so many blessings as during the time of her affliction. Death had lost his threatening sting. She knew in whom she had believed, and professed a wish to depart: I am not, said she, afraid in the least of dying at any time. At different times, she expressed her hope and peace; or called on the friends that surrounded her dying bed, to praise her God. At length she calmly entered into rest, before she had spent eighteen years on earth, See, my young friend, how much the grace of God may do for them who embrace religion in early life, even in a little time. On her thirteenth birth-day, Mary was a thoughtless girl; and ere her eighteenth arrived, a saint in light. Within the intervening span of something more than four short years, she was enabled to forsake the world; to find a Saviour; to profess his gospel; to honour that profession; to languish calmly through months of sickness; to conquer death; and doubtless land in heaven. In that little time she found her Lord; finished his will, and went to rest. How blessed was early piety to her! She might, when first awakened, have said, “I am not yet fourteen, surely hereafter will be soon enough for me;" and had she reasoned thus, and had she put off, though but for a few years, her inquiry for salvation, God

it seems, by early death, would have put it off for ever. Delay not then to accept that blessing which is the source of every other; your life is as uncertain as was hers.

One inestimable advantage attending the blessings which early religion would give you, is, that these shall never be taken away from their possessors. "Mary," said the Lord, "hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her." As for the lovers of this world, their all is here, and shortly their all will be for ever lost to them. Soon may it be said of the young, the vigorous, and the who know not God, gay, Where are they? Gone from the world they loved so well. Where their health and youthful bloom? Gone, for ever gone. Where their gaiety and delights, their hours of thoughtless merriment, their frivolous amusements, their vain companions? all gone. There is not one earthly treasure, of which its possessors can affirm, that none shall separate them from it. Alas! poor creatures, ye gay, ye wealthy, ye lovers of pleasures," what vain things are those that you embrace and cleave to! Whatsoever they be, soon must you part. Can you say of any of these, Who shall separate us? Nay, you may even live to see, and seek your parting. At last you must part, for you must die: then

farewell to vanity, merriment, and pleasure; farewell, if you had even sat on thrones, to parks and palaces, gardens and honours, crowns and kingdoms, dearest friends, and nearest kindred, all must be parted with, and what have you besides?" If you, my young reader, are a lover of this world, what will you have left soon? But if a possessor of early religion, you may say, Not thus fleeting are my treasures. "Thou art my portion, O Lord;" others have parks, palaces, and crowns; or wealth, gaiety, and pleasure; this is their portion; but thou, the God of heaven and earth, art mine; and mine for ever. When the miser shall have lost his wealth; and crowns have fallen from the heads that wear them; when the man of this world shall have left the world he idolized; and all their delights shall have forsaken the young, the pleasure-taking, and the gay; thou wilt still be mine; thou wilt be my support, when rocks crumble into dust, and mountains tremble to their base; and when the sun shall shine no more; and when the earth itself shall have vanished like a falling star, that blazes and expires, thou wilt be mine still; my God; "and my portion for

ever."

And now, were it possible to call from the dead some that have died in youth, O

what a confirmation would they give to all that has been urged upon you here! They who have followed Jesus, while young, might say to you, "Follow Him we followed. We soon embraced his gospel, yet not one hour too soon. Early as we began with religion, we began much too late; and could we have felt grief in heaven, we should have grieved, that we did not sooner know, and love, and serve our Lord. Death cut us down in the morning of our days; yet we did not die too soon; for we had bowed betimes at the feet of Jesus, and had found eternal life in him. He washed our sins away; he renewed our hearts; and prepared heaven for us, and us for heaven. He taught us to set our affec tions on things above. We saw others engaged with all their hearts, in the shadowy concerns of time; we pitied them and trod the path of life. We smiled in death. Divine grace made us conquerors over the grave; and now we rest from all our labours. Heaven is a long, long, happy home. Follow our Lord, and he will be your Lord. Receive him, and he will receive you. Commit your souls to him, and all will be well with you, for time and for eternity."

CHAPTER X.

The pleasantness of early piety.

As another reason for early piety, I would now glance at some of the pleasures which true religion yields. It is the common delu. sion of the world, that religion is a melancholy thing; unsuitable to the young, and destructive of their pleasures. The word of God, on the other hand, describes true religion as the only source of real comfort. That holy book declares that "the ways of wisdom are ways of pleasantness, and that all her paths are peace." It also tells us of "joy and peace in believing; of rejoicing in God; rejoicing in the Lord always; of rejoicing in Christ with joy unspeakable and full of glory; of delighting in the Lord." The scriptures represent it as the christian's portion, to possess 66 a peace which passeth all understanding; if sorrowful, to be always rejoicing; to glory, even in tribulation; and even if the fig-tree should not blossom, and there should be no fruit in the vine; if the labour of the olive should fail, and the fields should yield no meat; if the flocks should be cut off from the fold, and there should be no