Sermons on different subjects : delivered in England and America

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SERMONS

DIFFERENT SUBJECTS,

DELIVERED

IN ENGLAND AND AMERICA,

BY

REV. EDWARD NORRIS KIRK, A. M.,

LATE PASTOR OP THE FOURTH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, ALBANY, N. Y.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION

BY SAMUEL HANSON COX, D. D.

And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge,
and in all judgment." Phil. i. 9.

SECOND EDITION REVISED.

NEW YORK:

FOR SALE BY

GOULD, NEWMAN & SAXTON

PHILADELPHIA.— HENRY PERKINS.

BOSTON.— IVES & DENNET.

1840.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1840,

By WILLIAM A. THOMPSON,

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern

District of New York.

STEREOTYPED BY

RANCIS F. RIPLEY,

NEW YORK.

ADVERTISEMENT.

The Author of the following Sermons has
specially requested the publishers to state, that
" an application for a set of discourses in man-
uscript was positively refused ; from an aver-
sion to appearing, in present circumstances, as
an author. The Sermons now published, were
already public property ; and the only agency,
whether benevolent or indifferent, which the
author has exercised in the matter, was, to
furnish a worthy but indigent fellow-Christian
some facilities for collecting the pamphlets,
especially those published abroad."

CONTENTS.

Page

Introduction. — By Samuel Hanson Cox, D. D.,
Brooklyn, N. Y., 7

SERMON I.
Agreement with God. — Preached in Surrey
Chapel, London, 27

SERMON II.

Man's Natural Enmity to God. — Published
in London in the " Pulpit," 45

/ SERMON III.
Obligations of Young Men. — Preached in be-
half of the British and Foreign Young Men's
Society. Published in London, 65

SERMON IY.

Jesus the Great Missionary. — Preached in
Boston, at the ordination of Rev. Samuel Wol-
cott, as Missionary to Syria, 93

SERMON V.

The Christian Ministry. — Preached at Chest-
nut College, near London, 127

l*

VI CONTENTS.

SERMON VI.

The Nature and Influence of Maternal
Associations. — Preached in Surrey Chapel,
London, 155

SERMON VII.

Sermon to Children. — Preached in Surrey-
Chapel, London, 181

SERMON VIII.

Practical love to Christ. — Preached hi Isl-
ington Chapel, London, 199

SERMON IX.

Temperance and Religion. — Preached in Lock-
fields Chapel, Walworth London, 217

SERMON X.
The Traffic in Alcohol. — Preached in Albany, 255

SERMON XI.

Valedictory Sermon. — Preached in Albany, . 297
Addresses to Promote the Revival of Re-
ligion.— Delivered in Surrey Chapel, London.

ADDRESS 1 329

ADDRESS II 341

ADDRESS III 353

ADDRESS IV .363

PHIHCBTC

INTRODUCTION.

BY SAMUEL HANSON COX, D. D. BROOKLYN, N. Y.
(Second Edition Enlarged.)

These sermons have all been published before. One
of them, the tenth in the series, was the valedictory of the
Author to the people of his former charge, before leaving
the country, three years since. Another, the third, was
delivered and published in Boston, last Autumn, on an oc-
casion solemn and interesting, the Ordination of a Mis-
sionary. And one other, the ninth, was published in
Albany some years since. The others were all published
in London, where they were delivered to listening crowds,
who were not willing that they should be enjoyed only
in the hearing, or realized alone in the delivery. Hence,
in different ways, they procured their publication. And
hence it is that many a pious family here and there in the
metropolis and other parts of Great Britain, retain, as
precious relics, and justly valued mementos, of a beloved
American preacher of the gospel, a copy, and collect-
ively thousands of copies, of the sermons of our esteemed
countryman.

We are not surprised if among ourselves should be
the demand or the desire for their appearance in the com-
bined and convenient form of a volume. Their Author
has many friends, in the cities and neighborhoods of his
native country, to whom such a counsellor would be a
comforter, such a companion a constant and salutary

8 INTRODUCTION.

friend. And yet it is only an act of justice to our Author,
to make the community acquainted with the motives, and
the proximate causes, that have induced the present pub-
lication. This the more, that his present distinguished
career as a preacher, might otherwise prejudice or per-
vert the estimate of the community.

Its present appearance, truth to say, is the result of a
peculiar development of benevolence. The proceeds of
the publication are to be devoted to an object, which
enlightened Christianity will approve, and which the
heart at least of every minister of the Lord Jesus Christ —
and of some more especially than others — cannot regard
without the deepest sympathy. Our Author yields his
volume, that its proceeds may assist indigent students in
their course preparatory to the ministry.

And may we here insert a plea in behalf of hundreds,
it may be, who are laboring up the hill, with patience,
perseverance, and penury ; the noblemen of grace and of
nature too, but not of fortune, or titles, or rank ; whose
object, ingenuously pursued, shows excellence of no
common kind ; and yet who are estimated as they de-
serve, by very few of their cotemporaries. Possibly, to a
mind like that of our Author, the reality might have been
imagined, even if not identified in any recent instance.
We have all seen such instances, and the public ought not
to be wholly ignorant of their existence.

To such petitioners, what ordinary hardness could
conclude a refusal ? A Christian, and a minister of
Christ, should not be made of sterner stuff, than refined
humanity in other spheres of life. Nor is our statement
a mere hypothesis for illustration. O ! it is, in its basis,
history, veritable and real, as hundreds of affecting in-
stances attest. And what, to a mind of delicate and no-
ble texture, and at the same time saturated with the influ-
ences of grace, what might melt one sooner, into a

INTRODUCTION. 9

generous and practical sympathy, than to behold or con-
template such a spectacle ! A brother in the Lord a

young brother — a devoted and self-denied disciple — a
candidate for the ministry: one that has felt want and
dreaded to feel it more ; that has toiled by night and day ;
that has shrunk from no labor, mental or manual ; that
has endured privation, without repining, for the constrain-
ing love of Jesus, and for the encouraging hope of
preaching him ; that has done all this, and done it for
years — done this, and more, and more, in a catalogue that
might be lengthened, with items of truth, more wonderful
than those of fancy or romance ! A youth, of principles
too ethereal to be appreciated in this intractable world,
aspiring devoutly towards an office which inspiration
hath defined as a good work, and worthy of the best de-
sire of the human bosom ; such an one, applying his
mind to its mighty and appropriate labors of prepara-
tion, with vigils, fastings, and exposures ; — and all this,
augmented by the utter destitution of necessary pecuni-
ary means! O what obstacles, cumulative, unbearable,
and wrong ! May it not be sin to them, in the day of
judgment, who know these things of the noble young
servants of the Church, and roll in wealth and luxury,
and profess religion, and have hope towards God through
the gospel, and yet — do nothing to assist those prin-
cipled aspirants, those devoted candidates, those studi-
ous spiritual cadets, who are in process of training for
official trust and duty in the high places of the field ; and
who deserve well of Christians, of mankind, and of all
posterity ! The assiduities and trials, consequent or con-
comitant, in their curriculum of preliminary study, are
quite enough, in all human reasonableness, without break-
ing their courage against mountains interposed,

And poverty's unconquerable bar.

10 INTRODUCTION.

There are several reasons why such examples are not
appreciated by the public. The first is ignorance ; or,
what is much the same, an utter absence of reflection on
the facts of the case. Another is the allied consequence
of the former — a disparagement of the value of sound
learning in the ministry, or a contempt of the manner in
which alone it can be acquired. The time, the toil, the
trial, and the cost, the severe and the necessary process
of qualification, who knows, that has no experience in
such conflicts ? Again, the circuity and remoteness of
the path, the indirectness of the promise ! A preacher
in the field, if wise and zealous and eloquent, is felt and
loved. But who sympathizes with the student ? who
considers the means that were plied to prepare the
preacher ? the difficulties through which he rose to emi-
nence ; and the necessity of recruiting the service, by a
process as long, as pains-taking, as costly, as that which
enables the accomplished preacher to grace the pulpit
with manly and masterly displays of the truth? The
preacher himself considers them ; and almost none be-
side ! Here, then, is the secret of our volume's appear-
ance. Our Author virtually says to his young brethren,
" If it can assist you, behold, it is at your service." This,
it strikes us, may have been mainly the process, by which
his mind arrived at the conclusion, to give these sermons
to the public, in their present form. And surely his
countrymen, in their candor and their piety, will gener-
ously estimate the deed. We know they will ; nor do we
anticipate the cynic who shall constitute the exception.
The request, we doubt not, was on their part modest and
retiring ! But he could see and feel its force instantane-
ously ; and we commend his decision. May the present
writer be pardoned, if this seems too ideal, or inappro-
priate, or imaginary ! But he has witnessed and compas-
sionated, especially within the last seven years, and con-

INTRODUCTION. H

tinually to this time, too many facts in proof, to doubt the
correctness of the delineation. Perhaps others may im-
peach it for exactly opposite reasons ; that it seems not
ideal, not inapposite, not imaginary. To either class he
would say, The moral of it, is the whole of it. If Mr.
Kirk feels for these young men, let others copy his ex-
ample. If he assists them, reader, Go thou, and do like-
wise. Our object in this connection is not so much to ex-
plain the issuing of the sermons, as to record a plea,
where it may be profitably felt, in behalf of those, whom
it would make good men better sympathetically to con-
sider, and devoutly to estimate in relation to the cause of
Christ ; and practically to befriend, in their too often
cheerless and uncomforted career of studious toil, as
candidates for the noblest office in the sublunary gift of
God, our Savior.

From this digression, if it is one, we recover, with no
intention of apology for what we do not recall, or regret,
or perpetrate without design. In the mean time, the
courteous reader, and especially the candid one — a more
excellent and a less common character — will fully under-
stand, and probably approve, the conduct of our Author.
It seems plain that he did, what he ought, in the circum-
stances ; nor do we anticipate, for him or others, one re-
gret that these sermons are extant, in American types and
a compact volume, as the consequence.

It is not our purpose, however, to deal in commenda-
tion, surely not in panegyric. The sermons speak for
themselves. The people of this country, who care to
read, can appreciate them too. The reputation of our
Author is neither recent nor ambiguous. Nor is his
praise confined to any one class of the Churches. Chris-
tians of all denominations crowd to hear him, and will
read to love him more. If in either, or in both relations,
he can do them good, it is the glorious recompense that

12 INTRODUCTION.

satisfies the prayer of his heart. If God shall deign t©
use his efforts and his ministry, to this end, it is gratifi
cation and benediction, whether the mode of it be in the
pulpit or through the press. If Paul converted thousands,
by his preaching, through the blessing of God, he has
with the same mighty aid saved millions more by his
writings ; and by these, he, being- dead, yet speaketh, and
will speak, and bless mankind, till the trumpet shall sound
and the dead shall be raised, incorruptible.

No analysis of these sermons, or comparison, or even
anticipation, of their qualities, seems here appropriate.
They were partly occasional ; partly and more, the ordi-
nary specimens of the Author's ministry. A notice of a
more general sort, and an admonitory reflection or two
may suit the proper nature of this Introduction. A ves-
tibule need not be of the same material, with the interior
of the temple, to which it conducts us. It may be in
keeping, and in propriety, as well as service, if less
polished, or finished, or valuable ; to say nothing of its
proportions, its coloring, or its taste. If this volume is
to pass the ordeal of criticism, if it is to be tried in the
crucibles of the schools or the parties, if it is to be tor-
tured by malignity, or stung by envy, or probed by heart-
less impudence, we have only to say that it will have
friends as well as foes ; that there are Reviews, Christian
in fact, as well as in pretension ; and that if abused and
evil entreated, it will only seem to join the goodly fellow-
ship of prophets and apostles, and to be partaker of their
sufferings and their honors, because it is one spirit with
them, and with their common and glorious Master.
We submit, in order, the following remarks :
1. We Americans ought to value this publication for
national reasons. It is a native production. Its Author
is our own countryman. He has been appreciated abroad,
and deserves to be cherished at home. We have too

INTRODUCTION. 13

little national feeling of this refined and proper sort.
We are too servile to what is foreign, as if nothing good
could come from ourselves. Is this noble or ignoble,
worthy or base, helpful or injurious ?

What was once said, by the indignant muse of Pope,
to the theatre-going populace of London, on occasion of
introducing Addison's great tragedy of Cato, and in his
admired prologue to that celebrated production, we might
be allowed to say, with some venturous accommodations
in this place, to the literary and religious public of our
own country :

Our taste precariously subsists too long

On coarse translation or imported song.

Dare to have sense yourselves ! Assert the age ; —

Be justly warmed with your own native page.

Such works alone should suit our eye or ear,
As Paul himself might choose to see or hear.
And purer far, if plainer, strong in truth,
Our pulpit speaks to listening age and youth.

Conviction ponders well its thoughts and words,
And converts show how God the cause regards.
Be Christian truth our ornament and crown,
Our best nobility, our just renown !

In wealth like these, America, excel,
And show the world the art of dying well.
Not here the church is propp'd upon the state ;
Much more the church sustains the nation great.

With greater blessedness, 'tis hers to give ;
While, as she prospers, other interests live.
And O ! may righteousness exalt our fame,
And give to all a Christian freeman's name !

Be this our nation's prayer, " Thy kingdom come ;"
Be God our monarch, this Religion's home ! —
While every virtue flourishes confess'd,
Our country's made, by grace and truth, the best !

2

14 INTRODUCTION.

We have not changed or tortured the original, for more
than one fourth of this metrical impromptu ; and as to the
whole of it, we have only to say, that the sentiments may
be commended or approved, by Americans, without hold-
ing their judgment responsible for the versification — for
which, in truth, we nothing comparatively care. In this
connection, the sentiment is all. Our literature will never
rise even to its proper level, till we appreciate it wisely
ourselves ; till we know how to assert the prerogatives of
men, to think, and then to write, without affectation, ser-
vility, or insincerity, aiming at usefulness and truth. Our
very defects ought to stimulate our achievements ; as they
show the ample opportunity that invites success. Our
literature is yet in its infancy, our reputation in abeyance.
But our theological contributions are very far from pecu-
liarly or disproportionately few and inconsiderable. Our
Edwards has illustrated our literary and ecclesiastical
character in two hemispheres. Our Davies, and our
Dwight, and our Mason, and our Griffin, are only a
few other specimen stars of numerous constellations that
spangle our western firmament, where they shone, so dis-
tinguished, as the angels of the churches and the glory
of Christ. And though the first name in this series is
justly viewed as peerless and incomparable, as the one that
" dwells at the top of metaphysical Niphates, and has
pitched his tabernacle in the eye of day ;" yet, without at
all disparaging so much eminence, and conceding the
mighty sweep of his posthumous influence and his solid
renown, present and prospective, on all the metaphysics,
and on all the demonstrations of theological philosophy,
in our schools, our pulpits, and our very parlors, we aver,
that we have many practical agents, less brilliant, it may
be, rather than less useful, that move in a sphere more
noiseless and less envied, but not less excellent, and who
are preparing probably for a plaudit and a premium from

INTRODUCTION. 15

the Holy Judge Eternal, which will be second to that of
few, who more conspicuously figure in the almost apothe-
osis of human blandishment, or who may radiate brightest
in the almost Pantheon of the admiration of posterity.

Every worthy contribution to the theological or devo-
tional literature of a country, helps its influence abroad,
as well as proportionately augments its excellence at home.
The whole nation has an interest in it. It is something
done for mankind. It is an example of what is, and a de-
monstration of what might be, and an incentive to what
shall be, which may well provoke and assist the achieve-
ments of others. Besides, it tends to promote that interest
in our national home, while it at the same time illumines
and enriches it, without which patriotism, if it be a pas-
sion, is not a principle, and religion, if it be a reality, is
not a symmetry. Pride is not patriotism, even if it be na-
tional. Nor is patriotism itself a virtue, unless it be the
offspring of some more generic principle of moral excel-
lence ; unless it be associated with all the other sisters of
the family of virtue. Now, there are just two declarations
of the King of the Universe and the Lord of Destinies, which
wise men will consider as immoveably at the very founda-
tions at once of patriotism and national safety ; which
statesmen and politicians often superficially avoid ; and
which God, in his providential dealings even with our
own dear selves, chooses never to forget, or violate, or in-
termit. We will state them, and endeavor briefly to show
their probable relation to this volume. The first is —
Righteousness exalteth a nation ; but sin is a re-
proach to any people. Need we here insist that the
presence of the former is the absence of the latter ; and
that the predominance of that which reproachcth, is the
proportional diminution of that which exalteth? or that
nothing can truly supersede the dishonor, except that only
which constitutes the exaltation ? or that it were folly and

16 INTRODUCTION.

impiety to hope for exaltation, in any other than a way of
righteousness ; and that neither arrogance, nor conceit,
nor proud imaginings, will avail, to dissolve or subdue
our reproach, in the absence of that alone which heaven
has ordained as the method of the divine protection?
Hence the second declaration — For, saith the prophet
addressing God, the nation and kingdom that will

NOT SERVE THEE SHALL PERISH ; YEA, THOSE NATIONS
SHALL BE UTTERLY WASTED.

Solemn words ! How they speak to the mind of re-
flection and the soul of wisdom ! Here, O our country,
our own dear country, our precious and spacious Ameri-
ca, our young and venturous, our vast and wonderful, our
highly-favored and dearly-beloved, world of the Great
Occident, here, O our aspiring and noble country, is writ-
ten the sentence of thy destiny — thy glory, if obedient,
thy desolation, if perverse ! Here are the pivots on which
turns inevitably the signal of thy weal or thy wo ; and all
other or adverse things shall be as nothing in their stabil-
ity and their prevalence.

Now, we minister to the national welfare, when we give
to the mass of the popular mind, the moral leaven that
promotes its righteousness, and so assists its exaltation.
We do the state some service. We promote correct sen-
timent, we increase piety, we encourage prayer. And we
say, with a great man now at home, we trust, in heaven,*
"I have more confidence in one praying pauper, than in
forty fighting generals, with no prayer. God alone can
protect us."

2. In reference to a volume of sermons, while we
should not patronize every thing, we should encourage a
due proportion of sound and popular reading of the re-
ligious kind. Sermons indeed are not very marketable.

* The late Dr. Mason.

INTRODUCTION. 17

They are often not vendible, but only, as we say, a drug
and a surfeit. Their very name is a soporific, and no
one thinks of valuing them as other books are valued.
But should this be so, Christians? May not even sermons
be entertaining, as well as useful? Ought not the parlor
library to be enriched, and even the centre-table to be
adorned, with them ? Besides, sermons mark and iden-
tify the age. Our posterity will talk of our revivals, our
cast and grade of piety, our times, our learning, our
preachers, and our Christians. Why not preserve a
few specimens, and send a few missives, that may tell
them, what something better than laudable curiosity
might lead them to desire and to learn, of the generations
of their ancestors ?

3. This is too much a hearing age, and not enough
proportionately a reading and cogitative one in religion.

There is a class of devout religionists among our-
selves, who are characterized by their feelings mainly,
rather than their intelligence. They want none of your
head religion — none of your prosing doctrinal preach-
ing— none of your preachers that are so learned — none of
your discussions in the pulpit — none of your controver-
sies— nothing to make men think. — All they want in reli-
gion is feeling. Engagedness is all. They test every thing
by zeal and feel. They go for heart religion. This * suits
the age !' There is no sense in reading and studying so
much. They would set us all to praying, feeling, acting,
and converting sinners ; but not to thinking, apprehend-
ing, comprehending, studying what the Scripture says
and what the Scripture means, not to reading, or medita-
tion, and least of all to excel in knowledge unto all riches
of the full assurance of understanding in the things of
God. Theirs is a religion of sensation, and as unfit to en-
dure affliction, to deserve confidence, to authorize depend-
ence, and to stand the test of martyrdom, as it is to teach

2*

18 INTRODUCTION.

dogmatical theology to an amphitheatre of philosophers

or, as steam is unfit to control the helm of the Great

Western, or the British Queen, in her mystic way, which
science alone can guide, across the ocean.

To such, if they could suffer the monition of a friend,
we would say, not zeal, but wisdom is profitable to direct.
Knowledge is power, and feeling without it is not good.
Our feelings have an important place in religion ; as steam
has in navigation. Our feelings, however, were not given
to govern us, but to be governed by us ; they are to be
our servants, not our masters ; and never man was good,
or useful, or great, who did not assert and maintain that
noble mastery. Look at Hannibal, look at Edwards,

look at Washington, look at Napoleon, look at Paul

and look — instar omnium — at ONE — of his own class
alone, who at Pilate's bar answered him nothing!

Those who have studied character, and understood it,
will respond to these sentiments. We may be only grat-
ifying our own natural inclinations, only serving our-
selves, when we flame — and rage — and rush on — in reli-
gion, without reverence or consideration, and condemn
sobriety and sense in our despised superiors. Now, one
cure — and a good one — for this holy obstreperousness,
is to feed the mind with truth — to study the Scriptures —
to read sermons — and in all, or above all, to think? O
this neglected function of our existence ? this most dig-
nifying faculty of our nature, when rightly cultivated and
proportionately used ; this most degrading accompani-
ment, when abused, or neglected, or superseded by the
mere animalism of feeling ! That class of hearers, that
exemplify the stony ground in the parable, are there de-
scribed, by our Lord, as full of feeling, promptitude, de-
cision, ignorance, and spurious affections. He heareth
the word, and anon with joy receiveth it. Yet hath he not
root in himself; and therefore is it that his religion soon

INTRODUCTION. 19

evanishes. He dureth for a while — by and by he is
offended. And thus is he contradistinguished from the
good ground hearer ; who heareth the word and under-

STANDETH it; WHO ALSO BEARETH FRUIT, and bHngeth

forth, some an hundred fold, some sixty, some thirty.

