LESSON CV.

INTEMPERANCE.

Intemperance is, in our land, emphatically the great moral pestilence that walketh in darkness; and the destruction that wasteth at noon-day. In its march thousands fall at your sidé, and ten thousand at your right hand'. If it is not stayed by timely and efficient remedies', like the angel of death in the Assyrian camp', it will change the living into dead corpses', and sweep our country as with the besom of destruction.

Intemperance, as a source of crime, is an evil exceeding calculation. I do not know what proportion of the yearly crimes of our nation are occasioned by it',-and I should scarcely dare to state it', if I did'. Gò, learn the fact at our houses of correction, from the records of our courts', from the wretched inmates of our prisons, and from the dying confessions' of our criminals. Of the deaths which annually take place in our country, I cannot tell what proportion of them are occasioned by intemperance. Gò, learn the fact from the bills of mortality', from the reports of societies formed for the suppression of intemperance, and, especially', from the reports of medical societies', composed of men who are competent judges in this matter. If all those whose deaths are occasioned directly', or indirectly', by strong drink', were to be conveyed to one common cemetery', ', every year would make a vast Golgothà-a place literally filled with skulls. Will you not then come forth in your strength against this merciless and destroying enemy'?— Will you not raise your standard, and call to your ranks every youth who is not a prey to the mighty', and a captivé in chains"? In what way can you better serve your God, and your country', than by taking a decided stand against intemperance'? In what way can you more successfully promote the happiness of your fellow-men', and save so many from sufferings too great to be known by any but those who feel them? It is not the personal sufferings of the drunkard to which I now alludè―these, whatever they may bé, are gratuitous on his part', and he must bear them. But it is the sufferings which he brings upon the innocent'; upon those who have had no partnership with him in crime. A multitude, upon whom these sufferings have not yet comé, may, perhaps', be saved from them by your influence timely exerted. It is on their behalf I plead', and make my appeal to the best sympathies of your heart'. You pity, I know you do, the child who, as often as he happens to offend

his playmate, is saluted with'-your father is a drunkard'. You pity, I know you do, the fond parent whose last days are filled with anguish, and whose gray hairs are brought down with sorrow to the gravé, by the idleness', prodigality', and cruelty of an intemperate son. You pity, I know you do, the husband, who dares not invite his friend to his firesidé, to be his guest for an hour' or a night`, lest he should find his house desolated by a besotted wife. And most of all', you pity that delicate femalé, who cannot endure an unkind word' or look' from the man to whom she has committed her person', her fortuné, and her happiness'; whó, instead of finding in him the protecting angel she expected', finds only a raving maniac'; and whó, having lived through the hurricane raised by onè fit of intemperancé, lives but to tremble in the fearful expectation of another', and another tempest' still more dreadful. Could you look into her lonely dwelling at the midnight hour', deserted by him who should be her companion and solacé; could you see her fast-falling tears as she looks on her babè, which', unconscious of her grief', sleeps sweetly in the cradle by her sidé; could you hear the agonizing prayer which she sends up to heaven' for the return of its father from his intemperate revel;—and O! could you look into the inner sanctuary that is veiled, and witness the throbbings of her half distracted heart when she hears his footsteps at the door', as though an enemy had comé; you would pity', I know you would pity, her still more. Should you see her sinking under disease occasioned by cold neglect and a broken heart', you could scarcely put up a prayer for the delay of her dismission. Do you ask where such scenes may be witnessed'? I answer', in the habitations of poverty and wretchedness' occasioned by drunkenness'. Say not', it is the picture of fancy. Real life, think of it as you may', presents many an original', of which this is but a halfdrawn portrait.

LESSON CVI.

THE VALUE OF THE BIBLE

ON casting a survey over the different orders into which socievy is distributed, I am at an utter loss to fix on any description of persons who are likely to be injured by the most extensive perusal of the word of God. The poor, we may be certain^, will sustain no injury from their attention to a book which', while it inculcates, under the most awful sanctions', the practice of honesty', industry', frugality', subordination to lawful author

