ments, leaping over opposing obstacles, youth flies to the goal; whilst age, creeping fearfully along, clinging still to the enjoyments of earth, discouraged by every difficulty, will scarcely ever attain it. Like the wife of Lot, it may proceed a small distance from the city, doomed to destruction, but devoid of alaerity and vigour, it will seldom reach the Zoar, the place of safety. It must be evident to you, my brethren, that these dispositions and sentiments are, from their nature, calculated to advance you in the Christian course; of themselves, they are not sufficient to make you holy; but when grace sanctifies them, and directs them to proper objects, they must render your progress in religion more rapid and more delightful. And remember too, that this inciting grace is given you in greater measure in youth than in advanced life; that God, by his Spirit, now beseeches and importunes you to turn and live, more frequently and forcibly than he will hereafter. I appeal to you, aged sinners, for the truth of this representation. Are there none of you who often, in early life, felt the attractions and suggestions of the Holy Ghost, which "almost persuaded you to be Christians;" (Acts xxvi. 28.) but who, now that you have advanced in life, and are nearer to perdition, scarcely ever think of the destiny that awaits you; scarcely ever are induced to meditate seriously on the means to avoid it? You see then, my young friends, that whether you consider your own disposition, or the conduct of God, you find advantages for progressing in piety which you will not have at any other period of your lives. If then you have not renounced all hope and desire for salvation; (and surely none of you can be so mad, as deliberately to sacrifice the pleasures of heaven, and embrace the tortures of

hell;) if you wish to apply the most suitable means for the attainment of this salvation, (and you are not reasonable creatures, if you do not wish it,) will you not imitate the example of the pious king of Judah, and "begin while yet young, to seek after the God of your fathers."

And if the advantages which you now enjoy for the cultivation of religion, form a strong inducement' to you to attend to the concerns of piety, so also do the dangers and temptations to which you are now exposed. Every other period of life has some salutary restraints and guards which are denied to youth. Childhood is weak and feeble, without power or temptation to commit many sins, and subjected to the visitant control of parents. Manhood is occupied by business and avocations; and, in pursuit of honours and emoluments, finds it necessary by at least an appearance of virtue, to conciliate the esteem and respect of the world. Old age has the lessons of experience, is impotent to do evil, and beholds death, judgment, eternity, nearly approaching. But youth is left without any of these of these powerful restraints, these salutary guards. The world, whose treachery and falsehood it has not yet known, spreads before it a thousand gay and alluring scenes, to draw it aside from virtue. Every thing is novel; every thing is captivating. The blood courses with impetuosity through the veins; passion and appetite are in their full vigour; objects to excite them are each moment presented; judgment is immature; reason without the aids of experience; the imagination active in creating illusions; the heart sensible to pleasure, easily inflamed, lively and impetuous in its desires. Ah! in so perilous a situation, what but the sacred guidance of religion can pre

serve us? A young person without this guidance, resembles a vessel without rudder and without pilot, tossed on an agitated ocean in the midst of an obscure night, conflicting with violent storms, dashing frequently against quicksands and rocks, liable each moment to be shivered into pieces, or to sink into the abyss.*

Stop then for a moment, my young friends, think of your danger, and in order to avoid it, " begin" with Josiah "to seek after the God of your fathers."

III. By early piety, you will prepare tranquillity and joy for old age, should you arrive unto it; whilst by an opposite conduct you will fill it with remorse and fears.

An old man, who has forgotten God in his youth, is seldom converted; and if he is not, how wretched must he be in that period of weakness and debility, when supports and consolation are so much needed; since his views of the past, the present, and the future, bring with them nothing but grief and anguish? He contemplates the past; he sees a whole life given him to prepare for eternity, squandered in vanity and sin; he sees a wide and dreary waste, where the eye is relieved by no monuments of virtue and piety; he considers the present, and is filled with confusion; he turns towards the future, and with gloom and distress, beholds death for which he has not prepared, pressing upon him; beholds a tribunal where he can hope for no acquittal, already erected; beholds an eternity of joys which he would fair possess, but which he has bartered for those pleasures of which nothing remains but an insipid or painful remembrance; beholds an eternity of torments, which he has merited by his sins and iniquities. The ghosts of departed joys flit before him, and point to those regions of wo whither sinful delights

conduct. Such is the old age of those who remember not God in their youth, and then remain, as they almost always do, at a distance from him during the whole course of their lives. Even if (to make the most favourable supposition, and a supposition which is seldom verified,) even if called at the eleventh hour, this aged man has truly turned unto the Lord, how far will he be from enjoying the same pleasure as the early convert! He will almost certainly be subject at times to painful apprehensions and doubts; to fears that he forsakes the world, only because he can no longer retain it; that he renounces the enjoyments of earth, only because from the decay of his body, from the feebleness of his mind, and the weakness of his fancy, he is unable to indulge in them. These, and a thousand other similar fears, generally occasion in the mind of him who is converted in old age, a painful hesitancy concerning the security of his state, prevent him from going on his way rejoicing, and cloud that prospect of immortality which would be a stay to his soul.

How much more consolatory and cheering are the meditations of the aged Christian, who remembered his Creator in the days of his youth! He is solaced in reviewing his conduct, to find the brightest evidences of his sincerity; for he forsook the world when it appeared in its most alluring garb, and spread its most glittering snares to entangle him: he forsook it when his ardent passions and vigorous powers enabled him to participate in its pleasures with the greatest gust; he has long and successfully warred under the banner of the Captain of his salvation; he has resisted the most violent temptations of hope or fear, which would have drawn him from his duty. The perplexing doubts which harass the

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pious but unexperienced, concerning their steadfastness and perseverance in the ways of religion, are for him past, and his mind is serene as the regions of heaven. In reviewing the past, he sees the long interval between the season of youth and the furrowed countenance and hoary head of age, filled up some good degree with works of devotion, righteousness, and benevolence; whereby he has glorified God, benefited his brother, and made provision that his memory should always be precious; and the recollection of them makes him re-enjoy the scenes through which he has passed. Ah! what can be more delightful than to remember how early he was enabled to devote himself to God; how frequently he has conflicted with difficulties and trials for his sake; how rich has been his experience of the providential care and protection of his Heavenly Father; how often he has enjoyed communion with his God; lifted up his desires to him, and poured out before him the warm effusions of his soul! And if from the past, he turns and contemplates the future, views the most animating are presented to him; he fixes a steady eye upon those glories in which he knows he is interested; he rejoices that he almost touches the object of all his hopes and desires; that he will shortly be admitted into the presence of that God whom he has so long loved, and be delivered from a combat which has so long endured..

Surely an old age thus placid and venerable, is an object worthy of our desires: surely these peaceful recollections, these sublime prospects, amidst the dreariness of age, are deserving our exertions. Do you wish to attain them? "Remember your Creator in the days of your youth; then no evil days