cannot jest on subjects which involve his everlasting salvation.

spirit of Christianity-that it is of a sordid temper, works for pay, and looks for reward.

This jargon of French philosophy, which prates of pure disinterested goodness acting for its own sake, and equally despising punishment and disdaining recompence, indicates as little knowledge of human nature as of Christian revelation, when it addresses man as a being made up of pure intellect, without any mixture of passions, and who can be made happy without hope, and virtuous without fear. These philosophers affect to be more independent than Moses, more disinterested than Christ himself; for Moses had respect to the recompence of reward;' and Christ endured the cross and de.

The scoffers whom young people hear talk, and the books they hear quoted, falsely charge their own injurious opinions on Christianity, and then unjustly accuse her of being the monster they have made. They dress her up with the sword of persecution in one hand, and the flames of intolerance in the other; and then ridicule the sober-minded for worshipping an idol which their misrepresentation has rendered as malignant as Moloch. In the mean-time they affect to seize on benevolence with exclusive appropriation as their own cardinal virtue, and to accuse of a bigotted cruelty that narrow spirit which points out the perils of licentious-spised the shame, for the joy that was set beness, and the terrors of a future account. And fore him.' yet this benevolence, with all its tender mercies, is not afraid nor ashamed to endeavour at snatching away from humble piety the comfort of a present hope, and the bright prospect of a felicity that shall have no end. It does not how ever seem a very probable means of increasing the stock of human happiness, to plunder mankind of that principle, by the destruction of which friendship is robbed of its bond, society of its security, patience of its motive, morality of its foundation, integrity of its reward, sorrow of its consolation, life of its balm, and death of its support.*

·

A creature hurried away by the impulse of some impetuous inclination, is not likely to be restrained (if he be restrained at all) by a cold reflection on the beauty of virtue. If the dread of offending God, and incurring his everlasting displeasure, cannot stop him, how shall a weaker motive do it? When we see that the powerful sanctions which Religion holds out are too often an ineffectual curb; to think of attaining the same end by feebler means, is as if one should expect to make a watch go the better by breaking the main-spring; nay, as absurd as if the philosopher who inculcates the doctrine should undertake, with one of his fingers, to lift an immense weight which had resisted the powers of the crane and lever.

sions, in the absence of temptation, virtue does seem to be her own adequate reward: and very lovely are the fruits she bears in preserving health, credit, and fortune. But on how few will this principle act! and even on them how often will its operation be suspended? and though virtue for her own sake might have captivated a few hearts, which almost seem cast in a natural mould of goodness, yet no motive could at all times, be so likely to restrain even these, (especially under the pressure of temptation) as this simple assertion-For all this, God will bring thee unto judgment.

It will not perhaps be one of the meanest advantages of a better state that, as the will shall be reformed, so the judgment shall be rectified; that 'evil shall no more be called good,' nor the On calm and temperate spirits indeed, in the 'churl liberal ;' nor the plunderer of our best pos-hour of retirement, in the repose of the passession, our principles, benevolent. Then it will be evident that greater injury could not be done to truth, nor greater violence to language, than by attempting to wrest from Christianity that benevolence which is in fact her most appropriate and peculiar attribute. A new commandment give I unto you, that ye love one another.' If benevolence be good will to men,' it was that which angelic messengers were not thought too high to announce, nor a much higher being than angels too great to teach by his example, and to illustrate by his death. It was the criterion, the very watch-word as it were, by which he intended his religion and his followers should be distinguished. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.' Besides, it is the very genius of Christianity to extirpate all selfishness, on whose vacated ground benevolence naturally and necessarily plants itself.

But not to run through all the particulars which obstruct the growth of piety in young persons, I shall only name one more. They hear much declamation from the fashionable reasoners against the contracted and selfish

* Young persons are too liable to be misled by that extreme disingenuousness of the new philosophers, when writing on every thing and person connected with revealed religion. These authors often quote satirical poets as grave historical authorities; for instance, because Juvenal has said that the Jews were so narrow-minded that they refused to show a spring of water, or the right road, to an enquiring traveller who was not of their religion, I make little doubt but many an ignorant free thinker has actually gone away with the belief, that such good-natured acts of information were actually for

bidden by the law of Moses.

