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FALSE CONFIDENCE.

that he was going "bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that should befall him there." (Acts, xx.)

b. This confidence gives impulse to Christian effort. Depending on the promises of God, the friends of the Bible and of missions have prosecuted their important work, whilst a thousand circumstances of discouragement have combined to check their progress; nor have they ever found their trust in the Almighty misplaced. c. It also produces serenity and contentment of mind, notwithstanding the adverse and trying incidents of life. 4. There is also a false confidence. a. It consists in expecting the gifts of Divine Providence without employing the means of their attainment.

b. In hoping for salvation without the diligent use of the means of grace.

There is a species of idolatry in the present age to which we have briefly alluded, and which draws the mind away from the contemplation of the true God, as effectually as any other. It is that entire devotion to the pursuits and pleasures, the riches and honors of life, which constitutes a plain evidence, that many regard these as the only sources of enjoyment. This is decidedly wrong and sinful in the extreme, for every means of present happiness we possess is the gift of that kind and gracious Being who "sends his rain on the just and on the unjust." Our wealth, friends, and estates, are but second causes of whatever degree of happiness

Q. What do you understand by false confidence? In what light are we to regard our riches, friends and estates, as first or second causes of enjoyment?

they confer, and we are to look beyond these, to that Almighty friend, who richly supplies his creatures with every needed blessing. If we put our trust in the gifts bestowed, instead of the giver who bestows them, we are already guilty of a forgetfulness of God, which has close resemblance to the professed worship of wood and

stone.

The first commandment requires you, my young friends, as well as all other created intelligences, to love the true God above all other objects, and to offer your vows and prayers to him alone; and this, as soon as you understand your religious obligations. "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth," is the advice of inspiration. This God who requires your worship, and whom you are alone to serve, is self existent, eternal, present every where in all parts of creation at once, well acquainted with all the thoughts and intents of the heart, of infinite power as well as majesty. He has placed you under peculiar obligations to love and serve him, as your Creator, preserver, and Redeemer.

a. As your Creator he has endowed you with those faculties of body and of mind, which place you high on the scale of being. He has given you immortal souls, and destined you for an immortal existence.

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b. As your preserver he has ever watched over you, and kept you safe from the thousand ills and accidents of life. In addition to this he has provided for you a thousand sources of rational enjoyment. He has given you friends; he supplies your daily wants; he causes

Q. In whom then should your confidence be placed? Why? What does the first commandment require of you? What are the grounds of this love, or in what relation does the Almighty stand to you? As your Crea tor what has he done for you?

the grass and the flowers to grow, and beautify the face of nature. The rain and the sun are his, and at his command they enrich and fertilize the earth.

c. As your Redeemer, he has sent his own son into the world to atone for your guilt by his death upon the

cross.

But you are not to engage in the service of the Almighty without a careful examination of the motives that influence you in your decision to be his. Motive gives character to action. Though an action may be good in itself, if the motive in which it originates is evil, the action becomes altogether meritless. Our services, to be acceptable to God, must spring from affection, and be dictated by the profoundest reverence for his character and law. Though our professions of piety be ever so loud, and our deeds of benevolence ever so splendid and imposing, yet if they are performed in a spirit of selfishness, and if their whole aim is to gain the admiration of the world, they become the very mockery of devotion, and only constitute the evidences of our idolatry.

As God is a spirit, you are required to worship him in spirit and in truth. In your supplications and offerings of praise to him, whose presence pervades all nature, you are holding communion with an invisible Being, of whom you are forbidden even to form a mental likeness. It is not uncommon even for good men, in their addresses to the Supreme Being, to form an image, or representation of that Being in the mind. But as we

Q. As your preserver? As your redeemer? By what are you to test the character of your actions? What motives must induce you to serve God, if your services are to be acceptable to him? How are you to worship him? Why?

cannot conceive the peculiar essence of the divine nature, and as this mental image must necessarily resemble something "that is in the heavens above, or in the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth," beyond which our conceptions cannot reach, it is undeniable, that even this is wrong, and opposed to the spirit of the first commandment. Spiritual adoration does not require that you should behold its object; it only requires you to believe that he exists, and that he is the "rewarder of all those who diligently seek him."

You are to worship the Creator not only in spirit, but also in truth. That is: your worship is to be of such a nature as is required by that revelation of his character and will which the gospel contains. He is uncreated, therefore you are to worship him as the first great cause of all things that exist. He is omnipotent and faithful, hence you are to place unlimited confidence in all his promises. He is omnipresent and omniscient, the searcher of the hearts of the children of men, consequently you are to regulate your desires and passions according to his will, and unresistingly yield to his require

ments.

In view of these solemn obligations, the great question for each one of you to decide is: Am I willing to make this surrender of myself to him who rules among the ármies of heaven, and controls the destinies of men. Shall that God who led Israel out of the land of Egypt be my God? And in the decision of this question, remember that he is the only source of all your present joys, and

Q. Is it necessary to spiritual worship that its object should be present to our senses? What is necessary? What is it to worship the Creator in truth? Is there any question for you to decide as responsible beings?

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CONCLUDING PRAYER.

that he alone can secure to you the bliss of heaven. Nor are you to delay this duty a single moment after you become convinced of its importance, and your individual obligation to perform it. Many of the Israelites were cut off in the midst of their idolatry. And many "whose God is the world," are summoned in such an hour as they think not, to appear in the presence of the great Eternal. If you love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and "have no other Gods before him;" if you make your will subservient to his, and suf fer your passions and desires to be controlled by his spirit, he has promised to be your everlasting friend. Be persuaded, then, to make this surrender of yourselves to the Almighty; be persuaded to sacrifice every pleasure, and abandon every pursuit that comes in the way of your duty to him. You will find his service to be sweet, and by no means grievous; and should every other source of joy fail you; should you be deserted by every earthly friend, the language of your triumphant soul will then be, "If God be for us, who can be against us."

PRAYER.

Almighty Father, who art the source of every blessing, and whose goodness is manifest to all men, especially to those who love thee, grant that I may be enabled to cherish a spirit of filial confidence and affection toward thee! Give me thy grace, that I may feel the profoundest reverence for thy character; strengthen me to walk in the way of thy commandments, and enable me to yield a willing obedience to all human laws, and to respect and honor the wholesome regulations of human society! Let me remember, that thy paternal care is continually exercised; that all the events of life are ordered by thy wisdom; and that all the occurrences of thy Providence are intended for our

Q. Do you feel the importance of that decision? Should it not be im mediate? Why?