Your opportunities of learning at school, are a great privilege; do not waste them by keeping away, or by idling while here. God has appointed sabbaths for your be nefit, do not waste them by play, by sleeping at church, or want of attention to the minister. Sermons are to the soul, as food to the body; do not despise what might make you wise unto salvation, and deliver you from hell. Times of secret prayer should be taken diligent heed to; it were better to go without a meal, than live without prayer. If persons have talents for usefulness, wit, activity, courage, let them use their talents to serve the cause of God and religion, not waste them in the ways of sin. The gospel calls to repent and believe, to fly from the wrath to come, and lay hold on Christ the only Saviour; do not waste these precious in vitations, lest at some future time, you should lose your soul, for want of taking heed to them. And conviction of sins, when your conscience tells you that you have done iniquity, attend to it, and entreat for pardon; do not throw away the conviction from you, and thereby harden your hearts to more sin.

Every blessing, whether it regards

your body, or soul; time, or eternity, ought to be carefully attended to, not wasted. Since of all we must give an account, let us of all take the utmost care; and gather up the very fragments that nothing be lost.

HYMN.

BOUNTEOUS Father, great thy mercies
Dealt to man in daily bread;

Man who more deserves thy curses,
Thund'ring on his guilty head:
Let us praise thee,

That thou dost not strike us dead.

We're unworthy of receiving

Ev'n the smallest crumb we eat;
Yet thou choicest gifts art giving;
Shall we tread them under feet,
And provoke thee,

To withdraw what thus we treat!

Careful we will duly prize them,
Use, or give to such as need;
"Tis a sin if we despise them;
Waste, abuse them, sin indeed:
We adore thee,

"Tis thy hand from which we feed,

Lord, not food, or raiment, merely,
Do we guilty sinners waste;
But our time, and talents, yearly,
Means of grace, which fly in haste:
Lord forgive us,

Let us all thy mercy taste.

2 Cor. ii. 11. Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.

THAT sin leads to destruction, is what all persons acknowledge; it is a truth which does not admit of doubt, for God has said so, while both reason and conscience confess it to be true. Yet notwithstanding this is no laughing matter, there are some so desperately hardened in sin, as to laugh at it; who drink in iniquity like water, and roll it as a sweet morsel under their tongues; who commit all uncleanness with greediness, without

any fear of that eternal damnation, which shall overwhelm the impenitent workers of iniquity.

Such, if they think at all, must know that hell gapes wide for them. But there is a sort of sinners, whose danger is equally great, but not equally evident: who com mit all manner of sin, but cheat them. selves with some foolish excuse, by which they hope to escape the punishment due to it. Satan suits his temptation to all sorts of persons. The bold he urges to gratify their corrupt appetites, and venture the worst. When he proposes sin to the timid and fearful, he by some cunning device, endeavours, either to hide the he niousness of the crime, or to give some plausible reason, why the punishment of He blinds it should not reach them, their eyes, and then leads them into ruin. This he does by giving them false notions of the sin, of the sinner, of the judge, or of the punishment,

First. He gives them false notions of the sin, He tells them it is little, common, duty, infrequent, secret, prudent, pleasant, dear, or virtuous,

He says of some things, the sin is little. Thus to steal a guinea, you think