It is the beauty of our religion, that it is not held out exclusively to a few select spirits; that it is not an object of speculation, or an exercise of ingenuity, but a rule of life suited to every condition, capacity, and temper. It is the glory of the Christian religion to be, what it was the glory of every ancient philosophic system not to be, the religion of the people; and that which constitutes its characteristic value, is its suita. bleness to the genius, condition, and necessities of mankind.

and extravagant, because not framed from ob- | no little mischief, inasmuch, as under the mask servations drawn from a perfect knowledge of of hopelessness it suggests an indolent acquiwhat was in man.' Whereas the whole scheme escence; yet to make the best of the times in of the Gospel is accommodated to real human which we live; to fill up the measure of our nature; laying open its mortal disease, present-own actual, particular, and individual duties; ing its only remedy; exhibiting rules of conduct and to take care that the age shall not be the often difficult, indeed, but never impossible; and worse for our having been cast into it, seems to where the rule was so high that the practicabili- be the bare dictate of common probity, and not ty seemed desperate, holding out a living pat- a romantic flight of impracticable perfection. tern, to elucidate the doctrine and to illustrate the precept; offering every where the clearest notions of what we have to hope, and what we have to fear; the strongest injunctions of what we are to believe, and the most explicit directions of what we are to do; with the most encouraging offers of Divine assistance for strengthening our faith and quickening our obedience. In short, whoever examines the wants of his own heart, and the appropriate assistance which the Gospel furnishes, will find them to be two tallies which exactly correspond-an internal evidence, stronger perhaps than any other, of

the truth of Revelation.

This is the religion with which the ingenuous hearts of youth should be warmed, and by which their minds, while pliant, should be directed. This will afford a lamp to their paths,' stronger, steadier, brighter, than the feeble and uncertain glimmer of a cold and comfortless ohilosophy.

Is it then so very chimerical to imagine that the benevolent can be sober-minded? Is it romantic to desire that the good should be consistent? Is it absurd to fancy that what has once been practised should not now be imprac ticable?

It is impossible not to help regretting that it should be the general temper of many of the leading persons of that age which arrogates to itself the glorious character of the age of benevolence, to be kind, considerate, and compassionate, every where rather than at home; that the rich and the fashionable should be zealous in promoting religious as well as charitable institutions abroad, and yet discourage every thing which looks like religion in their own families; that they should be at a considerable expense in instructing the poor at a distance, and yet discredit piety among their own servants-those more immediate objects of every man's attention, whom Providence has enabled to keep any; and for whose conduct he will be finally accountable, inasmuch as he may have helped to corrupt it.

Is there any degree of pecuniary bounty withOther symptoms of the decline of Christianity-out doors which can counteract the mischief of No family religion-Corrupt or negligent example of superiors-The self-denying and evangelical virtues held in contempt-Neglect of encouraging and promoting religion among

servants.

a wrong example at home, or atone for that infectious laxity of principle which spreads corruption wherever its influence extends? Is not he the best benefactor to society who sets the best example, and who does not only the most It was by no means the design of the present good, but the least evil? Will not that man, undertaking to make a general invective on the however liberal, very imperfectly promote virtue corrupt state of manners, or even to animadvert in the world at large, who neglects to dissemion the conduct of the higher ranks, but inas-nate its principles within the immediate sphere much as the corruption of that conduct, and the depravation of those manners appear to be a natural consequence of the visible decline of religion; and as operating in its turn, as a cause, on the inferior orders of society.

