The Lord justly claims priority of attention; and thus arresting you w young, he expects that you will serve him before you serve yourselves. Th I take to be the literal meaning of "seeking first."

This may be urged from the relation he bears to you. Is he not your Creator, your Friend, your Benefactor, your Saviour? What was the great object he had in view in your creation? "Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him for ever." The season of youth is peculiarly suited to such a pursuit as this. You well know that the powers of your mind are now in active exercise; your imagination is lively; the conscience is tender-you have not trifled with it as perhaps you will lament you have done should you be spared twenty years longer, and remain irreligious; your affections are warm and lively; and your memories are peculiarly retentive. I have often thought of poor old Barzillai: when King David invited him to come and live with him, the poor old man said, "No-it is kind in you as a king, and benevolent; but I am too old; can thy servant taste what I eat or what I drink? can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women?" Such is the difference between youth and old age. But your powers, I say again, are all lively and active; and ought I not to say, then, "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness." You are less engrossed now than you will be when you get further forward in some of the subsequent stages of life.

Your welfare, too, is immensely involved in this. You will find-(and now we speak to you from what we have seen, and known, and felt; we can speak to you from the heart to the heart)—you will find religion to be the best preservative against temptation. Nothing so much secures the citadel of the heart as the fear and love of God. Look at Joseph: "How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?" Nothing will lay so good a foundation for a long, prosperous, and happy life as this. "What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days?" is the proposition of the Psalmist. And the answer is, "Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile." In other words, attend to the great business of religion, and you will find that it has "the promise of the life that now is," as well as "that which is to come."

Another thing worthy of your attention is, that if you begin thus with God and the great concerns of the soul, you will find that it will prevent the lamentable accumulation of guilt, which by and by will stare you in the face like mountains for altitude, and like the sand on the sea shore for multitude. That is a fearful passage, and I wish my young friends would recollect it if they are determined to turn a deaf ear to the voice of instruction-"Treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath ;" increasing the treasury of wrath, adding one portion to the bitter cup after another, of which they will have to partake (if grace and repentance interfere not) through the countless ages of eternity. Now religion will preserve you from this. And possibly the previous part of your life is the only latitude it shall please God to give you in which to attend to these pursuits. You have no right to calculate on the future-you know not that you shall live to be old; life is very uncertain; young people die as well as the aged. What is that which I see coming out from the city of Nain? It is a funeral procession. Let us draw near and look at its attendants. Just behind the bier I see an aged widow (she was a mother) and many neighbours and friends are attending. But who is the corpse? "A young man carried out, the only son of his mother,

and she was a widow." There you see a monument illustrative of the position I have now taken: there you see that young people die as well as the more advanced in years. Is it not then indispensable that you "seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness?"

But it not only includes priority of attention-it implies also priority of time for it is very possible a young person may think of seeking "the kingdom of God and his righteousness" after the present period, before the season of youth is finally departed, but after he has attended to other matters first of all; and therefore the Lord is to have the refuse. How different is this to the conduct and character of Solomon: while he was yet young, "the Lord appeared to him in a dream by night, and said, Ask what I shall give thee." And Solomon said, "Give thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad." That was his first desire, that he might have that saving wisdom which would secure his peace and comfort. "And God said unto him, because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment; behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee." This fully justifies the sentiment in the text-" Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness." Let his glory be secured, and your spiritual and everlasting interest, and all other requisite things, will follow. Every interest must give way to this. Look at the two sisters, Mary and Martha; Martha "cumbered" (like many of you, I fear) "about much serving"-about what we shall eat, and what we shall drink, and wherewithal we shall be clothed. But look at Mary, attending to the "one thing needful," choosing "the good part that shall not be taken away from her." My female friends, do you observe Mary's character; and seek the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ to enable you to adopt her example. This leads us to notice

Thirdly, THE PROMISE INCLUDED IN THE TEXT, "And all these things shall be added unto you."

