instructing those that oppose themselves." And to enforce this impressive caution he predicts the approach of " perilous times," when all the symptoms of unhallowed self-exaltation should be manifest in the prevailing characters of men. I have adopted a term of extensive application, because it includes the various modifications of pride, haughtiness, conceit, vanity, and ambition. These tempers and passions, capable of assuming endless varieties, in their combination with others, may be all distinctly traced to high-mindedness, or what the apostle John calls "the pride of life." Humility is the basis of Christian excellence, arising from knowledge of ourselves of God and of the perfect rule of duty; but high-mindedness is founded on ignorance and self-valuation. And hence the rashness, precipitancy, and impatience of contradiction to which the young are prone in their judgments and conduct. Hence also the necessity of disappointments to correct, and of afflictions to soften the tone of temper, and modulate aright the dispositions of the mind. What has often led, what the world calls a spirited youth to foolhardy deeds of enterprise and adventure? Impatience of control, a spirit of insubordination, excessive self-estimation; in other words, high-mindedness. How often has the same principle led, in modern times, to the profession of sceptical doubts, respecting the divine origin and distinguishing peculiarities of Christian truth. It has been thought manly and liberal, to break through the trammels of early prejudice and vulgar opinions; to assert the right of free thinking; to discard the evidences of revelation; and to emancipate conscience and conduct from the authority of law, and the dread of retribution! This is the love-the lust of distinction! Here you behold its unhallowed results!-Cultivate, my friends, the spirit of humility and meekness, which "in the sight of God is of great price." To these tempers the apostle frequently exhorts his young disciple Timothy, because he was aware that his high station in the church required their habitual exercise. And they are no less necessary now: always ornamental to Christian character, and inseparable from its true nature, they shed a peculiar lustre on youth; exhibiting the bright dawn of that heavenly illumination, "which shineth more and more to the perfect day."

It is worthy of your attentive regard, that the admonition in the text is levelled at the very seat and principle of iniquity. The tyranny of the passions is enthroned on the heart; and it is from that interior dominion they must be expelled. The axe is therefore laid at the root of the tree, that all its branches and fruit may be destroyed. The apostle does not merely say-flee evil habits, impure connexions, and all the scenes of temptation; but he says what virtually

+

includes all this, by denouncing their pernicious origin: "flee youthful lusts;" let not the desire be indulged; "the thought of foolishness is sin." As the venerable Elisha† purified the waters of Jericho, by sprinkling salt on the fountain whence they flowed, so the apostle directs us to cleanse the springs of action; persuaded that they will send forth wholesome streams, when healed from the contamination of sin. Seek then, my brethren, that purifying virtue, from the grace and Spirit of Christ, which will heal every spiritual malady, and communicate holy energy to all your powers. If sinful desires have no dominion in the heart, the habits and practices of sin will be renounced. "Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life." To this great end let all your prayers and efforts be directed. 'Having purified your souls in obeying the truth, through the Spirit, depart from all iniquity; crucify the flesh, with its affections and lusts; touch not the unclean thing; hate even the garments spotted with the flesh." On every hand the temptations to sensuality, intemperance, and pride, are presenting themselves; no place is guarded from their entrance they possess a kind of omnipresence—and the sanctuary of God is defiled by their pollutions. O my friends, let "godly jealousy" always rouse you to circumspection and prayer. "Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation." From every scene of danger, be ever distant. If amidst the innumerable paths of life, you are brought near those avenues that lead to destruction-let the caution of heavenly wisdom deter you from approaching them! "Avoid them, pass not by them, turn from them, and pass away."§ "FLEE YOUTHFUL LUSTS: THEY DROWN MEN IN DESTRUCTION AND PERDITION!"||

Our next general inquiry respects the opposite principles and tempers which ought to form the objects of your constant and unremitting pursuit. WHAT SHOULD YOU FOLLOW? The apostle's exhortation answers the question: "follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace." He knew the nature of man too well to content himself with negative advice. He was persuaded that in order to "abhor that which is evil," we must "cleave to that which is good;" and therefore he states with clearness the rule of duty on this important subject. Let us attend to his wise and salutary directions.

"Follow righteousness." This term frequently occurs in the sacred writings, with various, though connected acceptations. In its most important reference it is applied to that perfect "obedience

even unto death," by which our exalted Lord " magnified the law and made it honourable." For "he was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners." In him the Father declared himself "well pleased"-because he glorified him on the earth, and "finished the work which he had given him to do." Immaculate purity, and unvarying conformity to the divine will, in all its requirements, adorned the matchless character of the Saviour. Thus he "fulfilled all righteousness ;" and by his obedience and sacrifice, an obedience consummated by "giving himself a ransom for many," he became the " end of the law," (its perfection and completion) in order to effect a "righteousness for every one who believeth." This is the "robe of righteousness," the "garment of salvation," in which the scrutinizing eye of justice itself can discover no imperfection. Arrayed in this, you will stand "accepted in the Beloved," "justified from wrath through him." This is the ONLY meritorious title to the favour of God-the exclusive ground on which your claim to eternal life can be successful. And with this title, with this claim, nothing else must be blended. It must constitute your only plea at the bar of God. The expiring Saviour exclaimed, "It is finished;" to prove its sufficiency and value, God "raised him from the dead and gave him glory;" his exalted dignity at the right hand of the Majesty on high is the reward of his mediatorial work; and will you attempt to increase or diminish the infinite worth of that work, with which God is well pleased?-Do you imagine that the imperfect efforts of human obedience are necessary to enhance the merit of that "righteousness?" No, my friends—it must constitute the only foundation of your hope towards God. "There is salvation in no other-there is no other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved."*

