to save your souls, and make you happy in heaven for evermore. How happy will be your death, if you know God, " and serve him with a perfect heart and a willing mind!" God will be your God, Christ will be your Saviour, heaven will be your home, angels will be your companions, and eternal glory your reward.

2. A threatening is denounced against those who are guilty of forsaking God.

The awful consequences of this crime will be, that "he will cast them off for ever.'

To forsake God, is to depart from his ways; to cast off fear, and restrain prayer before him. And for God to forsake us, is to deny us the benefits of his favour, and leave us to the misery consequent upon our sins. Can any of you then, my dear children, be guilty of the crime? or can any of you endure its dreadful punishment? "The Lord is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.' : "He that sinneth against the Lord, wrongeth his own soul." Now, all that forsake God, sin against him. that hate him, love death." If you forsake God, you cannot love him: and if you do not love him, then you must hate him and if you hate God, you love sin, and "the wages of sin is death."

:

"All

What will you do, if God should cast you off? Oh! think of the words," He will cast you off for ever!" What, if God should at the last day disown you! What, if he should cast you out of his family! What, if you are not numbered among his sons and his daughters! Should the eternal God shut the doors of heaven against you, what will you do, and where will you go, when the great day of his wrath shall come? He will send you to the master whom you have served with such delight when on earth, that is Satan. You will be cast into outer darkness, where there is weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth. Oh! what will you experience, if he sends you "down to everlasting fire in hell, among wicked and miserable creatures!"

My dear children! can you bear the thoughts of the awful consequences that will follow, if you neglect this solemn and important charge? I think you cannot: they are too painful: I must not give you up. Where is the child that will forsake God, and be cast off for ever? Will all of you be guilty of this sin? Will any of you have this punishment? If there is any one who, after all that has been said, will resolve to go on in sin-over that child will I weep-for that

child will I pray-with that child will I plead, in hope that its obstinacy may be conquered, and its soul eventually be saved. Think, my dear child, think of your sinful conduct, of your miserable condition! Are you not afraid to die? Who will be your friend, if God is not? Who will be your Saviour, if Christ is not? Can your parents save you? Can ministers save you ? Can angels save you? It is God alone that can give you a new heart.

It is his Spirit alone that can make you truly wise and good. Think where you will go if you do not go to heaven. Once more let me repeat this charge to you before you go: "And thou, Solomon, my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and a willing mind: for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.

A HYMN ON 1st CHRON. xxviiii. 9.

My son, know thou the Lord,
Thy father's God obey:

Seek his protecting care by night,
His guiding hand by day.

Call while he may be found,
And seek him while he's near;

Serve him with all thy heart and mind,
And worship him with fear.

If thou wilt seek his face,
His ear will hear thy cry;

Then shalt thou find his mercy sure,

His grace for ever nigh.

But if thou leave thy God,

Nor choose the path to heav'n;

Then shalt thou perish in thy sins,
And never be forgiv❜n.

LECTURE III.

THE DANGER OF BAD COMPANY.

PROV. i. 10.-My son, if sinners entice thee, consent
thou not.

THERE is a book called Æsop's Fables, which no doubt some of you have read; it is not only an entertaining, but an instructing book. To every fable there is a moral, which conveys some useful lessons to the mind, and gives some needful direction for our conduct. In that book there is a fable very applicable to the subject of this Lecture. I will relate

it to you.

"A poor innocent stork had the misfortune to be taken in a net that was laid for geese and cranes; the stork's plea for herself was simplicity and piety-the love she bore to mankind-her duty to her parents, and the service she did in picking up venomous creatures. • This may all be true, said the husbandman, for what I know; but as you have been taken with bad company, you must expect to suffer with it.' Since we may be easily corrupted by the force of bad examples, wise men will judge of us by the company we keep. The Proverb says, "Birds of a feather will flock together:" bad companions will in time make us as bad as themselves. Companions are chosen, and intimate friendships formed, at a very early age. Children, who are yet very young, have their little favourites, as they call them, either at school, or in the neighbourhood where they dwell. Boys have formed friendships at school, which have continued till they have grown up to riper years; and sometimes they have lasted till death, which parts the dearest friends, has separated them

from each other.

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Equally strong, if not more so, is the intimacy formed between girls; they have their favourite companions, to whom they impart their little secrets, and without whom they can, not go to school or from it. They have great delight in the company of these dear companions, and cannot go to any place of instruction or amusement unless they accompany them. Nay, such is the affection they bear to each other, that some have been known to request their parents to permit them to visit each other at home during the vacation. Even the name of a dear companion sounds delightful to the ear, and the thought of separation has sometimes caused sorrow and tears. I have seen some children jump for joy when they heard that a particular companion or school-fellow was coming to visit them.

Some have been more strongly united by the ties of friendship, than others by the ties of birth and natural affection. There are some who would do more for a particular friend or companion, than they would do for a brother or a sister.

Attend, therefore, my young friends, to the advice here given you in the text.

Let us notice

I. Solomon's parental affection for the young.

How expressive! My son. He addresses you as if you were his own children. My dear boys, do you hear how Solomon speaks to you? for he does really speak to you. Listen to him, for he was a wise man. My son, are words which are often made use of in the book of Proverbs, because the Proverbs were mostly written at first to his own child. And in addressing them to you, he does not mean boys only, but all who are young, and under the authority of their parents. Let us pay some attention to these two little wordsMy son.

There is something very kind and affectionate in them. Hear him, ye sons and daughters; attend to the words of the wisest of men, attend to one who has the same regard for you as your parents have, who wishes to promote your present happiness and eternal good. "My sons and daughters," says Solomon, "attend to me, for be assured that I take a great interest in your welfare. I am much concerned for the salvation of your souls, and my prayer to God for you is, that you may be saved. I have been young, and have trodden before you the slippery path of youth. I know the temptations to which you are exposed, from the snares of Satan, the allurements of the world, and the enticements of bad com