have over their hearts, to draw them off from all serious attention to those things which make for their everlasting peace. Here, alas! the enemy is but too successful. Here it is that the pastor trembles for the lambs of his flock. Here it is that he has to lament over many that once bid fair for heaven, but now seem rather to prefer the paths of the destroyer. What often makes the danger twofold greater to these young females, and consequently enhances, the pastor's anxiety for their souls, is, that many of their parents, being worldly, ignorant, and perhaps profane characters themselves, neither see the peril nor impropriety of their children associating, at an early age, with almost any young man who may address them. If the suitor be not a most vile and notorious character, they see nothing to object to. They have no idea that their daughters can suffer from such an acquaintance, and perhaps they actually approve of the young man's worldly sentiments more than of their daughter's religious ones. All this is certainly the case in many, very many families, in our villages and hamlets. What, then, is the natural consequence of all these unhappy circumstances? No other than the falling back into the world of many a young person who, but for forming such acquaintances, would, humanly speaking, have gone on in the ways of godliness, established their characters among the wisest and best of of their neighbours, strengthened the hands of their ministers, have been useful in their day and generation; amd, finally, whether they died unmarried, or were united to a suitable character in wedlock, would have departed full of that hope which maketh not ashamed. It is no easy matter for the devoutest young person to give the Lord that place in the heart which he demands, when the affections are in any considerable de 66 gree engaged towards the creature. Hence, could ministers and Christian parents prevail, they would at all times warn the younger part of their charge to shun every advance, to avoid every step which would break in on their peace of mind and spiritual progress, by allowing their affections to fix on any person until Providence seemed to present an object desirous of their love, and worthy of their esteem, as being likely to promote their present comfort and eternal happiness. When that in sound judgment appears to be the case, parents would do well not to interpose unnecessary hindrances, or excite petty objections to the completion of the parties' wishes, but rather to promote them, that they might serve the Lord without distraction." It has been the writer's practice, ever since he entered the ministry, to meet the senior girls, female teachers, and some of their mothers and elderly neighbours, on the Sunday evenings, between six and eight o'clock; when instruction is communicated in a more familiar way, and admonitions given in a closer manner, and with a more personal application, than would be proper at church. Here the duties these young people have to perform, the snares they have to shun, the tempers they have to cultivate, the associates they should choose, and the chaste, and modest, and moral path they are called upon by God to pursue, are brought forward with as much distinctness as is proper. Sometimes the history of pious young women, who have warred a good warfare, and finished their course with joy, is brought forward to animate and instruct them; at other times, examples of those who once run well, but were afterwards ensnared and carried down the stream of iniquity, and perished in their sins, or at least departed full of bitter anguish and almost in despair, are produced to warn and alarm them. In one word, decision of character, and consistency in their general conduct, are here pressed home on their consciences as absolutely necessary to their present comfort and eternal felicity. The reflecting reader will not be surprised to hear, that these little services become a kind of winnowing fan, which separates the chaff from the wheat. It is here I discover the painful symptoms of the world, of the flesh, and of the devil's success in alienating the once attentive mind from ministerial instructions, and drawing it off from holy, persevering, christian practice. No sooner do I perceive a listlessness in their manner, and an irregularity in their attendance here, than experience has taught me where to look for the cause. My observations on improper dress, and on the absolute necessity of shunning vain and ungodly companions at all times, and especially on the sabbath, are found to displease the wavering part of my young charge; and, on inquiry, I always find they are actually falling into the very evils which I have warned and entreated them to escape. For a time, there seems to be a struggle between the convictions of conscience, and the devices and desires of the flesh. And it may be some weeks or months before they can quite shake off their respect for their minister, and their fear of God; but in many, very many cases, the work is completely done in half a year's time; so that they can absent themselves altogether from our school, dress in a tawdry manner, and flirt about the village on a Sunday evening with young men, who, to say the least of them, have no fear of God before their eyes, and whose persuasions lead these unhappy persons first to turn their backs on God, in absenting themselves from our evening parties, and then gradually to overcome all their convictions of sin, their sense of dan ger, and their desire of an interest in Christ Jesus and his great salvation. In some instances, I have had cause to fear that the Holy Spirit has been quite taken from them; for while they have acted so