altogether changed, to what they were in the olden time, which some I am now addressing well remember. Business at that time was conducted with an ease and comfort of which comparatively the men of the present day know but little. A good remunerating profit, a good business connexion, a considerable leisure, were well understood; and they conducted the honest and industrious citizen to circumstances of affluence, and to an old age of ease and of comfort. But now the face of things is changed. I notice this only in reference to the moral influence the present state of things is calculated to exert. With many it is absolutely necessary to be engaged in the business of the world from an early hour to a very late one: and the claims of the world are felt to intrench upon those higher and better loved claims presented in the Bible. The six days of the week are days of toil, of preparation for the sustenance of the body, and the maintenance of a family but the seventh day is the Sabbat of the Lord thy God. On this day it is your duty and your privilege to be free from the world, to lay aside its claims, to disburden your mind of its cares, to be grateful for your prosperity, and to enter into God's house to acknowledge and obey the claims of God and of true religion.

These claims of business are righteous, and must be attended to; whatever may be the arrangements of providence in your individual case, so far as you can ascertain those arrangements you are bound to fulfil them. To "be diligent in business," is an inspired commandment, which it would be alike disreputable and sinful to break. While we therefore allow the business of the world to have great and important claims, they must be daily subordinated to the love of God, faith in Christ, and the cultivation of personal holiness. Some men (and it is a snare artfully set by the enemy of our souls for young people) allow the claims of the world to have a willing ascendency over their minds. They are absorbed with them, and they neglect religion. Young men, you who have recently entered upon the business of life, you who are contemplating it, let me beseech you to keep the claims of the world in their proper place. They have no right to intrude upon your Sabbaths. Your counting-house is not the place you should be found in on the Sabbath; and the posting of your books is not the employment God approves for that holy day. It is not the method by which you will attain to peace of mind, nor to prosperity. Whatever involves the breaking of God's commandments (excepting works of necessity and mercy) is sinful; no blessing can be prayed for upon such engagements, and no blessing will be granted.

There are also claims originating in what is more strictly termed professional duties and studies; and inasmuch as these are associated with a different cultivation of the intellect, present their peculiar temptations to those who pursue them. The aspiring youth, devoted to the study of the law, or of medicine, or to the pursuits of general literature, is often exposed to the most serious and fatal temptations. In many cases destitute of a religious education, uninstructed in the truths and authority of the Bible, unacquainted with the corruption and deceitfulness of his own heart, and feeling as he rises into life an expansion of mind, and being familiar with the elements of knowledge, how often does he come into contact with men who take advantage of his susceptibility of impression; discourse to him upon the dignity of reason, the pleasures of the world, the gratifications of sense; and, if anything like religious feeling or

impression stand in the way, immediately denounce it as the barrier to happiness, because they find it to be the barrier to the commission of sin. The duties of professional men are important and highly responsible. Many of them afford pleasure; many of them are exceedingly irksome. Their studies also, according to the nature of their profession, and the desire they have for improvement and advancement, are varied; either profound or superficial, fascinating or wearying, favourable or unfavourable to religious impression, and to a religious life. To every young man engaged in professional life, I would say, give to your duties and studies the most enlarged and persevering attention. If devoted to general literature, I offer you the same advice. There is no success to be attained in the present day, no sterling professional eminence to be acquired, but as the result of enlightened and habitual perseverance. Mental power,

however splendid and versatile, cannot be a permanent substitute for the fruits of laborious diligence. If engaged in the profession of the law, labour to be familiar with all the standard works that bear upon that branch of the profession to which your attention is, from choice or necessity, directed. If engaged in the study of medicine, the same advice is applicable to you, especially in connexion with that practical knowledge of the human frame, and the diseases to which we are liable, without which the most elaborate theoretical knowledge will be but of little avail. But while I am offering this advice, am I intruding upon the homage you owe to religion, and the obedience you owe to the claims of God? I feel that I am not. There is nothing in religion which forbids, discountenances, or is incompatible with the highest cultivation of the mind, and the loftiest reputation consequent upon professional industry, skill, and perseverance. I give the fullest weight to all the arguments that can be urged by the tradesman and by the professional man, as to the importance of their pursuits, the necessity and propriety of them as the means of subsistence, and as leading to a righteous provision for a family, as the groundwork of respectability and eminence, and as conducting to stations of civil honour and usefulness in society. When I do this, I ask, what more can be required of me? Shall the most passionate lover of literature and science ask me to give a lower place to the claims of religion than of science? I cannot do it. Reason and Revelation alike forbid it. All studies and pursuits, merely secular, cease with this life. Religion only commences here; it is matured and glorified in eternity. The interests of eternity I feel should take the precedence and supremacy of the interests of time. The word of God declares that they should do so. The history of mankind illustrates and confirms it beyond dispute. I know that there is a powerful competition betwixt the claims I have referred to; and, in many cases, there may be an occasional ascendency over the claims of religion. But there is an essential difference betwixt a willing and delighted ascendency, and one which causes the pious man to lament and mourn that his mind has, through some strong necessity, been overborne by worldly and professional anxieties and cares. Young men! make it a matter of daily watchfulness and prayer, that the claims of God and of true religion, be not intruded upon. Give to God your whole heart. Love him with a renewed and sanctified mind. Make it a matter of conscience to devote a portion of every day to the devout perusal of the Scriptures, and to sincere, fervent prayer to your heavenly

