SERMON III.

ECCLES. II. I.

I faid in my heart, go to now;

I will prove

thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure, and behold! this a'fo is-Vanity.

SOLOM

III.

MON having proved to man- SERM, kind by fad example the vanity of human learning, that in much wisdom there is much grief, and that he who increaseth knowledge increaseth forrow, is inclined to try fome other means of happinefs; he is refolved therefore to change the scene, to quit the perplexing labyrinths of science, the rough and thorny roads which he had trodden fo unsuccessfully,

and

III.

SERM. and to turn afide into the inviting paths

of luxury and pleafure: in confequence of this new determination we behold him searching industriously after every object that could amufe or divert him.

I fought in my heart, fays he, to give myself unto wine: I made me great works: I builded me houfes, I planted me vineyards, I got me men fingers and women fingers, and all the delights of the fons of men: he laid himfelf open, in fhort, we may naturally suppose, to every folly, and plunged into every vice which his power gave him the opportunity to commit, or his inclination prompted him to enjoy; and what after all was the refult of this conduct, and the effect of this refolution? Loft and bewildered in fearch of pleafures which he could not tafte, and wearied in the purfuit of happiness which he could not obtain; he finds, after

all

all his fanguine hopes, that he is miferably deceived and deluded, and concludes with the juft but melancholy reflection, that this alfo was vanity.

Behold then the great idol of mankind, this beloved goddess, fo univerfally admired and fo zealously adored; branded, by the wifeft of the fons of men, with the name of vanity; declared not only incapable of procuring happiness, but productive alfo of every error, and pregnant with every calamity.

Will it not then, my brethren, highly become us to pay fome regard to fo noble an authority, and fome deference to so illuftrious an example? will it not become us, on this occafion, feriously to confider what it was that could induce a judge fo impartial to pass so severe a sentence, and fo folemnly to declare, that

VOL. III

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all

SERM.

III.

SERM. all human pleafure was nothing but va

III.

nity and vexation of fpirit?

The judgment in question then, did most probably arife from a candid inquiry into, and a thorough conviction of the following particulars:

First, The infufficiency of all human pleasures to anfwer the end propofed by them.

Secondly, The dangerous and deftructive confequences generally attendant on them; and

Thirdly, Their fhort, fleeting, and tranfitory nature.

And first, therefore, with regard to. the infufficiency of all human pleasures to answer the end propofed by them.

The

III.

The temple of pleasure is a kind of SERM. enchanted palace; the profpect at a dif tance never fails to invite the eye and to allure the senses: it feems adorned with all the beauties of nature, and all the improvements of art, with every thing, in fhort, that can foothe the foul, or flatter the imagination of man: but as we approach nearer to it, the flowers around it begin on a fudden to lofe their fweets, and the earth its verdure; the pillars of this fuperb edifice fink as it were imperceptibly from our fight, the ornaments decay, and the whole vifionary fabric moulders into ruin.

Whatsoever mine eyes defired, fays Solomon, I kept rot from them. I withheld not my heart from any joy: for my heart rejoiced

in

my labour. Then I looked on all the works that my hands bad wrought, and on the labour that I kad laboured to do, and behold all