ity', contentment', and resignation to the allotments of Providencé, elevates them to "an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled and that fadeth not away;" a book', which at once secures the observation of the duties which attach to an inferior condition', and almost annihilates its evils', by opening their prospects into a state where all the inequalities of fortune will vanish', and the obscurest and most neglected piety shall be crowned with eternal glory. "The poor man rejoices that he is exalted;" and while he views himself as a member of Christ', and the heir of a blessed immortality', he can look with undissembled pity on the frivolous distinctions', the fruitless agitations', and the fugitive enjoyments of the most eminent and the most prosperous of those who have their portion in this world. The poor man will sustain no injury by exchanging the vexations of envy' for the quiet of a good consciencè, and fruitless repinings' for the consolations of a religious hopè. The less is his portion in this lifé, the more ardently will he embrace and cherish the promise of a better', while the hope of that better' exerts a reciprocal influencé, in prompting him to discharge the duties', and reconciling him to the evils', which are inseparable from the present. The Bible is the treasure of the poor', the solace of the sick', and the support of the dying'; and while other books may amuse and instruct in a leisure hour', it is the peculiar triumph of that' book` to create light in the midst of darkness', to alleviate the sorrow' which admits of no other alleviation', to direct a beam of hope to the heart' which no other topic of consolation can reach`; while guilt', despair', and death' vanish at the touch of its holy inspiration. There is something in the spirit and diction of the Bible which is found peculiarly adapted to arrest the attention of the plainest' and most uncultivated' minds. The simple structure of its sentences', combined with a lofty spirit of poetry',—its familiar allusions to the scenes of nature, and the transactions of common lifé,-the delightful intermixture of narration with the doctrinal and preceptive parts,—and the profusion of miraculous' facts', which convert it into a sort of enchanted ground',-its constant advertence to the Deity', whose perfections it renders almost visible and palpablé,-unite in bestowing upon it an interest which attaches to no other performance, and which', after assiduous and repeated perusal', invests it with much of the charm of novelty'; like the great orb of day', at which we are wont to gaze with unabated astonishment from infancy' to old age. What other book', besides the Biblé, could be heard in public assemblies from year to year, with an attention that never tires', and an interest that never cloys'? With few exceptions', let a portion of the sacred vol

ume be recited in a mixed multitudé, and though it has been heard a thousand times', a universal stillness ensues; every eye is fixed', and every ear is awaké and attentivè. Select, if you can', any other composition', and let it be rendered equally familiar to the mind', and see whether it will produce this effect.

LESSON CVII.

CHARACTER OF INFIDELITY.

THE spirit of infidelity has the heart of a wolf', the fangs of a tiger', and the talons of a vulture. Blood is its proper nourishment`: and it scents its prey with the nerves of a hound', and cowers over a field of death on the sooty pinions of a fiend. Unlike all other animals of prey', it feeds upon its own kind'; and, when glutted with the blood of others', turns back upon those who have been its coadjutors', and whó, if either its dis position' or its measures' could admit of friendship', would have been its friends'. Between ninety and a hundred' of those who were leaders' in this mighty work of destruction', fell by the hand of violence. Enemies of all men', they were of course enemies to each other. Butchers of the human racé, they soon whetted the knife for each other's` throats': and the tremendous Being who rules the universé, whose existence they had denied in a solemn act of legislation', whose perfections they had made the butt of public scorn' and private insult', whose Son they had crucified afresh', and whose word they had burnt by the hands of the common hangman', swept them all by the hand of violence into an untimely grave. The tale made every ear which heard it tinglè, and every heart chill with horror. It was', in the language of Ossian'," the song of death`." It was like the reign of the plague in a populous city. Knell' tolled upon knell`; hearsé followed hearsè; and coffin' rumbled after coffin'; without a mourner to shed a tear upon the corpsé, or a solitary attendant to mark the place of the gravè. From one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, the world went forth and looked after the carcasses of the men who transgressed against GOD; and they were an abhorring unto all flesh.

LESSON CVIII.

ENCOURAGEMENT TO RELIGIOUS EFFORT.

We believe that improvement in intellectual' sciencé, but, above all', more elevated piety', and more ardent devotion', will yet confer some new powers of suasion on the Christian teacher. Every one must be sensible, that the gospel is an instrument which has never been wielded with its legitimate effect', since the time of the Apostles. May we not hope that there are forms of illustration at present untried', that there are modes of appeal as yet unattempted', which', with an efficacy more certain than we any where now witness', will arouse the slumbering consciencé, and lead the awakened sinner to the cross of Christ.

Christian brethren', estimate, if you can', the importance of these facts. Consider that every law of matter', or of mind', presents a separate argument in favor of religion`; that the providence of God is multiplying', with a rapidity beyond precedent', both the number and the power of such arguments'; that all classes of men are becoming more deeply imbued with a knowledge of them; and that this knowledgé, from the improved discipline of the faculties', must produce a more certain and more salutary effect`; and then consider how the press is enabling every man to exert his whole moral and intellectual power upon the thoughts and opinions of mankind, and you will surely say', that never have there been presented so many nor so great encouragements for a universal effort to bring the whole of Christendom under subjection to Jesus Christ. The prediction seems already fulfilled, "the sons of strangers shall come bending unto thee." Following in the train of every art', and every sciencé, infidel philosophy herself is beheld presenting her offering at the feet of the Redeemer. Every thing waits for us to move forward and take possession of the inheritancé which Messiah has purchased with his own most precious blood.

LESSON CIX.

FINAL TRIUMPH OF THE GOSPEL.

If we have "tasted that he is gracious," if we look back with horror and transport upon the wretchedness and the wrath which we have escaped', with what anxiety shall we not hasten