Indulge a generous spirit of emulation, aiming to excel in every useful acquirement. Be careful in the formation of intimate friendships. If any of your schoolfellows discover bad dispositions, prudently avoid them. Attach yourself to those chiefly who are diligent, thoughtful, and amiable. Behave always in the most respectful manner to your teachers, and to all that occasionally visit you. Avoid the extremes of bashfulness, and bold presumption; frankness and modesty form a happy union. In diet, be moderate; in apparel, neat; among your companions, cheerful and kind. The law of God is a law of love indeed; for it requires you to love every body; and every body to love you. Never tell a lie, nor conceal one when it is your duty to make it known; at the same time, remember that a tale-bearer in a school is an odious character. But my principal object is, to entreat your attention to the important concerns of the everlasting world. You have read in your Bible, that Adam, the first of our race, was created in the image of God, a perfectly holy, just, and good man; but he soon apostatized from God, and so lost the divine favour and image. We, descending from him, are necessarily partakers of his nature, and of the depravity with which it was stained. Consider what you ought to be, and compare with that what you have been in heart and life, ever since you were able to distinguish good from evil; and you will be convinced that you are a SINNER. It is therefore indispensably necessary that you have a Redeemer, and wonderful is the love of God in providing one: “Not to be thought on, but with tides of joy. Not to be mention’d, but with shouts of praise.” His name is JESUS: he is a person of infinite dignity; his blood cleanseth from the guilt of all sin. In that sacred fountain wash and be clean. You have also as much need of a Sanctifier as of a Redeemer, for none but the pure in heart shall see God. The Sanctifier is the Holy Spirit of God. To be happy in Heaven, you must have a heavenly disposition. “Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people.” It is not long since you were born into the world; O that it may not be long before you are _born again_! Bear with me, dear youth; let me detain your attention a little longer on a theme so important. If a soul immortal is superior to a perishing body—if eternity is longer than time—if Heaven is higher than the ground we tread—if God, the great Fountain of being and bliss, is all in all; then your wisdom, duty, and happiness, all unite in this one point—your seeking the glory of God in your present and everlasting salvation.