and keep his precepts.

the image of Christ is impressed upon the spirit and conduct, evidencing fellow-participation in Christ; a Christian will love that image in whomsoever it is found;- and although he may discover it in a cottage, or a workshop, or a poorhouse, the feelings of his heart will confess the sacred bond of brotherhood. Like the Psalmist, all his delight will be in the excellent-in the saints that are on the earth. He is a companion of all them that fear God, He loves those who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity;—and of such, and of such only, will be his chosen companions and familiar friends. Now, my dear Brethren, can such a man as this be a frequenter of the Theatre? Will he be found at the favourite place of resort for the profligate and abandoned?-Will he go with vain persons?Will he sit in the assembly of the mockers?-No --he will find no congenial society there. He might find there persons whose conduct is correct and respectable in the estimation of the world;— he might find there such as bear the name of Christ; but he will find none with whom he

may take sweet counsel, and walk as friends: none who are like-minded with himself;-for these he must look elsewhere. Now, my dear Brethren, since Christians who possess that love which binds the disciples of Jesus together, and which is the very test and evidence of discipleship, will not be found at a Theatre;-then it follows,

that the persons who are found at a Theatre are destitute of this principle; they have no such taste,―no such feeling,—no such affection;—they want the characteristic marks of Christ's disciples. Whatever they may be in profession, they are not Christians in deed and in truth;-they may be Christians in the world's esteem; but they are not the Christians of the Bible.

Besides this special bond of affection between Christians, as such; there is also a love which is universal as to its extent; which should be felt towards all men, at all times; and exercised towards all men, as opportunity is afforded. This cannot be the love of esteem and delight, because there are persons towards whom such love cannot be felt, and ought not to be felt; who have nothing which can claim our esteem, or in which Christians can take delight. This universal love, the love inculcated in the text,-is the love of benevolence,-the love of kindness, the love of compassion;—the disposition and the desire to do good unto all men, and to promote their well-being. With this love we may, and (if we would do the will of God) we must and shall regard all mankind, even the basest and most abandoned, even the bitterest of our foes.

Now, my dear Brethren, what are the real nature and effects of Theatrical Amusements? I do not ask what ought they to be, and what might they be? I do not ask what moral lessons may be

culled out here and there from stage speeches ? or what passages of brilliant talent and splendid beauty may you select from dramatic compositions? But what is the Theatre practically and in truth ?—Why, it is a place where our reverence for the divine Being is lessened;-where serious reflection is banished;—where the natural levity of the human heart is increased;-where the imagination and the passions are inflamed by impure ideas,-immodest expressions and gestures;-and where temptations to sensual sin are presented at the very moment of the greatest unwatchfulness and danger. It is a place where the poor learn to become idle and profligate ;-where the young find incitements to youthful lusts, and are taught to glory in what should be their shame;-where the blossoms of early hope and promise are blighted;-where worldly-mindedness is fostered; -where religious impressions are lost;-where good desires are extinguished;—where God is provoked;—and at which thousands have commenced that course of profligate wickedness which has brought them to shame and ruin, both in this world and in that which is to come. Now then I make my appeal to reason and common sense. Is this the love of your neighbour which God commands? Is it-to encourage such places and such pleasures, by your money, your presence, -and the influence of your example? Is this your love towards the poor? to support an Amuse

ment which tempts them to starve their families, or to rob their employers, in order to raise money for such ruinous gratifications? Ye Parents! is this your love for your children? to carry them where "evil communications corrupt good manners;" where they must either frequently blush with painful confusion, or become gradually hardened and depraved? Admitting that it is a high intellectual pleasure; and even allowing (what indeed I can never believe,) that you can frequent the Theatre without injury to yourselves; yet, others cannot,-others do not. And is this to "love thy neighbour as thyself?"-to procure your own gratification at his risk,-and at his cost? No, my dear Brethren; if we truly love our neighbour, we shall seek "to please our neighbour for his good to edification." We shall

study his profit; we shall do all in our power to promote his welfare here, and his salvation hereafter; we shall give no sanction to that which entices him to do evil; but, as far as we have opportunity, we shall warn and guard him against every snare; "meekly instructing those who oppose themselves."

But, my dear Brethren, we should consider this argument not only as it applies to the persons who witness the performance; but as it applies to the performers themselves. The profession of a player is both discreditable and dangerous; and in the practice of this profession there is so much

profaneness and positive sin, as to make it wholly irreconcileable with true piety. It is attended, too, with so many and great temptations to profligacy and vice, that we can scarcely imagine circumstances more desperately perilous. My mind was very forcibly impressed with the evils of the Stage, considered in this light, when, in cursorily glancing through a periodical publication, in which critical observations are introduced upon new plays, and actors, and actresses, I met with the following remark. The writer had been highly applauding a young and interesting female, who had been lately introduced upon the Stage of Drury-lane Theatre; and he concludes with saying, "She deserves better of the manager than to be forced (as she is in this farce) to repeat language which ought never to be heard on the stage, and still less from one so graceful and lovely." Oh! my dear Brethren, how hypocritical and absurd must be the pretence of "loving his neighbour as himself," in any person who can countenance and support such prostitution of character for self-gratification and amusement. cannot scruple to say, that while the guilty performers will have to give up a fearful account; yet, a much more fearful account will be given up by those, who, by their presence and encouragement, have been their tempters. By countenancing these practices, and taking pleasure in them which do such things, you become not the sharers only, but the authors of their guilt.

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