when it wore a less accommodating aspect. But even if they were thus induced to embrace it, they would neither embrace the true and unadulterated Gospel, nor would they in all probability proceed in their new course with genuine repentance and lively faith. Their Saviour would not be the object of their af fection as "" holy, harmless, and undefiled, and separate from sinners." They would not hear from his lips, with the full and cordial approbation of true disciples, " Love not the world, neither the things of the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." (1 John ii. 15, 16.) Their Saviour would be shorn of those beams of transcendent brightness which belong to Jesus Christ; and their Gospel would not only in very many particulars, but in its general spirit, be "another Gospel;" not reflecting, like the true, the unsullied glories of Christ, but affording only a faint, obscure, and imperfect shadow of Him who is the image of the invisible God." Such was not the Saviour who came to "purify unto him. self a peculiar people, zealous of good works." Such was not the Gospel given to turn men "from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God;" nor can scriptural conversion be expected, however smooth and flatter ing outward appearances, through a Saviour and a Gospel so mutiJated and disfigured.

I have hitherto touched only incidentally on the effect of an undue intercourse with the world, on the family and immediate connexions of the person who falls into this error, and on its effect also on those who live around him. It will therefore be necessary to consider these points more distinctly.

First-As to his relations and friends.

Here the mischief must be great and rapid; ten, twenty, thirty persons may be very soon injured by his inconsistent conduct; and among these there may be many far less prepared than himself for

meeting the threatened danger, far less fenced and guarded against its worst evils, and far less furnished with principles and habits which may lead after a fall to a recovery. Some may be very young and inexperienced, others particularly pliant and unreflecting, easily captivated by certain shewy qualities, or very averse to self-denial, or very open to flattery and self-delusion. Though his own bark should ride steadily, and preserve a straight course (no likely event) amidst the shifting winds and currents to which he ventures to consign it, what will become of their's? And will he thus run the risk of destroying his "weak brother for whom Christ died," in a case in which to escape fatal evils is so difficult? Ratlier let him imitate the great Apostle of the Gentiles, who declared, that he would abstain for ever from a practice innocent in itself, (and who shall pronounce that worldly conformity is so?) rather than make his brother to offend: (See Rom. xiv. and 1 Cor. viii.)

But particularly, my dear R., would I call the attention of any person undecided in his mind, or hesitat ing in his conduct, on the point under consideration, to the effect of his example on his children. How great will be their danger if, the habits of their parents on this point being lax, they are led from their infancy to dally with temptation by mixing too freely with the world, instead of being carefully taught, by example as well as by precept, that Christ's disciples are "not of the world," for that "he has chosen them out of the world!" So prone are the young to gratify their wishes, and so seducing are the pleasures which the world offers to them, that, humanly speaking, I see no prospect of their resisting the temptation to swim with the stream, if they are not early and long trained by the habits of their family, to stand in awe of so doing. As they advance a little in life, the young women will have to withstand the vivid sense of pleasure, and the strong desire not

to be slighted or ridiculed on account of their particularity, and comparative seclusion: and the young men will be assailed by still stronger temptations at school, and afterwards on a still farther entrance into life. Happy will it be (especially in the case of the latter), if parental principles and the parental system so far maintain their ground in the youthful bosom, that though the tender shoots of religion may yield to the blasts and blights to which they are exposed, the root, at least, may be kept alive by the Spirit of God, in mercy to parents whom he loves, and send forth a fresh and more vigorous scion in after life! But let no parents look for this blessing, and presume to hope that their "labour will not be in vain in the Lord," unless in training up their offspring they are "sober and vigilant," and "always abounding," not only in their instructions, but in their example also, and their family institutions, "in the work of the Lord."

There are also other relations not to be overlooked: I mean such as, from their age and confirmed Christian habits, may probably not be misled by the example of a young relation; but who will be subjected to deep anxiety, and great pain, by his misconduct in the point under consideration. Among these parents stand pre-eminent. Think what parents must feel when they see their long course of instruction ineffectual; their example unavailing; their family habits abandoned, abandoned in a point so important, and so near their hearts; their feelings sacrificed to a youthful love of pleasure, or to the fancy, perhaps even the deliberate judg ment, of one who ought, in wisdom and kindness, as well as in duty, to accommodate himself to their wishes. Could a young person lose much substantial good, even in his own judgment, by thus accommodating himself to the wishes of those who have his benefit at heart, in the restrictions which they feel it necessary to lay upon his inter

course with a deceitful world? Or if his pleasure is to be balanced against their pain, is he sure that he gains more than he takes from them?

