4. It is the wisdom of young perfons to enter on the ways of righteoufnefs.

It is the duty of your parents, young friends, to lead you into them, and walk before you' in them; to keep you from the ways of fin, which are the ways of fhame, and from the company of thofe who are walking in them to dishonour and ruin. exhort them to be careful to train you

up in the way in which you thould go, that when you are old you may not depart from it," but have the honour of having perfevered in it. Let me exhort all that are young to choofe the way of truth, and to flick to God's teftimonies; to remem ber your Creator in the days of your youth; and to be fober minded, tempe rate, grave, humble, and ferious. For, confider, you may not live to be old; you may not have time or inclination to change your courfe hereafter; or, if you have, it will be more difficult or if you should, by divine grace, conquer the difficulty, and become holy at laft, the remembrance of youthful fins and follies will be very painful. To have devoted your best days, the ftrength and vigour of youth, to the fer

vice of the world, the flesh and the devil, and only the dregs of your lives to God; what a reproach will that be to you !-But I have very little hope of thofe who forget God in their youthful days. Confucius, the celebrated Chinese philofopher, obferves, "He that is arrived at forty years of age, and hath hitherto been a flave to fome criminal habit, is not in a condition to fubdue it. I hold his malady to be incurable, and that he will perfevere in his crime till death." In like manner, an elegant writer of our own obferves" Youth and manhood, not advanced age, are the proper ftages of life for rectifying any wrong bent of temper. If that fun, which God hath lighted up, doth not dispel the mifts and fogs of vice before the noon, of life, it is generally overcaft for the whole day.' Indeed, experience thoweth, that a vain, giddy, thoughtlefs young man or woman generally makes a thougtlefs, ftupid, worthlefs old one: and the poet's words. are often verified" A youth of frolics-an old age of cards." Therefore I urge your Speedy compliance with the call of the gofpel, and your choice of God as your maf

* Seed.

ter,

ter, guide and portion.This exhortation fhould come with peculiar force on the hearts of those who are defcended from parents and ancestors renowned for piety, Confider, you who are the defcendants of God's fervants, what vaft obligations you are under to him, for fo diftinguishing a privilege; that you are accountable to him for the advantage you enjoyed by their ex amples, counfels and prayers; and that this will aggravate your difobedience and your ruin, if you forfake the God of your fathers. Confider how defirable it is for your own fake, that you should be followers of them, as you would fecure the honour of aged piety. Confider how defirable it is, for the fake of religion, that you should rife up in their room and ftead, and that “the unfeigned faith, which dwelt in your pious ancestors, should dwell in you also.". Upon the whole, to use the language of the Apoftle," this is my defire, that every one of you do show the fame piety, diligence and patience, to the full affurance of hope unto the end; that ye be not flothful, but followers of them, who, through faith and patience, inherit the promifes." Amen.

Difcourfe XII,

THE JOY OF AGED AND DYING SAINTS, IN LEAVING THEIR DESCENDANTS PROSPEROUS, PEACEFUL AND PIOUS, CONSIDERED.

I KINGS 1. 48.

And alfo thus faid the king, (David) Bleffed be the Lord God of Ifrael, which hath given one to fit on my throne this day, mine eyes even feeing it.

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NOWEST thou not this of old, (faith one of Job's friends) fince man was placed on the earth, that the triumphing of the wicked is fhort ?" This obfervation is illuftrated by the hiftory of Adonijah, the fon of David, of which the text is a part, and the end that was fo fpeedily put to the authority which he had unrighteoufly ufurped. David had greatly erred in his conduct towards his children, efpecially

especially to Adonijah, having "not difpleased him at any time, in faying, Why haft thou done fo? This fpoiled youth, taking advantage of his father's infirmities and confinement to his bed, "exalted himself, saying, I will be king;" and began to ufe fome popular methods to establish his intereft. He engaged Joab, the general of the king's forces, and Abiathar, the prieft, on his fide. Nathan, the prophet, who knew that God had appointed Solomon to fucceed David in the kingdom, confults with Bathsheba, his mother, to defeat the pretender's fcheme, and to fet Solomon on the throne of his father. For this purpose they inform David of the plot, of the perfons engaged in it, and of what fatal confequence it would be to Solomon, to Bathsheba, and to the peace and happinefs of the kingdom, if the plot should fucceed. David therefore orders that Solomon fhould be immediately anointed and proclaimed king; which was done, amidst the loudest acclamations of the people. Adonijah and his confederates heard the noife and fhouting; and, upon inquiry into the reason of it, were informed that