means of grace lost-heaven lost! He expires. In that chamber of mourning and wo, where the world's light is closed in utter darkness, not one ray of heaven's light penetrates the gloom. Follow the body to the narrow house, and trace the spirit to its eternal abode, and learn the emphasis of the question, "What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?"

Early piety often meets with an early death. In such case we mourn, but not as those without hope. Having witnessed the promising blossoms, and enjoyed the earlier fruit, we are disappointed, and feel our loss in not being permitted to reap the riper and more abundant fruits. But the chamber where the pious youth dies is hallowed. There he who cordially relinquished the world for the pursuit of heaven, now finds himself at the threshold of the desired mansion. He ministers the lessons of affection and truth,―he calmly bids farewell to time and earth,-he testifies his firm and lively hope of heavenly glory, faith triumphs, as in whispering accents, with beaming eye and placid countenance, he exclaims, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory ?" "Thanks be unto God, who giveth the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ!" He falls asleep in Jesus. What fellow-youth standing by, would not say, "Let me die his death, let my last end be like his."

A venerable mother in Israel was standing by the deathbed of an amiable and pious daughter, over whose sickness she had long and affectionately watched: That daughter expired strong in the faith of Jesus, and exulting in hope. With placid countenance, and uplifted eye, in the fulness of her heart, that mother said, "I wish you joy, my dear ;" and calmly retired, to seek that repose which wearied nature required. Here was an exquisite combination of the tenderest parental feeling, mingled with the loftiest triumphs of faith and hope.

Beloved youth, "Choose ye this day." Life and death are before you. To-day the Almighty says to each of you, "Thou hast destroyed thyself, but in me is thy help.' "Incline thine ear, and hearken unto me; and I will be a Father to you." But to-morrow his grieved, insulted Spirit may say, "Ephraim is joined to idols; let him alone." O, then there would be "weeping and wailing, and gnashing of teeth for ever." "To-day, then, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your heart."—AMEN.

SERMON LXXIV.

By AUSTIN DICKINSON, A.M.

APPEAL TO AMERICAN YOUTH ON TEMPERANCE. 1 JOHN, II. 14.—I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong. 1 COR. IX. 25.-Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things.

tant.

To remove a great national evil, the influence of the young is all-impor And the fact, that Intemperance is here sacrificing its thirty thousand victims annually, surely demands their special attention. They can, if they please, put an end to this desolating scourge; and that without any sacrifice. Ponder then, beloved youth, the following reasons for abstaining entirely from ardent spirit.

1. The use of it will do you no good.--It will not increase your property : no merchant would deem a relish for it essential to a good clerk, or partner in business. It will not invigorate your body, or your mind; for physicians tell us, it contains no more nourishment, than fire or lightning. It will not increase the number of your respectable friends: no one, in his right mind, would esteem a brother or neighbor the more, or think his prospects the better, on account of his occasional use of intoxicating liquor. Nor will it in the least purify or elevate your affections; or fit you for the endearments of domestic life no parent, should you seek alliance with his family, would require you first to become a lover of ardent spirit; for, saith the prophet, wine and its kindred indulgences "take away the heart." Why, then, should a rational being, capable of the purest enjoyment, yield to a custom, in no respect useful; but rather the occasion of countless miseries?

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2. Drinking ardent spirit, if it do no good, is a great and wicked waste. The use of only a single glass daily, by the ten millions of freemen in the United States, would, in fifty years, at one cent a glass, amount to eighteen hundred millions of dollars; a sum abundantly sufficient to supply with colleges, academies, and schools, every city and district of our country. And yet, according to official returns to government, the amount of ardent spirit annually imported and manufactured in the United States, would far more than furnish a glass daily to each of ten millions; and every body knows, that the average cost to consumers must be more than one cent a glass.

And let it be admitted, that all the time now employed in importing, manufacturing, distributing, and drinking this liquor, might be devoted to other business at least equally productive; and here you have another item of eighteen hundred millions of dollars wasted: the simple interest of which, (exceeding one hundred millions per annum,) would be sufficient to support the Christian ministry throughout the nation, to pay all our public taxes, and to earry on great national improvements.

Add to these the enormous expenses of sickness, pauperism, crime, and premature death, occasioned in the same period by ardent spirit, and you have a third item of at least eighteen hundred millions of dollars wasted:—which would purchase a Bible for every inhabitant of the globe. Any one who has patience to calculate a little, will see that these estimates are far within bounds. And will our sober and intelligent youth, when they know these facts, be instrumental in occasioning such waste?

3. Indulgence in ardent spirit is offensive to the Giver of all mercies. It is not a "creature of God"—any more than cards, or murderous weapons--but of man's invention; and of comparatively recent invention; originating, like the Mahomedan imposture, in "the land of robbers." Had the all

wise Creator deemed it absolutely necessary for man, can it be supposed that he would have suffered thousands of years to pass, ere the method of making it was known? Or had He deemed the habitual use of it good for man, would He have created him with a disgust for it, which requires the insidious practice of sweetening and diluting to overcome?