Feeling is a kind of half-way house, in which the sin-
ner loves to loiter, for entertainment, between objects of
sense, which affect animals, and objects of faith, which
affect angels. He abjures the grossness of external ob-
jects as influential of his way ; but he clings to internal
affections as their substitute ; instead of apprehending,
by faith in the true sayings of God, the things that are
unseen and eternal. Internal sensation is no more faith,
than external objects that affect our organs of sense. The
appropriate design of the ministry is godly edifying,
which is in faith. Hence, says the apostle to Timothy,
so do. And with this design, in all things, ought private
Christians devoutly to concur, for its uniform promotion.
Other edifying may not be godly, even if it be agreeable.
And he who simply trusts his feelings, and cares not for
the difference, is pronounced by inspiration to be insane.
Prov. xxviii. 26. Heb. v. 14. He cares not for the gos-
pel, for salvation, or even for God himself.

We desire that these sermons may not only be sold,
but read — pondered — digested — improved. This imports
a cast of character whose auguries are hopeful. It is the
clean and the useful animals in the law, that ruminate ;
not the unclean, the carnivorous, the savage ; oxen and
sheep ; not wolves, hyenas, dogs, or swine. Hence these
are types of cogitative worshippers ; of them that feed
on the truth ; who live by every word that proceedeth out
of the mouth of God; who relish the truth, and digest it,
and grow thereby — grow in grace and in the knowledge
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Suppose these ten sermons were read systematically —

20 INTRODUCTION.

regularly — thoughtfully — with memory exercised — with
application — with definite desire to obey the Master — to
be converted to God, if yet we are alienate from him ;
or, to be advanced in holiness, if we have genuinely be-
gun our journey: suppose this, my youthful reader, espe-
cially, in your case. One, every Lord's day, well read,
would bring you through the series, nearly, in two
months. And if, like the noble Bereans, you should receive
the word with all readiness of mind, and search the Scrip-
tures daily, whether these things are so, and especially if
you should join sincere prayer to the exercise, for the
blessing of God to crown its process with salvation, what
good immense should certainly ensue ! On these condi-
tions, what a blessing should this volume be, in the circle
of every family it could enter ! It would resemble the
ark of the Lord in the household- of Obed-edom, where the
Lord, for its sake, blessed his house and all that pertained
unto him.

We venture another remark.

4. The directions given to the unconverted, in these
sermons, appear to exemplify the rare merit of correct
and scriptural, appropriate and convincing, excellent and
prosperous ! We may not assert that these qualities are
exhibited in perfection, but that they are here in happy
illustrations and examples — and that they are far too rare,
even in the ministrations of eminence.

The absence of these qualities, with the faults that
appear in place of them, often constitutes the cardinal
defect, in sermons otherwise distinguished and incom-
parable. These preachers can distinguish well between
a sinner and a saint ; they can define a Christian, depic-
ture him in his various changes and relations of life, with
his trials, his privileges, and his prospects, and commend
him to the desire and the imitation of all hearers. So also
of a sinner in contrast. They can well describe what he

INTRODUCTION. 21

is, how he feels, his state, his motives, his false refuges,
his criminality, his destiny, his apprehensions, his ago-
nies ! But there is something more to be done — and this
is frequently omitted, or never thoroughly despatched and
perfected, perhaps in the preaching of a lifetime. It is —

To SHOW A SINNER HOW HE MAY BECOME A SAINT : and

then, with suitable appliances of truth, to persuade men,
and to pray them, as though God did beseech them by us,
saying, in a way of wisdom and appropriateness, Be ye

RECONCILED TO GOD.

We aver that the grand defect of many an excellent
sermon, is the absence of the proper directions to the
sinner and the ungodly man. And we would enforce the
sentiment that it is a fault, which criticism has been slow
to arraign, and which reviews have not known how to
censure. The philosophy of the preacher can ordinarily
account for it. There is some error in his comprehen-
sion of the gospel. He makes mistakes not only, but
practically honors them too, as the pivots and centres of
orthodoxy. Hence he glories in his mistakes, and would
become a martyr for their maintenance. Some of these
are to him, each as the star of Bethlehem, shining on
his way ; or as the kebla* of his pilgrimage, as a Chris-
tian and a preacher. If, as a lark of the morning, he
would soar toward heaven, he soon ceases to aspire. His
swift pinions are arrested in their flight. They stop sud-
denly, because they are not so strong as the tether that
holds him back, and to the limit of which he has too soon
arrived.

* Kebla, among the eastern nations, signifies the point of the heavens
toward which they directed their worship. The Jews did it toward the
Temple at Jerusalem ; the Mohammedans toward Mecca ; the Sabians
toward the meridian, and the Magians toward the rising sun. 1 Kings
viii. 44, 48. Daniel vi. 10. Ps. v. 7, xxviii. 2. Jonah ii. 4. For the pro-
per Kebla of Christians, see Heb. xii. 2.

22 INTRODUCTION,

If he is not clear in his views as to the objective mani-
festations, which he is to radiate on the way of the sinner,
and lavish in his path before him, wonder not should
he prove equally at fault, in the point and the persuasion
of his subjective applications, urging the sinner to walk
in it. If he cannot commend to him the love of Christ,
not in the abstract, or in the ambiguity of a scarcely
intelligible argument, but in the bold relief of effective
testimony, saying, " He died for you, and that because
he loved you ; therefore hear and your soul shall live,''''
it will be no miracle, if, in his after urgencies, he should
ply him with a weak and misty and fruitless, although it
may be with a loud-sounding and pompous, exhortation,
to repent and believe the gospel. If his ideas of the influ-
ence of the Spirit are technically wrong or greatly vague
and dim, he will be sure to preach in a way palpably and
badly different, from the way of the Spirit as demon-
strated in his own oracles : and the difference will be seen
by some, while it is felt by all. If his views of depravity
are darkling and false, one way or the other ; if he be-
lieves so much about it, as to impair the moral agency
of its subject, or so little about it, as to excuse, reduce,
or slight the awful malady of his state ; how poor, effete,
or awry, will be his ministrations ! If he refer, awkwardly
or in confusion, to the passive relations of the sinner,
where God refers to his active ones ; if his statements
are not spiritual or moral, but mechanical and material-
izing rather ; if he unskilfully counteracts, where he
ought only to subserve, the influences of the Spirit ; or,
makes in any way, natively, the wrong, instead of the
right, impression ; or, if he truly knows not how to direct
the sinner, in reply to the Great Question, What must
I do to be saved ? there will be a proportionate failure,
in reference to the great end of preaching ! conversions
will be few and sickly ; as the shaking of an olive tree,

INTRODUCTION. 23

perhaps ; two or three berries in the top of the uppermost
bough, four or five in the outmost fruitful branches
thereof saith the Lord God of Israel ; instead of hundreds
and thousands, covering the whole tree, richly rewarding
the toil, and crowning the hopes, of cultivation.

Now, we almost claim for our preacher, that he is, in
these relations, a happy example of what ought to be ;
we do not say or mean, a faultless paragon : but one
whom the Spirit has taught to do the work of the Spirit ;
who speaks with a simplicity and a directness, that well
approximates our beau ideal of the demonstrations that
ought to be made, in matter, in manner, in method, and
in effect ! And let a heaven-sped success be the commen-
tary and the attestation of our sentiment. It is said of
Paul and Barnabas at Iconium, that they went both to-
gether into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake,
that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the
Greeks believed. There are great men in our times, who
so speak that nobody believes. They may amuse, enter-
tain, and even in a sort convince ; but where is the " great
multitude" of converts ! The sovereignty of God, re-
member, is excellent in working, as well as wonderful in
counsel; and is not exactly responsible for those, and
their doings, who are plainly unskilful in the word of
righteousness — and yet, who would rather confess almost
any other thing, that the fact which others know, just
as well, when they ingeniously and vainly strive to con-
ceal it.

The criterion of the preaching, which in our mind's
eye is the standard of all proper aims, we thus define —
What the words of Scripture, purely interpreted, clearly
articulated, correctly understood, solemnly delivered, and
powerfully urged ; the effect, which all this natively tends
to produce, on the minds of the auditory, is that, in coin-
cidence with which, and in it alone, may be identified

24 INTRODUCTION.

what deserves the name of good preaching, in proportion
to its similitude to such a scriptural standard.

In these remarks, we have not lost our object, if the
reader shall keep his mind awake to the specimens of
their reference, as he peruses them in the present volume.
Nor will it be less, but rather more to the point, that the
specimens are incidental, popular, informal, and inter-
spersed throughout.

5. Our last remark shall respect the value, in this day
of the great fecundity of the press, of religion. and truth
constantly mingled in all our ephemeral literature. The
great ideas of religion and truth, that may be safely called
fundamental, are mainly the following, in the order as we
arrange them :

The Being of God.

The accountableness of man as his creature.

The Christian revelation.

The immortality of the soul and the resurrection of
the body.

The sinful and lost estate of the total species.

The mediation and offices of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The work of the Spirit.

Personal piety, initial, progressive, and complete.

Glorification.

Eternal confirmation and beatitude.
And who can doubt the reasonableness of not forget-
ting these ten incomparable things ! Well, every readable
and sound sermon is a valuable contribution to their
perpetuity, as well as their diffusion. And what if the
belief in God were erased from the moral consciousness
of the community? All related truths would perish from
the earth ; as would rush the planets into ruin, if the sun
were plucked from his immoveable centre or annihilated
there. There could remain nothing in this fatherless
world, and nothing in the future, to attract our desires or

INTRODUCTION. 25

attach us to existence. But — I say the rest in the better
language of a great preacher, who as a writer is more
distinguished, especially now that he speaks to mortals
only in his published works.*

"The idea of the Supreme Being has this peculiar
property ; that, as it admits of no substitute, so, from the
first moment it is formed, it is capable of continual growth
and enlargement. God himself is immutable ; but our
conception of his character is continually receiving fresh
accessions, is continually growing more extended and re-
fulgent, by having transferred to it new elements of beauty
and goodness ; by attracting to itself, as a centre, what-
ever bears the impress of dignity, order, or happiness.
It borrows splendor from all that is fair, subordinates to
itself all that is great, and sits enthroned on the riches of
the universe."

We think our publication will subserve an end at once
so great and so good ; and our hope is also that ends
allied, though inferior, may be coincidently answered.
With this, we commend it to the benediction of God, that
he would use it to his own glory and the good of souls ;
while we commit it humbly to the good pleasure of his
glorious providence. And may these introductory re-
flections, written — it may be — too venturously, and under
stress of time too little, and of urgency too great, to do
them better, or adequately to review or correct them, be
found at least not impeding, if haply they little assist, the
great design, for which we preach, and pray, and live,
and were redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.

I may add, that the author of the sermons has no re-
sponsibility or knowledge, in reference to what, in the
fraternal spirit, we have so freely written respecting them.
For this, he, we know, and the Christian community, we
trust, will make all liberal and proper allowance.

* Robert Hall.
3

SERMON I

AGREEMENT WITH GOD,

u Can two tvalk together ■, except they be agreed 7" —
Amos iii. 3.

Order is the first law of Heaven's empire. In the
material world, God has secured it by absolute power.
In the world of mind, his authority has enjoined it.
And in the next state of human existence, his omnipo-
tent justice will enforce it. In the present world, God
has simply enjoined order ; and if we obey not the
great laws of moral harmony, we make our own hap-
piness impossible.

Let us descend from principles to fact, and see, that
if two are not agreed, they cannot walk together. The
enjoyments of friendship demand a harmony of senti-
ment ; the classifications of political parties, and all effi-
cient party movements, whether good or bad, demand it.
How can a child be properly trained by two parents,
whose views differ on every important point of intellect
and moral education 1 What efficiency can there be
in that commercial house, whose partners are agreed
about no one of the great principles of trade ?

To these statements it might be objected, that Chris-
tians and infidels united together in the reformation of
the Church and the overthrow of Papacy. They did ;

28 SERMON I.

but it must be remarked, that they walked together, so
long as they were agreed in the simple object of rejecting
the political assumptions of the Roman pontiff. Their
object in this union was, to burst their common fetters ;
but no sooner had this been effected, and each resumed
his own individuality, than they clashed and separated.
While agreed, they walked together, but no longer.

The text is part of a solemn reproof addressed to the
Israelites. They thought, that, because they had been
taken into covenant with God, and had been careful in
observing the ceremonies of the Mosaic ritual, God
walked with them, approved of, and blessed them.
But the prophet, in the name of Jehovah, here presents
this great principal : — ■ You must agree with me, and
then I will walk with you ; — the union between us must
be a moral union.' He makes a direct appeal to their
judgments, and consciences, in this language, and vir-
tually demands whether they are willing to accord with
him in feeling, and to co-operate with him. If not, he
could not approve them. " How can two walk togeth-
er, except they be agreed ?"

To us this is a subject of the highest importance on
earth. This earthly scene is to pass away, the world
and its interests are to perish ; but the soul and its
moral affinities, — the soul and its desires, — the soul and
its habits formed on earth must abide and survive the
wreck of matter. We may well ask ourselves, — • With
whom, with what party, are my moral affinities and
alliances ? — with whom am I agreed V If we are not
agreed with God, we cannot walk in his counsels, nor
beneath his smile. I speak to you, children ! and ask
you ; — ' Are you agreed with God V Perhaps you do
not understand me. I will let a little girl, of whom I

AGREEMENT WI'TH GOD. 29

have heard, explain to you my meaning.* " I speak to
you, young man ! now, in the spring-time of life, at a
period in which all around is fascinating and deceiving,
at a period in which you are about to form associa-
tions and connexions for life, and, perhaps, to take
your moral position for eternity ; and I urge you, first of
all, to agree with God, that God may agree with you.

How mysterious is the indifference, with which men
regard God's approbation, or disapprobation! It is
manifest that such indifference cannot be the result of
serious reflection. It cannot be, that the man, who has
closely contemplated his position in the moral universe,
his transient existence on earth, and his fearful interest
in eternity, has risen from such contemplation, deter-
mined to cast aside all concern for the favor of God, to
make the least of his cares the care of his welfare be-
yond the hour of death. No, it is a mysterious, irra-
tional fascination ; it is the fearful consequence and
proof of apostacy from God. ' My fellow-men ! it is
not reasonable for you, nor for me, to regard with in-
difference the question,—' How does God esteem me,
and what is my actual position with regard to him 1 Is
there moral union and harmony, on which an eternal
friendship may be based?' This is the important ques-
tion, which I would assist each one to answer in his
own case. It is true, that the infinite Being conceals

* She was greatly distressed to find herself a sinner against God.
Her pious mother had encouraged and promoted her convictions of sin.
But, one morning, she came running into the parlor, smiling with de-
light. Her good mother feared that she had become a trifler with serious
things, and exclaimed: " Why, my dear! have you grieved away the
Spirit of God ?"— " No, my dear mamma ! I have made up with God."
She understood exactly what God meant when he says : " Be ye recon-
ciled to God."

3*

30 SERMON I.

from us the brightness of his presence, and neither daz-
zles the eye of the body, nor overwhelms the feelings
of the mind, by presenting himself to our senses in all
the symbols of his majesty and glory. Yet there are
manifestations of his perfections and of his feelings, so
clear, so indubitable, so palpable, that we may readily
determine whether ours be a state of enmity, of indif-
ference, or of union with our blessed Creator and Sove-
reign or not.

The principle by which this investigation may be
made, is simple and obvious. You may know as readi-
ly your sympathy with, or aversion to, the feelings of
an absent person, as of one present, provided he have
made expression of his feelings on any one point. And
again ; you may as readily test your sympathies, or
aversions, on moral subjects as on any other. There
is no difficulty in testing your musical taste, and com-
paring it with another person's, by ascertaining your
feelings on hearing the same piece of music. And. if
on every experiment you find, that what pleases one
displeases another, you trace it to a diversity of taste.
Two persons examine that masterpiece of painting —
" the Last supper," by Leonardo. The one admires, the
other disapproves ; because one is a man of unculti-
vated taste and unpractised eye, and finds no beauty in
its faded colors, while the other is capable of appre-
ciating its highest beauties. The one is looking for
dazzling color, and soon grows fatigued ; the other
stands enchanted, and retires with reluctance. Here is
evidently no affinity of taste. So it is with landscape.
One gazes with delight upon the gentle slope, the ver-
dant fields, the retired vale, the winding stream ;
every object, by which he is surrounded, presenting to

AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 31

his eye new beauties, and furnishing fresh delight to
the mind ; whilst another perceives in all this nothing
to attract or charm. Here is evidently a wide differ-
ence in taste. And again ; concerning those whom
we see not, but whose sentiments live in their works ;
we can readily determine whether they and we are
agreed, and whether we could, or could not walk to-
gether. Some of the hideous images of Egyptian idol-
atry are now in our museums. These were once the
admiration of thousands as master-works of art. We
look at them with disgust. Here is a want of intel-
lectual agreement. But we have also some of the
matchless specimens of Grecian taste. We admire
these, and feel, as we contemplate them, that we should
have found the highest intellectual gratification in the
society of the men who made, and of the people who
admired those figures. But they are more than speci-
mens of art ; they were the objects of a blind religious
veneration. As we consider them in this light, our ad-
miration gives place to disgust and contempt ; and we
feel an utter antipathy to the character and sentiments
of a people, whose intellectual elevation is but a light,
which throws in deeper shade their moral degradation.
It is, then, by contemplating some common object, that
we test our harmony, or want of harmony, with others
on any subject. If you, my hearers ! have taken up
the subject of religion with an earnestness in any mea-
sure corresponding with its magnitude, then you have
discovered the truth of what I am about to state. If
any of you have not, I shall entreat a patient attention
to my statement and proofs.

My statement is — that

Man, as unconverted, has no moral union with God.

32 SERMON 1.

He sympathizes not with God ; walks not, co-operates
not with him. Between God and these, his creatures,
there is no common taste, there are no common princi-
ples, no common ends, nor plans.

Let us begin our proof of this, by observing God and
man, in the exercise of love in its two branches, com-
placency, and benevolence. God loves all excellence.
He has said in his word, " To this man will I look,
even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit." Hu-
mility, faith, penitence, the spirit of prayer, — these are
the features of character in God's sight, of greatest
price. But it is not so with the world. Take, then,
the two objects ; on the one side, a man of true piety,
with no other recommendation ; and on the other, a
man with every thing admirable, but destitute of piety.
The one is Lazarus at the rich man's gate. Look at
him with all the offensiveness of his exterior ; destitute
of wealth, of talents, of friends, a cripple, a beggar ; and
yet he is a man of piety. His views of sin are as God's
views. His sympathies are with God's ; the glory of
God is the great object of his love ; he rejoices in his
low estate, because God has chosen it for him ; while
others are called to glorify God by action, he rejoices,
that he can do it by suffering in obscurity and con-
tempt. Such a man is dear to God. He may live in
a dungeon, or a cave, where you would not deign to
visit him ; yet that man is one of God's jewels, watched
over by angels, who are eager for the commission, to
break the rude shell that encases it, and bear it away
to shine in the Savior's crown. Come, look at this
object, and ask yourself, — < Is my heart agreed with
God's in this case ? Do I love piety wherever I see it ?
Do I love it for its own sake ? God does ; and if I do

AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 33

not, then our moral tastes do not harmonize, — we
are not agreed. He would pass by thrones and senates
to comfort that broken heart, and wipe away one tear
from that eye ; Gabriel would fly from the nether
spheres to lift the cup to his thirsting lips ; but I would
pass by on the other side, and hasten to more conge-
nial society. Then I am out of harmony with heaven V
Yes, here is a common object of moral contemplation,
which can as well determine the state of the heart, as
a picture, or landscape, or piece of music, can deter-
mine the tastes of two men. And what of your man of
taste, polish, science, station, affluence, influence, who
lives not for God, loves not, fears not, obeys not, praises
not God ? He favors you with his society and his
friendship. You not only admire, you delight in him.
And, even if he utters a few irreverential expressions
concerning religion, and carelessly employs the sacred
name of Jehovah, that does not alienate your heart ;
him you admire, in his society is your chief delight.
God does not admire him, but "is angry with the
wicked every day."

The selection of our companions, and the ground of
that selection, if we would examine it closely, would
perfectly expose to us our character as it is in the eyes
of God. If we choose the pious, and say with Israel's
sweet singer, " in them is all my delight ;" and if we
choose them on account of their religion, so far we
have evidence of our reconciliation to God. Says John,
" we know that we have passed from death unto life,
because we love the brethren." We admit that piety
is now, in most cases, associated with much, that is not
admirable in itself ; and yet there is true piety on earth.

34 SERMON I,

and enough to test the nature and tendency of our af-
fections.

In the exercise, then, of their complacency, men while
unconverted, select different objects from God ; in the
exercise of their benevolence they choose not as God
chooses. God loves all his creatures, because they are
capable of happiness, and he loves them, as capable of
happiness. But men, generally, make a very narrow
circle for the play of their benevolent affections. So
far as it is restricted by a want of knowledge of other
beings, or by an inability to conceive of and sympathize
with the miseries of those whom we have never seen,
it is a mark of our finite power, and not of our want
of holiness. But so far as it arises from selfish indif-
ference to the welfare of others, so far we feel not as
God feels. Is there, moreover, a man, in the circle of
your acquaintance, who has no share in your sympa-
thies ? God loves that man, not because he may be
g;ood, or grateful, or obedient, but because he is a man
endowed with all the moral and immortal sensibilities
and capacities of human nature.

It is often said, that no man can love his enemies.
Then no man can dwell with God, no man can wear
God's moral image ; for that is one of its striking fea-
tures. Suppose a man to have interfered with you in
your business, to have stood in the way of your worldly
prosperity, or to have slandered you to others ; do you
not love him, notwithstanding all this ? God loves him,
although he may be still his enemy ; the absence of your
love to him, proves that you are not agreed with God.

