holy religion, how could you bear to see your "God remove"? How can you endure the thought of having your doleful station fixed where you "must not taste his love"? Never, no, never, never more! O eternity! eternity! To be exiled from God, and happiness, and heaven, for a million of years-how overwhelming the thought! But, O, for ever! "Who can paraphrase" (as a poor dying sinner said,) "who can paraphrase upon the words, for ever and for ever?" My young friends, remember, great eternity is before you, and what you do this night may stamp your character, and fix your destiny for ever! You may try to hide these things from your eyes, you may try to forget them altogether; but this will avail nothing. God has appointed a day wherein he will judge the world; yea, even the secrets of all hearts. Amid the scenes of youth, and the pursuits and pleasures of this life, you may perhaps enjoy yourselves, and get along without God and religion; but what will you do when the evil days shall come, and the years draw nigh, when shall say, you have no pleasure in them. In the morning of life, when everything is smiling around you, it is quite possible that you may have something like joy playing around your heart; but what will you do in the day when the sun, or the light, or the moon be not darkened, nor

I

the clouds return after the rain? You may get along without God, it may be, when you are yet young, and everything is smiling upon you; but what will you do when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders shall cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened? You may get along without God, it may be, when you are yet young, and everything is smiling around you; but what will you do in the day when you shall be afraid of that which is high; and fears shall be in the way, and the almond-tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail, because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets? You may get along without God, and religion, perchance, while you are yet young, and everything is smiling around you; but what will you do in the day when the silver cord shall be loosed, and the golden bowl shall be broken; in the day when the pitcher shall be broken at the fountain, and the wheel broken at the cistern; in the day when the dust shall return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it? Young men, listen to me this world has a powerful charm for many, and especially for the young; the influence which it exerts over multitudes is

truly astonishing; and after all, what is the world, but a "land of unsubstantial shades"?V and what are the things of the world but "an empty, though brilliant show"? So teaches Solomon-"Vanity of vanities," says he, "all is vanity." Observe, this is not the language of a poverty-stricken man, who, under the influence of envious feelings, cries down those things which he possesses not. Nor is it the longing of a carping cynic, who, soured by disappointment, would retire from the world in disgust. No, nor is it the language of a man who utters in a moment of excitement that which he would fain recall in the season of calm reflection. It is the language of a man famed for his riches, and wisdom, and prosperity. It is the language of Solomon, the son of David, and king of Israel. No man probably, that ever lived, was better qualified to form a correct estimate of the world and the things of the world, for, it seems, there was no source of worldly enjoyment to which he had not repaired in his pursuit after happiness, and here he gives the result of his long continued observation, the verdict of his own dear bought experience—“Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." Notice, Solomon does not affirm, that some earthly things are vain, but all-"Vanity ofvanities, all is vanity." Not that Solomon intended to say, that literally there is nothing

good or desirable on earth. His idea is this: as the supreme good, or portion of the soul, everything of an earthly nature is weighed and found wanting. This falls in with the language of the poet :

"The world can never give,

The bliss for which we sigh."

And, if I mistake not, this falls in also with the experience of the gayest of the gay, now present. Ah! believe me, "There is nothing true, there is nothing firm, there is nothing sweet but heaven!" O, my young friends, in view of all these things, be persuaded to seek something better than this world can give. The world! how vain will it appear when you are sinking in the cold embrace of death! The world! what a poor thing, what a beggarly portion, when it shall be wrapped in the winding-sheet of the last great conflagration: and oh! how utterly unworthy of the aspirations of an immortal mind, must all its riches and honours, and splendours this moment appear to those bright spirits who are now high in the climes of bliss, and bathing in glory, as in the sunlight of heaven! Therefore, young men, listen, oh listen, I again entreat you, to the language of the text; it was the dying charge of a father to a son whom he loved; and it may in substance be the charge given to some

of you, by some beloved parent, now gone to glory! O hear it, as the counsel of experience and love! O receive it, as the voice of an oracle, or angel of God:-"My son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart, and with a willing mind, for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandest all the imaginations of the thoughts. If thou seek him, he will be found of thee, but, if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever."

SERMON XII.

THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD.

And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude; and as the voice of many waters; and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia! for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth."-REV. xix. 6.

THAT there is a God, all nature cries aloud, through all her works; and, the religious rites and ceremonies which prevail on earth, plainly declare the general belief, that this great Being has not retired from the scene of his creating power, but still, as a sovereign God, presides over the worlds and the creatures which he has made. Of the true nature and character of this government, however, little can be