Father. Hold much fellowship with Jesus Christ. Study to realize that elevation of spiritual feeling, that purity of thought, that devotional temper of mind, which will, under God, make all inferior acquisitions contributory to your growth in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

But a more powerful source of opposition to the claims of God originates in the pleasures and amusements of the world. The intellect is not so commonly assailed as the heart. The passions and lusts of a depraved heart are courted and fed by the pleasures of society, by the pursuits of the worldly, and the gratifications of the sensual. The world, and the things of the world, are opposed to God, and to the things of God. Men are tempted to seek their "happiness in worldly society, in fashionable amusements, in the gratification of their senses; and when these are followed there is a distaste immediately awakened for true religion. There is a great diversity in the pleasures of the world, and in its fascinations. The plea generally is, on the part of a young man, that he intends to conform very slightly, and to keep himself within certain prescribed limits, both as to expenditure and pleasure. But who has ever done it? Who has ever successfully united a conformity to the world with true spirituality of mind; and who has ever been able, when once he has entered within the circle of worldly influence, to preserve himself from sin, but by a timely retreat? It is impossible to associate with persons whose conversation is light, trifling, lewd, or profane—it is impossible to have the eye assailed with objects that excite lust, the ear to listen to the profane jests, to the profligate and profane representations and language of our popular plays, to be addicted to fashionable amusements, to cross the threshhold of a gambling-house, to exceed the bounds of moderation in eating and drinking, without contracting guilt in the eyes of our Maker. "Whosoever will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." Let me ask whether any of these things can contribute to your humility, spirituality, self-denial, faith in Christ, love of God, and preparation for heaven? The claims of trade, of professional duties and studies, we allow to be great, and we honour them. And the claims of domestic society, of friendly, and Christian, and literary intercourse, we allow to be great, and we honour them. But conformity to the pleasures and vanities of the world has no claims. You cannot plead for them. There are positive evils associated with them: a waste and loss of time; family disarrangements; bad company; bad passions; and a deliberate exposure of the mind to contamination and evil.

I have thus briefly adverted to what I conceive put forth claims in opposition to God and to true religion, and with which it is possible for the heart to be engrossed in the place of God and divine things. I shall now advert, for a few moments, to SOME OF THE MANY PROOFS OF THE SUPERIORITY OF THE CLAIMS OF TRUE RELIGION. "The law of thy mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver."

There are two series of observations, the outline of which only we can lay before you, establishing the supremacy of the claims of Religion.

In the first place, it might be proved from the fact that God is the Author of the claims urged upon us in the Bible.

"My Son, give me thine heart.” "Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth." "Do justly, love mercy, walk humbly with thy God." God advances these claims to the children of men as the Author of their existence, their Lord, their Redeemer, and their Judge. His is the highest authority in the universe, and we ought to obey God rather than man. His claims cannot be neglected or despised without incurring his severe displeasure, and no earthly pretext can justify us in offering the homage of the heart to another God.

Secondly, The supremacy of the claims of religion may be argued from the nature of religious truth as affecting man in his present state, and in the most important relations he can sustain to this and a future life.

In this world he has to perform the part of an intelligent and responsible being; to fill up his relations in society, in the family, and in the Church, as one who must give an account to God. Religion is revealed as the means of his recovery from his naturally depraved state, and as the source of light, of truth, of holiness, and of consolation, during his present pilgrimage state.

