SERMON XX.

ON WINTER, AS THE SEASON OF SOCIAL AMUSEMENT.

PSALM lxxxiv. 5, 6.

"Blessed are the men, who going through the vale of misery, use it for a well; and the pools are filled with water.”

THE words of the text contain, in their moral view, one of the most beautiful allusions which is to be found even in the sacred poetry of the Psalmist. They allude to that similitude, so natural to an eastern imagination, of the course of human life to a journey through the sandy desert ;-and they represent the scenes of joy and amusement with which life is interspersed, "as the green vales of "the desert, in which water springs," and where the weary traveller may find a temporary repose. But they represent still more beautifully, in their moral view, what is the duty of that traveller;— not to linger around these fountains of ease and joy, but to use them only as for a well, to revive his exhausted strength,-to invigorate his pur

posed resolutions,-and to send him forward "renewed in his mind," on his great journey to the promised land.

I am led, my brethren, to this application of the beautiful allusion in the text, by the circumstances of the time in which we meet.-While the annual season of education and business has begun, there has, at the same time, still more lately, begun among us the annual season of pleasure and amusement. The young, the gay, and the opulent, are now preparing to enliven the winter of our year with artificial joys, and are looking forward to days of social mirth, and innocent festivity. It is a moment which a benevolent mind cannot look to without a kind of melancholy interest. Even in the midst of his sympathy with the mirth of the innocent and the young, his heart will be sad with the memory of former days;-when he remembers those, now lost to fame, to honour, and to happiness, who once entered life with hearts as gay, and minds as innocent;-and when he thinks, that, in the bright circle of those he sees, there will, too surely, be some, whom this season of gayety will lead to errour and to folly, and who will live one day to curse their fatal entrance upon that scene which now they think prodigal only of joy and happiness. It is under this impression that I now wish to submit to the young of our congregation, some very simple observations; and ere they advance upon the road even of innocent

amusement, to lay before them some of the dangers which await the inordinate love of it.

1. It were unjust and ungrateful to conceive that the amusements of life are altogether forbid by its beneficent Author. They serve, on the contrary, important purposes in the economy of human life, and are destined to produce important effects, both upon our happiness and character. They are, in the first place, in the language of the Psalmist, the wells of the desert;" the kind resting-places in which toil may relax, in which the weary spirit may recover its tone, and where the desponding mind may reassume its strength and its hopes.-They are, in another view, of some importance to the dignity of individual character. In every thing we call amusement, there is generally some display of taste and of imagination,-some elevation of the mind from mere animal indulgence, or the baseness of sensual desire. Even in the scenes of relaxation, therefore, they have a tendency to preserve the dignity of human character, and to fill up the vacant and unguarded hours of life with occupations innocent at least, if not virtuous. But their principal effect, perhaps, is upon the social character of man. Whenever amusement is sought, it is in the society of our brethren; and whenever it is found, it is in our sympathy with the happiness of those around us. It bespeaks the disposition of benevolence, and it creates it. When men assemble, accordingly, for

the purpose of general happiness or joy, they exhibit to the thoughtful eye, one of the most pleasing appearances of their original character. They leave behind them, for a time, the faults of their station and the asperities of their temper ;-they forget the secret views, and the selfish purposes of their ordinary life, and mingle with the crowd around them with no other view than to receive and to communicate happiness. It is a spectacle which it is impossible to observe without emotion; and, while the virtuous man rejoices at that evidence which it affords of the benevolent constitution of his nature, the pious man is apt to bless the benevolence of that God, who thus makes the wilderness and the solitary place be glad, and whose wisdom renders even the hours of amusement subservient to the cause of virtue.

2. It is not, therefore, my brethren, the use of the innocent amusements of life which is dangerous, but the abuse of them ;-it is not when they are occasionally, but when they are constantly pursued; when the love of amusement degenerates into a passion, and when, from being an occasional indulgence, it becomes a habitual desire. What the consequences of this inordinate love of amusement are, I shall now endeavour very briefly to shew you.

When we look, in a moral view, to the consequences of human pursuits, we are not to stop at the precise and immediate effects which they may

seem to have upon character. It is chiefly by the general frame of mind they produce, and the habitual dispositions they create, that we are to determine whether their influence is fortunate or unfortunate on those who are engaged in them. In every pursuit, whatever gives strength and energy to the mind of man, experience teaches to be favourable to the interests of piety, of knowledge, and virtue ;—in every pursuit, on the contrary, whatever enfeebles or limits the powers of mind, the same experience every where shews to be hostile to the best interests of human nature.

If it is in this view we consider the effects of the habitual love even of the most innocent amusement, we shall find that it produces necessarily, for the hour in which it is indulged, an enfeebled and dependent frame of mind; that in such scenes energy resolves, and resolution fades ;-that in the enjoyment of the present hour, the past and the future are alike forgotten; and that the heart learns to be satisfied with passive emotion, and momentary pleasure.

It is to this single observation, my young friends, that I wish at present to direct your attention; and to entreat you to consider what may be expected to be the effects of such a character of mind, at your age, upon the honour and happiness of future life.

1. It tends to degrade all the powers of the understanding. It is the eternal law of nature that