In endeavouring to apply this subject more pointedly than I have yet done, I wish to bear in mind particularly the dispositions and circumstances. which are most frequently found amongst young persons. Now it is probable, that some of you, my young friends, who are far from indifferent to the subject of Religion, may have entertained — you may still entertain—very erroneous notions, as this young man did, respecting both the nature of the Christian Religion, and your own disposition and ability to become, what you would term, religious. I will suppose that you have felt the reasonableness of preferring the concerns of eternity to those of time-that you have been captivated with descriptions of the happiness of heaven, and are desirous of obtaining it: your general notion, perhaps, is, that it is to be obtained by abstaining from what is evil, and by practising what is good: and if you were to make any inquiry about the matter, you would probably make it in nearly the same words as those which you have heard, "What good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?" "What lack I yet?"-Now learn from the reply made by our Lord Jesus Christ to this young man, how much you are in error-wherein your error mainly consists. It is a mistake to suppose, as he did,

that you are nearly good enough to go to heaven; and that you have only some good thing more to do, in order to render yourselves deserving of eternal life. This manner of thinking and speaking on the subject-which some of you, perhaps, are conscious has been your own, and which would have been more frequently expressed in words unless you had perceived that it was disapproved by others betrays an utter ignorance of your own actual state, in relation to God and eternal things, and of the nature of true religion: and if you were to ask me the question, 'What good thing must I do more, that I may have eternal life?' I might, in reply to the question, point out many things right to be done, to which you would not express, or feel, any particular objection. But, if I knew your particular character and circumstances, as our Lord Jesus Christ knew those of this young man, I could certainly point out something right to be done, which you would not be willing to do; or something right to be given up, which you would not be willing to forego: and though you might possibly hesitate rather longer than this young man did, yet, in the end, you would go away sorrowful. You might be sorry that you could not have both eternal life and your idol, whatever that

might be ; but you would cling to your idol, and let go eternal life; or, if you could not make up your mind to dismiss the hope of obtaining it, you would, at least, put off the consideration to "a more convenient season.' The truth is, that if you have not yet been changed, "in the spirit of your mind," from the state in which you were by nature, so as from your heart deliberately and resolutely to prefer the favour of God, and His service, to every worldly consideration-which, it is evident, this young man did not, and which no man does naturally-you must be changed;-you must be born again; the current of your affections and thoughts must be stopped, and turned into another channel. And, in order thereto, it is necessary that your conscience should be probed, and laid bare to yourself: you must be convinced of sin-of your actual transgressions of the law of God-of the defectiveness of your services and love to God-and of the preference which you are giving to earthly, before heavenly, things. And those are your best friends -not those who would persuade you, as some may kindly but ignorantly have done, that you are good enough, or nearly so, to go to heaven-but

* Eph. iv. 23.

those who endeavour to lead you, as our Saviour would have led this young man, to the knowledge of your own heart;-some knowledge of which is indispensably necessary, before you can enter with any understanding into the nature of the Christian Religion, or have any share in its blessings. You must learn, that you are "very far gone from original righteousness; and, of your own nature, inclined to evil*;" so that your flesh lusteth always contrary to the Spirit, influencing not only your dispositions, but even your judgment and perception in relation to divine things; and that you have, by your actual sins, greatly widened the breach which existed by nature between God and your soul. In order to come at the truth in this matter, you must compare your actions, words, desires, and thoughts, not with the maxims and opinions which may be current in the world at large, or in the particular circle in which you move, but with the perfect law of God, as revealed in His Word. Renouncing all other standards, refer every thing to that which extends to the hidden springs and motions of the heart. Read, for instance, our Saviour's Sermon on the Mount, contained in the 5th, 6th,

* Ninth Article of Religion.

and 7th chapters of St. Matthew's Gospel;-read it with prayer to God, that you may learn from it what He requires of you, and how far you have fallen short of His requirements;-and you will perceive that your sins, both of omission and commission, are far more numerous and aggravated than you supposed;-you will learn, that you need something more than a little additional goodness to merit heaven;--that unless your sins, the guilt of your past sins, be pardoned-freely pardoned-you are lost, and that for ever;-and that unless your soul be brought into willing subjection to the law of God, so as to love His commandments, and experience delight in obeying them, instead of accounting them irksome, as you have done-you cannot be fit for admission into the kingdom of heaven; inasmuch as you possess not those dispositions and affections which constitute a meetness for it, and without which no man can enter heaven. You will then find that you need a Saviour, and that an Almighty one -a Saviour able to deliver you from the guilt and from the dominion of sin-able to pardon your sins, and to make you holy in heart and life. Such a Saviour is offered to you in the Gospel;-it is Jesus, the Son of God. He died, the just for the unjust, that he might bring you to God. He