pedantic, and much more useful to the world. Many men of real abilities and learning have defeated their own usefulness by attempting to know and to do too much.

In the last place, read prayerfully. "If any of you lack wisdom," says the apostle, "let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." This Solomon found to be true, by happy experience. "In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, Ask what I shall give thee. And Solomon said, Thou hast showed unto thy servant David my father great mercy according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee; and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. And now, O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father; and I am but a child; I know not how to go out or come in. And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen; a great people that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart; to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy, so great a people? And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. And God said unto him, because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies, but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment; behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and understanding heart." It was Dr. Doddridge, I think, who never used to take up a new book to read, without an ejaculatory prayer for divine influence and direction. This example is worthy of universal imitation. Let us therefore always accompany our essays after knowledge with an humble and prayerful spirit; and then we may hope to read and study with safety and success.

To all these directions I might now add diligence and perseverance, which always have had, and always will have a mighty influence in all the great things done by mankind. But I shall only add a few words to those who are very immediately and deeply interested in the things which have been said in this discourse.

This subject calls upon parents in particular, to show themselves men. You are, my respectable hearers, men in years; be men also in virtue, in religion, and in understanding. Let the dignity of man appear in all your conduct, and especially in your conduct towards your children. Let them see the dignity of human nature exemplified before their young and attentive minds. They are every day, and every hour, watch

ing your conduct, and looking up to you for example and instruction. Take heed, that none of your words, none of your actions, none of your pursuits, be unworthy of men. But let all your conversation and behavior be such as your children may follow with propriety, with safety and dignity. And while you are teaching them by example, teach them also by precept. Give them good instruction; and for this purpose, provide them good instructers. These are of great importance to your children, whose progress in knowledge will generally bear a very exact proportion to the abilities and fidelity

way New Da their teachers. The education of children has always been

sex

an object of great attention among all wise nations, and especially among all wise and good parents. Let this then be the

The will object of your attention. Consider the dignity of man.

Con

sider the worth of the soul. Consider the rich and invaluable treasure put into your hands. Consider how much the dignity and happiness of your children, both in time and in eternity, depend upon your care and fidelity. And let the ties of nature, the authority of God, and your own solemn vows, engage you to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and to cultivate and embellish their opening minds in every branch of useful and ornamental knowledge. Admit not the thought, that such little, such weak, and to appearance such useless creatures, are of small importance; but remember that they are men in miniature, and may one day surprise the world with their dignity. When a young prince is born, all the kingdom feel the importance of his education, and are anxiously concerned to have the ablest instructers employed, to form him for great and noble actions. But you have more than princes, even young immortals, committed to your care, whose powers and capacities, whose dignity and importance, will astonish you at the great day, if not before. How happy will that parent. be, who shall then be found to have been faithful to his children! "He will then join," as a celebrated writer observes, "his virtuous offspring in the habitations of the just, and there see them rise up and call him blessed. But if a parent neglects his duty to his children; if he sets before them an example of irreligion, and suffers them to grow up loose and unprincipled, he may expect that their blood will be required at his hands, and he should tremble to think of that period of retribution, when probably they will curse him for that negligence which has ruined them."

Finally: Let this subject awaken the attention of the youth to the dignity of their nature and the end of their being. My dear young friends, you will soon be called to act your various parts upon the stage of life. You are now the hope of your parents, of your pastors, and of your country. The eyes of

the world are upon you. Be entreated then to cultivate all
your noble powers, and to show yourselves men, in whatever
departments of life divine Providence shall place you. Piety
and knowledge will prepare you for a useful and honorable
life, and for a peaceful and triumphant death. Let these then
be the supreme objects of your pursuit. Early consecrate all
your time and all your talents to the service of God, and of
your fellow-men. Šeek for knowledge, as for silver, and search
for it, as for hid treasures; and sacrifice every object which ob-
structs your pursuit of it. Through desire a man having
separated himself," says Solomon, "seeketh and intermeddleth
with all wisdom." If you would make progress in learning,
and rise to any distinguishing degrees of knowledge, you must
separate yourselves from the vanities of youth, and devote
those vacant hours to mental improvements, which too many
of your age trifle away in folly and vice. In particular, flee
youthful lusts, which war against both the body and the mind.
Shun that all-devouring monster intemperance, by which so
many strong minds have been cast down and destroyed. Avoid
bad company and unmanly diversions, which are an inlet to
every vice. Hold in steady contempt beaux and fops, those
butterflies which live upon the filth and dregs of the earth.
Diogenes, walking the streets of Athens at noon-day with a
lantern in his hand, and being asked, as he intended to be,
what he was searching after, tartly replied, "I am looking for
men." A severe satire upon the luxury and effeminacy of that
once manly and virtuous people. The dignity of man appears
in the ornaments of the mind, and not in those of the body.
Seek therefore to adorn and embellish your minds both by
reading and observation, and your gifts and abilities will make
room for you, and bring you before great men.
You have pe-