But we can press this matter still further. God not'
only loves his creatures, — all his creatures, even his
enemies, — but with an intensity astonishing to the very

AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 35

angels of heaven. And his great desire is for their
conversion and eternal salvation. Here are, then, two
points of comparison ; those interests of man for which
he has the highest regard ; and the degree of his re-
gard. To testify the extent and strength of his com-
passion for sinners, God gave his own Son ; for, it is
said, " God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son," &c. Not only does he love his ene-
mies, but he sacrifices his Son to do them good. Who,
then, has a moral union and affinity with him, whose
great name is Love ? And for what is this great sacri-
fice ? for what the mission of the Spirit ? for what the
word of Revelation ? It is all to secure the conversion
and everlasting salvation of men. Upon this great
work the whole heart of the blessed God is set. But
say, if, to some of you, this work does not often appear
absolutely contemptible ? Say, if, when amidst the gay
lovers of pleasure and votaries of fashion, you would
not have felt a revolting of spirit, a cordial contempt
for one, who should have commenced talking to you
of the great work of salvation by Jesus Christ, of the
importance of efforts to turn the attention of this people
to the interests of their souls, before it be for ever too
late 1 But if you have not felt contempt, have you not
a complete indifference ? The heart of every one is
on some object, which seems to him great ; it may be
pleasure, profit, honor, ease, in some of their forms.
But if your supreme desire be not that of extending the
cause of Christ, you are not agreed with God ; for
upon this one great and glorious plan his heart is su-
premely fixed. For that, the Son of God came to
sufferings, shame, and death. Your indifference to this
vast object, your absorption in the interests of time,

36 SERMON I.

your unwillingness to make sacrifices for the salvation
of your own or others' souls, your little, narrow, selfish
schemes, prove that you are not agreed with God.

We may test the condition of our affections by an-
other object — the law of God. To him it is as dear as
the happiness of his creatures and the honor of his own
name. If you find in it one command too holy, one
requirement too exact, or one precept superfluous, then
you esteem it not as God does. I will not now regard
all that is implied in an aversion to any one precept of
the divine law. We are here simply concerned to see
that what God approves, man disapproves. His wisdom,
equity, and goodness framed that law in all its strict-
ness, purity, and extent. Not a command nor a pro-
hibition of it expresses else than his heart approves.
Even the tremendous denunciations of it, too, are
approved by God. If then its requirements please not,
if its threatenings seem too severe to any one ; with
such a one God is not agreed.

Another object tests the heart ; the Son of God
manifested in human nature. In all the predictions
of the patriarchs and prophets ; in all the ancient types
of the Mosaic ritual, and the shadowy representations
of the former economy ; in the mission of John the
forerunner, we can see that Christ, in all ages, has
been, as he was announced at his baptism, the only
begotten and well beloved Son of God. This was the
testimony borne to him on the banks of Jordan by his
heavenly Father — " This is my beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased 1" — in whom I am well pleased. I
now turn your thoughts to him. I would present him
in his humble cradle, in his holy life, in his severe
reproofs of sin and unbelief, in the moment when he

AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 37

chilled the zeal of that self-complacent young ruler,
who thought himself almost ready for heaven. I pre-
sent him hung up on the ignominious Roman gibbet,
expiring beneath the contempt of earth and frown of
heaven. I present him coming in the clouds to judge
the world, and to separate men into two great classes,
by a principle, which shall pour contempt on the dis-
tinctions that have gratified the pride of the human
heart ; I ask you in all this — • What think you of
Christ V God says — " I am well pleased." Does
your heart respond — l He is to me all in all V God
says that he has " raised him from the dead, and set
him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far
above all principality and power, and might and do-
minion, and every name that is named, not only in
this world, but also in that which is to come; and
hath put all things under his feet," — " and given him
a name, which is above every name ; that at the name
of Jesus every knee should bow, and that every tongue
should confess." Does your heart thus exalt him ? If
we have a common heart, or moral sentiment, with Je-
hovah, then we must love Christ as he does. When-
ever the gospel is faithfully preached, Jesus Christ is
manifestly set forth crucified for man's redemption.
And under these manifestations, how many are totally
indifferent ! Some may have been aroused to a sense
of their entire dependence on Christ, of their immediate
and pressing need of an interest in his mediation.
But how transient was the impression ! Yes, in that
solemn hour God presented to you the great medium
of reconciliation to himself, showed you where he
could meet you without compromising his justice or
his truth, held the promise of pardon down from his

4

38 SERMON I.

throne, showed you the covenant of peace, signed and
sealed in the blood of the Lamb slain for the redemp-
tion of the world ; — in that solemn hour God was near
in a sense more real, more important, infinitely more
important and delightful than human thought can
conceive. Yes, there, my hearer ! — and you remem-
ber perhaps the hour — there your soul weighed earth
and heaven in the balance of its affections ; there in
strong debate you canvassed the claims of sin and holi-
ness ; there you were almost persuaded to be a Chris-
tian ; and yet — awful thought ! — you there decided
that your heart could not choose Christ and renounce
its idols.

Here are then objects enough presented for the appli-
cation of our principle and of our test. One is Piety ;
considered by God as the only lovely object on earth ;
piety, considered by the world actually, practically,
daily and hourly, when exhibited in life, as either con-
temptible, or as not equal in interest to intellect, to
wealth, to rank, or other adventitious appendages to
man. God loves, God walks with the men of humili-
ty, of faith, of prayer, of zeal for his honor and kingdom.
God loves them for their piety, for that which distin-
guishes them from the world. Men generally either
disregard them, or esteem them on account of other
qualities and circumstances. We have selected again
— the Law of God. When God beholds that, as an
expression of his will, as adapted to make the universe
of intelligent beings one vast, happy community ; when
he beholds its perfect symmetry, its purity, its clear re-
presentation of his rights and of his creatures' duties,
he must love it. And there are a few men who can say
with intelligent sincerity — "the law is holy, and the

AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 39

commandment holy, and just, and good ;" " how I love
thy law, it is my meditation all the day." But alas !
there are only a few men of that spirit in the human
family.

The majority of men treat the whole law of God
with such indifference, that they think it not worth
their while to search into its precepts, either to know
what they are, or whether they comply with them.
We have contemplated also the souls of men in their
inappreciable worth, to see, on the one hand, how earn-
estly God loves them, at how high a price he under-
takes their salvation ; and on the other hand, that men
generally care little for the mass of mankind, love not
their enemies, and care nothing for the undying inter-
ests of the soul. Conversion, pardon, sanctincation,
resurrection, justification at the bar of God; — these are
matters of moonshine with the busy, the gay, the learn-
ed, the wise, the mighty world. The last of its con-
cerns is for the promotion of vital, soul-transforming,
soul-saving religion ; the smallest of its sacrifices are
for it ; the least degree of its sympathies is with him,
who weeps over man's apostacy, who prays for the ex-
ercise of God's recovering grace, and for the mighty
energies of the Holy Spirit.

The last object we presented was — the Bright, the
Morning Star— the Sun of Righteousness, who has
arisen on the world with healing in his beams, — the
meek, the spotless Lamb of God, who bore the sins of
erring man upon his guiltless soul. We have heard
the voice of the Highest saying — " This is my beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased;" and, "What think
ye of Christ ?" We have heard the world saying, —
* We may want to fly to him in a dying hour ; but, un-

40 SERMON I.

til forced to do it, we wish not to take his yoke upon
us ; we have seen neither form nor comeliness in him,
that we should desire him.'

And, my fellow-mortal ! is it you, whose heart, whose
conduct, with so stern an emphasis, have thus replied ?
Then I must carry the subject one step further, and
ask you, How « can two walk together, except they be
agreed ?" If it is determined in your own mind that
you are not agreed with God, how then can he confer
upon you any of the blessings of his children ? He
may command his sun to shine and his rain to descend
upon you ; for that he does to the evil and unthankful.
But does that satisfy you ? Can you live with the crea-
ture deprived of the Creator ? If God but gives you
the bounties of his providence, are you satisfied to live
without him, without his love, without the peculiar
blessings which he confers on his children. But he
cannot confer these blessings on those, who have nei-
ther obeyed his law, nor become reconciled to him
through the gospel. It would bring reproach upon his
character as moral Governor ; for that character he
must sustain as well as that of Father. You make it
impossible to be blessed. How can God delight in you 1
What shall he delight in ? Your external advantages'?
They have been possessed by some of the darkest and
vilest beings, that ever bore the name of man. Shall
he delight in your intellect, your science, your accom-
plishments ? Have you more than Satan had on the
morning of his rebellion? But they could not bribe
nor dazzle the perfect eye of Eternal Purity and Jus-
tice. God delights in the men, who, where they have
disobeyed his law, honor it by all the amends in their
power ; — repentance for their sin, and the acceptance

AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 41

of a gratuitous pardon through Jesus Christ. God de-
lights in them, whose hearts harmonize in sympathy
with his, concerning the great scheme of recovering
this lost race to allegiance, and holiness, and heaven.
God delights in those, whose delight is in his Son.
Hear how the apostle Paul, whom God loved, expresses
himself concerning the law of God : — I delight in the
law of God after the inward man, although I find a
constant rebellion in part of my nature against it. He
perpetually took the side of the law against himself.
Hear the adorations of the heavenly host in whom God
delights :

" Worthy the Lamb that died, they cry,
To be exalted thus."

Now if your heart has, in all these points, no sym-
pathy with God, how can he delight in you? How can
he take you to heaven? The righteous are taken there
in order to make their communion with God more in-
timate, perfect, and beatific. But communion of soul,
to be intimate and delightful, must be intelligent and
cordial on those points, which both parties deem of the
highest moment. But if you have no such fellowship
with God here, what will you do in heaven? If you
have found no delight in the imperfect communion
which prayer affords, what will you do in heaven ? It
seems to me, my fellow men ! you pronounce the ver-
dict on your own souls. Without a change of heart,
there is no advantage in your going to heaven. If you
go there, it will not be to have communion with God
and with his Christ. A heaven without God,— a hea-
ven without the Savior ! God will gather around him-
self the faithful spirits, who have contended for his
honor and interests in the various parts of his king-

4*

42 S E R M O N I.

dom. But what will you do among them ? Will you
bring the history of your anxiety for worldly good,
your toils and cares for earthly interests, to entertain
the sons of light, the valiant champions of truth and
holiness ? God will gather them that have been faith-
ful to his cause, that they may co-operate with him in
still greater plans. But what will you do there, who
have never sympathized with God's cause on earth 1
How "can two walk together, except they be agreed?"
Then there is no fellowship with God, no co-operation
with him, no rapturous enjoyment of his presence, his
character, his plans, his service.

Heaven is constantly thought of, under the vague
impression of a happy spot. But think of a circle of
friends, pure, refined, intelligent, enjoying exquisite de-
light in each other's society. Imagine one of utterly
uncongenial taste and habits, longing to be admitted to
that circle, under the impression that merely being
there would make him happy. You know he is in
error; but not in as great an error as they are in, who
think of heaven as a happy place, and are anxious to get
there, but have no anxiety for immediate and perfect
preparation for it. No ; if you are not agreed with
God, he will not bring you to " his presence," where is
" fulness of joy," nor to " his right hand/"' where are
" pleasures for evermore." If not agreed with God,
you cannot dwell for ever with those who are. No ;
if you are not now walking with God, we are prepar-
ing for an endless separation. You may occupy the
same place in the house of God with his children ;
you may perform the same external duties ; no human
eye may be able to discover a difference between you
and them ; and yet, being unreconciled to God, as time

AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 43

rolls onward, and as eternity approaches, you are di-
verging further and further from them. The thought
is solemn. Life is solemn, inasmuch as it is the seed-
time of eternity ; its threshold, its type, its model. To-
day we may take you by the hand ; to-day we may
lead you to the foot of the cross ; to-day we may weep
over you, and express to you our strong anxieties ; to-
morrow you may die, and we may never, never, never
again meet. Pilgrim to eternity ! if your heart is not
right with God, you are going to an eternal distance
from him and his saints. And are you willing to be
eternally separated from God and the good ? Suppose
you were called to-day to bid an everlasting farewell to
your pious relatives and friends, to Christ and his
Church ; would it be without a sigh ? And yet it may
be so.

I know this is a theme on which few occupy their
thoughts. But it remains in all its truth and awful im-
portance, that, under the dispensation of mercy admin-
istered by the Son of God, men are taking their posi-
tions for eternity. There are two contending interests
in the universe. Hell and its legions are ranged on the
one side — God and his angels on the other. By phy-
sical force, the controversy might soon be ended. But
this is the department where God's greatest glory is seen
in the enlistment of moral force alone. Oh what a
theatre of sublime interest is earth, where every thing
is yet undecided, but rapidly settling for eternity ! The
inhabitants of heaven are immutably ranged under the
banner of the Prince of light. Fallen angels and dam-
ned spirits look for no reprieve, no change. Dark hate
and fell despair are their chains. But man's fate is
yet undecided. His destiny is pending, and God is

44 SERMON I.

now persuading ; for moral power consists in persua-
sion. And generally, it is a " still small voice," easily
stifled, easily unheeded. Hark ! it sounds in thy breast,
it comes from thy Father's throne, from thy bleeding
friend, from the Spirit of life : — * Wilt thou be agreed
with God V

SERMON II

man's natural enmity to god.

" The carnal mind is enmity against God." —
Rom. viii. 7.

If we divest this sentiment of its technical form, and
express it in the language of common conversation, its
dreadful import must strike the most inattentive hearer.
The Bible is technical, because it is the Book of heav-
enly science, and, like every other book of science, must
employ many phrases in a sense peculiar to itself.
This has frequently been a theme even of ridicule to
the enemies of its doctrines. But a mere verbal con-
troversy is always of minor importance. We discover
with painful interest, the reality and extent of an oppo-
sition, more serious, because it is to the truth of our text.
All over the world, and in every period of human his-
tory, men have hated, not the fact here stated, but the
declaration of that fact. Men are willing, that it shall
be true that they hate God, but they are not willing to
read it, nor to hear it. There is an almost universal
reluctance, to put among the axioms, or the established
points of religious belief; the truth, that the human
mind is opposed to its Creator and Savior. At present
we shall endeavor to convince those, who admit the
Bible to be an infallible teacher. We shall allow there-

46 SERMON II.

fore, in these discussions, no other place for reasoning,
than to ascertain, whether, or not we understand the
written Word. If God says it, we must believe it.

Has God then said, that the human heart is opposed
to Him 1 So we understand the text. It is clear that
the human heart, in some state, is here said to be, " at
enmity against God. " The only remaining question,
then, is. whether or not that state is the universal, nat-
ural condition of man. It is, in other words, whether
or not every unconverted man hates God. We under-
stand the text to assert this, because the whole course
of the argument in the context consists, in contrasting
the two different states of human nature, as renewed
and unrenewed. But the argument from the examina-
tion of the record, although more conclusive and satis-
factory to a student of the Bible than any other, is
neither so interesting nor so striking to those who are
not inclined to pursue that study. We therefore take
up another line of argument, and lead you to positions
where this dreadful truth so glares upon the eye, that
the understanding must embrace it, despite the revolt-
ings and struggles of self-respect and of carnal desire.
We readily make, however, this concession to human
nature ; — we admit that men generally appear to be
sincere, in denying that they hate God.

We meet, then, on the threshold, the apparent oppo-
sition to our doctrine, of all human consciousness and
experience. We maintain an apparently extravagant
truth, in the face, not only of what men believe, but
even of what they feel. We appear in the bold posi-
tion, of telling men that, concerning themselves,
which they know to be false. Ask any number of men
this question — ' Do you hate God V The reply, in

man's natural enmity to god. 47

almost every case, will be made with perfect sincerity —
1 No, I love Him.' . And the answer will often be forti-
fied with this argument — •' Why should I hate the
Being that gives me all my blessings V It is this
supposed consciousness, that fortifies men, so securely,
against the testimony of God. Now it is important to
understand precisely, on the one hand what it is of
which men are conscious, and on the other what the
text asserts. Few men see in their hearts any thing,
like hatred of the character of God ; they see no anger,
no rankling, no opposition against Him, in positive ex-
ercise. Nor does the text assert, that this hatred is, in
all, a present, positive, outbreaking emotion, or disposi-
tion. It simply declares, that the attachment to forbid-
den objects and pursuits, which characterizes all hearts
naturally, involves in itself enmity against God. Our
text does not assert, that sinful dispositions have yet
ripened to their full malignity, nor that man has yet
seen to what lengths they will carry him. It simply,
and only declares, that man has committed himself to
the ranks and work of rebellion ; that he is, in reality,
an enemy of his God, although that enmity may yet
be undeveloped in its more terrible forms. It asserts,
that man has begun a career, which will, if unchecked,
plant him beneath the banner of rebel angels — an eter-
nal, uncompromising enemy of heaven's glorious King.
To the proof of this awful truth we advance.

We see enough, and we intend to show enough, to
convince the world that men need but a change of cir-
cumstances, to develope forms and degrees of wicked-
ness, which would now be as incredible to them, as was
Hazael's predicted depravity to him. See you that
statesman, amiable, courteous, generous ? He lives in

48 SERMON II.

perfect amity with all his neighborhood. Ask him. if
he is conscious of enmity towards a human being. His
sincere response is, — 'Not towards one ; — no, not even
to that rival in the career of ambition ;' (who, it must
be observed, has never yet crossed his path.) Return
to the place of his residence after many years, and hear
the village stories of anger, reviling, and finally of the
fatal duel between these former friends ; and see
the lasting hatred which yet burns even in their off-
spring. What has kindled this strange fire in that
once peaceful bosom? Where is now the firm con-
sciousness, that once induced the frank and earnest
disavowel of enmity ? Alas ! a change of situation,
and circumstances, changed, not the man, but the exer-
cise of his selfishness ; and it was by this change,
brought out in forms hitherto unknown to himself, and
to others. Fellow man ! thou art ignorant of thyself ;
thy heart is an enigma to thee ; God knows it, and God
has given His testimony concerning it. Thou art to
live through many, — many changes. Thou mayest
be confident in thyself ; but He, who knows the end
from the beginning, has declared dreadful things con-
cerning thee. And time and eternity, with their in-
conceivable changes, may yet make thee what if now
told thee, would force the exclamation — " What ! is thy
servant a dog, that he should do this thing ?"

Man is the enemy of God in his selfishness. He be-
lieves it not, because he knows not who, or what Goo.
is ; or, because he will not compare himself with what
he does know of God, to see how he regards Him.
And the more fully God unveils His character, His
government. His plans, the more decided and the more
dreadful will be the enmity, felt and exercised. Let us

ENMITY TO GOD. 49

look a little further into this very consciousness of man,
that seems to contradict the words of God, and behold
therein the strong confirmation of our doctrine.

I. Man hates the character of God as a Lawgiver.
]f there is any prerogative of His nature, for which Je-
hovah will contend with the power of His throne, it is
that of making laws for His creatures. And if there
be, on the other hand, any strength in man's attach-
ments, any firmness in his purposes, any ardor in his
pursuits, any determined opposition to that, which in-
terferes with the independence of his will, or the ac-
complishment of his cherished plans, then is uncon-
verted, selfish man an enemy of God the Legislator.
It is true, that this rebellion against the Divine govern-
ment, this opposition to the Supreme will, does not
manifest itself in the same forms, as rebellion against the
various kinds of moral government in human society ;
and this is one great source of deception. The feelings,
which, in the one case, are hidden, in the other are
strong and prominent ; not that the hatred and opposi-
tion are less real to the Divine government, but that
the human government presents itself more obtrusively
to its subjects. There are, however, occurrences in
every individual's life, which, if properly observed,
would echo back a fearful testimony to the truth of the
Bible. It is in incidents considered trifling, that man
shows his character ; and he, who has accustomed him-
self to observe the incidents of human life as reflectors
of the human heart, can read, in the passing events of
every hour, the indexes of all that constitutes that heart.
Reflect on an occcurrence like the following.

There were, in the metropolis of one of the United
States, two young men full of glowing health and elas-

5

50 SERMON I I.

tic spirits. They selected, for a drive, the very hour ot
a beautiful Sabbath morning, in which the devout had
just commenced the worship of their God. They were
urging a spirited steed down one of the leading streets,
and securing the general attention ; but in the very
height, hilarity, and speed of their movement, they were
suddenly brought to a mortifying stand by a strong
iron chain drawn entirely across the street in front of a
church. It need scarcely be said,' that they felt the
emotions of indignation and hatred against the chain,
and against the authority, that threw it across their
path. They had been conscious of no such hatred be-
fore ; it was a new emotion, drawn out by new circum-
stances. But God himself had thrown another chain
across their path, stronger than iron or adamant. He
had uttered, with his own awful voice, from Sinai,
" Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." He had
interposed his own awful authority to prevent these
young men from " doing their own pleasure" on that
day. And why, then, did they not feel the same hatred
risino: against this obstruction to the gratification ot
their desires ? This is a question of great importance ;
and though the answer is brief, it is worthy of deep
reflection : — Because it was a moral, and not a physical
chain — because it made their pleasure wrong, but not
impossible — because it consisted, for the present, only
in a precept and a threatened penalty. Had Jehovah
met them when sallying from their dwellings, — had He
laid His mighty hand upon their puny arms, and held
them back from their career of sinful pleasure, — had
He sounded in their ear his awful threatenings at every
step of their progress, — had He shown that, for every
moment of pleasure, He would visit upon them ages of

man's natural enmity to god. 51

wrath, — then they might have found, that they hated
Jehovah, as they hated that iron chain. But no ; His
holy law lay unobtrusive in their neglected Bible ; it
troubled them not, it checked them not ; and hence
they felt no present opposition to it. Jehovah bade
His sun to shine upon them, and was sending the tide
of life, in gladdening pulses, through their frames ; and
they could exclaim, with entire security, " Why should
I hate Him ? He does me nothing but good."

