CONCLUSION.

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CHAPTER III.

CONCLUSION.

"For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"-Matt. xvi. 26.

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N the preceding pages there are valuable and plain directions prescribed by some of the best writers for the guidance of youth, who are mixing in the affairs of the world; but worldly prudence, which will, in most cases, ensure an easy competence, or perhaps wealth, is not the highest possession to be desired by a human creature.

I feel considerable diffidence in approaching this part of my subject, knowing "how great an absurdity our Saviour accounted it for the blind to lead the blind, and to put him that cannot so much as see to discharge the office of a watch A blind man sitting in a chimney-corner is pardonable enough, but sitting at the helm he is intolerable. If men will be ignorant and illiterate, let them be so in private, and to themselves, and not set their defects in a high place, to make them visible and conspicuous." As

this little work, however, is addressed to the young, it would doubtless appear incomplete, without some slight reference to those important truths that concern one's eternal welfare; and I must reverently direct attention to the comforting assurances that are contained in the Scriptures, which teach us, "that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom," and that undue anxious cares should not distract the mind, but that firm reliance should be placed in Providence to bless honest diligence, we being assured, that if we "first seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness, that all other things shall be added to us ;" and while looking above for direction, we shall doubtless have bestowed upon us that excellent gift of Christian charity, which disposes the heart to return good for evil, and rather excuse than condemn the failings of others, and be animated by a religious and healthy mind which will act as a safeguard and shield against the insiduous influence of vice in all its forms; and bestow that solid cheerfulness of disposition that arises from a heart free from offence both towards God and man.

Let us never be so much entangled with the affairs of this life, as to forget the one thing most needful—the securing the welfare of the immortal soul. If success does not shine upon all of us, let us be contented and thankful, and well pleased with that portion the wise providence of God has allotted to us in this world, and to acquiesce in his choice, as being the

THE ONE THING NEEDFUL.

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best for us. If we are unlucky and unfortunate, despite our best endeavours; depend upon it, our trials and misfortunes will enable us to form a right judgment concerning the vanities and emptiness of all transitory enjoyments, and teach us to fix our desires upon pleasures above, "where moth and rust doth not corrupt, nor thieves break through and steal." Our religion also teaches us to hope and believe that a well spent life, reliant upon the intercession of our Saviour for the forgiveness of sins, will be rewarded hereafter by never-ending complete happiness, of such a transcendant nature, that the heart of man cannot conceive the amount of bliss that is in store for the righteous. The season of youth is the time to ponder over these things. No doubt there are death-bed repentances, where the soul, awakened to the near prospect of its eternal condition, stands aghast at the hideousness of sin. It is possible that salvation may be wrought under such conditions by the most exquisite self-abasement and thorough repentance-which repentance, however, would have been of no avail in the eyes of a righteous Judge, had it not been for Christ the Passover, who experienced in his own person the deep anguish of being a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. How much more delightful will it be for the young Christian, like Samuel, to walk from his youth upwards in the way of the Lord, and gradually attune his mind, through grace, and the inspiration

of the Holy Spirit, to a fitness for a more elevated condition?

There is one short reflection that is sufficiently convincing to all of us who aspire to gain an entrance into that happy land foreshadowed to us, of the necessity of preparing ourselves for it, when we consider, if we are to carry the same minds with us into a future state-which we undoubtedly shall-how a proud rebellous spirit could be in harmony with, or subjection to, the eternal plans of the Creator, who has promised to provide a place for all who love his 'Son Jesus and keep his commandments ?

London: RANKEN & WILSON, Printers, St. Mary-le-Strand.