to wear fringes on their garments, that they may remember the commandments of the Lord and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes. To judge after the sight of the eye and hearing of the ear, was a proverbial saying to express corrupt judgment. Hence, it was said of Christ, by the Prophet Isaiah: And he shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord, and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, nor reprove after the hearing of his ears; but with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth. Solomon was well acquainted with the writings of Moses, who says: The imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth. And the connexion requires the interpretation we have given them.

I would further observe, that the judgment to which Solomon here refers, must undoubtedly be that of a future state; since he has expressly said, that here all things come alike to all. And of this judgment he solemnly warns the young sinner, as a most powerful antidote against the baits of sensuality; as an awful thought, which might fix the most roving eye, and be the means of reducing the most ungovernable heart to the discipline of wisdom and piety. We pass,

II. To enforce the admonition by such considerations as are expressly suggested in the text, or may naturally grow out of it. And permit me to beg your most serious attention, while I may offer a few things for your consideration.

1. Think of the corruption and depravity of your own hearts, to deter you from walking in the way of them. The heart of man is described by that God, who alone perfectly knows it, as being deceitful and desperately wicked. And again, inspiration declares, God saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was evil continually. We are degenerate plants of a strange vine, whose fruit are the grapes of Sodom and the clusters of Gomorrah. What is man that he should be clean? and he that is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? When our hearts were pure, they were the palace of God; but they have become the cage of every unclean bird. If you have never known the plague of your own hearts, it is because you are ignorant of them. Consider for a moment what has passed there; how many evil thoughts you have indulged, how many irregular passions you have gratified, and how many unhallowed tempers, like a mighty tempest, have driven you into the greatest absurdities. How you have abused the means of grace, and despised the riches of the goodness, forbearance, and long suffering of God. Consider how many times you have resisted the strivings of God's Holy Spirit, and rejected the counsels and admonitions of his word. Consider how many vows you have made and broken; and, in spite of all the checks of conscience, have rushed forward into new scenes of debauchery and wickedness. And must these treacherous hearts still be trusted; and will you go on in the way

of them, when they have already led you into so much sin, when they have already plunged you into so much distress? If you continue still to follow the dictates of your own corrupt hearts, they will plunge you deeper and deeper into the abyss of wo, and lead you further and further into the shades of darkness and night. May God arrest you in your course of madness and folly, rend in sunder the veil of sin that obscures the moral vision of your souls, disclose in full view the fountain of iniquity within you, and dispose you all to seek his face and favor with full purpose of heart.

2. Think of how many delusive charms are daily offering themselves to your eyes, that you may not walk heedlessly in sight of them. Remember, O young man, that you are walking in the midst of snares, and that your situation is highly dangerous. The most mortal poisons are sometimes mixed with the sweetest dainties, and the most dangerous enemies of our souls frequently accost us in the fairest forms. The fruit of which our first parents tasted, presented a pleasing appearance to the eye; but, however engaging and attractive, it was filled with the poison of death. By walking in the sight of their eyes, they were led to transgress the divine commandment, and brought death upon themselves and all their posterity. It is sometimes the case, that young people desire to witness scenes in which they would shudder to be engaged. This is always a dangerous experiment, and is not unfrequently productive of the worst consequences. By beholding, we are transformed into the same image, and finally led to the repetition of the

same scenes.

"Vice is a monster of such frightful mien,
As, to be hated, needs but to be seen;
But seen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace."

Seriously consider how many, within the compass of your own knowledge, have been ruined by the blandishment of the senses. And perhaps some of these individuals, in other respects, were persons of no contemptible character; and had they, like David, made a covenant with their eyes, they might have escaped the fatal ruin which finally overtook them. Do not walk in the sight of your eyes, lest you be like the bird, which, struck by some gay and promising appearances, hastens to the snare, not knowing that it is for its life. But turn off thine eyes from beholding vanity, and by faith look into the eternal world, and it will secure you from the power of temptation. Behold and copy the bright example of Jesus Christ, and it will lead you to the paradise of God.

3. Let me remind you, that the eternal God is the inspector of all your conduct. This is strongly implied, although it is not expressed in the text. The Scriptures teach us that, The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. They not only run to and fro through the whole earth, but they are in every place

at the same time. How terrible are the words of Elihu! His eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings. There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves. He not merely observes the ways of man, by which is commonly meant his outward deportment, but he looks immediately into the heart, and sees the inward frame and tendency of the soul; for all things are open and naked to the eyes of him with whom we have to do, even the thoughts and intents of the heart. Man looketh on the outward appearance, said Samuel, but the Lord looketh on the heart. He needs no one to give him information respecting the conduct of man; he looks directly on the heart, out of which are the issues of life. Nay, Hell and destruction are before the Lord, how much more the hearts of the children of men.

A firm belief in the truth of this doctrine cannot fail of producing a happy influence upon the young mind; it will be a powerful antidote against the seductions of sin, and a strong inducement to the practice of virtue. If the presence of a fellow mortal imposes upon us a restraint, surely he, who realizes the presence of the Judge of all the earth, must feel himself under a much greater restraint. Let us not forget that the eyes of Jehovah are constantly upon us; that he sees our hearts, and is well acquainted with all our thoughts. That, at the present moment, even while I am addressing you, he is a witness of all that is transpiring, and ponders the thoughts and actions of every individual with all the attending circumstances. O! young man, what improvement will you make of this evening's exercise? What advantages will you reap from the instruction afforded to you this night? Remember, that God sees and knows all things.

