petitions; that after the service you should go every one to his own home quietly and orderly. Never forget the ceremony of this day. Follow the "advice" which will be given to each of you. Pray daily to God that you may grow in grace as you years.

grow in

In that

We earnestly hope you will observe all this. persuasion, we will proceed to the service. You will hear the introduction; make your answer deliberately and loudly; and then be recommended with humble prayer to the spiritual grace and saving help of Almighty God!

IV.

DEARLY BELOVED IN THE LORD,

NOTHING will create to you so great and so lasting misery, as the guilt of sin and the curse of God pronounced on wilful and obstinate sinners. It is, however, a truth, which some of you must know by experience, and which others among you should be told by way of caution, that, in every age and condition of life, we are surrounded with many temptations to sin. A powerful preservative against the force of such temptations, is a deep, strong, and lively sense of Christian religion, in all its doctrines, all its threats, and all its promises.

From the Holy Gospels and from the Sacred Writings of our Lord's Apostles, we know, that for us men, and for our salvation, the Son of God appeared upon earth; that He commanded sinners to repent of their wickedness; that He denounced tribulation and anguish, eternal misery, eternal woe, to all who wilfully persisted in disobedience to Him, and in the practice of sin; that He assured all who would come unto Him, and be his true disciples in heart and life, they should be for ever blessed, when they are taken from this world, and pass to the next state of their existence. They, who will frequently and habitually recollect the power of our Lord, who calls us to faith and obedience; the terrors with which our Lord alarms our consciences if we should

be inclined to unbelief, to vice, to iniquity; the confident expectation of unspeakable and immortal happiness, with which our Lord consoles, encourages, animates those who labour to be steadfast in observing and following Gospel principles; they, who will frequently and habitually recollect these awful and momentous truths, will find, will feel, that there are in these truths such motives for dreading to do evil, such inducements for studying to do good, as no considerations merely human could infallibly propose; no competency in man, however abundant in wealth, however great in authority, could possibly offer.

Your parents, therefore, have shown they truly love you; your ministers have proved they are earnest to promote your eternal happiness; the church has testified its concern for the salvation of your souls; by the means provided, and applied, for teaching you Christian religion. It is one good effect of the instruction you have received, that you this day appear in the house of God, to discharge a duty of the most solemn nature. As the Jews, at an early age, undertook to observe the laws of Moses, and were styled "Sons of the Precept;" so Christians have been accustomed, at an early age, to undertake observing the laws of Christ, and may be styled the "Children of Christian Faith and Christian Practice." In imitation of those who have gone before you, who have lived and died in our holy faith, you are now assembled, to promise, each for yourselves, that you will endeavour to resist sin, that you will receive the articles of your Creed as the rules of your belief; and that you will direct your thoughts, words, and actions, according to the moral and religious commandments of God made known in the law and sanctioned by the Gospel.

Surely as you are born, so sure it is you will die, and after death will come the judgment. Whether

you are high or low, rich or poor, you are all alike destined first to sink into the grave, and then to rise for a state either of eternal rewards or of eternal punishment. Every thinking mind, that looks forward to the end, which, sooner or later, you must all reach, will consider it as an occasion of serious joy, that, in the days of health and strength, you will begin devoting yourselves to the Lord, and will turn yourselves to the ways which lead unto salvation. That you may continue to walk in those right ways, habitually pray that God of his mercy would vouchsafe to give you divine assistance. For be assured, and often recollect, that the welfare of man, in body and soul, depends on the blessing of Almighty God. The protection of his providence is necessary for the body; the help of his grace is requisite for the soul. In full conviction of this our dependence, and in certain though humble trust that God will hear those, who sincerely and earnestly beseech him to support them in the pursuit of what is religiously good, shall soon be offered that petition, which our church with true piety and equal judgment hath prepared for us; and we shall pray the Almighty, that he would increase in you "the spirit of wisdom," to learn the words," and of understanding," to perceive the meaning and force, of Gospel instruction; "the spirit of "counsel," to choose what is best in concerns of virtue and religion, and "of strength" in mind and resolution to execute good purposes; "the spirit of knowledge," to discern what is the will of the Lord, and of "true godliness," in obeying that will; "the spirit of holy "fear," in reverencing whatever

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relates to God and

religion, and in dreading to displease Him by the commission of sin.

After the conclusion of that prayer, you will in