“MY DEAR YOUNG FRIEND—­You have now ratified in a public manner that transaction which, no doubt, passed previously in private between you and your God.  You have declared your belief of the gospel, and have taken hold of God’s covenant of promise.  You have fallen in with his own plan, which he has appointed for the salvation of guilty sinners; and rested your soul upon his word of promise that you shall be saved.  You have, at the same time, dedicated and devoted your soul, your body, your time, your talents, your substance, your influence, all that you are and have, to be disposed of at his pleasure, and for his glory, in the world.  You are no longer your own.  You are bought with a price, adopted into the family of God, numbered with and entitled to all the privileges of his children.  Your motives of action, your views, your interests, are all different from those of the worldling.  Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, your aim must be, and will be, to do all to his glory.  This must go with you, and be your ruling principle in all the walks of life.  By your integrity, uprightness, diligence, and disinterested attention to the interest of your employers, you will glorify God and have his presence with you in business.  By a due and marked observance of the Sabbath, and attendance on the ordinances, you will glorify him.  By regularity, order, and temperance, crowned with an open acknowledgment of God before all who may surround your board, you will glorify him in an especial manner in these days of degeneracy, and, crowned with family worship, you will glorify him, and his presence will be with you, and great will be your comfort.  God’s interest in the world must also be yours.  The good of his church in general, and that of your own family in particular; and O, my son, if you would be rich in comfort, follow the Lord fully, and follow him openly; and if you would do it so as to suffer the least from the sneer of the world, do it at once.

“Already you have received congratulations on your joining the church, by those belonging to it; soon will it be known to those who will scoff at it.  But Christians and worldlings will look for consistency; and if it be wanting, the last will be the first to mark it.  A decided character will soon deliver you from all solicitations to what may be even unseemly, and dignified consistent conduct will command respect.  Not but the Lord may let loose upon you the persecuting sneer and banter of the wise of this world, whose esteem you wish to preserve; but, if he do, the trial will be particular, and he will support you under it, and bring his glory and your good out of it.

“And now, my son, suffer the word of exhortation.  You have entered the school of Christ, and have much to learn, far beyond what men or books can of themselves teach, and you have much to receive on divine credit, beyond what human reason can comprehend.