perform it to the day of Jesus Christ."* Sweet was the recollection of this care in the mind of the Patriarchs, as it had been displayed in the provision made for their temporal necessities and spiritual salvation, and most powerfully did it encourage them to commit their descendants to the mercy which could thus uphold them from youth to age. This care appeared the more wonderful when they remembered that they had been strangers and wanderers, had few or no earthly friends, and were objects of jealousy and dislike to all around them.

When we think on this care, as exercised in such a multitude of instances, and from one generation to another; exercised amidst the rule of the universe, and the pure and lofty homage of celestial intelligences; exercised amidst ingratitude, folly, and perverseness, in their most disgusting forms, and to a period when it cannot be glorified in such active results as before, we may well exclaim with the Psalmist, "How precious are thy thoughts to me, O God! how great is the sum of them!-they are more than can be numbered: when I awake, I am still with thee."+ Let us adore that mercy which so quickly conveys so many little children to Heaven, and that mercy which brings such multitudes through fire and through water to a wealthy place.

2. We see in an old disciple, a satisfying proof of the reality and the power of religion. How completely are the old disgusted with other pursuits, even those in which they once engaged with the greatest eagerness, and to which they were allured by the gayest + Psalm cxxxix. 17, 18.

. Phil. i. 6.

promises. Such they now pronounce to be vanity and vexation of spirit. The most ardent votary of ambition, who sought the distinctions of this world through all the mazes of deceit, and over all the obstacles which could be placed in his way, has felt in old age, that he has been walking in a vain show, and has confessed that he has been pursuing a phantom. The man devoted to pleasure, whose time was occupied and whose substance was spent in the pursuit of sensual enjoyment, who imagined that pleasure would never lose its power to enchant, and that the house of mirth would always be delightful to him, has felt his heart sicken at what was once the scene of rapture, and turned away in loathing from what once seemed to him the summit of bliss. This also has been the case with men devoted to science and literature; speculations which once were so delightful, and controversial discussions in which they engaged with their whole hearts, appear to them, as they advance in life, idle as a dream, and trifling as the brawls of children; and the simple-hearted peasant, who knows nothing beyond the mere elements of Christian knowledge and duty is, in their apprehensions, much wiser and happier than they are.

But how different is the case with the old disciple! The objects which first excited his attention appear as estimable to him as ever, and so far from regretting any sacrifice he has made for their sake, he would make it still if he was called to it. What once filled him with rapture, when his fancy was bright and his affections were glowing, is still his solace; he hath not discovered the least insecurity in the basis on which

he builds, the least uncertainty in the promises on which God hath caused him to hope, or the least oppression in the yoke which the Lord required him to take. While few worldlings have been able to recommend it to the young to devote themselves as they did to earthly things, the old disciple can say to them, "O taste and see that God is good!" Of this we have an admirable example in the case of Solomon, while he represents as vanity all which the worldly man approves and desires, and narrates the trial which he had made of all that the world could exhibit to interest. This is the conclusion of the whole matter; this is stated as the whole duty of man; and what is it that is dignified by such appellations? It is the fear of God and the keeping of his commandments. To this Solomon had early devoted himself, and, amidst his impressions of the vanity of all below the sun, to commend it was his last employment, and while every other hope had failed him, this was sure and steadfast.

3. We see in the old disciple, precious stores of experience. Days should speak, and multitudes of years should teach wisdom. The old man who has lived in the most obscure spot has seen much to detail for the advantage of the young. How instruc

tive is his review of the course of Providence! Who can hear him talk of the families which were flourishing in the days of his youth, but whose estates and palaces are now the property of others, without feeling how foolish it is to trust in uncertain riches? Who can hear him detailing the ruin which God brought on the presumptuous transgressor, and the

detection which has covered the treacherous with shame, without feeling, that to walk uprightly and humbly, is both our happiness and our safety? Who can hear him tell how God enlarged him when he was in distress, and showed him the way in which he should go, in answer to his earnest prayers for relief and for guidance, without feeling the value and acknowledging the power of prayer?

When the young hear his details of the ruin in which he has seen many who might have been the joy of their friends involve themselves by folly and dissipation, they must feel the necessity of circumspection. The accounts which he gives of the influence of religious ordinances, and of the advices, warnings, and consolations addressed to their audiences by holy men now with God, are solemn like a voice from the other world. I may add also, that the accounts he gives of the passages of scripture which were brought to his recollection in the hour of temptation and in the season of despondency, and which had a most salutary influence in strengthening his virtuous determination, and in elevating his drooping heart, are well fitted to endear to us the word of God, and to induce us to hold fast our integrity.

These statements of the old disciple are so opposite to the flattering pictures of a presumptuous fancy, that some may feel disposed to set them at nought, but the difference betwixt them is like that betwixt a vivid dream and a sober reality. My young friends, ye have scarcely begun to ascend the hill, and you imagine that there is little difficulty or peril in reaching its summit; but the aged are near it, and they can

tell of the storms that have beat upon them, the wild beasts that have alarmed them, the rocks they had to climb, and the heaps of ice and snow over which they had to pass: but they have also to tell of the fragrance which charmed them, the magnificence and beauty that opened wider and wider on their eye as they rose, the honey they found in the rock, and the first and last view of the rising and setting sun.

4. In the old disciple we behold a most striking contrast to the character and state of the aged transgressor. How many are there of that description? There are persons who, in their youth, were left to spend the Sabbath as they pleased, and who, in their old age, occupy that day in sauntering about their doors, and in all the folly of vain conversation. Their opportunities of salvation are about to expire, yet they feel not the least impression that this is the case, and turn away from that light which in a few days shall be hid from their eyes.

There are persons who in their youth were addicted to envy, and malice, and evil speaking, who were the objects of fear and hatred to their companions, on account of these wicked propensities, who in old age are more virulent in their tempers than ever. The poison of asps is under their tongue; nothing gratifies them so much as the misfortunes of their neighbours, and they are eager to instil their own prejudices into their young connexions, by detailing to them, in the most exaggerated form, the ill usage they have met with.

There are persons too, who, in early life, were addicted to sensuality, who, in old age, show that their