XH.

from what we now inhabit. Coming SERM. downwards through fome generations, a Men begin

new face of things appears.

to think, and act, in a different train; and what we call refinement gradually opens. Arriving at our own times, we confider ourselves as having widely enlarged the sphere of knowledge on every fide, having formed juft ideas on every fubject; having attained the proper ftandard of manners and behaviour; and wonder at the ignorance, the uncouthnefs, and rufticity of our forefathers. But, alas! what appears to us fo perfect shall in its turn pafs away. The next race, while they fhove us off the ftage, will introduce their favourite difcoveries and innovations; and what we now admire as the height of improvement, may in a few ages hence be confidered as altogether rude and imperfect. As one wave effaces the ridge which the former had made on the fand by the sea shore, fo every fucceeding age obliterates the opinions and modes of the age which had gone before it. The fashion

SERM. fashion of the world is ever paffing a

XII.

way.

Let us only

which our own of the changes

and opinions un

dergo in the progrefs of life. One man
differs not more from another, than the
fame man varies from himself in diffe-
rent periods of his age, and in different
fituations of fortune. In youth, and in
opulence, every thing appears fmiling
and gay.
We fly as on the wings of
fancy; and furvey beauties wherever
we caft our eye. But let fome more
years have paffed over our heads, or let
disappointments in the world have de-
preffed our fpirits; and what a change
takes place? The pleafing illufions that
once fhone before us; the fplendid fa-
brics that imagination had reared; the
enchanting maze in which we once
wandered with delight, all vanish and
are forgotten. The world itself remains
the fame. But its form, its appearance,
and aspect is changed to our view; its
fashion, as to us, hath passed away.

II. WHILE

XII.

II. WHILE Our opinions and ideas S ER M. are thus changing within, the condition of all external things is, at the same time, ever changing without us, and around us. Wherever we caft our eyes over the face of nature, or the monuments of art, we difcern the marks of alteration and viciffitude. We cannot travel far upon the earth, without being prefented with many a ftriking memorial of the changes made by time. What was once a flourishing city, is now a neglected village. Where caftles and palaces ftood, fallen towers and ruined walls appear. Where the magnificence of the great fhone, and the mirth of the gay refounded, there, as the prophet Ifaiah defcribes, the owl and the raven now dwell, thorns come up, and the nettle and the bramble grow in the courts.When we read the history of nations, what do we read but the history of inceffant revolution and change? We behold kingdoms alternately rifing and falling; peace and war taking place by turns; princes, heroes, and ftatefinen,

XII.

SERM. coming forth in fucceffion on the ftage, attracting our attention for a little by the fplendid figure they make, and then difappearing and forgotten. We fee the fashion of the world affuming all its different forms, and in all of them, paffing away.

But to hiftorical annals there is no occafion for cur having recourfe. Let any one, who has made fome progress in life, recollect only what he has beheld paffing before him, in his own time. We have seen our country rife triumphant among the nations; and we have feen it alfo humbled in its turn. We have seen in one hemifphere of the globe new dominions acquired, and in another hemifphere, our old dominions loft. At home, we have feen factions and parties fhift through all their different forms; and administrations, in fucceffion, rife and fall. What were once the great themes of eager difcuffion, and political conteft, are now forgotten. Fathers recount them to their children as the tales of other times. New actors

XII.

have come forth on the ftage of the SER M. world. New objects have attracted the attention, and new intrigues engaged the paffions of men. New members fill the feats of justice; new minifters the temples of religion; and a new world, in fhort, in the course of a few years, has gradually and infenfibly risen around us.

ny

When from the public fcene we turn our eye to our own private connections, the changes, which have taken place in the fashion of the world, muft touch every reflecting mind with a more tender fenfibility. For where are now, many of the companions of our early years; maof those with whom we firft began the race of life; and whofe hopes and profpects were once the fame with our own? In recollecting our old acquaintance and friends, what devastations have been made by the hand of time? On the ruins of our former connections, new ones have arifen; new relations have been formed; and the circle of those among whom we live is altogether changed

VOL. IV.

R