sound moral condition, is in a remarkable degree under the influence of habit; and the manner in which this habit is cultivated in early life exerts a deep and vital influence over the whole character. Study, then, with anxious care, those processes of thought of which you are conscious when you look within. Observe how you can, by a steady effort, direct the thoughts to any subject you please, and observe how, when this effort is withdrawn, they wander off into frivolities and follies. Remark how much time is often allowed to go to waste, while the mind is either sunk in listless apathy, or engrossed by trifles no better than dreams; and how it is thus incapacitated or indisposed for those inquiries of infinite and eternal moment which claim its first and highest regard. Submit not thus to be the sport and the victim of every wild delusion that fancy frames; but devote yourselves determinedly to the high design of having the processes of thought under stern and rigid control. Select with care the subjects to which they ought to be directed; and cultivate the habit of directing them to these with steady and continued attention. The practice will become easier the longer it is pursued; until it becomes the confirmed habit of the mind; and it is a habit which will diffuse an influence of the most important kind, both on the tranquillity of the mind itself, and the culture of its highest and noblest faculties. This

influence will be felt in reference to every pursuit to which you can direct your attention; but our present object is its bearing upon the highest of all concerns, -that which relates to the culture of the soul for the life which is to come. In this view of the subject, there are two points of mental discipline to which I would more particularly direct your attention.

I. Cultivate the habit of having the mind under the influence of the things which are not seen. Amid the daily engagements of life, whether occupied by its business, or distracted by its frivolities and follies, how remarkably is the mind bound down to the power of objects of sense.

But know ye

not that there are objects of another class,―solemn realities, certain though unseen, which claim your first and highest regard. Know ye not there is an eye that never sleeps, which follows you through every step of your journey of life,—that there is a world unseen, which is peopled by myriads who have finished their earthly pilgrimage. Know ye not that a day is approaching with fearful rapidity, when all who move in the busy scene around you shall be silent in death,—and that another day will come with equal certainty, when at the voice of the Eternal One the dead shall arise incorruptible, and small and great shall stand before God. And there is a heavenly state where nought that is unclean can enter, which is gladdened by the immediate pre

sence of God, and where the glorified spirits around the throne find their chief enjoyment in rendering homage to him who redeemed them to God by his blood. Are there not some whom you loved when on earth, who have joined that blessed assembly; and do your thoughts never follow them into the state of purity and peace on which they have entered; do you not seek to join them in their new and refined enjoyments; and do you not spurn from you the earth and all its offered pleasures, while you thus, by the wondrous power of faith, reunite yourselves to those whom love. Alas! that the mind should be bound down you to the slavery of objects of sense, when it is endowed with powers to make these great realities its own. Alas! that it should grovel amid the dust of earth, when it can thus ascend into the upper sanctuary and into the immediate presence of God,—and bring down from thence an influence adapted alike to the duties, the difficulties, and the troubles of life, and a light that shall shine upon every step of the path which leads to this everlasting inheritance.

Seek then earnestly the high attainment of having the mind thus habitually under the influence of unseen and eternal things. Seek to feel all the actual realizing impression of the presence of God,-the holiness of his character,-the purity of his law,-and his all-seeing eye following you in every step of life. Re

tire oft from the tumult of the world, and think how rapidly life is passing on, and how soon it will be over;— think on the feelings of the bed of death;-think on the dread solemnity of the moment when the immortal spirit shall return to him who gave it; follow it, by intense conception, beyond the boundary which divides time from eternity;-think on the scene which will then burst upon its view,—the wondrous disclosures of that fearful moment,—and the eternity that lies beyond it. Well might the apostle confine himself to the short and simple exhortation, "think on these things;"—for if they were thought on in a manner in any degree adequate to their overwhelming interest, their effect upon the whole conduct and character could not fail,-the serious inquiry could not but promptly follow,-" What manner of persons ought we to be."

II. Cultivate the habit of rigidly inquiring into your own moral condition. This must be considered as one of the most essential acquirements of a disciplined mind, as of the most vital importance to the health of the soul. But it is an exercise for which the mind feels little inclination,-which it is not disposed to press with the closeness which it requires,-and from which, in fact, it would gladly escape. It can therefore be accomplished only by determined resolution, under a due sense of its eternal moment; by

firmly and distinctly putting certain questions to ourselves, and by firmly and distinctly framing to ourselves the answers. What are my leading objects in this life which is hastening to a close, and what influence over them have the dread realities of a life which is to come. What are the leading motives of my actions. How far are they guided by a desire to promote my own enjoyment or advantage, or to procure the approbation of men; and what instances can I trace in which they are guided by a simple impression of duty to God, or the power of devotedness and love to the Redeemer. How am I discharging the various duties which belong to the particular situation in which I am placed; and how am I improving the means and opportunities of usefulness which that situation affords me; when called to account specially and individually for each and all of these, what shall I answer. What is the moral condition of the heart, -what impression do I perceive there of the presence of God, and a sense of the Saviour's love;-what feeling of the value of the soul, and the realities of an eternal world.—What are the chains of images and currents of thought which chiefly occupy the mind, and which seem to rise most spontaneously there whenever the attention is set free from the necessary engagements of life; are they such as will bear the inspection of that Being of unspotted purity whose