This implies that your primary pursuit, seeking "the kingdom of God and his righteousness" shall not be vain-all secondary bestowments will be sure to follow. Here, then, my young friends, you find one very high privilege grounded upon a very sure footing. You will not seek, your Saviour assures you, in vain. If you are really in earnest, if you are convinced of the necessity of an interest in redeeming grace and dying love, your seeking will succeed. The corruptions of your flesh shall not hinder you; the allurements of the world shall not hinder you; the power and malice of Satan shall not hinder you; the persecutions of ungodly relatives shall not hinder you.

Let us refer your attention to another example: "And in every work that he (Hezekiah) began in the service of the house of God, and in the Law, and in the commandments, to seek his God; he did it with all his heart and prospered." A fine text for you, my young friends, to begin the year with, as a theme for the first week's meditation: whatever he did in the service of God, he did it with all his heart. Oh that you may seek these objects of attention and attraction

in the way he did, and prosper: for "when a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies be at peace with him."

"And all these things shall be added unto you:" that is to say, all necessary things whatever shall conduce for your benefit and the glory of Almighty God. We argue from this principle, that there is that in the very spirit and design of religion which is calculated to promote your temporal prosperity. You know how it will guard you against the snares, the delusions, the temptations, and the dangers of life; and you know the expensiveness of such pursuits as these. You also know that religion, whilst it guards against a course of profligacy, will teach us to be careful. But above all, the blessing of God Almighty will be on us; and when that comes all will be well; for "thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee." And how cheering and comforting is the influence of personal religion. You have seen a fine development of that, in the beautiful language of Solomon, which we read at the commencement of the service. Personifying religion in the female character, he says, Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and honour. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace." Besides, there are many promises of the divine word that follow up the declaration of the text: as for instance, "Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase: so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine."

We therefore argue, that if giving, from evangelical motives, merely those disbursements which the cause of religion and the cause of charity demand, honouring the Lord with thy substance-if this will have a tendency (not meritoriously, but under the divine blessing) to do us good; what will be the consequence of the dedication, not of the substance, but the consecration of the heart? "Him that honoureth me," says God, "I will honour." And how can we do this so well, as when we yield first of all to him the dew of our youth, consecrating our powers to him while we are yet young? There is a passage in Leviticus which informs us, that the people of old were required once in seven years to let the land rest; they were neither to till nor sow-consequently there was to be no harvest. And the Lord foreseeing the objection that some might make as to the result of this suspension of agricultural pursuits, said, that the good year shall not only give abundance that should be sufficient, but that the land should yield enough in the sixth year for three years to come. In this manner you see the Lord blesses us with the abundance of his providence as well as of his grace. Then, "fear the Lord, ye his saints; for there is no want to them that fear him. The young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing." "Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed." "For the Lord God is a sun and a shield: the Lord will give grace and glory; and no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly."

My dear young friends, in conclusion, what shall we say to these things? "If God be for us, who can be against us?" Now what attention ought we to pay to such intelligence, to such an exhortation as that contained in the text? If I could inform either of you of a certain spot, where by digging you would find concealed treasure; if I had authority to tell either of you, I had discovered a document in which your name appeared—that that document was none other

than your title to a valuable estate-I can easily imagine what attention would be paid to such an announcement. But I am telling you of a greater estate than this-the kingdom of religion in the heart, the kingdom of the Gospel in the world, and the kingdom of glory in the heavens-blended in this threefold character with the righteousness of the Lord Jesus, and that of the Holy Spirit. Now of these we entreat you to think. Remember the person and authority of the Speaker, the contents of the message, and the privilege you enjoy in being allowed to seek these things. He has not said unto you, "Depart; you have given your heart to the Lord-I accept it not." No. Receive then this message with thankfulness, with prayer, and I hope with compliance.

