you

they took to secure to you the pleasant land, which you inhabit. Whilst avoid their faults, which were not peculiar to them, but which may be justly charged on the age in which they lived, their bigotry, their intolerance, -endeavor to imitate their virtues, their industry, their prudence, their sobriety, their peaceable submission to the laws, their respect to their magistrates, their love of truth, and their sacred regard to the institutions of religion. You in the present day enjoy more light than was given to them, who had hardly escaped the darkness of the middle ages. Instead therefore of resting at the point, which they attained, you ought, in imitation of their spirit, to go on; not to believe what they believed, but to believe what men of such inquiring minds would have believed, if they had lived in the nineteenth century.

9. Your benefactors also of a later period should not be forgotten. You should gratefully recollect the statesmen, the patriots, the soldiers, the heroes, who defended your rights, and who finally established your freedom and independence. Some of them are still left to receive your thanks; but ere long every potent arm among them will be chained in death. One of the best and bravest of them died in the present year; and the hoary heads of those, who survive, warn you that you cannot retain any of them but a few days. You should in particular remember the extraordinary man, who led your armies, and during several years presided in your councils, and who died at this season. Though, while he lived, his prudence was censured by the rash, and his

* General Lincoln, who died May 9, 1810.

Many of you children, who

moderation was condemned by the envious, who coveted the high honors to which he had risen; yet now that the grave is closed on him forever, the voice of calumny is dumb, and no trace is left in your minds, except that of his virtues. The remembrance of the independence, which he achieved for you, and of the unexampled prosperity, which your country enjoyed during his administration, can never be effaced; but it will last in your annals as long as your nation exists. have seen his majestic form; but to your have been denied this advantage, you should present his image for their contemplation. While they view it with delight, say to them, This is the man whose character you should imitate. Be prudent, firm, intrepid, and honorable, like him; love your country, and like him, devote your whole lives to its service. This counsel you ought to give, because on the youth of our nation depend almost all our hopes. They are not yet corrupted with the malignity of party spirit; nor have they grown hardened in the ways of political iniquity. With the ardor and noble feelings, which are natural to their age, they admire what is excellent and sublime in moral character. If they can be preserved from the false opinions and selfish depravity, with which a larger commerce with the world is too apt to infect the mind; and in particular, if they can be induced to venerate and imitate the most perfect models, there will still be a chance, that our country may be saved from the overwhelming destruction, in which other nations are involved.

10. Finally, my brethren, I exhort you in a word: obey the command of St Peter in the text: The end of

all things is at hand; be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer: That is, be temperate, vigilant, and deDo not immoderately indulge yourselves in any of the pleasures of this transitory life. Let not your affections be placed on the world; but let your hearts be in heaven, where your treasure is. Watch, and be constantly on your guard against the allurements of sin, that they may not draw you aside from the path of your duty. Above all, be pious: pray with earnestness and without ceasing for strength to perform your good resolutions: let God be the supreme object of your love: let his will be the rule of all your actions. These principles, deeply fixed in your minds, will enable you to live in a state of constant preparation for death; so that when it arrives, it will not be an evil. If you regard this life in the just light, in which it ought to be viewed, as a preparation for a better, you will not be filled with despondency, because it is soon to come to an end; but like a traveller, who is returning, through a strange country, to his own home, you will look forward with eagerness and hope to the termination of your journey, and suffer no enticement to divert you from your straight course. The year ends; and it ends with serious and gloomy reflections; but it is followed immediately by a new year, in which you renew your cheerfulness and joy: In like manner, when this life ends, it is succeeded by another; and if it is not your own fault, by a life of exquisite and everlasting felicity.

Last Sunday of the Year.

NOTE TO SERMON VII.

NOTE [I.] p. 89.

THE Southwest is the pleasantest wind, which blows in New England. In the month of October, in particular, after the frosts, which commonly take place at the end of September, it frequently produces two or three weeks of fair weather, in which the air is perfectly transparent, and the clouds, which float in a sky of the purest azure, are adorned with brilliant colors. If at this season a man of an affectionate heart and ardent imagination should visit the tombs of his friends, the southwestern breezes, as they breathe through the glowing trees, would seem to him almost articulate. Though he might not be so wrapt in enthusiasm, as to fancy that the spirits of his ancestors were whispering in his ear; yet he would at least imagine that he heard the small voice of God. This charming season is called the Indian Summer, a name which is derived from the natives, who believe that it is caused by a wind, which comes immediately from the court of their great and benevolent God Cautantowwit, or the southwestern God, the God, who is superior to all other beings, who sends them every blessing which they enjoy, and to whom the souls of their fathers go after their decease.

SERMON VIII.

THE YEAR AND ITS DIVISIONS.

GEN. I. 14.

AND GOD SAID,

LET THERE BE LIGHTS IN THE FIRMAMENT OF HEAVEN, TO DIVIDE THE DAY FROM THE NIGHT; AND LET THEM BE FOR SIGNS, AND FOR SEASONS, AND FOR DAYS, AND YEARS.

THE beginning of a new year suggests to the mind many reflections. Among others it calls the attention to that arrangement of the earth and the heavenly bodies, which causes the seasons, the year itself, and the several parts into which it is divided. A consideration of this subject will lead us to a justification of the ways of God.

The heavenly bodies, beside affording light and heat to the earth, fertility to the ground, health to the atmosphere, and rendering the world a convenient and pleasant habitation to men and other animals, serve also to produce the seasons, and several of the divisions, which are made in the year. By the diurnal revolution of the ⚫ earth on its axis is effected the natural distinction of day

and night, and of evening, midnight, morning, and noon; but the divisions of the day into hours, minutes, and seconds, is the work of man, the convenience of which he soon learned, and the utility of which has been con