4. Think how certain the judgment of God is, amd your own personal appearance before him. This doctrine is clearly and plainly taught in the New Testament. We must all, says the apostle, stand before the judgment-seat of Christ. It was a doctrine of the Jewish revelation. The wicked shall be turned into hell, with all the nations that forget God. And even it was taught by the wisest heathens.

Mark the expression, For all these things God will bring thee into judgment. Will bring thee, O young man, whomsoever thou art, that hearest me this night; to thee is the word of this salvation sent, God will bring thee into judgment. His trumpet will sound, his tribunal will set; thou wilt be summoned, and thou must obey. There will be no possibility of escaping or eluding the solemnities of that day; the hand of Jehovah will be strong, and he will bring thee before his judgment. Bear witness, O young man, and let thy conscience record it to-night, that I warn thee to be prepared for the solemnities of that day. As a watchman of God, I must receive the words at his mouth, and give warning to the people ; and knowing the terrors of the Lord, endeavor to persuade men to

be reconciled to him. Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest he tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.

When this day will arrive, and by what means the dissolution of the world will be effected, are only known to him who sees the end from the beginning. But that the day of his wrath will surely come, and that the earth, with the works thereof, will be burnt up, are the solemn and unequivocal declarations of Scripture. It is the opinion of great and good men, that the earth will be dissolved by the operation of second causes; that it will either come in contact with some fiery comet, "rushing lawless through the void," which by the power of gravitation will be attracted to it, or burnt up by the operation of its own combustibles, which are concealed in its own bowels. In either case, the scene must be awful and terrible, beyond the power of language to describe. Should this frightful event transpire during the present age, how many in this assembly will be unprepared to meet it? How many of the young men, who hear me this night, would be found in their guilt and transgressions? But should not this event take place for ages of ages to come, it is no less certain, and it is no less sure, that we must all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ! O then, young man, I beseech you to-night, by the mercies of the living God, by the solemnities of that great day, by the value of an immortal soul, to pause and consider, to repent and turn to God, that you may be prepared to meet the Judge of all the earth, at his coming; for remember he will bring thee into judgment.

5. This judgment will be strict and awful. For all these things God will bring thee into judgment; which naturally implies that it will be particular and final. Every particular act of our whole lives will be reviewed-every work and every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil, shall be brought into judgment. You sometimes conceal your irregularities from your parents and masters, or others to whom you are accountable-you disguise them in such an artful manner, or form such excuses for them, as may impose upon man, and you value yourselves on the dexterity with which you do it; but be not deceived: God cannot be thus mocked. Every secret thing, and every hidden thought, shall be exposed to view, in the day when God shall judge the world-when he shall search the hearts and try the reins of men. He will marshal them in dreadful array, as a host of enemies armed for your destruction. Have you ever seen a criminal arraigned at the bar of justice? How he is confounded when the force of evidence bears him down, and the sagacity of the judge detects the idle and foolish pleas with which he flattered himself before the trial, and imagined that he should easily come off with impunity. Then did you see a striking emblem of yourself, a lively representation of your case, when you shall stand condemned before the bar of divine justice. Nor will God forget this present admonition, though you

may think light of these solemn truths now; but when they are realized, it will be hard to endure them.

It will be your final doom, and your eternal state will be unalterably fixed by it. After the decision of the great day, the filthy will be filthy still, and the unjust will be unjust still; and the righteous shall be righteous still, and the holy shall be holy still. Ah! how dreadful to be doomed to the shades of darkness and despair forever! Who can endure the thought?

Read over the sentence, as recorded, from the lips of him by whom it is to be pronounced: Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. Here the miserable sinner must dwell, forever separated from the presence of the Lord and the society of the blessed-forever banished from the hopes of happiness and the delights of felicity; here to drag out a miserable existence in devouring flames-here to be the companion of robbers, and murderers, and blasphemers, and Satan himself, with his legion of angels.

Alas! my heart is pained within me, and my bowels yearn over you. Methinks I see all the haughtiness of your spirit brokensee you pale and trembling on the brink of ruin, on the margin of that pit from whence there is no deliverance, and into which the flaming sword of divine justice is driving you. And must this be your fearful doom, your final end? Must the shades of darkness cover you forever, and the horrors of despair prey upon your soul forever and ever! O, that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the salvation of perishing sinners! It only remains that we conclude our dis

course,

III. With some plain inferences from the text. And,

1. The young sinner has surely a great deal of reason to be thankful, that he has not already been brought into judgment. You have, indeed, the greatest reason to say, it is of the Lord's mercies that you are not consumed-that you are still in the land of the living-that you still enjoy a day of probation, and the means of grace. Some of you have been brought to the gates of death, to the very verge of the eternal world. Had the fatal blow been struck, had you been summoned before the judgment-seat of Christ, polluted in your own blood, and defiled by your own guilt, in what a deplorable state your souls must have been! Instead of enjoying the high and exalted privileges with which you are now blessed, instead of sitting under the droppings of the divine sanctuary, you would be now lifting up your fruitless cries in hopeless despair. But, blessed be God, you are still living, and favored with the means of grace. You are now receiving line upon line, and precept upon precept-here much and there much. The hope of the gospel is now set before you, and you are invited to embrace it. Jesus Christ, in all his bleeding beauty, is held up before you, manifesting that love which many waters could not quench, nor many