{"collection":"philosophy-ethics","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_15822/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_15822","id":"gutenberg_15822","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15822","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christian stewardship","Finance, Personal -- Religious aspects -- Christianity"],"text":"E-text prepared by Jared Fuller\n\n\n\nPrize Essay.\n\nTHE FAITHFUL STEWARD;\n\nOr Systematic Beneficence an Essential of Christian Character.\n\nby\n\nREV. SERENO D. CLARK.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPUBLISHER'S ADVERTISEMENT.\n\nThe following is from the Circular of the Committee of Award, signed\nTHOMAS S. WILLIAMS, WILLIAM R. WILLIAMS, R. T. HAINES.\n\n\"The committee selected to award a premium of $250 for 'the best approved\ntreatise on the importance of Systematic Beneficence, and of statedly\nappropriating certain portions of income for benevolent objects,' report,\nthat they have examined one hundred and seventy-two manuscripts submitted\nto them, several of which are large treatises, and a number marked by\ndistinguished merit.  They selected four, as in their judgment superior\nto the rest.  Of these four, each was found to have its peculiar\nexcellencies and adaptation to usefulness--this in one walk, and that in\nanother.  Literary merit, thoroughness of discussion, and a spiritual and\npractical character, each and all necessary, in their measure, to render\na composition 'THE BEST' in the sense of the original offer of the donor,\nare to be found blended, in various proportions, in these several\ntreatises, and rendered the task of decision the more embarrassing.  The\ncommittee were thus unable to select any one, two, or three, as on the\nwhole preferable to the remainder of these four.  They therefore awarded\nthe premium, which the benevolent donor has increased to $400, to be\ndivided equally among these four manuscripts;\" one of which is here\noffered to the public.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\nPART I.\n\nIntroduction.--Systematic Beneficence argued.--Nature\n   of such a System,\n\nPART II.\n\nDistinction between a General and Particular System.\n   --Two Questions discussed.  1. What is the proportional\n   amount of property or income to be given individually\n   in charitable contributions; together with the principle\n   on which the amount is to be ascertained?  2. How\n   frequently should stated contributions be made?\n   --The method of previous appropriations discussed, and\n   the duty enforced,\n\nPART III.\n\nThe General System given in detail.--1. It must consist\n   of intellectual views, their inculcation, and harmonizing\n   affections and desires.  2. Of general purposes and\n   resolutions.  3. Of correspondent actions.--The adoption\n   of the Individual System urged.--Systematic\n   Beneficence an essential of Christian character,\n\nCONCLUSION.\n\nAn Address to professed Christians.--An Address to the\n   Rich.--An Address to the Young,\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE FAITHFUL STEWARD.\n\nPART I.\n\n\"GOD IS LOVE.\"  Perfectly blessed in Himself, he desired that other\nintelligences should participate in his own holy felicity.  This was his\nprimary motive in creating moral beings.  They were made in his own\nimage--framed to resemble him in their intellectual and moral capacities,\nand to imitate him in the spirit of their deportment.  Whatever good they\nenjoyed, like him, they were to desire that others might enjoy it with\nthem; and thus all were to be bound together by mutual sympathy,--linked\nto Himself, and to one another; otherwise, they would not resemble their\nGreat Original, either in feeling or conduct.  But intelligent beings,\nunlike Himself, Jehovah, in consistency with his holy character, could\nnever purpose to create.  He thus must eternally abhor the covetous; and\nhence, with all the strength of his infinite nature, threaten them with\neverlasting death.\n\nHow glorious this idea of creation, and how beautiful the universe\nproduced!--the whole mantled in the effulgence of the eternal throne;\nthe Sovereign Creator upholding all ranks of intelligences in the hollow\nof his hand, and pouring into their bosoms the fullness of his own\nfruition; while their hearts, in turn, rise to the Source of their being\nin sweetest incense of joy and praise; each burning with a seraph's love\nto communicate his own overflowing enjoyments to those around him.  Well\nmight the morning stars have sung together when such a universe awoke to\nbeing.\n\nThe greatest good, the richest possession, then, of an intelligent\nbeing, is a  soul in harmony with this original design of creation--a\noneness of principle, of feeling, and interest, with God; in other\nwords, _disinterested benevolence_.  Truly, \"It is more blessed to give\nthan to receive;\" for without the good will the generous deed implies,\nwhatever else we have, we must have sorrow.\n\nBut how little of this spirit is evinced by man in his fallen state.\nThose ties of love, that bound us to our Creator and to one another, are\nsundered; as a race, severed from the governing Centre of all, each has\nchosen a centre for himself, and is moving on in darkness and ruin;\nselfishness the rule, self-interest the end.\n\nBenevolence is not, therefore, natural to man.  To practise it requires\nthe greatest effort; it is reascending to that lofty height whence we\nhave fallen.  Hence the importance of System in the great work of\nbeneficence.\n\nSystem in action implies a principle from which it proceeds.\nFluctuating opinions and feelings produce fickleness of conduct; while\nsettled convictions, stability of affections, and fixedness of purpose,\ngive birth to persevering and methodical action.  A system of\nbeneficence must be founded on abiding principles and dispositions.\n\n_I proceed to show in the first place, the Duty of Systematic\nBeneficence thus founded_.\n\nI.  _I argue the duty of systematic beneficence from the analogy of\nnature_.  The Author of nature is the perfection of order.  Whatever he\ndoes, he does systematically.  He proceeded in the great work of\ncreation with regularity.   Order moulded the planets, and every star\nthat gems the evening sky; it launched them forth in their orbits, and\nguides their glorious way, producing \"the music of the spheres.\"  Order\nstretched the very layers of the everlasting rocks like ribs around the\nearth, and shaped the crystals of the cavern.  There is order in the\nstructure of every spire of grass, of every flower and shrub, of every\ntree and trembling leaf; in the mechanism of every animal, from man in\nhis godlike attitude, to the smallest microscopic tribes.  All organic\nexistences are preserved in being, nurtured, grow and mature, according\nto certain laws.  Even the winds, that stir the petals of the flowers,\nbreathing fragrance and health, and the tornado, that bows the forest\nand dashes navies, obey established principles.  Now, shall there be\norder all around me, and in my physical frame, in the flowing blood, in\nthe heaving lungs, and chiseled limbs, while the accountable actions of\nthis finely-knit and symmetrical form, especially the loftiest actions\nfor which it was made, the diffusion of good, are exempted from this\nuniversal law?  Such an exception, how incongruous!  It would be an\nexcrescence on the very vitals of nature.\n\nII.   _From the characteristic of Divine beneficence_.  The supply of\nour physical necessities and comforts comes in the order of those\nnatural laws already referred to.  Social and civil blessings result\nfrom certain principles of mental, moral, and political science.  Method\nis equally characteristic of our spiritual blessings.  No sooner had man\nfallen, than God began to unfold the remedial scheme.  But he is\ninfluenced by no impulses in accomplishing the wondrous plan.  He rushes\nnot to the result with an impetuosity indicative of a zeal that flames\nalong its course uncontrolled by reason.  But there is a steadiness of\nonward movement, showing that unwavering principles of order preside\nover all his proceedings.  The world, the intelligent universe, must be\nprepared for such a stupendous event as the incarnation and death of the\nSon of God; prophecies, promises, types, and ritual institutions must\ngradually open the scheme, ere the final development could be suitably\nmade.  After forty centuries of preparation, Christ came; and yet years\nmust pass away, before, in that order of events which God had\nestablished, the crowning event of all could occur,--the propitiatory\nsacrifice be offered up.  In extending the kingdom thus founded, the\nsame order, the same adaptation of means to ends, is observable.  The\nword of God, the Sabbath, the sanctuary, the workings of the Holy\nSpirit, and the co-operation of the individual reason and conscience,\nare all linked consecutively to each other, or work in beautiful harmony\ntogether.  Thus, throughout the entire scheme of spiritual blessings,\nreaching from the opening promise of a Saviour to the incarnation; and\nfrom the incarnation to the judgment; and onward to eternity, everything\nis done systematically.\n\nThis is the result of the unchanging principles of the Divine Mind.\nThey grow with a steady heat, equally prompting him to activity at every\nmoment.  Hence, like the sun shining in its strength, God sends down\nunweariedly the rays of his love, both on the evil and on the good,\ncrowning their days with \"loving-kindness and tender mercies.\"  Indeed,\nshould the ardor of his love cool, or the hand of his power or grace be\nwithdrawn but for a single moment, all our hopes would be dashed, our\nvery existence cease.\n\nFrom this characteristic of the Divine beneficence, the inference is\nirresistible.  If man is bound by the condition of his being, to imitate\nGod in his moral character and conduct, he must cherish the same abiding\nprinciples of benevolence, and carry the same steady hand in diffusing\ngood.  The ardor of his love may never cool; his hand of charity never\nweary.  He must be god-like.  With permanency and uniformity of conduct,\nimitative of his own, our Holy Sovereign will be well pleased.  But with\nhim who is wavering in his principles; vacillating and impulsive in his\npurposes of good; at one time toiling for others with the utmost\nearnestness, and then, forgetful of their wants and woes for months\ntogether, he must be displeased.  How unlike our Great Exemplar.  He was\n_always_ doing good.  \"The labor of his life was love.\"  Reader, would\nyou please your compassionate Savior?  Go, and do likewise.\n\nIII.  _From the necessity of system to success in any kind of business_.\nOne cannot accumulate wealth, acquire learning, rise to distinction in\nany of the professions or trades without system.  Even the pleasures of\nlife depend much on regularity; otherwise they cloy and become insipid.\nHe, who is unsteady in his habits, now indulging in ease, and now\nstraining every muscle; who, as some excitement arouses him,--such\nperhaps as the fresh inculcation of economy and industry, flares up and\nbustles about, resolves that his business shall henceforth be prosecuted\nwith vigor and managed with precision, and in a few days relapses into\nhis old, careless, inefficient habits, heedless alike of prudence and\nprecept, gives little promise of success in any department of life.  Or\nshould one be perseveringly industrious, but suffer his affairs to lie\nin confusion, like the material world at its birth, he would be deemed\nat best but a busy-body.  If he intends to succeed, he must have some\nestablished principles and a fixedness of purpose, which will prompt to\naccuracy and method, would be the universal decision of the wise.  This\nis reasoning correctly.  But must men practise on system in providing\nthe means of personal supply and gratification; while in the Divine work\nof relieving the sorrows and wants of others, all system is matter of\nindifference?  Is order so important in the _accumulation_ of property;\nwhile the _diffusion_ of it, in obedience to God's commands, may be\nsafely left to the spontaneous impulses of feeling?  The more important\nany business becomes, the more essential is precision in its management.\nThis is a universal maxim.  Now, as beneficence, in its comprehensive\nimport, rises superior to all other employments, so, if it ever reaches\nits highest possible results, it must be carried on systematically.  How\noften does benevolence to the poor fail of accomplishing all that it\notherwise might, were it not exerted irregularly; whereas, when\nproceeding in equable flow, by encouraging frugality and economy, it\nfills even the dwellings of poverty with comfort.  How much more\nefficient would our great benevolent societies become, were the\ncontributions of the churches uniform, or uniformly rising like the\nwaters from the sanctuary in Ezekiel's vision; so that those who conduct\nthem might have sufficient data on which to erect their schemes for the\nfuture.  It would infuse new life into all their operations; elevate\nthem to a loftier position, from which they might stretch their arms\naround the world, and kindle joys reaching to heaven.  Besides, is it\nnot matter of personal experience, that when order enters into, and\npervades our worldly business, we accomplish far more than when it is\nleft to the driftings of fortune, or to the mere suggestions of the\nmind?  And can any reason be assigned why the same practice should not\nbe equally productive in carrying out the noblest work of our being?\n\nThus personal experience in other matters observation, and theory, alike\nteach us that the work of benevolence may not be left to the impulses of\nnatural feeling--to the influence of lectures and appeals, or casual\nstimulants.  It must be planted in principle, and issue in regular\ncontributions, like the tree of life yielding her fruit every month, if\nwe would have the blessing of many ready to perish come upon us.  Those\nwho depend on intermittent springs are liable to suffer thirst.\n\nIV.  _From the deep-seated depravity of the human heart_.  Depravity is\nsupreme selfishness.  This, in unregenerate men, is the governing\nprinciple.  Quick-sighted, ever on the alert, and lying, as it does, at\nthe foundation of the active powers, it becomes the propeller of the\nmind.  It leads to a series, and thus substantially to a system, of\nactions.  They may not always be rational; yet, as they spring from a\nfixed principle, and proceed in an uninterrupted current, they may\nproperly be termed systematic.  Hence the natural man feels a constant\npressure of motives to conduct pleasing to himself; and is thereby borne\naway on the maddening torrent of self-gratification.  There must be a\ncounter-current; billow must battle with billow.  The antagonist\nprinciple demanded is benevolence; and antagonist principles, coming in\ncollision, must press with equal force, or one gradually gaining upon\nthe other, will eventually secure the victory.  The combatant, who is\nfor a moment off his guard, or ceases to struggle, falls.  As\nselfishness is always awake, benevolence must never slumber.  The latter\nmust be as spirited and persevering as the former.  Hence, benevolence\nmust be systematic in its operations, or it will be overborne by the\never-stirring energies of its opponent.  Its series of acts must be as\ncontinuous and energetic as that of selfishness, in order simply to\narrest the course of the latter; and to make advances against its\nheadlong current, a strong additional force is requisite.  A system,\ntherefore, one founded in the depths of the soul, and bringing to its\naid all the resources of reason and conscience, is indispensable to\nefficiency in the angelic work of doing good.  System must be emblazoned\non the banner of every benevolent society; and inscribed on the brow of\nevery man by nature selfish, would he bless the world by his\nmunificence.\n\nEspecially is system necessary to encounter emergencies.  Men of\nbusiness not unfrequently meet with crises when their affairs are in a\ncritical state.  Numerous calls for money may come thronging in upon\nthem almost simultaneously.  Their nerves may become depressed, and\nthings may appear darker than they really are.  Besides, Christians even\nmay become worldly-minded, and their religious affections low.  At such\ntimes benevolence will almost surely be submerged by the whelming tide\nof selfishness, unless buoyed up by well-established system.\n\nV.  _From experience, which shows the inefficiency of impulsive\nbenevolence_.  That liberality is sometimes the offspring of the kindly\ntendencies of our natures, is readily admitted.  God, in making us\nsocial beings and helpers of each other's joy, gave us susceptibilities\nto sympathetic emotions.  When objects of suffering are presented before\nus, our sensibilities are moved, tears flow, and the hand is extended in\nrelief.  But these emotions are short-lived.  The exciting object being\nremoved, they soon expire.  And though thousands have flowed into the\ntreasuries of charity from this source, when an accomplished agent, with\na soul heated to a glow with his theme, has stirred the sensibilities of\nhis hearers as the trees of the forest are rocked by the tempest, or\nsome other influence has violently swept the chords of the heart; yet it\nis a source of too little depth and durability to give vitality to the\npersevering work of beneficence, in a world cankered to its center with\ncorruption.  Selfishness soon leads off the mind to other subjects; so\nthat contributions can be drawn from the natural sympathies only by the\nrepeated and almost continued presentation of the suffering object.  But\nthis course will ultimately defeat its own end; tending, as it does, to\nharden the heart, and thereby to seal up the very fountains intended to\nbe opened.  Accordingly, we find that those who have no plan of\nmunificent effort, but give merely as their sensibilities are moved,\nusually contribute less and less as they advance in age; their\nsusceptibilities to sympathetic emotion becoming hardened like the road\nover which the crushing wheel has rolled for years.  Hence, though the\nproduct of impulsive benevolence may sometimes be bountiful, yet when we\ncontemplate its workings for any lengthened period, its fruits are found\nneither uniform nor abundant.  The soil is too thin for enduring\nfertility.\n\nWe find this exemplified in our churches where no system of charity is\nadopted.  For want of stated times for contributions to the different\nobjects, they are apt to be forgotten or neglected.  They whose duty it\nis to make the appointments, are engaged in other cares; time whirls on;\nthe year passes away, and no collection is made.  