as to bring a scandal even on the female sex, they have lived apparently unmindful of what either God or man thought of their conduct. But one thing is worthy of remark: that as far as my own observations have gone, with only one exception, every individual who has thus turned away from God has incurred either disgrace of character, or lasting misery and distress. Those who have, as it were, courted seduction, have been seduced and become quite hardened. Others, who were kept from such depths of evil, but who would associate and intermarry with irreligious characters, have given a death-blow to all their comforts on earth. Their partners have uniformly turned out unkind, nay cruel husbands; and while in several instances I hope the Lord has not quite forgotten to be gracious to the unhappy womens' souls, he has, undoubtedly, made their sins and backslidings their severest chastisement. Poor unhappy women! Now it is too late to remedy the evil, they but too severely feel the many and great sorrows that an irreligious husband brings into the house of one who once sought the Lord, and who, it may be, again wishes to return like the prodigal son to his father's house, but is opposed and hindered in a thousand ways by her profane husband. Often do these men forbid their wives to attend the means of grace, and, as far as in them lies, they exclude both minister and serious neighbours from their houses. And is this the object, the idol for whose sake any once promising and naturally amiable girl has turned her back on God? Yes, this is the individual who was to make her completely happy. Follow man, and you will see him through one part of the day spending his money in the alehouse; and during the other, cursing and swearing, and reeling in drunkenness about his own, half starving his children for want of that money which he has squandered in his brutal excesses, and abusing and beating her who gave up God and conscience to be his. This is not overcharging the picture. I could take any friend to, alas! but too many cottages, where all I have said is verified every week. No doubt but Satan leads on many to continue such improper acquaintances, and to form such unfit connexions, under the visionary expectation of being instrumental in reforming those habits in their suitors which they cannot but see and condemn in their sober moments. Yes, they argue to themselves, they shall have so much influence, and the individual makes such promises, and perhaps has already reformed in part, that they doubt not but time and good management will complete all that remains to be done. This is the way they answer any objections of their friends, and silence any occasional fears that arise in their own minds. But I should wish to know, whether any one instance of such reformation has, under such circumstances, ever taken place? Certainly not within my observation and inquiries. Nor can it be expected. She who knows her Lord's will, and deliberately breaks his commands, can never expect his blessing as the result of such transgression. All that can be hoped for is, that her offended Lord will yet spare her soul, and bring it forward through that scene of earthly wretchedness which her improper conduct has entailed on herself. This certainly is, in many instances, found to be the case. But who, even in this case, would not shudder at the prospect of such a train of bitter afflictions becoming their inheritance for life, and arising too from that very quarter where they had calculated on reaping so much happiness? The case that formed an exception must not be passed over in silence; for although that individual did not tarnish her character with the world, nor encounter domestic wretchedness, yet her soul was, and I believe still is, in the utmost peril of being lost. Miss L. had, up to the time of becoming acquainted with Mr. S., maintained so much of the steady Christian character, as to encounter much harshness from her father. She, however, would not join their routs, or any of the gay parties that surrounded her. She dressed as became a disciple of Christ, and went about doing good, and associated with the wise and good only. She bore reproach for Christ's sake as became one of his followers, and was the joy and rejoicing of my brother clergyman, B. Mr. S. her suitor was a very gentlemanly, rich man, without one spark of religion. The family of Miss L. considered it a very advantageous offer, and after a while she gave him her hand, with, I believe, no small portion of her heart. Conscious, however, that those who have no religion of their own are not very partial to it in those connected with them, she had, previous to her marriage, insisted on separate articles, legally drawn up and executed, declarative that she was never to be opposed or hindered in attending whatever means of grace she wished to be present at. Mr. S. was very much of a Gallio; he honestly signed the deed, and I believe never attempted to infringe on its provisions: nor, indeed, was there any occasion for him to do so; for, melancholy to state, within a short time after their union, his once serious bride, finding herself in possession of a splendid establishment, and surrounded with the gay friends of her gay and rich husband, drank so rapidly into the spirit and folly of the world as to whirl round in the same vortex without the smallest reluctance. She even spent some hours every day with a music-master, learning to play the harp and sing fashionable airs and theatrical pieces. Of course, all her old acquaintance were given up, as her pious habits were relinquished for those of the world. Such was the state of things when I last heard of her family. How her course will