the scriptures; but we must meliorate the wrong, if we cannot attain the right; and regulate that love of praise which we cannot extirpate. The best atonement we can make for loving the praise of men, is by loving that praise only which is given to actions difficult, meritorious, and good.' Unfortunately, the young are so fond of attracting notice, that they are often induced to purchase it at any price;-by spirited extravagance, supereminence in vice,-by a bold violation of the restrictions of society, -by paradox,-by a witty contempt for the good maxims which safely guide slower understandings, - by assuming a versatile profligacy of opinion, such as has sometimes marked brilliant men of extraordinary parts, by an unripe scepticism, which doubts before comprehension or discussion, -by levity, which laughs when the wise tremble, and would mock at God, to gain a moment's applause from the lowest of his crcatures. By this impatience, displaying itself in some one or other of these shapes, the young are often irretrievably ruined They do not reflect that they must be little before they can be great; that the privilege

moderation we exhibit, and by that management which enables us to become firm, instead of fierce. Impetuosity is still more useless in the business than in the dangers of life: The power of good sense is as irresistible, as the power of gravitation; there are disturbing forces; but in the great cycle of ages, the world is governed by calm, and circumspect men; whose sagacity in discerning, and whose consistency in acting is rarely disturbed by emotions. which they cannot control. The greatest of all men are those who can use their passions as auxiliaries, without obeying them as masters: But involuntary impetuosity is so much an enemy to understanding, that it is better to want passions altogether, than blindly to obey them.

There is no fault which Christianity labours more to correct, than that of an impetuous mind: "Could I not call down legions of Angels?" said Jesus, as he went captive to the hall of Pilate. He spake no word against them, say the scriptures, though they clothed him in the mock robe of majesty, and beat him with rods, and

crowned him with thorns; and when they had nailed his limbs to the cross, he said, "Lord, be merciful to them; they know not what they do."

These are the principal errors, by an attention to which the salutary yoke of discipline may be best supported in the season of youth: To put on that humility which is so well accommodated to the beginning of wisdom, and the beginning of life, will spare future shame, and future change; and enable us to pursue a simple, consistent tenour of improvement in piety, and knowledge. In subduing a tendency to contempt, we shall avoid malevolent feelings, which always bring with them their own punishment; we shall not become blind to perfections, and curiously acute only in the detection of evil. In reducing vanity within due bounds, we shall remain under our own laws, instead of yielding obedience to a multitude; we shall live, not in dramatic agitation, but with firmness, freedom, and content. In curbing early impetuosity, and converting it into steady perseverance in affairs, and cool intrepidity in dangers,

SERMON XXIII.

PSALMS XC. VERSE IX.

We spend our years, as it were a tale that is told.

WHEN We hear a story pleasantly set forth, in appropriate language, and with wellcontrived incidents, the mind hangs upon it eagerly, and falls from a certain heighth of enjoyment, when it is concluded: there is no sense of the passage of time; but the wit, and genius of the narrator abridges it to the duration of a moment; so it is with the years of the rich, and great; they are spent as a tale that is pleasantly told; there is no monotony in the events, no slowness c c

VOL. L.