terity. It was addressed by Solomon to his son, and eontains such ideas of religion, and urges such motives to virtue, as are most effectual with the young, representing them as the perfection of human nature, and the true excellence of man. "The righteous," says he, "is more excellent than his neighbour." With great propriety is this picture set before the young; for the love of excellence is natural to the youthful mind. What is man

ly, what is generous, what is honourable, are, then, the objects of admiration and pursuit; fired with noble emulation, each ingenuous disciple aspires to be more excellent than his neighbour.

"Ye

The objections against a holy life have proceeded on maxims directly contrary to the text. The inducements to vice, which have been powerful in all ages, are the same that were presented by the tempter to our first parents. Wisdom was promised, "Ye shall be wise to know good and evil;" the attractions of ambition were presented, shall be as gods;" the allurements of pleasure were added, and the forbidden fruit recommended as "good for food and pleasant to the eye." If, in opposition to these, it shall be shown, that the righteous man is wiser, and greater, and happier, than his neighbour, the objections against religion will be removed, the ways of Providence will be vindicated, and virtue established upon an everlasting foundation.

I. The righteous man is wiser than his neighbour.

There is no part of his nature in which man is so earnest to excel, and so jealous of a defect, as his understanding. Men will give up any part of their frame sooner than this; they will subscribe to many infirmities and errors; they will confess a want of temper, and the proper government of their passions; they will even admit deviations. with regard to the lesser moralities, but never yield the smallest iota in what respects their intellectual abilities.

No wonder that man is jealous of his understanding, for it is his prerogative and his glory. This draws the line between the animal and the intellectual world, ascertains our rank in the scale of being, and not only raises us above inferior creatures, but makes us approach to a nature which is divine. This enters into the foundation of character; for, without intellectual abilities, moral qualities cannot subsist, and a good heart will go wrong without the guidance of a good understanding. Without the

direction and the government of wisdom, courage degenerates into rashness, justice hardens into rigour, and becomes an indiscriminate good nature, or a blameable facility of manners. Where then is wisdom to be found, and what is the path of understanding? If you will trust the dictates of religion and reason, to be virtuous is to be wise. The testimony of all who have gone before you confirms the decision. In opposition, however, to the voice of religion, of reason, and of mankind, there are multitudes, in every age, who reckon themselves more ex cellent than their neighbours, by trespassing against the laws which all ages have counted sacred, the younger by the pursuit of criminal gratification, the old by habits of deceit and fraud.

The early period of life is frequently a season of delusion. When youth scatters its blandishments, and the song of pleasure is heard, "Let us crown ourselves with rose buds before they are withered, and let no flower of the spring pass away;" the inexperienced and the unwary listen to the sound, and surrender themselves to the enchantment. Not satisfied with those just and masculine. joys, which nature offers and virtue consecrates, they rush into the excesses of unlawful pleasure; not satisfied with those fruits bordering the path of virtue, which they may taste and live, they put forth their hand to the forbidden tree. One criminal indulgence lays the foundation for another, till sinful pleasure becomes a pursuit that employs all the faculties, and absorbs all the time, of its vataries.

There is no moderation nor government in vice. Desires, that are innocent, may be indulged with innocence; pleasures, that are pure, may be pursued with purity, and the round of guiltless delights may be made without encroaching on the great duties of life, But guilty pleasures become the masters and the tyrants of the mind; when these lords acquire dominion, they bring all the thoughts into captivity, and rule with unlimited and despotic

sway.

Look around you. Consider the fate of your equals in age, who have been swept away, not by the hand of time, but by the scythe of intemperance, and involved in the shade of death. Contemplate that cloud which vests the invisible world, where their mansion is fixed for ever. When the sons of the Siren call you to the banquet of vice, stop

in the midst of this career, pause on the brink, look down, and, whilst yet one throb belongs to virtue, turn back from the verge of destruction. Think of the joyful morning that arises after a victory over sin; reflection thy friend; memory stored with pleasant images; thy thoughts, like good angels, announcing peace and presaging joy.