Of the other obvious causes which contribute to this decline of morals, little will be said. Nor is the present a romantic attempt to restore the simplicity of primitive manners. This is too literally an age of gold, to expect that it should be so in the poetical and figurative sense. It would be unjust and absurd not to form our opi. nions and expectations from the present general state of society. And it would argue great ig. norance of the corruption which commerce, and conquest, and riches, and arts necessarily introduce into a state, to look for the same sobermindedness, simplicity, and purity among the dregs of Romulus, as the severe and simple manners of elder Rome presented.

of his own personal influence, by a correct conduct and a blameless behaviour? Can a generous but profligate person atone by his purse for the disorders of his life? Can he expect a blessing on his bounties, while he defeats their effect by a profane or even a careless conversation?

In moral as well as in political treatises, it is often asserted that it is a great evil to do no good; but it has not been perhaps enough insisted on, that it is a great deal to do no evil. This species of goodness is not ostentatious enough for popular declamation; and the value of this abstinence from vice is perhaps not well understood but by Christians, because it wants the ostensible brilliancy of actual performance.

But as the principles of Christianity are in no great repute, so their concomitant qualities, the evangelical virtues, are proportionably disesteemed. Let it, however, be remembered, that those secret habits of self-control, those interior and unobtrusive virtues, which excite no astonishment, kindle no emulation, and extort no praise, are at the same time the most difficult, and the most sublime; and if Christianity be a popular aphorism, by the way, which has done true, will be the most graciously accepted by

But though it would be an attempt of desperate hardihood, to controvert that maxim of the witty bard, that

To mend the world's a vast design:

The vigilant Christian, therefore, who acts Is there not a degree of injustice in persons with an eye to the approbation of his Maker, who express strong indignation at those crimes rather than to that of mankind; to a future ac- which crowd our prisons, and furnish our incescount, rather than to present glory; will find sant executions, and who yet discourage not an that diligently to cultivate the unweeded gar- internal principle of vice: since those crimes den' of his own heart; to mend the soil; to clear are nothing more than that principle put into the ground of indigenous vices, by practising action? And it is no less absurd than cruel, in the painful business of extirpation, will be that such of the great as lead disorderly lives, to expart of his duty which will cost him most la-pect to prevent vice by the laws they make to bour, and bring him least credit: while the fair flower of one showy action, produced with little trouble, and of which the very pleasure is reward enough, shall gain him more praise than the eradication of the rankest weeds which overrun the natural heart.

voutly thankful for his own scanty meal, perhaps of barley-bread; yet he sees his noble lord sit down every day,

Not to a dinner, but a hecatomb:

to a repast of which every element is plundered, and every climate impoverished; for which nature is ransacked, and art is exhausted; without even the formal ceremony of a slight acknowledgment. It will be lucky for the master, if his servant does not happen to know that even the pagans never sat down to a repast without making a libation to their deities; and that the Jews did not eat a little fruit, or drink a cup of water, without an expression of devout thankfulness.

Next to the law of God, he has been taught to reverence the law of the land, and to respect an act of parliament next to a text of Scripture: yet he sees his honourable protector, publicly in his own house, engaged in the evening in playing at a game expressly prohibited by the laws, and against which perhaps he himself had been assisting in the day to pass an act.

While the contempt of religion was confined to wits and philosophers, the effect was not so sensibly felt. But we cannot congratulate the ordinary race of mortals on their emancipation from old prejudices, or their indifference to sacred usages; as it is not at all visible that the world is become happier in proportion as it is become more enlightened. We might rejoice more in the boasted diffusion of light and freedom, were it not apparent that bankruptcies are grown more frequent, robberies more common, divorces more numerous, and forgeries more extensive-that more rich men die by their own hand, and more poor men by the hand of the executioner-than when Christianity was practised by the vulgar, and countenanced, at least, by the great.

It is not to be regretted, therefore, while the affluent are encouraging so many admirable schemes for promoting religion among the children of the poor, that they do not like to perpetuate the principle, by encouraging it in their own children and their servants also? Is it not a pity, since these last are so moderately furnished with the good things of this life, to rob them of that bright reversion, the bare hope of which is a counterpoise to all the hardships they undergo here-especially since by diminishing this future hope, we shall not be likely to add to their present usefulness?

both. Even when religion is by pretty general consent banished from our families at home, that only furnishes a stronger reason why our families should not be banished from religion in the churches.

