growth in time, and shall be evolved yet more and more forever. Thus will the confirmed Church, as she holds on her shining and eternal course, constitute the galaxy of divine glory in the spiritual heavens. On her path thus radiant, suspended worlds will gaze; on her history thus evolved, a thoughtful universe will dwell, and will open itself forever to these grandest manifestations of the triune God. While through the Church the moral glory of Je hovah is thus developed, there is, moreover, in her spiritual guardianship, life, safety, peace: in her deep communion of consecrated mind, that fellowship for which the human spirit thirsts. Its present interruptions warn us of its real value; its future perfection is the richest, loftiest reward to which immortality can aspire. The conection which binds you as consecrated youth to this community is therefore of a most elevated and interesting nature. It rejoices my heart when I think how many of the dear children of the Church are now members in full communion, having sought her fellowship, acknowledged her claims, and devoted themselves to the covenant God. Often have I seen them approach, with humble but joyous aspect, to confess their guilt in rejecting so long the claims which were placed upon them in their childhood, and in voluntary covenant to avouch the God of their parents' faith and of their infant years, to be their God forever. To all such, this connection has resulted in its gracious design; its legitimate tendency is made known. It is yours, therefore, to feel and exhibit its value. Your present membership should lead you to grateful recollection of your covenant God, in his early care, and your piety should be as eminent as your advantages have been distinguished. To that consecrated youth who has never consented to the terms of life, this connection speaks with unutterable tenderness and solemnity. It unfolds to you the overwhelming grandeur of the

Church in the most persuasive manner. It has taken that great name, which she wears as her crown of glory, and has sealed it upon your brow. It has publicly separated you from the world, and set you apart as the devoted property of Christ. It has placed you in the courts of the Lord's house; commanded for you the full exercise of pa rental faith; sanctified for your eternal welfare the deepest emotions of human nature, and spread the majesty of the spiritual world around the minutest concerns of home. To place you in these circumstances, the God of grace has controlled the winds and waves of ages, long before your birth, invested the very beginnings of your existence with the most solemn pledges. He did not give your soul to the charge of the Pagan, the Mahometan, or the Jew; to the murderous parentage of the infidel, the thoughtless, or the vicious. He hath rocked you in the cradle of faith, and con, signed you first to the purity of regenerated love. The first token of affection which saluted your cheek was from sanctified lips, and the first breathings of music which came over your soul were the songs of the Lord. The justice of the claim so tenderly asserted, you will not deny; the right of God thus early to assert it, is perfectly clear; and now let me ask, is not his tender mercy thus revealed to your soul, most affecting, most astonishing! What, did he begin so early to bind you with the cords of love? Did he so soon build a hedge about you to shelter you from the de. stroyer? Did he let your parents into his spiritual king、 dom, and then reveal its glories to them that so they might unfold them to you? Did he require them both to promise, before all his people, that they would do all in their power to prepare you for his presence? Did he mercifully pro. mise to bless their exertions, and crown their labors with success? Has he placed upon them his mild and spiritual seal, and placed the same seal also upon you? When your

parents have almost fainted, hath he strengthened; when they forgot their covenant vows, hath he forgiven; and when you have resisted their faithful warnings, hath he still waited; pursued you with the kind invitation; softened you with the dew of his Spirit, and rebuilt around you again and again the enclosures of his everlasting covenant? O consecrated youth! child of the Church! what bitter enmity to God is that which starts away from these ad. vances of grace! which rends those silken cords of mercy asunder! Look up and behold the ineffable grandeur of the Church; consider that precious connection which makes thee an object of intense interest to those venerable forms, yet detained from those higher glories, that yet they may linger, and weep, and plead with thee. O let them hear thy voice, thou who hast long rebelled against the holy baptismal claim, thou who hast madly striven to erase the name of God from thy forehead: O before that last lingering form shall pass away, let thine heart speak out, "Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God."

2. The consecrated children of the Church must give account at the judgment seat of Christ for the manner in which this interesting connection is treated

That very

Interesting as this connection is, it can never save you, unless you actually give yourselves to Christ. The great question is now placed distinctly before you. As yet you are debarred from the communion of saints. state of mind which calls for your exclusion now, will as certainly demand it in eternity. On account of the tenderness of this connection, your long resistance of God's mercy will appear infatuated depravity. If you have lightly esteemed these noble advantages hitherto, we beseech you to pause and consider in what manner you can finally meet the rejected God of the covenant. How terrible, if turning your back upon the claim of God when presented in mercy,

you shall be compelled to meet it in the frown of insulted justice and avenging retribution. With what plea can the favored son of the Church approach the throne, who has lived and died impenitent? What wilt thou say, O child of many tears! O son of many vows! when he shall punish thee? How will that violent breaking away from covenant kindness seem to angels? How will it seem to many a lost soul who never enjoyed such advantages? How will it appear to thine own soul in the scorching meditations of the pit? How will thy restlessness under salutary restraints, thy pride under parental admonitions, thy rashness amongst so many interests that hung trembling around thee, how will all this appear in those terrible scenes of despair? Pause, now, and prepare to meet thy God! When infidelity assaults, think of this connection. It will be time enough for thee to become an infidel when thy case is utterly hope. less. When vice allures, think of this connection. Shall the child of such lofty hopes descend to vicious indulgence? Canst thou, like Esau, like Saul, like Absalom, turn away from love, and mercy, and life? Canst thou bitterly, darkly perish in thy violent rebellion? Wilt thou not from this time cry unto God, "My Father! thou art the guide of my youth." Wilt thou not yield to those choice influences which issue from the consecrated affection of the Church, and are shed around thy soul! which are mingled with all the deepest, strongest, priceless sympathies of the domestic constitution? Repent of all thy sin! Press in while the door is open! Give thine eternal all to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost! Then shall thy name be inscri, bed on the same bright page, where stand written together thy father's and thy mother's. Then shalt thou, also, be carried by angels into Abraham's bosom.

CHAPTER XVI.

Practical reflections. Duties of the Churches. Consecration, with special reference to the ministry. Conclusion.

THE discussions which have engaged our attention suggest a few concluding thoughts respecting the duties of the Church.

1. The ordinance of household consecration should be practically regarded according to its real importance.

In these times of revolution and of storm, the subject of family religion must be set forth prominently among the great concerns of the Church. While the walls of Zion are built rapidly and high, they must be cemented well and firmly founded. The vital power of household piety is essential to the stability of our times; for, without this, our moral bulwarks will be worthless. This power can be ensured, enhanced, and completely developed, only by the principles of household consecration. In the valuable work of Anderson on the Domestic Constitution, the persons whom he eulogizes, as monuments of its moral power, were nearly all-probably all-consecrated to God in childhood on the principles of the covenant. This fact is the more impressive, as the selection was made without recognizing the presence of infant dedication. The history of such households as were formed under Cotton Mather, Philip Henry, and Thomas Scott, should be familiar to the Churches. If the Church wishes for more such men as Matthew Henry, she can thus understand in what manner they are to be nurtured.