Let the awful truth be repeated ; — man has staked
his happiness against the authority of the eternal Law-
giver. And it is a fact, to which the world should
attend with the profoundest interest, that, just as much
as man loves his own happiness, just so strongly must
he, if unconverted, sooner or later, hate the legislative
rights, character, and acts of Jehovah. This hatred
sometimes breaks out on a broad scale, and " the kings
of the earth set themselves against the Lord and
against His Anointed, saying, Let us break His bands
asunder, and cast away His cords from us." And
there has probably never been the age, or nation, in
which the men, who have boldly and urgently asserted
the law of God in its length and breadth, have not
drawn upon themselves the persecution, either of ridi-
cule, of hatred, or of death. Which of the stem
prophets was not hated and sought for as a beast of
prey, even among the Jews ? Who is the man in this
age or nation, that dares to urge the law of God, and
its penalty of endless death, on his contemporaries, that
will not be called by some one or more of the various
consecrated titles of puritan, bigot, and fanatic ? It must
be so, as long as the human heart is true to its own con-
stitution. If it seeks its own gratification as the end of

52 SERMON II.

its existence, if its whole plan of happiness is based on
that, then it must hate that holy law, which enforces
upon it an end so different, by an authority so dreadful,
and under a penalty so awful.

There are two ways, in which men have always en-
deavored to avoid the painful discovery of this truth.
The one is, to deny the revealed character of a law so
pure, and holy, and difficult, and contradictory to our
passions. If a man can fix his foot firmly on that
ground, he will of course discover no opposition to the
Lawgiver, because he sees no clashing between the will
of God and his own will. The other course is, to ad-
mit the existence of the law, but on various grounds to
deny the execution of the penalty. But here is the
strong hold of our argument. We do not say, that man
will hate a God, who tells him, that he must not do
this or that wrong action, because it is very bad, and
if he does, God is so merciful, that He will treat him
just as well as He does the obedient angels. We say
it is manifest, beyond all contradiction, that if God be
such a God as He has declared himself to be, if He
means to maintain His own authority, at the expense
of His creatures' everlasting well-being because they
have set themselves in opposition to His will, and if
men hate the torments of the second death, then must
they either change their plans and hearts, or hate the
character of God the Law-maker. If it be, that there
is no everlasting punishment for unbelief, for impeni-
tence, for worldliness, for neglect of religion, then we
abandon our present argument. But if we understand
the record aright, then we challenge the world to deny
this proposition, that a great change must take place in
the character of the natural man to have him willing,

man's natural enmity to god. 53

nay pleased, to see God threatening, with His everlast-
ing wrath, the pursuit of selfish gratification. If there
is a cherished object with the human soul, it is to main-
tain the independence of the will ; and if men will but
read their own hearts aright, they will find this to be
the contested point even with their Creator. The
struggle is slight, and suspended by frequent intervals.
But Jehovah is coming out from His hiding-place to
reveal His Supreme authority, armed with His mighty
thunders. Will the unsubdued, long-indulged will of
man then bow sweetly ? If mercy and love have failed
to soften, will Majesty and Terror win the heart ? No,
fellow-men ! no. Hear it from God's messengers now,
in the land of hope, and in the day of peace. No ;
u the carnal mind is enmity against God ; for it is not
subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be."

We see this truth from another point of view.

II. Man hates the sovereignty of God. God is
the Supreme Being ; all things being made by Him
and for Him. His right to accomplish his own desires,
and to include the free actions of man and all the hu-
man powers in His plan, none will deny. Nay, it is
evident that He must carry out His plans, even to the
sacrifice of every other interest, which may have made
itself inconsistent with those plans. — " But what if the
plans of a sovereign God require the abandonment of
our most beloved objects ? Must we then cordially
submit ?" — Yes, you must either love, or hate a sove-
reign God. If you love him supremely, your chief
happiness will be derived from seeing Him accomplish
His sovereign will. If you prefer your own immediate
gratification, or apparent temporal interest, to His will,
then either His will must be unperformed, or it must

5*

54 SERMON II.

accord with your will, or you must be the enemy of
God.

This argument is conclusive to him, who will reflect
upon it. But we can look at it in a still more impres-
sive lio-ht. Is the human heart strong in its attach-
ments 1 Yes, that is its glory. And yet, in the very
strength of those attachments, when perverted, the
heart will find its sources of rebellion against a sove-
reign God. Is there not strength in the attachment of
a man to the wife of his bosom, and to their lovely lit-
tle first-born son 1 But what if that husband is sud-
denly called from the midst of his business, to behold
that lovely infant a pallid corpse, and that lovely wife
in the agonies of death 1 Would it be strange if he
should raise his clasped hands in the frenzy of his an-
guish, and exclaim — " O God ! what have these inno-
cent ones done, that Thou shouldst thus tear them
from earth's bright prospects ? — what have I done, that
Thou shouldst rob me of more than life l" Say not,
this is exaggerated. There was one, who could say
under circumstances somewhat similar — " The Lord
gave, and the Lord hath taken away ; blessed be the
name of the Lord." But that man had not " the carnal
mind ;" he had learned to value the creature less than
the Creator ; he had not looked to the creature, how-
ever lovely, however promising, as the source of his
highest happiness. Acquiescence in the will of God
was the main-spring of his joy ; and hence the loss of
beloved objects only furnished an occasion to manifest
that resignation. But our text speaks not of that class
of minds ; and we are not speaking of them. We speak
indeed of the heart that is full of the tenderest senti-
ments of kindness, and susceptible of all that is noble,

ENMITY TO GOD. 55

in attachment to objects worthy of its love. We speak
of the heart, loving not wrong objects, but such as are
right, in undue proportion ; of the heart that clings to
any earthly good with all the intensity of its passions.
And of this heart we affirm, that, in its present condition,
it is liable, every moment, to such an in-breaking of
trie hand of God to tear away all it has cherished and
adored, that a new emotion of enmity may spring up
like a viper, and become under the successive intrusions
of a sovereign Providence the master-passion. Do you
love any thing, fellow-man ? — is it a human being — is
it the good opinions of men — is it the universal idol,
wealth, as possessed, or as pursued? Go into thy
heart, and know thyself; see if it is not possible for the
plans of God so to interfere with thine, that He would
appear to thee thine enemy ; and, if He did, wouldst
thou then love Him ? Hast thou learned to love thine
enemy, thy strong enemy, who mars each favorite
scheme, who hurts thy good name, who maims thy
body, who takes from thee thy gold ; nay, who makes
thee, in the same day, a desolate mourner at the tomb
of thy wife and child ?

But from this appeal and the argument couched
under it, there is an apparent escape. It is, either that
such things will not happen to the individual ; or, if
they do, that he will not trace them to the hand of
Providence. Upon these replies much might be said
to confirm our position. The cases stated are neither
imaginary, nor of unfrequent occurrence ; and if they
should not occur, it is not the less certain, that the car-
nal mind merely tolerates a sovereign God, so long as
His plans do not interfere with those it has cherished.
And with regard to the others, it is true, that there may

56 SERMON II.

be such an atheistical disregard of the hand of God in
the common events of life, that he may not become the
object of immediate hatred, because He is not recog-
nised as interfering with the individual's happiness.
But what if the man should find out, that nothing
takes place except by His ordering ? — what if he shoufd
discover, that the most common events of life form so
many links in the great chain, which binds the pur-
poses of God to their issues ? — what if he finds God
charging him to see His hand and will in each minut-
est occurrence ? Will he love Him ? — No, not if there
be strength in human passions ; — no, not if he has not
learned to love his enemy ; — no, no ; the man, who
hates the insect that annoys him, who hates the robber
of his property, the murderer of his child, the tyrant
that casts him into prison, must find the same emotion
arising towards even the mighty God, whom he sees
crushing, in His omnipotent movement, every idol of
his soul's affection. It is true, that his conscience will
not condemn God, as it condems the fellow-man who
injures him ; but the hatred, which is entirely inde-
pendent of this faculty, will exist none the less.

We state a third argument.

III. The carnal mind hates the mercy of God.
Here we seem to be in even more glaring inconsistency
with consciousness than in any former assertion. But
men have deceived themselves, in regard to what they
really were conscious of on other subjects ; and a
closer attention may discover an illusion here. It
might be thought, at the first glance, that the very self-
ishness, which we charge on man, would make him
love a merciful God. We ask attention to facts which

man's natural enmity to god. 57

bear on this subject ; the facts of history, and the facts
of consciousness.

If the mercy of God consisted in the mere direct
gratification of the wants of men, our position were
then false. This vague notion is wonderfully prevalent
in the world, but is infinitely removed from the sublime
and holy attribute called Mercy in the Scriptures. It
we might attempt a Scriptural definition of it in part,
we should say, that it is the kindness of God to men
introducing the means of bringing them to holiness,
forgiveness and heaven. And there is the offensive
aspect of all its manifestations ; its powers and riches
are all exerted to make man holy, that he may be truly
and for ever happy. It was mercy, that bowed the
listening ear to Abel's prayer, and smiled propitiously
on his sacrifice ; it was grace that taught and inclined
him to make the acceptable offering. What was the
effect of that display of grace to fallen man ? It kin-
dled the passions of hell in the bosom of Cain, and the
hatred, which could find no vent toward the God of
mercy, fell in murderous stroke upon an innocent bro-
ther. That mercy promised to exalt Joseph even above
all that his brethren or father had attained. And this
it was that excited the murderous purpose of his breth-
ren, even to the desperate extent of defeating the very
purposes of the Almighty. The Israelites were led
out of Egypt in mercy ; but because every thing was
not arranged to their wishes, the very plans and achiev-
ments and instruments of that mercy perpetually arous-
ed their wrath. The prophets were sent in mercy ;
but these were stoned and sawn asunder and driven to
dwell with wild beasts. At last the Son of God came,
the Messenger of mercy. From the cradle to the tomb,

58 SERMON II.

He drew forth the rage and malice of men. His doc-
trines, His conduct, His very exertions of merciful
power, continually drew upon Him the most bitter and
desperate hatred.

What more can be needed, than the narrative of the
four Evangelists, to establish the general fact concern-
ing the carnal mind, that it hates even the mercy of
God ? Look at the history of that eventful period, in
which an experiment was made on human nature ; —
an experiment to us, not to God, for He knew what
was in man. It is true, that we call the men of that
day proud, hypocritical, unbelieving Jews and Phari-
sees ; but they were men ; they had the same carnal
mind which has existed in all ages, and still exists,
however varied its form and outward bearing. There
lived at that same period Herod and Jesus ; the one
was an obscene, blood-thirsty tyrant, a cruel extortion-
er,— the other was a pure, mild, and modest philan-
thropist. The one filled the land of Israel with the
instruments of his extortion, with blood and tears ; — the
other was seen in the places of poverty, and a mid the
sad children of affliction, wiping the tear from sorrow's
eye, and healing its broken heart. The one was toler-
ated ; but the other was the object of a relentless perse-
cution, which never let down its watchful malignity,
until it had heard His death-groans, and seen His life-
blood flow beneath its stroke. This was indeed the
highest proof that man could give of his hatred to God,
even when he displayed nothing but his unmingled
mercy ; but it was not the last. The ascended Re-
deemer continued the exercise of that goodness, in the
communication of the sanctifying Spirit. When the
disciples were met to pray for this display of that good-

59

ness, suddenly the Spirit came upon them ; and from
that hour began their unparalleled career of beneficent
miracles, and of persuasive presentation of the pffers of
eternal life. Wherever they went, the presence and pow-
er of the Spirit of God were felt. But his reception was
the same as that of the Son of God ; cities were filled with
tumult and uproar whenever the Divine Spirit alighted,
so that the standing title of the apostles was — " the men
that have turned the world upside down." The Spirit
of- God did not assume a visible form, which could be-
come the immediate object of men's hatred ; but he was
seen and heard in the acts and words of the apostles.
And Paul declares to us, that mobs and stonings, re-
vilings, stripes and imprisonment were his rewards,
everywhere, for fulfilling God's errand of mercy to his
fellow-men.

But we leave the facts of ancient history for those
of our own day, and the experience of other men for
that, which we cannot doubt, nor deny, as constituting
a part of our personal moral history. We assert no-
thing here, but propose such inquiries and suggestions
as may expose this very hatred of God's mercy, in
hearts, which would tremble to admit the awful con-
clusion, while they cannot deny the facts from which
it is drawn. Some may recollect an opposition to the
gracious influences of the Spirit of God in other per-
sons, and some an opposition to those influences in
themselves. The Savior said, that He had come to
divide households and to put a sword between friends.
He came to lead men to holiness. But in the accom-
plishment of that gracious work, a new and incon-
genial element, is brought into the midst of the so-
cial and domestic mass ; and, as when a change takes

60 SERMON II.

place in the electrical condition of bodies, the strongest
revulsions are sometimes the consequence. The influ-
ences qf the grace of God may be sudden, and the
decisive changes in the feeling and deportment of indi-
viduals often call forth the strong disapprobation of
friends. It may be, indeed, that this disapprobation
shall attach itself to some of the human imperfection,
which mingles with this new form of character ; but
after all, its real origin is in the discovery of the direct
and merciful influences of the Spirit of God upon the
heart. The relations of life are such, that the religious
principles of one person may very greatly interfere
with the schemes of profit or pleasure formed by an-
other ; and these religious principles are the fruits of
God's mercy. But the carnal mind, thwarted and
checked, feels a hatred of those principles, and thus of
the mercy which caused them. This hatred to the
religious principles and character of another comes up
in a thousand shapes ; but, however it comes, it shows
this fact conclusively, that the carnal mind hates the
movements of the Divine mercy, as interfering with its
plans and pleasures. Whoever feels the risings of
contempt, or of opposition towards the strict religious
principle, or elevated religious sentiment, manifested
by another, shows that he hates the grace of God. But
sometimes that grace comes yet nearer, and touches our
own hearts, to wake them from their fatal slumbers.
The startled conscience begins to take a review of life,
under a new light and a new impulse. The past is
condemned — the present, is condemned — the future is
appalling ; inward, upward, backward, onward, which-
ever way its keen glance is turned, the record of guilt
and the threat of judgment are beheld. This is painful ;

man's natural enmity to god. 61

but it ought to be felt by every child of Adam, and it
ought to be welcomed, provided it lead us to Christ as
the Author of pardon and peace. It ought to be wel-
comed, for it is the visit of the Spirit of mercy to our
guilty bosoms ; it is, in fact, the last effort of mercy for
our redemption. That renovated power of conscience
is from the blessed Spirit. But how is it treated ? We
have reason to fear, that the greater part, who hear the
Gospel, dread and detest those very feelings and con-
ditions of the mind. Who has not shrunk from the
keen pressure of the truth, beneath some faithful Spirit-
taught messenger of God ? who has not dreaded the
interview of the faithful Christian friend, who, it was
known, would urge to repentance and holiness? who
has not turned away from his Bible, feeling that it was
too dull, too gloomy, too reproving? who has not
banished the oft-rising reflections upon the guilt and
danger of the present condition of the soul ? who has
not run away from himself, and from the secret place
of prayer, to join the thoughtless throng ? Now, in all
this the heart discloses its opposition to an Infinite
mercy that fain would save it, — to that mercy, that
paid the debt for the soul, and sends the Holy Spirit to
deliver the deluded and unwilling captive. Hearer !
God has no other mercy than a holy mercy ; no other
merciful treatment of thee than to make thee holy. If
this please thee not, it is because thou hast the carnal
mind, which hates God.

This doctrine stands among those fearful and painful
truths, the belief of which is most important, because
fundamental to all true repentance and faith in the
Gospel. God has besought man to become reconciled
to Him ; but the appropriateness and tenderness of that

6

62 SERMON II.

entreaty are seen only by him, who recognises himself
to be at enmity with God. Every man would fain
know how he can secure his immortal happiness ; and
yet the greater part shrink from the contemplation and
belief of the fact that man needs salvation as a sinner,
conversion as an enemy of God and holiness, pardon
and reconciliation as a rebel against the Divine govern-
ment. " They that are whole need not a physician,
but they that are sick" — is a simple truth, but it in-
volves some most important considerations. The Sa-
vior would by it exhibit the necessity of a distinct and
deep impression of our dangerous and painful condition,
in order to prepare us to understand and to appreciate
the Gospel. The object of this discourse is to describe
the fearful feature of this sickness, to induce the per-
sonal conviction on the mind — < I am sick, and my
malady is sin ; — I am sick, not by misfortune, but by
guilty and persevering choice. I love the creature
supremely, and consequently must find myself opposed
to God sooner or later. It is true I am not at present
conscious of any such enmity — but I see it in the future.
Changes in my circumstances must soon occur ; and
occurring, must show me in perfect and perpetual hos-
tility to Jehovah. I have flattered myself to believe
that my heart is good ; but I am convinced, that, in
the sight of God, nothing can be truly good in that
heart which hates Him. I have looked with horror
on the wickedness of other men ; but now I see that
other men have, while they surpassed me in the degree
of wickedness, not differed from me in the nature of
their heart. They have been cruel to men, because
they had gone so far as to despise the very image of the
God whom they hated. I have hated the bitterness

man's natural enmity to god. 63

and cruelty of persecutions on account of religion, but
these have been made thus bitter only by the increased
degree of that very opposition to God which I indulge
in my own heart. Others have given themselves to
excessive sensuality, and I have despised them for it ;
but now I see that they had only matured that love of
created good, which constitutes the leading feature
of my own character. My pride is wounded at the
discovery ; but it is truth, and I can close my eyes no
longer against it. The Bible insists on the necessity
of conversion in the case of every human being. Now
I see that 1 must be born again. My enmity to God
arises from my supreme attachment to the creature-
good ; and it can cease only when I cease to entertain
the carnal mind. Here is the deliverance I need, and
here is my dependence on the risen Savior. It is only
by the power of His Spirit that my chains can be
broken ; by Him my heart must be changed ; by His
sweet power my enmity turned to love.'

But the hearer may fail to receive such convictions
from this discourse, because the argument turning upon
individual experience, may have failed of resemblance
to his personal consciousness. It must then remain
with him either to reject the declaration of God, or to
look more closely at his own mental exercises, and see if
he cannot thereby confirm this truth of the Scriptures.

REMARKS.

1. The supreme love of the creature is a dreadful evil.

This is the precise state of mind indicated by the
phrase, " the carnal mind." In many of its forms it
appears, to him who looks only on the outward appear-
ance, very innocent, and often even amiable. But here
we see its real character, and its terrific consequences.

64 SERMON II.

It has these two dreadful issues. First, it makes it im-
possible that you can enter heaven. In heaven, they
love God supremely ; — you love the creature supreme-
ly. In heaven, they have no will, nor plans, inde-
pendent of God's; but everything is in sweet, intelligent,
cordial submission to His will. " The carnal mind is
enmity against God, is not subject to His law, neither
indeed can be." Then it cannot enter heaven.

Another consequence of the carnal mind is, that it
arrays its possessor against the government, plans, and
will of God. There can be no question, as to which
party must yield. God's is the strongest arm ; His is
the cause of righteousness. The conscience of every
creature must pronounce you wrong, and must vindi-
cate God in your condemnation. Yes, you must perish
remaining in that state of mind. God's potent arm
must roll forward the wheels of His providence. If
you lay your idols in their path, your idols will be crush-
ed ; if you set yourselves in opposition to that mighty
movement, you must perish. Then will He "laugh
at your calamity, and mock when your fear cometh."

2. " Except a man be born again he cannot see the
kingdom of God." " Marvel not that I say unto you,
Ye must be born again." The carnal mind must be
put away. But where shall one begin ? At the cross
of Christ. Renounce the world in thine heart, and cast
thyself on Christ.

The conquest of the carnal mind is not the work of
a moment ; it is the labor of life. But there must be
a moment in which it begins ; that moment should be
now. There is a spot of earth, occupying which, you
should give yourself for healing into the hands of the
great Physician. That spot you occupy now.

SERMON III.

OBLIGATIONS OF YOUNG MEN.

/ have written unto you, Young Men, because- ye
are strong." — 1 John ii. 14.

The venerable writer of this epistle had passed
through the five stages of human existence : infancy,
childhood, youth, manhood, and old age. Time had
now silvered his locks, and given its mellow tints to a
character, which, even in his earliest manhood, had
secured to him the title of " the beloved disciple." There
is, through the whole of this letter, a vein of exquisite
simplicity and tenderness. He looked back to the
period of youth, and remembered, how critical and im-
portant a season it had been to him. By the grace of
God, his seed time had been rightly employed, and he
was now reaping a golden harvest of serenity, intelli-
gence, the confidence of good men, usefulness, and a
perfect assurance of eternal blessedness. He had leaned
upon the Savior's bosom; he had followed him the
most closely in the hour of peril ; and he was now
finding, in rich experience, that such was the best pre-
paration that a young man could make, for the sober
realities of age, and for an approaching eternity. Hence
his counsels were turned to young men. " I have
written unto you, young men, because, ye are strong."

