or through inadvertance, that he hath given up the doctrine of total depravity, as held forth in Scripture and in our public formulas, I shall not determine. Perhaps, on second thoughts, he will retract every thing he hath said, which hath that aspect. I wish he may. But if it should come to pass, as I fear it will, that in the course of this controversy, numbers should openly fall off to the Arminian scheme, in order to defend their lax manner of admission to sealing ordinances, I advise you, to keep by you and to spread every where among your acquaintance, the Westminster Confession of Faith, and larger and shorter Catechisms: a book which will be of excellent service to teach people sound doctrine, and to guard them against Arminian errors.

To conclude: I shall always retain a most grateful sense of your kind treatment of your minister, when acting yourself, and be always ready to do every kind office in my power, which either you, or any other of my parishioners, shall need at my hands. I esteem it among the great blessings of my life, that I live in a parish, and among a people, so well disposed to treat a minister with that respect which is due to his office. And I hope you may never find me wanting in any instance of kind and friendly conduct towards you. I wish you the best of heaven's blessings.-My dear parishioner, Adieu.

EARLY PIETY RECOMMENDED;

OR, THE

OBLIGATIONS TO EARLY PIETY,

AND THE

NECESSITY OF RENOUNCING YOUTHFUL VANITY,

REPRESENTED IN

A DISCOURSE on Eccles. xii. 1.

DELIVERED AT STRATFIELD, OCTOBER 7, 1747.

Mat. vii. 13, 14. Enter ye in at the strait gate; for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat. Because strait is the gate, and narrow the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

EARLY PIETY RECOMMENDED.

ECCLESIASTES xii. 1.

Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth.

THERE are many considerations of very great weight, to awaken our mind to a holy reverence and most sacred attention, when we read or hear the word of God. It is the word of God, the infinitely great and glorious God, the supreme Lord and sovereign Governor of the whole world; whose are all things, and whose we are, and who has a right to command us; the God that angels fear, and to whose voice they always hearken with the deepest reverence, esteeming all his injunctions most sacred. And besides, all that he speaks to us is calculated not only for his own glory, but also for our best good. As the kind Father of our spirits, in his infinite wisdom he marks out that path for us to go in, which is not only right and fit in itself, but also suited to render us most happy. His laws are all holy, just, and good. And that he may reach our hearts the more effectually, he singles out particular cases, and adapts himself to the particular tempers and circumstances of the children of men. He knows just how it is with mankind, how they feel, what their hearts are apt to be set upon, and what their temptations and dangers are, and how to speak a word in season to every soul. So of old he used to deal with the children of Israel: all the nations round about them were idolaters, and worshipped their gods under some visible form. And he knew what temptations his people would be under to do as others did, and conform to the common mode. How often, therefore, and how solemnly, by Moses and by the prophets, does he warn them to beware, lest at any time they should be led away from the Lord their God to other gods, or to worship him under some visible form, as the heathen nations round about did their deities. So here in our text, he admonishes persons in their youth