Or if a few objects\nreceive occasional attention, others are passed over for years\naltogether; proving to a moral demonstration, that what is done\nirregularly in the work of beneficence, is ill done.  To this, the\nagents of our benevolent societies passing through our churches, can\nbear sorrowful testimony.--The same is true of the individual.  Every\none knows that what falls not into his regular routine of duties, is apt\nto slide from the memory.  This is peculiarly true of benevolence, for\nselfishness helps us to forget; and it the contribution come to our\nrecollection, we are not ready to give just then; some debt must be\nfirst paid, some convenience purchased, or some other urgent call\nattended to.  Thus he, who has no system in the bestowment of his\nbounties, is always finding excuses to turn off the edge of arguments\nand the force of appeals; though perhaps with the resolution of giving\nliberally at some future period.  Here lies his greatest danger.  The\nresolution satisfies his conscience; and while resting upon it, the\nopportunity to contribute passes away, and souls are lost; whereas, had\nhe acted on principle, the donation, though inconvenient would have been\nmade, and souls saved.\n\nSuch is not unfrequently the mournful termination of impulsive\nbenevolence.  Tears may be shed over the anguish wrought; but tears\ncannot remedy the evil; this must flow on in wailing and woe forever.\nBut it may be prevented by the timely admonitions of experience.  For\nthat selfishness can be suppressed, and benevolence sustained, only by\nthe strong hand of principle and systematic effort, is the voice of\nages.\n\nVI.  _From Scripture_.  All duties enjoined in the Scriptures, if\ncontemplated in their principles, will be found subjected to the control\nof reason; and, if they lie under the control of reason, they must be\nconducted methodically.  All acts of worship, from the first requisition\nof Divine homage given in Eden, onward through the successive\ngenerations of the patriarchs, were to be performed with decency and in\norder.  The Mosaic economy was one of the most rigid exactness.  The\nritual prescribed to the Jews required the utmost method.  The same law\nheld in regard to the payment of tithes and their multiplied gifts to\nthe Lord.  This precision, with which every one must be struck in\nreading the Old Testament, is doubtless designed for the instruction of\nall succeeding times.  But what is its peculiar lesson to us?  It, at\nleast, shows us that God is pleased with regularity in the conduct of\nhis people; and not less in their beneficent transactions than in the\ndischarge of their other duties.  The same principle of order is\ntransferred to Gospel times.  Here, there may be liberty, but there must\nbe regularity.  This is taught in that general commendation of Paul to\nthe Colossian christians for the order and steadfastness that rejoiced\nhim.  (Col. ii. 5.)  But if regularity in other things is pleasing to\nGod under the New Dispensation, why is it not in this divinest work of\nan intelligent being?  This is specifically shown in the injunction of\nPaul to the Corinthians,*[1 Cor. Xvi. 2.] for each one to lay by him in\nstore on the first day of the week, as God had prospered him.  Now,\nwithout pushing this text to extremes, and affirming that the Holy Ghost\nintended to require of all christians in all circumstances and in all\nages, to contribute a portion of their substance in charity every\nSabbath, the passage most distinctly shows that God is pleased with\nsystematic benevolence--with stated appropriations of income to objects\nof munificence.  As order is nature's first law, so it is of the\nScriptures.\n\nSystem in our benefactions is thus clearly a duty devolving on all.  It\nis alike the voice within and the voice from heaven.  It cannot be\nneglected without imminent peril.  It is a subject of vital interest.\nIt must be deeply pondered.   It must be earnestly prayed over.  The\ngreat idea must enter, like a consuming fire, into the very heart's\ncore, and inflaming it with zeal, bring forth fruit an hundred fold to\nthe Lord.\n\nOne thing more.  Every man is bound to make the most of his being.  All\nhis powers, both of body and of mind, are to be taxed to the utmost, and\nexerted in the most _effective manner_.  Each duty, without intrenching\non others, should be performed in such a way, as best to secure the end\naimed at in the obligation.  Manner may not be disregarded.  If there is\nreason to believe that the end contemplated in the obligation to\nbeneficence may be best reached by a course of systematic effort, the\nvery fact should lead to its immediate adoption.  At the close of the\npreceding arguments, without reasoning in a circle, this may be adduced\nas a consideration of no small force, inducing every one to cast about\nhim, and solemnly consider whether he is conducting his charities in the\nmost efficient method; _manner_ and _spirit_ being as binding as the\ngenerous deed itself.  And on this principle, every precept, promise,\nand example of revelation, enforcing benevolence, is really a precept,\npromise, and example, arousing to systematic benevolence.  The same is\ntrue of the various incentives to this glorious work, offered in the\nensuing pages; and in this light let the reader regard them.\n\n_In the second place, what is the Nature of a Scriptural System of\nBeneficence_?  This is an important inquiry.  Every system, as we have\nseen, must be founded in principle--a principle rooted in the active\npowers, resting down upon the main-springs of the soul, so as to be\nmoved forward by all the mental energies combined.  But it must not only\nrest on principle; it must rest on right principle.  The moral character\nof a system depends on the character of the moral feelings from which it\nrises; and it is the moral character of any scheme of action, which,\nunder the government of God, gives it permanent efficiency; for to\nsucceed, it must have his co-operation and aid.  Besides, a system of\nbenevolence is designed to combat the selfishness of the heart; a\nprinciple, strong, subtle, insidious, and developing itself in ten\nthousand different ways.  Diametrical opposition to this, therefore,\nmust be its leading characteristic.  The natural sympathies, and\nconscience, and reason, must, indeed, be enlisted in its service; but\nall these united are insufficient to support enduringly a system of\nmunificence against this formidable antagonist.  For selfishness may\nentirely submerge the sympathies, so that he who can weep with his\nbereaved neighbor at the grave of his child, may, with the malignity of\na fiend, be inwardly pleased at the death of an enemy.  Selfishness may\nso control the conscience, that it will utter no upbraiding accents; and\nso bewilder the keen-sightedness of reason, that one may put darkness\nfor light, and bitter for sweet, and sin for holiness, while\ncomplacently feeling that he is standing on the everlasting hills of\ntruth.  Neither the natural sympathies, nor conscience, nor reason,\nthen, can form the substantial basis of a system of action which is to\nbattle with the selfishness of the human heart.  It must be informed\nwith a higher and nobler principle.  Holy love is such a principle.\nThis, in its very nature, is superior to all other affections of the\nsoul.  The object on which it is fastened is the Great Supreme, and all\nother objects disappear before it, as the stars before the morning sun.\nA system, then, inwrought with this heaven-born principle, controlling,\nquickening, inspiring all the moral energies of the soul, may resist\nthis mighty foe of the heart; and it forms the only insuperable bulwark\nto his malignant inroads.  This position accords with the Scriptures.\nThey approve of no external act, only as it proceeds from a holy heart;\notherwise, they stamp it as self-righteousness or superstition.  A\nsystem of benevolent action, resting on any other foundation, falls\nunder the same condemnation; it contains no element of life, nothing\ntruly pleasing to God.  Men may endeavor to find other bases on which to\nrear schemes of charity; they may bring to the task the most penetrating\nsagacity, and traverse again and again the secret windings of the mind,\nto find some other lurking principle which can resist and subdue the\nbatteries of covetousness; but all their efforts will be vain.  Whatever\nthey may erect will be built upon the sand; the winds and floods will\nsweep it away.  There is no foundation which can withstand the\nunderminings of the depraved heart, and the shocks of a depraved world,\nbut the rock of holy love.\n\n\n\nPART II.\n\nSystematic beneficence is capable of a twofold division.  There is a\ngeneral or universal system, binding indiscriminately and equally on all\nof every rank and condition; and a particular system adapted alone to\nthe circumstances of each individual.  The latter stands related to the\nformer, as the edifice to the foundation on which it rests.  This\ndistinction must be kept clearly before mind, if we would have definite\nviews of our obligations relative to this important subject.  In the\nensuing discussion, I shall confine myself mainly to the general system;\nbelieving that if God's people are correct in sentiment, rooted and\ngrounded in moral and christian principles, they will be substantially\ncorrect in practise.  And as the particular or individual system grows,\nby a moral necessity, out of the other when fully embraced, being, in\nfact, involved in the practical part of it, I propose to give but\noccasional hints concerning it.\n\n\nPractically considered, a system of beneficence consists in two things:\nthe amount of property bestowed, and the frequency of stated gifts to\nthe Lord.\n\nBefore detailing in full, therefore, the general system of beneficence,\nthese two questions must be thoroughly discussed--1.  What is the\nproportional amount of property or income to be given in charitable\ncontributions?  2.  How frequently should stated contributions be made?\n\nThe first of these is a point the most difficult for the depraved heart\nto reach.  Self-interest clamors most loudly for the smallest sum\npossible.  Her whole strength must here be encountered.  But\nselfishness, properly so called, has nothing to do with the question.\nThe rule determining the amount must be fixed upon, not only entirely\nwithout her aid, but in direct opposition to her insidious suggestions.\nIt must also be a rule growing out of those principles which take hold\nof, and bind the conscience; and therefore clearly taught in the Bible.\nThis is a consideration which may not be overlooked.  If we endeavor to\ndeduce a rule from principles not found nor recognized in the\nScriptures, the influence will be disastrous; we shall rather\nstrengthen, than weaken, the covetous tendencies of the heart.\n\nIt has appeared to some of vast importance to fix upon a definite amount\nof income as each one's yearly contribution.  A tenth has been named as\nthe proportion divinely approved, in imitation of Jacob's vow to give a\ntenth to God of all that he should receive at his hand; and because the\nJews were required to pay a tithe of their yearly increase for the\nsupport of the Levites.  Arguments have been adduced to show that this\nratio in charity is obligatory on all; at the same time, it has been\nacknowledged not to be enjoined in the New Testament.  We think,\nhowever, the ground untenable; and all efforts to designate this or any\nother fixed proportion as universally binding, both inexpedient and\nunscriptural.\n\nIn the first place, it would not be equal.  An alleged requisition, not\npressing equally upon all in its ordinary operations, cannot rise out of\nthe necessary relations of the spiritual universe, and therefore is not\nessential to a moral government.  It can be made obligatory on the\nconscience only by a positive precept from the Great Lawgiver himself.\nBut no ratio of income, universally applicable can be assigned, pressing\nequally upon all.  While one's income may be large, his debts may\nlikewise be large.  Another's health may be feeble, his family numerous,\nand his expenses great; while his neighbor's constitution may be\nvigorous, his family small, and his necessary expenditures few.  Thus\ncircumstances may render it a greater sacrifice for some to give a\ntwentieth, a fiftieth, or even an hundredth of their income, than for\nothers to bestow one half, or indeed, the whole of it, and thousands\nbesides.\n\nOne's entire possessions must be taken into the calculation.  Take a\nsimple case.  Two men start in business together; both plan and toil for\nten years.  One has an expensive family, parents to maintain, children\nto support and educate; he has been withal unfortunate, and has laid up\nscarcely a thousand dollars.  The other has no family, has prospered and\naccumulated ten thousand.  The eleventh year Providence smiles upon both\nalike; the income of each is a thousand dollars.  Now, would it be equal\nto require of both respectively a hundred in charity?\n\nNor can any ratio of standing property and income combined be\ndesignated, ensuring equality.  Though this might approximate towards\nequalizing the burden, still the same or similar causes would prevent a\nuniform pressure.  Besides, calls on our benevolence are not always\nequally loud or imperious; and therefore, with the same means, more is\ndemanded on some occasions than others.\n\nUndoubtedly there is a certain amount of property, which, taking into\nview the whole circle of one's relations, he ought to contribute in\ncharity.  It is by no means contended that one cannot fix upon a\ndefinite amount for himself.  This he may and should do.  All that we\naver is, that no general rule can be made, assigning that amount,\nbecause no general rule can meet the ten thousand circumstances that\nmodify individual cases; and, therefore, obligations to comply with it\nwould not be universally felt.  Besides, no one thinks of specifying\ncertain proportions of labor and attention which all are equally bound\nto bestow on others; and yet, these are sometimes far more beneficial to\nthe suffering than gifts of money.  To assign a certain number of\nexternal acts employed in charitably distributing property, while we fix\nupon no definite amount of labor to be expended in beneficence, is\nmaking a difference without a reason; this being seen, the conscience\nwill not be holden, unless some scripture precept can be found demanding\nthe discrimination.\n\nBut could a ratio be found pressing equally upon all, it would not be\ndesirable.  Man, while under the influence of the natural heart, if he\ntries to please his Maker at all, endeavors to do it by external acts\nmerely; when driven from this ground, he seeks to please him by acting\nout some principle of natural sympathy, conscience, or reason; when\nshown the fallacy of this, he endeavors still to discharge his duties in\nsome way without the _entire consecration_ of the soul.  Now, does not\nthe advocacy of a general ratio obviously fall in with this depraved\ninclination, tend to flatter this pride of heart, and to encourage this\naversion to entire self-immolation?  Indeed, founded on this principle,\nthe work of benevolence is extremely liable to degenerate into sheer\nsuperstition.  The payment of the stipulated sum is soon thought to\nrender one worthy of Divine acceptance; and thus, instead of gushing\nfrom the heart, charity becomes a mere mercenary business, scarcely\nrising to the dignity of a virtue.  This the experience of the religious\nworld proves, as is evidenced by the views and conduct of the Jews\nrespecting tithes in the time of Christ; and at the present period, by\nthe payment of periodical contributions in the Romish church.\n\nBesides, as a general rule must apply to all classes and conditions\nindiscriminately, the bestowment of the designated sum would satisfy the\nconsciences, not only of the poor, but also of the rich, who ought,\nunquestionably, to contribute oftentimes far more than one tenth of\ntheir annual increase, or any other proportion which the most generous\nphilanthropy might appoint; thus both rendering them deaf to\nextraordinary calls, and, when the truth, so agonizing to the carnal\nheart, that our all belongs to God, is pressed with vital intensity on\nthe mind, affording a secure retreat to the tortured conscience.\n\nSuch an arrangement also would often fail to meet the yearnings of the\nChristian heart.  The sympathy of the true Christian is as deep and\nfar-reaching as human suffering.  Neither one, nor two, nor three tenths,\nwould be regarded as sufficient on particular emergencies.  Such was the\ncase with the Macedonians of whom Paul says, \"That in a great trial of\naffliction, the abundance of their joy, and their deep poverty abounded\nunto the riches of their liberality.  For to their power, yea, and\nbeyond their power, they were willing of themselves; praying us with\nmuch entreaty, that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the\nfellowship of the ministering to the saints.\"  The Christian king of the\nFriendly Islands felt the same burstings of a Christian heart.  The\nmissionary says of him: \"He had not often gold or silver to give.  But\none time he had obtained ten pounds from the ship for food he had sold.\nHow much do you think he gave to the missionary society?  One pound?\nFive pounds?  This would have been a great deal.  But he did more; he\ngave the whole!\"\n\nIt would not meet the requisitions of the command, \"Thou shalt love they\nneighbor as thyself.\"  Would an Irish lord, amidst the scenes recently\nexperienced in his unhappy country, surrounded by hundreds and thousands\nof miserable beings, starving, sick, and dying, be justified in view of\nthis law, by contributing to their relief a bare tenth of his income?\nEvery noble heart will answer in the negative.  These times of agony\ndemanded far greater sacrifices.\n\nThus all efforts to fix upon a definite ratio of income or property of\nuniversal obligation, will give constant ground for questions of\ncasuistry inevitably tending rather to screen the conscience, than to\nstimulate to generous activity.\n\n_But what does the Gospel teach us on the subject_?  The religion of the\nGospel begins in the heart.  \"Son, give me the heart,\" is its\nfundamental precept.  In the Gospel scheme, every individual stands by\nhimself, on his own responsibility; he is bound by a personal tie to his\nMaker.  The conduct it prescribes is entirely spiritual.  It requires a\nburning heart, shedding its light and heat on all around.  According to\nits code, every act must gush from holy love.  It does not prescribe\njust the amount of action to be put forth, in any one direction; but the\nheart and conscience of each, guided by wisdom from above, are to direct\nhim.  