But if these opportunities are not made easy and convenient to them, their superiors have no right to expect from them a zeal so far transcending their own, as to induce them to surmount difficulties for the sake of duty. Religion is never once represented in Scripture as a light attainment; it is never once illustrated by an easy, a quiet, or an indolent allegory.

On the contrary, it is exhibited under the ac tive figure of a combat, a race; something expressive of exertion, activity, progress. And yet many are unjust enough to think that this warfare can be fought, though they themselves are perpetually weakening the vigour of the combatant; this race be run, though they are inces santly obstructing the progress of him who runs by some hard and interfering command. That our compassionate Judge, who 'knoweth whereof we are made, and remembereth that we are but dust,' is particularly touched with the feeling of their infirmities, can never be doubted; but what portion of forgiveness he will extend to those who lay on their virtue, hard burdens 'too heavy for them to bear,' who shall say?

To keep an immortal being in a state of spi. ritual darkness, is a positive disobedience to His law, who when he bestowed the Bible, no less than when he created the material world, said Let there be light. It were well, both for the advantage of master and servant, that the latter should have the doctrines of the Gospel fre quently impressed on his heart; that his conscience should be made familiar with a system which offers such clear and intelligible propositions of moral duty. The striking interrogation, 'how shall I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?' will perhaps operate as forcibly on an uncultivated mind, as the most eloquent essay to prove that man is not an accountable being. That once credited promise, that they who have done well shall go into everlasting life,' will be more grateful to the spirit of a plain man, than that more elegant and disinterested sentiment, that virtue is its own reward. That, he that walketh uprightly walketh surely,' is not on the whole a dangerous, or a misleading maxim. And well done, good and faithful servant! I will make thee ruler over many things,' though offensive to the liberal spirit of philoso Still allowing, what has been already granted, phic dignity, is a comfortable support to humble that absolute infidelity is not the reigning evil, and suffering piety. That we should do to and that servants will perhaps be more likely others as we would they should do to us,' is a to see religion neglected than to hear it ridiculed portable measure of human duty, always at hand, -would it not be a meritorious kindness in fa-as always referring to something within himmilies of a better stamp, to furnish them with self, not amiss for a poor man to carry constantmore opportunities of learning and practisingly about with him, who has neither time nor their duty? Is it not impolitic indeed, as well as unkind, to refuse them any means of having impressed on their consciences the operative principles of Christianity? It is but little, barely not to oppose their going to church, not to prevent their doing their duty at home, their opportunities of doing both ought to be facilitated, by giving them, at certain seasons, as few employments as possible that may interfere with

learning to search for a better. It is an universal and compendious law, so universal as to include the whole compass of social obligation; so compendious as to be inclosed in so short and plain an aphorism, that the dullest mind cannot misapprehend, nor the weakest memory forget it. It is convenient for bringing out on all the ordinary occasions of life. We need not say, 'who shall go up to heaven and bring it unto

thy mouth and in thy heart, that thou mayest
do it.'*

us, for this word is very nigh unto thee, in, dictory.-This was no fault of the author, but of the system. The vision was acute, but the light was dim. The sharpest sagacity could not distinguish spiritual objects, in the twilight of natural religion, with that accuracy with which they are now discerned by every common

For it is a very valuable part of the gospel of
Christ, that though it is an entire and perfect
system in its design! though it exhibits one

great plan from which complete trains of argu-Christian, in the diffusion of gospel light.
ment, and connected schemes of reasoning may
be deduced; yet in compassion to the multitude,
for whom this benevolent institution was in a
good measure designed, and who could not have
comprehended a long chain of propositions, or
have embraced remote deductions, the most im
portant truths of doctrine, and the most essential
documents of virtue, are detailed in single max.
ims, and comprised in short sentences; inde-
pendent of themselves, yet making a necessary
part of a consummate whole; from a few of
which principles the whole train of human vir-
tues has been deduced, and many a perfect body
of ethics has been framed.