Or, if that will not suffice, turn to the shades of the picture, and behold the ruin that false pleasure introduces into human nature. Behold a rational being arrested in his course. A character, that might have shone in public and in private life, cast into the shades of oblivion; a name, that might have been uttered with a tear, and left as an inheritance to a race to come, consigned to the roll of infamy. All that is great in human nature sacrificed at the shrine of sensual pleasure in this world, the candidate for immortality in the next plunged into mediable gulf of folly, dissip

Catera desunt.

could be. Persons of this class, properly speaking, sustain no character at all. They assert not the rights of an independent being, they make no original efforts of mind, but patiently surrender themselves to accident, to be guided by events, and to be fashioned by those with whom they live. They have not the strength of mind to stand alone, they dare not walk in a path unless beaten. Feebleness, fluctuation, timidity, irresolution, fill up the period of their insignificant days, and often betray them into crimes, as well as indiscretions.

This weakness of mind is not only pernicious, but criminal. There are mental defects that are inconsistent with a state of virtue. The Sacred Scriptures never draw the line of distinction between intellectual and moral qualities, but prescribe both as requisite to form the character of the righteous man. Hence a sound mind, as well as a good heart, is mentioned as an ingredient in the character of a saint. Hence, in the sacred books, religion and virtue go under the name of wisdom, vice and wickedness under the name of folly. Hence, intellectual qualities become the subject of divine precept, and we are called upon to be wise and to be strong, as well as to be holy and to be pure. In opposition to the feeble-minded, it is said in the text, that they, who know their God, or are truly religious, are strong, Religion, when rightly understood, and virtue, when properly practised, give nerves and vigour to the mind, infuse into the soul a secret strength, and, presenting a future world to our faith, make us superior to the dangers and temptations of the present.

To show what this strength is, I shall set before you some of the most remarkable scenes in human life in which the feeble-minded give way, and in which they who know their God are strong. This strength, then, inspired into the mind by the knowledge of God, makes us superior to the opinion and fashion of the world, superior to the dif ficulties and dangers of the world,-superior to the plea sures and temptations of the world, and superior to de sponding fears at our departure from the world.

I. It makes us superior to the opinion and fashion of the world.

To sustain an amiable character, so as to be beloved by those with whom we live, to maintain a sacred regard to the approbation of the wise and good, and to follow those things which are of good report, when, at the same time,

they are pure, and lovely, and honourable, is the duty of every honest man. But unhappily, the bulk of the world is not composed of the wise and good; religion and virtue are not always in fashion; to fix the rule of life, therefore, by the public approbation or dislike, is to make the standard of morality uncertain and variable. According to this doctrine, the Christian life would be the work of mere caprice, there would be a fashion in morals, as well as in dress, or what is virtue and vice in one age or country would not be so in another. In such critical cases, when truth is to be defended, or integrity to be held fast, against the current of popular opinion, the feeble-minded are apt to make shipwreck of the faith. The feeble minded man rests not upon himself, he has nothing within to support him, he thinks, and acts, and lives by the opinion of others. "What will the world say?" is the question he puts to himself on all occasions. Thou fool! look inwards, thine own heart will tell thee more than all the world. This pusillanimous deference to the opinions of others, this criminal compliance to the public voice, will make you lose your all,-your soul.

Hence, in certain companies, men are ashamed of their religion. They lend a pleased ear to arguments that shake the foundations of their faith. They join in the laugh that is raised at the expence of all that they hold sacred and venerable, and themselves assume the spirit, and speak the words of profaneness, while the heart often secretly agonizes for the liberties of the tongue. Au opposition to such characters, the man, who is truly reli gious, performs his duty through bad report as well as through good. The applause of such fools as make a mock at sin he despises. His standard of moral conduct is his own conscience well informed by the word of God. He knows that the fashion of the world passeth away; and vice or folly is not recommended to him by being practised by others. He remembers the words of his Master, "Whosoever shall be ashamed of me, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed." He dares to be singular and good; "Though all men forsake thee, yet will not 1."

II. This strength, inspired by true religion, makes us superior to the difficulties and dangers we meet with in

the world.

The feeble-minded man is intimidated upon the slight