Look at your

And what attention has been paid to it? Some here have welcomed it: they have asked, and have received; they have sought and they have found: they are now walking in the good and right way that leads to eternal life. Of such young persons we saw a few with us this morning for the first time at the Lord's table. I congratulate you, my young friends, who have thus decided. Do you repent it? No; you have reason to bless the day in which you first heard the word to profit. Just see on what high ground you stand. unbounded prospects that stretch beyond the grave. coming, when in the article of death you shall cry, sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" And in the prospect of entering the world of spirits, you will add, "I know in whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day."

Remember, the time is "O death, where is thy

Some are beginning to seek this kingdom: and we welcome you also. There must be a beginning in the Christian course, as in other pursuits. Now then, put your hand to the plough: from this very day, the commencement of the year, go forward in humble dependance on the teachings and leadings of the Holy Spirit of God.

Others, though they have not advanced so far as to appear in the act of seeking, yet, if I am not greatly mistaken, there are convictions on their minds; there are desires; there is an uneasiness: they cannot go on as they have done. Nothing would please them so well as to have the witness in their heart, that they had a change of heart, and were adopted into the family of God. Do you then, my young friends, seek also; seek this kingdom on the pages of inspiration; seek it in the Gospel of God's dear Son; seek it in prayer; seek it in the way of his appointment.

Are there any young persons, who, after all, are desperate enough to brave "the terrors of the Lord," and to neglect those things which belong to their peace -who, in fact, say, We will not seek it? Then, sirs, you will take the consequences. But still, if you pity not yourselves we pity you; if you will not weep for yourselves we will weep for you; if you will not pray for yourselves we will pray for you. And we hope to see the day, when all your enmity, and blindness, and darkness will be chased away; and when you shall hear, and assent to, and comply with His directions who says, "Enter ye in at the strait gate for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat; because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life; and few there be that find it."

May God give his blessing; and to his name be the praise for ever and ever. Amen.

THE GOSPEL A WITNESS.

REV. H. MELVILL, A.M.

CAMDEN CHAPEL, CAMBERWELL, JULY 20, 1834.

"And this Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come."-MATTHEW, xxiv. 14.

THERE is great difficulty in deciding what parts of this prophetical chapter have their fulfilment in the destruction of Jerusalem, and what expect their accomplishment in the yet future advent of Christ. It were beyond our purpose to attempt any general examination of this matter. We doubt not, indeed, that as the Apostles proposed three distinct questions to Christ, three distinct answers are to be traced in the chapter. The questions are, When shall these things be? What shall be the sign of their coming;-and of the end of the world? The first question, we may suppose, referred exclusively to the overthrow of the Jewish temple and polity; the second and third glanced forward to mightier catastrophes, those associated with the consummation of all things. If we could determine precisely, where the answer to one question concluded, and at which another commenced, the interpretation of the whole prophecy would be greatly facilitated. There is here little or no break in the chapter; the discourse is continuous; and therefore, though we may resolve it into divisions corresponding with the questions, there must be more of conjecture than certainty in the separation of its several parts. But if the several replies could be accurately distinguished, we should perhaps find, that much which is appropriated to one event, could not, without violence, be wholly detached from the others. If we should find, for example, that Christ's discourse up to the twenty-ninth verse, was in answer to the question which had to do with the destruction of Jerusalem, it would be difficult to believe that it contained no reference whatsoever to the subsequent questions.

In conformity with the general character of prophecy, if there be a typical relation between two events, we expect, that what in a restricted sense sketches the first will, in a more extended, delineate the second. There are many predictions which have found fulfilment in certain past occurrences, but it would startle us by the exaggeration of its figures if we did not believe they have yet to receive an accomplishment. There is, for example, no sublimer passage in the Bible, than the conclusion of the sixth chapter of the book of the Revelations: the opening of the sixth seal is followed by a great earthquake; the sun becoming black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon as blood, the stars of heaven then fall to the earth; the heavens depart as a scroll when it is rolled together; "And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondsman, and