culiar advantages and encouragements to animate you to great
and noble exertions. Therefore set your mark of intellectual
attainments as high as you please, and, according to the com-
mon course of events, you will, by uniformity, diligence and
perseverance, infallibly reach it. Your generous benefactor
hath set you an example, as well as given you the means of
intellectual improvements. That great man, in the morning of
life, was surrounded with uncommon difficulties and embar-
rassments, but by the mere dint of genius and of application
he surmounted every obstacle thrown in his way, and by his
rapid and astonishing progress in knowledge, he hath risen,
step by step, to the first offices and honors of his country, hath
appeared with dignity in the courts of Britain and of France,
and now fills more than half the globe with his fame. Keep
this illustrious example in your eye, and show yourselves men.

SERMON III.

THE EVIL EFFECTS OF SIN.

DELIVERED NOVEMBER 3, 1790, AT THE FORMATION OF A SOCIETY IN FRANKLIN FOR THE REFORMATION OF MORALS.

BUT sin is a reproach to any people. - PROVERBS XIV. 34.

variation. 66

THE whole verse is this: "Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people." As the mode of expression here requires a more full and pointed antithesis, so the spirit of the original allows us to read the verse with a small Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is the poverty, depression, or sinking of any people." This latter construction, instead of weakening, serves to corroborate the sense of the former; for reproach as naturally follows poverty and depression, as the shadow follows the body in motion. But without any critical remarks, the very face of the text carries this plain and obvious meaning, that sin naturally tends to involve a people in ruin and reproach. This therefore shall be the leading sentiment in the following discourse.

We have had great opportunity for discovering the nature of sin. For sin hath prevailed more or less, in every person and family, as well as in every community and society of men; and invariably displayed, by all its various operations and appearances, the same malignant nature and tendency. The history of particular persons, and of particular nations, and indeed of the whole world, is but the history of their vices, and of the natural and penal evils which have flowed from them. The Bible draws a shocking picture of the lusts and corruptions which ruined the old world; and of the enormous vices which finally destroyed Sodom, Egypt, Babylon, Nineveh, and many other great and ancient kingdoms. And if we open the leaves of profane history, we find every leaf, like Ezekiel's roll, full

"of lamentations, mourning and wo," the dire effects of sin. It wounds a tender mind to read the history of Alexander, of Mohammed, of the Man of sin, and of those unhappy nations, who have fallen under their cruel and bloody hands; but it would be more than our hearts could endure, could we collect into one view, all the scenes of misery and horror which sin has ever produced in our malevolent world. If therefore we may give the least regard to sacred and profane history, and to the observation and experience of all ages, we are constrained to believe, that sin has a malignant nature, and directly tends to involve a people in ruin and reproach. We know the nature of sin better than the nature of any other object around us; for we have heard, and read, and seen, and felt, more of its evil and fatal effects, than of any other object in the whole circle of our knowledge, observation, or experience. know that sin is a corrupt tree, because it always bears corrupt fruit. We know therefore, according to the analogy of things, that fire has not a more natural tendency to consume wood, nor water to extinguish fire, than sin has to injure and destroy any people, among whom it is suffered to spread and prevail. To illustrate and impress this idea, permit me to enter into particulars, and observe,

1. It is the nature of sin to lessen and diminish a people. The most populous nations have been reduced to a handful, by the prevalence of vice. Though Israel, at certain seasons, were numerous as the stars of heaven, yet by their lusts and corruptions they were "minished and brought low." When they left the kingdom of Egypt, they amounted to about three millions, but before they reached the land of promise, near half their numbers pined away in their iniquities, and perished in the wilderness. And though they increased again in the reign of Solomon, yet in the next succeeding reign they departed from God, and for their groundless revolt half a million were destroyed in one day. Nor did their open viees and immoralities ever fail to diminish their numbers, from that time to the time of their final dispersion and ruin. The Greeks, for many ages, maintained their virtue, and continued to increase; but as soon as the vices of Asia corrupted their morals, they immediately began to diminish. Rome was once extremely populous. It contained more inhabitants than are now contained in all the United States. But vice, in a few years, not only thinned the capital, but diminished the whole empire. Vice has a natural as well as a moral tendency to waste and destroy every human society. For indolence, intemperance, luxury, and prodigality, serve to weaken and enervate the human frame, and of course, to expose men to the attacks and ravages of every malignant disorder. Hence we find, that the