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2. Profaneness is another vice by which the soul is polluted, and on which a peculiar stamp of guilt and infamy is fixed by the word of God. It is a vice to which the young are exposed, and which, at the present day, exhibits an alarming appearance, with respect to the rising generation. Man is the offspring of divine goodness, and all his faculties the gifts of God; and will not this teach us the proper use of our tongues? What then shall we say to those persons, who employ that tongue to blaspheme and dishonour that Being, who gave it to them, that they might praise and adore him; and to pollute and corrupt the society, in which they live? What shall be done to thee, O thou devouring tongue ?—No vice has less to plead in its favour, than this-and none is more solemnly forbidden, none more formally condemned throughout the whole Bible. Prophets, apostles, and the Son of God have all opposed their authority to this heaven daring sin. Said Christ,-" But I say unto you, swear not at all." So great did this sin appear in the eyes of an inspired apostle, that he says→→→ "Above all things, my brethren, swear not." Above all listen to the voice of Jehovah from the midst of the thunders of Sinai-" Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the dwill not hold him guiltless, that taketh his name inain”. Will you provoke the Lord to anger ?-Are you stronger than he ?-What motive have you for this? Has he ever injured you?-Nay, is he not thy father, that bought thee, and established thee? The swearer beside dishonouring God, injures men-like the plague, he

pollutes the very air he breathes,-and spreads death, by his example all around him. This vice is productive of neither profit, honour, nor pleasure; but certainly exposes a person to the hearty contempt of every good man. Let me then adjure all, who are conscious of guilt in this respect, by all they hold dear, to give these observations their due weight. Nor consider these remonstrances as mere words of course; but the effect of real concern for your future and eternal well being.

How shall a young man cleanse his way in this respect, but by taking heed thereto according to God's word?

3. Lewdness in speech and behaviour is a vice by which the soul and body are polluted. There is no sin, perhaps, to which the young are more exposed, and of the guilt and danger of which they are oftener warned. And certainly there is no sin, that has a more direct tendency to harden the heart, and stupify the conscience, and bring on a complete state of moral insensibility than this. The Scriptures tell us that this sin takes away the heart, that is the moral feelings. Hence so many exhortations given to youth to flee from this sin.-We are assured, that it is a decree of Heaven, that neither whoremongers, nor adulterers, nor fornicators shall inherit the kingdom. Hence the apostle exhorts the young to fly youthful lusts, and assigns this as the reason, that they "war against the soul." How pathetically does Solomon exhort the young men to avoid the house and company of the harlot, and he founds his exhortation upon the dreadful

and generally fatal consequences of such indulgence. "Her house is "emphatically" the way of hell, leading down to the chambers of death: none that go to her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life." The meaning of which is, that the consequences of indulging in this sin are generally fatal. What a solemn consideration to awaken the consciences of the guilty, and deter others from entering this forbidden path !

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4. Mispending the sabbath is a vice, which, I fear is growing into practice among all ranks, particularly among the rising generation. God has honoured this day above all the rest, and he expressly and particularly requires us to regard it as a day of holy rest. was instituted for our benefit; by being particularly devoted to the interest of the soul; and it is peculiarly vile and ungrateful in us to spend that time in vain amusements, in idleness or business, which God has enjoined us to spend in public worship, in reading and meditating upon his word, and in secret devotion. God has set it apart with a direct view, that we might be prepared for the endless and sublime enjoyments, and refined pleasures of heaven. The fourth commandment is a part of the moral law, and of perpetual obligation. It expressly requires, that one seventh part of our time should be religiously devoted to holy uses. The law from Mount Sinai pointed out the seventh day of the week for the sabbath; and from several prophecies respecting gospel-times, and the practice of the apostles, it is sufficiently evident, that it is the will of God, that the first day of the week should be

observed by us as a sabbath.

That mispending and profaning the sabbath is a heinous sin, appears from the threatenings of God, against the Jews, in case they should break the sabbath, and the dreadful judgments brought upon that whole nation for this sin. The Babylonish captivity is ascribed to this sin, as its procuring cause. No doubt God is now visiting us with national calamities and judgments for this sin. Can we suppose, that there would be such a great and general prevalence of other vices, if the duties of God's house and worship were properly attended to, and discharged? Would there be so much ignorance, which opens a door for many corruptions? I think it can hardly be supposed.-Sabbath breaking is a sin attended with many aggravations.-It is big with ingratitude to God; and implies a disregard to all those glorious things, in memory of which it was instituted. It is a waste of precious time, the parent of spiritual poverty, and the first in the train of many ruinous vices. Persons who disregard this day, not only injure themselves; but often ruin others by their example. Such persons generally seek companions in this sin; and often gather about them many idle, wicked men, who contribute to support each other in this vice. This, my hearers, will appear, at the day of Judgment, among the vilest and most general abominations of this land at the present day. And you, my young hearers, have special reason to take heed to your ways, that you be not found among that class, upon whom God will pour out his wrath. The present degenerate state of the French nation, should be a warning to us.

They renounced the sabbath, and with it all religion. They altered the usual way of reckoning time, and made the week to consist of ten days, with an evident design, if possible, to blot the memory of the sabbath from under heaven. They have had great success in their wars, and God has suffered them thus to scourge the wicked nations for their sins. The height of pride and power to which they have risen, will prepare them for a more dreadful fall. And, if we may judge any thing of God's future dealings with mankind by the past, we must conclude, that their present flood of prosperity will terminate in deep adversity and wretchedness; and, I fully believe, the present generation will live to see it. Let the rising generation then, as they value their own present and future peace, and the prosperity of future generations, carefully avoid that conduct which tends directly to bring on such a state of things. For, what the moral state of this country will be, twenty or thirty years hence, depends much upon the present conduct of the rising generation. Should you disregard the sabbath, and teach others to do the same, you may easily see from what has taken place in this land in a few years past, that this country will be ripe for a publick and formal rejection of the sabbath of publick worship-and of every religious institution. But, I would hope, there are but a few so lost to all sense of the importance of religious institutions, as not to be shocked even in the prospect of such a state of things. Then cleanse your ways from every vice, which tends to bring forward such a state of things, "by taking heed thereto according to God's

word."

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