It cannot fail, but such an one must, in the
ordinary course of things, draw down upon
himself the choicest blesjsings of heaven. He
sets out in Ufe with fairer prospects and greater
advaiitages than all his rival contemporaries,
with the blessing of God upon all his under-
takings, and a naoral assurance, that whatsoever
he doeth, it«ball prosper. And it must surely
be a most comfortable reflection to him, that
** he ;thus grows under the defence of the

Most High, and flourishes under the shadow;

©f the Almighty/' It must give hfe ,to all
his designs, inspire him with a manly for-
titude in all his resolutions, and diffuse an even
€heerfqln$s3 and composure through his \Vhole
depprtn^ent, whilst, like his blessed Master in

the






188 SERMON VIIL

the same period of life, " he grows in stature
** and in wisdom, and in favour with God
** and man V

2. By remembering God in our youth, we
save the pains of recollecting him in old age,
^ when the evil days come^' (as come they
assuredly will) ^^ in which we shall say, we
^ have no pleasure in them/' If Religion is
a lesson we must some time or other learn, we
cannot begin too soon. It is not a thing to
be taken up at our leisure, a work to be done
ivhen we have nothing else to do ; but will
find full employment for all the time and pains
^e can bestow upon it. Youth is the time
when the seeds of every Christian grace and
virtue are to be sown in our hearts. If we
neglect this favourable season, ^nd suffer the
tares to spring up in their room, we shall not
only have the painful task of implanting qtew
affections and new desires in a worn^-out soil,
but of eradicating the old ones; and that, too,
when they have grown up with us so long,
and are %o interwoven with our very consti-*
tutions, that to rend them way from the soul,
will be like plucking out an eye, or tearing

* Luke ii, 59,

off



SERMON VIII. igg

t)ff a limb From the body. 