Spirit within us, the clear and comfortable evidence of our being the children of God; and in this St. Paul and St. James agree. Whereas a faith that professes to believe in Christ, and denies Him in character and works, is not only unprofitable, but loathsome and offensive, a dead carcass. God grant that we have all rightly understood that we place our sole and undivided dependence for salvation upon our blessed Redeemer, and that we evidence such faith in Him by the virtues of a holy character and the performance of godly acts. To God be all glory in Christ Jesus! Amen. TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old he will not depart from it.--_Prov. 22, 6._ It has grown to be a custom to speak at this time a few words concerning our youth. No one, I trust, will dispute the wisdom, nor question the appropriateness of this. After months of relaxation and rest our little ones have returned to the walls and duties of school life. God grant His blessing that they may become intelligent citizens, worthy and useful members of the commonwealth. That is our pious wish and prayer, and for such wish we have reason abundant. Perhaps there has been no time when the matter of education and bringing up of our children has called for so much thought and concern as at the present. Statisticians tell us what startling conditions prevail in our country in respect to wrongdoing, that murders, unchastity, forgeries like a tidal wave are sweeping our land far above what it is in other countries, and that a large percentage of these crimes are being perpetuated by mere striplings of boys. By far the larger number of the inmates of our penal institutions--work-house and penitentiary--are young men. Our reform schools--Good Shepherd institutions and similar places--house boys and girls by the hundreds, causing one to heave a sigh of inexpressible sadness. Look over the docket of our Juvenile Court, and it convinces you beyond cavil that there is enough to justify its existence; and then we have said nothing about the stubbornness against parents and superiors, flippancy, and other sins of youth daily on the increase. And who is to blame? Said an honorable judge of this city lately: "I do say that there is a fearful amount of depravity among the children in the cities of this country, and I don't blame the children as much as those who put them into existence, the parents;" and continuing, he says: "We are prating entirely too much about the unreal and unsubstantial. After all, the real questions are the ones that affect the homes and the children in the homes, and because we have neglected them, we are reaping the ill results." The testimony of thousands of others could be quoted to the same effect. Sufficient reason, accordingly, why we should direct attention to this vital subject. God blessing His word spoken, let us regard the text which reads: "Train up a child in the