It is thus with Angels and the redeemed about the throne.  A holy\nheart, bathed in the truth of heaven, is all the general rule they need\nto enable them to discharge their duties, and to adapt themselves to the\nvarious circumstances in which they may be placed to eternity.  Such is\ntheir moral state, that the least intimation of Jehovah's will sends\nthem speeding on wings of fire to do his pleasure.  The Gospel places\nman on earth in the same relation to him, and intends that he shall act\non the same general principles.  It teaches us that all we have belongs\nto God, and that all we do must be done to his glory.  A soul, permeated\nby this heavenly spirit, would find a knowledge of the destitution and\nwoes of others, and an ability to relieve them, a sufficient stimulant\nand guide.  Angel-like, it would send forth spontaneously the\nfelicitating streams which the Gospel appoints.\n\nThis is the source and spirit of all Gospel benevolence.  Says Paul,\n\"Every man according as he purposeth\" (desireth or chooseth) \"in his\nheart, so let him give.\"  There is to be no constraint.  The working of\nindividual good-will is to be the measure of individual bounty; for \"God\nloveth a cheerful giver.\"*[This principle does not apply to the support\nof a pastor.  _Paul_ does not put charity and the support of the pastor\non the same ground.  Compare 2 Cor. Viii. and ix. With 1 Cor. ix.  Other\nelements come in, modifying the result in the latter case.  1. The idea\nof wages.  2. The idea of copartnership.  Each member of the church, on\nprinciples of common honesty, is bound to bear his share of the common\nexpenses.]  But though no given proportion of property is definitely\nenjoined, there are certain general principles laid down, by which we may\nmake approximations towards a proportionate amount, and never be at a\nloss respecting individual gifts in specific instances when the heart is\nright.  The following are such.\n\nThe great truth that God has a supreme and inalienable right in us and\nin all that we possess.  \"The silver is mine, and the gold is mine,\nsaith the Lord of Hosts.\"  \"For every beast of the field is mine, and\nthe cattle upon a thousand hills.\"  \"Behold, all souls are mine; as the\nsoul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine.\"--The\ninjunction to dedicate ourselves to God.  \"I beseech you, brethren, by\nthe mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice,\nholy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.\"--The\nrequirement to love God and his cause and interest more devotedly than\nthe dearest worldly possession.  \"If any man come to me, and hate not\nhis father, and mother, and wife and children, and brethren, and\nsisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.\"\n\"Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath cannot be my\ndisciple.\"--The command to love our neighbor as ourselves; that we are\nto supply his necessities, and relieve his sufferings, so far as lies in\nour power, with the same willingness that we do our own.--The intimation\nthat our gifts should be such as to call into exercise our faith and\nself-denial.  The poor widow cast into the treasury of the Lord \"all\nthat she had, even all her living;\" with which generous sacrifice Christ\nwas well pleased; and Paul commends the Macedonian Christians, because\nthey gave not only according to their power, but beyond their power.--\nThe promises to the benevolent.  \"The liberal soul shall be made fat.\"\n\"He that watereth shall be watered himself.\"  \"It is more blessed to\ngive than to receive.\"--The duty of imitating Christ, who \"suffered for\nus, leaving us an example, that we should follow in his steps;\" that we\nshould \"walk even as he also walked.\"\n\nAlso, the very large amount of their income, (which has been estimated\nat not less than one fifth) required of the Jews to be given for the\nsupport of religion, and in charity, was intended to convey to us\nsimilar instruction.  For though the law of tithes or double tithes is\nnot binding upon us, the great sacrifices which they were required to\nmake, are designed to have a _moral influence_ on succeeding\ngenerations.  It is not the idle record of a bygone race, or of a\ndispensation that has vanished away; it utters a voice to us; it is the\nliving exemplification of a principle which we are bound to adopt.  If\neven the poor among the Jews could give so much, the poor can still give\nbountifully in proportion to their means,--and, were they disposed, how\nprofusely might the rich lavish their munificence.  With the fact before\nus of the great sacrifices the Jews were commanded to make for the\nsupport of religion in their own narrow bounds; when we consider the\nbreadth of the field we are called to cultivate,--the spiritual\nnecessities of the perishing millions of our race, the opportunities to\nreach them, the worth of the undying soul, the revenue of glory its\nsalvation will yield the Saviour, what sacrifices ought the poor, at the\npresent day, to make in their penury, and the rich in their abundance,\nto promote the glory of Christ in the salvation of souls; and how\nterrible the doom of those who refuse.\n\nThese principles, requisitions, promises, and examples, show us that our\nsacrifices should be _great_, and the amount of our contributions\n_large_, when either the worldly or spiritual necessities of others\ndemand our aid; while they leave the treasuries of benevolence to be\nfilled by the spontaneous flow of each individual soul.\n\nThe desire, therefore, to fasten on the consciences of men the\nobligation to contribute periodically a certain portion of their income\nor property, as universally binding, is not to be gratified by arguments\ndrawn either from reason or revelation.  We may resort to no artificial\nmeans.  We may trust in no machinery which does not work and glow with\nthe living fires of the heart.  Love, conscience, and reason, must be\nthe originating and guiding forces.  We must fall back upon, and confide\nin, these vital principles of holy conduct.  First the heart, and then\nthe act, is the Gospel scheme, and we may not reverse the process.  To\nattempt it, and to say, \"What we seek in a system of beneficence, is not\na benevolent heart, but benevolent _actions_;\" is to come in open\ncollision with the spirit of the Gospel.  It is apparently a lurking\ndisposition to induce men to discharge the duties of beneficence,\nwithout laying their hearts on the altar of God, and keeping them\nperpetually burning there; whereas Christ requires the _heart_, and the\nheart _always_; and then that conduct which inevitably bursts from a\nconsecrated soul.  As Paul says of the Macedonian Christians, \"_They\nfirst gave their own selves to the Lord_;\" and then their wealth, to be\nused as he should direct.\n\nIndeed, the process necessarily gone through in determining, from\ngeneral principles, the particular amount it becomes our duty\nindividually to bestow in charity, Christ evidently intended should be a\nmeans of _moral discipline_, which we cannot safely dispense with.  Its\ninfluence, though not generally realized, is far-reaching, almost\nmagical.  It strengthens the intellect, elevates to a noble independence\nand disinterestedness of feeling, gives stability to character and\nenergy to purpose, leading on to thoroughness of self-inspection,\nearnestness of investigation as to the personal claims of God, and\nchildlike simplicity in submitting to their authority.  Just glance at\nits workings in the present instance.  As Christ has told us, in order\nto know his doctrine we must do his will, so in order to ascertain the\nexact sum we are to contribute in benevolence, we must cherish a heart\nin sympathy with his own.  Holy love must perpetually glow in our\nbosoms; otherwise, we shall sometimes fail in the correctness of our\nconclusions.  Thus the first impulse of benevolent feelings puts us in\nthe way to increase them; for every desire to give must be attended with\na scrutinizing estimate of our motives, and a constant struggle with\nselfishness, lest the latter gain the ascendency, and mar the beauty of\nthe deed.  The legitimate result of the process, therefore, is a deep\nand watchful piety; while the works of beneficence, thus determined,\nnever degenerate into superstition or self-righteousness; and its\nobligations will seize at once and unrelaxingly the conscience of all.\n\nThe conclusion, therefore, at which we arrive touching the amount of our\ncharities is this: it should be such as our means, a distinct knowledge\nof the wants of others, and a heart of overflowing love, shall\nprescribe; leaving each one to his own solemn convictions of duty,\namenable to the bar of God.\n\nBut it may be objected, if beneficence is thus left without the\nspecification of some stated amount, selfish, or but partially\nsanctified men, will not give as liberally as they ought.  Perhaps they\nwill not.  But all we can so is to press on their attention the commands\nof Jehovah, and the claims of a dying world--claims, as strong and\naffecting as those which brought the Saviour from the throne to the\ncross; and telling them what the Apostle, enforcing also sparingly; \"and\nhe who soweth bountifully, shall reap also bountifully,\" leave them to\nsettle the matter of their covetousness with their Final Judge.  We may\npray and weep over them; but we may use no efforts to move a single\nindividual from that moral basis--his own conscience--on which God has\nplaced him.  Here he must stand; and here we must be willing he should\nstand; while he himself is under infinite obligation to lay bare his\nbosom to the energizing influences of truth, and cheerfully yield to its\nsway.\n\n2.  _How frequently should stated contributions be made_?\n\nSystem implies order, regularity.  Systematic beneficence implies\nregularity of contributions, or of stated periods for appropriating\nproperty to the Lord.  In regard to the frequency of these statedly\nrecurring periods, there are different opinions.  Owing to the variety,\nextent, and complexity of men's avocations, some find it convenient to\nmake consecrations accurately proportionate to prosperity, much more\nfrequently than others.  Hence some advocate the weekly period, some the\nmonthly, while others plead for still longer intervals.  Indeed, to fix\nupon a definite rule of universal application determining the frequency\nof periodical contributions, will be found nearly as difficult as to\nascertain the precise ratio of property to be bestowed.  There are,\nhowever, certain leading principles, which, if contemplated with\nrectitude of heart, will enable us to please God by the wisdom of our\nbenefactions, no less in this respect than the last.\n\n1st.  As a stepping-stone to a series of more important considerations,\nshowing that these periods of consecrations should very frequently\nrecur, I remark _that most may set apart some portion of income without\ninconvenience as often at least as capital or labor makes returns_.\nThese are the occasions when Providence pours his treasures into our\nbosoms; when alone we can determine precisely how the Lord has prospered\nus, and consequently how much we are able to bestow.  Hence if no\ndesignations of income to charity have been previously made, or if they\nhave not been sufficiently large, these opportunities of coming to some\ndefinite decision with reference to the proportion of the bounties of\nProvidence we shall devote to purposes of beneficence, may not be passed\nover; and the consecration, not to say the disbursement, should be made\n_immediately_, while the idea that our possession are from God is fresh\nin our minds, and before selfishness shall seize them as her own.\nProcrastination is often but giving heed to her treacherous voice, and\nere we are aware, she carries us captive.  As we receive our increase\nfrom the hand of God, like faithful stewards, we should set apart the\nportion belonging to others without delay.  To indulge ourselves by\nholding them up before us, and doating upon them as our own, will but\ninflame our covetousness; and we shall be tempted to rob the needy of\ntheir portion.  This is not hypothesis; facts prove that money is\ncontributed far more cheerfully when in a loose state than after it\nbecomes fixed property.  This rule, directing frequency of\nconsecrations, conforming itself to individual circumstances, is\noppressive to none.\n\nBut the capital of some makes returns only once a year; of others, only\nonce in a series of years.  To such this rule can be by no means\napplicable; for the wants and sufferings of those whom God has made it\nour duty to relieve, often demand far more frequent distributions;\nwhile, in a variety of instances, it calls into exercise our benevolence\ntoo rarely to suppress the selfish tendencies of the heart,--a point,\nwhich, in rearing a system of beneficence, may never be overlooked.\nOther principles must therefore be noticed.\n\n2d.  _Our contributions should be so frequent as will tend to repress\nthe selfish, and keep alive the benevolent affections_.  We should give\nso frequently as to impress and nurture the conviction that we were made\nnot only for ourselves, but for others; and that the noblest use of\nproperty is its distribution to the needy.  This conviction it is\ndifficult to engender, and harder to keep alive, but it is best produced\nand quickened to energy by frequently engaging in the duties of charity.\nBenevolence, to become strong, must be cultivated; and it is so much of\nan exotic in the human breast, that it needs the most earnest and\nassiduous care; while selfishness, such is its strength and tenacity of\nlife, can be deadened and kept in abeyance only by repeated and vigorous\nassaults.  As a general rule, that system, as to frequency, should be\nchosen, which comes most strongly in collision, and wrestles most\npowerfully with the selfishness of the heart.  Some, I know, would deal\ngently with this obnoxious principle; rather humor than goad it; and on\nthis ground urge the importance of frequent, and, of course, small\ncontributions, which will scarcely be felt; maintaining that on the\nwhole a larger amount will be collected.  But I would not urge frequency\nof donations on this account.  I would advocate benevolence only on\nthose principles which will give it life and vigor for eternity.  The\nBible says nothing about humoring the selfishness of the heart, of\nadopting plans of beneficence that will be scarcely felt.  Its language\nis, \"Crucify the flesh with the affections and lusts.\"  It directs us to\n_die_ unto sin or self.  It makes no compromise with covetousness.  It\nbids us not rock it to sleep, but slay it.  Let every one then stand up\nin the lofty sternness of his spirit, and adopt that system as to\nfrequency in giving, which, other things being equal, is most crucifying\nto the carnal heart.\n\nBut a system of almost continued contributions will not be peculiarly\ncrossing to our avaricious desires, if trifling sums are given, or those\ngreatly disproportionate to property.  In this case, selfishness,\ninstead of being disturbed, may be rather cajoled into a species of\nbenevolence; though a species as sickly and unsubstantial as the vine\nthat grows amid the damps of a vault, never aspiring to heaven as the\nplace of its nativity.  But when the sums are so large as to demand\npersonal sacrifice, the self-appropriating principle feels it keenly.\nThe uninterrupted repetition of such gifts is a continued draught on its\nlife-blood.  Its remains even in the Christian's breast are galled and\nlacerated by the repeated attacks, and sometimes writhe as in \"the dying\nstrife.\"  Especially is this the case with one who has amassed his\nproperty by almost daily additions;--by sums, perhaps, smaller in amount\nthan those which the calls of humanity now claim almost as frequently at\nhis hand.  He sees his wealth going nearly the same way in which he\nacquired it, and he feels that its very pillars are giving way.  Thus\nfrequency in contributions, if sufficiently large, is usually most\ncrossing to selfishness, and most destructive to avarice; and as a\nsystem of beneficence is instituted mainly to combat these evil\nprinciples, we should allow but short intervals between our deeds of\ncharity.\n\n3d.  _We should give so frequently as to form a habit of giving_.\nJeremiah says, \"Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his\nspots? then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil.\"  This\nshows the susceptibility of our natures to the formation of habits; and\ntheir controlling power over us.  The injunction of Solomon, \"Train up a\nchild in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart\nfrom it,\" is founded on the same mental tendency.  Habit, indeed,\ngoverns half the world; it is like a self-moving machine, when once\nstarted, continuing, of its own accord, in the same direction and with\nthe same velocity.  Let one accustom himself to harden his heart in view\nof genuine objects of sympathy, and it will be exceedingly difficult to\nunlock his bosom to the loudest calls of benevolence.  On the contrary,\nhe, who accustoms himself to spend his money as fast as he acquires it,\nwill never be likely to hoard for future supplies.  A habit of giving\nwould follow the same law, and greatly assist us in the duties of\ncharity.  But infrequency of beneficence, giving only once in six months\nor a year, or at irregular intervals, will never form an efficient habit\nof giving.  It must be a regular and oft-repeated act; for it is a\nfrequency of the same acts in succession alone, which creates habit.\nOur benevolence, therefore, should go forth in reiterated acts, like the\nmonthly, flowering and shedding its fragrance as regularly as its\nseasons recur.  The spirit of benevolence must thus be wrought into the\nvery texture of our being; so that we shall move forward, scattering our\nalms about us as naturally as we perform the common duties of life.\nThis thought is of immense importance to the young, and to those engaged\nin the pursuits of wealth.  For the latter, especially, from the very\nnature of their employments, and their necessary trains of thought, are\ninevitably acquiring habits of accumulation; and, unless counteracting\nhabits of benevolence are also acquired, their desires of gain will\nassume the tyrant, and the Divine curse, threatened against the\ncovetous, will rest upon them forever.  They are hanging over an abyss,\nand their only safety, under God, is in winding around their hearts the\niron cords of habit in beneficence, and, therefore, in giving\nfrequently.\n\n4th.  The Scriptures favor the idea of frequency in giving.  Christ says,\n\"Give to him that asketh of thee.\"  The duty of charity is here clearly\nfounded on our calls and ability.  