O, young people, a thousand arguments and examples might be adduced to show the force and propriety of the petition! If you have a spark of ingenuousness towards God in your hearts, you would not desire to put him off with the refuse of a life spent in the service of sin. You would offer him the first fruits of your days; the best of your time. strength, talents, and influence.-And this is not all Time flies. Years roll over in quick succession. Death sweeps away the young as well as the aged. Out of the burials that we have had this year in our congregation, five out of six have been young people; some of them under twenty years of age, and others of them but little past that period. None of them seem to have thought much of dying, yet they are gone from the land of the living! Hark! from their tombs I hear the language of warning and solemn counsel! Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest. Join with your pastor, join with your parents, join with all that seek your welfare, in praying, O satisfy us early with thy mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

What shall I say more? Will you, my dear young people, will you drink and be satisfied at the fountain of mercy; a fountain that is wide open, and flows freely through our Lord Jesus Christ? You cannot plead the want of sufficient inducements. Ministers, parents, Christians, angels, the faltering voice of death, the solemn assurance of a judgment to come, and above all, the sounding of the bowels of Jesus Christ, all say, Come. But if, like those who refused the waters of Siloah, you prefer the follies and pursuits of the present life to the joys of immortality, our souls shall weep in secret places for you. Tribulation and anguish will overtake you, even in this life; and under it, instead of the consolations and hopes of the gospel, you will have to reflect, This I have brought upon myself; and these are but the beginnings of sorrows!'

TO THE AFFLICTED.

THOSE Whose Christian compassion induces them frequently to visit the sick, see and hear things of which others can scarcely form any conception. They see affliction, not merely in easy circumstances, wherein it is alleviated, as far as possible, by the comforts of life, but as it exists in the poor man's dwelling, aggravated by privations and hardships, many of which would seem intolerable to some, even in a time of health. They sympathize with you, and as far as they are able, it is presumed, administer to your relief.

Some

But there is one thing which has particularly struck the writer of this address; namely, the different manner in which affliction is borne by religious, and by irreligious people. He wishes to be understood as speaking generally, rather than universally. who are thought to be religious, and are not so ; and some that are truly religious, are the subjects of morbid nervous sensibility; while others who are not so, have much constitutional patience and equanimity. But other things being equal, he has perceived a wide difference in favour of religion. In visiting the dwellings of Christian people in times of affliction, his heart has been cheered by their cheerfulness. Their troubles have seemed to be more than balanced by their enjoyments. Hope has glistened in their very tears, and submission to the will of God has brightened their emaciated countenances. But on entering the abodes of the irreligious, such discontent, despondency, and misery have appeared, that he has come away quite dejected. The smile of hope, and the tear of joy, were there alike unknown all was darkness, and the prospect of thicker darkness.

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Let us try to find out the causes and the cure of this state of mind, which adds so much to the miseries of life. If every one could tell his tale, and would tell the truth, we might hear some such accounts as these:

My heart was set upon certain things, and I seemed almost to have gained them, when unexpectedly I was seized with this heavy affliction. And now all my plans are broken ; I seem likely to die disappointed; and what is worse, I have thought nothing, or next to nothing, of an hereafter.'

I have lived,' says another, a thoughtless and careless life, putting the evil day far from me. I began by entertaining a dislike to the worship of God, and so forsook it, and turned the Sabbath into a day of sports. I kept bad company, and soon began to doubt the truth of the Bible. I drank, swore, and when in company laughed at religion; though a secret persuasion that it would prove true sometimes made me very unhappy when alone. I laid my account with living as long as my neighbours; but I am afraid now I shall not recover, and that my soul is lost. Oh, how little did I think a few weeks ago that I should be so soon arrested in my course! What have I done? What can I do ?'

'I have lived a sober life,' says a third, and have not been used to doubt but that through the merits of Christ, this would answer every purpose but since I have been laid aside, I have been thinking, in case I should die, whether this ground will bear me; and the more I think of it, the more it seems to sink under me. I am a sinner, and know not how my sins are to be forgiven.'

