ing. The father of the prodigal, no sooner judged his repentant son, and passed his sentence, than music and dancing were heard. There was a time for weeping and mourning; but it was when his prodigal son was dead; when he was lost to virtue and happiness. When he returned to wisdom's ways, which are pleasant; and to wisdom's paths, which are peace; it was meet to make merry, and be glad!

Behold the young of all animals, from man to the mouse. Do not all rejoice? And John, the beloved disciple of our Lord, assigned as a reason for communicating the glorious truths of Christ's Gospel to his younger brethren, this admirable one, "That your joy might be full!"

Wisdom says, Rejoice, when it is the proper time to rejoice; and mourn when mourning is called for. Sickness is the lot of man. Well, I for one, will not groan, until I feel the pain; nor then, unless I find some relief in it. And there are ten thousand ills to beset, and disquiet us. Well, may a merciful God help us to bear them with Christian philosophy, when they come. But surely, it is quite time enough to weep, when there exists a cause for weeping. There is much pith, because much truth in the adage, "Cowards die a thousand times; the brave die but

once."

And the wise man, Solomon, the author of my text, says, "All is vanity." Alas! for man. Reader, is all vanity with you? But Solomon does not stop even here, for he has added, "and vexation of spirit." Well, Solomon, there is a way to manage these matters: but, I fear, the world at large manage badly. Surely it is enough to be vexed of our neighbours-why should we be our own tormentors, and vex ourselves? But Solomon arrived at a sound conclusion at last; for he said, “There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour: this also I saw, that it was from the hand of God.” And here is the grand secret; 'tis "for a man to make his soul enjoy good in his labour." Here is the important distinction: Enjoy good; not suffer evil, as the consequence of one's own actions. There are several particulars that are important to be considered.

First-Cause and effect, or the actions of men, and the consequences to the recipient, of his conduct. Second-The invitation in our text.

Third-The argument found in our text.

Youth is not only the proper season, when joy should predominate, and rejoicing be a sort of business of life, but it is a season of inexperience. The young of our species, without regard to sex, rank, or condition, carry on the business of life in a wholesale style, and mostly on credit. Advice is seldom asked; and when solicited, rarely received, and acted on, to the letter. It was an admirable saying of an ancient philosopher, who, being asked by a young man, how he had managed to acquire so great a fund of wisdom and knowledge, replied, "By never being ashamed to ask questions." Now for a young man to conclude, if he were to ask a question, soliciting information on any particular thing or subject, that prima facia evidence will exist of his ignorance, is most insufferable vanity. It is related of the justly celebrated Dr. BENJAMIN RUSH, that, on a certain occasion, hearing a student of medicine, who had just commenced his practice as a physician, remark to another young man, of the time when he had finished his studies; he said "Why, you are a very fortunate man, to complete your studies in your youth. I am an old man, and I have not finished my studies yet; neither do I expect to, while I shall live.” It is the misfortune of the young, that among the very many things they receive on credit, or take for granted without any proof or evidence, is that of their own knowledge and wisdom; amounting to a sort of qualified infallibility,

The Frenchman's proposition, that "men and women are only children of a larger growth," if not true when considered in its most extensive acceptation, will sometimes pass with a very small qualification. All men profess to be rational animals. Now it is certainly true beyond dispute, that any inferior animal that acts conformably to the law of its nature, acts rationally. It matters not what the criticism of the philologist would be, were he to examine my proposition by the rules of his science. When a man acts according to the law of his being, or nature, he acts rationally; for the sole reason that he acts reasonably; and this can be proved no other way than by referring the act of the animal, to the law of his being, or nature; and it matters not whether it be a man, that has escaped from the snare of an assassin, by the ratiocination of his ideas; or a bird from the snare of the fowler; or a rat from the trap of the housewife; from the same cause.

A great deal of nonsense and absurdity have appeared in the world, in the guise of sermons. Imagery the most

preposterous has been introduced, as illustrative of man's condition in this, his mortal life. Death has been represented as an archer, and shooting his arrows at random; and men as victims of chance; a blind fatality, after all qualification, not much better than arrant atheism. And some preachers, in their infatuation to ape an original singularity; or from their innate malice and corruption; or, if not from these causes, from some other, equally unjus tifiable, have represented man in this life, as surrounded on all sides by traps and gins; set by his Creator to lure him to death and endless destruction. In the hands of moral philosophers of this stamp, our text is produced as an ironical declaration; and the abominable inference is drawn, that youth is invited to give way to the propensities of vice, and to follow the wrong, in opposition to the right course; maliciously affirming, that for these things God will adjudge the offender to endless damnation. Here no attention is given to cause and effect. No wonder that such monstrous premises and conclusions are abroad in the world, since human dogmas furnish the doctrine; and the Scriptures are merely referred to for solitary precedents, which are obtained, in the first instance, by garbled selections; or for mottos, to give currency to bigoted opinions.

