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3.-Influence of example.

There is still another view of the subject which must not be overlooked. The establishment of a new school is not to be considered as an isolated act, unproductive of any results beyond what might be expected from the immediate operation of the means which are applied. By the influence of example the establishment of one school may lead to that of 50, nay, of 500 others. How many rising seminaries owe their origin to the Hindu College! How numerous are the instances in which visitors to the General Assembly's celebrated academy have caught the spirit of the plan, and been induced on their return to their respective districts to form the nucleus of similar institutions! To what are we to attribute the infant seminaries at Subhátu and Lodiána, to which the chiefs from beyond the Indus are already beginning to send thir children to be educated, except to the previous establishment of the parent institution at Dihlí? The first step in every movement is always the most difficult. The minds qualified to lead are few in number, but all can follow. The experiment must be made by one or two in each district, but when it has once been made, all can avail themselves of its results. The proof of success encourages the timid, and gives confidence to the diffident. The example of the leading people sets the fashion, and when this point has once been attained, a host of motives are enlisted in behalf of the cause, some of which have but little to do with genuine benevolence. Correct public opinion supplies the place of morality to the mass of mankind. The time is not far distant when the English will feel the responsibility of their position in India; and it will be considered disgraceful not to contribute to the full extent of every one's means to the moral and intellectual elevation of our precious charge. Whenever this feeling shall generally pervade the English community, the design of Providence in placing us at the head of this great people will become apparent, and the millions of India will have cause to bless the God who made such a remarkable provision for their welfare, and the honored instruments of his beneficence, who so nobly fulfilled the trust which he had confided to them.

With the above Address for a guide in commencing his efforts, and with the "Monthly Lists of School Publications" to assist in the choice of suitable books, no one need despair of success in establishing a Seminary in the vernacular language of the people; and should any one find the Natives around him already sufficiently desirous of an English School, the valuable papers in our last volume, entitled "The School-master in the Mufassil," will supply him with all needful information as to the best way of commencing and prosecuting such a Seminary. Nothing will be required, but an efficient teacher; on which, after all, the success of the effort will greatly depend. At present, the number of persons disengaged, who are duly qualified for this responsible task, is small. But many are training for the work, whose services will soon be available;-and should any generous friend of education, in a letter to "the Editors of the CALCUTTA CHRISTIAN OBSERVER," request the aid of the writer of this paper in the selection of a teacher, it shall be most cheerfully rendered by himself, or as far as possible, secured from others.

Calcutta, Dec. 25, 1834.

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XI.-Affectionate Address to Young People.

To the Editors of the Calcutta Christian Observer.

DEAR SIRS,

Under the impression that the usefulness of your valuable work might be increased were there occasionally inserted a paper on religious subjects particularly adapted for the perusal of youth, I beg to place at your disposal a communication of the kind, and trust that additional ones will be supplied by others of your able contributors.

The letter now sent you was written to the young ladies of a respectable Seminary in Calcutta by one of the Superintendants, when obliged some time since to proceed to sea for the recovery of his health. I would request its appearance in the January No. under the pleasing hope, that some of your readers may be induced by its statements to commence with the new year a life of sacred pleasure in the service of God.

I am, Gentlemen,

Your obedient servant,

BETA.

My dear Young Ladies,

A short time since I sent you a letter on the importance and best means of improving your time and manners, and at the close of it, engaged to write you a second on the necessity of immediately attending to the salvation of your souls. I now proceed to fulfil my promise. O may the blessed Spirit, who can alone teach to profit, render this letter a means of everlasting good to you all; and may your teachers and myself have reason to rejoice in your eternal salvation, promoted by our affectionate endeavours. I need scarcely inform you, my dear young ladies, what you have so frequently heard, that it is possible for you to be very amiable and unblameable in your conduct to your fellow creatures, to be esteemed and caressed by your associates and friends, to be free from all open vices; and yet to have your heart as far from God as the most criminal of mankind. The desire of pleasing your friends, or the fear of offending them; the good example and instructions of those around you; the motions of natural conscience and the fear of everlasting misery, may impel you to many duties, and deter you from many sins, while there is not in your souls a particle of genuine love to God, or desire to please him. Thus the young man mentioned by the Evangelists (Matt. xx. Mark x.), though very amiable in his character and conduct so that "Jesus loved him," did not obtain salvation from Christ, because he loved riches; and the rich man in the parable of Lazarus (Luke xvi.) though we hear of no open sins in which he indulged, " in hell lifted up his eyes being in torments:" yea, the Psalmist expressly says, that they who forget God" shall be "turned into hell," as well as the openly "wicked." You see, therefore, my dear

young friends, that something more is necessary than an amiable temper, or freedom from open vice, to give you any well-grounded hope of eternal glory; that you, as your Saviour says, must be "born again," and thus become possessors of that true piety which I promised to describe.