This appeal would be just, even in the case of an only child. How much stronger then, when there are brothers and sisters, in whose education, and confirmation in good principles and habits, parents will find their hands weakened by the indiscretion or obstinacy of one member of the family! When they contemplate the future, and especially the event of their being removed from their family by death, their fears of mischievous consequences will probably far exceed the evils they at present experience. Under such circumstances, how difficult the line of parental duty! To hold up one of their children as a warning to the rest, is a most painful measure, and one from which they will abstain as much as possible: but to avoid it altogether is not always possible ar safe, consistently with their parental obligations. However guardedly and tenderly they perform this duty, it may lead to consequences which they would most anxiously wish to avoid, and the very danger of which will affect them most sensibly. Surely when all these domes. tic considerations are united, they cannot be resisted by any young person without a degree of hardihood not very compatible with that gentleness, that spirit of accommodation and of deference to elders, and especially to parents, and that anxious endeavour to maintain harmony and unity with fellow-Christians and relations, which the Gospel every where inculcates.

If the foregoing considerations ought to induce a child to follow the parental system, even when more than ordinarily rigid, and in some points perhaps liable to the imputation of going too far, what must be thought of a departure from that system, when it is marked by a spirit of accommodation as far as duty will permit; when it is neither offensive nor obtrusive; when

it endeavours to avoid extremes, and, taken as a whole, is moderate, and sanctioned, though perhaps with some exceptions, by the general practice of the decided followers of Christ? So strong are the temptations which assail youth in its pursuit of personal gratifications, or in its eagerness to shun singularity, and the ridicule attached to it so great, in some instances, is its thoughtlessness as to consequences, and in others its love of a fancied independence-that such cases, it will readily be allowed, may exist: but at the same time no parent will like to dwell upon them. These things must be said for parents; for (whether rightly or not) parents will often have too much delicacy and generosity to say them, at least to say them plainly and freely, for themselves: but the subject will not on that accorint press the less forcibly on their minds, and sadden their he arts. I do not like to enlarge on this topic, or to set forth the long train of benefits, with their attendant cares and labours, conferred on the one side, and the corresponding obligations contracted on the other. But could my voice be heard through the land, I should wish solemnly to leave these considerations to the dispassionate reflection of the young; and to call upon them to count the cost paid by others, and above all by a parent, for their departure from the principles inculcated in their education, and from the established habits of their families.

Secondly-As to the general effect on others.

I fear that an undue intercourse of religious with worldly characters is calculated to blind the eyes of the latter, as to their distance from God, and to lead them to think that cordial and vital religion is a thing more of profession than reality, and to view it therefore with disrespect. Now, whatever tends to bring Christianity down from her high eminence, must tend to degrade her in the eyes of men,

and to despoil her of her rightful authority, while it tends also to degrade her votaries, and particularly those who thus deprive her of her honours.

What I have said, and shall have occasion still to say in this letter, prevents my enlarging on this topic beyond a single observation. If the blessed Jesus himself was vilified as "gluttonous and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners," because he mixed freely with the world, though he mixed with it only to lead it to God, and to perform the sacred duties for the sake of which he came upon earth; what is likely to be said of those who mix with it too freely without his perfect innocence, without his native dignity or Divine wisdom, and without his object full in their view, and forming the life and soul of their practice? I believe no Christian of much experience will find any difficulty in answering this inquiry.

As this question, with respect to intercourse with the world, has been said to be a question of degree, you will ask, perhaps, for some guidance on that point. It is apparent, that within due bounds, the proper degree of intercourse will depend much on the personal character of the party, on the state of his family, and on the circumstances in which he is placed; and his best guide will be the Holy Spirit, operating through a watchful and enlightened conscience. still something may be said on this subject, which may serve to point out certain rocks and shelves to be avoided in the Christian voyage, and to ascertain the limits within which the course of the vessel should, in all ordinary cases, be confined.

But

First, then, he must take care that his society shall consist chiefly of religious characters.

A man's companions will generally be chosen according to the prevailing bent of his own opinions and dispositions, and will therefore be no incorrect index of the state