We heard lately of a manufacturing firm in Lancashire that had cleared last year above one hundred thousand pounds. I wonder what portion of it went into the Lord's treasury? Perhaps a guinea or two subscription to the schools, and a trifle more to the other charities of the town. Yet the income tax thereon would have to be quietly submitted to and paid; and should there be no reference to still higher claims? Who is it that enableth man to get wealth and to prosper in the world? And who 66 is it that condescends to call us his stewards, and who will soon return from a far country, whither he is gone, and reckon with us; that says, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me?" And should not worldly prosperity be consecrated to his service in the very first instance? Should he not have the first fruits? Must all, as a matter of course, go to the family aggrandizement-all be cursed and blighted by a selfish monopoly? With urgent calls in all directions, at home and abroad, would there be anything unreasonable in the transfer of thousands out of hundreds of thousands to the Lord's coffers? Ah! depend upon it, he whose merchandise is prospering on an extended scale will be the last to differ with me in opinion, however wild and enthusiastic it may appear now, when he comes on a dying bed, and feels the utter nothingness of riches beyond the good he has done with them, and when he comes to render his account before the judgment-seat of Christ. When shall we see men who are busy to grow rich, not for themselves only, but for Christ and for others? The thought may be ridiculed, but it will bear, at all events, to be weighed in the balances of the sanctuary, that there would be nothing irrational, much less unchristian, if men would fix within sober bounds the maximum to be allotted for a family, and devote all beyond to the service of Christ; not postponing indeed the exercises of charity till that maximum is attained, but securing the increase of the Lord's blessing by a wise and adequate scattering from year to year. There are many instances where there are no children to provide for; what great things might be done there! but we have many of us lived to see in how many instances it would have been better for children to have had less left to them. We long to see our merchants and manufacturers mak ing money for God. Why should the world stare in astonishment at a solitary instance here and there— a Thornton in one century, a Mortlock in another! We care not to be called visionary and wild; we know our ground, and we hope we may live to see the day when the rising exigencies of the world, and when the irresistible conviction that this highly favoured nation is placed on her peculiar vantage ground for supplying them; and, above all, when such floods of light and of love shall be let down from heaven into men's souls, that it shall become their sweetest luxury and most sublime enjoyment, to make money for the glory of Christ and the happiness of men. Shall the day never come, when we can go into manufacturing districts and hear the mill-owner say, "I am building that additional mill and carrying on more merchandise, not because I need more myself— I thank God I have prospered in the world, and have realized enough for my family-but I am anxious to make friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; I am longing to do all I can to advance my Saviour's kingdom. I see suffering, and ignorance, and misery in all directions, and I am making haste to be rich, that I may give my thousands, and if it may be, my tens of thousands, as a good steward of Jesus Christ. It is as little as I can do for him who has blessed me with his unsearchable and unfading riches, who has been through life my bountiful Benefactor and neverfailing Friend. Will any one venture to question the wisdom and the happiness of such a line of conduct? And the same principle applies to many others besides the manufacturers. We have heard of some whose great anxiety and difficulty it is to know how to dispose of their "savings" to the best advantage. They have made their family arrangements; ten or twenty thousand pounds, or more, is secured to each of the children; but there is annually a surplus of income over the expenditure, and what is to be done with it? Done with it! Should a Christian be at a loss? Is it the worst speculation to "lend to the Lord?" Does the God of heaven give the poorest interest? Does he not promise to restore principal as well as interest? When he who is set before us as our example, that we may "follow his steps," when He was willing to become poor that we might be made rich, shall we find it difficult to give merely out of our abundance the superfluity of our wealth : touching neither the comfort of our own living, or the competent provision for our families when we are gone! Oh! there must be something strangely and dangerously wrong in the moral