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let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace and ensue it." But the hope of long life hath another good ground in the young who are religious for the love and honour of God will teach them to honour and obey their parents, their masters and mistresses, and other lawful superiors; and to do their duty cheerfully and faithfully to every one of them. And this is a commandment of God which is attended with the promise of a peculiar blessing; as Saint Paul observes: "Children, obey your parents in the Lord; for this is right. Honour thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise; that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth."

Thus, then, if they who have yet to begin the world, would make a wise and happy choice, by which they may either meet an early death, or ́enjoy a long life, with comfort, they must choose the path of religion and obedience to God.

And, for their further encouragement to make this blessed choice, I shall now, in the third place, show, how acceptable early piety is to their Creator.

The young, who, enlisting under the banner of Christ, faithfully discharge their duty as his soldiers and servants, in the spring and prime of life, and, while they have spirits and health to

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enjoy the pleasures of sin, renounce them in obedience to their heavenly Father, and give up the gratification of their passions and appetites to his commandment, - bring an offering before him, to which he will have respect; as when Abel, with a duteous and religious mind, brought him of the firstlings of his flock. And examples recorded in Holy Scripture assure us, that the Almighty is the gracious Father of those, who dedicate themselves with an early and steady piety to Him. We know how Joseph was tempted in his youth; but, having his eye fixed on the commandment of God, he preserved his integrity; and God, in whose cause he suffered for a while, rewarded him with all the honour and happiness that this world could afford him. Samuel, who piously and heartily assented to the act of his parents, who had given and devoted him to the service and house of God from the cradle, was distinguished with early marks of the divine favour; and was established to be a prophet and judge in Israel. David, who had faith and trust in the Almighty, encountered the champion of the Philistines with a sling and stone; and, when he was yet a stripling, overcame the armed giant Goliath. Daniel, led captive to Babylon in his youth, and brought up in the court of the great Nebuchadnezzar, observed strictly the law of

Moses and God, whose law it was, blessed him with the spirit of wisdom, fortitude, and prophecy; and advanced him to the highest offices and dignity, under this and succeeding kings. The exemplary faith, purity, and piety of the blessed Virgin Mary, had a recompense, which, indeed, no other of her sex ever had or can have; yet they well deserve to be considered and imitated by those, who would be the daughters of the Lord God Almighty. And, though the apostles of Christ were called to a life of hardship and sufferings, yet Saint John, the youngest of them, so recommended himself, by his teachable disposition, his chaste and pure conversation, and fervent piety, to his Divine Master, that he honoured him with his confidence and friendship on earth, and, after his ascension into heaven, blessed him with revelations and visions of things to come to the end of the world; saved him from the fate of martyrdom, to which he called his other apostles; and protected him, in all the perils to which he was exposed as a preacher of the Gospel, from Jews and Gentiles; so that he lived to see the coming of Christ to judgment on his murderers the Jews; and died, in a peaceful old age, revered and honoured throughout the church of God.*

* The character of the beloved disciple, was a favourite and congenial theme with the excellent Author. The Editor

May these considerations and examples encourage the young,-to make the happy choice of a religious life; to flee youthful lusts, avoid idleness, shun wicked company and bad examples; to fear God and keep his commandments; to pray to him daily for his grace and protection; and never to do any deed, or engage in any business, upon which they cannot look for his blessing! If they set out, and continue, in this course, it will lead them, by the grace of God their Creator, of Christ their Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit their Sanctifier, through a comfortable life to a blessed eternity.

cannot, nor will the reader probably wish that he should, resist his inclination to extract the following passage :

"St. John entered into the family of Christ while his youth was unspotted from the world; and being led on to still higher degrees of purity and holiness under the blessed influence of his Lord, who loved and honoured him with his intimacy, he was of a mind aptly qualified to apprehend the higher mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. For if the pure in heart have a promise, as of a congenial reward, that they shall hereafter see God, we may believe that, in such measure as their hearts are pure, they will have a capacity for some anticipation of this blessed vision here on earth. St. John, therefore, as a person of this character, was especially qualified to conceive and teach those mysterious truths which are the object of our faith."

Townson's Works, vol. i. p. 19.

29

DISCOURSE III.

MALACHI, iii. 2.

BUT WHO MAY ABIDE THE DAY OF HIS COMING? AND WHO SHALL STAND WHEN HE APPEARETH?

THE Advent or coming here spoken of, is the coming of Christ: which coming is not confined to one event, but includes several; and these are foretold in general terms, without distinguishing one coming of Christ from another, in the prophecies of the Old Testament. For, when prophecies were given, they were given to those among whom they were published, either to support the faith and hopes of the righteous, or to admonish the careless, or terrify the wicked; and not to gratify a vain curiosity in man, concerning the counsels and designs of Heaven.

We of later ages, upon whom the ends of the world are come, have an advantage over the fathers in point of knowledge; and a much

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