Will you, therefore, ever be persuaded to lose the approbation of your friends, the satisfaction of an approving conscience, and, above all, do a deed which will displease the Almighty, to save yourself from a present inconvenience, or to acquire a present benefit? If you reflect seriously upon the subject, can any thing be worth such a sacrifice? Will any gratification recompense you for the miserable consciousness of having swerved from your duty in this instance, for the dread of detection, the fear of shame, and, if discovered, the certain loss of your honour and reputation? Could you bear to have your fidelity liable to suspicion, and not to obtain the credit of belief in other affairs, where you might be more sincere? Recollect these arguments, then, when you are tempted to transgress; and beg of God to fortify your mind with strength to resist temptation.

Be assured, that if you have committed an error, the most noble reparation will be to acknowledge it. No one is absolutely perfect; but it is despicable and mean to deny a fault, and hide a failing, at the expense of truth. The motive, if it be to

save your reputation, is highly erroneous; since honesty, upon all occasions, is the only true foundation of lasting respect. Other offences may meet with more compassion and excuse; but a liar will always be branded with infamy, and his character meet with detestation and contempt.

SUNDAY III.

ON READING THE SCRIPTURES..

IF you read the Bible without attention, think it a hardship, and regard it as a task, you will find no delight, nor gain any improvement from the study of it. Consider that it is the book which you should constantly pursue to teach you your duty to God, and to instruct you in what he has commanded, and what forbidden, to be done.

The same laws which he enjoined to the Jews, he requires now of Christians, except those which were of a ceremonious sort; such as their sacrifices, their going up to Jerusalem, and others of the like kind, which

your parents will teach you to distinguish. But the Ten Commandments remain in the same force; and God will be as much displeased with those who disobey them now, as when they were first given to Moses, at Mount Sinai. When, therefore, you take the name of God in vain, either by swearing, or by what is too commonly practised by those who esteem themselves thoughtful and religious, by repeating the words Lord, God, or Christ, and calling upon their Maker, as an exclamation which they use without reflection, upon every trifling occasion; this is to break the third commandment. is an ill-tempered sullenness, or insolent. rudeness to your parents, when they kindly offer you their advice, or endeavour to instruct you, less a breach of the fifth.

Nor

To take what is not your own, or to pilfer from your companions any thing which belongs to them, because it suits your inclination, will certainly come under the guilt of stealing. For wickedness is as much deserving of condemnation, if exercised in circumstances which are indifferent in them. selves, as when excited by more powerful temptations; since it is the intention of the

mind which constitutes the guilt of an action; and if you take a toy or a trinket, knowing it to belong to another, you are certainly guilty of a breach of that commandment which ordains, "Thou shalt not steal."

To desire the possessions of your neighbours in an undue degree,—to wish for their clothes, their money, or any thing which they possess, so as to be dissatisfied with your own, is a violation of that law which forbids you to covet; and so of the rest, which are not less binding for having been long delivered, but will ever remain of eternal force and obligation.

That God who was the ruler and governor of the Israelites, though he does not now visibly lead his people by the fiery pillar which gave light to them, but was a cloud of darkness to their enemies, is still the same God; equally watchful over the Christians; observes their obedience with approbation, and is present to every secret thought of the most youthful of his children. He beholds every struggle between duty and inclination and will reward them for every sacrifice which they make to virtue.

When they are excited by the examples which were recorded for their instruction, to do well, and to imitate what is right; they may be certain, though observed by no earthly eye, "that they shall in no wise lose their reward; for their Father who seeth in secret, himself will reward them openly."

When, therefore, you are permitted to read the Scriptures, endeavour to attend seriously to them; and what you do not understand, desire some of your older friends to explain. Remember what they tell you, and think of it when you meet with the same passages again. This will make you find greater pleasure in the employment; for it is tiresome to peruse any thing which we do not comprehend.

But, perhaps, you will be apt to imagine that the commands of the Almighty are not designed to affect you: that your youth will excuse you from obeying them; and therefore, that it is of little consequence to take such a degree of trouble. In this opinion you will be much mistaken. It is necessary to know your duty before you can practise it; and if you take no pains to in