6*

66 SERMON III.

His reference is not to the physical, but to the mental
vigor of youth. Mental strength is a merciful gift of
God. which may be wasted on trifles, or perverted to
evil, or used for great and good purposes. It is the
power, which God has imparted to form our own
character, and to control the character and destinies
of others. In reference to the subject before us, we are
not called upon to examine the manner, or time, in
which this strength is imparted from our beneficent
and merciful Creator. It is strength, — human strength,
and, of course, derived strength, to which the apostle
alludes. The praise and gratitude belong to God who
gives it. To man belong the privilege and the respon-
sibility of possessing it. Let our attention, then, be
directed first to those great objects, which the young
should distinctly and constantly propose to themselves,
as the glorious achievements, for which, by the energy,
the freshness, the enthusiasm of their age, they are so
peculiarly qualified. We consider,

I. The noblest objects of youthful desire and pur-
suit.

1. Personal improvement. I mean by this, that
every young man should aim to become as truly good
and excellent as he can be. I speak not now of his
becoming great. That we shall consider presently. It
is painful to discover, how few of the young men of
Christian countries take a sufficiently elevated view
of themselves, as endowed with the noblest, though
perverted, creature-powers. One looks upon himself
in no higher light, than as a mint for the coining of
money. If he can learn the great art of accumulating
property, he has reached the summit of human excel-
lence. Multitudes are satisfied with the mere training

OBLIGATIONS OF YOUNG MEN. 67

of their muscular powers in some mechanical art, to
the utter neglect of all the mighty powers of intellect,
and of all the finer sentiments and aifections of the
heart. It is painful to know, that every youth has a
depraved heart, and still more so, to observe that so
few have any desire to rectify the moral derangement,
and to restore to the soul the sweet, harmonious,
balanced exercise of its powers. Nay, some have even
yielded themselves to the gratification of every de-
praved desire and feeling ; restrained only by a regard
to their reputation. They look upon the present life,
not as probationary and disciplinary, and preparatory
to a better ; but as the golden time for the indulgence
of all the lower propensities of the mind.

My proposal to the young before me is — that they
look upon the immortal mind within, as their noblest
possession ; and upon the training of that, under
the blessing of God, to piety and virtue, as their most
important employment. It is that part of your nature,
which places you but little below the angels. It is
upon the proper employment of its powers, that your
happiness here, and your blessedness hereafter, entirely
depend. Your moral condition is a peculiarity in the
history of God's empire. Angels, before you, have fal-
len from their high estate ; but, unlike you, they have
no mediator with God. They have no hope of pardon.
Like you, they are perpetually disturbing and distract-
ing the delicate harmony of their moral powers. But,
unlike you, they are under no dispensation of grace.
No. sweet, overwhelming views of the benignity and
mercy of their offended Creator shines upon their dreary,
despairing souls. While Memory incessantly portrays
the scenes of former glory and happiness, the finger of

68 SERMON III.

Hope never points them to eminences of bliss, and per-
sonal perfection, which may be attained. To you,
young friends ! to you all this pertains. There is a
provision in the mercy of God, not only for the pardon
of the penitent, but also for the ensuring of success " to
them, who by patient continuance in well doing, seek
for glory and honor, and immortality.'' Who, that has
once conceived aught of the primitive condition of man,
or of angelic purity, does not see, that the world within
him has lost its balancing power ? Disorder and discord
have usurped the place of order and harmony. God
was once the centre of all the social system, and love
its attractive power. Then the created soul moved in
its own sphere, in harmony with the universe. Then
God was its light and its life. But now the centripetal
power of love is lost from the soul, and its centrifugal
energies are driving the poor wandering star into the
"blackness of darkness" eternal. God is no longer its
centre. And hence, where once were verdant bloom-
ings, the cold and barrenness of polar regions are seen
and felt. Where the love of God exists not, there must
be confusion, corruption, and death. Where self is the
centre of attraction, the primitive order is destroyed,
and what should have produced life and blessedness,
must result in misery and death.

Who, that knows himself, can refuse the application
to himself of these remarks ? Who can say — " I am
right ; — I am clean ; — I am prepared without change to
stand before the throne of God ; — this delicate machinery
has never been disturbed, its balance-wheel never fail-
ed ?" Man's moral depravity consists in his perverted
affections, and in the voluntary blindness of his con-
science, and the feebleness of its directing power. The

OBLIGATIONS OP YOUNG MEN. 69

conscience was given to show us, when and how far
our desires and affections may be properly gratified.
We are supremely selfish, when all our choices, pur-
poses, and actions tend only to our own gratification.
We are ungodly, when our affections rest supremely
on the creatures of God. Both these conditions of the
mind an enlightened conscience would check and re-
prove. But where it does not, there it is blind, and
voluntarily blind, because God has thrown around us
light sufficient to guide our steps. The conscience is
feeble, when, with what light we do possess, it cannot
restrain the selfish desires, and the idolatrous affec-
tions, from controlling the conduct, and forming the
character.

This description embraces two great classes. It in-
cludes, first, the creature of passion. When he does
any thing, it is because he feels a strong impulse to do
it ; consequently, that which ought to stand eagle-eyed
between the will, and every impulse excited by exter-
nal objects, is either blind, or dumb and powerless. It
either sees no wrong, or is weary of speaking the lan-
guage of remonstrance, or it is no longer the balancing
power, determining which impulse shall prevail, and
which shall not.

This description includes also the man of earthly
affections. He may be benevolent, and just, and true
to man, because these are either, to a certain extent
constitutional propensities, like hunger and thirst, or
are adopted as adapted to promote temporal happiness.
He cannot see, that he is selfish ; for he is kind, up-
right, and faithful. But he may easily see that he is
ungodly ; by which is meant, that his affections em-
brace not God. He is just, but not towards the Creator,

70 SERMON III.

whom he thus defrauds of his affections and of all his
powers ; affectionate, but not towards God ; grateful,
but not to the Man of Calvary, — the God incarnate.
This is moral derangement, and it must be rectified. It
should be commenced immediately, under the gracious
influence of that Spirit, who now comes forth from the
mediatorial Prince of Life, to raise and restore ruined
man. The affections must embrace God supremely
in their wide scope. " Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, soul, mind, and strength."
To him we must be reconciled in Christ, and of him
obtain forgiveness. Conscience must become the direc-
tor of actions and of volitions, under the guidance of
the Spirit and the word of Christ. Those pernicious
habits of sensuality, which many have formed, — those
habits of self-will, which all have formed, — those habits
of speaking and acting from passion, impulse, or desire,
regardless of the moral right or wrong, must all be
changed. From the pride, which originates in selfish-
ness, and is sustained by moral blindness, you must
come to a perpetual abiding in that holy and glorious
presence which bows to heaven's pavement the tallest
angels. From all that groveling absorption in the
things of a probationary state, which were meant, not
for the perfection of the soul in love, but for its disci-
pline in penitence, and humility, and self-government,
you must set your affections on things above, where
Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. In a word,
you must undertake the training of a blessed spirit for
the society and bliss of those, who " have washed their
robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.7'
We propose,

2. The Work of Philanthropy ; — doing of good to

OBLIGATIONS OF YOUNG MEN. 71

the extent of your power. Who is the greatest man
that ever lived ? I speak of any that may be, or that
was designed, in the Providence of God, to be a model
for the race. It is blasphemy to rank, in true moral
greatness, — that greatness which is the legitimate ob-
ject of human ambition, — any above Jesus of Nazareth.
Say not that he is too far removed to be our model.
As a man, he was but a man, a perfect man, made in
the likeness of sinful flesh ; and the direction to us is,
— " Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ
Jesus." True greatness, as exhibited by him, is to
live, and consecrate the time and powers to higher
objects than such as men generally pursue ; and, in the
pursuit of those objects, to pass by the indulgence of
the desires and feelings, which constitute the happiness
of most men. It was a fine specimen of the moral sub-
lime, when Jesus sat weary and hungry at the well of
Jacob, and said, " My meat is to do the will of him
that sent me." It was spoken, in view of the ignorant
and perishing souls then flocking to him from the city.
It should never have been, for one moment, a question
with any human being, whether or not there is, truly,
any greater object for which we can live, than that for
which he lived. The only point, which it might have
seemed presumption to believe, is, that we are permitted
to engage in the same lofty enterprise ; that it is not
enough for heaven's mercy to call us to pardon, and
peace, and the hope of heaven ; but even to the very
work, which tasked all the human energies of the Re-
deemer, and which illustrated all his Divine perfections.
Yes, my young friends ! you are called to become phi-
lanthropists. The sound of the trumpet is heard on
high, — ' To arms ! To arms !' — but it comes from the

72 SERMON III.

Captain of Salvation, the Prince of Peace. It is to a
bloodless field — to contend " not with flesh and blood,
but with principalities and powers, and spiritual wick-
edness in high places." The rider on the " White
Horse" goes not forth alone against the enemies of God
and man. The victors, who are yet to walk in the
triumphal procession, with palm leaves in their hands,
are "the dwellers on the earth f some, doubtless, of
them before me. Their weapons are the weapons of
light, wielded in the cause of God and humanity. But
what are the objects of this moral warfare ? They are
— to deliver the prey from the spoiler, to burst open
the prison doors, and to proclaim liberty to the cap-
tives. You are called to sigh and weep in the spirit
of a Howard, — nay, the spirit of Howard's Savior —
over the degradation, and wide-spread misery, of a race,
which has apostatized from God, in its affections, and
its allegiance.

We propose to you to become great men in the sight
of God, of angels, and of the good on earth. And,
if we have observed aright, it is hastening to this, —
that the standard of greatness is undergoing a change ;
that to be a great man, in the estimation even of the
world, will require, that he, to whom the distinction is
awarded, shall exercise the moral and benevolent feel-
ings, and not the selfish feelings, as his great impelling
power ; that his theatre shall be the scenes of actual
wretchedness and moral degradation ; that in his track
shall be found the ignorant enlightened, the captive
exulting in his freedom, the heart of the orphan glad-
dened, the cause of justice and truth established,
the glory of God promoted. Oh ! if you desire fame,
let it be the fame of leaving the human family better

OBLIGATIONS OF YOUNG MEN. 73

and happier than you found it ; if your ear must drink
in praise, let it be the blessing of him that was ready
to perish ; let your monuments be the rich garden
spots of moral beauty and fruitfulness, reclaimed from
the waste wilderness. Help to increase the facilities
for educating the mind of man— to improve the modes
of educating — to spread these facilities, till they have
benefited every member of the vast brotherhood of man.
Let your party in politics be the great party whose aim
is to have all men, under every government and any
administration, govern themselves by the laws of God.
Let every moral reformation receive from your hand
an impulse and a happy guidance, which, but for you,
it would never have received. Lift, on these shores
of the great ocean of life, more of these moral light-
houses, which shall save from temporal and eternal
destruction the souls of men. Let a light be kindled,
that shall continue to burn when you are dead. If it
is the light of truth, others will tend it, and trim it, and
feed it. It will continue to burn with increasing
strength and clearness, scattering from a wider and yet
wider region the midnight darkness ; enlightening and
cheering man on his way to eternity, even to the day,
when the sun shall be blotted out ; and then it will
still burn and mingle its rays with the glories of the
celestial city. Young men ! I speak to you, because
all this glory may be yours. Yes, under the merciful
administration of Jesus Christ, you may become both
good and great.

But, if we should succead to stir up any strong de-
sires in your minds, let us not leave you deceived by a
false inference, that all this is reached by an impulse,
a wish, and a resolution. To attain the high character

7

74 SERMON III.

of a practical, efficient philanthropist, requires much
personal cultivation, much well-digested knowledge
and experience ; and that these should be but qualifica-
tions, not substitutes, for activity. And, with the
greater part, these attainments are to be the reward of
efforts almost unaided by man. One child in ten thou-
sand is blessed with a happy education. A mother, or,
as by a miracle, some competent substitute, has watched
over the first developement and expansion of the powers.
The understanding has been rightly disciplined and
well-informed ; the exuberant feelings have been chas-
tened ; the finer sensibilities cultivated; the soul formed
to manliness, to piety, and practical wisdom. Oh !
these instances are rare. Most of the good, who have
adorned the world, and of the truly great, who have
blessed it, have, under heaven's favor, made themselves.
They have grappled with the evil habits of youth ;
they have struggled against the influence of evil com-
panions, and of a depraved public sentiment ; they
have feared, and wept, and prayed, and studied under
discouragements, which, contemplated in the mass,
would have appalled them. All this we know. And
yet, with all this in view, we urge you to become good
and great men. This will require you to become truly
pious men. This is the first element of true greatness ;
because it is the only state in which the moral powers
are rightly exercised. Sin is the only truly despicable
object in the sight of God. And piety is its antagonist
and opposite principle. All other greatness only re-
moves you the farther from God's esteem, and the
respect of angels. It only lifts you higher, that you
may sink the deeper in eternal disgrace. Shun that
false and phantom-greatness which lures you to eternal

OBLIGATIONS OF YOUNG MEN. 75

ruin. He is not a great man, who depends on any
thing physical, or any thing external for his greatness.
Greatness, is not in reputation, but in character. He is
not truly great, who does not meet the obligations,
which arise from all his relations, and chiefly those to
God. That is not greatness, which will not make one
illustrious at the judgment day, and respected in heaven.
He is not a great man, who does not enjoy the blessing
of God. Moses was truly great. Select one exhibition
of it. When the cloud of God's wrath was gathered
over the guilty children of Israel, it was not learning,
nor military talents, nor political sagacity, that could
save them ; it was prayer. This is power, and Moses
possessed it. This is greatness, and Moses possessed it.
Young men ! become men of prayer. The eternal
and wise God changed the name of Jacob to that of
Prince of God. Why? Because he had native mental
power, or great intellectual acquirements ? No : but
because he had power with man, and power to prevail
with God in prayer. Ah ! that is the highest style of
eloquence, which persuades God. Get it, young men !
in the school of Christ ; get it, as patriots, for your
country's sake ; get it, as reformers of a sinful world.
It is idle to look or labor for the renovation of the
frame-work of society, unless you renovate the hearts
of men ; and it is vain to hope for that, without the aid
of God's Holy Spirit. And his influences will be sent
upon others, in answer to our prayers. Be men of
prayer. It is the best attainment of a patriot, and of a
philanthropist. And to attempt the radical renovation
of society, independently of the agency of God's Spirit.
which he has promised to give in answer to prayer, is
moral quackery.

76 SERMON III.

To be useful requires a cultivated mind. This
consists in two things : — the proper discipline of the
mental faculties, and a knowledge of man, of the phy-
sical world which surrounds him, and of the God in
whom he lives and moves. To be an efficient philan-
thropist you must be possessed of a well-cultivated
mind. We propose no royal road to this eminence.
The men, who have reached it, have toiled and fainted,
and again toiled, and again been discouraged. They,
that reap in great joy, and bear home their sheaves
with shouting from this field, are they, who carried
forth their precious seed and scattered it with tears,
Yes, the great Philanthropist himself was not exempt
from this universal law. Gethsemane and Cal vary lifted
their terrific barriers between him and the end of his
labors. To be philanthropists you must become stu-
dents. No branch of knowledge will be out of place,
while some will be more important than others. Neither
the time nor the occasion allow an enumeration of
those processes of mental discipline, and those branches
of knowledge, which you may profitably pursue for this
great purpose. It may suffice to say that the intel-
lectual faculties which you should train, and the habits
which yon should form, are — reflection — attention —
arrangement of facts under principles — activity — judg-
ment. If I should recommend any books to those who
wish to commence, they would be Dr. Abercrombie's
two little works on the intellectual and moral faculties.

But, besides mental strength and correct intellectual
and moral habits, you must be acquainted with facts
and principles.

God is the first great object of knowledge. You are
his and in his world. Apostacy from him is man's misery

OBLIGATIONS OF YOUNG MEN. / 7

— reconciliation to him the only happiness. The Bible
is, therefore, the first book in a human library ; because,
on each of these points, it throws a light which no
other can furnish. There never was, in modern days,
a great efficient public philanthropist, who achieved
much for the moral renovation of mankind, whose prin-
ciples were not formed by the Bible.

As you are to operate upon man, you cannot know
him too intimately. Your sources of knowledge are
the Bible, Observation, Introspection, and History.

Physical science should be one branch of your
studies. We recommend a cultivated taste ; — the habit
of writing, speaking, and conversing properly and im-
pressively. You should obtain right views of the
object of our position in this world, and of the true
value of time, property, and every other means of
influence.

It requires, finally, a well-balanced mind. By which
is meant, one that is neither indolent, nor idly active,
nor injuriously active ; — one that is neither insensible
to the sufferings of man, nor so sensitive as to be un-
fitted for action, nor yet driven to act blindly and inju-
diciously ; — one that is not wavering on great practical
principles, nor yet rash in forming a judgment and
obstinate in maintaining it ; but one that looks calmly
at a subject on every side, under a solemn sense of re-
sponsibility to posterity and to God, and then dares to
believe what is true, and to proclaim it on every suit-
able occasion ; — one that is willing to hear counsel, to
profit by advice, and yet fearless of personal conse-
quences, if the cause of truth and human happiness
requires sacrifice. We may not now illustrate each
of these ; but we may take one, and expand it a little.

7*

w

78 SERMON III.

That independence, which you must acquire, in order
that you may become an efficient benefactor to your
race, has been impressively exhibited by many, who
have gone before you in this noble career. That the
condition of the human race is improving, on the
whole, is evident. There is an advance in parts of the
world, in science, and in the arts which make matter
subservient to mind, in morals, in religious science, in
jurisprudence, and in the international law. For all
these advances, we are indebted to the divine mercy.
But the instruments, which God was pleased to employ,
were men, who had by much cultivation become fitted
for their sphere, and then, with singular firmness and
independence, moved forward in the work of reform-
ation.

Polytheism was the national, the court-religion of
Greece, Rome, Egypt, and Persia. Some bold spirits
must have dared to investigate whether public sentiment
was right on this point. And, after investigating, some-
thing more was required. There must have been a
wise selection of the modes of publishing the truth,
and of opposing the popular error. Yes, and there
must have been an utter abandonment of the public
favor, an exposure even of life, which none but an ele-
vated mind will considerately incur, in view of a great
object of public welfare. Need I mention, as high on
this list, Isaiah, the sublime reprover of idolatry, and
all the prophets of the Old Testament, who were stoned,
burned, and sawn asunder ? To them and to their
firmness are we indebted for our conceptions of the
unity of God. and of the infinite majesty and glory of
his name.

Judaism was the state-religion which opposed the

OBLIGATIONS OF YOUNG MEN. 79

introduction of Christianity. We inherit the latter as
our richest legacy ; but it cost other blood besides that
of its great Author. Read the lives of its first preachers
and professors, for an illustration of that decision and
independence, which is demanded of the benefactors
of our race. To whom are we indebted for the benefits
of the Reformation ; and to what traits in the characters
of the Reformers ?

You might find even in the history of physical sci-
ence specimens of the same. Such was Copernicus,
whose knowledge and boldness called the wrath of the
inquisitorial fathers upon him.

We have thus urged you, not merely to become great
men, but, — that which needs a more powerful stimu-
lus,— to go through the severe process of preparation
for it. Were we thus to urge little children, our argu-
ment and appeal would fail alike of being understood
and felt. And so with men in the maturity of life, fixed
in the inflexibility of their intellectual and moral habits.
But I have spoken " unto you, young men ! because
ye are strong." And it now remains, after this exhi-
bition of the great objects, to which your mental strength
must be directed, to observe,

II. That Youth is the period of life in which the
pursuit of these objects must be commenced.

1. Youth has its peculiar advantages for the form-
ation of character. The periods of human life may
be variously divided, for various purposes. The body
runs through the seasons of helplessness and spright-
liness, vigor and decrepitude. The intellect has some-
times two periods, generally three. The mind is at
first shut up ; it then expands ; and, if neglected, it
runs back again to imbecility. But, if rightly treated,

80 SERMON III.

the mind would lift its pinions, with growing strength,
until the moral coil is dropped. Except in cases of
disease, its vigor would remain unimpaired, if not neg-
lected. In respect, therefore, to intellectual improve-
ment, youth is the important time of forming those
habits, which cannot afterwards be formed, when the
active duties of life rush upon man to the extent of a
total absorption of time and thought.

But this sentiment is most emphatically true, as we
observe the peculiarity of man's moral structure. With
regard to character, infancy is the period of mental tor-
por. Then comes the season of childhood, when pro-
pensities are first developed ; when the imitative power
is brought into exercise, but the conscience is feeble,
and its discernment of right and wrong exceedingly
limited. Now the habits of animal indulgence are
formed, without scarcely an understanding that man
must live for higher ends. Now the habits of lying,
fraud, pilfering, meanness, are formed, with scarcely a
whisper from the inward monitor, and with almost no
conception of a holy and all-seeing Judge, and a future
retribution. Such, as matters of fact, are the disadvan-
tages, under which man commences the formation of
character ; even at the very period when the lowest
propensities have the strongest play, and when his
own moral checks are the feeblest. Not that children
have no conscience. Not that they are incapable of
feeling the generous impulses of gratitude and sympa-
thy. But this is emphatically the period, when they
must be governed and instructed by others. The
plastic hand of education must now do for them what
nature has not done, and what they cannot do for them-
selves. But we pass from childhood to the third stage

OBLIGATIONS OF YOUNG MEN. 81

of man's moral history. Here he appears with his pro-
pensities to animal gratification — the strongest mental
bias ; his imagination the wildest, and yet most com-
manding intellectual faculty. But with all this, he has
some experience of the evils of transgression ; the sense
of right and wrong has become formed. He is now
capable of choosing his gratifications, in view of all
the relations he sustains to God and man in time and
eternity, of his obligations, and of the consequences
to himself and others. The appetites and passions
are strong ; but they have not the fearful strength of
habit long-matured. Evil examples are powerful.
But conscience, as it were new-born, is vigorous and
powerful too. Resolution is a power, which has not
yet been overcome, and it lives enwrapped in its giant
strength within the youthful bosom. The sense of
shame is a powerful barrier against vice. The finer
feelings of the heart, not yet rendered callous, plead
against it. Here is the interesting period of youth.
The child was the creature of impulse, of sympathy,
of imitation, of stubbornness perhaps, but not of deci-
sion. This has exceptions ; yet it is generally true.
But now appears the youth on the stage of probation,
ushered amid scenes and companions, whose moral
bearings he just begins to comprehend. To him the
task is committed, to form in a few short years the
character of one man for life, and deeply to affect the
destinies of a multitude more. That season passes.
He goes on from the age of twenty-five to that of
thirty years ; and it is generally then determined what
character he will bear through life, and in what sphere
of moral influence he will move. If he has yielded to
sensual desires, to meanness, to fraud, sordid gratifi-

82 SERMON III.

cation ; if he has stooped from the lofty aspirings after
holiness and immortal glory from the hands of his
Redeemer; he has become weak in the chains of a
self-imposed slavery. And every fitful struggle only
proves their iron-strength. It was evidently this
moral strength to which the Apostle alluded, for he
says, — " Ye are strong, and have overcome the wick-
ed one." Here was the proof of their strength ; that
with the moral energy, imparted by grace, they had
overcome the great enemy, in whom is concentrated
all moral evil. Young men ! ye are strong to effect
this great object committed to man, — the formation of
character ; — strong to grapple with the moral and spir-
itual foes, that shoot with the arrows of contempt, or
the deadlier weapons of flattery ; that decoy where
they cannot beat down.

