VALUE AND ABUSE OF EARTHLY GOODS.

APRIL 3.

101

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you.

THE world is of God's creation, and all things are very good. Instead of despising the pleasures of sense and the prosperities of life, I would ask you to put a real and discreet value upon them. Instead of pronouncing them shining dross, false and imaginary gratifications; instead of prescribing rules which might suit purely spiritual beings, but which cannot belong to men on earth; instead of these, I would assert, that riches, honour and influence are real and desirable goods; and that earthly pleasures are worthy of man, because instituted for him. We may seek, possess and enjoy these, without infringing on the precepts of reason or christianity.-Our religion has suffered from being confounded with a morality invented by monks, who deemed certain sepulchral rites the essence of piety, and who taught that God was honoured by our despising his gifts and tormenting ourselves. Christianity is the reverse of this. It would not make us hermits or monks, but active, useful, temperate and beneficent citizens; and pious humane and happy christians.

But, this view of our condition, and this licence of enjoyment is peculiarly liable to abuse, from men's overlooking that first great principle-moderation is the law of enjoyment. If this sacred axiom is disregarded, then truly, the world's glory is turned to ashes in our hands, and its comforts end in poison. Because the earth is for man's sustenance and joy, shall it be made a scene of degrading riot? Reasoning which would approve this, would be as false as it is foolish.-Are all real goods and pleasures desirable in the same degree? Are there besides riches and renown, no better goods? besides bodily pleasures, no purer gratificatitions? Worldly goods may be real, actual goods, yet it is true, that they are transient and unsatisfying; bodily gratifications may be real, yet they are deceitful, often dangerous and sometimes destructive. Riches and honour are real goods, but knowledge, wisdom and godliness are far better, for they accompany us through life and go with us to eternity. To be esteemed and praised justly by men, is desirable, but to be loved and approved by Jehovah, is infinitely preferable. The pleasures of sense are not imaginary, yet the satisfactions of knowledge, the pleasures of devotion, the sweets of beneficence, and the consolations of a good conscience, are far more dignified, substantial and animating. The first are brief in their nature, surfeiting in their excess, and then painful in their consequences; the last, never cloy, never disgrace, never afflict us. They grow stronger by repeated enjoyment and are consummated only in heaven.

Double wo will be on that man who contemns the salutary limits which, health, reason and christianity have prescribed to all earthly pursuits, wishes and gratifications.-While therefore you duly value all earthly objects and every real pleasure, let it be your wisdom, to chose the best, the noblest, the durable riches of truth, devotion and benevolence. These you can lay up in heaven. While others impetuously run after transitory gratifications, be this your constant delight, to meditate by the fountains of the eternal God, and to drink the pure rills which flow from the mount of Zion.

.102

GOD THE OMNIPRESENT OBJECT OF WORSHIP.

APRIL 4.

God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

GoD as an everpresent spirit; is every where the object of spiritual worship. The ancients peopled the universe with local deities; shut up their gods in limited spheres; imprisoned divinity in particular places and divided omnipotence into parts. We bow before a being eternal and infinite, whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain; who is present at all times and in all places; who perceives at one glance every side of every object, every atom of every body, every thought of every breast; and who performs, by one single energy, all countless operations. His presence therefore is not confined to the temple; his attention not limited to one congregation. He dwells in every house, in every closet, in every heart. He regards every domestic address, every secret prayer, every silent meditation. True worship is not confined to a mountain in Samaria, nor to a hill in Judea, nor to a house in christendom.-The true worshipper considers every spot on which he stands, as holy as the ground where Moses trembled. Wherever God has thrown a work before him, there he worships God; wherever he has left the print of his hand, there he presents the tribute of his praise. He considers the universe as the majestic temple of Jehovah-a temple not made with hands, not with hands to be measured; God's own magnificent construction filled with displays of the builder's wisdom, power and greatnesss. He worships God in his works. He as directly connects nature with its author, as he, who, in the fields, inhales a fragrance familiar to his sense, immediately thinks on the flower from which it flows. To him the temple of God is not here or there; it has no threshold; it has no walls; he is always in it; he cannot go out of it; whether he turns to the right or left, he is still at the altar of God. In this manner the true worshipper makes his thoughts and affections form one unbroken flow of praise, one continued act of worship.