But in this world, where we have the\npoor always with us, calls on our benevolence cannot be otherwise than\nfrequent.  Again Christ says, \"Freely ye have received, freely give.\"\nWe frequently receive, we should therefore frequently give.  Paul\ndirects the Corinthian Christians, \"Upon the first day of the week, let\nevery one of you lay by him in store as God has prospered him.\"  This\nsuggestion of the Apostle may probably be adopted a general rule by a\nmajority of Christians at the present day; and every one should make it\na matter of solemn consideration and earnest prayer whether it is not\nhis individual duty; for all must conform to it in spirit.  But without\nmaintaining that every one, under whatever circumstances, is required to\nlay by something weekly for charitable purposes, the principle here\ntaught us most unequivocally binds us to great frequency of stated\ncontributions.  From this decision of the Holy Spirit, according, as it\ndoes, with the teachings of reason, there can be no appeal.\n\n5th.  _The experience of practical men, as to the best means of acquiring\nproperty, evinces the same principle_.  The experience of the world on\nthis point has been embodied in maxims such as these:  \"Take care of\nyour cents, and dollars will take care of themselves;\"  \"Save your\nninepences,\" &c.  Men of wealth have often remarked that they acquired\ntheir property by frequently storing away small sums as they could spare\nthem.  I knew a man lay up several dollars by making it a rule to put\ninto a bag kept for the purpose, every fifty cent piece that came into\nhis possession.  We have here the development of a principle in\naccumulating a fund to meet the contingencies of life.  We may apply it\nto benevolence, and take men of business and opulence on their own\nground.  If this principle will fill one's own treasuries, it will fill\nthe treasuries of the Lord.  Let it then be regarded.  I would sound it\nin the ears of the million who are delving the earth for gold, and\nstartle them from their delusive dreams.  I would that it might echo and\nre-echo till its solemn utterances should make every votary of Mammon\ntremble.  Hear, ye rich men; give ear, ye who are pursuing the bubbles\nof wealth! is it christian, is it right, to adopt principles of prudence\nand self-denial in filling your own coffers, while you refuse to act\nupon the same principles in replenishing the streams of mercy?  No.\nConscience and God answer, No.  The perishing heathen, the dying pillow,\nthe judgment-seat, the wailings of hell, all answer, No.\n\nThen let every one, whether indigent or affluent, frequently lay by in\nstore sums for charity as God shall prosper him, though they are but\nsmall; and let him do it with the same whole-heartedness, earnestness,\nand perseverance, as he would to increase his own wealth; and rarely\nwill he be unable to relieve the cries of misery.  He will have no\noccasion to offer the excuse, \"I have no change.\"  He will have dollars\nin store.  The history of benevolence proves this.  I have know a\nsabbath-school class, by each member's giving 10, 15, or 25 cents a\nmonth, contribute an amount during the year, which previously they would\nhave thought impossible to raise.  This is only one instance among a\nthousand.  Let the principle be acted upon; a trial is easy.  Scriptures\nand reason cannot both be wrong.\n\nBut how shall these frequent contributions be made by those whose\ncapital yields returns only at long intervals?  According to the\nproverb, \"Where there's a will, there's a way\"--it can be either\nactually or virtually done.\n\n1st.  By saving expenses.  Water, running into a vessel no faster at a\ngiven orifice than it flows out at another, will retain a constant\nlevel; and if with the same influx we would have it issue at a higher\norifice, we have only to stop or lessen the lower one.  Thus, if we\nwould have our possessions rise to the _giving point_, we have only to\nstop the leakage--check expenses.  This hint may be of service to the\npoor, and not inappropriate to the rich.  Many expend their ready money\nas rapidly as they receive it; making their calculations to do so; and\nthus, during the interval between one return of capital and another,\nplead their inability to meet the frequent calls of benevolence.  But is\nthis a valid excuse?  Could they not be met by sacrificing some social\npleasure, some luxury in drink, in food, in dress, in furniture, in\ndisplay? or by foregoing some convenience, the expense of which is\nequivalent to the pledged sum?  Vast multitudes are deprived of these\nluxuries, and even of what we deem necessaries, during their whole\nlives; and cannot we forego the gratification of them occasionally,\nthat we may thereby relieve the suffering, or save the deathless soul?\nTrue, this will require self-denial; but has not God demanded of us\nself-denial?  Dare any one offer this as an excuse?\n\n2.  Every on engaged in regular business knows, or ought to know, what,\ntaking one year with another, have been the annual proceeds of his labor\nor investment.  Now, on the supposition that the Lord will prosper him\nas heretofore, he can form some reasonable estimate of the amount,\n(extraordinaries excepted) which he ought to contribute to charitable\npurposes weekly or monthly during the period his capital is making\nanother revolution.  This amount may be appropriated in actual donations\nby most business men, as they usually have more or less loose money on\nhand.  By those who cannot do this, it may be charged in a book kept for\nthe purpose at the close of each week or specified period for\nappropriation--\"one, five, ten, or fifty dollars due to charity,\"--and\non the return of their capital, pay this debt as conscientiously as they\npay any other.  Then, if on the reception of their entire product, they\nfind they have not given as much as the claims of the destitute demand,\nthey can easily make up the deficit.  This scheme will of course call\ninto exercise our faith; for it is acting on the belief that the Wise\nDisposer of events will be as merciful to us in the future, as he has\nbeen in the past.   But ought not his past goodness to strengthen our\nconfidence in his willingness to continue that goodness?  Christ\nrequires us to live by faith on him, and ought we not to _give_ by faith\non him?  To refuse to exercise this faith in the circumstances, partakes\nof ingratitude.  Besides, to decline making any, or but such\nappropriations as are exceedingly disproportionate to our property,\nuntil we have actually received the return of our investments, is to act\non the principle, that we will not give to others until we are _certain_\nhow much God will bestow upon us; in other words, that we will not trust\nhim,--whose loving-kindness, as the brightest star of our destiny, has\nshone upon us in darkness and storm,--for a single blessing which is not\nactually in our hands.  Must not such conduct be exceedingly provoking\nto Unwearied Love?\n\nOr this process of previous consecrations may be varied thus.  The\nproportion consecrated may be a certain ratio of income fixed on a\nsliding scale, on the principle that the greater the profits, the\ngreater the proportion which me be spared.  For instance, on the first\nday of each week, or month, or quarter, or year, one may consecrate a\ncertain proportion of his profits of that week, month, quarter, or year\nto the Lord, say five, eight, or ten per cent., in case they rise to a\nspecified amount; and if they rise to a certain sum beyond this, he may\nfix upon a still greater proportion, say twelve or fifteen per cent.; if\nthey rise to an amount still higher, the proportion appropriated may be\nstill larger, say eighteen or twenty per cent., so that his benefactions\nto the destitute shall be in some degree commensurate to the goodness of\nthe Lord to him.\n\nIn these last suggestions, a vital principle in systematic beneficence\nis developed, which challenges our special attention.  _It is, the duty\nof making provision for the dissemination of charity previous to the\nreception of our income_.  This is a point of immense importance, and\nmay by no means be overlooked; though it is a point which Christians\nhave too much lost sight of.  They have been awake neither to the\nenjoyment nor obligations growing out of it.  It is time that its solemn\nutterances should pierce the heart, and arouse the conscience of every\nfollower of the Lamb, and startle him from his slumbers.  They should\nreverberate through every dwelling in Zion.  It is a principle of\nuniversal application.  All, whether rich or poor, should make it an\nabiding rule of conduct.  There is no difficulty in the way.  While, of\ncourse, the rich should fix upon a higher proportion of income than the\nindigent, each one can decide upon some percentage adapted to his\npeculiar circumstances, and at stated periods lay up in store as the\nLord prospers him.  Every one, as St. Paul clearly taught the\nCorinthians, should have \"a savings-bank\" for charity.\n\nThe results of this principle would indeed be most happy, on whatever\nground the previous arrangements should be made.  In the first place, it\nwould greatly increase the sum total of our contributions to the Lord.\nIt would be acting on an acknowledged maxim in the acquisition of\nwealth.  We know if we have a debt of ten dollars, an hundred dollars,\nor any sum within our possible ability to pay, the money will be by some\nmeans obtained; whereas, otherwise it will be extremely liable to be\nconsumed in the ordinary flow of expenses.  Thriving men, sometimes on\nthis principle, keep constantly a little debt by the purchase of\nvaluable property, knowing that it will stimulate their industry and\nfrugality to meet the anticipated payment.  Here men are not afraid to\ntrust the past goodness of the Lord; why will they not be equally wise\nand confiding in the godlike work of benevolence?\n\nIt would also deepen our sense of personal devotement to Christ; leading\nus constantly to feel that our minds employed in planning, and our hands\nengaged in labor, are the Lord's, and must be used in his service.  It\nwould likewise promote the ease and cheerfulness with which our\nappropriations would be made, and materially enhance our enjoyment, in a\nwork which, though self-denying, brings us into intimate fellowship and\ncooperation with our blessed Lord.  Even when engaged in our most\nordinary avocations, it would induce the impression that we are laboring\nfor Christ as well as for ourselves; and thus procuring the means of\nextending the glorious gospel, whose precious promises are our daily\nsupport and joy, and which opens to our view, beyond the skies, the\ncrown and the harp, with which we hope to bow before the throne, when\nour bodies are crumbling in the grave.  What greater happiness can\nthe Christian experience on earth than the continued consciousness of\nco-working with his Saviour in diffusing through the world these richest\nenjoyments of our being, and kindling anthems whose enrapturing notes\nshall never falter?\n\nThus, if we would make antecedent provisions for charity; if we would\nexercise suitable self-denial, forethought, and confidence in God; if we\nwould _contrive_ as earnestly to save something for munificence, as we\ndo to hoard, our sources of charity would be replenished; we should\nseldom be unable to make, at frequently recurring periods, either actual\nor pledged appropriations, and be happy in our work.\n\n_An Inference_.--If that degree of frequency should be adopted which is\nbest calculated to curb the selfish inclinations, then the more deeply\nwe are engaged in worldly pursuits,--the stronger and more riotous the\navaricious desires become, the oftener should the appointed period of\nour benefactions recur; and not only so, but the greater the necessity\nthat our gifts be commensurate with our means; for otherwise, although\nwe may give frequently, and perhaps congratulate ourselves on our\ngenerous liberality, the curse of God may be hanging over us for our\nparsimony.\n\n\n\nPART III.\n\nWe are now prepared to present in detail that general system of\nbeneficence, demanded alike by Scripture and reason, and best fitted to\nsecure permanent and ever-growing results.\n\nWhile universal, it must be a system in its nature adapted to each\nindividual, and binding on the individual conscience; one founded on,\nand embracing, the entire man,--his reason, his heart and will,\nincluding views and principles, feelings and affections, with their\ninculcation, general purposes and resolutions, with corresponding\naction.  The tree must be symmetrical from its roots to its topmost\nbough.  Beneficence may not stand alone; it must spring out of a\nconsistent character, must be a branch of activity, harmonizing with\nother shoots from the common stock.  Else, it will be like a verdant\ntwig on a rotten trunk, growing up amid broken and withered limbs, the\nsighing monitors of its own decay.\n\nSome, I know, would advocate a system of beneficent actions without the\nheart; others would direct it merely to one or a few favorite objects.\nBut these are views neither broad nor deep enough.  It is grafting\nconsistency on inconsistency.  True benevolence is a spirit of\nuniversality, and hence, of harmony, gushing forth in streams numerous\nas our relations.  No reason can be assigned why one should contribute\nof his property to save the souls of others, while he neglects his own;\nor spend his substance for the spiritual benefit of those at a distance,\nwhile he neither puts forth personal efforts, nor manifests a holy\nexample, to rescue perishing immortals immediately around him.  A system\nthus partial has a worm at the root; its protecting shadow will be as\ntransient as Jonah's gourd.\n\nI.  _There must be a system of intellectual views, and a harmonizing\ntrain of desires and affections flowing naturally from them_.\n\nI will, therefore, present a series of principles, sentiments, and\nobligations, which, by being lodged in the intellect, and quickened by\nthe Spirit, warm the heart, and awaken appropriate feelings; thus\nforming not only the basis, but a constituent part, of an efficient\nsystem of benevolence.\n\nI would premise, however, that these intellectual views may also be\nregarded as _inducements to munificence_, and thus to the adoption of an\nindividual system, fitted to each one's peculiar relations; for they\nwill thus operate from the nature of the case; the very object of\nfastening them systematically in the understanding being, that\npenetrating to the heart, and binding themselves on the conscience, they\nmay lead on to rational activity.\n\n1.  We should bear in mind that we were not made for ourselves, but for\nthe service of God.  Let the truth, \"Thou art God's,\" be written with\nfire on the heart, as well as its legitimate consequence, that all that\nappertains to our being is his;--our strength, our health, our powers of\nreason and love, our capacities of acquisition, our property, our time,\nour all, so that its thrilling accents, \"All that thou hast is God's,\"\nwill ring in our ears at every turn.  As Jehovah created us for himself,\nhas preserved us for himself, and redeemed us for himself, we ought at\nonce to acknowledge his claim and devote ourselves to his service.  This\nself-surrender is the true foundation of all giving to the Lord.  Any\nsystem of beneficence not built on this must crumble.  Giving one's\nself is an earnest and pledge that everything else will be given; on\nthe contrary, while self is withheld, there is no warrant that our\npossessions will be yielded, much less that God will accept the offering.\nBut self being surrendered, all is virtually conveyed over to the Lord\nand sealed forever his.\n\n2. That all right feeling is feeling as God does in the same\ncircumstances, and in respect to the same objects.  There must be a holy\nsympathy of soul with him,--a oneness of affection, of desire, of will,\nof purpose.  We must feel concerning ourselves as God does, who desires\nto see our hearts burning with the same hallowed love that fills his\nown.  We must feel concerning sinners as the Father does, \"who so loved\nthe world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth\nin him should not perish, but have everlasting life;\"--as the Son, who\nexchanged the abodes of peace for the abasement of flesh and the agonies\nof the cross;--as the Holy Ghost, who is willing to dwell in our\npolluted hearts, consuming the dross with his own vital energies.  We\nmust imitate the angels, who, sympathizing with the Triune Jehovah,\nstrike their lyres with new and more rapturous hallelujahs at the\nrepentance of the returning sinner.  No other feelings in kind or\nstrength, in proportion to our capacities, are right feelings.  The\nsacrifices of Christ were, indeed, stupendous; but we must be willing to\nmake as disinterested sacrifices for a perishing world; else we are not\nin sympathy with our crucified Lord.  Let us often visit the scenes of\nhis sufferings, hear the groans of Gethsemane, and witness the blood and\nagony of the cross, and there learn what it means to have the same mind\n\"which was also in Christ Jesus.\"  Let us make this love the great\nstandard of feeling and action, and cultivate the habit of trying\nourselves by this, and this alone; inquiring daily, \"Oh, am I benevolent\nas Christ?\"  \"Do I sympathize with him over a ruined world?\"\n\n3.  That God created us to occupy a position near himself.  As all our\nsprings are in him, communion with him was to be our life and joy.  We\nwere to be full of God; to see him everywhere and in everything, and to\nvalue nothing only as the work of his power, the fruit of his love, or\nas showing forth his praise.  We were to dwell so far up the mount, that\nearthly objects would appear insignificant; approach continually its\nlofty summit, till our views of the world and the glory of it should\nharmonize with God's views of them; for not only were our feelings to\naccord with Jehovah's; but also our sentiments concerning sublunary\nthings were to be in unison with his own.  So familiar were we to be\nwith the glories of our spiritual existence; our tastes and moral\nsensibilities were designed, by intercourse with Infinite Purity, to\nbecome so elevated and refined, that the glitterings of gold, and the\nfascinations of wealth, would fail to charm.  Our home was to be so near\nthe throne, that its light would perpetually shine in upon our souls;\nits spirit always bathe our spirits; so that seraph-like, possessing the\nbenevolence of heaven, we should breathe the love of heaven on all\naround.\n\n4.  That merely becoming rich is not the great object for which we were\nsent into the world.  Man's being aims at a higher goal.  This is a\npoint which should be distinctly understood; and to bring out the\nthought clearly, I will make two distinctions.  