2. Youth is the most favorable season to commence
the 'preparation for a life of elevated philanthropy.

Imagine this entire assembly to be aroused by the
Spirit of God, in view of the importance of this subject,
to an intense desire to commence the formation of those
habits, and the acquisition of those attainments, which
should fit them to become extensively the benefactors
of the world. The desire might burn like an inward
fire. But what will it avail yonder aged man ? He
may sigh over the mistakes and moral blindness of his
youth, over time and faculties wasted, over a life al-
most spent, and its greatest object left unaccomplished.
It may prostrate his soul in penitence and contrition
before God. And he may say, with soul-thrilling elo-
quence,— u Young men ! ye, ye are strong : but with
me it is too late. Yours is the fire, and fervor, and
force ; — yours, the facility for forming new habits,

OBLIGATIONS OF YOUNG MEN. 83

which mark you as the favored objects of these appeals.
My summer is past, my harvest is ended.' —

Yours, young men ! is more than this ; your very
position in society is that of strength. The wicked one
is contending for the mastery with the Prince of Peace.
-The embattled hosts are on the field. The cruel regi-
ments of Infidelity, Intemperance, Gambling, Licen-
tiousness, are all, under their great leader, pressing their
terrific conquests over human virtue and happiness.
But it is with the young men of this generation to de-
termine the condition of the war to the end of time.
Your individual character and influence could do
much. But what could not your united influence ac-
complish ? Let the young men desert the standards
of Infidelity, Intemperance, Gambling, Profaneness,
Sabbath-desecration, and Uncleanness ; and who will
lift their banners of blood again, when the old drunk-
ards and debauchees, and gospel-despisers have passed
away? Yours is the strength to beat down, in the
present generation, the enemies of God and man, and to
keep them low in, at least the next. Yours it might be
to train, under yet better auspices, a still more efficient
army for the Prince Immanuel. And although the
little band, here collected, cannot do what belongs to
the entire body of youth, yet the work must, at some
time begin somewhere, that every word, which the
Lord hath spoken, may be established.

But, me thinks, I hear the tones of despondency ; —
" The speaker forgets his commission ; many, with
whom and for whom he came to plead, enjoy but limit-
ed opportunities for mental cultivation. But here is a
path stricken out, which requires all the time and all
the opportunities afforded by a liberal education. He

84 SERMON III.

has surely forgotten the merchant's and mechanic's ap-
prentice V — No, young man ! I have spoken thus even
unto you ; because, with all the disadvantages of your
situation for mental cultivation, yon are strong. And,
to strike a decisive blow at your discouragements, I
would lay down the broad proposition, that there is no
situation or employment, in which it is proper for a
young man to be, in which he may not become a good
and a great man. You must breathe-in the gospel-
principle, that it is neither family, nor property, nor
profession, which forms real character, merit, or re-
spectability. Look not for honor to your profession,
but to your character. With regard to the formation
of a religious and moral character, surely you can com-
plain of no special disadvantages. It is, then, the in-
tellectual part of the training for which you think you
have not time and opportunity. I admit that there are
four particulars in which the liberally-educated has the
advantage.

I. In the amount of time which he can devote to
mental improvement. And yet there are some com-
pensating circumstances, which you, perhaps, overlook.
It is demonstrated beyond dispute from physiological
science and observation, that muscular exercise, such
as agreeably employs the mind, is indispensable to the
best cultivation of the entire man. Some of the first
young men of America have utterly disqualified them-
selves for usefulness, by a disproportioned exercise of
the mind. And besides, if you are truly aroused to take
firm hold on this great enterprise of self-improvement,
the probability is, that those hours, which you can de-
vote to it, will be so much more profitably spent, that

OBLIGATIONS OF YOUNG MEN. 85

you will accomplish more real study, than is done by
the majority of college-students.

It is not the enrolment on the catalogue of a univer-
sity, nor the residence within college- walls, nor the
listening to professors' lectures, that makes the man.
It depends, at last, on his own efforts, how much he is
benefitted. If, with a faithful attention to those interests
of your employer with which you are intrusted, and
due attention to the particular branch of business which
you are learning, there are combined the habits of scru-
pulously saving time, of guarding the mind against
every thing which interferes with its improvement, of
conquering difficulties, of persevering in the midst of
discouragements, and of still keeping the eye on a high
mark, when all the circumstances in which you are
placed are depressing ; you have a moral training
for philanthropic effort that is invaluable. You com-
plain of the want of time. Where did Benjamin
Franklin find it to form in his printing-office the phi-
losopher and the statesman ? Had we more Franklins
in the shops, we should have more in the senate-cham-
ber. The living names of great and good men, who
have surmounted the same difficulties, are very numer-
ous. Economy of time and system would accomplish
for you what might now seem wonders.

Another of your disadvantages is,

2. The want of that collision of mind, which Schools
and Colleges afford. This is a real difficulty, and we
will not look to you to remove it ; but, I trust, the day
is not far distant, when your fellow-citizens will see
this subject in a true light, and assist you in the form-
ation of such Societies for discussion and composition,
as will greatly advance the development of your mental

8

86 SERMON III.

powers. And yet, to show you what can be done
among yourselves, with a little assistance from others,
I refer you to the account of the Gas-Light Company
of Glasgow, as stated in the Penny Magazine, vol. xi,
p. 60, American edition.

3. You are in want of Professors or Teachers. I
can only say now, — bend down, dear youth ! with all
the energies of your soul, to intellectual and moral im-
provement ; we will hail your advances, and welcome
you as brothers. We will do more. I can almost
pledge this community to furnish you with lectures,
and with courses of instruction. Your evenings may
be divided between the public worship of your God,
private study, and the public lecture. You shall have
higher attractions than the theatre, ball-room, or
gambling-house can offer.

4. And the remaining difficulty is the want of books.
Is that so? In this community are there youthful
minds, panting for knowledge, who cannot reach its
precious fountain ; and this, for the want of a little of
the property, which God has so liberally bestowed upon
us ? No, young friends ! this will not be the case long,
after this community shall have learned your necessi-
ties. Your cause is strong. It is the plea of want,
laid at the heart of patriotism and benevolence. It is
not a cry for bread. It is the mind, struggling through
the mists of mental night, panting for light, thirsting
for the living waters of knowledge. Not many words
are needed in presenting your claim before this Chris-
tian community. They feel for you, for their country,
for posterity, for the honor of their city. It shall not be
said, that the claim of an Institution, formed for your in-
tellectual and moral improvement, was presented in vain.

OBLIGATIONS OF YOUNG MEN. 87

In closing my remarks, I turn again to you, young
men ! I have presented but one side of the subject.
You are strong not only for good, but also for evil.
You are strong constitutionally. But the greater your
strength, the more critical your situation. Your vigor
is but like steam in navigation, the impelling power ;
it is not the helm. If you abandon yourself to blind
impulse, remember that life's stream is winding ; re-
member, how thickly it is underlaid with rocks and
shoals. In coming up the Thames, they do not trust
even an experienced master, but must employ a pilot
who has studied every inch of the river. And dare
you venture on the stream of time, without an enlight-
ened conscience for your pilot? If your helm be not
vigilantly and strongly commanded by this only skilful,
faithful guide, you must inevitably be wrecked. You
are strong to undermine the pillars of social order.
You may live yet many years, doing the work of
death.

There are two parties in morals in this community :
on the one side, are engaged the friends of public virtue
and true religion ; on the other, the sustainers of vice,
of infidelity, of intemperance, and of all forms of evil.
Where shall your strength be enlisted ? If with Virtue
and Godliness, let it be actively, efficiently employed.
Who dares devote the peculiar strength of youth to
selfish purposes of any kind ? When you may without
extravagance hope to become public benefactors, is it
right to bury your powers ? How can you determine,
in becoming a lawyer, physician, mechanic, or mer-
chant, to live for yourself? Are there not motives
sufficiently powerful to induce you to live for the good
of your race ? See how it is sunk in ignorance, in op-

88 SERMON III.

pression, in sin. You may help to elevate it. Yes,
you may help to purify and elevate the character of
this whole empire, and make its influence yet more
powerful and beneficial to the entire world.

You live in a day of peculiar promise to the human
race. There is a waking up of the human mind from
the slumber of ages, and a startling of the human con-
science from its long torpor. An intense curiosity and
earnest anxiety for the word of God, are now heaving
the mass of the pagan mind. The heathen are calling
to the sons of Britain and America, to become cordial
believers in that gospel, which they so richly enjoy, to
enlist as Missionaries, and to herald its joyful tidings
to their waiting crowds. They call upon our educated
youth, to enlist all their genius and learning in order
to illustrate the science of God and salvation. „ They
call upon our mechanics, to educate themselves to go
forth as the pioneers of the arts, which have flowed in
the wake of Christianity. And did one poor fanatic,
emerging from his murky cell, once rouse the chivalry
of Europe to pour its wealth, its talent, its nobility, its
royalty, down upon the infidel Turk, to liberate the
holy sepulchre from pollution ? And have not we a
nobler order of mind to address and move ? — have not
we a holier crusade to commend ? Did kings throw
away their sceptres, and grasp the sword to carry war,
and devastation, and death, amidst innocent thousands,
merely to gratify a sentiment of superstition ? And
will not our youth be ready even to forsake their fire-
sides, in the holier, nobler work, of bowing the heart
of man to the sceptre of Christ ? Look at the minute
steps in this great work. The preacher, schoolmaster,
physician, farmer, mechanic, must go and lead their

OBLIGATIONS OF YOUNG MEN. 89

\

benighted minds to Christ ; must carry them the press,
educate their children, form new habits, and reorganize
the structure of domestic society.

Now all this range of thought strikes us with pecu-
liar force, when we remember, that there are no
impediments to personal improvement, but such as
indolence presents. Merit, in every civilized country,
affords an acknowledged claim to public confidence,
and to extensive influence. To do good requires no
genealogical table, no great family-name. Young
men ! we know not how to cease our importunity.
Will you commence, or pursue with renewed vigor,
the course of self-improvement for philanthropic pur-
poses ? We want you to become truly strong men, in
knowledge, in intellectual power, in moral energy.
We want you, not to be the authors of ephemeral
excitements in our excitable world, but to impress
deeply on the human mind the eternal principles of
moral and religious truth. Take the Redeemer of men
for your model. Study deeply and prayerfully his
character, until you breathe his spirit. Read the
biography of good and great men. Take, as a model
of judicious perseverance, Granville Sharp. Under
what one has called, — " the excitement of mercy," — he
was led to protect a slave from Barbadoes, named Jona-
than Strong, who was brought to England by his
master, and becoming sick, was left to perish in the
streets. After he had recovered, under the kind atten-
tions of a brother of Sharp, his master claimed him
as his slave. This aroused the noble soul, that could
feel another's woes as keenly as his own. Sharp im-
mediately applied himself to a new study. And if
every man, who studies law, would do it as he did,—

8,

90 SERMON III.

to become an able philanthropist, — that profession
might exert an influence for good, which cannot be
calculated. He examined the principles of the British
constitution and law, to see whether they really stood
opposed to liberty and the rights of man, or not. The
decisions of all the highest courts were against him.
Here then he determined to take his stand, with no
other weapon than truth. He opposed the ablest and
profoundest jurist England ever saw ; and he main-
tained that opposition, until he overthrew the influence
of authoritative, but unjust opinion, and finally estab-
lished the glorious truth, that, by the British constitu-
tion, every human being, that treads on British soil,
is free. Two long years he spent, not in vaporing,
and denouncing, and frothy declamation, but in an
intense study of law. He then consulted the most
eminent jurists, and wrote several tracts to enlighten
the public mind, and prepare the way for his attack.
After the case of Strong was decided in favor of the
master, three other cases were tried, each one of which
opened the way for Sharp to shake the prejudices,
which, like spiders, hung their dusty cobweb-folds even
in such a king's palace as the mind of Mansfield. This
great man at last yielded to Sharp's resistless argument,
and came out and settled the principle for ever. Trace
this history through, to admire and imitate his motives,
his persevering and painful study. Be benefactors of
your race ; be deep, profound thinkers. See the array
of public sentiment against him ; and see the triumph
of principle. Behold its effects now in the West Indies
and in America. The first of August stands closely
connected, not in time, but as effect to cause, with the
efforts of that noble mind.

OBLIGATIONS OP YOUNG MEN. 91

Fellow Christians ! I take this occasion to commend
to you the interests of the British and Foreign
Young men's Society. Its objects are worthy your
ardent affection. They are comprehended in the im-
provement of youthful hearts and minds. Anticipate
what they may be. Perhaps to-night a strong desire
for self-improvement is aroused, but, without your aid,
aroused in vain. To what nobler object can you de-
vote hundreds of pounds than to feed those minds, and
train these patriots and philanthropists 1

'

SERMON IV.

JESUS, THE GREAT MISSIONARY.

For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save
that which was lost. Luke xix. 10.

The meaning of that word — lost, is the separating
point, from which diverge the most important senti-
ments, that divide the nominally Christain- world. It
affects essentially all our religious sentiments, charac-
ter, and career. If one sees in it only a nourish of
rhetoric, or an oriental exaggeration, then his conscience
slumbers ; then his sympathies feel no deep appeal
from man's condition and prospects ; and then his
heart lies chilled beneath the cold moon-beams of the
gospel. To him, that gospel opens, on the one hand,
no thrilling scene of spirits fallen, defiled, benighted
and accursed ; and, on the other, no enrapturing dis-
play of love, of condescension lower than angels had
dared to anticipate, of mercy's immeasurable sacrifice,
made despite of base ingratitude and of parricidal re-
bellion. To him the gospel is a description of good-
ness similar to, but no greater than that displayed in
the ordinary gifts of Providence.

Such is the theory, and such are the fruits, of the
sceptical and semi-sceptical philosophy. Wherever it
is accepted, the distinction between man's native pow-

94 SERMON IV.

ers and sensibilities, and his actual character as a sub-
ject of God's government, is lost sight of; human
nature is admired almost to adoration ; repentance, as
that deep emotion which breaks the heart and bruises
the spirit, is despised. Thus, whatever other " sacri-
fices" are offered to God, among them is not found a
" broken heart and a bruised spirit." Thus it acts on
the personal piety of the individual, and thus it affects
his influence on others. In himself he finds more to
admire than to condemn ; when he discovers wrong, he
considers it superficial ; no deep and painful sense of
spiritual necessity, corresponding with descriptions in
the Bible, is felt. Calm self-complacency is, indeed,
the very feeling which he seeks to derive from religion.
And, if he sees any thing else and opposite in others, it
causes only contempt, or pity. He approves not their
deep and pungent convictions of guilt and misery, nor
comprehends how the atoning sacrifice of the Lamb of
God is needed for his guilt, and the regenerating power
of the Holy Ghost for his depravity.

The fundamental error with such is on two points,
and respects two aspects of human nature ; — man as
the subject of law ; and man in his capacity for a spir-
itual life.

Their views of man's guilt and ill-desert are com-
paratively slight. They allow him to be satisfied with
the contemplation of his own excellence, his intellectual
qualities, his social feelings, his moral sensibilities.
They hold in abhorrence only certain crimes against
civil laws and social order. They excite, and they
allow, no deep and heart breaking convictions for spir-
itual offences ; they arouse no fears of endless punish-
ment. They go to the neglecter of religion, and per-

JESUS, THE GREAT MISSIONARY. 95

suade him to become more attentive to religious truths
and duties. They go to the pagan, and urge him to
embrace a purer rite, a more rational theology. Their
appeals are not made to the conscience, to start it from
deep slumbers, and make it echo the thunders of
coming judgment. And when they find it awakened,
they proclaim to it no peace-speaking sacrifice for sin ;
in fact, they censure this very alarm, and attribute it to
ignorance and error. Hence, they find nothing in
man's prospects to enlist deeply their own solicitude.
Hence, they accord not with us in our endeavors to
awaken a slumbering world by strong appeals, to make
it hear — amid what they call its innocent amusements
and occupations — the voice of an insulted Deity, of an
outraged Father; of the threatening majesty of Heaven.

Thus we differ from them in our estimate of the ex-
tent and purity of the precepts of the divine law. We
consider all the world as its guilty violators ; we con-
sider all human virtue, in man's unconverted state, as
truly sin ; and the more sinful, the more it becomes an
object of admiration to its possessor, and an occasion
of undervaluing the mediation and propitiatory sacri-
fice of the Son of God.

Equally antipathetic are our views of man's spiritual
character. Of the dignity of his original character and
position, of the noble character of some of the senti-
ments of a few, we have as high an estimate as any.
But we believe, that the spiritual image of God is
effaced from the human soul ; man is fallen, terribly,
desperately fallen; the gold has lost its lustre. His
virtues are to us the white exteriors, and the gilded
ornaments of the sepulchre. His smiles are to us the
more painful, as they convince us that he is, or tries to

96 SERMONIV.

be, contented with his state of spiritual poverty, guilt
and degradation. In a word, we consider man as alien-
ated from God ; intellectually and physically alive,
spiritually dead. And, therefore, we cannot content
ourselves, by endeavoring to refine and elevate a few
of the most highly favored of our race ; we must reach
all men. They are all wanderers from the home of
the soul — the bosom of God ; and they must all be
persuaded to return. The malady of sin lies deeply
fixed in the immortal part — the soul ; and, therefore,
intellectual elevation and social refinement do not re-
move it, and have no tendency to remove it. We re-
gard the gospel, applied by God's Spirit, as the sole
remedy. Christ is their life ; — Christ, the Lamb of
God that taketh away the sin of the world ; — Christ,
the ever-living intercessor ; — Christ, the medium and
fountain of the life-giving Spirit. The world — all the
world, high and low, princes and peasants, learned and
ignorant, virtuous and vicious, idolaters, infidels, and
nominal Christians — must believe in Christ, or "be
damned ;" damned at that tribunal where believers
shall be pardoned ; damned by the malediction of the
Holy One, who appears " in the glory of his Father,
taking vengeance on them that obey not the gospel."

From these different estimates of man arise, what
should not arise, hostile feelings ; but hence arise also,
necessarily, our different courses with regard to man.
With our views, we shall never be satisfied, without
the most strenuous efforts to bring all mankind to re-
pentance and faith in Christ. With their views, they
naturally look, with indifference, on the earnestness
and self-denial of missionary life, and the success of

JESUS, THE GREAT MISSIONARY. 97

missionary enterprise, so far as the work of the Spirit
of God upon the heart is concerned.

It behooves us then to review our premises. The
sincere mind is ever ready to ask, — "Am I right?"
We are willing to ask and wait candidly for the reply
to these questions ; — " How must I regard human na-
ture, myself and my fellow men ? — What is my highest
duty with respect to my immortal self, and what with
respect to my fellow men ?" Nay ; we are not taking
up this subject for the first time. We have already
decided, and felt, and acted upon it. We, who have
embarked in the missionary enterprise, are a small
minority of the civilized world, perhaps a minority even
of the religious world. We have spent large sums of
money, yea squandered wealth, if we are wrong ; we
are still doing it, and we are arousing the churches to
intenser feeling, and more liberal effort. We desire to
consecrate our very selves to this enterprise. Life is
rapidly passing away, and we are devoting its best
hours and energies to this work. Some of our number
have severed every tie of home and nation, and adopted
a life of exile and privation ; wisely, if our views of
man are truth ; madly and miserably, if they are error.
This night, we are assembled to sympathize with an-
other, who has ventured his temporal all upon the truth
of our sentiments. We together look upon the situation
of mankind, apart from the provisions of the gospel, aiu
away from its influences, as inconceivable dreadful
and desperate. Our souls are moved with deep com-
passion, our hearts are oppressed, as we contemplate his
present state and his prospects beyond this life. We
want to rush to his rescue. Are we riofht, or are we
wrong ? Are these emotions excited in view of truth

9

98 SERMON IV.

and stern reality, or by a delusion of our own imagina-
tions ? Have we yielded to the influence of an unen-
lightened education ; or is it in view of facts, that we
are impelled and that we act ? We desire truth, and
only truth. We desire to see things now, as far as
practicable, as we shall see them, when the illusions
of time shall have given place to the light of eternity.
We have also a desire to vindicate our course to an in-
telligent world ; and, if we are right, to become, in our
turn, the reprovers of its unbelieving indifference. And
we may by divine blessing accomplish one other
good, by our meditations on this subject ; — even that
of guarding our hearts against the chills of unbelief,
and of quickening in them a deeper sympathy, stronger
zeal, and holier purposes.