And whether it be that what depraves the principle darkens the intellect also, certain it is that an uneducated serious Christian reads his Bible with a clearness of intelligence, with an intellectual comment which no sceptic or mere worldling ever attains. The former has not prejudged the cause he is examining. He is not often led by his passions, still more rarely by his interest, to resist his convictions. While the secret of the Lord is (obviously) with them that fear him,' the mind of them who fear him not, is generally prejudiced by a retaining fee from the world, from their passions or their pride, before they enter on the inquiry.

If it be thought wonderful, that from so few With what consistency can the covetous man letters of the alphabet, so few figures of arithme- embrace a religion which so pointedly forbids tic, so few notes in music, such endless combi- him to lay up treasures on earth? How will nations should have been produced in their re- the man of spirit, as the world is pleased to call spective arts how far more beautiful would it the duellist, relish a religion which allows not be to trace the whole circle of morals thus grow-the sun to go down upon his wrath?' How ing out of a few elementary principles of gospel truth.

All Seneca's arguments against the fear of death never yet reconciled one reader to its approach half so effectually as the humble believer is reconciled to it by that simple persuasion, I know that my Redeemer liveth.'

While the modern philosopher is extending the boundaries of human knowledge, by under. taking to prove that matter is eternal; or enlarging the stock of human happiness, by demonstrating the extinction of spirit-it can do no harm to an unlettered man to believe, that heaven and earth shall pass away, but God's word shall not pass away.' While the former is indulging the profitable inquiry why the Deity made the world so late, or why he made it at all, it will not hurt the latter to believe that in the beginning. God made the world,' and that in the end he shall judge it in righteousness.'

can the ambitious struggle for a kingdom which is not in this world, and embrace a faith which commands him to lay down his crown at the feet of another? How should the professed wit or the mere philosopher adopt a system which demands in a lofty tone of derision, Where is the scribe? Where is the wise? Where is the disputer of this world?' How will the self-satisfied Pharisee endure a religion which, while it peremptorily demands from him every useful action, and every right exertion, will not permit him to rest his hope of salvation on their performance? He whose affections are voluntarily riveted to the present world, will not much delight in a scheme whose avowed principles is to set him above it. The obvious consequence of these hard sayings,' is illustrated by daily instances. Have any of the rulers believed on him?' is a question not confined to the first age of his appearance. Had the most enlightened philosophers of the most polished nations, collected all the scattered wit and learning of the world into one point in order to invent a religion for the salvation of mankind, the doctrine of the cross is perhaps precisely the thing they would never have hit upon: precisely the thing which, being offered to them, they would reject. The intellectual pride of the philosopher relished it as little as the carnal pride of the Jew; for it flattered human wit no more than it gratified human grandeur. The pride of great acquirements, and of great wealth, equally obstructs the reception of divine truth into the heart; and whether the natural man be called upon to part either from 'great possessions,' or 'high imaginations,' he equally goes

While the liberal scholar is usefully studying the law of nature and of nations, let him rejoice that his more illiterate brother possesses the plain conviction that love is the fulfilling of the law'—that 'love worketh no ill to his neighbour.' | And let him be persuaded that he himself, though he know all Tully's Offices by heart, may not have acquired a more feeling and operative sentiment than is conveyed to the common Christian in the rule to 'bear each other's burthen.' While the wit is criticising the creed, he will be no loser by encouraging his dependants to keep the commandments; since a few such simple propositions as the above furnish a more practical and correct rule of life than can be gleaned from all the volumes of ancient phi-away sorrowing. losophy, justly eminent as many of them are for wisdom and purity. For though they abound with passages of true sublimity, and sentiments of great moral beauty, yet the result is naturally

CHAP. V.

defective, the conclusions necessarily contra- The negligent conduct of Christians no real ob

* Deut. xxx. 11 and 12.

jection against Christianity.—The reason why