AN ADDRESS TO THE YOUNG.


A heartfelt greeting to you, my young friends; a merry Christmas and a
happy New Year to you all. Of all the three hundred and sixty-five
days none are fraught with the same interest--there is not one on
which all mankind expect so great an amount of enjoyment, as those we
now celebrate: for all now try not only to be happy themselves, but to
make others so too. All consider themselves called on to endeavour to
add to the aggregate of human happiness. Those who have been
estranged, now forget their differences and hold out the hand of
amity; even the wretched criminal and incarcerated are not forgotten.

Yes, to both the Christian and the worlding, it is equally the season
for rejoicing. Oh yes! view them in any of their bearings, joyful are
the days that mark the anniversary of the Redeemer's Nativity, and the
commencement of the New Year. Fast as the last twelve months have sped
their circling course, yet they have, brought changes to many. Numbers
of those we so gaily greeted at their beginning, now sleep in the
silent dust, and the places they filled know them no more! And we are
spared, the monuments of God's mercy; and how have we improved that
mercy, I would ask? or how do we purpose doing it? Have such of us as
have enjoyed great and perhaps increased blessings, been taught by
them to feel more gratitude to the Giver of all good. If the sun of
prosperity has shone more brightly, has our desire to do good been in
any way proportionate. Has God in his infinite wisdom seen fit to send
us trials,--have they done their work, have they brought us nearer to
Him, have they told us this is not our abiding place, have they shown
us the instability of earthly happiness? Have you reflected for one
moment, amidst your late rejoicings, of the hundreds whose hearths