Brethren ! we spend this tender and sacred hour in
contemplating, devoutly,

Jesus, the Great Missionary.
He is the Judge that ends the strife. He is the "Logos,**'
the Truth. All his views were truth, all his sentiments
righteousness. There was, even in his finite human
nature, no error in theory, no misapprehension of facts,
no exaggerated impulse, no passion. He says that he
" came to seek and to save that which was lost." That
looks to us like calling him, the Great Missionary, the
Pattern of all missionaries, the Founder of our mission-
ary institutions. We go forth to seek and to save that
which is lost ; and we believe, that our views, and our
course, are an imitation of his, and an obedience to his
last command, — " Go ye into all the world, and preach
the gospel to every creature."

We propose then to examine the meaning of the term
M lost," as here employed, by the views, which Jesus

JESUS, THE GREAT MISSIONARY. 99

entertained of men, and by his conduct toward them ;

-By,

I. His estimate of man. What extent of mean-
ing did he attach to the term " lost" ?

1. He regarded man as a depraved and apostate
spirit. Depraved and apostate are relative terms, refer-
ring to a certain standard of perfection and excellence.
Man was made for great moral purposes, to conform to
a type of perfect excellence, to attain great heights of
moral elevation. Such was in fact the original, native
tendency of his constitution. And there is his dignity.
Now if the Savior considered the present state of man
as conformed to that type, then he did not regard him
as depraved and apostate. And, happily, we are left to
no conjectures here. We have something better too
than dry and uncertain etymologies. Whenever we
can ascertain what Jesus considered holiness and the
spiritual life to be, then we can tell, from our own
knowledge of man, what he considered to be his actual
state. And yet better ; we may know directly what
opinions he had on this subject. His ideas of holiness
are seen in his own character and actions ; of which it
might be enough here to say, that all men consider
them perfect, and yet totally unlike those of any other
man. One has well said of him : " To God, as the
source of his spiritual life, was his soul ever turned :
and this direction of his mind was a matter of indis-
pensable necessity to him. It was his meat and his
drink to do the will of his Father. Without uniting
himself wholly to God, consecrating himself to God
unreservedly, feeling himself to be perfectly one with
God, he could not have lived, he could not have
been at peace in his spirit a single instant. By this

100 SERMON IV.

» a)

means the morality of Jesus became perfectly reli-
gious; it was not merely something which flowed
from a sense of duty, it was a holy sentiment of the
heart." Now whom did Jesus regard as possessing
that spiritual life which consists in rising above created
good to live in God, to feast on his smile, and breathe
the atmosphere of his love ? Was it the poor idolater
of the surrounding pagan tribes ? Was it the proud,
sanctimonious Pharisee, inwardly full of putrefaction
as the grave 7 Was it the infidel, sensual Sadducee,
who ridiculed all pretensions to spiritual communion ?
Was it the crowd who followed him, not for truth and
spiritual aliment, but for bread? Was it the rich
young ruler, so amiable, so pure, so sincere, who went
away sorrowful when he learned, that God and mam-
mon cannot be loved and served together 1 Nay, was
it the half-converted Peter, whom he rebuked as fearing,
in the spirit of Satan, the sacrifice of self ; or John and
James, who then looked, in serving God, for the hon-
ors of a temporal kingdom ? Was it, in a word, the
being, of whom it is recorded, that Jesus " knew what
was in man," and therefore trusted not himself to him ?
Oh ! no ; the Son of God walked like a living man
anions the tombs ; and the silence of the second death
had reigned there for ever, if his own omnipotent voice
had not cried — " Lazarus ! come forth."

We have another exhibition of the Savior's views
of what constitutes the spiritual life, in his benedictions.
" Blessed are the poor in spirit, the pure in heart, the
peace-makers, they who hunger and thirst after right-
eousness, they who love him more than parents and
possessions ; nay, that forsake all things, even life itself,
for His sake and the gospel's." Now, can we believe,

JESUS, THE GREAT MISSIONARY. 101

that he considered mankind generally in his day, or,
that he considers the men of this, or of any other period,
as pure in heart, peace-makers, seeking spiritual good
with an eagerness like that of the corporeal appetites ;
seeking their rest in God, as the weary body seeks its
couch ; longing for God, as the hunted hart pants for
the water brook, or as the shipwrecked mariner longs
for morning light 1 Can mankind generally say sin-
cerely, " My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living
God ?'' Impossible.

Our Savior again presents the standard of human
excellence : " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart, soul, mind and strength, and thy neigh-
bor as thyself." And did he think that idolaters, the
profane, the neglecters of God's service, those who love
pleasure more than God, the proud, the covetous, the
sensual ; — did he believe, that they were good, when
compared with that standard — thou shalt love God
supremely and perfectly? Or as the envious, am-
bitious, fraudulent, cruel, tyrannical, impure slanderers
love others as themselves ? Do they in India, Africa,
Europe, America ? Did they in any part or age of the
world ? Ask history. It is indeed too generally the
record of the powerful. But it shows what all would
do, if their circumstances permitted. And have the
powerful been good ? Have their lives been examples
of piety ? Have their energies been consecrated to the
public welfare ? There has been a Cyrus, an Aristides,
a Joshua, a St. Louis, an Alfred. But they are the
exceptions. The history of kingdoms is a record of
wars and their horrors, of frauds and oppressions.
What says the social state of mankind ? Let the condi-
tion of woman, in all the lands where human nature has

9*

102 SERMON IV.

acted out its unobstructed tendencies, speak. What
is a Turkish wife, an Indian mother, a Hindoo widow ?
Come home, then, to the criminal codes, and criminal
courts, and criminal establishments of Christian Amer-
ica. Leave the poetry of the parlor ; lay down that
enchanting book which enraptures you with its visions
of human dignity and loveliness ; leave that circle of
refinement, where a favored few have separated them-
selves from the vulgar, to enjoy a higher intellectual
and social life ; and come with me out among the mass
of this moving population. Let us go into the lanes
and alleys, the alms-houses, the hospitals, the prisons.
Shrink not, admirer of human nature ! this is man,
godlike man. Do you know, that thousands of the
very children of this city are liars, thieves, impure,
profane ? And what of the pagan world ? Oh ! let
the missionary tell you, who, having gone out to make
common interest with the heathen, has examined
deeply into his character. Here are nearly five hundred
millions ; and yet the portrait in the first chapter of the
Epistle to the Romans remains fearfully accurate. And
does this being, man, remain as he was, when, coming
pure and perfect from his Creator's hands, he was pro-
nounced very good ?

And what commission have diseases and death in
this fair world ? Who opened the door, by which they
rushed in upon their prey ? Did God make man for
this? You must say, "Yes." The Bible says, "by
sin. death entered into the world ; and so death passed
upon all men, for that all have sinned." Each breath
that you draw marks the death of three of your race.
The first may be the lovely bride, decked for the altar :
the next, the father of a dependent family ; the next,

JESUS, THE GREAT MISSIONARY. 103

the sovereign, who has been the father of his people.
No place is so exalted, none so sacred, that disease can-
not invade it. No tie is so tender, and so precious,
that death will spare it. And when you visit the
burial-yard, ask whether or not man is as God made
him ! Was he made to be the slave of Satan ; the
sport of tempests and the prey of death ? Was he made
for poverty and filth, for rags and woe ? Oh ! no ; he
is fallen. The race is fallen.

If we want another test, we have it, in the pure wor-
ship, which Jesus rendered the Father. Place this by
the side of human religions. The greater part of them
are bloody, and seem to have preserved the tradition,
that, " without shedding of blood, is no remission" of
sins. But they are also impure, and thus declare the
deep apostacy of man, when his very religions remove
him farther from God and holiness. If he makes a
Jupiter, he is a monster of lust ; a Mars, he drives his
chariot over the dying ; a Mercury, he is chief of rob-
bers ; a Juggernaut, he feasts on mangled human limbs.
And when a pure revelation is given to him, first in a
single nation, he turns backward ever towards idolatry ;
and when Christianity is given to the nations, they
pervert and pervert it, until, of the two hundred and
fifty millions who possess it, one hundred and ninety
millions are sunk in superstition, and idolatry little
better than paganism itself. The moral condition of
France and Spain and Italy, the history of religious
persecutions conducted in the name of Jesus Christ,
and as the expansion of his spirit, and as obedience to
his precepts, appear to us sad confirmations of the truth
of our view, that man is lost, because he is a depraved
and apostate creature.

104 SERMON IV.

We learn again our Savior's estimate of men, in the
direct expression of his views. And here we are at a
loss to select ; for the full exhibition of all that is con-
tained in the Evangelists, on this point, would be but
piling passage on passage. He describes the condition
and prospects of man in parables, and in simple historic
language, in ways that appear to us impossible to mis-
apprehend. If man is an apostate and depraved crea-
ture ; then we shall expect to hear that the way to
heaven is of difficult attainment, and entered but by
few. If man is not an apostate, but an innocent, up-
right, pure being ; then he has only to obey his instincts,
to cultivate his noble nature, and he is holy and happy.
It surely cannot be difficult to decide what Jesus
thought on that point. " Broad is the way that leadeth
to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat,"
while " narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and
few there be that find it." " If any man will come
after me, let him" what ? cultivate his good heart ? —
no, " deny himself." And in how many ways does he
describe us, as poor, and miserable, and blind, and
sick, and weary, burdened, imprisoned, enslaved, dead,
exposed to endless destruction ? If not sick, we have
no need of him ; if not sinners, he has no message to
us ; for « they that are whole need not a physician, but
they that are sick." In his conversation with Nico-
demus, he says, that we must be regenerated, and that
whoever is not, cannot be saved. And mark his em-
phatic reason ; " that which is born of the flesh, is flesh."
By our natural birth, we inherit only that, which can-
not inherit heaven. In the natural birth, there is a
terrible entailment of degeneracy ; so that there needs
a supernatural birth, a birth of the Spirit. With all

JESUS, THE GREAT MISSIONARY. 105

this in view, it is impossible to believe, that Jesus re-
garded man as a refined, noble, elevated being ; as in
his present state, the type of perfection. He never says
it, he never intimates it. We look in vain for passages
in all his addresses, as well as in all the writings of
his disciples, to find a language, or a sentiment, like
that, which we constantly hear, about the purity, and
nobleness, and virtue of individual men.

But, in this connection, we cannot pass by the por-
trait of man given in the story of the prodigal son. Its
very object was to reprove the self-righteous men, who
thought they had done no wrong, and had not wan-
dered from their father's house. We cite this here
particularly, because the very term whose meaning we
seek, is the hinge of the story. Here was one lost to
his father. There is something in the word — lost,
which falls on our ear like a death-knell. It presents
to us the twofold idea contained in this story, and in
the two in its context ; that of disappointment to God's
affectionate interest for us, and to our own hopes of
blessedness. Observe the word lost illustrated here
three times. The shepherd has lost his sheep, than
which nothing is dearer to him ; the woman, her means
of living ; the father, his son. Observe this picture
of man ; a wanderer— a wanderer from home, from God,
from heaven, and infinite love. The son of a kind
and wealthy man feels the temptings of ambitious inde-
pendence, and yields to their influence. He leaves the
paternal roof, to escape the paternal eye. He gathers
all, and goes into a far country, to find his happiness.
But it was there that « he began to be in want." It
was there that he plunged from one depth to deeper
depths of misery. Poor young man ! we pity him ;

106 SERMON IV.

we blame him too. But, alas ! we are speaking of
ourselves. This is the portrait of the race. Fellow-
men ! we are in that far country ; we are lost to God
and to ourselves. Yes, he says it ; — for, behold yon
shepherd ! what does he in the wild and desert place,
exposing himself to pains and dangers ? Oh ! he comes
" to seek and to save that which was lost." Yes, we
are lost to God ; — for, behold that aged and injured
father, running to meet the wandering boy when yet a
great way off; falling on his neck, embracing, kissing
him, exclaiming, " This, my son, was dead and is alive
again, was lost, and is found f — lost to the angels ; for
there is joy in heaven over one repenting sinner. Our
noble faculties, our affections are lost to God ; for we
neither love, praise, nor serve him ; and in place of
preparing to dwell in his blessed family, we force him
to pronounce, and execute on us, the fearful sentence
of his law. That young man returned ; but not
until he was convinced of his guilt and folly, — not
until he felt that he was in want. Had any one met
him there, and convinced him that he had not wan-
dered, then he had never returned. That young
man returned ; and heaven is to be re-peopled by these
returning, repenting prodigals. And will there be
there any eider sons of Adam's family, who have never
wandered? We believe not. That man is a depraved
and apostate creature, is written on every line of the
Savior's biography, and on every syllable of his in-
structions. But,

2. He regarded man also as a condemned criminal.
According to his saying to Nicodemus, « He that be-
lieveth not, is condemned already." This was said, in
connection with a comparison of man's moral condition

JESUS, THE GREAT MISSIONARY. 107

with the physical state of the Israelites, who were bitten
by the fiery serpents. They, says the Savior, were to
be healed, by looking at the uplifted symbol of God's
righteous judgments against their sins ; so we, who are
dying beneath the righteous anger of God, are to be
healed by believing on Him, who was lifted up for us
on the accursed tree. But whoever believes not, re-
mains in his state of condemnation. This condemna-
tion includes two facts — that of transgression, and that
of punishment. Jesus did regard men as sinners. Our
ideas of sin are superficial and unimpressive ; those of
Jesus were deep and awful. He traced each outward
sin to the heart, the fountain of spiritual death ; and he
detected sin in the heart, where no outward sign was
given to man. And he showed, that it were better to
lose limb and life, reputation and each dear interest of
earth, than to remain a sinner ; for sin is the transgres-
sion of the law, of God's holy law. It is a terrible thing
to infringe the laws, that control the material world.
For, says a French preacher, " though the sea should
burst its limits, and cover the earth with a new deluge ;
though its furious waves should overturn and sweep
away every thing in their passage ; though they should
roll down, with their fracas, the rocks rent from the
mountains, the uprooted trees, the dead bodies of men
and animals, and should make of our globe only a wa-
tery waste ; the disorder, thus produced, would not
deserve to be named, by the side of that which sin pro-
duces. Though the world should totter on its ancient
base, and reel from its foundations ; though the stars
and their systems should rush into wild disorder, and
dash against each other ; and the universe revert to a
more frightful chaos than that from which God brought

108 - SERMONIV.

it at the beginning ; this disorder, this overturning of all
material things, would not deserve to be compared with
the disorder that sin produces." And this, because the
one is the disorder of ignoble and perishable matter ;
the other is the ruin of mind.

Not only has sin taken possession of the heart of
man ; but, without supernatural aid, that possession
must be indefinitely permanent. There is no tendency
in human depravity towards self-recovery and perfec-
tion. In all that we have known of it, its course is ever
downward, downward, and for ever downward ! Sin
never yet exhausted itself in this world, nor in one
heart. Every instance of recovery from its dominion
is called by Jesus, the conquest of a strong man armed,
by a stronger than he.

And while man is thus a sinner, — a transgressor of
law, he is exposed to eternal death. If the warnings
and expostulations of Christ do not teach this, then
they are to us without meaning. "Wo unto thee,
Chorazin ! wo unto thee, Bethsaida ! for it shall be
more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon, at the day of judg-
ment, than for you." " And thou, Capernaum ! which
art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell."
" What is a man profited, if he ^hall gain the whole
world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give
in exchange for his soul ?" " There shall be weeping
and gnashing of teeth." Dives after death, " in hell,
lifted up his eyes, being in torments." The net and
fishes, the wise and foolish virgins, the wheat and tares,
the separation of the sheep and goats, the treatment of
the unfaithful steward, all tell us what he believes con-
cerning man's eternal destiny. But nothing that he
uttered is more terrible, than the declaration, that he

JESUS, THEGREAT MISSIONARY. 109

himself will say at last to the wicked, "Depart from
me, ye cursed ! into everlasting fire, prepared for the
devil and his angels." Men may close their ears, and
shut their eyes against this ; but it is the word of God.
Men may refuse to hear it ; but there it stands a yet
unfulfilled prophecy, made, if possible, more certain to
us, by the past fulfilment of the others, which surround
it. Yes, as certain as was the destruction of Babylon
and Tyre, the deluge of water, and the flood of fire on
a guilty world ; as certain and as terrible as was the
destruction of Jerusalem, will be the utterance and 'exe-
cution of those terrific words. And as idle and impo-
tent will be the scoffs and self-reasonings of this day, as
were those of that day, to arrest the judgments of God.
But who can measure their meaning ? " Cursed /" It
is terrible to be cursed by a man, a wicked man, with-
out cause ; but to be cursed by a Father, by a being
who never errs in judgment, — a being who never con-
demns unjustly, — a being, who suffered to save us, — a
being, who has long expostulated in view of this very
judgment, — a being, who commands the elements of the
universe to execute his purposes, — a being, who ranks
his glorious perfections to flash conviction to the centre
of my guilty conscience ! — You say, < this is extrava-
gant;' but it is scriptural. You say, i it is cruel ;' but,
whether is it cruelty to flatter and deceive and hide im-
pending danger, or to expose it fully and earnestly.

Men are to be cursed. What is this curse ? A
charge to the universe to dry up each fountain of de-
light, and open on my guilty soul its avenging streams.
What does this curse ? " It strips the world, external,
and internal, of love and sympathy for my poor heart,
nature of its charms, earth of its fruit, the heavens of

10

110 SERMON IV.

their blessings, existence of its joys, and dries up the
last drop of happiness in the last fold of my heart ; seals
up the door of heaven against my spirit, and blots out
the star of hope. When this terrific word falls from
the lips of the blessed Jesus, it forbids an angel-wing
ever to flit by my dear abode ; " it withers up my soul
to its root, like that unfortunate tree which the breath
of the Lord cursed, and of which an Apostle said, the
next day, in astonishment— Lord ! the fig-tree that thou
cursedst, is withered away." What must this curse,
this banishment be ? No tongue can tell, no imagina-
tion now conceive. Christ has warned us, with a so-
lemnity, that may well intimidate and arouse. We can
conceive of it, as nothing less than eternal banishment,
from light and life and hope, to regions " prepared for
the devil and his angels," where the soul " shall be en-
veloped and penetrated with a misery immense, infinite ;
where it shall find nothing more in all beings, but a
universal hell ; a hell within, a hell without, a hell in
God himself."

" The Son of man came to seek and to save that
which was lost" — lost to God, to itself, to heaven, to
hope, to purity, peace, and love, — lost for ever ! One
Scripture-phrase concentrates the whole truth ; man
ufaos, without God. He was made in the image of God,
made for him : made holy and perfect, filled with light
and pure affection. Then his eye beheld the glory of
God. Then he groped not in that darkness, which
now surrounds him ; then he pined not beneath the
maladies and miseries and mortality, which now afflict
him.

I have said, that we have more exalted views of man,
than either the sceptic, or semi-sceptic philosophy con-

JESUS, THE GREAT MISSIONARY. Ill

tain. We have. We believe in his original dignity ;
and we have such views of that, that man, in his pre-
sent state, is a source of constant distress to us ; and we
desire perpetually to be proclaiming in his hearing, the
dignity he has lost. We would say perpetually to him,
as we should to the degenerate descendant of a noble
family, still wearing their name and title, and even imi-
tating their lofty bearing ; < Shame, shame on thee !
Thy name, thy palace, thy lordly mien, are all thy re-
proach.' We have such exalted views also of the per-
fectibility of man, that we cannot endure to see the
world, contenting itself with any thing short of the
image of God, and of perfect communion with him.
Man was a noble being, when God said of him — he is
good. But he aspired too high ; he tried to become a
centre of light and strength and happiness to himself,
and to be independent of God. He withdrew from
God's spiritual dominion, and God abandoned his spirit-
ual nature to itself, and made him, in his wretchedness,
a spectacle to himself and to the universe. The brute
creation have fled him, for he has become their enemy;
the very earth has felt the blighting curse that lighted
on him. He was chased from Eden's happy garden, and
the cherub-sentry with naming sword still stands to bar
his return. Happy Eden ! scene of our sweet commun-
ion with God ; happy Eden ! witness of our dignity
and of our blessedness ; thou art lost to us, and we to
thee ! My brethren ! we are strong and high believers
in the dignity of human nature. No man shall deprive
us of this our boasting ; yet, not in human nature as it
is, but as it was, and as by grace it may become. As
he is, man is lost. And we want to sit down, by the
side of every brother of the human race, and weep with

112 SERMON IV.

him for the crown which has fallen from our brow, the
home and the heaven which we have lost. We want
to undo the deceiving of his pride, and sigh and pray
TV-ith him for the recovery of our birth-right.

But are" the heathen, who have not our light, exposed
to perdition? A careless world, unwilling to make
thorough inquiry into the condition and prospects of
other men, complacently wraps itself in the mantle of
an imagined charity, and says, 'The mercy of God
will never consign them to endless punishment, when
they have sincerely done their best according to the
light they enjoy.' And there, indeed, we are agreed
with the world ; but we are forced to stop there ; for
we have too many proofs, that there are but few of
them who will have that plea. We find even a part
of the church, though unable to hope much for the pa-
gan world, yet unwilling to adopt the harsh conclusion^
that these hundreds of millions are rushing blindly to
endless ruin ; and preferring to rest in a vague hope
that it will not be so, rather than to search the Scrip-
tures to ascertain, if God has given us any instruction
on the subject, and imposed upon us any responsibility
in the matter.

