gently whatever means God has put into your hands, and never doubt of success. Look for nothing any farther than you pray and labour for it; expect every thing that God has promised, when you attend to the duties which he has enjoined. It is presumption to believe where God has not spoken; but where God has spoken, it is presumption not to believe.

PROCRASTINATION.

IT is God's place to fix the time when we should begin to serve him; it is ours to attend to his appointment, and begin to serve him with cheerfulness. The benefactor fixes the time when he will dispense his favours, and the poor and unhappy creatures whom he wishes to receive his bounty, are careful to present themselves at the appointed hour. Whether he announces his purpose to be to distribute his blessings in the morning or at noon, the needy are ready, and never complain that the hour was fixed too soon. And if there should be any one so foolish or perverse as to let the appointed hour pass by, he would be deservedly left without any share of the bounty. So with respect to religion. It is the will of God that man should be happy, and he calls upon men to come to him to receive his blessings. Religion is nothing more, than placing ourselves in the way of receiving God's bounty. The time that God has fixed for receiving applications for his favours is now. The message of mercy which he sends to men, says nothing of to-morrow. "Behold, now is the accepted time! behold now is the day of salvation!" From the first moment that we hear the call of God, it is our duty to attend to it, and to seek, in the way which he has appointed, for the blessings of his salvation. If we have ears to hear, and hearts to understand, it is enough: these lay us under the obligation to attend to the call of God, the moment it reaches our ears. Whether we are young or old; whether we are surrounded with cares, or favoured with leisure, it is our duty to attend to the call of God without the delay of a moment. If we neglect the present time, we act foolishly and wickedly: we trifle with God, and we sport with the welfare of our souls. If

God should refuse to hear us at any future period; or if he should cut short our life, and not allow us another opportunity of waiting upon him, we could have no reason to complain. The blessings were provided for us, they were offered, on the easiest and the kindest terms; the time for imparting them to us was fixed, and made known to us by God; what could be done for us more? The ruin of those who procrastinate is upon

their own heads.

Beware, my young friends, lest you provoke the Almighty to withdraw from you his offers of mercy, and shut you out from happiness for ever. He calls upon the young by name, to engage in his service:-"Remember now thy Creator, in the days of thy youth." He promises them special attention and kindness:-"I love them that love me; and they that seek me early shall find me." If f you had been left during the days of your youth without those gracious calls and promises, you would not have been under the same obligation to turn in the days of your youth to God. If you had not been favoured with the Gospel till you were old, a return to God in the time of old age would have been accepted. But you are called now. The Almighty wishes to make you happy in the morning of life, and morning is the time that he calls you to accept his blessings. I beseech you, make haste and come. God offers you pardon for your past transgressions; but he calls on you to come and ask for that pardon now: he offers you peace and joy, and hope and confidence, and he calls you to come and receive these blessings now; and if you let the present opportunity pass away, you may be left under guilt, and given over as a prey to remorse and ruin for ever. I beseech you, consider these things in time; make haste, and delay not to seek the favour of God, and the blessings of eternal life. God will not be trifled with for ever: he cannot be trifled with at all with safety. "Happy is every one that hears the word of God and keeps it.'

Published by I. DAVIS, 22, Grosvenor-street, Stalybridge; Bancks and Co., Exchange-street; Heywood, Oldham-street, Manchester; R. Groombridge, 6, Panyer Alley, Paternoster Row, London; and may be had of all Booksellers [CAVE and SEVER, Printers, Manchester.]

EVANGELICAL REFORMER,

AND YOUNG MAN'S GUIDE.

BY JOSEPH

BARKER.

Published every Saturday.-Price One Penny, or in Monthly Parts, price Four-pence half-penny.

No. 5.

SATURDAY, MAY 4, 1839. VOL. III.

The influence of Religious Instruction upon the character of Children.

(Continned from No. 4, Vol. 3.)