and religious constitution of a professing Christian's soul, who can suffer himself to live and act through life under the uninterrupted influence of his natural MAY-1845. selfishness, aiming at nothing but a family monopoly of his wealth, to the robbery of his God, and to the betraying of his high and responsible trust. Would that my readers would calmly and prayerfully consider this important subject. I offer these remarks, not in haste, but as the result of long and increasing conviction. I am sure that no department of Christian duty can safely be neglected by any of us. I believe that this is less understood and more imperfectly attended to than any other. Yet the testimony of the Bible is given in the clearest and most forcible language. Worldly prosperity is attached to generosity; the happiness of human life is inseparably connected with it. And indeed we see every day how little happiness wealth can confer beyond the good that is done with it. Selfish and excessive expenditure seals its own misery: while, as for careful and parsimonious hoarding, a man might as well have as many pebbles as sovereigns laid up, for any good or satisfaction that he gives himself. I know a man who only lives and thinks and contrives for one specific object; namely, that he may come to a point of possession when he can boast that he is worth a million! This is the ultimatum of life. Oh, what a mistake! to be happy even in this world be the object, what a mistake! If But it is still further to be remembered, that covetousness is said to be idolatry; and that the covetous man is classed in Scripture with the whoremonger, and other flagrant offenders, and excluded from the kingdom of heaven. Oh, that my readers would lay all this to heart! You must not suf fer yourselves to be deceived by the little scanty efforts at charity which steal out of your abundance. 2 E Possibly, with your thousands ayear, you are contenting yourselves with your sovereign subscriptions-not more than the clergyman of your parish, with all his calls and limited means, is cheerfully contributing. But where you are giving your single sovereigns, you should be giving your hundreds and your thousands. I repeat it, charity must be directed by the calls and claims which present themselves, by our own facilities for meeting them, and our individual ability. You must bring yourselves and all your doings under this standard. It is a striking consideration, that there is a sufficiency of means in this nation alone for evangel- Oh, PROTESTANT MINSTRELSY.-No. IV. THE MOUNTAINS. The Everlasting Mountains! how did they treasure up When broken were the cisterns that earthly hands had wrought, The Everlasting Mountains! how often at their root When through the world was famine, and wasted every cheek, The mountain corn they gathered, they drank the mountain stream, Yet lonely spirits thirsted in dim, secluded cells, And weary souls departed, in silence, and alone, Their eyes they would have lifted, to mark the shadow cease— The blessed news they heard not is ringing in our ears; Yet many a mountain fastness with Christian bones was strewn, Ye Everlasting Mountains! what legends could ye tell Proud City! that art dwelling the seven-fold hills upon, For if it might but enter, how would thy children mourn How would they go forth gladly, fresh with the heavenly breath, How would we gaze upon thee! How would we bless thee then! THE FLOWER. ‘Ελενη. Once bloom'd on earth a wondrous Within a lowly spot it grew; And far and wide its odours threw: Some pluck'd therefrom a leaf to try More lovelily each hour it smiled, And tainting sin approach'd it not: As though it own'd a Sire above; Ne'er was it closed:-by day it shed * Luke iv. 22. † Luke iv. 40. John iii. 34. § Matt. iii. 17. Luke ii. 13. ||I am indebted to a German writer for the idea expressed in these four lines. Lu. xxi. 37. At length unrighteous mortals, stung And trodit down with spiteful power. Triumphant in the deed which slew But-joy for man!—a little while Its forehead statelier than before. And slowly into heaven it pass'd, But often since, that Flower has been It every sin and grief controls. Ah, let ME, then, its fragrance feel. 66 WHERE SHALL WISDOM BE FOUND?"--Joв XXVii. 12. (For the Christian Guardian.) I stood by the side of the calm, glassy ocean, The beams of the morning were flung on the wave; When I ask'd of the Sea, if the beautiful dwelling "Not in me-not in me, is the boon you are seeking, "Not in me—though rare jewels beneath are reposing, "Not in me"-said the voice, like a storm sudden starting 66 Go, and find thou true wisdom in fearing the Lord; And far from all evil with swift feet departing, Oh, flee to thy Saviour, the Ever Adored!" The waves gather'd round me in wildest commotion, I utter'd His name, and implored His assistance, * Matt. xxvii. 66. † Ps. lxix. 12. Acts i. 10. |
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