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mention, is loss of reputation. There is no man, however high or low his situation, but what has some charge of importance or other committed to his care, some business to manage, for himself or others, which requires his utmost skill and abilities to perform. Human reason is oftentimes insufficient, even with study and thoughtfulness, to discharge this trust to its full perfection, how then will it be executed as it ought to be by those who weaken and drown their reason in frequent intoxication? who can place a confidence in, who will employ, such a person, who, so far from being competent to the management of another's affairs, cannot even take care of himself? The next ill consequence of this vice, is loss of health; without health we can neither enjoy riches, nor power, nor honour, all the pleasures, all the luxuries of life, lose their relish without this blessing. Now health is most likely to be secured by temperance;

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at all events, how severe is the reflection, when sinking under sickness and infirmity, to know that we have brought them on ourselves, to think that we have purchased years of pain by moments of false pleasure, sucked from the poisoned cup of riot and debauchery. Let us consider, thirdly, the many dangers to which the habitual drunkard is exposed; let us call to our remembrance those instances we all have known, of sudden death in that state: the thought of launching into eternity in such a situation, "with all our imperfec❝tions on our head," is a dreadful and a momentous consideration. To how many dangers is that man exposed, whose footsteps are more tottering and insecure than those of an infant; he is in peril from every object around him; those harmless and useful animals, which obey him cheerfully when sober, may then inadvertently destroy him; the precipice yawns before him, and death stands

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ready to catch him at every avenue: add to this, that he may not only destroy himself at such a time, but others also; he may spread the flames of devastation all around him, and be the destruction of many. The passions of mankind are often found to be too strong for their reason, even when assisted by reflection, and guarded by sobriety; what will then be their strength, when reason totters on her throne, and every support has left her? the man in that state, will be led away by every headstrong passion, by those more particularly to which his nature inclines him. How many honest persons have, at such a time, been led into theft; how many passionate, into murder? and, at the recovery of their reason, have recovered only to behold before them, shame, remorse, and ignomininious death. The bountiful Creator of the World has bestowed upon us corn, and wine, and oil (as the Scripture expresses it), to re

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joice the heart of man, to renovate and support his strength; but when we use them to excess, they weaken and destroy it. Let us observe, in this instance, the advantage of instinct over misapplied reason, in the conduct of the brutes; no gentle methods can persuade them, no harsh measures can force them, to drink more than suffices for the refreshment of their nature, and the abatement of their thirst; the consequence therefore of this groveling vice is, that it degrades us below the level of the brute creation. If we ask those addicted to inebriety, what are the chief inducements to it, they will tell us, mirth and pleasure; but surely here is some mistake, for the moment any one becomes intoxicated, the ability he possesses for merriment is gone, his senses and wit are lost; he may, indeed, occasion the mirth which an ideot does, he may become the laughingstock of the ignorant and unfeeling, but

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he must occasion pain to the ingenuous and considerate. Now let us investigate and search into the pleasures of excessive drinking. Pleasure is the opposite of pain; but sickness, and a sense of having done what is wrong, are painful, and nothing in the nature of things can make them pleasurable, or even satisfactory. Sorry I am to say, that the higher classes of society, whose education should place them above sensual gratifications, and whose tables afford the daily banquet, often set a bad example to the lower, in this respect. All of us should take to ourselves the word of exhortation, to be upon our guard in this case; and one thing more I must take the liberty to mention, is, that as this luxury used to excess, is the rich man's poison, so a part of its superfluity, administered with a judicious hand, is the poor man's medicine.

Having expatiated thus far on these three prevailing vices, it remains for me now only,

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