and causes the roses of the complexion to fade, by the midnight watches which it occasions; not to mention these things, it is well known that it introduces ungracious passions into the mind. Can you game deeply, without feeling that the fiend of avarice has taken full possession of your souls? Are not your breasts distracted with anxious hopes and fears? Are not your tempers irritated? Are not the few words, which you speak, either peevish or boisterous? Do you not regard him who wins from you, as your enemy? and do you not, when you lose, sink into despondency? If you answer the questions in the affirmative, as you know they must be answered, to what do you sacrifice your health and your happiness, the tranquillity of your minds, and the gentleness of your tempers? To the love of pleasure? No; but to the love of gain. Pleasure is your plea; but avarice is your motive. This foul passion exposes you to the hazard of defrauding the poor, your family, your own creditors, of their just dues, by what you lose; or of defrauding the families and creditors of others, by what you win. For this do you forego the sweets of domestick life, and the harmless amusements, which are found at home, and which neither impair your estate, nor fill your heart with remorse.

4. If you are allured to intemperance by the votaries of pleasure; if you are invited to take a

part in the scenes of intoxication; let not any flattering promise of merriment beguile you. For consider who hath wo? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? They who tarry long at the wine, they who go to seek the strongly seasoned wine. Look not upon the wine, when it is red, when it giveth its colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. So says Solomon; and changing the form of his questions, we may ask, Does not intoxication introduce embarrassment into your worldly affairs? Does it not deprive you of the confidence of your neighbours? Does it not subject you to wounds, and at last to the entire loss of health? In the revels of drunkenness, are not all your joys madness? Man is not made for the transports which you suppose wine will afford. When his pleasures pass a certain boundary, their nature is changed, and they become pains. Have you not ever found it to be so, you who have gone to the house of riot, with the expectation of finding exquisite delight, but have returned with disappointment and vexation? Why then will you, when thus instructed by experience, obey the delusive call, and yield to the enticing of sinners, who are alluring you to destruction?

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5. Finally, if you are enticed to any other sin, yield not to the temptation. In the world, you will find many snares laid for your innocence. Some of them ought not be named; for there are ideas, which in a measure contaminate your purity, by barely passing through the mind. It is sufficient that you know your danger; inquire not too minutely what that danger is. Actions will be proposed to you of so dubious a nature, that you can with difficulty determine whether they are harmless or not; but if you feel any pressure at the heart, avoid them. This reluctance of conscience may possibly be a prejudice of education; but in the hour of temptation it is safest to trust its warning. In a cooler moment afterward, when you are alone, you can examine it; and if you find that it is a mere prejudice, you can reject it from being a principle of conduct. Be ever on your guard against evil, preserving your minds attentive and calm. Continual care and much pains are necessary to maintain your innocence. Your conflict is arduous; but you are animated by the most powerful motives. Remember that the eye of God beholds you, and that whilst you remain virtuous, it beholds you with approbation. Remember the design, for which you were created; that you are intelligent beings, moral agents, candidates for immortality. If you courageously resist the enticement of sinners; if you act your parts well; if you show yourselves true

servants of God, and faithful disciples of Jesus Christ; you will be placed in a region, where you will be out of the reach of temptation; where a confirmed habit of virtue will secure you against falling into vice; and where your moral powers being continually improved, you will increase in knowledge, in holiness, and in felicity to all eternity.

1st S. in Lent.

SERMON XIV.

IRRESOLUTION.

JAMES i. 6.

HE THAT WAVERETH IS LIKE A WAVE OF THE SEA, DRIVEN WITH THE WIND, AND TOSSED.

IT from an examination of the verses, appears which precede and follow the text, that the design of the Apostle James is to condemn wavering or irresolution in praying to God; but as he expresses himself in indefinite terms, his sentiment may be applied to other cases. I will thus apply it in the following discourse; in which I will endeavour to point out the mischievous effects of irresolution, first, in the choice of our religious sentiments; secondly, in our prudential conduct; and, thirdly, in our moral conduct.

I. In the choice of our religious sentiments, and an external profession conformable to them, it is pernicious to hesitate too long, or to be irresolute in fixing. It is, I confess, the duty of a Christian to