never be liable to distress.

In our present state of moral discipline, "the race is not constantly to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill, but time and chance happeneth to them all.” But this I do assert, that if you uniformly act as if you were entire masters of your own destiny, and persist in a course of unwearied diligence, you will take the measures which are most usually blest with success; and should you at any time encounter unexpected calamity, you will always have numerous resources within yourselves, and may look with the greatest confidence for the occasional assistance you may need from other men. But in all circumstances, let your chief reliance be on your own powers, on your own exertions, on your own unwearied and unyielding perseverance. It must be through your own fault if you are ever found altogether helpless. Only begin betimes; let it be the pride of your youth to be able to provide for yourselves whatever you want, and you will never be abandoned to hopeless distress. You may sometimes fall, but you will never be entirely cast down, you may meet with a mis

Carriage in some of your concerns, you may be obliged to yield to insurmountable obstacles in the prosecution of some of your schemes, but you cannot be deprived of your general skill, of your habitual activity, or of your acquaintance with the numerous methods in which you may beneficially employ your actual capacities and powers."

He then went on to shew, that this true and dignified personal independence cannot be acquired unless there be combined with it a strict and unbending integrity; and that if his young hearers were desirous of giving to the character he had exhorted them to form its highest finish, they must superadd to it the knowledge and the practice of religion.

"It is," he observed, " by well constituted principles alone that you can preserve that self-possession and independence which I have so earnestly recommended to your youthful ambition, and if I be not grossly deceived, these principles are most easily to be obtained from the gospel of Christ. Be not averse then, be not careless and indifferent, above all be hot ashamed to acknowledge a religious character. As it is certain you will be more

esteemed by the wise and good, so you will not fail to find in your future experience, that you are more respected by the foolish and dissolute, in consequence of its being generally known that you make a point of acting from conviction, and of being governed by principle.

But for this purpose you must read the scriptures and form a religious faith for yourselves. The name and external profession will of themselves avail you nothing; you must understand the purport and feel the importance of the christian doctrines before you can be stedfast and immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. Let me entreat you then to examine, that you may acquire a capacity of coming to a fixed judgement. It will be my delight to guide you in your enquiries, but I have no wish to dictate to you any sentiment or opinion. I am not very desirous that you should think in all or in most cases as I do. I had much rather that you should draw different and even opposite conclusions with regard to many speculative points, than have reason to believe that you have personally drawn no conclusions at all, but have passively acquiesced in the unex

amined decisions of any other person. My only desire is, that you should have a character, a faith, and a conscience which are all really your own; on which you can always act with firmness, and to which you will not be afraid to appeal whenever your conduct is brought into question. The more I have studied the scriptures, the more carefully I have considered the design of the christian revelation, the more diligently I have investigated the distinguishing nature and character of true religion, the more am I convinced that its essential doctrines are few, and entirely within 'the comprehension of a plain understanding. These offer themselves to our notice in every part of the New Testament, with scarcely a shade of difference. There is if I mistake not, one rule by which you may be guided in all your religious enquiries, without danger of hurtful error, Has the doctrine on which you are called to form a judgment a practical tendency? Does it directly lead you to the diligent discharge of your respective duties? Will the belief of it powerfully incline you to fear God and keep his commandments? Will it give you reason to rejoice in his government,

and dispose you to a patient and cheerful resignation to his will in all conditions, and under all circumstances? Will it expand your bosoms and warm your hearts with a generous benevolence to your fellow men? Will it assist you in the regulation of your appetites, passions and affections? If such be its evident tendency, it is certainly your interest to believe it, and if you are wise you must wish it to be true. Such I am persuaded are all the essential doctrines of the gospel. But there are many other particulars on which it may be desireable to form some satisfactory opinion. These, however, you may examine at your leisure; to these you may give more or less attention according to your respective present attainments and future opportunities. You may for ever remain ignorant or in doubt con. cerning them, and yet be real christians; you may make them the subject of continual study, and imagine that you receive them on the fullest evidence, and yet make no progress in the christian character. But whether they be true or false it will not become you in your present state of imperfect knowledge and unripened judgment, to speak of them with a