EVANGELICAL REFORMER, AND YOUNG MAN'S GUIDE. BY JOSEPH Ᏼ Ꭺ Ꭱ Ꮶ Ꭼ Ꭱ . Published every Saturday.-Price One Penny, or in Monthly Parts, price Five-pence. No. 27. SATURDAY, JUNE 30, 1838. VOL. I. ENCOURAGEMENT TO DO GOOD. ANOTHER encouragement to labour for the good of others, is the advantage which we are likely to derive from such labours ourselves, God has engaged, that "the liberal soul shall be made fat, and that he that watereth others shall be watered himself;" and it is so. The men that do best for themselves, are those who do most for others. The happiest man is he who labours most to communicate happiness; not he who labours most to obtain it. Men who reckon according to the custom of the world would suppose, that if all were to begin to look after the interests of others, their own interests would be injured; but they do not understand it. The truth is just on the other side. It is because so few look after the interests of others, that so few are happy. If we had more Christian charity, we should prosper more than we do, both in earthly and in heavenly blessings. Labouring in the cause of God and for the good of mankind will increase our stability in religion. It will keep us from many temptations. An indolent person is always in danger. He is in danger from the devil; he is in danger from men, and he is in danger from himself. The inactive professor falls an easy prey to the devil. The devil has little trouble with him. The roaring lion has to go about seeking the active Christian, and when he finds him he cannot lay hold on him He runs so fast onward in the way of duty, that the enemy cannot overtake him. But the indolent professor goes to seek the devil, and instead of hastening away from danger, he throws himself into his jaws. If the devil wants to put into the mind evil thoughts, the active Christian has no room for them; his mind is full of something else. He is thinking of his class at the Sunday-school, or his appointment on the prayer leaders' plan, or of his subscribers to the Mission fund. Perhaps he is reading to furnish his mind for further usefulness, or perhaps he is writing down his thoughts on religious subjects, or perhaps he is busy in is works of mercy. His hands are full and his heart is full, and the devil can hardly find an opportunity to throw in a single evil thought. If he gets one in, it is soon cast out; what business can such thoughts have there? But when the devil comes to the heart of an idle professor, he finds it empty, swept, and garnished, just ready for such a guest. He enters without trouble, for the doors are wide open, and he makes it his settled dwelling. Now the careless professor has thoughts plenty, but they are all of the wrong kind. He envies the rich, and he envies the proud. He is too idle to reform himself, and to cover his meanness he prates against the government, for their mismanagement. Now he thinks about the church, then about the preachers, then about the leaders, and then about the chapel. The preacher does not make enough of him; the members he thinks look shy; the church affairs are not well managed. In short, the idle professor is now the busiest man in the town, but he works for the wrong master. If the devil tempt him with sinful pleasures, the active and benevolent Christian has still the advantage. The indolent professor wants something to please him. As he has not learned to take delight in things good, he is soon drawn to seek pleasure in things evil. The active Christian has pleasure in his work. He finds more satisfaction in doing good, than all the pleasures of the world could yield him. It is his meat and drink to do good; it is his spiritual element; it is his heaven on earth. The active and zealous Christian is in less danger from tempting men. Sinners dare scarcely go near him, for fear they should be converted. His very appearance keeps them away. They see he is sincere; they see he is decided; and they would as soon think of shifting a rock as of shifting him. They dare not speak to him; or if they do speak, it is with awe; such power has genuine godliness, even over its enemies. If they were to speak to him, to tempt him, they would expect to be reproved. Nay, such power has the example of a genuine active Christian, even over sinners, that instead of tempting him, the poor creatures are frequently converted by him and led to join him in his blessed labours. The indolent professor is easily led away. The worldly and ungodly see him so ready to approach them, that they run to meet him without fear. He can join them in their parties; he can go with them on their excursons of pleasure; he can sit with them and talk with them, and they find him almost altogether such a one as themselves, except in name. He begins to love the company of the ungodly, for it suits better with his indolent spirit than the company of zealous Christians. If he had any real religion to begin with, it will now soon die away, and he will be left with the form of godliness, but without the power. Nearly all the young persons who began to profess religion at the time when I began, who did not enter diligently into some kind of work for God, fell away. Some became drunkards; some formed dangerous acquaintances; others went on talking and trifling and spending their time at each others' houses, till the profession of religion became tiresome, and they returned to the world again. Those that set to work for God went onward, and many of them continue to this day. Some of them are preachers, some are leaders, some are useful in the Sabbath schools, all are doing well. And it will be found to be much the same in all churches. If there be any workers in a church, others must work also: or they will not long remain in its communion. If the church be asleep, as it sometimes happens, an idle convert may remain among them; they may all sleep on together. But such a church cannot prosper. For a time the members may hang together, and with a deal of help they may continue to keep up the appearance of a religious society; but it must go down at length, or else be aroused to labour. I have known many such churches; and there have been hundreds of such churches in the land. There never was a working church went down; and there never was an idle church that long maintained its ground. Churches will always prosper in proportion as they labour to do good. And how can we expect it to be otherwise? God brings churches into existence, not for their own comfort merely, but for the conversion of the world. He lights them up, as we light candles, that they may give light to all that are in the house. The house which Christian churches are meant to illuminate is the wide world. If they cease to let their light shine by their good works,— if they cease to aim at illuminating their fellow men, and sending the light of the Gospel through the world, he removes the candlestick, and suffers them to sink back into their orginal darkness. They ceased to answer the end for which he raised them up, and he casts them away as a worthless thing. Let churches and professing Christians therefore learn, that if they wish not to be cast away, they must work for God, and for the salvation of their neighbours. Many churches get wrong here. They aim only at establishing themselves as churches, instead of extending themselves through the world, not considering that they must either go forward or fall back. Thy work hard till they have gained a comfortable establishment, and then they begin to relax. They give money till they have built their chapel, and provided for their preacher, and then they close their hands. They invite their neighbours till they have got a tolerable congregation, and then they leave men to go which way they please. They struggle hard while their existence seems doubtful; they are careful not to offend each other, and they are carful not to disgrace themselves before the world. They are very obliging to strangers, and very agreeable among them selves. They build a Sabbath school, and both rich and poor are teachers in it. They distribute tracts, perhaps, and hold extraordinary meetings; and the world thinks they are really in earnest. Many are brought to join with them in consequence, and they go on prosperously. But now the evil shows itself. They worked from a wrong motive; they did not look far enough. They should have aimed at the conversion of the world. They should have built one chapel with the intention of building a second as soon as they should be able, and then another and another, till not a chapel should be wanted in the world. They should have built a school, with the intention of building another as soon as the first was filled; and then another and another without end. They should have laboured not for ease, but that they might be able to labour yet more and more. They should have given themselves to the work of regenerating the earth, and have put off the thoughts of rest to another world. They should have begun with the intention of adding one institution to another, as fast as Providence should supply the means, and as long as the world should require their help. If they had done thus they would have endured for ever, and their prosperity would have known no end. But because they were content with too little, God withdraws even that which he had given. Because they selfishly sought to surround themselves with religious ordinances only, while they left their fellow men to want and sorrow, God frowned upon their schemes, and they withered as the flower which has been nipped with the frosty wind. And in all this God does no other than men do themselves. If a servant begin to work only for his own advantage, instead of attending to the interests of his master, he will soon be dismissed. If the king discover that his troops, instead of extending his power, devote themselves only to secure for themselves the riches and pleasures of his empire, he will disband them, and withdraw their pay. Christ engages his servants that they may minister to the wants of the whole human family, and if he finds them serving themselves alone, and leav |