finally terminate, the Lord only can tell. Let this suffice to show how much cause the minister, who loves his flock, and wishes to spend and be spent in their service, has to fear this perilous trial, which one day or other will fall in the way of all his young people. Their inexperience, and the native depravity of the heart, expose them to a host of adversaries; while, alas! "Vice points them to a flowery vale, Where streams of pleasure seem to roll; And every sweet, on every gale, Crowds through the senses to the soul. "Imagination lends her aid To strengthen ev'ry dangerous snare ; Till each fond flattering vision's fled, And gives its victim to despair." Blessed be God, there are some instances in which both the writer and his brethren in the ministry have succeeded in putting their young hearers on their guard; and in others they have been permitted to see the deluded individuals break through the snares that had for awhile entangled and led them astray; and once more these wandering lambs have been found in the fold humbled, instructed, and more established than ever. Among this number, I believe, the writer of the following letter, which reached me very recently, may safely be included. May the Lord have all the glory! from me; though, I trust, I have not been altogether forgotten in your prayers. I should not have taken the present liberty of writing, did I not know that to hear of the spiritual welfare of any individual would give you great pleasure, and particularly of one who some years ago you so kindly instructed. It is now, I believe, eight or nine years since you exhorted me to guard against forming a connection with any one whom I had not the strongest reason to believe was decidedly religious. So little did I then know of the deceitfulness of my own heart, or of the wiles of our great enemy, that I thought the caution unnecessary. I felt so decidedly fixed in my own mind, that I forgot the weakness of human resolution, and the many temptations that daily beset our path. My dear and reverend friend, shall I tell you, that this very temptation had well nigh been the ruin of my immortal soul! I blush to say, that I became attached to one who feared not God, who loved not the Lord Jesus Christ; and, as the consequence of such an attachment, I forgot that love to the Saviour which once warmed my heart. Often, while indulging these sinful desires, would my heart smite me with the wickedness of my conduct in backsliding from my God; but I tried to stifle the uneasy thought. I was not willing to pluck out the right eye, and to cut off the right hand. Yes, I had wandered so far in heart, that I did not even like to meet with any of God's people. I well remember, I was afraid of hearing of your coming to ; I thought I could not look you in the face. I forgot that my most secret thoughts were all open before a holy God. But, I bless God, I was not permitted to fall into any outward flagrant sins. Mercies and judgments passed before me, and even severe bodily afflictions hung over me; but I did not return unto the Lord till about five months ago, when it pleased God to call unto himself a near neighbour, a person about my own age; and, O my reverend friend, I wish I could display to you what passed in my mind on hearing and seeing what occurred at that deathbed scene! I trust I shall never forget it. She died rejoicing in the Lord-in Jesus Christ, as her Saviour! Often have I read of such deaths, but never was I so near a witness before. Her prayers to be made pure and holy, as God is pure and holy-her anxiety to have no rival in her affections-her earnest desire that she might but go to her Saviour, and her firm dependence upon that Saviour-these things, by the blessing of God, brought to my mind my former hopes and fears respecting that dear Redeemer; and created in my mind most earnest desires, that I, who had so often forgotten my God, might be again permitted to renew my broken promises, and, by the strength of the blessed Spirit, be enabled to walk in newness of life. I hope and trust these desires are not delusive; I hope they are the work of the same Spirit of God. I have been enabled altogether to give up the acquaintance that led my heart astray. I feel such earnest desires to be conformed in all things to the will of God-such constant fear lest I should fall again-such earnest prayer to be kept daily and hourly in the narrow path of religion, as, I think, I never did before. Do not these things, my reverend friend, show the finger of God? Are they not the work of the Spirit? I have taken the liberty of addressing you, to beg your prayers at a throne of grace, that I may persevere even unto the end; and also particularly to request, that you will speak a word of warning to other young females. Will you send another of your papers to the Christian Guardian? One on this subject, that others may guard against this rock, on which I had well nigh split? That work is read with the greatest interest among us," &c. &c. May the Lord keep and preserve this young woman in her present frame of mind; and may many others of her sex be led, through grace, to seek that power and wisdom from above which may preserve them in the circumspect walk of pure and undefiled religion, unspotted by the world, and at a distance from all that friendship which is enmity against God! May they ever remember, that there can be no union of heart, and consequently no happiness, between a man who fears not God, and a woman who walks in his fear all the day long. "I speak as unto my children. Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people: wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." 2 Corinth. vi. 13—18. ALIQUIS. |