True religion then, as described in the Holy Scriptures, consists in a total change of heart; in turning from the world and sin to God, and from seeking ease, honour, pleasure, or profit in the world as our chief good, to seeking the glory of God, and our happiness in his favour. This change is produced by the Holy Spirit, who alone can renew the heart of fallen man. He shews us our sinfulness by nature, convinces us that although the commands of God are "holy, just, and good," yet that we have broken them in thought, word, or deed; and that on account of our sins we must all have perished for ever, if God had not provided a way for our escape, by the sufferings and death of his dearly beloved Son. The Spirit of God also makes us see that this blessed Redeemer is able and willing to "save to the uttermost," and thus leads us to believe on him as our Saviour. He leads us to deny ourselves any thing inconsistent with his will, makes us to love holiness and hate sin, to delight in prayer and other religious exercises, and in all respects to live as those who are not their own, but bought with the blood of Christ, and bound therefore, from gratitude, to live unto him, who loved them and gave himself for them. In short, religion, as properly remarked by Dr. Doddridge in his excellent work, entitled Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul, consists chiefly "in the resolution of the will for God, and in a constant care to avoid whatever we are persuaded he would disapprove-to despatch the work he has assigned us in life, and to promote his glory in the happiness of mankind."

And indeed, my dear young ladies, when we consider aright our relation to God,-created, preserved and blessed by him as we are,-supreme love to God and constant obedience to him must appear so just and reasonable, that it seems almost unnecessary for me to urge them on your attention. It seems as if your parents or friends would only have to state the commands of God to incline your minds to obey them, and lead each of you at once to exclaim in fervent prayer to God, "O my Father, thou shalt be the guide of my youth." But alas, the heart of man by nature is "deceit. ful above all things and desperately wicked;" it is even "enmity" itself "against God;" so that when divine truths are presented to young people, whose hearts have not yet been hardened by the commission of gross sin, or immersed in the cares of life, even they too frequently put off the consideration of them from day to day, till at last death overtakes them with all their sins unpardoned, and hurries them to the judgment-seat of that blessed Being whom they had forgotten and neglected. That this may

not be the awful case with any of you, my dear young friends, I now proceed to state a few reasons why you should without delay consecrate yourselves to God, and I beseech each of you to examine what I say by the Scriptures-and if you find it agreeable to them, O be persuaded, and do not for one moment longer trifle with your everlasting salvation.

The first reason I would mention is, the express injunctions of the word of God. God, it is there said, "has commanded all men every where to repent," and has made in his word the following express declarations :"Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved;" Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness;" "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth;" I love them that love me, and they that seek me early shall find me;" "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation;"" Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." These passages, and many more of the same import, are the declarations of God-not

of a man, who is changeable and frail, but of him who is "the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." They are not sent to men of another world, but to you; and by your obedience to, or neglect of them must you be tried, and your eternal destiny fixed at the last great day.

These exhortations, too, I would remark, are much enforced by the love which dictates them. See how God gives you food to eat, air to breathe, raiment to wear, friends to make you happy, days of health and strength, and nights of ease and comfort. Think how he has preserved you through infancy and childhood, though you did not know or love him—and how he even spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, that we might obtain salvation-and will you yet forget his kindness, or abuse his love?-Rather, can you too soon or too fully give up your heart to Him who has done so much for you?

Again, let the love of Christ constrain you. Did he not become a wil. ling victim for your salvation? Did he not, although Creator and Lord of all things, consent to leave the glory of heaven, be born in a manger, become a poor man, and live in obscurity many years; and when he began to preach, pass through years of contempt and opposition from the Pharisees and others of his countrymen-yea, did he not submit to be betrayed, to be spit on, to be struck; to carry his heavy cross, though fainting with fatigue; be crucified in anguish; endure the wrath of his heavenly Father; and expire in agony, ere he rose again, and ascended into heaven, there to carry on his intercession, in order to complete the salvation of guilty sinners? And will you yet" neglect his grace, and weary out his love," till an account of the hardness of your hearts, his indignation and holy vengeance can in justice no longer be restrained?

Besides, is not early piety peculiarly acceptable to God, and have not almost all those who have been eminent for piety, been converted in their youth? Yea, does not the heart become so hard by the indulgence of sin that very few, who neglect or put off religion when they are young, ever turn to God in middle life or in old age? and yet will you act a part so foolish and dangerous as to delay to give God your heart?

