hearts from him. No. The mother's heart still follows her son with unutterable longings, and a father's compassions still yearn towards him; - yea, although he may have suffered greatly from the conduct of his prodigal son, although he has wasted his substance