Ter we they not to be reckoned amount ice wons fortunate adventurers;-and though one would not abfolutely prohibit The attempt, or be fo cynical as to condemn every one who tries it, fince there are fo many, I fuppofe, who cannot well do otherwife, and whofe condition and Station in life unavoidably force them upon it-yet we may be allowed to deforibe this fair and flattering coast-we may point out the unfufpected dangers of it, and warn the unwary passenger where they lie. We may fhew him what hazards his youth and inexperience will run, how little he can gain by the venture, and how much wifer and better it would be (as is implied in the text) to feek occafions rather to improve his little flock of virtue, than incautiously expose it to fo unequal a chance, where the best he can hope is to return fafe with what treafure he carried out-but where, probably, he may be fo unfortunate as to

lofe it all be loft himself, and undone

for ever.

L

Thus much for the house of feafting s which, by the way, though generally open at other times of the year throughout the world, is fuppofed, in christian countries, now every where to be univerfally fhut up. And, in truth, I have been more full in my cautions against it, not only as reafon requires,-but in reverence to this feafon *, wherein our church exacts a more particular forbearance and self-denial in this point, and thereby adds to the reftraints upon pleafure and entertainments which this reprefentation of things has fuggested against them already.

Here, then, let us turn afide from this gay fcene; and fuffer me to take you with me for a moment to one much fitter for your meditation. Let us go into the house of mourning, made fo by fuch afflictions as have been brought in, merely by the common crofs accidents and

diblers to which our cont mon is expoftd,-where, perhaps, the aged parents fit broken-hearted, perced to their fouls with the fully and indiretion of a thanklefs child—the child of their prayers, in whom all their hopes and expectations centered:-perhaps a more affecting kene-a virtuous family lying pinched with want, where the unfortunate fupport of it having long fruggled with a train of misfortunes, and bravely fought up against them-is now piteoufly borne down at the laft-overwhelmed with a cruel blow which no forecast or frugality could have prevented.-O GOD! look upon his afflictions-Behold him distracted with many forrows, furrounded with the tender pledges of his love, and the partner of his cares-without bread to give them, unable, from the remembrance of better days, to dig;-to beg, afhamed.

When we enter into the house of mourning fuch as this-it is impoflible to infult the unfortunate even with an improper look-Under whatever levity

and diffipation of heart, fuch objects catch our eyes,-they catch likewife our attentions, collect and call home our fcattered thoughts, and exercise them. with wifdom. A tranfient fcene of diftrefs, fuch as is here fketched, how foon does it furnish materials to fet the mind at work? how neceffarily does it engage it to the confideration of the miferies and misfortunes, the dangers and calamities to which the life of man is fubject? By holding up fuch a glafs before it, it forces the mind to fee and reflect upon the vanity, the perifhing condition and uncertain tenure of every thing in this world. From reflections of this ferious caft, how infenfibly do the thoughts carry us farther?--and from confidering, what we are what kind of world we live in, and what evils befal us in it, how naturally do they fet us to look forwards at what poffibly we shall be?-for what kind of world we are intended-what evils may befal us there-and what provifion we should make against them here, whilft we have time and opportunity.

mourning, and the houfe of feasting. Give me leave therefore, I befeech you, to recal both of them for a moment, to your imaginations, that from thence I may appeal to your hearts, how faithfully, and upon what good grounds, the effects and natural operations of each upon our minds are intimated in the

text.

And first, let us look into the house of feafting.

And here, to be as fair and candid as poffible in the defcription of this, we will not take it from the worst originals, fuch as are opened merely for the fale of virtue, and fo calculated for the end, that the disguise each is under, not only gives power fafely to drive on the bargain, but fafely to carry it into execution too.

This we will not fuppofe to be the cafe-nor let us even imagine the house of feafting to be fuch a fcene of intemperance and excefs, as the house of feafting does often exhibit-but let us take it from one, as little exceptionable