gularities and evils to which youth is ever exposed?

The question evidently implies that his situation is attended with peculiar danger; and that he has neither knowledge, nor experience, nor any command over himself, sufficient to secure his safety-and therefore, that he stands in need of such a rule as is both capable of pointing out his duty, in all circumstances, and possessed of authority to reach and determine his conscience. This rule is immediately proposed in the answer to the question, "By taking heed thereto according to thy word."

Taking this for his guide, with a conscientious regard to his duty, the whole of his life shall be virtuous, honorable, and happy. From this view of the text, I propose to consider,

I. The principal things which young men are to attend to, in order to maintain a pure and unblameable course of life.

II. The rule which they are ever to place before them, as the standard of their temper and conduct.

1. The principal things, &c.

Under the first head, I shall consider in this discourse, the duty of early piety, and its principal advantages; the duty and advantages of early engaging in useful employment; and the necessity of a prudent choice of

company.

1. The first thing which claims your regard is piety or religion. By this I mean, not only those acts of homage which are immediately due to God, but every part of our duty, as fixed by his authority, including as well the principles on which it is performed, as the outward acts.

Every obligation of divine appointment, is a part of religion; and though some are superior in dignity to others, with regard to their immediate objects; yet all are equally to be regarded in practice, so as that no one is to be neglected, under pretence of discharging another. And indeed this can never be necessary, because the whole system of our duties are so framed, as to be perfectly consistent with each other. If one be neglected, it is disobedience to the authority on which the whole are founded; and the guilty person is as really a transgressor, though not in so high a degree, as if he had broken every individual law, "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." I mention this the more particularly, as in all ages men have been ready to suppose, that if they worship God, it would go in the room of their duties to mankind; and so while they have prayed, fasted, and paid tithes, they have "neglected justice, mercy, and fidelity," to their neighbor. Or they have gone into the opposite error, and concluded, that justice, mercy and fidelity to men, were the whole of reli

gion; and so neglected the necessary acts of direct homage to God. But certainly, for the same reason that we are to acknowledge and worship God, as an express part of our duty, we are to study the good of others and ourselves, in that way which he hath prescribed, as equally a matter of conscience and obligation. It is further to be considered, that the principle on which any duty is performed, is as much to be regarded, as the act itself. Indeed there is properly no religion in any act whatever, but so far as it is done from a right intention, that is, always with a view to the will and pleasure of God. The act is but the form, the intention or principle is the substance.

It was for this reason, that the tithes, alms and of the Pharisees were of no account in the prayers sight of God; because they did them "to be seen of men." And of the same quality will be every form of religion, how exact soever, when "the heart is not right with him."

This distinction I wish you the more carefully to attend to, because there is no mistake more common, and none more fatal, than to rest in a "form of godliness without the power." Should you fall into this mistake, it will ruin the whole of your religion, however plausible in appearance, and leave you at last, as far from God and Heaven, as they who have lived without even the form of it.

You are also to remember, that since the coming of Christ, it is. as much a duty to those who enjoy the gospel, to believe in him, to worship through him, and to hope for salvation by his merits, as to obey the first command, "to worship God, and him only to serve." This is so neces-. sary, that neither our prayers, nor praises, nor confessions, nor any other service will be accepted, on any other terms. And it is so far from being left to the liberty of men, to reject it if they please, as a matter referred entirely to their own option; that nothing is more expressly enjoined, than to believe in, and obey him; and nothing threatened with an heavier penalty, than to refuse to acknowledge and receive him. "Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, repent ye, and believe the gospel." "He that believeth not is condemned already." "If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins." This is his commandment, "that we should believe in the name of his son Jesus Christ." The substance of the religion of the gospel is, that we "live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present evil world;" "and whatsoever ye do, whether in word, or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks unto God, even the father by him."

It is by this that your actions, words, passions, and thoughts, and all your views and measures

for this and another world, are to be governed, and determined as good or bad, in the sight of God. You cannot therefore, be too careful, to obtain a just knowledge of the duties it prescribes, of the authority and sanctions by which they are enforced, and the great and everlasting advantages they afford. And so far as you discover your duty, or, after due examination, think that you dis. cover it, whether it be in appearance of greater or smaller moment, make it a matter of conscience to do it, because all obligations are equal, with respect to the authority of God; and if you neglect the dictates of conscience in one instance, you will do it in another; till by degrees it will cease to be the rule of your conduct; and so you will be "destroyed by little and little."

After this short view of the religion of the gos pel, on which all your happiness depends, you will naturally inquire at what time of life you come under its obligations. As soon undoubtedly, as you are capable of understanding them, and feeling the force of those motives by which they are urged. And I should suppose this to be the case, as soon as the the mind is capable of being affected by the advantages of the world, and of forming schemes for obtaining them. This in different persons, may happen at different times; but is much sooner in all, than any are willing to think a proper season for becoming responsible to the