Elevating are the pleasures arising from this habit of devotion. It not only gives the feeling of constant security, but the sense of society. Man wants not only a protector, but a companion. This social enjoyment which devotion supplies, produces a comparative independence of human society. There are moments when affectionate friendship is afar off; when solitude becomes oppressive; when cheerfulness takes its flight; when the sun seems to go down upon the heart, and the shadows of melancholy gather about it. In such hours the pious worshipper finds his advantage over others. He is never alone. That divine companion, with whom he walks, is ever at his side. He can therefore carry cheerfulness with him into all his solitudes. He has a remedy for melancholy whenever it is ready to steal over him. The departure of company is the return of religion, and he takes leave of man but to meet with, God. Let us become true worshippers of God; then whatever happens to us we shall have a support; wherever we go we shall have society. If we are immured even in the solitary tower, beyond the sight or sympathy of mortals, even in this imprisonment of the heart, we should find solace in the society of that invisible visitant, from whom no confinement is any seclusion, and with whom no contrivance of man can intercept the intercourse of piety.

POVERTY WITH VIRTUE BETTER THAN WEALTH WITHOUT. 103

APRIL 5.

A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked.

CREATED in God's image, we were made to be happy. Happiness must be planted every where, and will flourish any where. The fountains of felicity are within us.

The little that is accompanied with contentment, is better than great riches without it. What is gain? It is not gold; it is not power: the scriptures answer, "Contentment with godliness is great gain."-Does possessing much, produce content? No.-He who is not content with competence, will not be satisfied with superfluity. Contentment, with that which is enough for nature, is an inseparable attribute of a virtuous mind. It is a ray in the luminous orb of the virtues, which streams from the same centre, which supplies the rest of the radient circle. Contentment does not grow out of the condition, but out of the character. It is wealth and power and every earthly thing. He that is satisfied with what he eats, fares sumptuously; he that is satisfied with what he wears, is clothed in purple; he that is contented with his dwelling, is the tenant of a palace.

The little that is accompanied with economy and temperance, is better than the riches of those, who have a taste for a profusion. In such hands, riches are not riches., Intemperance converts wealth into want. It destroys all the varieties and distinctions of enjoyment. Opulence, in the hand of profusion, thus becomes the lowest poverty. He who reduces the superfluities to the necessaries of life, narrows his means of gratification so fast, that he is at length reduced to beggary. It is of little consequence, whether indigence be seated in the purse, or in the fancy. Riches in the hand of prodigality, lose their nature; they are not themselves; they are a large sum of ciphers. The little which the wise man has, is productive in comforts. He extracts what good it contains, and is safe and happy in

the process.

The little which is accompanied with the consciousness of its having been fairly acquired, is better than the riches that are attended with the remorse of having been ill gotten.-Can he who has furnished his house, however splendid, its trappings, who has adorned his grounds, however delightful their shades, who has clothed his limbs, however superb their attire, with what he has embezzled of public money, or with what he has extorted by adventurous fraud or unlawful traffic, can such a man pass through his apartment with the proud step, entertain his friends with the unclouded gaiety, or sink into his couch with the undisturbed repose, of him, who lives unenvied, and unblamed upon his honest earnings? This poor man has poised no unjust balance; employed no deceitful weights; practiced no artifice; betrayed no trust; forfeited no pledge, and overreached no inexperience. Triumphant the exultation of such a mind. Its integrity, innocence and peace are a perpetual joy.

What shall we think of those who, in haste to inherit the wealth, that awaited them, have been impatient at the slow step of nature to the tomb, and have expedited succession by secret violence? When the honest poor man witnesses a fact like this, how from the heart will he exclaim,-"Better is a little with righteousness, than great revenues without right."

104

THE TRUE CHRISTIAN FERVENT IN SPIRIT.

APRIL 6.

Fervent in Spirit, serving the Lord.

To confound enthusiasm with fanaticism is a great mistake. Fanaticism is an exclusive passion, the object of which is an opinion; enthusiasm is connected with the harmony of the universe: it is the love of the beautiful, it is elevation of soul, enjoyment of devation and interestedness in Christ, all united in one single feeling which combines grandeur and repose. The sense of this word among the Greeks affords the noblest definition of it: enthusiasm signifies God in us. In fact, when the existence of man is expansive, it has something divine.

