tion of mercy, then only darkly and distantly hinted at and prefigured, and to place before us a higher rule of life, and one founded on more noble principles than that which was enforced upon the King of Israel. Yet, though we are no longer counted as servants but as sons, though Christ saith, "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you" (John, xv. 14.); yet even in this gracious declaration itself, we see that we must now, equally with the chosen people of old, take heed unto our way according to God's holy word, and not the less so because that word is no longer, as it were, a yoke of heavy bondage, but has become easy and its burden light we must still act in obedience to the advice of the Royal moralist, advice which, be it remembered, is equally applicable to every child of man, though in the text it is especially enforced upon the obedience of youth, from the great importance, it would seem, that in that period of life habits should be formed, and principles of conduct established, in strict obedience to the only perfect rule of man's conduct, the will of God, either as implied in the unwritten law within our hearts, or as visibly developed in his written word.

The constitution of human nature is such, that each period of our being, when correctly viewed, serves evidently but as a prelude to, and a state

of preparation, both physical and moral, for that which immediately succeeds. Thus the infant is perpetually employed in correcting the impressions and perceptions presented to it by its senses; and not trusting to the deceitful representations of sight, it is ever handling, touching, tasting, trying, and proving all things, till the child as it advances finds, imperceptibly to itself, judgment substituted in the room of sensation; while, without this previous preparation in infancy, he would now find himself involved in errors, to get rid of which I would not only be extremely difficult, but would occupy the time intended for other purposes and further preparation. He has been employed also in learning one of his most important moral duties, and one, too, which eminently carries with it its own reward, love to his parents. From his birth have they watched over him with sedulous attention, and the little reasoner has been long employed in requiting their affection and repaying love with love. And now the child, by constant practice of bodily activity, and the exercise of his mental qualities, both moral and intellectual, is being prepared, or should be so, for the important duties of youth and manly prime. Youth again itself, with all its independence and dignity of freer motion, forms no exception to the general law. However perverted by wickedness, or folly

and wrong judgment, its true use is evidently that it should serve as a state of preparation for mature age, as that also for our declining years. And it may be worth while to observe for a moment that reason will go far to show the probability that this analogy is uninterrupted even by death, and that as we are more or less fitted for any particular stage of being here, according to our conduct in all the previous parts of life, even so our adaptation for a future state of existence shall depend entirely upon the improvement we have made of all the opportunities vouchsafed to us in this. A reflection this of the very last importance: but we will restrict our attention at present to that particular portion of life which is the subject of consideration in the text.

How few amongst the young ever seem to throw even a casual thought upon what we have seen is the real purpose and proper employment of this their important stage of life! Some of you are perhaps looking forward with ill-repressed impatience to [the period of your sojourn here. You picture to yourselves the joy of throwing off all the irksome restraints of discipline, and shaking off the galling yoke of authority, of emerging from the subjection of boyhood to the dignity, or rather, if the truth be told, to the unrestrained licence of grown-up youth, and of plunging at once into all

the pleasures which so fatally fascinate the ill-regulated mind in early life. It is our duty, therefore, not to dismiss you from this scene of the early formation of your character, without at least addressing to you the words of solemn and affectionate warning, without at least endeavouring to dissuade you from rushing at once into the paths of vice, and its sure attendant, misery, or without encouraging you to walk steadily in the ways of virtue, and bidding you God speed in your perilous journey.

In

Youth is the season destined for enjoyment, is the language of the thoughtless votary of folly, who, just loosened, perhaps, from the bonds of severe restraint, unguarded by principle and unfortified by previous habits of thoughtfulness, sees burst upon him, at once, the intoxicating prospect of pleasure, and giddy with the anticipation of delight, plunges blindfold into the stream. vain has the warning voice of friend or instructor fallen on his ear: in vain has the command of a father been issued, which is too often, in such a case, but as a low-breathed voice in the tempest: in vain has the mother's softened look of reproach moved his heart with compunction for a moment, for it but goads him afterwards to increased recklessness. Oh! what pain and anguish of heart are the too certain attendants on such a perver

sion of God's blessings, such an unholy misapplication of those opportunities which the mental activity and energy of youth so lavishly supply.

But "we are persuaded better things of you." If we judge you aright, there are few indeed amongst you whose minds are so ill-regulated, so faultily disciplined, as to fall at once a prey to the deceitful temptations which may so soon beset you. You will not belie the expectations you have raised, nor in a moment render useless the continued anxiety of years. It will not, we trust, be to no purpose that you have been here partly intrusted with the formation of your own character, and cautiously, we hope, hardened by experience against temptations similar in kind, though not in degree, to those which you may be therefore expected to resist successfully hereafter. Along with increasing years there spring up necessarily increasing temptations to idleness, to extravagance, to thoughtlessness, to every sort of folly and vice: though we endeavour also, successfully, we trust, in many cases, to present to you increased incentives to diligence, self-control, and strength and soundness of mind. But it is on principle we wish to establish your good qualities, and not on constraint; on principle, which shall grow with your growth and strengthen with your strength, and not on constraint alone, which can