Again, is not early piety honourable, as making us the children of the Most High-is it not highly advantageous, as being comparatively easy, leading us to avoid many sins, and thus escape much bitter repentance? as making all events conduce to our good, and as giving us eternal blessings? Does not real religion give peace in the midst of trials and afflictions, and even in death itself? How did Paul rejoice in the prospect of death, and with what sacred peace and joy have thousands of God's servants, who were possessed of true piety, passed from time into eternity! But never did you know a careless man,-one who lived without love to God and attention to religion,-die with joy, however he may have been trifling or stupid in his death-bed, until, as he has passed into another world, eternal torments have awakened him to a sense of his lamentable state. Besides, is not judgment approaching? Will not very soon the books be opened, and you, rising from your graves, be forced, with countless millions more, to appear before God for trial? Will not those who neglect the Saviour be placed on the left hand, and then hurried down to blackness and despair in hell? while all those who sincerely loved God and believed in his dear Son, will have it said to them," Well done, good and faithful servants, enter ye into the joy of the Lord?" Will not the righteous go to life eternal, while the wicked are thrust out into everlasting punishment. And must you soon see the great white throne, and stand before the all-seeing Judge, and yet will you continue to neglect him, and despise his offers of forgiveness? O my dear young ladies, I charge you, as in the sight of God, by these considerations, and multitudes more I could mention, that you do not for one

moment longer delay to seek your salvation. The Holy Spirit may soon leave off striving with you, and let you go on just as you like, as the world entices you, or as Satan tempts you, till death surprises you, and you are lost for ever. After death there will be no offer of mercy, no strivings of the Spirit, no kindlings of repentance ;-but the manifestation of Divine vengeance will render you every moment increasingly miserable, while you will not have one ray of hope, that your misery will be terminated or moderated.

Do not object and say, "I am but young, I have time enough yet; when I have a more convenient season I will turn to God;" for 66 you are not too young to die," and if you put off repentance now, God may in anger at your ingratitude leave you to yourself, and your heart will thus become too hard ever to repent. Besides, when will it be more convenient? will not your cares and anxieties be increased as you advance in life; and the longer you continue in sin, is it not so much the harder to repent of it, and forsake it?

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Neither object, Religion is unfashionable; all my companions are following the world with eagerness-then why should I be singular? Surely I may do the same." Had Noah reasoned so, would he not have perished in the flood; and had Lot done as all around him did, would he not also have perished in the overthrow of Sodom? The conduct of your superiors or companions cannot excuse you, for " every one must give an account of himself to God:"-nor will their eternal misery alleviate yours; it will rather tend to aggravate it by your mutual reproaches.

Do not object, "I am of a religious family, or live among good people, and therefore hope for mercy:"-for what heavy punishment did God denounce against the Israelites, though the descendants of Abraham his friend; and how dreadful was the doom of Judas, though he was a companion of Christ, and was reckoned among his Apostles!

Say not, "I love the pleasures of the world, and cannot give them up" -for how short are they in their duration, and how dreadful in their close. To prefer the world to God, who deserves all you have, is the basest ingratitude, and will be punished with unutterable wrath.

These and many other excuses, my dear Friends, for putting off repent. ance, and neglecting the Saviour, are merely temptations of Satan, your great enemy, whom the Apostle tells you to resist-and I cannot but hope that the Holy Spirit will incline the hearts of some of you, from what has been now and at other times urged upon you, to seek the salvation of your souls without delay ere it be too late, and the door of mercy be shut for ever. If such be the case with any of you, let me give you the following directions:

1st. Every day read the Bible with seriousness, and an earnest desire to understand its meaning. Read especially the Psalms, the Gospels, and the Epistles. The Psalms will furnish you with matter for prayer; the Gos pels will exhibit the love of Christ, especially what he did and suffered to save sinners; and the Epistles will describe the privileges and duties of all his disciples. It is really astonishing, that while all around us know and confess the Bible is a revelation from God, and the only revelation, so few appear desirous to know what it contains. May you act differently. May you love the Scriptures, make them the directory of your lives, and, then will they afford you consolation and support in sorrows and in death. 2nd. Make conscience of private prayer and meditation. Retire into some secret place, where none but the eye of God can see you-confess your sins, plead the promises of forgiveness which God has given you in his word, and earnestly seek the influences of the Holy Spirit, to purify your hearts, and prepare you for glory. If you cannot always retire from your companions, you may yet morning and evening, at the times when you all

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