SERMON.

PSALM......XC. 12.—-So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

WE are assembled, Fellow Citizens, on an occasion of peculiar and solemn interest. The death of an individual, even in the most obscure walks of society, is to his limited circle of friends an affecting occurrence. And although it cannot be expected that such a case should excite any general notice, yet, when the chief magistrate of a community, who has devoted a long life to the service of his country, is removed by death, the public feel that they have sustained a loss. It is due both to the living and the dead that there should be a public expression of the sympathy which prevails, and of the gratitude which is cherished at the remembrance of patriotic deeds. The living need all the incitement that may be derived from a contemplation of the efforts and sacrifices

which have been made by eminent men; and although the dead cannot be profited by human praise, yet their useful actions ought not to be forgotten.

Influenced by these views, the honorable Executive and the Legislature of the State, as the authorized organs of the public sentiment and feeling, have directed that all suitable honors be paid to the remains of the late venerable Governor of this Commonwealth. By the same direction we are now convened in this house of worship, to implore the blessing of the Almighty, and to make some improvement of this afflictive Providence.

While it is proper that we manifest unfeigned respect for the memory of the distinguished individual who has deceased; and while we give evidence that we are not insensible to the benefits he has conferred, both on the State and on the Nation, we should also be concerned, that this visitation should not pass away, without administering to us some salutary instruction, and leaving some deep and permanent impressions favorable to a life of piety and virtue. It will be my purpose to contribute to this desirable object by offering a few remarks on the importance of

forming a just estimate of the duration of our earthly existence.

There is no future event more certain than the dissolution of the body. In our serious moments we all acknowledge that Death is an enemy from whom we cannot disengage ourselves, and against whom we cannot contend with any hope of success. We can neither bribe him by our wealth, nor can we occupy a station so honorable and elevated, that he will not dare to approach us. "Pale death strikes with equal foot the cottages of the poor and the palaces of princes." We have no strength to resist his power; and no armour which is proof against his arrows, when he marks us as his victims. We are sensible that there is no discharge in this war. Death is a mysterious and awful modification of our existence to which we must submit, whether prepared for it or not.

But notwithstanding we assent to these solemn truths, they leave a very faint impression on our minds, and their practical effect upon us is small, when compared with what might be expected. It is acknowledged that our bodies must return to the earth, and yet how many are as intently occupied concerning them, as if they were to remain

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here forever. It is acknowledged that our souls are in every respect superior to our bodies, and yet, alas! how many act, as though they did not believe in the doctrine of immortality, or the necessity of being made "meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light."

Is it asked, why is our conduct so much at variance with the admission of the fact, that we must soon die? The answer must be, we have not an habitual conviction of this fact on our minds. The love of life is a principle deeply seated in the breast of man, we are therefore induced to put from us the thoughts of death. Surrounded by the things which are seen and temporal, we forget the things which are unseen and eternal. The duties which necessarily occupy our attention; the cares which distract our thoughts; and the objects which claim and divide our affections, without the utmost vigilance on our part, will secularize our minds, limit our field of vision, and shut out eternity from our view. We must ascribe to causes like these the inconsistency which is so frequently observable between our conduct and the better dictates of our understandings. Now to neutralize as much as possible the tendenof these things, we should pray with the Psalm

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ist in our text; "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." And we should often and seriously consider our latter end, and the measure of our days, what it is; that we may know how frail we are.

1. Such a course of pious meditation will give us a just view of the value of our time.

Perhaps there is nothing of which we hear more universal complaint than of the shortness of time. And yet, short as it is, there is nothing which to many is so great a burden. At each stage of their existence they would willingly blot out a portion of their days. The youth would be glad to pass at once to a state of manhood; and the man in business would willingly pass over the intervening distance, if he might retire from the active concerns of life to scenes of ease and affluence. Were it not impossible to resist the evidence which so frequently forces itself upon us, we could not conceive of the various expedients to which men resort with the hope of annihilating time. When religion is disregarded, and there is no desire to improve the faculties of the mind; when there is no just view of the duties which are incumbent upon us in social life, and the passions are predominant, solitude becomes irksome, and any thing like