serious, humble hearts, to get a blessing—a very great blessing, by your confirmation. You will not, I hope and trust, any of you, at that time "receive the grace of God in vain!"

The real

Your danger lies in the days to come. test of your confirmation will be in the future. Men will judge by the lives you henceforth lead; by the words you speak; by the things you habitually do; by your general behaviour and conversation, whether God's Holy Spirit really dwelleth in you, or whether you have quenched His light, and driven Him away!

A year after confirmation, and how will it be with you? Will the good words you have heard, then have any place in your hearts? Will the vows you have made be then firm and unbroken? Will you then be, as you now are, ready to confess Christ before men? stedfastly purposed to have the Lord for your God? Will it be true to say of you next year, "These have walked innocentlythey have not received the grace of God in vain?"

My brethren, I would hope and pray that it may. But experience tells another tale. Judging from the past, must I not fear, that if some of you—God keeping you are at this time next year still firm and strong, others will have fallen away, and caused much grief of heart to their friends; done much harm to their own souls?

Feeling this very strongly-feeling, too, how powerless we are to do any good of ourselves alone, I desire to set before you some plain rules, which, if you will use them, may, by God's blessing, serve to keep you upright in the way; and secure you from the grievous peril of receiving His grace in vain. These rules are four-easily stated, and easily remembered,

I. Prayer.

II. Self-examination.

III. Reading, and meditating on God's holy word. IV. Coming to the Holy Communion.

They are four rules, which you might all, if you would, observe. I will venture to promise, that in keeping them, you will find an exceeding great reward.

First, of prayer. You all know the importance of this. You all know that you cannot do what you are about to undertake-cannot really serve God, without His special grace; and you all know that the surest way to obtain God's grace, is, by diligent and devout prayer.

Do make proof of this. You have, I am sure, many of you, already been taught to pray; many of you, I hope, have from earliest days formed a habit of prayer. You have prayed as children, even before you felt any great need of prayer.

But you are not children now.

You are at an

age most full of peril, and one that, of all others, renders God's help needful to you.

Oh! forget not, I beseech you, to entreat it! Oh! if you would pass the next few years without any grievous hurt, arm yourselves with this great defence-prayer! Pray, and faint not. Each day, and twice each day, secure some minutes for this solemn purpose.

It is not long prayer, nor loud prayer, that I would recommend to you; but short, earnest, heartborn prayer.

The best prayers are always such;- witness those we find in the Gospel:-the prayer of the Publican in the temple," Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner!" the prayer of the disciples in the storm,"Lord, save us, we perish!" the prayer of her whose daughter was grievously vexed with a devil, "Lord, help me!" the prayer of the leper,Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean!" the prayer of the blind man,-"Lord, that I may receive my sight!"

Now, you could all make such short prayers as these; and you know not the blessing you might obtain by making them. Satan trembles when he sees us praying. His malice is, for the time, baffled. He cannot come nigh to hurt us, when we have, by

an act of earnest supplication, placed ourselves under the shelter of the Almighty.

Pray then, my young brethren, from this day forth, and pray devoutly. Be you ever so busy, ever so tired, ever so harassed, let no day pass without this duty rendered. Never quit your chamber in the morning, without asking God to hold up your goings in His way; to cause you to walk in the path of His commandments: and never lie down at night without first praying pardon for the day's sin, and committing yourselves, your soul and body, to Him who alone can make you to dwell in safety.

A second rule I would recommend, as a help against receiving the grace of God in vain, is selfexamination.

Set apart for this duty some fixed day—and what day better than the day of your confirmation? On each yearly return of this day,—and, if you can, on other days, and at shorter intervals as well,— search out your ways: see how you are living, both towards God and towards man.

And let that examination be a strict one. Deal with yourselves, not "lightly," nor "after the manner of dissemblers with God," but deal sincerely. Do not gloss over your failings. Do not excuse them. Do not soften down into pardonable weaknesses what are really deadly sins. Learn the whole

truth about yourselves. See and know what is most amiss in your conduct.

This is ever the first step towards amendment. It leads to the humbling of the heart before God: it awakens that cry of a troubled spirit, "Have mercy upon me, O God, after Thy great goodness: according to the multitude of Thy mercies, do away mine offences!"

But stop not at this point. Do not, in your selfexamination, look out only for faults. Look, besides, for traces of good in yourselves. See if, year by year, you are growing in grace: see if there be in you any of these blessed fruits of God's Spirit,faith, meekness, temperance, godliness, brotherly kindness, charity.

It is most important that you should attend to this. To get to heaven, and to be happy there, a man must have qualifications for it. The life he now leads must be shaped in its course by heavenly motives, and heavenly aims; he must not only "believe in the Lord Jesus Christ," but he must be a follower of Jesus, if he would indeed inherit the promise.

See then, brethren, if this be the case with you: see if your main object be what it surely ought to be-to please the Lord Christ: to please Him who hath chosen you to be His soldiers.

Care for nothing in comparison with this,― care