holds a place which even a fallen spirit might well dread. If they sank deep who fell from the height of abused Jewish privileges, into what depths must the young man of this age and nation sink, who falls from the superior eminence on which he is placed?

Nor let any say, 'I am but one, and a small one, and therefore what I do cannot effect much, one way or the other.' No member, however small, can tell how important its soundness is to the health and happiness of the whole body. Even a tooth, or a much smaller member, may prove a source of great benefit or injury to the entire body of which it is a part. In the great moral system, there is such a relation and sympathy of parts, that if one member suffers all the members suffer with it. No moral being can live as an isolated individual; nor can he tell how widely his influence will be felt, for good or for evil.

Moreover, though you are but one, and in the common walks of life, if you devote yourself to the service of God and identify your interests with his cause, all the blessings of his kingdom, both in earth and in heaven, will be yours to rejoice over. If the great experiment now in progress succeeds, and the cause of human salvation gains a speedy triumph in our country and through the world, the blessing of many generations will be upon your head and the song of gladness upon your lips, as

THE CHARACTER DEMANDED.

35

truly as though you were the only instrument in accomplishing the event. The cause is of God; it will at any rate ultimately triumph, and the reward of his servants is sure. if you maintain the position of you can have no part nor lot in his holy and happy kingdom. and your portion are with the adversary.

On the other hand, an irreligious man, all the blessings of Your sympathies

You

are voluntarily accessory to all the evils, and must hence participate in all the miseries of his fallen empire.

To meet your obligations to God, and the high demands of this age and country, you must not only be pious, but your piety must be thoroughly sound, enlightened, firm, manly, self-denying and efficient. It must be sound; that is, rooted and grounded in the great principles of evangelical truth; for then only is it true to our necessities and well-pleasing to God. It must be enlightened; for it is an age of growing knowledge, and the religion of ignorance cannot stand. It must be firm; for it will have to encounter the shock of many and severe adversaries. It must be manly; for the soft and dreamy religion of the imagination and the passions will melt away before the stern elements that are to be overcome. It must be self-denying and efficient; for it is not by a pleasing enchantment, or a self-indulgent waiting for a miraculous agency, but only through a process of la

borious and benevolent effort, that God has promised the blessings of his righteous reign over the earth.

Can you then, my young friend, be too soon or too decided in the dedication of yourself to God? Will you not need all the power of principles early formed, deeply laid, and nourished up to manhood by a faithful process of pious culture, to be prepared to act your part well in that elevated and responsible station to which God has called you? Do not, then, put this duty aside with the purpose of becoming pious at a future time. Those recorded in the Scriptures as instruments of the greatest good to mankind, served God from their youth; and this will be eminently true of those who live in an age like the present. In all probability, your embracing or rejecting religion while young, will determine your future character and influence in this world, and of course your everlasting destiny in the world to come.

If it

Your services are wanted this moment. is important to the cause of God that you should be pious next year, or five years hence, it is much more important to it that you should be pious today. Whatever is done for the cause of religion to-day, is worth more than the same amount done for it at any future period. "Go work, to-day, in my vineyard." To-morrow, will not do as well; perhaps it will not do at all.

CHAPTER II.

KNOWLEDGE.

"To the young man knowledge."

IN popular usage there is some distinction between knowledge and wisdom. The one implies an acquaintance with facts, the other a right use of what is known. The man who is acquainted with facts in nature and providence- for instance, the fact that certain things taken into our systems tend to kill us, and others tend to nourish us; that industry promotes thrift, and indolence poverty; that intemperance invites disease, and temperance repels it; that benevolence brings happiness, and selfishness misery; that sin tends to destroy us, and righteousness to bless us; that mankind are involved in sin, and that God has graciously provided redemption for us; that they who accept of proffered grace and return to obedience will be delivered from ruin, and that they who do not will perish is said to have knowledge on these subjects. If he makes a right use of his knowledge,

that is, turns it to valuable account, he is said also to be wise.

The terms are, however, not unfrequently used interchangeably, as in the sacred Scriptures, to comprehend both ideas. They there express the character of the mind which aspires to rise intellectually and morally; which solicits the acquaintance, service, and enjoyment of God, as he is presented in his works and word; in contrast to the mind which, conducting in a manner unworthy of its high birth and privilege, sinks down under the dominion of sensuality, stupidity, and moral death.

The true preacher has said, "That the soul be without knowledge is not good." The human mind was made for knowledge;-it is the appropriate possession and true glory of the intellect. It distinguishes man from the brutes. The pursuits and pleasures of sensuality and of instinct are theirs, as well as ours; but the nobler pursuits and pleasures of the mind, are given only to man. To hold high converse with the works and government of God in the language of the great preacher, "to know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding; to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, judgment, and equity; to give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion"- these are the distinguishing pre