dens imposed by charity. It is worth observing how small a proportion of the appeals to our liberality are made in behalf of the poor. It has probably grown out of the very fortunate condition of the great mass of our people, and their very general exemption from physical wants, that we are accustomed to give for the promotion of education, for the diffusion of Bibles, for the propagation of the Gospel, or kindred enterprises, but with comparative infrequency for the relief of distresses produced by poverty and its accompaniments. It may be doubted whether ten per cent. upon the contributions of our New England churches goes to this species of charity. This should, indeed, be considered a matter for congratulation, and it should, above all, admonish us that we are under peculiar obligations, exempted as we are from the burden of a vast pauper population, to outstrip all other Christians in the liberal scale of our efforts to extend the Redeemer's kingdom. Still, it remains true that charity to the poor, to the widow, the fatherless, is the favorite charity of the Bible. A thousand times more is said of it, both in the Old and the New Testament, than of any or all other modes of fulfilling this Christian obligation. It is thus commended to our special attention. It should give to a pious heart peculiar satisfaction to labor in obedience to a vocation sc plain, so emphatic, so reiterated. I have known even some Christians express a doubt as to their obligation to send out missionaries, but an infidel or a heathen might excite our surprise by hesitating to concur in an enterprise like this. We know, for all revelation and all the impulses of our common humanity announce, that it is a high duty to provide for the well-being of helpless children who are bereaved of their natural protectors and providers. Q 2 XXX. THE UNPROFITABLE SERVANT. Cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.-MATTH., xxv., 30. 66 THE Scriptures contain many general denunciations of punishment against transgressors, and many special threatenings against particular and aggravated offenses. "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God."* Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity."+ The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men." "The fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone."§ “Be not deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God." It was to be expected that God, in providing for the purity of his Church, and for the discouragement of gross and corrupting vices, would stigmatize with some special mark of his abhorrence those offenses which possess the two-fold character of sin and crime-of being hateful to God and pernicious to society. It is perfectly natural, too, and it was no doubt the design of infinite wisdom, that these fearful denunciations of wrath should impress us with a deep sense of the guilt and danger of all transgression. Indeed, no lesson is more plainly taught in the Bible than that the immoral and profane * Psalm ix., 17. Rev., xxi., 8. † Luke, xiii., 27. Rom., i., 18. are peculiarly odious in the sight of God, and that their punishment will be one of distinguished and terrible severity. The first step toward true piety implies a sincere and universal reformation, and the sinner only learns to do well when he has ceased to do evil. The denunciations of the Bible and its threatened penalties are not confined, however, to actual and flagrant transgression. So far from it, in the more direct and full representations which it contains of the scenes of the judgment day, and of the principles which are to govern its decisions, reference is seldom made to actual transgressions, but only to the want of pious deeds, and the lack of those moral qualifications which are the proper objects of divine favor. This view is clearly exhibited in the chapter from which the text is taken, which is, in some respects, the most interesting and instructive portion of the Sacred Volume. The whole chapter is employed in developing the principles of eternal justice which will control the decisions of this great and last day. In the parable which opens the chapter, the five foolish virgins are excluded from the marriage for no positive offense, but only for having neglected to take oil in their vessels. In the parable of the talents, the unprofitable servant is pronounced wicked and slothful, and doomed to darkness, weeping, and gnashing of teeth, on no other charge than that he had not strenuously employed the means intrusted to him. And in the more direct and awful description of the judgment which concludes the chapter, the accursed of God depart into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels, upon no charge of positive wickedness, but only upon the mere deficiencies of their character. They had not testified their devotion to Christ by acts of piety and mercy. The Gospel teaches us that, while the Lord will not fail to punish transgressors according to their works, sinners are to be condemned for their want of piety, and for the good which they have omitted to do, no less than for the evil they have done. It will be a source of condemnation, at that day, if we have been negligent-slothful-unprofitable. The ground and extent of our accountability to God are clearly indicated in the account given of the reckoning with the unprofitable servant. The parable is too plain in its application to need explanation. 1. The Ground of our Accountability. The servant and the talent belonged to the Lord. "We are not our own," but absolutely God's-our persons-influence-all our capacities for enjoyment and usefulness. Especially our intellectual and moral powers, with all their capabilities of knowing-admiring-loving God-of honoring Him in the world by virtuous and pious actions, and promoting the piety and happiness of men, are His-his by creation-by ownership. These are intrusted to us for a season, to use them as we will, which constitutes our probation. We should not be moral agents without liberty to abuse as well as use them. Men forget that God is the rightful proprietor, because they are thus free. They buy, sell, choose their profession, their associates, their virtues and vices, and feel that all is theirs, and often even say in their hearts, "There is no God." 2. The Extent of our Accountability. "He gave to every man according to his several ability." Strictly speaking, the extent of each man's obligation is measured by the amount of the gift, or, rather, loan. Yet he who gained five talents and he who gained two did equally well. Both entered into the joy of their Lord. The gift was according to their several ability, and the ability is, therefore, a measure of the obligation. Every man is accountable according to his ability, and not beyond it. He must devote his talents, whether few or many, wholly to God, and he need do no more. He will not be condemned for his original or unavoidable sinfulness or infirmi ty, for his weak understanding, or for his vicious training. He is bound fully to devote himself and all his capabilities to God, from the earliest period of accountability, throughout his whole life. The same is true of his opportunities to remedy his imperfections, whether of early training, knowledge, or habits. He is accountable for the diligent use of all the aids within his reach, divine or human-the operations of the Spirit the Bible-the means of grace. These are a part of his ability—“ talents" given to him. He is now under the same obligation to do all that can be done by these helps, that he was before to do what he could without them. But I remark farther: 3. God requires us not only to make all possible improvements in our means of piety and usefulness, but also to devote these improvements, no less than our original talents, to him. Every thing connected with man and with piety is progressive. At first we are children-babes in religion. Means are provided by which we may "grow in grace"-attain to manhood—become strong in the Lord. New attainments are new talents. We must make and consecrate them. This is to be done in a good conscience-in faith, humility, prayer, religious influence, knowledge, and even in wealth. God will have his own with usury. The unprofitable servant was lost for lack, not of the principal, but of the increase. Still farther: 4. God holds us accountable for talents which we never possessed, but which we might have acquired by proper diligence, no less than for the neglect or abuse of those which he originally conferred upon us. The unprofitable servant gave him back his own, but He demanded the usury, and, for want of it, thrust him into darkness. If a man, who owes his all to God from childhood, begins, late in life, to be religious, or makes small progress, he becomes unable to accomplish much, and yet is accountable for all that, by the utmost diligence, could have been done. Of two persons of equal capacities and opportunities, one becomes early pious, and devotes his whole life to God. The other neglects relig |