The spirit of the Bible, as well as uncorrupted taste, is in direct hostility to this intoxicating poison. Its uniform language in regard to all such impurities is, Touch not, taste not, handle not. He, who hath solemnly said, Drunkards shall not inherit the kingdom of God, cannot, surely, look with complacency, even on those who sip the polluting cup; and who, by their example, encourage others to drink still deeper in the pollution. Common sense, as well as piety, revolts at the thought.

On the other hand, strict temperance is pleasing to the Most High. Thus it was said of him, who was honored to announce the Savior's advent; "He shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong

drink." In the view of Omniscience, then, true greatness is associated with entire abstinence from this artificial stimulus.

4. The use of spiritous liquor, has a perverting and debasing influence; and leads to other sensual indulgences; as well as to foul speeches and foolish contracts. Men excited by this poison, will say things and do things, which in other circumstances they would abhor. They will slander, and reveal secrets, and throw away property, and offend modesty, and profane sacred things, and indulge the vilest passions, and abuse the nearest relatives, and cover themselves and families with infamy. Hence the strict and solemn caution of the Holy Book; "Look not thou on the wine when it is red, when it giveth its colour in the cup at the last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder: thine eyes shall behold strange women; and thine heart shall utter perverse things. Those who by gaming or intrigue rob others of their property, and those who allure the "simple" and unsuspecting to the chamber of death and hell, understand this deceitful tendency of ardent spirit. Hence the exhilarating glass is presented as their first enticement. "Is it not a little one?" say they, with insidious smile; and so the unwary are "caused to fall by little and little."

"She urged him still to fill another cup;
and in the dark still night,

When God's unsleeping eye alone can see,
He went to her adulterous bed. At morn
I looked, and saw him not among the youths :
I heard his father mourn, his mother weep;
For none returned that went with her. The dead
Were in her house; her guests in depths of hell;
She wove the winding sheet of souls, and laid
Them in the urn of everlasting death."

Such is ever the certain tendency, if not always the fatal end of the insidious cup. For, says Solomon, "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby, is not wise.' The sentiment is reiterated

by Isaiah; "They are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision; they stumble in judgment." And One infinitely greater than Solomon or Isaiah, hath said, that drunkards and adulterers shall go to the same place of torment.

5. The habit of drinking once established, it will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to break off in more advanced life. Thus, in this day of reform, and in places where the reformation is very general, there are individuals, even members of churches, so accustomed to drink and to traffic in the poison, that all the remonstrances of conscience, the wailings of the ruined, the authority of God, and the odium of public sentiment combined, cannot now restrain them. In despite of all, they still drink on, and, in some instances, even those sustaining important offices in the church, blush not, in this day of light, to deal out for paltry gain this article of death and perdition! O, could an angel speak to such men, he would thunder with Paul, "Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils." But our business and hope are with the young: Let the youth, then, who now turn with shame from such examples of inconsistency and guilt, beware of contracting a habit so hardening to the conscience, so deadening to the soul.

6. It is a solemn consideration, which must have great weight with such as reverence the Bible, that even moderate drinking may for ever exclude the saving influences of the Holy Spirit. Says one, distinguished by his writings and his extensive usefulness as a preacher; "If, while under conviction, a person allows himself to sip a little-he is sure to grieve away the Spirit of God." And this testimony, the result of long observation, is in perfect

accordance with reason and Scripture. For, (to say nothing of the deadening influence of ardent spirit on the conscience,) unless heaven and hell can work together, God cannot, consistently, send his Spirit to co-operate with that spirit, which Satan employs, inore than any other agent, in fitting men for his service and kingdom: for, "what communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial ?" and how "can two walk together except they be agreed?" If, then, "ye know these things," and desire salvation, O, beware of "sinning against the Holy Ghost!"

7. To increase your disgust for ardent spirit, think how the use of it prevails among the most despised and degraded portions of the community. Inquire through the city or the village, for those who are so polluted by vice as to be shut out from all decent society, so changed to the image of the beast, that they cannot be looked upon but with abhorrence; learn their history, and you invariably find, that the bottle has been their familiar companion. Enter their retreats of midnight revelry, and you still find that rum is the all-inspiring divinity among them-that this spirit from beneath seems needful to fit them for the work of their master. And should not the most decided reprobation be stamped upon that, which is always found associated with the lowest state of debasement and crime?