1. The very obvious\ndifference between benevolence and indifference to property or its\nacquisition.  Benevolence means \"wishing well,\" and beneficence \"doing\nwell,\" to others.  Benevolence, then, bears no resemblance to\nundervaluing money.  I know that the gentleman who used to _skip_ his\nsilver dollars on the fair bosom of the Connecticut for the amusement of\nhis friends, and he who freely tosses around the social glass to his\nboon companions, may be pronounced generous fellows.  But such may be as\nentirely destitute of all true benevolence as the most determined miser,\nand, what is more deplorable, as offensive to Infinite Love.  Property\nis God's gift, and he does not require us to undervalue his gifts, but\nto use them with his own good-will to men.  To be willing that our labor\nor capital should be unproductive is no indication of a faithful\nsteward.  2. There is a difference between the design of becoming rich,\nand that of acquiring property.  The latter, under certain restrictions,\nis a duty incumbent on all.  One may have a peculiar talent in this\ndirection;--a turn for business, a sagacity to lay plans, to foresee the\nfavorable changes in the commercial world, and all that shrewdness so\nessential to success in the career of opulence.  It is an endowment of\nheaven, and should be used in such a way as heaven will approve.  While\nregulated strictly by the principles of Revelation, it should be\nemployed in the acquisition of property, as a means of usefulness.  But\nit is a common opinion, that money may be made solely for the sake of\naccumulation.  Parents instil the idea into the minds of children, so\nthat they grow up with the conviction, that the great end of life is the\nprocuring of wealth.  Implanted in the tender mind, and nurtured with\nits strength, it assumes the tenacity of a first principle.  But it is\naltogether erroneous.  It is the product of the selfish heart.  No\nsentiment is more fertile in covetousness, or more blighting to that\ngenerous humanity, which it is the first object of the Christian to\ncherish.  It is a sentiment grovelling in its tendency, bowing\nmultitudes, it is feared, even of professedly good men, to a species of\nslavery, over which devils smile, and angels weep; knowing that it\nobstructs the flow of thousands into the treasury of the Lord.  A\nsentiment so hurtful should be eradicated from the public mind.  It\nshould be discarded from the individual breast.  The toils of pecuniary\ngain must be pervaded by a loftier motive.  It should be sought, not as\na gratification to avarice; but, in the fear of the Lord, by industry,\nby economy, by frugality, by forecast, by the most profitable\ninvestments of capital, and with a heart full of mercy, as an instrument\nto enlighten the ignorant, and relieve the sorrows of human-kind.  This\nidea has not taken so firm a hold of the christian public as its\nimportance deserves.  How useful might some, who have little talent\neither for learning or public speaking, become, would they\ndisinterestedly devote their lives to the acquisition of money for\npurposes of beneficence.  Wealth, pursued with this spirit, will never\nbeget avaricious desires, and thus acquired, will be a treasury of\nblessings to multitudes here, and a source of enjoyment to the pious\nowner forever.  Its worth will survive the grave.  Let it be an abiding\nthought--money may be invested where it will yield an eternally\nincreasing revenue.\n\n5.  That in laying our pecuniary plans, we should be governed by a\nsingle view to the glory of God.  The plans we adopt must be chosen\nbecause, in our deliberate judgment, we can do more to advance Christ's\ninterests by prosecuting them than in any other way.  Every act sustains\nrelations of moral influence.  Every kind of business or method of\ncarrying it on, has certain relations which will modify its results,\nand, perhaps, its moral bearings, either on own usefulness, or the\nspiritual well-being of the community at large.  Now we are bound to\nengage in that business, and adopt those schemes, whose results,\nconsidering these wide-spreading relations, will be most favorable to\nthe kingdom of Christ.  If we lay our plans recklessly, without regard\nto their moral tendencies, or shrink from these moral discriminations\nrespecting them, we evince anything but a will in harmony with the\nDivine will.  I know some fondly cherish the opinion, that their\nsagacity or peculiar tact for money-making at least is their own; and\nthat they may employ it in devising such pecuniary schemes as they\nplease, provided they are strictly honest, and do not interfere with the\nprivileges of others.  But this is not true.  This reference to the\nDivine glory sheds the sunshine of heaven over all our employments, and\nmust be the guiding principle of all our enterprises.  It is also\nindispensable to any sustained system of munificence.  If our schemes\nhave ultimate reference to self, we shall be likely to use their\nproceeds as selfishness shall dictate; whereas, if our plans are laid\nwith a view to the honor of God, we shall be disposed to use their\nresults for the promotion of the same great end.  This is a truth of\nincalculable importance to our present subject.  It should be bound to\nthe conscience of every Christian, and burn there with such intensity\nthat it can never be forgotten.\n\n6.  That God made us to be almoners of his bounty to others.\nReciprocity is the pillar of every social system; it is of the human\nfamily.  This principle was practically developed in Eden.  On this\nground, Paul argued that there should be equality between those who are\nin want and those who have abundance.  (3 Cor. viii. 14.)  Every man was\ndesigned to stand like a conductor of the electric fluid, to convey the\ninfluences of heaven to those around him.  Our Creator has made the duty\nof benevolence as obligatory as that of justice.  One is as much bound\nto help other, and thus, unless in very extreme cases, to contribute of\nhis substance for the benefit of the needy, as to be honest.  When,\ntherefore, we pass a portion of the good things of life to others as\nthey are conveyed to us, we are fulfilling the great end of our social\nbeing; when we grudgingly retain it, we are defeating that end.  This\nsentiment must be riveted in our minds.  It is a hard lesson for selfish\nmen to receive; yet it must be learnt.  It is indeed the noblest idea of\nour natures; the link that unites us to purer intelligences.\n\n7.  A lively remembrance of the Source of our blessings; realizing that\nthey are all streams from the Father of mercies.  Had he been other than\nJehovah, they would long ere this have been stayed.  For how have we\nsinned, and forfeited every claim to good; and yet he has continued to\nuphold and refresh us.  We have repeated the sin, and under aggravated\nform,--abused his bounties, despised his Son, grieved his Spirit,\ndisregarded his warnings, and slighted his entreaties; and still his\nblessings have continued to flow as if nothing could provoke him to\nwithhold them.  What unutterable goodness!  What exhaustless mercy!\nSurely the gifts of such mercy should be devoted to the works of mercy;\nand how more appropriately than in aid of that wondrous scheme which the\nagonized Jesus died to accomplish?  While we enjoy our blessings, let us\nturn our eyes upward to the overflowing Source, and while we gaze, let\nthe streams of gratitude gush forth.  As we have freely received, freely\nlet us give.\n\n8. The importance of praying over the gifts of Providence, and the\nvaried calls of charity.  As the reception of our income should be one\nof the special occasions of consecrating a portion to the Lord, so in\nthe gladness of the moment of its reception, we should make it our rule\nto decide as to the amount to be thus consecrated on our knees before\nGod.  Also, when the claims of the destitute are presented, let the\namount of our contributions be fixed upon so far as practicable in the\nsame way; determining, at whatever sacrifice to our own feelings, to\ngive just what God requires.  Prayer, while a privilege at all times of\ndoubt and perplexity, is a special duty on such occasions;--first,\nbecause, when alone with the Searcher of hearts, brought up, as it were,\ninto the full blaze of his presence, our consciences will be quickened,\nand speak truthfully; while the humble attitude of the suppliant is\npeculiarly fitted to inspire gratitude, and render it effective;--\nsecondly, because such are hours of special temptations; the adversary\nof all good and our wicked hearts combining their efforts to prevent a\ngenerous liberality; and there is great danger that selfishness, rather\nthan mercy, will gain the ascendency, and, under artful guises, control\nour determinations;--thirdly, because our decisions on such occasions\nare some of the most influential in their consequences, both upon\nourselves and others, which we are ever called to make in the common\nroutine of duties.  Take a simple instance.  The question whether\nwe give to the Bible Society one dollar or ten, fifteen dollars or\ntwenty-five, is virtually whether we will send forth for the enlightening\nand felicitating of this dark and wretched world, four or forty, sixty\nor a hundred, volumes of the Word of Life.  And when, aside from all the\ndistorting and hardening influences exerted on our own moral natures by\na grudging refusal to meet the calls of benevolence, we consider the\ncivil and social melioration which has attended the pathway of this\nheavenly light, together with its refining and sanctifying influences of\nthe individual soul; when we stretch our thoughts into the eternal\nworld, and catch the songs of joy, unuttered and unutterable by mortal\ntongues, which will thrill forever the souls of the redeemed, what acts\nof life can the thoughtful mind contemplate, demanding more solemn\nconsideration, more fervent prayer, than such decisions?\n\nThus the practice of coming to our determinations of charity with\nprayer, a practice involving, as it does, both mental and moral\nprinciples of the first importance, and even leading on to\ninterminable consequences, may not be neglected.  We should\ncultivate, therefore, a docile temper, a simple, child-like spirit\ntowards Christ.  We should cherish such vital nearness to our Lord,\nthat we may commune as freely with him as friend communes with\nfriend; feeling that we can and would do nothing, even in the\ncommon affairs of life, without his aid and guidance.  It is said of\na lady in one of our cities, whom an intimate acquaintance urged to\nspend a few days with her in the country, that she replied, \"I\nshould like to, but I don't know, it may not be best;\" and added with\ngreat simplicity, and in agreement with the spirit of her life, \"I will\ngo and ask my Saviour.\"  Thus, on the reception of worldly\ntreasures, or in determining beforehand what  proportion of our\nexpected increase we shall appropriate to the Lord, we should go to\nJesus with the same sweet simplicity and earnestness, crying, \"Lord,\nwhat proportion of these thy bounties shall I share with the\ndestitute?\" failing not to devote that portion which our consciences,\nenlightened by scripture, shall dictate when kneeling before the\nmercy-seat.\n\n9.  The responsibility of maintaining a healthful and enlightened\nconscience in respect to benevolence.  The Bible is the great teacher\nand rectifier of the conscience.  We must in the first place, then, take\nfair, impartial, disinterested views of all the precepts, examples,\npromises, and teachings of the Scriptures on this point.  We must\ninvestigate them thoroughly, and be sure that we obtain precisely the\nmind of the Spirit.  Dim or distorted views either cripple the springs\nof action, or give them wrong direction.  True, the scriptural standard\ntowers high, and shines brightly.  Some would obscure its brightness;\nwould wrest those passages most vividly presenting it; would convince\nthemselves that so great sacrifices as some, in their zeal, have\nprescribed, are not required; that we are permitted to enjoy our own\ninterests, and, to a great extent, seek our own happiness; and if we\nbarely obey the suggestions of natural sympathy, and manifest common\ngenerosity, it is enough.  They would bring down this exalted standard\nto our own diminutive stature, so that we can measure ourselves by it\nwithout inconvenience.  But all such efforts are high-handed rebellion,\nand will prove utterly vain.  God has placed it on a pedestal high as\nthe eternal throne, and there it will stand and burn forever.  We must\nbind our consciences to this standard; they must rise to its height,\nand shine with its radiance.  If to our selfish hearts it appear a\nblood-stained cross, we must nail them to it, and let them bleed and\nagonize there.  To gratify our selfish desires, God will never lower\nhis claims.  We must come up to them.  If unwilling to do it in time,\nwe shall meet them in all their solemn realities at the final bar; if\nwe have been obedient, there receiving the smile of our Judge; if not,\nhis everlasting frown.\n\nSecondly, we should keep ourselves informed of the spiritual wants of\nour race.  Every one is bound to be in earnest in this work.  He should\nstrive to enstamp on his heart a full-drawn image of the world scathed\nby sin.  We should realize how great a portion of our globe is yet\nuntouched by the vivifying light of the Cross; that the desolating\nsystems of idolatry, of Mohammedism, of Romanism, and other false\nreligions, are now overshadowing and blasting the nations.  We should\nsearch for distinct knowledge of the intellectual degradation, of the\nmoral corruption, of the oppression, wretchedness, and woe, of the\ngroans uttered, and the tears shed, by the millions now subject to their\ngalling sway, \"as for hid treasures.\"  Ignorance on these topics, at the\npresent day, cannot be excusable.  The organs of the various benevolent\nsocieties come weekly or monthly to our doors, detailing scenes of\nsottish ignorance, of pollutions and misery, which cause philanthropy to\nweep.  They are indeed distressing to the feeling heart; and I have\nsometimes thought there were those, who shrink from the affecting view\nof a world ravaged, enslaved, and tortured by sin, lest it should work\ntoo strongly on their sympathies, and thus forcing the guards of\ncovetousness, open their treasures against their more settled purposes;\nwhile others have been too heartless in their investigations.  But this\nis treason to the Divine government; it is an unwillingness to know\nexactly our relations, and thus the claims of the human family on our\nregards.  Such treachery and indifference cannot go unpunished.  Did\nChrist shrink from contemplating the loathsomeness and woe of our\noutcast race?  He not only contemplated, he shared our sorrows.  Let\nevery one then survey the world as it is, and let its appalling scenes\nglare on his conscience.\n\nIn the third place, we should hold up before our minds striking examples\nof benevolence.  God has raised up some with great hearts, who have\ngiven bountifully in proportion to their means, to promote his cause.\nSuch were the poor widow, who gave \"all that she had,\" the Macedonian\nChristians, whose liberality exceeded their means, and the King of the\nFriendly Islands already mentioned.  Such was the late Mr. Goodell of\nVermont, who, with a house and farm not estimated at over $1,000,\ncontrived by labor, frugality, and self-denial, to pour his hundreds and\ntens of hundreds into the treasury of the Lord.  Such were the late Mr.\nSmith of Hartford and Mr. Cobb of Boston, \"the sweet savor\" of whose\nnames awakens the kindliest associations, and whom God sustained, made\ncheerful and happy in all their sacrifices for him.  Such was the aged\nAfrican of Jamaica.  He had earned, while a slave, ninety-six dollars.\nBeing afterward emancipated, he came to the missionary, and offered the\nwhole for the service of Christ; and when told it was too much, replied,\nwith the most generous devotion, \"No, _I want to give it all_.\"  Such\nwas the poor colored woman, who, while she had no dependence for support\nbut the labor of her hands, gave $60 at one time to educate pious young\nmen for the Gospel ministry.  \"When she offered the above sum, the agent\nrefused to receive it all, until pressed by the humble donor, who said\nthat she had reserved five dollars; and that she hoped to earn enough to\nprovide for her wants in her last sickness, and for her funeral.\"  This\nis said to be but a specimen of her liberality; and her hopes in regard\nto her earthly wants were not disappointed.\n\nPerhaps in the small circle of our personal acquaintance, we can number\nsome few, who, with souls more elevated and spiritually refined by\ngrace, have bestowed in benefactions all their income; peradventure,\neven common farmers and mechanics--such as have fallen under the notice\nof the writer--who, after frugally supplying the wants of their\nfamilies, have generously given the remaining proceeds of their labor to\nthe Lord.\n\nOn these, and such as these, we should fix our eyes; they are stars of\nthe first magnitude which God has fixed in the dark canopy of time as\nguides.  We may not be able to give as they did; but the sacrifices they\nmade, we can and ought to make.  If we seek to ward off the force of\ntheir example by arguing that they gave too much, or by referring at\nonce to professedly good men who have given far less, we may reasonably\nconclude that covetousness is still grasping and palsying our christian\nsympathies.  Such efforts are clearly but the struggles of selfishness,\nto ease the conscience of the dart.  For, from such generous deeds, the\nvoice does, and will come inevitably, \"Go, and do likewise.\"\n\n10.  The felicity of beneficence.  That \"it is more blessed to give than\nto receive,\" is the voice of inspiration.  Jehovah's felicity flows\nmainly from that fundamental element of his being, disinterested or holy\nlove, and its infinitely diversified and glorious workings.  He created\nus in his own image; and when this love has possession of our hearts,\nand our conduct is in obedience to its laws, the mental machine works in\nharmony, and the result is enjoyment; but when the opposite principle\ncontrols, its movements are obstructed, and the result is sorrow.  It is\na law of our being, as fixed as the ordinances of heaven, that we drink\nthe richest draughts when holding the cup of enjoyment to another's\nlips.  Happiness eludes the grasp of the pursuer; while like a flower\nthat sheds its sweetest fragrance when crushed, only tread it under foot\nin the eager pursuit of another's good, and its subtle influence\nvibrates through all our frame.  The blessedness of self-denying efforts\nfor the salvation of souls cannot be estimated.  