with the world?-But how much more powerfully does it inculcate upon us the importance of avoiding all needless exposure to danger!-How directly does it set itself against all those things which have a tendency to call forth the evil which is in the heart! And if there be pleasures and amusements in the world, which not only offer temptations, but offer them under the most fascinating and dangerous forms,-our blessed Saviour could not have warned us against such pleasures and amusements more forcibly, even by an express prohibition, than he has done in teaching and commanding us, in all our approaches to a throne of grace, to confess before a heart-searching God our proneness to sin, and the weakness of our nature; and to ask him, by his Providence and grace, so to guide us that we may not be led into temptation. Is it possible for any person to follow this direction of our Saviour, and make such a request to God; and then doubt for a moment whether or not he ought to shun with the most conscientious care, the infectious wickedness and dangerous influence of a Theatre ?— No, there is plainly implied in the very direction to use such a petition, a perpetual warning against all such snares and temptations.

But we will consider further what is implied in the sincere offering of such a petition. You are none of you so ignorant as to think that the mere repetition of words is prayer.-You know that acceptable prayer must be the sincere desire

of the soul.-You must mean in your heart what you speak with your lips. Now, when you pray "lead us not into temptation," what are the feelings and desires which arise in your mind?— Why, if you are sincere, you will feel that sin is an evil thing;—a thing which you ought most carefully to avoid. You will also feel your own weakness and liability to fall, and your constant need of the superintending Providence of God, and of the help of his grace. You will also have in your hearts a desire to be preserved from falling

into sin, to keep clear of every hurtful snare,-to escape from every temptation to evil. Now, with such feelings and desires in your hearts, could you for one moment think of exposing yourselves to the dangers of the Theatre ? On the Stage, principles are inculcated, and characters are represented and applauded, which are directly contrary to the spirit of the Bible.-The customs and maxims of the world, so pointedly condemned in the Word of God, are recommended and set off to the utmost possible advantage.-The impressions made there, respecting the great end and business of human life, are such as most powerfully counteract the solemn admonitions of the Holy Scriptures.

The distinctions of virtue and vice are confounded.—The profane,-the prodigal,—and the profligate, are adorned with such showy and shining qualities, as to excite admiration and esteem, and to induce imitation.-Scriptural ex

pressions are used, and scriptural allusions are made, so jestingly, and with so much irreverence, as must of necessity tend to bring the Book of God into contempt.-The holy names of God are taken in vain.-The aweful realities of an unseen world are trifled with, and jested at with the most dreadful impiety.-The bliss of heaven, and the damnation of hell, are employed just as though they were nothing but poetical images and figures of speech.-Oaths and curses and every kind of profaneness are so frequent, as tends to wear off the horror which might once have been felt at such expressions, and to weaken the power of conscience, and render the language of blasphemy familiar to the ear and to the mind.-Immodest language is used, and impure images suggested, which fasten upon the youthful memory with a hold as tenacious as it is infecting; and while the young are hearing and seeing what is only the more mischievous for being conveyed in allusions and gestures too plain to be misunderstood, though not sufficiently gross to offend,-effects are taking place which can never be sufficiently deplored.The delicacy of the mind is corrupted and destroyed; the moral sense is vitiated and blunted; -the conscience is hardened; - the imagination is defiled; and the way is prepared for those sins which are so peculiarly dangerous and destructive to youth. These are heavy charges, but I am fully persuaded that the frequenters of

the Theatre must feel their truth.

And now my dear young Friends, I would ask again-after sincerely offering up to a holy and heart-searching God the prayer of my text, "Lead us not into temptation,”—would you-could you think of exposing yourselves to such contamination? Allowing that the Theatre possesses peculiar attractions,-that it holds out very powerful inducements,-and that there is much about it really beautiful and interesting, so that you might have to make a great sacrifice, and to exercise severe self-denial in abstaining or withdrawing from its amusements, and might be grieved that you could not enjoy the harmless without receiving the hurtful;—still you would no more dare to expose yourself to the risk of injury, than you would venture to accept an invitation to a feast in a place, where the plague and the pestilence were raging, where you must inspire infection with every breath, and receive contagion at every touch ;-however great the expected pleasure, it would at once be sacrificed to your safety.

But if, instead of this, you are determined to gratify yourselves at all risks;-if you will frequent a place where there is such imminent danger, so much positive sin;-then, what can you mean by offering up this prayer to a God who will not be mocked with impunity? In your conduct you say "I have no dread of sin ;—I can find pleasure in hearing and seeing it;— I am not afraid of temptation;-I can voluntarily,

and for my amusement, place myself in its very path, and face it in all its power;-I am resolved to go even into its strong hold, and expose myself to its assaults, and suffer it to try upon me all its fascination ;-others may fear to enter into the path of the wicked, and may avoid it, and turn from it and pass away;-but I will run wilfully into danger;—I will stand in the way of sinners, and sit in the very seat of the scornful." And what heart is there in this assembly so stout against God, as to dare, after making such a determination as this, to approach the throne of divine grace and say-"Our Father which art in heaven-Lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil?" Surely such a petition, under such circumstances, must be what is emphatically called "the provocation of your offering."-It must be far worse than an unmeaning form;—it would be a mockery and an insult to God-the prayer of the hypocrite, which is his abomination. It is a manifest impossibility that you can sincerely pray against temptation, and wilfully expose yourselves to it.—No, if you mean any thing by such a petition as this, the Theatre will be a place which you would tremble to enter, and which you would avoid with the most scrupulous and conscientious care. I think, then, the conclusion is inevitable,-that an attendance on Theatrical Amusements is incompatible with the sincere offering of the prayer of our Lord. We