May 5

and practical. Let us show forth his praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives. "God is the Lord, which hath showed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar."

MAY 5.—"Let us eat and drink; for to-morrow we die."—1 Corinthians 15:32.

WHEN Isaiah had foretold the invasion of Judea by the Chaldeans; "And in that day did the Lord God of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth: behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine—let us eat and drink; for to-morrow we shall die." If we quote the Wisdom of Solomon, it is not because we consider it inspired Scripture, but as evidence to support the common prevalence of this wretched sentiment at the period it was written: "For our time is a very shadow that passeth away: and after our end there is no returning: for it is fast sealed, so that no man cometh again. Come on, therefore, let us enjoy the good things that are present: and let us speedily use the creatures like as in youth. Let us fill ourselves as with costly wine and ointments: and let no flower of the spring pass by us. Let us crown ourselves with rose-buds before they be withered. Let none of us go without his part of our voluptuousness: let us leave tokens of our joyfulness in every place: for this is our portion, and our lot is this." This indeed in all ages and countries has been the manual of devotion for those worshippers whose god is their belly, who glory in their shame, and mind earthly things.

It admits a fact too clear to be questioned. The living know that they shall die. The very men before us confess it; yea, they acknowledge that the event is not only certain, but near—"To-morrow we die." And this was true; for death is always near in possibility; and is never far off in reality. Yet, instead of saying, as we must die shortly, and may die soon, therefore we ought to be prepared for the event, they make it a motive to encourage licentiousness—"Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." What a proof have we here of the truth of the fall: "The heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live." We could as soon believe that God made fiends, as that he made the human race what they now are. "God made man upright, but they sought out many inventions."

But how stands the truth of the charge with regard to us? Let none imagine that they are innocent because they have never uttered the sentiment in so many words. Your temper and actions speak louder than words—And what is their language? Does it not say unto God, "Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways?" Does it not seem to avow that nothing shall disturb your carnality and carelessness? and that if life be short, you are resolved it shall not be sad?

But is the reasoning or excitement such a monstrous perversion of every thing right as it appears? Let us place it on two grounds. Are you believers in Revelation? Do you admit that there is really an eternal world, and that you are always on the brink of it? You are then worse than infidels, not as to your creed—this is truth, but as to your practice, which is inconsistent, and senseless, beyond all

the power of language to express. But if you are unbelievers, if you deny a future state, and think that we are mere masses of matter, that we perish like the beasts, and nothing survives death; you are but acting consistently with your belief, and you may then well say, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." The present is all the happiness you know, and you would be fools not to make the most of it—Therefore we would say to you, Go on—only remarking two things. First, be sure, perfectly sure, of your premises. But you cannot demonstrate that there is no world to come, no judgment after death. The utmost you can reach is probability. If a doubt remains in a case of such tremendous import, it must be enough to break all your repose whenever it recurs, and to stamp your conduct with insanity. Probability would be sufficient to justify a man on the other side, the safe side, the side on which if we are mistaken as to our main expectation, we must be gainers upon the whole, and present gainers; but nothing less than absolute certainty can justify you. When Thistlewood, the traitor, was ascending the drop, he said to his companions, referring to the doubtfulness of an existence after death, "We shall soon know the great secret." And so they would. Yet what madness and wretchedness to leave it undetermined till the discovery could be of no advantage, and the truth of the condemnation was proved by the execution of the sentence, and hell was seen and suffered at once! "Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes; but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment."

Secondly, even admitting the truth of your premises, your conduct is not rational unless intemperance and luxury were the truest and highest enjoyment of life. But it would be easy to prove that they are not. It is worthy of observation, that Epicurus himself, though he contemned religion in every form, and excluded a future state, and contended that pleasure was the great end of life, yet recommended the practice of universal virtue, and thought the virtues were to be cherished, not on their own account, but for the sake of pleasure. He was himself the most plain and temperate of men, lived sparingly, and on the plainest food, always attesting that this was best not only for health, but pleasure; and employed it as a maxim, "That he lived most pleasurably who lived most temperately." We have better authority than this; and we are sure that good men have not only a thousand enjoyments of a nature which others know nothing of; but as to those kinds of pleasure which the men of the world value, (unless the pleasures of sin,) the pleasures of time and sense, they have by far the pre-eminence. Godliness is profitable unto all things: it has the promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come. Others may possess more, but we know who hath said, "the meek shall inherit the earth." "Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works. Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment."

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