It is god-like; it is\nharmonizing with our dying Lord; co-working with him in carrying out the\nredemptive scheme; wakening a joy which the harps of eternity alone can\nutter.  \"They that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars\nforever and ever.\"  What a revenue of glory will forever flow into the\nenraptured souls of such men as Baxter and Doddridge, and Swartz and\nMartyn, and Goodell and Norman Smith, as they cast their crowns at the\nfeet of the Saviour; for it is the highest fruition of the redeemed that\nall their glory is ultimately Christ's.  Who, as he contemplates the\nperpetually increasing joy and brightening exaltation of a soul restored\nto the image of God, becoming through unnumbered years more and more\nassimilated to its glorious Head, would not participate in a work so\ntransporting in its results?  Perhaps you have had some feeble\nconception of its blessedness, some half-waking desires to become a\nstandard-bearer in the hottest of the fight with the foes of God,--a\nminister or missionary of the Cross, so as to labor more efficiently in\nsaving souls.  But in your circumstances you find it an idle wish.  Do\nyou hence smother these kindling emotions and fold your hands in\ndespair?  The Gospel may be preached by your alms.  There are many links\nin the chain of influences which God employs in rescuing sinners from\ndeath; and one of the most effectual at the present period, is the\nbestowment of funds to send forth the heralds of salvation.  These\ndesires, therefore, that feebly burn in your breast, may be gratified.\nIn an important sense, you may preach the unsearchable riches of Christ\nto the nations, thereby becoming a coadjutor in a work, the sublimest of\nheaven and the most felicitating to man.  This is an interesting truth.\nLet it blaze quenchlessly before the mind, warming the heart to mercy.\n\n11.  The sin and danger of covetousness.  Covetousness is unlikeness to\nGod, to our compassionate Saviour, to the blessed spirits before the\nthrone, whose only symphonies are love.  When indulged, the frown of the\nholy universe is fastened upon us.  It is violating the laws of our\nmental frame,--an instrument so exquisitely attuned that the slightest\nvibration of its delicate chords awakens notes of joy or wailings of\nsorrow; and it thus becomes the source of irritation and remorse here,\nand of disquieting premonitions of the most appalling woes in the world\nto come.  Hear what God hath spoken: \"But fornication and all\nuncleanness or _covetousness_, let it not be once named among you.  For\nno whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor _covetous_ man, who is an\n_idolater_, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.\nLet no man deceive you; for because of these things cometh the wrath of\nGod upon the children of disobedience.\"  This is terrible language, and\nexplicit as terrible.  According to the plainest principles of\ninterpretation, covetousness is here put in the same category with some\nof the worst vices that degrade man and provoke the wrath of heaven.\nIndeed, if benevolence is required equally with justice, then\ncovetousness is as distinctly a violation of the divine law as\ninjustice; and he who hoards as the expense of the suffering poor, is as\nguilty in the sight of God as he who rifles another's goods.  And is it\nstrange that he who nurtures a principle thus pernicious in its\ntendencies, should be excluded from heaven?  No.  Let us not flatter\nourselves; we cannot indulge in covetousness without imminent peril.\nWho will dare thus offend his gracious Sovereign, and incur his wrath?\nLet this bright, but awful truth, flash in our faces, deterring us from\nthe fearful sin, and inducing a sleepless vigilance over our selfish\npropensities, lest they grow with our growth, and strengthen with our\nincreasing wealth.\n\n12.  The dignity and responsibilities growing out of the fundamental\ntruth before partially unfolded, that God, under the gospel, having\ngiven us general principles and laws touching benevolence, has left the\namount and frequency or our contributions to our own decision.  The\nposition we occupy under the new dispensation is full of interest and\nsolemnity.  As it is one of peculiar dignity, it is one of peculiar\nperil.  God has now raised us to the true platform of intelligent and\nmoral beings; given our reason and consciences free scope to exercise\ntheir own energetic and controlling powers.  He has, indeed, always\ngiven man this prerogative, but in a higher sense under the Gospel than\nbefore; in other words, placed him in a position better fitted for the\ndevelopment of his whole being.  He has thrown him more entirely on\nhis personal responsibility and the decisions of individual judgment,\nby laying down general principles from which he is to ascertain his\nevery-day duties.  All the noble powers of the soul, directed by the\nSpirit's influences, are to be brought into full operation and work in\nconcert; the heart, without impediment, concurring with the reason; the\npurposes, with the affections.  This is \"the liberty wherewith Christ\nhath made us free.\"\n\nPaul has beautifully illustrated this subject by comparing the condition\nof a son before and after becoming of age.*[Gal. iv.]  While a minor, he\nis kept in subordination to his father; \"under tutors and governors,\"\nhis judgment in the management of affairs is under the control of\nanother.  While a minor, he is kept in subordination to his father;\n\"under tutors and governors,\" his judgment in the management of affairs\nis under the control of another.  But when he comes of age, he is\nelevated to a new position, assumes new interests and new\nresponsibilities.  He must then reason, judge, and act for himself.  So\nunder the Jewish dispensation, God dealt with our race as minors; left\nthem not to the direction of their own individual wisdom--to form\nspecific rules from general principles; but led them by definite\nprecepts; not such always as rise out of the nature of things; but such\nas he saw best fitted, by a sort of foreshadowing, to prepare them for\nthe more glorious state to which they were approaching.  Hence all those\npositive laws, rites, and solemn festivals--appointed \"days, and months,\nand times, and years,\" tithes and double tithes to which they were in\nbondage.  But when Christ came, this bondage was broken.  We were\nemancipated from this system of tutelage; henceforth, breathing the\nspirit of adoption and enjoying the freedom of sons, we were to act\naccording to the dictates of our sanctified hearts and enlightened\njudgments, like beatified spirits, who, swayed alone by reason,\nconscience, and love, in the highest sense free and intelligent, speed\non their course in harmony with Jehovah.  So, under the dispensation of\ngrace, every act must spring voluntarily from the mind, enlightened by\ncomprehensive views of Scripture principles.  Charged with obligations\ninalienable as our very being, we are sent forth on the career of\nprobationary existence, amenable alone to our own consciences and the\nbar of final awards.  God, so to speak, has reposed confidence in us,\nand it may not be abused.  This is true in relation to charity, as well\nas to other duties.  For the free discharge of this duty is one of our\nmost solemn trusts.  Each one, enlightened by the great principles of\ndisinterested benevolence, is left to the decisions of his own mind in\nshaping his conduct and alms to its requisitions.  To be permitted to\njudge for ourselves in matters of such high and solemn import is an\nexalted dignity.  But to every degree of dignity and privilege, there is\nattached an increase of responsibility.\n\nSuch is our present attitude in relation to the work of benevolence.\nNow shall we abuse this confidence, despise our privileges, and show\nourselves unworthy of our almost angelic exaltation?  Shall we make this\nliberation from the specific requisition of tithes \"an occasion to the\nflesh,\" an excuse for less pecuniary sacrifices than the Jews were\nsubjected to?  What ingratitude!  How displeasing to our Heavenly Father\nwho has raised us thus high!\n\nHence, exemption from tithes, instead of relaxing our obligations to\nbeneficence, rather strengthens them.  As charity is purely a matter of\nvoluntariness, the whole soul must be enlisted in it.  We must not only\nguard against a betrayal of our trust, but against dispositions in the\nleast at variance with its duties.  We must keep our hearts in sympathy\nwith Christ; lest, failing in sympathy with him, we fail to imitate him.\n\nLet these responsibilities, together with the ingratitude and contempt\nof God's favor implied in the non-fulfilment, be earnestly contemplated.\nLet us tremble lest we make the privilege of a more spiritual\nbeneficence, and excuse \"for withholding more than is meet,\" and turn\nthe blessing into a curse.\n\n13.  That benevolence is the measure of personal piety.  Personal piety\nis personal resemblance to Christ.  \"Let this mind be in you, which was\nalso in Christ Jesus.\"  Christ's character is essentially love.  This\ninduced him to die for lost man.  Now just so far as we resemble Christ\nwe shall imitate him, and, therefore, feel for those on whom the wrath\nof God is still abiding.  And just so far as we feel for them, we shall\nbe willing to do for them; and just so far as we are willing to do for\nthem, we shall contribute of our substance in proportion to our means to\nrelieve their spiritual necessities.  So that our beneficence or\nsacrifices for the extension of the Redeemer's kingdom, will be the just\nmeasure of our love to him.  This truth we should wear in our hearts.\nWe should make it a principle to give that amount which we shall be\nsatisfied to recognize as the exponent of our piety, and be content that\nothers should thus regard it; such as we shall be willing to pen down\nand hang up in our bed-chambers, so that we can contemplate it every\nevening and morning as our full estimation of Christ's dying love;--such\nthat after counting our herds and flocks, examining our barns and\ngranaries, surveying our merchandise, and reckoning up our dues, we can\nenter our closets and pray for the conversion of the world without\nblushing before God.  Does any one shrink from this criterion of his\npiety?  I fear he will shrink away from the presence of his final Judge,\nand bury himself in the darkness of hell; his works and conscience alike\ntestifying his unfitness for the world of light.\n\n14.  That the true mission of the church in the present age is\nbeneficence.  Though the gospel has been preached nearly 2000 years, yet\na deep night of spiritual darkness is still brooding over the greatest\nportion of the world.  Millions on millions have no knowledge of the\nSaviour, and other millions have no right appreciation of his truth and\ngrace; while, blinded by sin and fascinated by its treacherous charms,\nthey are treading their way, rank after rank, to woes everlasting.\nGod's providence seems now to be moving upon the spiritual chaos,\npreparing it for the reception of light.  Obstacles to the introduction\nof the gospel into benighted regions are fast giving way.  The kingdoms\nspread beneath the sun, from north to south, from China to the farthest\nverge of the west, are seemingly in the posture of waiting for\nevangelical instruction.  The Macedonian cry is coming up from the four\nwinds.  It is made to the church, the sacramental host of God's elect;\nand _they must answer it_.\n\nGod appoints, in some respects, special duties to different ages and\nnations.  It was the peculiar mission of European Christians in the\nsixteenth century to break the yoke of papal supremacy; of England in\nthe time of Cromwell to waken those notes of ecclesiastical and civil\nfreedom which are still reverberating among the mountains of Europe, and\nshakings dynasties; of our fathers to achieve the political independence\nof the United States,--to plant the genial tree of liberty, and water it\nwith their blood.  Now what does the providence of God indicate as the\nspecial ministry of the church in the present age?  It is written all\nover the face of the world.  We learn it in the awakened condition of\nheathen, barbarous, and half-civilized countries; in the stir of\nintellectual energy which is sweeping over the kingdoms, jostling\nthrones and alarming monarchs; in the tottering pillars of corrupt\nreligions, and of long-established institutions of iniquity; in the\nprogress of governmental science in connection with political liberty,\nand the extension of the arts of civilization; in augmented facilities\nfor traveling, together with increased efforts for education, and the\nconsequent quickening of mind; in the degradation of those \"who know not\nGod,\" the wants of seamen, of the oppressed, of the spiritually\ndestitute both in our own and other lands, and in the charitable\nmovements of the times.  All these seem to declare unequivocally that\nthe special work of the church in this age is benevolence--to toil, to\nendure privations, to make sacrifices of ease and of property to\nevangelize the nations.  God has opened channels flowing past almost\nevery man's door, ready to convey his donations to distant regions of\nthe globe, carrying light and salvation wherever they go.  The appalling\ncondition of the heathen in bygone ages has been as great and pitiable\nas now; but never have there been so many available opportunities to\nreach them.  These opportunities impose new obligations.\n\nWe have seen in a preceding part of this essay, that our bounties should\nbe in a compound proportion to calls and ability.  This is a principle\nwhich the present generation would do well to consider; letting it\npenetrate the very heart's core.  To meet such emergencies as are now\ntranspiring on the moral stage, perhaps, was one reason why Christ\ndesignated no specific ratio of income for charity.  He foresaw there\nwould be crises when no proportion would be adequate, and when the\nchristian heart would yearn to give more than his income, even all his\nliving.  And may not the present be such a crisis?\n\nIndeed, the multiplied opportunities afforded us of invading the\ndominions of the prince of darkness plainly intimate that the present is\na crisis demanding the most generous sacrifices for God.  The sigh of\nevery breeze that sweeps over the blood-stained regions of idolatry\ndeclares it.  The cries and outstretched arms of millions sinking into\nthe everlasting gulf declare it.  Then let it be laid up in the mind as\na settled truth, that it is our peculiar ministry to break the chains of\nignorance and superstition, to demolish the habitations of cruelty, to\ncrush the thrones of intellectual and moral enthralment, to overthrow\nthe temples of idolatry, and bring up man from his long degradation to\nreunion with God through the blood of the Lamb.  There has probably been\nno age since the foundation of the world, which has demanded so great\ncontributions as this, and, perhaps, no subsequent age will, till the\ndesert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.  At least in a few\ngenerations we trust the Gospel light shall illumine every shore.  Then\nthere will be no such urgent calls on our charities; certainly none\npressing with such undying interests.  This, therefore, is emphatically\nthe age of _giving_; for the bulk of the church can aid effectually in\nbringing about the happy consummation of millennial glory in no other\nway.  Would that Christians of the present generation could be induced\nto look at this truth in its intense application to themselves\nindividually.  Would that its accents could be made to ring over every\nhill top, and echo through every valley in Christendom; startling the\nsoldiers of the cross to deeds of love, as the voice of Peter the hermit\nonce bristled with arms the plains of Europe to shed the blood of\ninfidels.\n\nNot long since, thousands were starving and dying in Ireland.  A cry of\nanguish came up, and thousands of generous American hearts responded to\nthe call.  This was noble.  It was thought to be an especial occasion\nfor benevolence.  Who did not feel that every Irish landholder should\nhave shared his abundance with the suffering and dying poor around him?\nBut what is the death of the body to the death of the soul!  What is the\ntemporal destruction of a few thousands to the eternal damnation of\nhundreds of millions!  Was it the duty of the wealthy Irish to feed\ntheir starving neighbors?  And since the providence of God has made the\nremotest of earth's dwellers who are perishing for lack of vision our\nneighbors, should we not supply them with the bread of heaven, and thus\nprevent untold agonies?  I ask every candid reader, is not the present a\n_special occasion_ for benevolence? and if the church is to be the\ninstrument by which God has determined to work in restoring the kingdoms\nto his Son, will it not be such an occasion till that blessed period\narrives, when there shall be nothing to hurt or destroy in all God's\nholy mountain?\n\n15.  The duties growing out of the possession of property in view of\ndeath, judgment, and eternity.  The obligations imposed upon us by the\npossession of wealth may be irksome, but we cannot escape them; we must\nbear them to the judgment.  In our pride we may resolve that we will use\nour money as we please; but God commands us to use it as he pleases.  A\nvivid sense, then, of the tremendous scenes before us should be ever\nassociated in our minds with ideas of property.  We should realize how\nour wealth will appear in the final hour, as its pleasures and\nenchanting illusions begin to fade from the dying eye, and as we reflect\nhow short and unsatisfactory, like \"a dream when one awaketh,\" all these\nenjoyments have been.  Rioting amid the luxuries of affluence, and giddy\nwith its bewildering joys, these may be unpleasant thoughts.  But why\nregard thoughts of that which we cannot avoid, unpleasant?  We must not\nonly _think_ of these dread realities, we must _meet_ them, and\nexperience all their joy or woe.  Then let us realize, now and always,\nhow all our uses of property will appear at the bar of God, where the\nthought of every misimprovement will be sharper than a serpent's fang;\nhow, in eternity, as we contemplate those who might have been saved by\nour liberality in undying misery; how, if we are lifting up our eyes\nwith them in torments; how, if, while we ourselves shall be saved as by\nfire, we behold them excluded from those blissful seats by our\ncovetousness.  Let each one put these searching questions to his own\nconscience; and let him take heed that his gifts be such, that their\nremembrance will not only sweeten his dying moments, but diffuse a\nfragrance over all his future being.\n\n16.  