I have been brought up in a Christian family,' says a fourth, and have heard the gospel from my childhood; yet my conscience tells me that I am not a Christian. I heard the truth, but never received it in the love of it, that I might be saved. I conformed to family worship, but my heart was never in it. So much was it against the grain of my inclination, that I longed to get from under the yoke. At length my father died, and I had what I wished for, my liberty. Since then I have been very wicked. And now I am brought down to death's door. I know what will be the end. The Lord have mercy upon me!'

If any of these cases be yours, or nearly so, allow me to remind you that a time of affliction is a time when God calls you to a serious inquiry into the state of your soul. In the day of adversity consider. It is the only time, it may be, in which the voice of religion and conscience can be heard. You may have been as the wild ass used to the wilderness, neither to be turned nor restrained;

all those who have sought to reclaim you have but wearied themselves but as in her month she was to be found, so are you in yours. Consider then that God has laid his hand upon you, that he may cause you to feel what he could do, and induce you to hearken while he reasons with you. He has awakened you also to some sense of your danger, that you may feel your need of the salvation of Christ, ere it is for ever hid from your eyes. I dare not comfort you on the consideration of your distress of mind, as though it were a hopeful sign of salvation. If it lead you to the Saviour, you will be saved; but if not, it may be to you but the beginning of sorrows. Your sins are much more numerous and heinous than you are aware of; it is an evil and bitter thing to have departed from the living God, and to have spent so large a part of the life he gave you without his fear being in you. God might justly cut you off, and cast you into perdition.

But consider the faithful saying, Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, even the chief of sinners. You have doubtless heard of this, but perhaps have never considered its import. If Jesus came into the world on such an errand, he must be the Messiah foretold by the prophets, the Son of God, and the Saviour of men. If he came into the world to save sinners, the world must have been in a lost and hopeless condition. If any thing could have been done by man towards saving himself, it would doubtless have been left to him: God would not unnecessarily have interfered, especially to send his Son to be made a sacrifice for us. It does not comport with the wisdom of God to send his Son to suffer and die, to accomplish that which might have been accomplished without him. Moreover, if Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, he must have come with a design, which is what no mere creature ever did. Whatever design there may be concerning our coming into the world, we are not the subjects of it: but Christ was the subject of design. He took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and this from a state of mind that we are called upon to imitate, Phil. ii. 7. His coming into the world was nothing less than the Word being made flesh and dwelling among men ; or, that eternal life that was with the Father being manifested to us. But if all this be true, sin must be

indeed an evil and bitter thing, and salvation from it a matter of the greatest importance. And shall we so pursue our farms and merchandise as to make light of it? Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. It is sufficient to warrant our coming to him, that such are we. Finally, if he came to save the chief of sinners, whatever our sins have been, they can furnish no reason for despair. Even the sin against the Holy Ghost is not unpardonable, as being too great for the mercy of God, or for the atonement of Christ; but as precluding that which is necessary to an interest in both-repentance. Heb. vi. 6. If therefore our sins be lamented, and we have faith in Christ, however numerous or heinous they have been, we shall find mercy. If a ship founders at sea, and while her company are some floating on pieces of wreck, and others swimming for their lives, a friendly vessel bears down and throws out rope to every one of them, would it be for any one to hesitate as to his taking hold of it?

Many in the day of adversity have, like the prodigal, been brought to a right mind; but many are not so. Some are unaffected, and even hardened under their afflictions. Nothing is heard but murmurings and complainings and nothing seen but sullen discontent, depression, and despondency. Others, being deeply intrenched in the persuasion that they have lived a good life, all that is said to them respecting the gospel makes no impression on their minds. Others are secure in consequence of having imbibed some false scheme of religion; and others, who are tender at the time, and appear to believe the gospel are no sooner restored to health, than they lose their impressions, and return to their former courses.

Let us review these cases. If affliction has been the means of bumbling you, and bringing you to a right mind, you have reason, not only to be reconciled to it, but to consider it among your greatest mercies. It has been good for you to bear the yoke of adversity; and this should teach you to be resigned to the will of God as to your future lot. It was by affliction,' said a good man, ' that I was first brought into the way, and by affliction that I have been kept in it.' Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I have learned thy word.