of your being wrong; because there is no knowing but in the next moment you may receive a knock-down argument from the bludgeon of conviction that shall lay prostrate all your arrogant assumptions, and make you feel as flat as the flattest note of an E bugle. You should be humble and yielding-as pliable as a lump of butter in the hands of the dairy-maid. Humility is a lovely damsel, notwithstanding she comes barefooted from heaven to soften the most obstinate calcinations of the human heart; and you ought to court her for the sake of her intrinsic virtues, without paying the least attention to her home-spun frock and pasteboard bonnet. Merely hope that you are right in your conclusions on matters and things, and when you are once faithfully and honestly assured of the fact, pray that you may ever remain thus, firm as the everlasting pillars of the universe; but when convinced that you are wrong, turn ye, turn ye, and pioneer your way through the widd wilderness of research, till you arrive at that beautiful oasis where the flowers of truth are for ever blossoming, and no snakes lie in the grass to bite the elongated heel of error. My dear friends! there is one crying sin in this community which worries my soul, and leads me, sometimes, to doubt whether man is anything more than a brute, indulging in, and giving vent to, those revengeful passions which ought never to characterize a creature of reason, intellect and capacity. It is this: you are too apt to never forgive an injury, nor to apologize when you have dragged the harrow of insult over the tender sensibilities of a brother in blood, and uprooted every sprout of peace that springs up and flourishes in the genial soil of a pure and untarnished character. Yea, you never are caught apologizing for such outrageous wrongs; and more-if you think your neighbor is opposed to you in thought, sentiment or doctrine, you are all in a delirium tremens to pour out your jugs of boiling vengeance upon his unprotected head! You long to take vengeance by the hind leg, and sling it in his face, as you would a dead cat! You itch to go forward with the poison of damnation to sprinkle it over the fair vineyard of his hopes, and unless he should be bullied into your way of thinking, to play the very old Harry with his ducks! Oh! this is not as it should be, by seventeen degrees in the thermometer of moral kindness! This is not only a free country, but a free world there are laws made by the great Builder of the universe, by which man may know his whole duty toward his fellow man, and if you allow them to remain a dead letter in the moral statutes, a responsibility rests upon your shoulders heavier than a hogshead of molasses. If a man does not choose to think as you do upon a particular subject, consider, I pray you, that he may honestly differ; and though he be in the right or in the wrong, still his belief is fostered by what appears to him to be reason, and protected by the bonds of a sincere and unyielding conscience. We don't all hear, see, smell nor taste things alike-how much less, then, can we be expected to reason alike! But there is no use in my preaching here much longer, for I find that you are nearly all asleep. Wake up, my friends! and listen for one minute. If you don't become more tolerant in your opinions, and let others believe just as they please with respect to the philosophy of the milk in the cocoa-nut, and animal magnetism, I can't tell what will become of you by and by; but if you tell others to stick, like a scab, to the the right when they honestly believe they are right, and do the same yourselves, there will be no stumbling-blocks in your way to a general hereafter! So mote it be! ON SIGNS. TEXT.-You are all seeking after signs, MY HEARERS-in speaking of signs, I would not have you suppose that I have reference to the signs manufactured by men, and displayed upon the establishments of the profit-seeking and money-getting; nor that my text alludes to your going about seeking after tavern signs-for, I believe most of you can find them without much seeking. You head towards them by instinct, like ducks to a mill-pond. No, the text refers to shadows-shadows that foretell coming events: such as are cast from earthly objects, and elongate at the approach of evening; or those that the married man generally sees once in a couple of years during the time of fruition. My friends-of a truth, you all seek after signs are apt to talk about them-tremble with fear at their portentous prognostications, or brighten with hope at their favorable aspects; and yet you pretend to place no confidence, nor humor a belief in them. Now, there is always a subtileness in a sign that penetrates the heart, and fills it with certain emotions, which can no more be got rid of by the mandates of the will, than corns can be driven from the toes by a prodigal expenditure of profane language. Certain signs are infallible; and you cannot help believing in them, I don't care how much you affect to the contrary, notwithstanding; but there are others which may be put down as mere symptoms-uncertain indications, potential in bearing, and sometimes rubbing hard against the limits of probability. For instance, if you were to see a pig exercising his outward self against a post, it would be no sure sign that he was afflicted with fleas; because there are various other irritations incident to the swinish cuticle. My hearers among the doubtful signs that are shadowed forth, to favor and frighten us, poor temporary victims of hope and fear, there are many that appear prominent and conspicuous, as the tippler said of the ruby-red blossoms upon his nose. The aurora borealis may be a presage of cold weather, or a sudden change in the atmosphere; but it