The worth of money hoarded or spent unnecessarily, contrasted with\nthe worth of souls as gems in the Saviour's crown.  The true value of\nwealth as a worldly good we fully appreciate.  It contains no hidden\nexcellence which the circumstances of life conceal.  But the true glory\nof a soul redeemed the mists of time obscure.  Our attachment to the\nworld and the hallucinations growing out of it, prevent its full\nappreciation.  But soon all this illusion will vanish.  Both will stand\nbefore us in their true light.  One will be seen to be vanity as it is;\nthe other to possess a worth which no language can express:--a worth\nconsisting not merely of the endless blessedness and glory it is itself\ncapable of enjoying, but also of the glory that will redound to the\nadorable Trinity through its redemption.  Take a position most favorable\nfor its true estimation.  Transplant yourself into the heavenly state;\ncontemplate a blood-washed soul in all its peace, its joy, it\nravishment, as it circulates about the throne of love, approaching\nnearer and nearer to its blissful centre, constantly increasing in\ncapacities, and more and more joyful in its high hallelujahs, till it\nshall enjoy more blessedness in a single hour, than Gabriel has enjoyed\nsince the moment of his creation.  Behold it, as it shines, a star, in\nthe Saviour's diadem; gaze upon it purifying and brightening there as\nrevolutions of eternity's time move on, till it shall attract the\nadmiration of the heavenly throngs, and call forth from their wondering\nharps symphonies louder and more rapturous than have yet been heard in\nthat world of sweetest hosannahs.  The comparative worth of money\nhoarded or wasted, and the of the ransomed soul to itself, to the\nSaviour who redeemed it, to the adoring hosts whose fruitions are\nenhanced by the displays of grace evinced in its redemption, will be\nthen clearly seen.  Oh, how trifling will that money which has been\nsquandered or grudgingly withheld from charity then appear, contrasted\nwith the results in glorified souls of what was cheerfully and\nprayerfully bestowed.  The condition of the churl and the liberal, how\ndifferent then!  He who hoarded most will then be found the poorest; and\nhe who gave most with the greatest sacrifices, the richest.\n\n17.  The brevity of the period allotted us to labor and to make\nsacrifices for the salvation of men.  \"A point of time, a moment's\nspace,\" is all we have.  What we do in charity, the labors we perform,\nthe privations we suffer, must all be accomplished or endured soon.  The\ndistress we relieve, the souls we save, the joys we inspire, must feel\nthe quickening hand of mercy without delay.  Time is on his rapid wing.\nThousands who need our help are perishing daily; the entire generation\nnow occupying this stage of toil and probation, the great Destroyer will\nspeedily sweep from the scene.  Almost \"in the twinkling of an eye\" we\nshall stand together before the judgment throne.  He who died to save\nthe poor as well as the rich, the heathen as well as the evangelized, is\nnow speaking from heaven; \"whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with\nthy might.\"\n\nThese are some of the intellectual views and obligations which should be\n_systematized_ in the mind, forming both inducements to, and a\nconstituent part of, systematic beneficence.  They should lie like\nblazing fuel on the heart, kindling their appropriate feelings and\naffections.  I have briefly unfolded them, as a specimen of that process\nof reasoning and personal application, which, according to our mental\nlaws, when attended by the Holy Spirit, is fitted to soften and\nharmonize the mind preparatory to benevolent action; a process which\nall, as rational beings, are bound to engage in and carry out.  I know\nthis part of the system requires unpleasant work.  Most are willing to\nfeel, but they would feel without principle; and if they act, they would\nact only from the impulse of the moment.  They shrink from\nintrospection; from working on their own hearts through the laborious\noperations of the intellect, so that the affections may be at once both\nright and rational.  But if we would see the gorgeous palace towering in\nsymmetry and grandeur, unpleasant work must be done; the rubbish must be\nremoved, the soil excavated, the marble chiselled into form, and the\nunsightly timbers erected.  Without these, though it might glitter in\nthe sunbeams, it would be but a gossamer tissue.  So this mental part is\nthe bone and sinew, the life, of a system of beneficence.  Confined to\nresolutions and conduct, its movements would be like the effects of\ngalvanism on the muscles of the dead--unnatural and spasmodic.  The\ntruth is, there can be no system of action without some system both of\nintellectual views and of the moral sensibilities.  All inconsistency\namong Christians arises from defects in one or other of these respects.\nThe fountain is not invariably at the same height, and therefore the\nstream alternately swells and sinks.\n\nResolutions are proverbially frail; and they are so, because they rest\nnot on a mind consolidated by principles, and a heart glowing like a\nfurnace with corresponding feelings.  When resting on such a mind and\nheart, resolutions are not frail; but invincible as adamant.\n\nOur purposes of charity, therefore, must rest on an unshaken foundation;\nand in order to this, the principles and considerations fitted to\npromote benevolent sentiments and feelings must be pressed on the mind,\ntill in view of them the bosom warms, and throbs, and swells, and bursts\nforth in high and determined resolves.  It is not enough that they pass\nlike a burning ray across the mind, producing a single flash of\nbenevolence.  What is needed is a continuation of the same effect; and\nfor this, the same cause must continue to operate.  It is important,\ntherefore, that these truths be systematically applied.  Seasons should\nbe set apart for daily meditating and reasoning upon them, attended by\nearnest supplication for the impressing influences of the Holy Spirit.\nThe mind must thus be drilled to reflection upon them till they become\nprinciples of action, so vital and permanent, that a shape and\ninflexibility shall be given to the moral sensibilities, which no wear\nof time or circumstances shall change or efface.\n\nThis is the only process by which the soul can be brought into, and kept\nin, that state of unity implied in volition; especially of that abiding\nunity implied in a general purpose, without which no scheme of action\ncan be long sustained.  This, too, is the only method by which unhappy\ninfluences exerted on the heart by the pursuits of gain can be\ncounteracted.  As one engages in active business, and his property\naccumulates, his thoughts usually become more engrossed, and his love of\nmoney increases.  Why is it?  Precisely on the principle recognized by\nthe Psalmist, \"While I was musing, the fire burned.\"  It is a law of our\nmental nature, that the more we think of any subject naturally pleasing,\nthe greater interest we feel respecting it.  Now the management, the\nproper investment, and safe keeping of property, must engage, more or\nless, the attention; and owing to the extreme selfishness of the heart,\nare very liable to awaken a lively interest.  Hence, the more people are\nemployed in the acquisition of affluence or competence, the more\ncovetous they usually become.  This influence, so chilling to the\ngenerous affections, can be resisted only by a counter process of\nreflection.  The truth that ourselves and all we have belong to God; the\nextreme selfishness of the natural man; the insufficiency of worldly\ngood to satisfy the cravings of the soul; the dangers attending\nacquisition; the obligations and privilege of giving; the benevolent\nmission of the age; the spiritual wants of the world; the worth of a\nsoul redeemed; and all those great and solemn considerations fitted to\nincite to munificence, must be presented before the mind as frequently\nat least as ideas of property, in order to counterbalance the influence\nof the latter; and, indeed, more frequently, so as to repress the strong\ntendencies of the selfish heart, which the avocations of gain are so\nwell calculated to invigorate.  This can be done by no merely external\nsystem of benevolent action, any farther than such a system has a reflex\ninfluence on the moral feelings.  Farther than this, the effort would be\nlike attempting to stop the floods of the Amazon with a bulrush.\n\nThe great work, therefore, in erecting a system of beneficence, must be\nwrought in the soul,--in impressing views and regulating affections.\nFor this there can be no substitute.  This deep and steady current of\ntruth and thought, is to the mind in connection with the Spirit's\noperations, what showers are to the earth.  If there are none, it soon\nbecomes parched, and verdure withers; if they descend frequently and\ncopiously, the ground is filled with moisture, vegetation blooms, and\nfruits ripen; springs burst forth, the streams dash along the valleys,\nsweep through the meadows, and pouring into the ocean, roll their\nmountain waves around the world.\n\nII.  Standing on this high ground of established principles and\ncorrespondent affections, we are prepared to take the second step in a\nuniversal system of beneficence; consisting in the exercises of the will\nin the formation of general purposes and resolutions.  These should be\nmade with a solemn sense of the responsibilities of our being; of our\nrelations to the world and to the judgment-seat; and with a full\nconviction of our own weakness and entire dependence on the grace of God\nto assist us in their fulfilment.\n\nReader, with this humble reliance on Divine aid, will you now make the\nfollowing resolutions your own?\n\n1.  As a foundation to all others, I solemnly consecrate myself, soul\nand body, to God in an everlasting covenant.\n\n2.  I will prayerfully endeavor to keep my heart in sympathy with the\ngreat principles and duties above unfolded.\n\n3.  I will make the benevolence of Jesus Christ, in its spirit and\ndesign, the pattern of my own, constantly carrying about the conviction,\nthat I must practise great self-denial, and make continued sacrifices in\nimitation of my dying Lord.\n\n4.  I will make unremitting war on the selfishness of my heart, knowing\nit to be the worst of evils; and fully purposing that it shall never\ninfluence my decision, either in regard to a general scheme, or a\nparticular act, of beneficence.\n\n5.  I will thoroughly and candidly consider the spiritual destitutions\nof our country and the world; the peculiar mission of the church in the\npresent age; and manfully, and with a whole heart, make the\nrenunciations thereby demanded.\n\n6.  I will regard my health, strength, life, and property, as valuable\nonly as instruments of advancing the kingdom of Christ; and therefore\nhold them all without reserve at the call of God.\n\n7.  I will seize every opportunity for doing good by example, by\nconversation, by labor, and by contribution.\n\n8.  I will daily and prayerfully consider whether the circumstances of\nthe age in which I live do not require of me as great sacrifices in\nalms-giving as were made by the Jews in contributing two tenths of their\nincome to the service of the Lord.\n\n\n9. In laying all my pecuniary plans, and in all my labors to carry them\ninto effect, I will have the glory of God uppermost in view, and\ntherefore make it one of my leading objects to acquire property for\ndistribution; being thus, according to the injunction of Paul, \"not\nslothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.\"\n\n10.  To give to charitable purposes such portion of my property as God,\nby his Word and providences, seems to demand, I will deem as sacredly\nincumbent upon me as to make an economical expenditure of it in the\nsupport of myself and family.\n\n11.  For the sake of strengthening the benevolent tendencies of the\nsoul, I will perseveringly cherish all its generous impulses by doing or\ngiving as they shall dictate, so far as scripture and ability prescribe.\n\n12.  I will fix upon a system of giving which shall be made solemnly and\nprayerfully in view of my circumstances and calls; in the clear light of\nGod's Word and of the awful retributions of the last tribunal.  As to\namount and frequency of donations, I will endeavor to make them such as\nI shall wish they had been, when, bowing before the great white throne,\nI shall gaze into the face of my crucified and exalted Saviour; actually\nparticipating in the fruits of his unutterable sacrifices for me.\n\n13.  Cherishing, amid the toils of gain, an abiding sense of the\nstrength of the selfishness of the human heart, and the consequent\ndangers of acquisition, I will daily pray and strive for disinterested\nbenevolence as the greatest good; also for direction as to the amount of\nsacrifices I ought to make; and then agreeably to my prayers, act\naccording to the dictates of conscience uttered in the presence of God.\n\n14.  I will frequently and at stated periods solemnly renew these or\nsimilar resolutions.\n\nNow, if you refuse to make these solemn resolutions your own, can you\nassign any reason for such refusal, which you will be willing to utter\nin self-justification when facing your Final Judge?\n\nWhatever theories we may adopt concerning volition, or the governing\ndeterminations of the mind, all will agree in the fact, that the\nenergies of the human soul, when aroused, may be strung like fibres of\nsteel, giving and adamantine firmness and indomitable force to the will.\nWe have seen this exemplified in the fortitude with which one sometimes\nendures surgical operation; in the heated courage of the soldier,\nrushing with the loud huzza into the very face of the engulphing\nbattery; in the cool, calculating resolution which carries the\nunflinching column with steady tread into the very centre of bristling\nsquares.  All this is but the strength of will when the energies of the\nsoul are stirred.  Now one's resolution may and should become thus\niron-like in the war with his own covetousness.  He should determine in\nthe strength of grace to break it down, however much it may cost.  God\nhas given us this power of will, and to him we are responsible for its\nproper exercise; ever remembering that it is strengthened by cultivation\nof reiterated effort.  The raw recruit cannot be trusted at the post of\ndanger like the veteran, who has repeatedly nerved up his spirit,\ntill by habit it has become as unyielding as a rock.  The latter has\nlearnt to be brave.  So we should learn to be soldiers in the war\nwith selfishness, by perseveringly girding our minds to the deadly\nconflict.--Has depraved man such energy of will in spreading devastation\nand death; and shall not Christians exhibit as great force of resolution\nin diffusing the blessings of salvation?  Who dare say, I cannot, or will\nnot, exercise it?  Let us be mindful of our obligations.  If our minds\nmay be wrought up to such invincible firmness and energy of resolution\nto do evil; surely, God assisting, they may not only be inspired with a\nlofty enthusiasm to resist the solicitations of selfishness, but also\nroused to a sublimity of generous emotions, to engage, like a Mills or a\nHoward, in disinterested and self-denying efforts for the good of\nothers.\n\nIII.  We are now ready to take the last step in erecting a general\nsystem of beneficence, viz.: the carrying into effect right principles\nand well-directed resolutions.  While, on the one hand, the intellectual\nand emotional qualities of the mind give character and vitality to\naction; on the other hand our conduct exerts a powerful reflex influence\non the affections and purposes.  Nothing tends more to give strength and\nspirit to a mental principle than accordant action; and nothing tends\nmore to obliterate an emotion from the breast, or to paralyze a\nresolution, than the neglect of its appropriate manifestations.  However\ndeeply the one may be engraven on the soul, or however solid the texture\nor vigorous the life of the other, a few instances of neglect or\nviolation will strike them with the chills of death.\n\nPrinciples and resolutions, then, are of little avail without\ncorresponding efforts.  The \"well of water\" must not only spring up in\nthe soul, it must flow out in the life.  We must act as well as think\nand resolve; and act, as if we _felt_ that ourselves and all that we\nhave belong to God by the twofold right of creation and redemption; act,\nas if selfishness were our deadliest foe, and as if it were our great\nbusiness to attain its mortification and overthrow; act, as if\ndisinterested love, a soul like angels, like God, were the greatest good\nto be possessed by an intelligent being; act, as if we were prayerfully\nwatching the calls of Christ on our generosity, and were ready and\ndetermined manfully to meet them; act, in laying our pecuniary plans, as\nif the highest object of acquisition were the means of diffusing good;\nact, as if self-denial were the main condition of our being on earth,\nand as if the circumstances of the age were requiring of us peculiar\nsacrifices in order to rescue millions, perishing in mental thraldom,\nwhose souls are as precious as our own; act, as if we were in earnest,\nas if the whole soul were kindled to a blaze of zeal, and bent on the\nmost determined efforts for the exaltation of Christ in the salvation of\nmen; knowing that the time allotted for the accomplishment of a task\neternal in its consequences, is but a hand-breadth.\n\nAct with _forecast_.  This is a point of unspeakable importance.  I\nwould reiterate and enforce the thought, till it shall be wrought into\nthe very web of all our benevolent purposes.  There must be\n_contrivance_ to give.  Worldly men make previous arrangements to\nincrease their stores.  Lovers of pleasure contrive to support their\nfollies.  Why should not lovers of Christ be equally wise to fill the\nworld with light, and heaven with anthems?\n\nAct _systematically_.  With a mind illumined with knowledge, a\nconscience impressed with obligation, and a heart glowing with love of\nGod and man, form an individual system of beneficence; and let it be one\nyou will not blush to review in heaven.  Be particularly careful,\ntherefore, that it be such as will come most strongly in collision with\nthe selfishness of the heart, and yield the richest revenue to the Lord;\nrequiring as generous and frequent contributions as circumstances will\nallow, agreeably to the Divine injunction: \"Every man shall give as he\nis able, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God, which he hath\ngiven thee;\" in a word, let it be such as system as you will be willing\nto hand in at the judgment-seat, as decisive testimony that you have\nloved your neighbor as yourself.  