occafions contrived for difplaying them. To act thus is styled "doing justice" to her! If, from thefe leffons and this difcipline she should escape with the feelings of diffidence unfubdued; fhe is configned to the influence of that general and unabashed familarity, which conftitutes, in the apprehenfion of multitudes, the eafe and perfec- tion of modern manners. Remember, ye young, the inftructions of your God. Let not custom with her countless worshippers feduce you to deem effrontery politeness; or to regard a Chriftian grace as dependent on the fanction of an idol. Come out from among them, and be ye feparate.

But while diffidence is affiduously cherifhed as no less in itself a virtue than as the ornament and guard of every other virtue; let not its nature be fo misconceived, its influence fo unwifely extended, as to rob the mind of felf-poffeffion. Amidft ingenuous humility and retiring meekness, let difcernment to perceive the track of duty, promptitude to enter it, perfeverance to abide in it, be unimpaired. Let not Christian modefty degenerate into falfe fhame. Be not ashamed, when it concerneth thy foul. For there is a fhame that bringeth

fin: and there is a fhame which is glory ana grace. Accept no perfon against thy foul; and let not the reverence of any man cause thee to fall. Be not thou afhamed of the law of the Moft High. Be not thou afhamed of the teftimony of our Lord (f). Ridicule is the weapon which the diffidence of youth is least able to parry. Take then to thyfelf the field of faith. That fhield no dart of the wicked one can penetrate. When finners entice thee, confent thou not. Follow not a multitude to do evil. Remember Him, who for thy fake bid not his face from fbame and fpitting, endured the cross, defpifed the shame (g). Remember his awful denunciation: Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and my words, of him fhall the Son of man be ashamed when he cometh in his own glory and the glory of the Father (b). Remember the Apoftles of your Lord, who rejoiced that they were counted worthy to fuffer fame for his name (i). As Chrift has fuffered for us; arm yourself likewife with the fame mind. If any man fuffer as a Chrif tian, let bim not be ashamed; but let him

(f) Eccl'us, iv. 20-22. (g) If. 1. 6. Heb. xii. 2. ix. 26.

(i) Acts, v. 41.

xlii, 1, 2. 2 Tim. i. 8. (b) Mark, viii. 38. Luke,

glorify

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glorify God on this behalf. Bleffed art thou when men shall revile thee, and say all manner of evil concerning thee falfely for the fake of Chrift. Rejoice and be exceeding glad (k). Maintain not an unhallowed filence, when evil is fet before thee. With meekness, yet openly and firmly, bear thy teftimony to the commandments of thy Redeemer. Confefs Him before men; that, when He fhall appear, thou mayeft have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming (1).

VIII. A duty whofe claims on youth are particularly ftrong, whofe fphere embraces every duty already inculcated, finally prefents itself. This duty is Exertion.

He that gathereth in fummer, is a wife fon (m). If to require much from those to whom much has been committed be a rule of equity fo obvious, as to have eftablished by the common confent of mankind its authority over worldly transactions; do you forget that God has promulgated this identical rule as the criterion of your final doom? The line of exertion traced

(k) 1 Pet. iv. 1. 16. Matth. v. 11. (1) John, (m) Prov. x. 5.

ii. 28.

Out

out by the hand of duty for the youth of either fex will be varied by the elevations and depreffions, and by every other variety of local circumftances, which diverfities of rank and fituation introduce into that part of the map of life through which in different inftances it is conducted. And in all cafes the exertion of young women will predominate in the unobtrusive offices of domeftic life; that of the robuster sex in the laborious cares of bufinefs. Rejoice then, ye young, in your strength; rejoice, not that you have ftrength for toilfome diffipation and finful indulgence, but ftrength to dedicate to God: ftrength to fuftain the declining years and requite the early folicitude of a parent; ftrength to uphold a brother or a fister tottering in the rugged paths of tribulation; ftrength to fuccour a circle of relatives and friends in proportion to their respective claims and neceffities; strength to prove by active and diverfified usefulness that you love your neighbour as yourself; strength to superintend and guide in the fear of God a household or progeny of your own; strength to labour in the discharge of the duties attached to the station in which He who difpofes the lot of all men has ordained that

you fhould labour for Him. Rejoice, ye young: rejoice and glorify your Redeemer. Be not partakers of other men's fins: keep yourfelves pure. Bear fruit abundantly unto Chrift. Lay up treasures for life everlasting. Employ your unbroken vigour, your unclouded minds, as inftruments of righteouf nefs unto holiness; inftruments for promoting the temporal and eternal welfare of yourfelf and of all with whom you are connected. Be diligent in well-doing. Be not ensnared into a purfuit of trifles. Work, thou who art entering on the days of thy prime, work for God and for man. Then, when thy limbs tremble with age, and languor creeps over thy frame; then fhall thine heart be cheered with the remembrance of past exertion: then fhalt thou blefs the grace of God, which difpofed and enabled thee to bear with faithful perfeverance the burthen and heat of the day.

In the fubjects which have occupied the prefent and the preceding difcourfe, you have contemplated, my youthful friends, the principal marks of that fcriptural character, for the attainment of which your God commands you to come forth and be Separate from the world. Touch not the unclean thing. A folemn and most comprehenfive

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