pleaded for. And I would remind those, whoever they may be, who are disposed and determined to please and gratify themselves at all this risk and danger to their own souls, and to the souls of others,-that "to morrow we die;"-very soon this world, with all its forms and modes of pleasurable sin, will have an end, as far as we are individually concerned; and when that solemn hour shall come, I would not for ten thousand worlds have lying upon my conscience the fearful responsibility and guilt of having gratified my taste and sought my amusement at the expense of all the moral evil which, directly or indirectly, flows from the fascinating but pernicious influence of the Theatre. A time is fast approaching, and will surely come, when the gratifications of taste, and the pleasures of the imagination will all fail and vanish away, like a bubble which glittered gaily and then burst; but when that time shall arrive, then, if not before, the recollection of having ministered to moral corruption, and put an occasion of sinning in the way of others for our own intellectual self-indulgence, will lay the soul upon the rack, and add fresh terrors to a dying hour. From such reproaches of conscience may you be free! May no such pains of death fall on you! May you show plainly that it is your determination, by the help of divine grace, that neither in this, nor in any other sin will you be a partaker; that you will

neither expose your own selves to the corrupting influence of "evil communications;" nor by supporting and sanctioning "evil communications," will you become "corrupters" of others.

SERMON XIII.

ECCLESIASTES, xi., 9, 10.

Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes; but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment. Therefore remove sorrow from thine heart, and put away evil from thy flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity."

THE Bible is an authoritative message from God to man. It comes to every rational and responsible being with demands upon his attention and obedience, with which he cannot refuse or neglect to comply, without involving himself in the deepest guilt and danger.

This revelation of the mind and will of God contains instruction appropriate to all classes, conditions, and circumstances. It addresses its admonitions and advice to all ages, and to either It speaks to 'aged men," and "aged women;" to "young men,” and “young women.”

sex.

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Now, the instruction contained in the particular portion of God's word, which I have brought for our consideration at this time, is specially intended for "young men ;" and it is to "young men" that I purpose more particularly to address myself on this occasion; because, I trust, it is almost, if not altogether unnecessary for me to admonish the female part of my audience of the sin and danger of frequenting the Amusements of the Stage.

If I am rightly informed, the attendance of respectable females at the Theatre of this town, and particularly of young respectable females, has gradually diminished; their visits to this place of dangerous dissipation have been, year by year, fewer and more seldom. And surely, in withdrawing themselves from these amusements, they have done that which is meet and right, even though they may not have been influenced by any higher motives than a becoming self-respect, and a just regard to the proprieties of the female character. The Theatre has indeed much to interest, and attract, and gratify every carnal and careless mind; but amidst all its gaiety and entertainment, it presents scenes and sentiments which cannot fail to offend and wound female delicacy. And for the truth of this observation, I might confidently appeal to the recollections of those females who may have formerly frequented the Theatre, whether the pleasure which they

experienced, on their first attendance, was not often mingled with an involuntary sense of shame, a secret and painful consciousness of impropriety and evil; while, at the same time, through the influence of example, and the force of custom ;from want of due consideration, or sufficient firmness of mind—and perhaps from never having had their attention specially and seriously called to the sinful nature and injurious tendency of such amusements;-they allowed themselves to be present at exhibitions which their consciences condemned; and to be spectators of scenes, and hearers of sentiments, against which the quick sensibilities of a modest and delicate mind so painfully revolted as to cover them with confusion; and which scenes and sentiments they would not, on any consideration, have either ventured to describe and repeat, or endured to hear described and repeated, in private company, or in the society of their personal friends.

But I am told, and, I trust with truth, that to a very considerable extent, the respectable females of this place have freed themselves from this painful inconsistency; and that they scrupulously avoid, or have resolutely renounced a class of amusements, which, however, sanctioned by fashion, and supported by numbers, cannot beẹ frequented by a modest female, without painconfusion-sin, and serious risk of injury. O my