And when it is formed, never violate\nits rules by giving _less_, except impelled by imperative necessity;\nthough ever stand ready to deviate from it, when Providence commands, by\ngiving _more_.\n\nLet benevolence be ever operative, like the sun ever shining.  Wait not\nfor the modest poor, or heedlessly perishing, to ask for aid; but go\nforth in search of objects appropriate for philanthropy to relieve, to\nenlighten, to cheer.  Obey the voice from heaven: \"Open thy hand wide\nunto thy brother;\" \"Sow beside all waters;\" scattering a little here and\na little there, and thus, to the extent of ability, aid in bringing back\n\"the state of Eden's bloom,\" and planting trees of righteousness all\nover the world.\n\nLet deeds of charity be consistent one with another, and harmonize\nwith a general deportment, elevated to the true Gospel standard of\nself-consecration; so that they may exert an influence, not only in\nrelieving the wants of the needy and forlorn, but as examples of\nheartfelt beneficence, inciting others to the glorious work.  Let Christ,\ntherefore, be the pattern of all charitable efforts.  Let the love that\nmoved him to endure a life of privation and a death of agony, take full\npossession of the soul, prompting to the same unwearied and self-denying\nactivity in doing good.  With a constancy and vigor based on this\nlife-giving principle, let each one endeavor to make his influence felt\nthroughout the world; becoming, in his sphere, like one of those fixed\nstars that sparkle in the midnight sky--a blazing sun to those that are\nnear, a gem of sweetest ray to those afar.\n\nSuch is the system, and, as we believe, substantially the only universal\nsystem of beneficence, with which God will be well pleased.  It grows\nout of our relations to him as intellectual and moral beings.  Its\nlife-spring is in the heart.  It is purely spiritual or moral in its\ncharacter.  It rejects all machinery, and can be permanently helped\nforward by no scheme of merely external actions.  It occupies the whole\nsoul; with its roots winding round every intellectual and virtuous\nprinciple, it shoots up its stately trunk, sending forth its far-reaching\nbranches, whose leaves are for the healing of the nations.\n\nIt is a system forming an essential part of Christian character.  It\nrequires that the great themes of our meditation be spiritual and\neternal, that the mind be so imbued with thoughts of God, his government\nand law, of Christ, his love, his sufferings and death, of the\nrestorative scheme thereby wrought out, of its relation to this apostate\nworld, of our responsibilities as co-workers with Christ in spreading\nthe knowledge of his name, and of the consequences both to ourselves and\nothers of fidelity to our trust--it requires that these thoughts be so\nthoroughly impressed, and the heart so permeated, warmed, and animated\nby their influence, that they shall become, as it were, inherent\nelements of moral action, involuntarily suggesting themselves as often\nas occasions for their operation arise.  But all this is but another\nprocess of thought and emotion descriptive of the _spiritually minded_.\nIt also requires the same intellectual and moral discipline which is\nessential to the formation of the benevolent character.  This does not\nconsist in a single act, a single out-gushing of generous activity, but\nin a series of generous actions, flowing from an established principle;\na principle pervading the whole soul, never wavering, never succumbing\nto the biddings of selfishness.  But the benevolent character thus\ndeeply laid is the _Christian character_.  The scheme further requires\nconsistency of moral and religious conduct.  While it no more demands\nregular and persevering beneficent action than it demands other\nChristian duties, it imperiously demands regular and persevering\nbeneficent action as an essential branch of Christian conduct,\ninevitably resulting from those immutable principles which form the\nbasis of the Christ-like character.  Thus the particular or individual\nsystem grows, by a moral necessity, out of the general system of\nthoughts, affections, and volitions, here unfolded; it being a moral\nimpossibility for one cordially to adopt the latter, in all its length\nand breadth, without determining upon such a private system of\nbeneficence as his means, his relations to God and to the wants and woes\nof our species, demand.  To refuse this system of benevolent principles\nand correspondent actions, therefore, is to refuse to be spiritually\nminded; is to refuse to exhibit consistency of holy conduct; is to\nrefuse to exert all our powers and embrace all opportunities to do good;\nin a word, it is to wear a blot on our Christian name which many waters\ncan never wash out.\n\nHence the beauty of the system,--general and particular--here presented,\nis that, resting down on the eternal and changeless foundations of the\nspiritual universe, and consequently harmonizing with the spirit of\nRevelation and with the laws of mind, it rises up and expands into a\nbeautiful exhibition of the fruits of the Gospel, the legitimate product\nof its holy precepts.  It gives no encouragement to the idea that God's\nfavor may be secured, or duty done, by any mere external system of\nmunificence, any farther than the external system proceeds from right\naffections and sound principles.  It must originate in the renewed\nheart, be nourished by the life of grace, and increase its\nproductiveness as light and holiness increase in the soul.  In its\nperfect development, _it is the full and symmetrical development of the\nChristian character_.\n\nThus it is a system equal in its pressure, and therefore adapted to\nfasten on the conscience of every one, whatever his age or\ncircumstances.  No one can justly plead exemption from its claims.  None\ncan reasonably propose questions of casuistry to shield his bosom from\nits shafts.  None can shake off the convictions of duty it impresses,\nbut by shutting its principles from the mind, or by rousing the heart to\nresistance.  In short, it leaves every man to himself, facing his God,\nhis conscience laid bare to the quenchless rays of truth.\n\n\nCONCLUSION.\n\nWho will refuse thus systematically to reflect, to feel, to resolve, to\ngive?  Will you, professed follower of the self-denying Jesus?  Can you,\n\"bought with blood divine,\" when looking around on the possessions God\nhas bestowed, have a heart to deny that aid which undying millions\ndemand?  Is it not beyond expression inconsistent to profess to give\nyourself to Christ, and then withhold your property from him?--But what\nare your relations to him as implied in this profession? and what are\nhis claims upon you, as growing out of it?  With the last tribunal and\nthe sorrows of Calvary in view, will you give these a moment's prayerful\nreflection?\n\nGo back with me to those delightful scenes so full of gentle joy, of\nineffable sweetness, and hallowed peace, when first you cast your all on\nJesus, and felt\n\n     \"The Saviour's pard'ning blood,\n     Applied to cleanse your soul from guilt\n     And bring you home to God.\"\n\nThen, calm and trustful in spirit, transported in the freshness of a\nnew-born life, you could sing with a ravished heart,\n\n     \"I am my Lord's, and he is mine:\n     He drew me--and I followed on--\n     Charm'd to confess the voice divine.\"\n\nThese were precious seasons.  \"How sweet their mem'ry still!\"  Then came\nan hour of tender, impressive, and almost awful interest.  You entered\nthe sanctuary of God, and in the presence of men, of angels, and your\nadored Saviour, avouched the Lord Jehovah, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,\nto be your God, consecrating yourself and all your possessions,\nunreservedly, to his service.  Was this an unmeaning ceremony?  No.  You\nremember the occasion, the hopes and fears of your trembling faith,\nthose sweet experiences, those glimpses of your Redeemer's smiles, which\nforced the tear to your eye; the solemn and faltering accents of your\nbeloved pastor; and the weeping sympathy of a dear father and mother--\nnow, perhaps, gone to their rest--who had long yearned over a\nthoughtless child.  Or you may remember your soul's peaceful trust in\nGod, as you stood _alone_, with no sympathizing kindred; and felt, as\nyou tasted the cup,--the emblem of your Saviour's blood, and the pledge\nof the eternal sacrifice of yourself to him,--that you could cheerfully\nforsake brother and sister, father and mother, all, for Christ.  It was\na touching scene; and you thought you should never forget it.  And, ah!\nit never has been forgotten in heaven.  The eternal Judge, and those\nblest spirits who affectionately stooped to sustain and strengthen you\nfor the irrevocable vow, remember it.\n\nNow have you acted up to this surrender of your all to Christ,\nespecially in relation to the duty of beneficence?  In that impressive\nhour, did you make a mental reservation, withholding certain sources of\nprivate gratification,--the privilege of using your property as you\npleased, of seeing yourself and family supplied with the conveniences,\nthe comforts, and even the luxuries of life, ere you attended to the\ncries of the myriads sinking to woes unutterable for the want of\nGospel light?  Were you thus unfeeling?  Did you think to deceive\nthe heart-searching Jesus?  Oh, no!  I cannot believe it; and you\nare appalled at the suspicion.  But what did you mean by those\nall-surrendering vows?  What do you mean, often as you renew them at\nthe sacramental board?  Let the question come home to your conscience;\n_what do you mean_?  If they lead you not to hold your property at the\ncall of God, ought you not to tremble lest you never gave yourself away,\nand are, therefore, with all your professions an heir of hell?  Did\nChrist once weep over covenant-breaking Jerusalem?  Does he not now\nweep over you, as he thinks of all his agonies to rescue you from\nunquenchable fire; of your voluntary vows; your unfaithfulness; and your\nmockery, as perhaps you have prayed that the kingdoms of the world might\nspeedily become his; while amid your numerous comforts, you have refused\nto deny yourself scarce a convenience, or even superfluity, for the\nsalvation of those whom he died to redeem?  How inconsistent!  Well\nmight tears still bathe the Saviour's cheeks.  Oh think, are these the\nkind returns you owe for pardoning love?  It is unreasonable that you\nspend your worldly goods for him, who shed his blood for you?  Go, I\nbeseech you, to your closet, and there plead, till from the heart you\ncan say: \"Lord, here I am and all I have.  Take the worthless sacrifice,\nnow and forever.\"\n\nWill the rich, they who have enough and abound, reject this rational\nscheme of principles, feelings, actions?  What treatment is this of the\ncompassionate Giver of your abundance?  Do you not owe to him alike your\nbeing and possessions?  Perhaps you refuse to give even _yourselves_ to\nhim; and employ to private ends those bodily and mental powers with\nwhich you are endowed for his service.  Is not this robbing God?  And\nhow is it with the favors of his hand?  Have not the crucibles of your\nselfish hearts melted and moulded them into household gods?  As the\nstreams of Providence have poured in upon you to overflowing, instead of\ndispersing abroad as God intended, have you not carefully enlarged your\nown reservoirs so as to retain the whole?  Thus grasping all that lies\nwithin your reach of that wealth which God has created for the\nadvancement of his kingdom, have you not withheld it from its\nappropriate channel, and thus become doubly guilty of robbing God?\n\nWhat a spectacle do you present to holy intelligences!  They behold you\nrational and accountable beings like themselves; upheld in existence by\nJehovah's mercy, partaking freely of his bounties, and treasuring up\nfuture supplies; but resolutely refusing to share your abundance with\nthe perishing, even when the generosity required would but enhance your\npersonal enjoyment.  And yet, perchance, you are the professed followers\nof the compassionate Jesus.  Dare you compare your spirit and conduct\nwith his?\n\nTruly, you, who have redundant stores, sustain tremendous\nresponsibilities; would that you might realize them.  You enjoy glorious\nprivileges; will you slight them?  With the power, under God, of\nrelieving the sorrowful, enlightening the ignorant, elevating the\ndegraded, and diffusing a vital energy through every pore of this\nsuffering world, will you stand like some bleak Alpine cliff, breathing\nperpetual frost, merely an object for the curious to gaze upon?  so\nlive that your selfish heirs shall rejoice at your death, and the\njudgment-day clothe you with eternal shame?\n\nDo you say, \"My money is my own; I may use it as I please?\"  Hark!  God\nthunders, \"Thy gold and thy silver is mine.\"  Will you trifle with\nJehovah's voice, and incur his righteous wrath?  Hear the terrible\ndenunciations of James: \"Go to, now, ye rich men, weep, and howl for\nyour miseries that shall come upon you.  Your riches are corrupted, and\nyour garments are moth-eaten.  Your gold and silver is cankered; and the\nrust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as\nit were fire.\"  Absorbed in the pursuits of gain, or whirling on your\nglittering rounds of pleasure, you may heedlessly disregard the appeals\nof distressed humanity, and proudly congratulate yourselves on your\nexalted positions, your honors and flatteries; but, rely upon it, you\nare only heaping \"treasure together for the last day.\"  Every call of\ncharity from which you turn coldly away will be a drop of anguish to\nyour undying soul.  How trifling your gifts to the Lord, compared with\nthe vastly greater sacrifices of many far poorer than yourself, and\nwhom, perhaps, you now despise.  When these shall shine forth as the sun\nin the kingdom of their Father, where, O, where will you be found?  O,\nhow will all that affluence in which you have garnered up your hopes\nappear, when hearing the voice of your Final Judge, \"Inasmuch as you did\nit not to one of the least of these my brethren, ye did it not to me;\"\nand bereft of your treasures and your hopes together, you find the\nprison of despair a dread reality, where covetousness will eternally\nwork without restraint, and unrelieved; a fire shut up in the soul,\nagonizing it evermore?\n\nWill the young refuse to enter upon this systematic course of doing\ngood?--You who are in the warm glow of youthful affections and\nsympathies, I presume are not prepared to answer in the negative.  You\nfeel that it would be delightful, the highest grade of human excellence,\nto go about scattering charities--feeding the hungry, relieving\ndistress, smoothing the dying pillow, and sending the light of salvation\nto those on whom the dayspring of the Saviour's mercy has never dawned.\nThis, perhaps, you intend to do at some future time; but you cannot now;\nyou have not the ability; you must first amass the means.  But let me\nwarn you; here lies the treacherous pitfall.  You have within a subtle\nand malignant principle, whose maturity is utterly destructive of\nbenevolence.  This the very employment of acquiring the means of charity\nwill fan to a flame, unless, in all your plans and avocations, you carry\nalong with you the spirit of Christ's good-will to men.  The work of\ncharity must be begun in the infancy of the selfish tendencies.  A small\nblaze among the withered leaves of autumn a child may extinguish; but\nwhen the winds have hurled it, and the wild fire is running and leaping\nfrom point to point, streaming up trees and wrapping the forest in\nsheets of flame, it will take the energies of thousands to quench it.\nSo it is with the principle of avarice.  It must be repressed early,\nbefore its giant coils wind around the entire heart, crushing its better\npurposes.  Hence, as the morning of life is peculiarly favorable to the\nformation and fixing of habits, the importance of inuring yourself to\nbattle with this inward foe, in this flexible season.  Put on the armor\nat once, and learn to wield it; for victory is as much dependent on\nskill as on strength.\n\nLet the spirit of benevolence be the warmest aspiration of the youthful\nbreast.  Let it be the early, the earnest, the daily inquiry, \"What can\nI do for my race?\"  Good to others should be your aim when means are\nsmall.  True, its light at first may be no more than the feeble\nglimmerings of the glow-warm by the pathway of the benighted traveller;\nyet it will be genial, soothing many a sad and torn heart.  In the very\ncommencement of business, then, cherish a Christ-like spirit; and,\nadopting a system of accordant action, maintain it all along the path of\nlife; so that when you arrive at its close, it will be seen, a line of\nlight stretching around the world, with many a flower of Paradise\nblooming on its borders.  But wait till you obtain the means before you\nbegin to seek in earnest the benefit of others, and, unless Divine Grace\npowerfully interpose, by the time, in your own judgments, the means are\nprocured, your hearts will have become like the nether millstone.\n\nBe persuaded, then, to lay your youth a victim on the altar of charity.\nLet your whole being burn there till life is extinct; and when you enter\nupon the peaceful rest of heaven, you will find multitudes there, aided\nthither by your timely munificence, with whom you may unite in\ntransporting hallelujahs forever.\n\nFinally, let me entreat readers of every class deeply to ponder the\nsubject here unfolded.  No rational being, with any sense of his\nresponsibilities, can treat it with indifference.  I beseech you, pass\nnot over these pages with a hasty glance, and then throw them aside.\nMeditate upon them till your hearts burn within you.  Pray over them\ntill you feel a harmony of soul with Christ; and, in this spirit, come\nto a solemn determination whether you will adopt or reject this system\nof views, of affections, of resolutions, and of accordant actions.  Do\none or the other.  No other course is either rational or christian.  And\nwhile you deliberately decide, realize that the eye of the Triune\nJehovah is fixed upon you, and that that dread Judge, before \"whose face\nthe earth and the heavens\" shall flee away, will review the transaction.\nHow solemn your position!  What amazing consequences are depending on\nyour present determination!  It will affect your usefulness here, and\nyour relations in eternity.  You are striking a chord of the mighty harp\nof the universe, which will tremble with the songs of the redeemed, or\nthe moanings of the damned.  Can you touch it heedlessly?","title":"The faithful steward : $b or, systematic beneficence an essential of Christian character","tradition":"philosophy-ethics","translated_text":null,"word_count":25037}