Thirdly, The truths of religion, the way of reconciliation and forgiveness, and all the blessed prospects of a future and happy state, are not discoverable by the light of reason, nor by the indefatigable industry and the most painful researches of the human mind.

It cannot be told by unaided reason whether there is one God, one hundred, or one thousand. It cannot be told how sin entered the world; whether it can be pardoned, whether God will be merciful to poor and wretched sinners, and whether man is to lie down in the dust to perish like the brute, or to rise to a new and immortal life. So plain however are all things in the Bible necessary to life, godliness, and immortality, that a wayfaring man though a fool cannot err. On all these most interesting subjects you have the fullest information in the pages of the inspired volume.

Fourthly, Their supremacy may be argued from what is involved in their reception and rejection.

Here they occupy the loftiest eminence. You may be a good or a bad tradesman (I do not mean a dishonest one) you may be a sound or a superficial lawyer, a skilful or unskilful surgeon, a profound or shallow metaphysician, a professed or amateur geologist, a plodding natural philosopher, or devoted to science merely for amusement-and none of these will affect your eternal destiny. But if you are not decidedly religious, born again of the Spirit of God, if you have not faith in Christ, if you are not spiritually minded, you will be eternally lost. Over the portals of heaven, in letters of fire, and legible even on earth, are these words, " Nothing that is defiled, or that worketh an abomination, can enter here.".

There is a second series of observations, establishing the same point.

First: To every thing that is commendable in the claims of the present life religion gires its sanction and imprimatur. Every thing taught by the enlightened moralist, derives its highest authority from the Bible, whether he acknowledges or denies the inspiration of that blessed Book. Every thing which can conspire to make a good and honourable citizen-industry, prudence, frugality, and integrity -are inculcated here. Every thing to form the character, and guide the conduct, of a husband or wife, child or parent, is inculcated here. Every thing to make

men enlightened and loyal subjects of civil and political society, has its highest authority in the Bible. It forbids and denounces ungodliness and sin, in all their horrid, disgusting, or more fascinating forms. To whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report, religion gives its full and hearty sanction.

Secondly: Religious truth will give a tone and direction to the mind in the acquisition of other classes of truth, and will make their acquisition easier and more profitable. A religious state of mind, ready to bow to the authority of Revelation, is better prepared for the acquisition of general truth. God is supplicated for assistance, and his blessing is devoutly desired in all the engagements of life, by those who love him.

Thirdly: All other truth is confessedly limited in its interest and influence to time; but religious truth, while it is the greatest blessing and ornament of our present existence, is peculiarly intended to prepare us for the future. There cannot be a fitter and more appropriate illustration of this, than the scene of a death-bed. What is most befitting a death-bed? and from this we may judge what is most befitting that world into which death introduces us-What is it? Merchandize? No! Literature? No! Philosophy? No! Sensuality? No! Ungodly companions? No! Vain and foolish conversation and jesting? No, it is not "convenient!"—Then what is it? It is religion, pious conversation, prayer, and the presence of God. Both young and aged Christians have found it so; and their happiness in death, and their triumph over death, have alike attested the divinity of religion.

I have thus in a brief and very imperfect manner endeavoured to prove to you the Supremacy of the Claims of Religious Truth. Before I conclude, I must address the different classes of young persons present this evening.

The first class consists of those who have been well initiated in religious truth, but who have not yet decided for God, and are unable to say, "The law of thy mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver." I do not say that the labour that has been bestowed upon you has been bestowed in vain, Lut the desired and pleasant fruits have not yet been gathered by a parent's or a teacher's hand. The scene of education you well remember. The object of a father's care, and of a mother's deep anxiety and earnest prayer, or the object of some pious teacher's charge, you look back upon the time when you were first taught to lisp the name of Jesus; and some of you can trace your education from that period to the present. How often have you sung the praises of Jesus; how often have you united in prayer; how often have you pondered over the sacred page, and listened to the instructive and impressive commentaries upon it by those who have wished well to your eternal interests. Your advantages have been very great, and your privileges cannot be numbered. You are intimately acquainted with the powerful and blessed influence of religion upon others. You may have known some who were insincere, and who dishonoured the profession which they made, under the influence of improper and worldly motives; but you know, and you have seen its blessed influence upon others. You are convinced of the reality of religion, and you have seen its effects in changing the heart and conduct, in strengthening the mind, and in consoling and supporting it on the bed of death. Why then