There is a warmth and fervidness in the christian soul which we suppose fires the bosoms of the angelic host. Conscience is sufficient to lead the coldest character into the track of rectitude; but enthusiasm is to conscience what honour is to duty there is in us a superfluity of soul which it is sweet to consecrate to what is religiously sublime, when what is good has been accomplished. Genius and imagination mingle with the law of duty, and thus enable us to relish all the wonders of the heart and of the thought. Religious enthusiasm can alone counterbalance the tendency to narrow selfishness; and it is by this divine sign that we recognize the creatures of immortality. When you speak to any one on subjects worthy of holy respect, you perceive at once if he feels a noble trembling; if his heart beats with elevated sentiments; if he has formed an alliance with the other world.

Enthusiasm is one mark of magnanimity. It leads to a contemplative disposition. Character and enthusiasm differ in many respects; we ought to choose our object by enthusiasm, but to approach it by character: thought is nothing without enthusiasm, and action without character. Enthusiasm is every thing for the well grounded christian. The storms of passion subside, the pleasures of selflove fade away, but religious enthusiasm remains unaltered. The mind itself would be lost in physical existence, if something proud and animated did not snatch it away from the vulgar ascendency of selfishness. That moral dignity, which is proof against all attempts, is what is most admirable in the gift of existence, and this is christian enthusiasm. Without it, nothing sublime can be designed, or achieved. It is the great moral electric power of the soul.

The ardent christian looks on nature with profound admiration ; on truth with awakening love; on Christ with an inspiring sympathy, and on God with submissive confidence. He sees in nature the elements of mental exaltation; means of raising the depressed heart; a source of unalterable happiness and the origin of an habitual feeling of the divine harmony, in which nature and ourselves combine.-He sees in truth the voice and energy of God-an expression which springs from the soul, and which is a ray of celestial light, whether it shoot across the early morning of life, or the closing darkness of age. He sees, in Jesus Christ, the consummation of divine enthuasm; a spirit, patient in distress, fearless in duty, generous in sympathy and warm in devotion. He sees in God a universe of thought, power and love-the beginning and end of all we are and all we hope to become.

Thrice happy they! that enter now the court
Heaven opens in their bosoms.

Is this such a fast as I have chosen ?—No man repented of his wickedness; saying, what have I done?

Ar this season, a day of fasting, humiliation and prayer, is set apart by the people of New England. In being called to perform the great duties of self examination, let us enter, as with the candle of the Lord, into the inmost recesses of our souls, and bring forth every defilement therein concealed. Let us judge ourselves now, that we may not at last be condemned with the world. Let us ask ourselves, if we have hallowed the Lord God in our hearts, adored, trusted and obeyed him? Have we considered his eye as always fixed upon us, and his bounty the support of our lives? Have we preserved consciences void of offence towards him, and never impiously called upon him to curse those whom it was our duty to forgive-Have we performed with christian fidelity and with a christian spirit, the social duties of life? Have we withheld justice from others in property, engagements, words and affection ?-Have we brought together the faults of our neighbours at our fireside, and sent forth evil surmises under the cover of pleasantry ?-Have we flattered where we ought to condemn, and acted the enemy under the guise of a friend?-Have we cherished antipathies, where we ought to have been reconciled, and given just occasion of offence to our well wishers ?-Have parents illustrated their good precepts by corresponding example, and have children been obedient, kind and industrious? Have masters been reasonable and deliberate ; and have servants been true and faithful?-Have all of every condition been pious and holy?

The great duty of this day is self-scrutiny. True repentance is thorough reformation.-Conversion is not a primary, and therefore cannot be a universal duty. Abel, Enoch, Zacharius, Elizabeth and Nathaniel, are represented as walking with God. The righteous need no conversion. They must advance in goodness, but Christ does not call them to repentance. Conversion derives its obligation, not from the relation in which we stand either to God, or our fellow creatures; nor from the character we bear as rational beings and christians,-on the contrary, its obligation arises from the wilful transgression of those laws of righteousness which these characters and relations bind upon us; and therefore it can only be incumbent on those who are personally guilty of such wilful transgression. It is not the way originally prescribed by which the subjects of God's moral government are to obtain his favour; but the means which infinite wisdom has dictated for the recovery of his favour when it has been forfeited. Purity is better than repentance. The sinner must be turned back, the saint must persevere. Imperfection in man, circumstanced as he is, does not constitute moral depravity, or annihilate moral excellence.

Our first duty is to be innocent, useful, holy and pious; and our next duty is to make others so.-On this day let us each feel that we have immortal talents in trust, and resolve to correct what is erroneous, strengthen what is weak, and establish what is wavering in our characters. Let us add to our faith all the consenting graces of the christian profession; and being faithful unto death, we shall at last receive a crown of everlasting life.