formed; and man is cemented to man by every feeling of nature, and every tie of the heart. But, as we abuse and corrupt every thing, the bleffing of fociety is often turned into a curse. To innocent cheerful. nefs, a wanton levity fucceeds, which banishes fober thought, and laughs at every thing that is ferious. How often, in life, do we meet with the fons and daughters of folly, whofe fole business is amufement; whofe life is one continued fcene of idleness and difsipation; everlasting triflers, whofe volatile minds are perpetually on the wing, as if they had been fent to this earth merely to play the fool?

Not that I condemn cheerful fociety and innocent enjoyment. When God gives, let man enjoy. Let us drink from the fountain of joy, when we are fure there is no poifon in the cup. But, my brethren, I must remind you, that but a narrow interval, often but a single step, lies between enjoyment and excefs; between the voice of mirth, and the roar of riot; between innocent entertainment, and a loose and licentious indulgence. Look back on your paft life, and tell me, O man! when was it that you felt yourfelf most strongly inclined to go aftray? When was it that you found yourself feduced in thought, to wander from the paths of purity and uprightnefs? Was it not in the hour of levity and indulgence? Did not your heart betray you when your spirits were elevated; when you had banished fober recollection, and delivered yourself over to the delirium of exceffive joy? Here then is the advantage of seriousness and reverence. It places a guard upon the heart. It keeps the world and its temptations at a due diftance. It confecrates the mind in which it refides, as

with the presence of the Deity. A heart thus impreffed with the fear of God will not fo readily be affaulted by the tempter; nor fo easily yield to the temptation. An impure and profane gueft will hardly venture upon hallowed ground, or dare to violate the fanctity of a temple. The prefence of a good man is a check upon the turbulence and uproar of the giddy; they are infpired with a reverence for his character; they feel how awful goodness is, and reftrain themselves from thofe indecent levities to which they are accustomed. If a regard for man has fuch influence upon the mind, what may the fear of God be fuppofed to have? The man who is poffeffed of this holy fear, fets the Lord always before him. He enters beforehand into heaven, and dwells in the presence of God. And canft thou, Ó man! defile the purity of heaven with the deeds of hell? Dareft thou violate the law in the prefence of the Lawgiver? Dareft thou fin in the very face of thy Maker? Wilt thou make the Judge of all the earth the witness of thy wicked actions, the beholder of thy looie moments? No. In fuch a prefence thou wilt banifh all impure thoughts, and all unhallowed affections, like Mofes at the burning bufh, because the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.

Thus, of itself, this ferious frame of mind is the guardian and the protector of religion; and it also affociates with other virtues which belong to the Chriftian character. Those who are acquainted with the nature of the mind, know the influence and extent of affociation upon human life and manners. It is not a fingle quality that marks and characterizes a man; the virtues and the vices come in a train;

it is the temper of the foul which is all in all in the conduct of human life. But to the temper and dif pofition here recommended, the moft refpectable at tributes of the mind, and the most amiable qualities of the heart, are allied and peculiar.

In the first place, this ferious frame of mind cherishes those higher virtues of the foul, which, in the emphatic language of the Sacred Scripture, are called "the armour of God." In the folemn filence of the mind are formed thofe great refolutions which decide the fate of men; that magnanimity which rifes fuperior to the events of life; that fortitude which bears up under the preffure of affliction; and that Christian heroifm, which, neither moved with the threatenings of pain, nor with the blandifhments of pleasure, holds on rejoicing to the end; are all of them but expreffions of this character, varied and diverfified according to the occurrences of life. They are the light, the giddy, and the volatile, who are the sport of caprice, or the prey of paffion. Perfons of fuch a character have no permanent principle of action; they are the finners or the faints of accident; and affume every folly to which the fashion of the world gives its fanction. Very different is the ferious man who communes with his own heart. He follows not the multitude. He poffeffes that ftrenuous and steady mind, which walks by its own light, which holds its purpose to the laft; that felf-deciding fpirit which is prepared to act, to fuffer, or to die, as duty requires. Being thus, by the grace of God, the master of his own mind, he is above the world; and through profperity or adverfity, through life or death, goes forth conquering and to conquer. He is

not guided by events like the giddy multitude, who fall into any form by the fortuitous concourfe of accidents; but, imitating the Providence of Heaven, he takes a direction of events, and makes the course of human affairs bend to his purposes, and terminate in his honor.

Further, this temper and disposition is no less favourable to the milder virtues of humanity. A ferious mind is the companion of a feeling heart. It is akin to that virtuous fenfibility, from which all the fympathetic emotions are derived; and readily affociates with thofe good affections which conftitute the most amiable part of our nature. The thoughtlefs and the diffipated are unconcerned fpectators of human happiness or misery; they mar not their enjoyments by rushing into foreign wo; and are never fo much in earnest, as to give a tear to the diftreffes of mankind. "They lie upon beds of ivory," saith the Prophet; "they stretch themselves upon their couch"es; they chant to the found of the viol; and they "anoint themselves with the chief ointments; but "they are not grieved for the affliction of their breth"ren." But he who feareth God will alfo regard man. The hour of incenfe has always been the hour of almfgiving. Whilft the heart is lifted up in devotion to God, the hands will be stretched out in beneficence to man. Think not, my friends, that these are duties of inferior importance, and not proper to be called up to your remembrance upon this occafion. The ordinance which you are foon to celebrate, is the communion of faints, and the feast of love. The cup of bleffing which we blefs, faith the Apostle, is it not the communion of the blood of

Chrift? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Chrift? As we are all partakers of that one bread, fo by that participation, we being many, become one body. Being thus the members of one body, the great law follows, which he afterwards lays down, that if one member fuffers, all the members fhould fuffer with it; and if one member rejoices, all the members fhould rejoice.

The Second thing propofed, was to fhew you the fuitableness of this temper of mind to our present state.

And, in the first place, it is fuited to that dark and uncertain state of being in which we now live. Human life is not formed to answer those high expectations, which, in the era of youth and imagination, we are apt to entertain. When we first set out in life, we bid defiance to the evil day; we indulge ourselves in dreams and visions of romantic blifs; and fondly lay the scene of perfect and uninterrupted happiness for the time to come. But experience foon undeceives us. We awake, and find that it was but a dream. We make but few steps in life, without finding the world to be a turbulent scene; we foon experience the changes that await us, and feel the thorns of the wilderness wherein we dwell. Our hopes are frequently blasted in the bud; our designs are defeated in the very moment of expectation, and we meet with forrow, and vexation, and disappointment, on all hands. There are lives befide our own, in which we are deeply interested; lives in which our happiness is placed, and on which our hopes depend. Juft when we have laid a plan of happy life; when, after the experience of years, we