Advice to Young Converts.
Sedulously cultivate devotional habits. 1. “Pray without ceasing.” It were needless, surely, to enlarge upon the importance of prayer. “Prayer is the Christian’s vital breath,
The Christian’s native air,
His watchword at the gate of death,
He enters Heaven with prayer.” Its frequency greatly promotes spiritual growth and strength, while its neglect tells the secret of unfaithfulness, backsliding, and apostasy. Never, then, abandon your visits to the throne of grace while life remains. Daily and regularly commune in secret with your Heavenly Father, freely making known to him your many wants, confessing your sins, rendering thanks to him for your blessings, temporal and spiritual, and casting upon him your cares. If you are the head of a family, fail not to offer upon the hallowed domestic altar your morning and evening sacrifice. Never, when it can possibly be prevented, let your seat be vacated at the hour and in the place of social worship. 2. Be constant and diligent students of the Bible. This is the chart which God has put into your hands to guide you in your journey over life’s changeful and turbulent ocean. Following its directions, you shall escape from every danger, and safely reach the haven of eternal rest. This is the repository of all that is most valuable to you as a creature of time, and an heir of immortality. Here you may gaze, until your heart overflows with love, upon the perfect character of Him whom no mortal eye hath seen, drawn by his own unerring hand. Here is displayed, from its inception to its consummation, that wonderful plan of redemption into which angels desire to look, displayed in all the love which originated it, the cost at which it was executed, and the inestimable benefits which flow from it. Here are contained those doctrines which lie at the foundation of all Christian duty.