made Timothy so dear to the apostle Paul? It was because he feared the Lord from his youth. The apostle had been Timothy's first instructor in the gospel of Christ; he had instructed him; he had prayed for him; he had watched over him with all the affection of a tender parent; and it filled him with joy, to see his son Timothy walking in the truth.

He remembered, with joy, Timothy's pious grandmother Lois, and mother Eunice; and he rejoiced to see the same faith and piety in their son.

Nothing, my young friends, can give the ministers of the gospel greater pleasure, than to see you, children, imitating the faith and piety of your parents. It delights them, when they can tell you, that they remember with what tenderness they instructed you, prayed for you, and wept over you; and it fills them with joy, to see the very image of those pious parents in you; they rejoice to think, that, when they are gone to heaven, you will fill up their places in the church and in the world.

And they exhort you, as the apostle Paul did Timothy, that you continue to remember and to practise the things that you have learned for your parents' sake, for your ministers' sake, for your own sake, we pray you to show, by your attention to their advice, that you wish to become wise unto salvation.

From a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation.2 Tim. iii. 15.

WE wish, my little friends, to see you like the blessed Jesus, growing in wisdom as well as in stature.

Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. She shall give to thine

head an ornament of grace, a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee.

You will soon find much entertainment from books that tell you what sort of a world this is, and what was done before you were born into it. You will read with pleasure the histories of the wise and good, that you may learn to be like them! But, children, we wish, above all things, to see you instructed in the ways of God. You may know much of the world, and of the works of God, and yet know nothing of the God who made the world and all things that are in it.

You may be so wise as to get riches and honours in this world, and yet be so ignorant as not to know what will become of you for ever.

You may know much, and yet know nothing of Christ, and him crucified, which the apostle Paul thought the highest wisdom of all in short, you may know much of this world, and yet know nothing of that world in which you are to live for ever.

Now, children, would it not be sad, if after all your knowledge, you should

know nothing of God, of Christ, of heaven, of hell, or of your own souls?

Time here can be but short; and will it not be sad, when death comes, if you should not have God for your Friend, and Jesus for your Saviour? Sad, indeed, to hear the blessed God say at last, Depart from me, I know you not!" Thus, children, you see that religion is the true wisdom; and that he only is wise, who is wise unto salvation.

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Will you not then eagerly inquire where you can learn this true wisdom?

The text informs you, that it is the holy Scriptures that are able to make you wise unto salvation: they are the words of God himself; for holy men of old wrote as God taught them by his Holy Spirit: they are words of eternal life; words whereby you may be saved. Young as you are, there is much in them that you can understand; for they are written for the young as well as for the old, for the unlearned as well as for the learned.

You will there find many delightful histories, to entertain and instruct you;