begins to form his character; and the character that is then formed generally lafts through life. Mankind for the most part continue in the fame path in which they fet out. The paffions of youth may refign to the paffions of age, and one set of vices or of virtues give place to thofe of a fimilar kind; but feldom does the formed character undergo an effential change. Our firft fteps ought therefore to be ordered with the greatest care and deliberation, as upon them, in a great measure, depends not only our prefent, but also our eternal happiness.

It was with a defign to direct us in this important period, that the Pfalm before us was written; in which the practice of righteoufnefs is recommended, not only from the advantages attending it in this life, and in that which is to come, but likewise from the pernicious tendency of fin to embitter our earthly enjoyments, and to render us unqualified for inheriting the joys of heaven. The gradual deviation of a finner from the onward path of virtue, till he is inextricably bewildered in the infidious mazes and winding ways of iniquity, are here most beautifully defcribed.

The first step in reality, though it be the fecond in the description, is, He ftandeth in the way of finners. Frequenting the company of the wicked is a certain introduction to a life of wickednefs. Mankind are oftener led aftray by the company of the profligate than by their own depraved inclinations. This unhappy bias to affociate with the profane arifes from two caufes, which operate powerfully on the minds of inexperienced youth. The firft is that rigoroufness and aufterity which fome gloomy-minded Chrif

tians attach to their religion. There are many perfons of fuch an unhappy conftitution, as to indulge themselves in perpetual moroseness and melancholy. Those fons of forrow turn every house into a house of mourning, and behave in life as if it were one of their principles, that mirth was made for reprobates, and cheerfulness of heart denied to all thofe who have the best title to be cheerful. My brethren, there is no connection; God and nature have established no connection, between fanctity of character and severity of manners. To rejoice evermore, is not only the privilege, but is alfo the duty of a Chriftian. A cheerful temper is a perpetual hymn. to the Divinity. A gloomy caft of mind is not only a certain fource of mifery and discontent, but is really in itself finful, by deterring others from a holy life, by representing religion in an unfavourable and forbidding light, as if it conjured up a spirit to darken the face of the heavens and the earth, to trouble the peace and the harmony of nature, and to banish gladness from the circle of human fociety. Very oppofite is the conduct of the votaries of vice. To betray unwary innocence into their fnares, they put on the mask of mirth; they counterfeit gladness amidst the horrors of guilt, and borrow the accents of pleasure, and the air of joy. "Let us crown our"felves with rofebuds," fay they, "let us crown "ourselves with rofebuds before they be withered, "let no flower of the spring pafs away, let us devote "the present moments to joy, and give thought and "care to the winds." By their flattery and fair fpeeches, too often are the innocent enfnared. They mark the fair attire, and the fmiles upon the cheek

of the deceiver, Senfual pleasure; but they difcern not, till too late, the pains, the diseases, and the deftruction that follow in her train. They difcern not that her steps lead down to the grave, and that her bower is an antichamber to hell.

There is a fecond caufe which has often been known to make men affociate with the profane, and that is, an opinion that wickednefs, particularly fome kinds of it, are manly and becoming; that diffolutenefs, infidelity, and blafphemy, are indications of a sprightly and a strong mind. By the most unhappy of all affociations, they join together the ideas of religion and dulnefs; and if they have a good opinion of a man's faith and his morals, they are led to have a very bad one of his understanding. This opinion, although it has gained ground where it might not have been expected, is without foundation in nature or in fact. Some inftances there may have been of great men who have been irregular; but the experience of ages is on the other fide. Those who have fhone in all ages as the lights of the world; the most celebrated names that are recorded in the annals of fame; legiflators, the founders of states, and the fathers of their country, on whom fucceeding ages have looked back with filial reverence; patriots, the guardians of the laws, who have stemmed the torrent of corruption in every age; heroes, the faviours of their country, who have returned victorious from the field of battle, or more than victorious, who have died for their country; philofophers, who have opened the book of nature, and explained the wonders of almighty power; bards, who have fung the praises of virtue and of vir

tuous men, whose strains carry them down to immortality; with a few exceptions, have been uniformly on the fide of goodness, and have been as distinguished in the temple of virtue as they were il luftrious in the temple of fame. It was one of the maxims which governed their lives, that there is nothing in nature which can compenfate wickedness; that although the rewards and punishments, which influence illiberal and ungenerous minds, were set afide; that although the thunders of the Almighty were hushed, and the gates of paradise were open no more, they would follow religion and virtue for their own fake, and co-operate with eternal Providence in perpetual endeavours to favour the good, to depress the bad, and to promote the happiness of the whole creation.

The second stage in the perverfion of a finner, is walking after the counfel of the ungodly. It is a maxim established by the fad experience of ages, that evil communication corrupts good manners. The power of nature and of conscience, and the influence of a religious education, may, for a while, withstand the fhock, but these gradually will be overpowered, and yield to the impetuofity of the torrent. Hence follow the painful ftruggles between reason and the fenfes, between confcience and inclination, which constitute a state of the utmost mifery and torment. Such perfons, when they are caroufing in the gay circle of their acquaintance, when the blood is warm, and the fpirits high, will then go all lengths with their fellow-debauchees, and give a loose to every wanton and every wicked defire. But when the fumes of intoxication have forfaken the aching head;

when the calm forenoon hour of reflection comes, then confcience, faithful to its truft, fummons them to her awful bar, fills them with confufion and remorfe, and condemns them to the fevereft of all tortures, to be extended on the rack of reflection, to lie upon the torture of the mind. This is a state in which great part of mankind live and die. They have as much corruption as to lead them to the commiffion of new fins, and as much religion as to awaken in them remorse for these fins. They repent of their old vicious pleasures, and at the fame time are laying plans for new ones, and make their lives one continued courfe of finning and repenting, of tranfgreffion and remorse.

tue.

The third and last stage of impiety is fitting in the chair of the fcorner, or laughing at all religion and vir This is a pitch of diabolical attainment, to which few arrive. It requires a double portion of the infernal fpirit, and a long experience in the mystery of iniquity, to become callous to every sense of religion, of virtue, and of honor; to throw off the authority of nature, of confcience, and of God; to overleap the barrier of laws divine and human; and to endeavour to wreft the bolt from the red righthand of the Omnipotent. Difficult as the achievement is, we see it fometimes effected. We have seen perfons who have gloried in their fhame, and boast, ed of being vicious for the fake of vice. Such characters are monsters in the moral world.

Figure to yourselves, my brethren, the anguish, the horror, the mifery, the damnation, fuch a perfon muft endure, who must confider himself in a state of enmity with heaven and with earth; who has no pleasant reflec