d. It is the organ of eloquence, the true guardian of free institutions, Greece and Rome, Demosthenes and

Cicero; Great Britain and Ireland, Burke, Pitt, and
O'Connell; the United States, Henry, Webster, and
Clay.

e. From the tongue, life receives its most attractive charm,

conversation.

f. It enables us to worship God in hymns of praise, –

"The songs that flowed on Zion's hill

Are chanted in God's temples still."

g. Without the tongue, there would be no words; consequently, no written language, no books.

B. Its hurtful effects:

a. It is the instrument of lying, deceit, backbiting, calumny,
indiscretion, wicked instigation, and flattery; and the
poet is right in saying, -

"There is a lust in man no charm can tame,
Of loudly publishing his neighbor's shame:
On eagle's wings immortal, scandals fly;
While virtue's actions are but born to die."

b. By its means, persons have disgraced themselves by sing-
ing vicious songs.

c. By its means, demagogues pervert the truth, and sow the infernal seed of discord in peaceful communities.

IV. Be cautious, therefore, in using your tongue: it is the source of much good, but also of much evil. Keep it in proper bounds, and bear in mind that man has to render an account of every idle word.

66

Speak little, but think much;" for "many words and good judgment seldom go together," and "speaking is very different from thinking."

5

7.

NO MEMORIES SO PLEASING AS THOSE OF CHILDHOOD.

I. Man seldom understands how to live in the present. Future and past (hope and remembrance) are the favorite subjects of his contemplation. This we find to be more or less the case in every stage of life. To live in the future is more peculiar to the time of youth; to live in the past, more to that of advanced age.

II. Experience teaches, that, from the age of manhood, the gray-haired sire keeps in remembrance the pleasant rather than the gloomy hours. As children, we easily forget sorrow and pleasure; but, when we become older, we remember the joys more than the sorrows of our younger days, and dwell with delight upon them.

III. How can this be explained?

a. Negatively. Not because the pleasures of childhood are greater; for who still possesses in later age a real desire and taste for the merriments of children? Who wishes to engage in them? It is true we look at the play of children with delight; but we never cherish the least wish to exchange them for those joys which we are now capable of feeling. If we compare the higher enjoyments of the time of youth with those of manhood, we shall see at once that those of age are superior. And yet the remembrance of the joys of childhood is exceedingly beautiful.

IV. The cause must lie in something else.

a. Children are more innocent: they have no idea of the moral depravity of man. Every thing appears to them in pleasing colors: they know nothing, in fact, of human infirmities; consequently, the remembrance of the joys

of childhood is seldom connected with repentance for past wickedness; or, rather, it stands out in sweet contrast from the darker life of our after-years.

b. In the years of childhood, the first sense of feeling for the beautiful manifests itself; and the memory of this pleasure is of lasting sweetness. As these are our first joys, they are the bases of all that succeed, and this explains their deep imprint upon the memory.

c. Children easily forget trouble, and rather prefer to dwell

upon pleasing transactions; and these thus make an impress upon their minds which even the latest time cannot efface.

d. The years of childhood are the years of hopes. Frequent changes, varieties, promotions from class to class in school, even the constant growth of mind and body, keep life continually new.

e. The child needs little to make him happy. His joys are cheap: he is free from cares, for his parents provide for

him.

V. On account of observations such as these it is that we are so pleased to think of the time of childhood: and it was thus the ancients formed their ideas of the golden age, which was but the age of childhood.

8.

THE NOBLEST ENJOYMENT OF YOUTH.

I. Man is not created for continual work. His mind is naturally inclined to partake of enjoy

ment.

a. This enjoyment affords strength to mind and body. We should, therefore, not abstain from the delights of innocent pleasure. Every age should partake of them, — youth as well as manhood.

b. But we frequently commit faults in the pursuit of pleasure, either by excess, or by wrong selection.

II. Which are the noblest enjoyments of youth?

a. All pleasures do not fulfil their promise. Many leave a great emptiness behind them, and fill the soul, sooner or later, with deep remorse. These are the sensual pleasures, many of which are incompatible with innocence and virtue.

b. Among the noblest enjoyments of youth are reckoned, -
1. The joys which Nature affords, ·a pleasant even-
ing's walk, or a walk on a bright spring or
summer's morning, a little traveling on foot, the
cultivation of flowers, &c.

2. The joys which we derive from agreeable compan-
ions and pleasant conversation.

3. The joys which arise from observing our advancement in knowledge, from the conviction that we learn with more ease than formerly, and that our labors are crowned with better success.

4. The joys we feel on knowing that we daily advance in virtue, goodness, morality.

5. The joys which the approbation of good men affords.

III. These joys possess the excellent qualities,

that,

a. They are attainable by all, poor and wealthy.

b. They leave after them no sorrow.

Remember the golden maxim,

"Enjoy thyself, but sin not."

9.

LIFE IS A JOURNEY.

I. The life of man is frequently compared to differ

ent things, as, the seasons; the divisions of the

day; a tree which grows, blossoms, bears fruit, and decays; to a flower, a river, a sea-voyage, &c.

II. Man's life may also be compared to a journey. a. In general,

-

1. As the traveler has a destination in view, so is there
fixed before man during his earthly pilgrimage a
twofold object, one planted by Nature; namely,
death: the other, by himself; namely, the station
which, by his exertions, he intends to reach.
2. The journey of one traveler is pleasant, and free
from all cares; that of another is quite the con-
trary. So in the life of man. On one, Fortune
smiles from the very cradle; on another, she
always looks coldly.

3. The traveler needs a guide: man needs faithful
friends.

A. The life of the child.

a. The traveler begins his journey without knowing what
awaits him the child begins life in equal ignorance.
b. At the outset, every thing looks hopeful to the traveler:
the child also enjoys the present, and indulges in
glowing anticipations of the future.

c. Unacquainted with the road, the traveler at first needs
way-marks: the child also needs help to guide him.

B. The life of the youth.

a. After a cheerful journey, the traveler inquires for the best and nearest route to the next station: so the youth, after the time of play has passed, enters a new state of life, and tries to prepare himself for it.

b. Relying more on himself, the traveler tries to proceed without guides: the youth, too, begins to rely on his own strength.

c. Striving to advance too quickly, the traveler becomes easily exhausted: so the youth, when ambition spurs

him on.

d. The traveler grows lonesome: he looks for associates, but, from want of experience, often finds himself disappointed in his companions. The youth also seeks for friends, but often finds flatterers and deceivers, who take away his good name and his virtue.