animals, all our undutiful expressions and behaviour to parents, or those placed in authority over us, all the impure and adulterous desires and actions in which we have secretly indulged, all our pride, envy, vanity, idleness, waste of time and of money, profanation of the Sabbath-day, in a word, all the neglect of God and disobedience to His commandments, of which we have been guilty in thought, word, or deed, and which had long ago escaped our own recollections.-All these sins, I say, of our childhood and youth, my Brethren, are (unless repented of) written down, as it were " with an iron pen," in the book of God's remembrance, for judgment against our souls on the day of His wrath and righteous vengeance upon the workers of iniquity! And, Oh, what a long black catalogue will some have presented to them on that awful day, of crimes which they had vainly hoped were forgotten by God, because they were no longer remembered by themselves!

It might almost seem unnecessary to lay such stress upon so obvious a truth as this, of which no one who seriously considers the subject can be supposed to entertain the slightest doubt. The repeated declarations which we read in the Sacred Scriptures of the infinite holiness and justice of God, in which He is set forth as of "purer eyes than to behold iniquity;" as “a consuming fire to the ungodly;" as having His face set "against

them that do evil," and as being "no respecter of persons," might seem sufficient of themselves to convince every one who acknowledges the Bible to be a Divine Revelation, of God's abhorrence of sin, and His determination to punish it wheresoever He finds it, without regard to the age of the offender. And yet such is the lamentable ignorance of Divine Truth which prevails throughout the great multitude of professing Christians, that an opinion directly opposite to this has been almost universally adopted.

The favourite maxim with nominal Christians is, that youth, if not an excuse, is at least an extenuation of sin! The offences which we commit against God in our early years, are commonly regarded as trifling in His sight. That a young man should be guilty of adultery, fornication, drunkenness, prodigality, blasphemy, or profane contempt of religion-That a young woman should be vain, lightminded, a lover of dress, of novels, of pleasure, more than of God, seems generally expected by their friends as a matter of course! And (such is the melancholy and total depravity of human nature that) the few who have grace to deny themselves, and refrain from these fashionable vices, are, for the most part, despised and laughed at by their neighbours, as persons of gloomy dispositions and mean understandings.

Nay, what is still more deplorable, there seems

to exist in the breasts of the great majority of parents, a secret wish to encourage this love of sin in the minds of their children, as is manifest from the lenient and palliative names which they apply to it. For example-The heinous crimes of adultery and seduction, which are necessarily followed by such inconceivable and irreparable misery, not merely to individuals, but even to whole families, are designated by the more inoffensive expressions of "wildness and gallantry." A revengeful and blood-thirsty disposition is regarded as "the proof of a high spirit, and a quick sense of honour." Prodigality is termed generosity of mind. And the "love of pleasure more than of God," which an inspired Apostle has set down as the distinguishing mark of those who do not belong to the Lord's people, is denominated an innocent gaiety of heart, natural to youth, (as if its being natural was a good reason why it should be regarded as innocent!)

Thus we find that the very names which are commonly applied to youthful vices too plainly prove to what a low ebb Christian morality has fallen amongst those who profess the religion of the Son of God. It is to be feared that most parents would much rather see their children very dissipated than very religious. Many who would start with horror to hear that their son or daughter had become a Methodist, (i. e. a serious Christian,)

are very little shocked, if at all, to hear their children termed "rakes, debauchees, duellists, gamblers, or unbelievers." And the consequence is, as might be expected, that young persons for the most part look upon themselves as having a free license to commit sin with impunity. Whatever gratifies the passions, or helps to pass away time agreeably, is pursued with greediness, without any regard to the question, "What the Word of God pronounces respecting it." Every thing is decided to be "innocent" which the laws of society do not pronounce to be criminal. Fashion and reputation are regarded as the only right rules of conduct. And religion, if thought of at all, is only thought of to be neglected and postponed, (as to the serious practice of it) until a more convenient

season.

But, my Dear Young Brethren, if any there be present who feel that these observations are at all applicable to themselves, be not deceived, your Creator is not to be thus mocked, or His law insulted with impunity. Youth is, with Him, no excuse for sin. Rebellion against His commandments is equally offensive in His sight, whether it be found in young or old. The young liar, the young blasphemer, the young adulterer, fornicator, drunkard, spendthrift, or voluptuary, are all as guilty and obnoxious to His divine vengeance, as if they were advanced in years. And the dread

ful sentence, "Depart from Me all ye workers of iniquity," is alike addressed both to the youthful and the aged offender.

It is very true indeed that our depraved passions being much stronger, and our love of pleasure more ardent in youth than in advanced life, are therefore more difficult to be restrained at that season than at any other; but this, be it remembered, does not furnish us with the least liberty or apology for indulging them, in defiance of God's repeated and positive commands, "To deny ourselves- To mortify our members upon earth-To take up our cross and follow Christ-Yea, even to cut off a right hand, and pluck out a right eye, rather than suffer our whole bodies to be cast into hell!"

The very fact that our evil passions and propensities are stronger in youth than in age, furnishes us with the most convincing argument why they require us to be more subdued and restrained at that season than at any other. For, reflect, I beseech you, my Brethren, what a place this world would become, if the strength of our passions gave us a license to indulge them without control, and if the barriers of morality were to be broken down at the very season when licentiousness is ready to rush in like a flood, and to overwhelm all around it in confusion and destruction. Yet, such must be the consequence, if the maxim be admitted, that