For a considerable number of years the minds of youth are free from the cares and distractions of business, and have little to hinder them from attending to the instructions which are given to them. In pious families they may also, in a great measure, be preserved from intercourse with profane and wicked people, which in so many cases counteracts the happy tendency of good instructions. They have not those habits nor those passions generally, which often make the minds of older people unwilling to admit the truth into their hearts, or desirous to forget or disbelieve it when it is admitted. It is not till they have almost reached the years of manhood, that many of the most dangerous principles of human nature first begin to stir within them: many of the strongest antagonists of piety come not in their way, till the years and feebleness of youth are past away. Opportunities are thus given to pious parents of anticipating the stratagems of the enemy, and of disappointing the schemes of his infernal policy. They have the advantage of teaching, before any of the entrances of knowledge are shut up; they have the opportunity of fixing the principles of truth and godliness in the minds of their offspring, before the chief temptations to licentiousness and infidelity can approach them. While as yet the enemy of

souls is held back by the decree of God, from playing the most ruinous of his infernal engines against them, sufficient time and necessary help are given to parents, for covering them "with the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left," and fixing barriers in the way of the enemy, which shall counteract and baffle him in all his schemes. ngitaindO

Happy

Again, the science of religion is in its nature so sublime and glorious, so interesting and so vast, and the form in which it is presented to our minds in the Sacred Volume so wonderfully suited to our nature, and so amazingly adapted to our capacities, that it can hardly fail, when taught as God has taught it, so to engage and charm the souls of pious youth, as to enamour them for ever. Hear in what strains the Psalmist speaks of the pleasantness of religious knowledge:-" Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counsellors. The laws of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver. How meet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Thy testimo nies have I taken as an heritage for ever; for they are the rejoicing of my heart."-Psalm cxix. The representations which Solomon gives of the pleasures and delights of wisdom are of the same kind : is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandize of it is better than silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies, and all the things thoubicanst desire are not to be compared unto her. Length of days are in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and honour. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to them that day hold upon her, and happy is every one that retainėth her." Prov. iii. The light of heaven is not more plea sant to the eyes, nor springing waters to the thirsty traveller, nor the richest feast to a hungry man, than a knowledge of religion to the pious soul. The praises which the wise man gives it, and the language in which the Psalmist pours forth his feelings of delight and extacy, are in accordance with the experience of every pious, and well-directed, and persevering student of the

Book of God. Compared with the science of religion, all other sciences are foolish trifles; and the raptures of an Archimedes were no better than a pitiable delirium, compared with the unutterable, and pure, and heavenly delights experienced by the well-informed and faithful Christian. These pleasures begin to be felt from the time that the pious youth, by the exercise of his own powers, begins to obtain correct and orderly and comprehensive views of Christian truth. The farther he proceeds in his discoveries, the purer and more exquisite bis delight. These pleasures are heightened and augmented by other pleasures, flowing from the exercise of his devotional and benevolent affections, and the pleasures thus accompanying the entrance of knowledge into his soul, bind the youthful Christian with stronger cords than ever to the Redeemer's service, and give his parents fuller grounds to hope for his salvation.

The subject of religion is one which children can very early and without great difficulty understand; and which the pious parent may easily teach. It is true that religion, as it has been sometimes taught by men, is beyond the powers of either youth to comprehend, or age to teach; but it is equally true, that religion, as it is taught in the Bible, is so simple, that a child may take it in, and almost teach it too. To say that children cannot understand religious subjects thoroughly, is saying no more than may be said of Gabriel. They can understand them so as to be affected by them, and brought to love God, and trust in Christ, and enjoy the hopes and foretastes of eternal life. They can understand them so as to be made thereby wise unto salvation, and what can we wish for more?

I know that children are not able to comprehend the writings of most human authors on religion. Even the sermons and books of the most popular authors and preachers of the present day, are above their capacities. But the Scriptures are not. The great God has humbled himself in this as in other cases, and has written a book for man, as much beyond most other books in plainness and simplicity, as he himself is above all other authors in wisdom and in goodness. And let religion be taught to children as it is taught in the Scriptures-let the Bible