SERMON XIII. ON THE MORAL DANGERS OF THE SOCIETY OF GREAT CITIES. GENESIS xiii. 11. And they separated themselves the one from the other; and Abraham dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the Plain." THESE are words which carry us back to the infancy of the world,-to the first separation of professions, and to the earliest institutions of social life. They are more important to us, however, my brethren, as they contain a moral lesson of no mean importance; as they remind us of the influence of Situation upon the character and conduct of men, and exemplify to us, in the history of the patriarchs of old, the different effects of the scenes of nature and the scenes of society upon the dispositions of the human mind. "Abraham dwelt in the land of “Canaan;” amid the simplicity of nature, and the innocence of rural life; and with him the mighty "covenant" was made, "in which all the nations of "the earth were finally to be blessed." His kinsman "dwelt in the cities of the plain,” amid the refinements of art, and the luxury of society; and lived to witness that awful desolation with which Heaven visited the sins and the corruptions of the first congregation of men. There is an instruction in these words, my brethren, which seems not unfitted to the circumstances in which we are now met. The inhabitants of this city are now assembling from the different corners of the land; the annual season of education, of business, and of pleasure, is now commencing; and there is none of us who does not know, that there is at the same time commencing, a season of delusion, of trial, and of danger. If it be in the midst of cities that the most splendid exertions of talents or of virtue are made, it is there also that the most humiliating examples of vice and of depravity are seen. In the opening of such a season, it is wise in us all, therefore, to pause, that we may form the resolutions which become us as men and as Christians; and as all that hear me are equally interested in the subject, I trust it will not be considered as foreign to the duty of this place, if I solicit your attention, for a few moments, to the consideration of the dangers which surround those who dwell in "the cities of the plain," and of the means by which they may hope to avoid, or to overcome them. 1. The first danger which awaits those who "dwell in cities," is that of losing insensibly the sentiments of Piety. In all ages, the scenes of nature have been the seat of devotion. It is there," where 66 66 day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night teacheth knowledge concerning God." The solitude which leads to meditation;-the spectacle of earth around, and Heaven above us;-the silent, but incessant movements of that mighty system, which speak the incessant providence of the Mind that guides it, and far more, the combination of all these movements, to bless this lower world, and "to make it fruitful;"-these are circumstances which every where have prostrated the human mind before the "throne of him who sitteth above "the Heavens, and who yet deigneth to remember "the things that are upon the earth." It is a different scene with which we are presented when we visit the habitations of men; and we seldom make the transition, without losing, at the same time, some of the most fundamental dispositions of devotion. We leave the tranquillity of nature;-we leave the spectacle of its operations; we leave, still more, the sublime conviction of our wants, and our dependence. From the dominion of nature, we enter at once into the dominion of Man. No sound reaches our ear but those of his activity;-no prospect opens upon our eye, but those of his power or his pride. Amid the ruins of former greatness, as well as amid the splendours of modern refinement, we see only the workmanship of his hand; and while we hear no other tale than that of mortal glory, and see amid the thick atmosphere which surrounds us, no other agency than that of mortal wisdom, we are apt to suffer all our former impressions to subside from our minds, and begin to imagine, that we are living only in a world of - human art. There is no man, I believe, who has not occasionally felt somewhat at least of this influence; -who, in removing from the scenes of nature, into the buisness and bustle of cities, has not experienced a kind of disturbance of his usual train of thought;and who, (if he has not had the wisdom to resist them,) has not felt himself gradually losing the firmest impressions of his earlier days, and insensibly acquiring those lower dispositions of the world, which he once had the wisdom to lament, and to despise. When this first step into errour is made;—when, amid the scenes of human activity, the traces of divine workmanship are obscured;-and when the heart can suffer the solemn impressions of youth to. be exchanged for the cold and cheerless agitations of artificial society,-the transition is not difficult to errour of every kind;—and the mind is unhappily laid open to all those moral evils which the society of great cities, (hitherto at least,) has every where contained and diffused. 2. It is, in the first place, dangerous to morality, as it provides the means of temptation. In the tranquillity of the country, amid the innocence of rural life, the great temptations of human life seldom occur. The seductions of vice reach not there; and if they do appear, it is under forms which cannot be mistaken, and which, therefore, seldom betray. But amid the promiscuous society of great cities,—in the selfish and artificial passions they create,-in the unhallowed struggle for wealth and for distinction which prevails,-every thing which can seduce the innocence of youth, or confirm the errours of maturity, is to be found, and to be purchased. It is there, that ambition holds out its promises, and profit its temptations, and pleasure its lures. Whatever may be the "sins which most powerfully beset us," whether the selfishness of pride, the sordidness of interest, or the infamy of sensual pleasure, all there find their temptations and their ministers; not, indeed, under their real and characteristick forms, but under the masks of spirit, of fashion, and of liberality; under semblances well constructed to deceive, and still better constructed to betray. What the effects of such temptations have been, when thus so artfully brought home to the unsuspecting heart;-what, by these means, the influence of great cities has been in the corruption of the manners of mankind, there are none of us who have not learnt in history, and few of us, I fear, who have not known in our own. experience. 2. While the great scenes of society are thus replete with temptations, they are, in the second place, dangerous, as containing both Examples and Authority in vice. It is the character of the earliest stages of errour, to be diffident,-to be conscious of its own unworthiness, and to dread the eye which marks and reproaches it. It is thus that Nature checks, in mercy, the first beginnings of sin, and recalls the heart which begins to wander, into the path that was designed for it. The society of great cities tends but too powerfully to counteract this |