from which a light-house was missing? or was it, as others affirm, owing to a far less excusable cause? In either case, it will answer our purpose-a purpose of simple illustration.

We, my young friends, are navigating a dangerous ocean. Careering winds, dangerous reefs, and deceitful currents beset us on every hand. We need a correct chart, and vigilance and skill on the part of each navigator. Happily for us, there is no error and no defect in our chart. Revelation has erected a light-house on every ledge, and lighted up her beacon-fires on every point of danger. I propose, on the present occasion, to call your attention to some of these dangers.

It is the more necessary to speak to you on this subject, because "the prevalent vices in this nation peculiarly assail young men. The arrangements which are made to propagate iniquity peculiarly contemplate you. It would be instructive to go over the catalogue of vices that exist in this land, and to ascertain how many of the arrangements and temptations contemplate young men; and how few have any reference to any other class of the community. Atheists and profligates have little expectation of increasing their ranks from the aged, or comparatively from the female sex. Age has few passions to which profligacy can appeal; and the opinions of age are usually fixed, either for good or evil; and the proselytism of decrepitude and years are enlistments of little value. Let any man, therefore, look at the various arrangements which

contemplate the extension of profligacy and sin, and he will find that they are adapted designedly to secure and ruin young men. Our taverns and dram-shops look mainly for patronage to them. The numerous houses of licentiousness, in all our large cities, depend mainly on them. Our theatres and places of amusement look to them for patronage,—and but for this patronage could not be sustained. The advocates for drinking intoxicating liquors look to them for countenance; and the army of drunkards is to be filled up, from one generation to another, by a vast conscription, as Napoleon filled up the armies of France, from the ranks of the young men. The attractions and allurements that meet the eye in the scenes of dissipation, are not designed for age, but for young men. charms of music, the arrangements for revelry, the gorgeous scenery, the forms of dissipated though often fashionable life, contemplate them, and are calculated to lead them astray. There is not in this land a tavern, a dram-shop, a theatre, or a house of licentiousness, that would not soon be closed, were it not for the support which is expected from young men. There would not be another opened and sustained, could the efforts of the good to lead young men in the way of virtue be crowned with success."

The

The text I have chosen may demand a brief explanation. It is very obvious that, in the book of Proverbs, the terms fool and foolish are used not in an intellectual, but in a moral sense. The

fool is not the idiot, but the sinner; his folly is not that of the head, but that of the heart. The term refers not to the extent of one's abilities, but to the use he makes of them. A man with the most slender capacity may be wise-wise for eternity; while "with the talents of an angel a man may be a fool."

Another word of explanation may be necessary. My text may appear, at first view, to allow less scope than I propose to take. It may seem to be simply an incentive to virtuous associations, and a warning merely against companionship with the bad. But a moment's consideration will show, that "to walk" with either the "wise," or the "fool," implies not only frequenting their society, but embracing their principles, adopting their language, engaging in their practices, forming the same habits, and journeying to the same goal.

In speaking to you, my young friends, on the dangers to which you are exposed, I would not wish you to suppose that I regard myself as addressing those who are already gliding down the current of iniquity. Young men who regularly attend the house of God, are not in general those who have already unloosed from their moorings. There is all the more hope, therefore, that caution may prove salutary. Yet the hearer sometimes imagines that his character is mistaken; that when the speaker waxes warm and earnest in depicting the path of danger, he regards him as already posting forward in that path. Not so. The parent

who says to his son, cup;" ;" "Go not in the way of evil men;" "Be not ensnared by the wiles of her" whose "house inclineth unto death," is not supposed to accuse, but rather to caution; he aims at prevention; his language is that of affectionate warning. So I wish to be understood in these addresses. I come to you as your friend; and, with all possible familiarity and plainness of speech, shall discuss some topics which I deem of importance to your honour and happiness, both for this world and for that to come. I trust you will listen with affectionate confidence, and the interest which the subjects demand.

"Touch not the intoxicating

In pointing out some of the more prominent dangers of young men, I shall perhaps surprise you somewhat by my first topic. In this age of enterprise and daring, and especially in this country, where the forest has been felled, and cities and villages have risen up, as if by the sweep of the magician's wand, where on all hands the signs of a busy and persevering activity are seen, you will perhaps say, "What need to caution young men to beware of IDLENESS?" And yet, when I see, as oft I do, groups of young persons, from the lad of fourteen to the young man of more than twenty years of age, gathered at mid-day about taverns and saloons, and other places of public resort; and, late at night, hear the noise of the billiard-table and the bowlingalley; when I see numbers of idle students, at public seminaries and colleges, who will neither study nor let others, if they can prevent it; when I see the

number of parents-the poor as well as the richbringing up their sons to no useful employment; and, moreover, when I trace these idle young men a little farther, and find them the keepers of dramshops and low taverns, of gambling saloons, and houses of infamy; or see them in the capacity of bar-room politicians-the lowest class of office-seekers, and the worst corrupters of the ballot-boxwhen, in short, I see the vast numbers attempting to live by their wits, instead of the labour of the mind or the sweat of the brow, I am constrained to believe, that idleness is at this moment one of the sorest perils that beset a considerable portion of the young men of this nation.

We declaim against gambling and intemperance; but in how many instances is idleness the root of these vices! We declaim against dishonest bankruptcies and fraudulent insolvencies, against corrupt politicians and unprincipled office-seekers; but half these evils in the man originate in the want of some useful employment in the boy or youth. We see an army of sturdy beggars infesting our large towns and cities, "thrusting their hands deep into other men's pockets, and eating their bread in the sweat of others' brows instead of their own, thanking God for the poor-house, and contriving to get there, as soon as idleness and improvidence will give them a passport." The cause lies back, with the sauntering street boy of fifteen.

Thus idleness is indeed "the mother of vice." How indeed could it be otherwise? Man was