is questionable if it has any thing to do in warning us of approaching calamities, scourges, wars and pestilence. If the sun retires at night behind curtains of gold, purple and crimson, we are not certain that the morrow will be fair, bright and shiny; and if it shows a red cap at the oriental window in the morning, the skies may, and may not, spend the day in mourning and weeping. A halo round the moon is sometimes a source of disappointment to cab-drivers and venders of umbrellas. When my morally and physically straight friends, the Quakers, pay their vernal visits to our city in a body, it generally rains throughout the land-upon the just and the unjust, including justices; but the hopes of him who tilleth the soil ought not to depend wholly upon their advent-for they possibly may be flummuxed. If you sneeze twice of a Sunday morning, it will depend upon circumstances whether you hear of a death before the week is out. If you spill salt at the table, further bad luck will not inevitably ensue, although it has been said that misfortunes never come singly. The tickings of death-watches and the howlings of dogs are no more the harbingers of the grim tyrant's' visit than the mid-night cry of the Millerites is indicative of the world's speedy dissolution: and an abundance of laborers in the 6 vineyard of the Lord is, by no means, a sure sign that it is in a flourishing order, and filled with the young and promising plants of righteousness. My friends-I will now touch upon positive signs. When you see the summer flowers fade, the grass wither, and hear the crickets chirp in the chimney corner, you may know that the winter is near. When the frosts of age have gathered upon human heads, like white mould upon a half rotten pumpkin, it is a sign that they will soon sink into the dust and be seen no more upon earth for ever. When you see a man inflated with gassy patriotism, making stump speeches, and telling people to stand to the rescue, for the country is in danger,' you may know that all he wants is an office; and probably would be the first one to run, or turn traitor, in a case of actual danger to his country. When a young man spends most of his time in bar-rooms, it is a sign that he is ruining his reputation, injuring his health, and bringing a mildew upon his fairest prospects of life. When you see a man, whose moral habiliments are a little stained by the unavoidable filth of the world, taking delight in commending christian endeavors and praising purity of character, without ostentation, you may rest assured that the roots of early piety are not altogether dead in his bosom; but by a little nourishing they will sprout anew, put forth blossoms of silver, and bear apples of gold. When you see children running about the streets, dirty, ragged and saucy, and up to their middles in mischief, it is a sign that their parents are an inferior species of Nobody. When a young lady grows sentimental, looks pale, a little blue under the eyes, indulges in heigh-hos, and eats chalk, it is a sign that she wants to get married most awfully. When your preacher hints about putting a plenty of sixpences in the box, for the sake of the good cause, you may take it for granted that he wants a few in his own pocket. (I wouldn't save a soul for less than a sixpence if I lost my wig by it.) When you see a person ardently endeavoring to institute a new order of society, advocating wild and absurd doctrines, and to put in practice that which is contrary to human nature, it is a sign that he is either a monomaniac or a mercenary and ambitious rogue. You may, perhaps, consider, my friends, that the aforementioned are mere signs, and not worthy of belief; but, let me tell you, there are certain signs that cannot fail. As you journey on in life, there are shadows cast across your pathways which plainly inform you that you are gradually approaching the dread precincts of the tomb; and they will continue to deepen till night and darkness exclude this fair world for ever from your visions. But there is a brighter one above, made expressly for those who behave well, live righteously, and work hard for it. So mote it be! ON ENJOYING LIFE. TEXT.-Maiden, that read'st this simple rhyme, MY HEARERS-we all often lament that there is so little of life allotted us, and yet we spend it as prodigally as though such small change as hours, days and weeks were of no consequence in the treasury of human existence, and aided not in making up the sum total of man's years upon earth. This is all owing to the lack of wisdom, economy and firmness, which we inherit from our poor, degenerate ancestors, and a non-exercise of those rectifying capacities which our Creator has so graciously provided us. They who gave us a body furnished it with weakness; but He who gave us a soul has armed it with resolution, and nothing more is requisite, my friends, than to make a good use of this inestimable gift, in order to insure health, happiness and peace even while the lamp of life is burning dimly in the murky atmosphere of age. But which of life's seasons is the time for enjoyment? If we admire youth, we are fond of licentiousness, folly, extravagance and recklessness. If we prize maturity, we value care, anxiety, trouble and disquietude; and if we sigh for old age, we long for sorrow, grief and melancholy misgivings. Yet there is enjoyment to be found in each-and an occasional diamond of delight is dug from amidst the sands of a comparatively barren and worthless exist ence. Dear maidens! not long since I preached to the youth of the opposite sex, and told them to go it while they were young, for when they should become old they couldn't; and, now, allow me to advise you to go it (but not with a perfect looseness) while the |