and fly away; and our nearest and dearest friends may be torn from our embrace, at an hour when we are least prepared to meet the trial. Of the uncertain tenure by which all worldly things are held, the experience of every day may serve to convince us; and the premature death of the widow's son at Nain joins issue in proclaiming this important truth. In this mournful event she would see, in a just and forcible light, the vanity and insufficiency of the most highly valued earthly comforts. The plans of happiness appear vain, which, if not sooner, must entirely perish in that hour when our breath goeth forth, and we return to our primitive dust. Then shall our successful worldly projects give us no pleasure; and disappointed designs no pain. Then shall our honours be laid in the dust, except the honour of having God for our portion; and no treasures shall avail except treasures in the heavens.

Learn then, my friends, from the example of the widow of Nain, the folly of setting your affections above measure upon any sublunary enjoyment. If you do so, think what your feelings must be,

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when called to bid them an eternal adieu. But if you regulate your attachments to the things of this world by the principles and precepts of religion, it will serve to keep them within due bounds, and will enable you to bear the shocks of adversity with composure and resignation. It will teach you to view the objects of time as of little importance, when compared with those of eternity, on which your desires ought chiefly to be fixed." Set "affections on things above, and not on your "things on the earth." Nothing less than heaven itself, and the favour of the Most High God, can satisfy the boundless desires of the immortal soul. "How

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long then, ye simple ones, will love ye simplicity?" How long will the world, with its alluring voice, continue to deceive you? Rather listen to the voice of experience, reason, and revelation. "Wisdom's ways," say they, are "of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to them "that lay hold on her, and happy is

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every one that retaineth her! Seek "first the kingdom of God and his righteousness," and every other thing

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If

necessary for your present peace and future happiness shall be added unto you. you have so done, then "though the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall "fruit be in the vine; though the labour "of the olive shall fail, and the fields "shall yield no meat; though the flock "be cut off from the fold, and there be

no herds in the stall; yet you will be "enabled to rejoice in the Lord, and you "will joy in the God of your salvation."

Secondly, Another great and important lesson, which we learn from this subject, is, the shortness and uncertainty of human life.

Such is the law of our nature, that after spending a few transient years, or months, or weeks, or days, in this world, we must bid an eternal farewell to sublunary objects, return to the dust from whence we were taken, and be numbered among the inhabitants of the silent tomb. No condition in life is exempted from this unalterable decree. "Your "fathers, where are they?" The rich and the poor, the wise and the ignorant, the mighty and the ignoble, are alike subject to the attack of the king of ter

rors. Neither youth nor age, can protect from his irresistible power. We have only to cast our eyes around us to behold innumerable proofs of frailty and mortality. Where, O man, are now the companions of thy youth, the friends of thy riper years, and a numerous society with whom, in various ways, thou hast been connected in life! They have disappeared from the earth, and now exist in the world of spirits. And shall we, alone, of all men, be allowed to escape the attack of this destroyer of men? Shall he never approach our peaceful habitations? Or shall we elude the shaft directed with vengeance against our unprotected bosoms? Such expectations are vain. Such hopes shall most assuredly be frustrated. The doom of every one is thus written, " Dust thou art, and "shalt to dust return." This truth is not less certain, than the time of our de

parture is uncertain. The decree appointing those boundaries, which we cannot pass, is concealed from our knowlege, and known only to the Lord Jehovah. For aught we know, a few pulsations more, and our heart may cease to

beat. Let but the sun descend, and the morning of the resurrection may be the first those eyes may behold. Let night draw her curtain over the sky, and at an untimely hour the order may be given forth, which shall summon you into eternity.

Even youth, in all its vigour and strength, cannot be certain of that long continuance on earth, which its fond hopes are ready to cherish. "The race

"is not to the swift, nor the battle to the "strong." This truth is strikingly verified in the passage we have been illustrating. While the widow of Nain was solacing herself with the prospect of resigning her breath in the arms of a son, tender and only beloved in the sight of his mother, she was spared to survive him who was promising to himself a length of happy years. And this, my brethren, is no unusual spectacle. Day after day we see our fellow creatures, at every variety of age, borne to their long home, and the mourner going about the streets. These are kind and serious warn

ings given us by God to remind us of our latter end. They teach us, that life