If any man might have hoped for acceptance with God, either in whole or in part, through the merit of his own obedience, it was the apostle Paul; but hear his animated renunciation of all selfdependance" What things were gain to me, I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found IN HIM, NOT HAVING MINE OWN

RIGHTEOUSNESS, WHICH IS OF THE LAW, BUT THAT WHICH IS THROUGH THE FAITH OF CHRIST, THE RIGHTEOUSNESS WHICH IS OF GOD BY FAITH."

The Scriptures which so clearly reveal this righteousness as the exclusive basis of acceptance with God, announce the method of obtaining its blessings. "The Gentiles," says Paul, "have attained to righteousness-but Israel, who followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not BY FAITH, but as it were, by the works of the law." The "acceptation of the faithful saying," -the belief of the truth "with the heart unto righteousness," is the divinely appointed medium of interest in the "great salvation." "Not to him that worketh, but to him that believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness." "It is of faith that it might be of grace."

This righteousness, the possession of which justifies a sinner in the sight of God, will infallibly secure as its invariable consequence, an inherent rectitude of principle- that personal righteousness "without which no man can see the Lord." The one removes all the hindrances out of the way of salvation, which arise from the justice and government of God; the other takes away those which exist in the depravity and habits of the unrenewed mind. If the one be our title to the "heavenly inheritance," the other is our meetness for the enjoyment of it. The one is founded on the work of Christ for us; the other results from the work of the Spirit of Christ in us.

In conformity with this statement, I would earnestly exhort you, my young friends, to cultivate all the fruits of righteousness, Aim at the entire agreement of your spirit and actions with the unerring rule of righteousness, laid down in the sacred word. There you behold its nature clearly defined, and its wide extent un

It is not a variable, shifting principle, adapted to the changes of custom, and the fluctuations of caprice. Its nature and obligations are not dependant on views of expediency, which may happen to agree with its dictates to-day, and suggest an opposite rule of conduct to-morrow. Righteousness is the conformity of the heart and life to the immutable laws of equity which God has established; an equity, unbending in its decisions, and unalterable in its claims. Its requirements, in order to their being more readily comprehended and ascertained, are concisely stated in that admirable compendium of the duties of justice which our Lord gave to his disciples. "Do UNTO OTHERS, AS YE WOULD THAT OTHERS SHOULD DO UNTO YOU." Let this maxim be your polar star, in the intercourse and transactions of life. Many are the temptations to dishonourable artifice; the way to wealth and honour is often marked by its obliquity; and some men will praise you when you do well for yourselves, at whatever

expense, provided you are not gross enough in your departure from the line of rectitude, to incur the reproach of palpable dishonesty: but let not the selfishness of those, whose god is the "unrighteous mammon,” bend you from the course of rigid integrity. Let the gospel of Jesus Christ teach and constrain you to "do justly," from the purest principles of duty. Let it not be sufficient for you, that man does not condemn; so walk as to please God, "whose eye is on the heart." You will not be honest through compulsion, but honourable through conviction. There will be a delicacy in your perceptions and feelings which will prove the high sense of duty you have attained; and it will be your daily prayer-"let integrity and uprightness preserve us."

If you "follow righteousness," your character will be adorned by FIDELITY. This I conceive is what the apostle meant by "faith;" and the word has precisely this rendering, in the epistle to Titus, in which servants are exhorted to "shew all good fidelity." Fidelity is an important part of righteousness; it is one of the essential expressions of it, and all pretensions to rectitude without it, are but as "tinkling cymbals and as sounding brass." It consists in the full performance of all implied or expressed engagements; and its exercise is necessary to regulate our conduct in all the social relations of life. It will preserve you from the meanness of servility, if you occupy an inferior and dependant station; and from oppression and tyranny, if others are subject to your power. It will lead to the conscientious discharge of duty, in every station to which the providence of God may conduct you. Your influence, your property, your hours of leisure and activity, your civil and religious privileges, your opportunities of usefulness and improvement, are all " talents" committed to your trust; and in investing you with this high responsibility, the great Governor of the world says to each of you-" Occupy till I come-be faithful unto death." What is a minister without fidelity ? A monster! What is a Christian? An awful contradiction to the sacred name he bears! What are the services of religion? Solemn mockery! What are the professions of friendship? Selfish flatteries! You see the importance of "being faithful." Aim, I beseech you, at attaining that conscious fidelity which enabled an apostle to exclaim-"Our rejoicing is this-that in simplicity and godly sincerity, we have had our conversation in the world!" Commend yourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

With "righteousness and fidelity," the apostle connects charity and peace. The principle and duties of justice are intimately blended

* Titus ii. 10.