3. The will of God is to be done cheerfully. Let no grudge be in your heart as if the precepts of the

Bible were hard things.

reserve.

God cannot accept a sullen

He likes not the forced

heart and gloomy face. obedience of a slave, but the joyous looks and deeds of a child. His words are, "My son, give me thine heart"-thy whole heart-without condition, without God's will, if obeyed, leads to happiness. "His commandments are not grievous." "His yoke is easy, and his burden is light." Let me hope, then, that every one I am addressing is prepared to say with the ELDER BROTHER, "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me." Let every heart be filled with the thought, that the Lord loveth a cheerful doer as well as a "cheerful giver." "Thy word is very pure, therefore thy servant loveth it." "If we did but get the authority of the great God (whose word this is) enthroned within us, so that our souls might stand in continual awe of him, the remembrance of a text of scripture would presently allay passion, govern appetite, and check inclination; and so would come, with ease and pleasure, to be to us a governing rule of all the affairs and actions of our lives."*

4. Do the will of God, because it is the will of

* Howe.

God. Let the Bible be practised, because it is the Bible. Obey, from a simple respect to God's authority. If there be, "thus saith the Lord," it is enough. Let no weak or little motive influence you. "Fear God, and keep his commandments." Let it be yours to say, "I delight to do thy will.” Be not outdone by a man who was only a pagan and originally a slave. The following is his language, “Did I ever, Lord, accuse thee or complain of thy government? Was I not always willing to be sick, when it was thy pleasure that I should be so? Did I ever desire to be what thou wouldest not have me to be? Was I ever the less pleased on that account? Am I not always ready to do what thou commandest? Would thou have me continue here, I will freely do so? Wouldest thou have me depart? I go at thy summons.' Let your sentiment be always, "Thy will be done." You may not know the reasons or grounds of God's will; yet it becomes you to obey, in the assurance that He is too wise to err, too kind to injure.

5. In practising the Bible, pay special and prayerful attention to the bright example of Christ. He did God's will perfectly, and, in living and dying, he has left us an example, that we should follow his

* Epictetus.

steps." The wisest of the old philosophers felt the need of some one to appear on earth, to show by his example to men what is their duty. Socrates is represented as saying to one of his most accomplished pupils, "It is necessary to wait till we can learn how to conduct ourselves to the gods and to men." The pupil naturally asks, “When, O Socrates! shall this time come, and who is to be the teacher? it would be delightful to see what kind of person he is." "It is he," replied Socrates, "that careth for thee, and he shall take away the mist from thy spirit, and make thee to know both good and evil." These vague longings of a great mind, are all satisfied in Christ. We are to be changed into his image. Every grace in his heart will have a corresponding grace in yours. Love to Him is now your great motive; it makes every duty pleasant, all service light.

And if you are his younger brethren, you will resemble the FIRST-BORN. He has shown you how to live as children, how to act as men, how to die as saints. His life is the great how to practise the Bible.

lesson from which to learn Feel that your character is formed in your youth. Now adore and follow Christ's example. "Flee youthful lusts." the foundation of lasting moral greatness.

Now lay

"Even a

child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right." Say not, "I

am but a little child, I know not how to go out or come in ;" but look up to God, trust in his love, and cry to him, "My Father, thou art the guide of my youth." O, “serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind." "Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” And now, "if ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them." "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." Only in this way can true religion be perpetuated in the earth. "He commanded our Fathers, that they should make them known to their children, that the generation to come might know them, even the chilIdren which should be born-who should arise and declare them to their children-that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, BUT KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS." O, then, "perfect holiness in the fear of God." Rely on the might of his grace,-plead with the exalted Saviour to give you strength.

"Christ is arisen,

The Lord hath ascended, The dominion of death

And corruption is ended.

Your work of obedience

Haste to begin,
Break from the bondage

Of Satan and sin."

Circulate the Bible.

SUCH are the words in which, my young friends, I bring before you my last topic of conversation. It is matter of great thankfulness, that the Bible is in a written or printed form, and that the will of God is not left to tradition, which must often have erred, or to memory, which must often have failed. How, if only handed down orally from one generation to another, could it have been easily or accurately given to other lands. But in its present form it can be translated into other languages. What has not the English translation done for the religion, the language, and the literature of this country? Each new translation has a similar effect in every country where it circulates. Pray, my young friends, for the coming of that time, when every nation shall have its Bible,