gaiety of the human mind, but only to direct it towards proper objects, and to restrain it within proper bounds. The ways of religion are represented as " ways of pleasantness and peace." And " the fruits of the Spirit are, love, joy, peace ;" all of which suppose a measure of hilarity, and the innocence of that hilarity, when arising from a becoming source, and kept within the limits of sobriety and sound wisdom. Doubtless that tumultuous kind of joy which is generally denominated mirth, and which vents itself in immoderate laughter, is altogether vain and bad : but a placidity of mind, exercising itself in a way of brotherly love and of cheerful benevolence, can never be censured as unprofitable, much less can it be condemned as verging towards insanity.]
Neither, on the other hand, are we to restrict the text to hcentious and profane mirth —
[That needed not to be stigmatized in so peculiar a man- ner ; because the folly of such mirth carries its own evidence along with it. We need only to see it in others ; and if we ourselves are not partakers of it, we shall not hesitate to cha- racterize it by some opprobrious or contemptuous name. We need neither the wisdom of Solomon, nor his experience, to pass vipon it the judgment it deserves.]
The conduct reprobated in our text is, the seeking of our hapjnness in carnal mirth —
[Solomon particularly specifies this : " I said in my heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth," I will see whether that will afford me the happiness which I am in pursuit of. And we may suppose, that, in the prosecution of this object, he summoned around him all that was gay and lively in his court, and all that could contribute towards the attainment of it. We may take a survey of the state of society in what may be called the fashionable world, and see how the votaries of pleasure spend their time. They go from one vanity to ano- ther, hoping that in a succession of amusements they shall find a satisfaction which nothing else can impart. Plays, balls, concerts, routs, the pleasures of the field, of the race-course, of the card- table, form a certain round of employment, which those who travel in it expect to find productive of happiness, of such happiness at least as they affect. And this, I conceive, is what Solomon intended particularly to reprobate as folly and mad- ness. Of course, we must include also in the same description the more vulgar amusements to which the lower classes resort. All, according to their taste, or the means afforded them for enjoyment, whilst they pursue the same object, are obnoxious to the same censm-e. The degree of refinement which may be in their pursuits makes no difference in this matter. Whatever