It shall be my business to show, that Solomon has taught in my text, the highest rational, moral philosophy; the very essence of truth; and, as such, in a perfect conformity to the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. That cause and effect are seen in their true light; and the invitation, that of wisdom; and not the ironical proposition, or declaration of a covered, or disguised malignity. And when so proper to rejoice, as in youth? If there is a propriety in the aged bigot's retrospect of an ill-spent life, curdling the milk of human kindness, and freezing_the generous aspirations of the soul; chilling every social relation, and repressing every benevolent sentiment ; so that joy is strangled from the moment of its birth; no person will question his right to all the blessings of his creed; nor attempt to deprive him of his gloomy satisfaction. It is well-so be it, if men will have it so; only let the consequences be all their own.

Wisdom says, "Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes; but know thou, that for all these God shall bring

thee into judgment." I will request the reader to remember, that "All God's ways are judgment." (Deut. xxxii. 4.) Consider, for a moment, the reverse of the proposition contained in our text: Mourn, O young man in thy youth, and let thy heart afflict thee in the days of thy youth, and walk not in the ways of thine heart, nor in the sight of thine eyes. Now for all these, God will bring the young man into judgment, as certainly as in the other case. And a young man would be a fool to walk in this manner, into the bargain. If a man is deprived of the liberty of seeing with his own eyes, and counselling himself, he is a slave in very deed. The young man's eyes and heart, after all is said, are all that he can call his own; and he must make the most of them. Now this is the very thing. This is what my text advises, and points out the only way in which this sine qua non can certainly be secured.

Look at the first sentence- "Rejoice, O young man in thy youth." Certainly, by all means rejoice. Wisdom never dictated a better sentence. Rejoice, all who can. It is quite time enough to mourn, when you cannot help it. Rejoice, whenever, and so long, as there is a cause for rejoicing; a contrary course would be unnatural, and wicked. God has given good reasons, good cause, why the young. should rejoice. And it is equally philosophical and scriptural, "to let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth." If a young man's heart will not cheer him, it must be a very bad heart. “And walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes." I know no substitute for a young man's heart and eyes; and the great concern is, to keep them in good order. "But know thou, that for all these God shall bring thee into judgment." But the inference, because God shall bring the young man into judgment, for all his conduct, this is the reason assigned, &c.

"Therefore," because God shall bring thee into judg ment for all things connected with thine eyes and heart, from which moral perception, and motives to action can be inferred, remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh; for childhood and youth are vanity." Excellent advice. I will remark, that a metonymy is used, in which sorrow is put for that which causes sorrow. Here cause and effect are seen. No dogmatizing; no unmeaning threatenings; but a cause is assigned; and an appeal made to the understanding of the

young. The imagery embraces the period of man's life, usually considered, in legal parlance, a state of infancy, or the season of childhood and youth; consequently, all that portion that is subsequent to mere infancy of intellect, being denominated childhood, is coupled with that portion of life that immediately precedes adult age, and is called youth; and the two, childhood and youth, are together characterized as vanity. There is a peculiarity in this phraseology, and it is justified, from the following considerations:

Man's life has been divided into ages of physical and intellectual development. The perfect number seven, gives, first, the years of infancy. Second, of childhood, to fourteen years of age. Third, of youth, to twenty-one years of age; when man is legally an adult, and possesses all the legal competency, aside from legislative competency, that he can ever acquire. Five times seven, which then adds double the period of youth, after maturity, carries man to the summit of the hill, at the age of thirty-five. He that can maintain his ground, physically, for fourteen years, on, and about the summit of the hill of human life, after having first attained it; and not be pushed off, and forced down the hill by disease, or untoward events; may then be considered as belonging to the class of old men, at forty-nine; to which, only one of every four of Adam's race has thus far attained. We therefore see the propriety of characterizing the seven years of childhood, and seven years of youth, as vanity. The seven years of childhood pass away, almost like the years of infancy, as a ship passes through the undulating wave, and leaves no mark behind. Youth, more mature in intellect, and fast advancing to maturity, is an equivocal state, resembling, for a simile, the light of the clear morning, before the sun rises above the horizon, and gives maturity to the brightness of the solar day. And of the comparatively few, that attain, like the sun, a meridian altitude, of physical and mental development and existence; not half the number even of these, like the sun, describe their entire course, until the shades of evening announce the near and certain approach of death. Here and there, one is seen, at the bottom of the hill-the eye is dimmed; the ear stopped; the body bent with age; and sinks, while we survey the relick of a former man, down to his kindred dust. And to the youth, and the child, not to the man of years, is our text addressed.