8. Be persuaded to strict temperance by the reflection, that in the purest state of morals, and in the most intelligent and refined circles, ardent spirit is not tolerated. Who would not be shocked at the supposition, that this liquor was carried about by the twelve apostles and their Lord! or that it was offered to them at such houses as they found "worthy?" What assembly of divines, feeling the sacredness of their office, would now be found "mingling strong drink?" What select band of students, hoping soon to officiate at the altar of God, before the bench of justice, or in the chamber of affliction, would now call for brandy? What circle of refined females would not feel themselves about as much degraded by indulging in rum, as by smoking or swearing? What Christian church would not be shocked at a proposal for stimulating their social meetings with this noxious spirit? Or what parent, inquiring for an eligible boarding-school, would think of asking, whether his child might there be sure to have the aid of this stimulus? If then ardent spirit cannot be tolerated in the most moral, intelligent, and refined associations, why should it not in like manner be wholly discarded by individuals? Why should not the young, especially, of both sexes, keep themselves unspotted, and worthy of a place in the most pure and refined society!

9. Be persuaded to strict temperance, by a consideration of its happy influence on the health and vigor of both mind und body. The most eminent physicians bear uniform testimony to this propitious effect of entire abstinence. And the Spirit of inspiration has recorded, He that striveth for the mastery, is temperate in all things. Many striking examples might be adduced. The mother of Samson, that prodigy of human strength, was instructed by an angel of God to preserve him from the slightest touch of "wine or strong drink, or any unclean thing.' And Luther, who burst the chains of half Europe, was as remarkable for temperance, as for great bodily and intellectual vigor. "It often happened," says his biographer, "that for several days and nights he locked himself up in his study, and took no other nourishment than bread and water, that he might the more uninterruptedly pursue his labors." Sir Isaac Newton, also, while composing his Treatise on Light, a work requiring the greatest clearness of intellect, abstained not only from spirit, but from all stimulating food. The immortal Edwards, too, repeatedly records his own experience of the happy effect of strict temperance both on mind and body. And the recent reformations from moderate drinking, in different parts of the land, have revealed numerous examples of renovated health and

spirits in consequence of the change. But not to multiply instances, let any youth, oppressed with heaviness of brain, or dulness of intellect, thoroughly try the experiment of temperance in all things, united with great activity, and he will himself be surprised at the happy effect.

10. The habit of temperance, being closely allied to other virtues, will secure for you the respect and confidence of the best part of the community, and thus lead to your more extensive usefulness, as well as prosperity and happiness. The youth who comes up to the resolution of entire abstinence for ever, and persuades others so to do, gives evidence of moral courage→→ gives evidence that he has the power of self-denial-gives evidence of an intellect and moral sense predominating over appetite, and selfishness, and the laugh of fools; and such is the youth whom a virtuous and intelligent community will delight to honor.

11. Let true patriotism and philanthropy inspire you with an utter abhorrence of this national evil. A thick fiery vapor, coming up from the pit, has overspread the whole land, and blighted half its glory. Tens of thousands of our citizens, poisoned and polluted by this vapor, and fitted only to dwell in fire, have yearly sunk down into that pit, to weep and lament for ever. Upward of four hundred thousand more, according to calculation, are at this moment groping their miserable way to that same pit, who, but for this pestilence, might have been among our happiest and most respected citizens. A still greater number, of near connexions, are in consequence covered with shame, weeping, and wo. Ah! who can say, he has no relative ruined by this plague ? Three years ago, the infection had become almost universal. But God, in great mercy, has inspired his servants to publish the only remedy - ABSTINENCE, TOTAL ABSTINENCE FOR EVER. Great multitudes have already believed, and obeyed, and are now safe from the plague. The remedy is sufficient for the whole world. And, instead of costing any thing, its general application in the United States would be an annual saving of many millions of dollars. What youth, then, what child, that loves his country, that loves mankind, will not now co-operate with patriots, and statesmen, and physicians, and divines, and the respected of every name, in applying the remedy? Who does not see its certain efficacy, and the grandeur of the result? Who does not see that drunkards are all formed by moderate drinking? and that if the young will abstain, all drunkards now living will soon die, and the great national evil be exterminated? What youth, then, is so perverse, so cold to his country's glory, so devoid of philanthropy, that he will not abstain?

While Wilberforce was lifting his voice for the abolition of the slavetrade, three hundred thousands in Great Britain abandoned the use of sugar. And when our patriot fathers resisted foreign taxation, hundreds of thousands in this land renounced the use of tea. And could they thus abstain from things agreeable and innocent, because they hated oppression? and is there a patriot youth, who will not openly renounce that which poisons alike both soul and body, and inflicts both temporal and eternal bondage?

Were a foreign despot now landing great armies on our shores, and threatening to enslave the whole country, every youthful bosom would swell with indignation, every sword be unsheathed, and every bayonet pointed. And will you not combine to arrest the more cruel despot, Intemperance, who murders nearly all his prisoners. whose vessels are continually entering our ports, whose magazines of death are now planted in all our villages, and whose manufactories, in the very midst of us and throughout the land, are like "the worm that dieth not and the fire that is not quenched?"

Were all who have the past year been found drunk in the land, now collected in one place, they would make a greater army than ever Buonaparte commanded. And yet those now on the road to drunkenness would make a