Twenty-Eighth Sabbath—Morning. WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE. "And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times."Isaiah xxxiii. 6. Ir is good for the young to discern the signs of the times. While nations are shaken, and war desolating, and thrones overturned, and great men and little carried rapidly off the stage of time, the spread of wisdom and knowledge gives confidence and stability. Think of the times in which we live, the importance of wisdom and knowledge, and the stability which they give. The times in which we live-"Thy times." They are sinning times. The prevailing sins of our times are drunkenness, Sabbath-breaking, and uncleanness. Many are guilty of one, or other, or all, and they often go together, and involve their votaries in ruin. "O my soul come not thou into their secret: unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united." We live in unsettled times. Liberty and tyranny rapidly wax and wane, in the kingdoms of the earth, while restless ambition occasionally sets the world on fire. The minds of men are generally unsettled, and there is too much fondness for novelty and adventure. "Meddle not with them that are given to change." We live in dangerous times. God is forgotten or overlooked, science and philo sophy are deified, sensual pleasures are pursued with avidity, religious privileges are undervalued or abused, contaminating influences abound on all hands, and present enjoyments, regardless of consequences, hurry multitudes to destruction. Let us try to stem the rushing torrent, or escape its overwhelming ravages. The importance of wisdom and knowledge. Knowledge is the information we acquire about what we are to do, and what we are not to do; but wisdom is knowledge carried into practice. Knowledge does not imply wisdom, but wisdom implies knowledge; for a man may know much and yet be very foolish. Wisdom and knowledge are acquired by a moral and religious education. If governments were wise, they would provide their people a free education, and bring it within the reach of all, so as not to interfere with the duties of parents. Wisdom and knowledge are promoted by the circulation of the Scriptures. They are the only standard of true wisdom, and, blessed be God, they are within the reach of all. O that every inhabitant of earth had a Bible and ability to read it! Wisdom and knowledge are acquired in the free exercise of religion. They make progress only where men are free to believe, and profess, and worship God according to conscience. Am I sighing for better times, and a more extensive diffusion of wisdom and knowledge? Let WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE. 165 me prize the means of attaining them which I possess, for darkness flies before their light, as the dark shadows of night fly before the rising sun. Truly, wisdom and knowledge are the wings by which we fly to heaven. The stability which they give to our times. They are the stability of our times, because they teach us to place our times under the government of God. He knows the times and the seasons, and our times are wholly in His hand. When men set up God to reign over their hearts, and their country, and their seasons, they have a stronger defence than sea-girt shores or wooden walls, and are fortified against tyranny, Popery, and every false system. They are the stability of our times, because they teach men to regulate their actions by the word of God. This word is the only rule of heart and life, and if governors and governed would be guided by this rule, they would be knit together in love, and so strong that no enemy could prevail against them. Let wisdom and knowledge, drawn from the word of God, guide us and our times and our nation; and as a people we shall be stable as the mountain, and undisturbed by the revolutions of anarchy, ignorance, infidelity, and superstition. They are the stability of our times, because, they are yet destined to fill the whole earth. "Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased." Twenty-Eighth Sabbath—Evening. LOVE TO GOD'S HOUSE. "Lord I have loved the habitation of Thy house."—Ps. xxvi. 8. It is a good thing for young persons to acquire a habit of regular attendance in God's house. The Israelites generally were remarkable for their love to the tabernacle and the temple; and all true Christians highly prize the assembly of the saints. I love God's house, because I love God to whose service it is dedicated. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart." I love God sincerely, because I know He cannot be deceived, nor satisfied with less than heart love. I love Him supremely, because no one on earth has done so much for me, and because I know He should have no rival in my heart. And I love Him constantly, because I daily share His love, and because, if I lost sight of the smiles of His countenance, I could not be happy. If I thus love God, I must love His house. I love God's house, because of the holy exercises engaged in there. The congregated worshippers sing His praisesthey surround His throne of grace with united supplications-they listen to the faithful preaching of the gospel-and observe the sacraments which He hath appointed, and these exercises cheer my drooping spirits, give me a foretaste of LOVE TO GOD'S HOUSE. 167 heaven, and make me love the very gates of Zion. I love God's house, because of the good company present there. All in attendance are either good, or seeking good, or in the way where they may obtain it. There are places and scenes of doubtful propriety, and my presence in them might cause regret, but who ever heard of any one regretting, in affliction, or on a death-bed, his attendance in God's house. I love it because of the blessings enjoyed there. ceived instruction there! brought to Jesus there! begotten again to a lively hope, and enjoyed the earnest of pleasures for evermore! Faith, hope, and love, originate there, and dwell there in the hearts of all believers! No wonder that every Christian should love God's house! How many have reHow many have been How many have been The practical influence which this love of God's house should have on me. It will produce regular attendance. A silent Sabbath is a blank which no home reading can fill up. Private duties can never be a substitute for public ones, nor form a satisfactory reason for neglecting them. "I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord." God requires me to hear the gospel preached whenever it is in my power, and God requires me to show a good example unto others. If I am absent without good reason, I will likely lose the very truths that were fitted to benefit my soul. It will |