SERMON selves with such arrogant hopes. WhatXI. ever be your rank, Providence will not,

for your sake, reverse its established order. The Author of your being hath enjoined you to take heed to your ways; to ponder the paths of your feet; to remember your Creator in the days of your youth. He hath decreed, that they only who seek after wisdom shall find it; that fools shall be afflicted, because of their transgressions ; and that whoso refuseth instruction shall destroy his own soul. By listening to these. admonitions, and tempering the vivacity of youth with a proper mixture of serious thought, you may ensure cheerfulness for the rest of life; but by delivering yourselves up at present to giddiness and levity, you lay the foundation of lasting heaviness of heart.

When you look forward to those plans of life, which either your circumstances have suggested, or your friends have proposed, you will not hesitate to acknowledge, that, in order to pursue them with advantage, some previous discipline is requisite. Be assured, that, whatever is to be your profession, no education is more necessary

necessary to your success, than the acquirement of virtuous dispositions and habits. This is the universal preparation for every character, and every station in life. Bad as the world is, respect is always paid to virtue. In the usual course of human affairs, it will be found, that a plain understanding, joined with acknowledged worth, contributes more to prosperity, than the brightest parts without probity or honour. Whether sience, or business, or public life, be your aim, virtue still enters, for a principal share, into all those great departments of society. It is connected with eminence, in every liberal art; with reputation, in every branch of fair and useful business; with distinction, in every public station. The vigour which it gives the mind, and the weight which it adds to character; the generous sentiments which it breathes, the undaunted spirit which it inspires, the ardour of diligence which it quickens, the freedom which it procures from pernicious and dishonourable avocations, are the foundations of all that is high in fame, or great in success, among men.

Whatever

SERMON

XI.

SERMON

XI.

Whatever ornamental or engaging endowments you now possess, virtue is a necessary requisite, in order to their shining with proper lustre. Feeble are the attractions of the fairest form, if it be suspected that nothing within corresponds to the pleasing appearance without. Short are the triumphs of wit, when it is supposed to be the vehicle of malice. By whatever arts you may at first attract the attention, you can hold the esteem, and secure the hearts of others, only by amiable dispositions, and the accomplishments of the mind. These are the qualities whose influence will last, when the lustre of all that once sparkled and dazzled has passed away.

Let not then the season of youth be barren of improvements so essential to your future felicity and honour. Now is the seed-time of life; and according to what you sow, you shall reap. Your character is now, under Divine assistance, of your own forming; your fate is, in some measure, put into your own hands. Your nature is as yet pliant and soft. Habits have not established their dominion. Pre

judices

XI.

judices have not pre-occupied your un- SERMON
derstanding. The world has not had time
to contract and debase your affections.
All your powers are more vigorous, dis-
embarrassed, and free, than they will be
at any future period. Whatever impulse

you now give to your desires and passions,
the direction is likely to continue. It
will form the channel in which your life
is to run; nay, it may determine its ever-
lasting issue.
Consider then the employ-
ment of this important period, as the
highest trust which shall ever be com-
mitted to you; as, in a great measure,
decisive of your happiness, in time, and
in eternity. As in the succession of the
seasons, each, by the invariable laws of
Nature, affects the productions of what is
next in course; so, in human life, every
period of our age, according as it is well
or ill spent, influences the happiness of
that which is to follow. Virtuous youth
gradually brings forward accomplished
and flourishing manhood; and such man-
hood passes of itself, without uneasiness,
into respectable and tranquil old age. But
when nature is turned out of its regular

course,

SERMON course, disorder takes place in the moral,
XI. just as in the vegetable world. If the

Spring put forth no blossoms, in Summer
there will be no beauty, and in Autumn
no fruit.
So if youth be trifled away
without improvement, manhood will be
contemptible, and old age miserable.

If

the beginnings of life have been vanity, its latter end can be no other than vexation of spirit.

Having thus shown the importance of beginning early to give serious attention to conduct, I come, next, to point out the virtues which are most necessary to be cultivated in youth. What I shall,

I. RECOMMEND, is piety to God. With this I begin, both as a foundation of good morals, and as a disposition particularly graceful and becoming in youth. To be void of it, argues a cold heart, destitute of some of the best affections which belong to that age. Youth is the season of warm and generous emotions. heart should then, spontaneously, into the admiration of what is great, glow with the love of what is fair and excellent,

The

rise