If you, indeed, love the Saviour, and desire to follow him, and to be his disciple indeed, let me entreat you not to neglect his sacred ordinances. Do not say that your piety is weak and low; this is the way in which you may expect it to be revived and strengthened. Do not tell me you dare not come, for fear you should one day dishonour your holy profession. The engagements at the table of the Lord will be a means to keep you in his ways. The sacred fear, lest you should depart from the Lord, is a pleasing proof that your conscience is tender, and that there is, indeed, reason to hope that you are not one of them "who draw back unto perdition, but of those who persevere to the saving of the soul." Thus, then, "wait on the Lord, and you shall renew your strength; you shall mount as on eagles' wings; you shall run in his ways without weariness, and walk in them without fainting."

CHAPTER XXV.

CONSTANTLY AND EARNESTLY SUPPLICATE THE AID OF GOD'S HOLY SPIRIT.

You cannot, my dear young friend, prosper in your soul, or be happy, unless you maintain constant communion with God. I hope, therefore, that you will never begin or close a day, without earnest supplication and thanksgiving. It will be well for you to have stated seasons of

retirement. So far as you are able, let nothing intrench on these. Yet you will often, I trust, also, in the course of every day, lift up your mind in prayer and praise. This you can do while you are engaged in your lawful calling. This is setting the Lord always before us. This is walking with God. "Prayer at stated seasons," says Leighton, "is like calling on a friend now and then; but frequent, ejaculatory prayer, is taking up our abode with him." We may as reasonably expect to be comfortable without our daily food, as without devotion.

When you think of the many duties which I have enforced on you, you will be ready to say, How can I attend to them all? And perhaps you will be ready also to add, I often not only forget what is right, but also find my heart very much inclined to what is wrong: and what shall I do?

I will tell you. Though you cannot of yourself love and serve God, or discharge your duty as you ought, yet, God will help you if you ask him, by the gracious aids of his Holy Spirit. On this account, if we do not act as God has commanded us, we are without excuse before him. If a father should tell a son to do any thing, and should say, If you cannot do it yourself, I will help you, if you ask me to do so; and yet, should he still neglect to do what he was bid, he would be very much to blame, and his father would be justly displeased with him would he not? Yes, you will readily say; because his father bid him ask for aid. So if we neglect to

ask for God's Spirit, and live and die in our sins, we shall be deservedly banished from God's presence for ever.

We are told in the Holy Scriptures that though "we know not what to pray for as we ought, yet that the Spirit helpeth our infirmities." It is one of the gracious promises of the new covenant, "I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them." "Work out your salvation," says the apostle, "with fear and trembling, for it is God,"—that is, by his Holy Spirit-" who worketh in you, to will and to do of his own good pleasure.' The Apostle

Paul said, he could do all things which God had commanded him, however many and difficult they might be, through the aids of the Spirit of Christ; and so, my dear young friend, can you, or any one else. Earnestly, then, and constantly, ask for the gracious aid of God's Holy Spirit, and you will find that the most difficult duties will become easy. We are sure that God will not, in this respect, refuse to hear the voice of our supplication; because our Lord said to his hearers, "If ye, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" If you could gain a great many good things by only asking for them, how diligently would you ask, nor would you give up seeking till you found them. God's Holy Spirit is a greater gift than any which all the rich and the noble of this world would confer

on you. It is the pledge of all other blessings. It is a mercy without which you will assuredly perish. "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his."

CHAPTER XXVI.

RECOLLECT EVERY DAY, THAT YOU ARE LIVING FOR ETERNITY.

THERE are two worlds beyond the grave. We are constantly travelling to the one or to the other. My dear young friend, forget not that it will be said of you shortly, He is in heaven,—or, He is in hell!

There is a world of misery, prepared for the abode of the impenitent, the unbelieving, and the ungodly. There God is seen only in his wrath; and the frown of all the beings in the universe is as nothing, when compared with the displeasure of the Most High.

There, in that dreary abode, there is darkness that may be felt; there is a long, eternal* night,

"Without one cheerful beam of hope,

Or spark of glimmering day."

There the worm of an accusing conscience does not die, and "the fire is never quenched." There death reigns. The wretched inhabitants of this miserable world are always dying, and yet can never die.

But there is another state, a world of unspeakable felicity, in which the righteous are to dwell for ever. It is a paradise, where there are no thorns or thistles, or any thing that is unpleasant. There the great God is seen in his glory. It is a state of such inconceivable beauty and joy, that it is said to be " incorruptible, undefiled," and never to fade away. There will be " no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, nor any more pain. There the righteous will all meet, from " every tongue, and people, and kindred, and nation." And they will be so glorious, that they "will shine forth as the sun," for ever and for ever.

Forget not, my dear young friend, that you are constantly approaching nearer and nearer to the eternal state;-that you are daily formg that character which can never be altered; and that a perpetual abode will shortly be assigned you, where there is nothing but sorrow, or unmingled joy.

Think, I beseech you most earnestly and affectionately, think of this solemn subject. It is for your life. Pray for grace, to number your days, and apply your heart unto real wisdom; that you may think, and speak, and act, as you will assuredly wish you had done, when you come to die, and at the great day of

account.

May I entreat you, my dear young friend, as a parting request, that you will often review these important, these last admonitions, which I have addressed to you; and let me beg of you