Here we shall fail of time for a solemn topic. The
sneers of the world terrify us not in such a matter.
The charge of cruelty troubles not our conscience,
while we seek not to make their destruction a fact, but
to ascertain whether they are really exposed to destruc-
tion, in order that we may aid them to escape it. In-
deed, if we were not distrustful of our own imperfect
motives, we should say that ours is the true charity,
which welcomes evidence, though it bring us to the
results of distressing sympathy and of self-denying

JESUS, THE GREAT MISSIONARY. 113

labor. We are inclined to suspect the depth of that
charity, which, to save its possessor pain, and spare
him labor, settles a great principle of the divine gov-
ernment, a great future fact, not by examining God's
testimony, but by appealing to a mere human sensi-
bility. If we consult our sympathies, we say, " The
poor pagans will not go to a miserable eternity ; but
where they will go we know not.' But when we ask,
c What has God asserted on this subject ?" we rise from
the answer with heavy hearts. The cry of the perish-
ing then swells on our ear — < Come over and help us,' —
until we wish for a thousand tongues to proclaim to
them the way of life.

An outline of God's testimony is all that we can now
present. If we examine their lives, considered in the
light of a disciplinary, probationary, or preparatory
state, we cannot believe, that they go to heaven. They,
as well as we, must be regenerated, and that in this
world. But we find them, as in Paul's day, infanti-
cides, liars, adulterers, covenant-breakers, bestial, sen-
sual, devilish, murderers of mothers. All this seems to
us a preparation, not for heaven, but for perdition. We
find them too, just what the Canaanites were, whom
God in his anger swept from the earth, but surely not
into heaven. They are idolaters, if there ever were
any; and God declares, that such cannot enter the
kingdom of heaven. Again, to believe that they are in
the way to heaven, is to regard all the Apostle's anxie-
ties and labor for their salvation as unfounded, extrava-
gant, and useless. And again ; the Apostle has fully
reasoned out the case in two places. In the one, he
shows that they sin against their light, as we do against
ours. In" the other, this in his ''missionary argument —

10*

}14 SERMON IV.

" For whosover shall call on the name of the Lord,
shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in
whom they have not believed ? and how shall they be-
lieve in him of whom they have not heard ? and how
shall they hear, without a preacher? and how shall
they preach, except they be sent? No, my brethren !
it may be natural sympathy, or it may be distrust of
God's testimony which says, 'Let the heathen alone V
but it is not enlightened piety.

Then we are right in our estimate of man ; then we
should not be dazzled by his external appendages, his
intellectual and social traits. Then we may say to the
higher and lower Deistic philosophies, — c Your boast is
vain, when you claim the exclusive admiration of hu-
man nature ; for we have higher views than either of
you. You would satisfy man with certain social ex-
cellencies, certain pagan virtues, certain moral senti-
ments, which have little or no reference to God ; but
we believe, that man was made to live in God, and to
reflect his image to the universe. You are teaching
him to aspire to an intellectual millennium ; we are
aiming to prepare the world to return to the love of God
and a spiritual life. We hold, too, the key that unlocks
the deep mystery of man's present condition. A French
*^ writer of your school says — " I resemble, O Lord, the
night-globe, which in the obscure path where thy finger
leads it, reflects from the one side, eternal light, and on
the other is plunged in mortal shades." " How abject,
how august," says one of another school, "how com-
plicate, how wonderful is man !" There is something
great in man, an# ■ something abject. To us the mys-
tery is solved. Man was great, good, god-like in his
powers and in his character ; but he is fallen in char-

'V

JESUS,

acter, and in that fall has dragged down his powers
and native sentiments ; leaving, like a volcanic rupture,
fragments of an Eden, scattered flowers that live, here
an exotic life.

We shall now consider, much more briefly, Jesus as
our pattern,

II. In his Treatment of Men.

We see in what light he regarded man ; -and how his
holy soul was moved with compassion towards him.
We now demand, < What did his compassion lead him
to do?' If to make great sacrifices, then his views of
man's lost estate must have been very strong ; for al-
though it may be love, it is also foolish love, that makes
a greater sacrifice and effort for another, than his neces-
sities demand. But when a being of infinite intelli-
gence makes great sacrifices, — greater than we are
capable of estimating ; the evidence is complete, that
the misery, threatening, or actually affecting those
whom he aids, is equally immeasurable by us.

On the subject of the condescension and sacrifices
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the language of the Bible is
deep, mystic, suggestive. He had a glory with the
Father before the world was, but he left it. « What
was that glory ?" — we want to ask — "where, and how
did he leave it in becoming a man V The veil of
flesh hides it from our sight. He was rich ; when,
where, in what ? The clouds and darkness of an infi-
nite majesty rest around his person, and hide from fee-
ble mortals the spleudors of his primitive empire. But
he became poor. He took on him or was invested with
flesh. Then he was, before he was flesh ; he was be-
fore Abraham ; he was David's root and Lord, before
he was his offspring and successor. Mysterious Ian-

116 SERMON IV.

guage ! He took on him, at the very instant when
angels were adoring him as the only begotten of the
Father, the form of a servant ; and came to be despised
and rejected, to hear hisses and taunts and blasphemies,
instead of hosannas and hallelujahs. He exchanged
heaven's diadem for Judea's thorns, and the robes of
light for Pilate's faded and discarded garment ; he for-
sook the palace where he was sovereign, for the judg-
ment-hall, where he was bound and buffeted, and
scourged, and condemned. He left his body-guard of
holy and mighty angels, to be at the mercy of wicked
and puny mortals who hated him. He was the Lord
of the universe, but he was born of one of the lowliest
inhabitants of earth's obscurest corner. He was prince
of life, but he tasted death for every man. This the
Scriptures call his sacrifice for man's salvation. But
they make all this the lightest feature of the image of
his cross. When they would start our imaginations
on the path to his expiatory sufferings, they drop a few
phrases, which are not so much intended to instruct as
to impress and overwhelm us with godly fear and sym-
pathy. " My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto
death." What made him sorrowful — so sorrowful ?
Nothing in all that was external around him there :
nothing that the Evangelists mention. Again ; in the
garden his bodily frame passes through an unparalleled
excitement of agony ; but from no apparent adequate
cause. To attribute it to his fear of crucifixion, or to
sorrow for his cause and friends, betrays the most en-
tire disrespect. Again ; his agonizing cry, " Why
hast thou forsaken me ?" leads us to conjecture, that
there is something, in what the Son of God endured in
our stead and for our salvation, which we may under-

JESUS, THE GREAT MISSIONARY. 117

stand only, when our intellectual powers shall be ex-
panded by the light, and our moral powers purified by
the love of heaven. And when Jesus said with em-
phasis, " God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son," we understand, that this gift was so
costly, and there was in some way such an expenditure
and sacrifice, that, it not only showed God's love to
man more clearly than all else that he had ever said or
done, but also, the immensity of that love. And so,
when the Apostle reasons for the encouragement of
faith ; " He that spared not his own Son," &c., we un-
derstand that this not sparing, and freely giving up,
involve something, which we are now incapable of
comprehending, but by which God designs to affect our
hearts, and form our characters, more powerfully than
by all his word or works. If the understanding of any
man forbids the flow of emotion, until this veil is re-
moved, then his heart will never feel fully, in this life,
what Paul felt Avhen he said, " The love of Christ con-
straineth us, because we thus judge, that if one died for
all, then were all dead." We were all dead, and he
died for the dead ; and in dying, he showed his con-
viction of our state of spiritual death.

But we have done with proofs of man's apostate and
ruined state. It is to us a fact. The Word of God
declares it. But it also declares another fact And on
all this gloomy cloud rests this rain-bow truth — " The
Son of man came to seek and to save that which was
lost." Oh ! then, ye scoffing economists ! let us hear
no more your severe reproofs of our poor expenditures
of property in the missionary cause. Jesus is the mas-
ter whom we follow, though at too great a distance ;
Jesus is the model we imitate, though very imperfectly.

118 SERMON IV.

Oh ! then, covetous, selfish professors of Christ's gos-
pel ! imbibe his spirit, and live and labor and expend
for the recovery of the lost. Brethren ! I must rise now
from the attitude of defence, and turn and charge on
this practical indifference, and on this sceptical philos-
ophy, positive guilt. Had the Bible contained its pre-
sent amount of wisdom, in relation to some of men's
temporal interests, had it determined the great questions
of finance, how eagerly would they read it, how cor-
dially believe it ! But as a spiritual book, the one class
disregard it, and the other look at it as full of exaggera-
tions. But they should remember, that this is the only
volume in human language, which God has conde-
scended to write. And should it not contain deep,
high, wondrous things ? Is not this one of its very
marks and seals ? The Bible is full of paradoxes ; be-
cause it shows us only fragments of truths, the full
magnitude and harmony of which we cannot now com-
prehend. When God teaches man the dignity of his
origin, philosophy denies it, and makes him the birth
of chance. When the Bible declares the dignity of
man's primeval estate, philosophy denies it, and says
that he is as good, and pure, and happy, as when God
made him. When God pronounces his fearful sentence
against sin, philosophy laughs at it, and says " It is ex-
travagant." When God proclaims the immense price
of our redemption, she laughs again, and says, " How
absurd to make an expiation to himself, and so costly
a one for such trivial offences." But God knows two
things, which we do not know, and therefore does two
things, which we would not do. He knows the de-
merit of sin, and therefore threatens it with everlasting
punishment. He knows the value of the soul, and

JESUS, THE GREAT MISSIONARY. 119

therefore gives his Son for its redemption. Ye, that
despise this rich gift ! ye, that despise us for our efforts
to proclaim its story to the world ! let me say to you
in God's name — " Ye have a double guilt, and must
meet a twofold condemnation. You believe not, and
therefore are condemned already. You also rob the
world of its hope. Your theories and your practice
would leave mankind in a hopeless condition. You
dash from the trembling hand of perishing man the
lamp of life, the cup of salvation. You shatter in pie-
ces the only barque to which poor human nature can
commit its hopes for eternity ! What have you proved,
fellow-man? At best a negative. You have begun
and ended with denying. That there is disorder,
wickedness, misery, you cannot deny. That the world
is full of it, you cannot deny. And yet you would
prevent our going to probe this mortal wound, and
administer God's efficacious remedy. If one finds him-
self the slave of passion, if his conscience condemns
him, if he fears that there possibly may be an hour of
retribution, and an eternity of wretchedness just beyond
the confines of life — what can you say to this troubled
spirit ? You can sneer, but can you console ? You
can reason, but can you suppress the instinctive solici-
tude for a sure and solid hope of immortal blessedness ?
It was an instructive scene, when the dying Hindoo,
representing our common humanity, turned to his priest
and cried — " Where shall I go when I leave the body?"
And the priest replied, in the spirit of your philosophy
and in the pride of ignorance — "Into a bird." But
when that bird dies, where then? Into a flower."
" And where then ?" The priest became weary with
answering; but still the soul cried — "And where

120 SERMON IV.

then V* That is the question which must be met — ful-
ly, definitely and authoritatively answered. To leave
it unsolved, is to mock and deceive the wretched heart
of the mourner ; to leave it unsolved, and yet pretend
to offer the cure for human misery, is charlatanry the
most detestable. To answer it by conjectures, or to
meet it with inferences from God's mercy, which every
groan and tear falsifies, is fraud of the most injurious
kind. To amuse man with theories, but to leave dark-
ness on this chief point of all his solicitude, is the glory
of anti-scriptural philosophy. Just where man most
wants light, it is darkness. And just there the Bible
pours the effulgence of eternal day. And not to hail
that light, not to spread it, is treason to God's mercy,
treason to our sacred trust, treason to man's highest
interests.

But, let me turn a moment, in closing, to you, my
dear brother ! on this momentous hour of your life,
when you have come to receive from Jesus, by the
hands of his unworthy servants, the investment of this
highest onice confided to man. Let me say to you,

That deep compassion for men should characterize the
whole spirit of the missionary, and of missionary work.

Go to the benighted, with as glad a heart as animated
the angels, when they were commissioned to announce
the glad tidings of Heaven's great mission of love.
When your feet shall touch the shores of that distant
land, sing in the fulness of your spirit—' Glory to God
in the highest., and on earth peace, good will toward
man. Be touched, like your High-Priest, with a feel-
ing of their infirmities. Dwell, in your thoughts, on
their lost estate ; see them, as the great Shepherd did,
wandering from the fold ; until your heart bleeds, and

JESUS, THE GREAT MISSIONARY. 121

breaks with pity. This will animate and sustain you
amid difficulties. You can bear them for the sake of
the miserable, for yours will then be pity tender and
sustaining, like that of the patient mother by the couch
of her suffering child. This will make you gentle
and forbearing and patient, even with a mother's ten-
derness, and keep you from crushing the bruised reed,
or quenching the faintly-kindled wick. This will speak
in heavenly eloquence from your very countenance,
and melt the gates of brass in the hard heart of man.
This will give you errands to the mercy-seat, and argu-
ments before it. This will nerve you to your work,
when a relaxing climate would tend to unnerve you.
This will be treading in the footsteps of the Great
Missionary.

Let me say again—That the example of Christ is
the missionary's encouragement. You leave all for
those whom you would save ; so did he. You mean
to identify yourself with them in every thing but sin,
to bear their infirmities and share their sorrows; so
did he. You are acting on the great principle, that to
save from overflowing evil, the good of the universe
must be diffused, not concentrated; so did he. You
are going to men, and not waiting for them to come
to you ; so did he. You are going to seek and to save
that which is lost, according to the measure imparted
to you of the Father ; so did he. And you are not
only laboring like Christ, but also for him, and with
him. He is seeking these very souls. He once did
it in person. Now he does it by his Spirit and by his
people. But his interest is no less now, than when
his sacred feet were traversing the land, which your
feet shall traverse, to save the perishing sheep of

u

122 SERMON IV.

Israel's fold. You are going like him to pray in Geth-
semane ; but he spares your ascent to Golgotha and
the tree. Go, dear brother ! moisten, with your tears
for man, the soil, which he moisted when he thought
of the lost. Go, assured not only that you are seeking
them for Christ, but that he is seeking them by you,
and with you. Urge that much, and with much faith
in your prayers ; it will prevail for many a blessing.

Let me conclude by saying — That the missionary's
great work is to persuade men to believe in Christ.
To effect this, he must commend himself to the con-
science. Through an awakened conscience, man
learns his need of Christ. Go then, dear brother!
speak to the sleeping conscience of man. Let not
your attention be fixed upon his peculiarities, his spe-
cific qualities as an individual man, or his more general
features of national character, his theories of philoso-
phy and religion ; but meet him as a man, as a lost
man ; nay, as one that knows he is lost. If your at-
tention is drawn only, or chiefly, to his corporeal
miseries, his social degradation, his intellectual priva-
tions, you will incur the danger of diverting his and
your attention from that, which should arouse your
profonnder sympathies, and all his slumbering energies
of conscience. You must indeed attempt the meliora-
tion of his intellectual and social state ; but guard
vigilantly against letting either your or his anxieties
and efforts terminate there. When you have to meet
him as the philosopher of another school, you may
be discouraged at the sincerity and obstinacy, nay
perhaps, plausibility with which he can confront you.
But when you meet him in the winning strength of a
deep sympathy, — you the lost and recovered, him the

JESUS, THE GREAT MISSIONARY. 123

lost and perishing man, — then you are in your strongest
attitude, he is in his most defenceless. The mis-
sionary must speak, from deep experience, to the
consciousness of guilt, often stifled, never annihilated
in the impenitent bosom ; to a conscience, often stifled,
often cheated, never tranquillized by his vain super-
stitions. Speak, my brother ! now in thunder, now
in the " still small voice." So God speaks in nature
and in grace. Man will understand you, when you
whisper to his conscience. Yet you may awaken
resistance. The light is painful to them that love
darkness. And false philosophy, and false religion,
and practical unbelief, will all be resorted to, to shield
the conscience. And yet your great work is, to bring
home to the soul of each man the conviction that he
is lost. Trouble yourself little, and others still less,
with theories of human depravity. They may be im-
portant. They have their place. But whatever else
they do, they do not awaken the conscience. And if I
mistake not, more of them have lulled, than have
awakened it. The facts of depravity and conscience
are two of the ultimate facts, to be taken as theological
axioms. God has not proved the existence of either,
but simply asserted it. And so may we ; both on his
testimony, and on men's very consciousness. And yet,
if your brethren entertain themselves with theory-
making, or deem their theories important, do not there-
fore separate from them ; only be yourself given to the
work of saving the lost. Perhaps one of the mightiest
elements of ministerial power, is the deep conviction
on the soul, of the lost condition of man. It must
give fervor and frequency to prayer, and tend greatly
to produce conviction in others. Your hearer may be

124 SERMON IV.

proud and powerful in his philosophy, he may be self-
complacent in his creed and ceremonies. But whisper
to his soul, of seasons of shame and self-reproach and
fear, which forebode impending doom ; and he cannot
deny, he cannot argue ; for he feels, that he is dealing
with truth and with God. In your public addresses,
deal with the conscience, and you will imitate the
greatest preachers. Study the sermons of Elijah to
Ahab, of Nathan to David, of Peter to the thousands
at Jerusalem, of Paul to Felix. There you find no
flattery of human nature, no general descriptions of
virtue, but guilt and condemnation described as per-
taining to them all . Feel that man is lost ; that guilt
and condemnation and spiritual poverty belong to
every child of Adam. Proclaim that, on the house-top,
and in the closet. Man may not have thought of it,
but when you suggest it, he sees that it is truth. Give
him exalted views of human dignity and worth, not
as it is, but as it was, and may be. Solve the strange
perplexity of every man's experience ; tell him what
you know of former conflicts and present conquests ;
of noble aspirations after heaven and sordid attach-
ments to earth ; of desires to please God and deter-
minations to please self. Speak to his love of happiness ;
he will understand you. And as you solve the mystery
to his astonished soul, as you describe the symptoms
of his spiritual malady, as you point him to the balm
of Gilead, and the great Physician ; a new life of hope
may begin to infuse itself into his soul.

Again I say, your great employment is to bring the
individual souls of men to Christ. Be not diverted
from this ; be not satisfied short of success in this. If
you must do other things, consider them collateral and

JESUS, THE GREAT MISSIONARY. 125

subordinate to this. Your glorious commission is, to
seek and save the lost. Be rilled, be fired with the
spirit of that commission. May you, and may the
church, and all of us who announce the gospel, be
more and more filled with that glorious object — the re-
storation to immortal spirits of the lost image of God,
and guiding the perishing to an almighty Savior. May
the Spirit be poured from on high, until the whole
church sees and feels tha^ these facts are now of chief
importance ; — man is lost, and the Son of God is seek-
ing him ; man is lost, and the Son of God is come to
save him ; man is lost, and the Church is commissioned
to go forth in the might of faith and prayer to his salva-
tion. To save the lost ! To-night we talk of it, as
children talk of the affairs of empires ; we see through
a glass darkly ; our conceptions are low and limited.
To save the lost ! Tell us, ye damned spirits ! what
it means. Tell us, Son of God ! what it means ;—
what stirred thy soul in Godlike compassion to seek the
lost. Tell us, ye ransomed and ye faithful spirits who
never sinned ! — tell us eternity ! — what is this mighty
work of gospel missions. Tell us, O Father ! tell thy
churches ; tell thy ministers ; until every slumberer
awake, every energy be aroused, and the way of life
be pointed out to a perishing race J

11*

SERMON V

THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY.

" And the things that thou hast heard of me among
many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful
men, who shall be able to teach others also" —
2 Timothy ii. 2.

Christian friends !

We are assembled to remind one another of departed
worth ; not to burn idolatrous incense to human excel-
lence, nor to forget that her brightest beams were only
reflected — yea, refracted rays of her Redeemer's glory ;
but to encourage and animate each other by recalling
those days, when the Spirit descended from on high,
to rekindle the fires almost extinguished on the altars
of the national Church, and by reviving the memories
of those whose names are dear to the universal Church.
With the name of the Countess Selina, we associate
the idea of every thing exalted in Christian character,
of entire consecration to Christ, of the true spirit of
Catholicism and enlightened Christian liberality, that
discriminates the essentials from the non-essentials of
Christianity, and recognises the family likeness amid
the vast variety of feature and complexion that indi-
vidualizes the members of the household of Christ.
We feel ourselves to be standing to day on a broad

128 SERMON V.

basis. Our spirits expand beneath the influence of the
associations, which this anniversary revives. We
leave the imprisonment of sect, burst its shackles, and
tread on the confines of the day of love and light so
long desired. We come, Christian friends ! to cherish
an Institution dear to the heart of one of God's most
distinguished servants. We come to sympathize with
her holy desires, to mature her generous plans, and to
adapt them to the exigencies of our age, and to the
ever-varying developments of Providence. We cele-
brate the anniversary of the Countess of Huntingdon's
College ; and I feel assured, that however I may fail
in the expansion of the topic, I have not erred in
choosing, as the theme of your meditations, the impor-
tance of learning and piety in the gospel ministry.
This sentiment was the corner-stone of the College.
The earnest conviction of its truth led to the generous
efforts and sacrifices, which founded this Institution.

The Solemn trust of perpetuating the gospel minis-
try is committed to the Church. And her responsi-
bility in the case appears very grave, when we regard
either the good, or the evil, which has been produced
respectively by a qualified or an unqualified, by a spir-
itual or a worldly ministry. The phases of the Church,
in the successive periods of her history, are a faithful
reflection of the competency or incompetency, of the
intellectual and spiritual excellencies or defects of her
pastors. By them the sacramental host has been train-
ed for the sacred wars, and led to glorious triumphs ;
and by them Zion's citadel has been betrayed. They,
who should have been her defence, have ingloriously
opened her gates to the enemy, and the sacred place
has been trodden by the feet of the profane. It was

THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. 129

under the guidance of her faithful pastors and evange-
lists, that she attained her primitive glory ; and it was
under her vain and fanciful doctors, even in the vaunt-
ed " primitive Church," that she began to mingle frag-
ments of pagan philosophy with her pure creed, and
pagan ceremonies with her simple rights. It was
again under her learned and scriptural leaders, that she
came up from the wilderness of papal superstition, and
error, and slavery, into spiritual light, and life, and lib-
erty. By her devoted and qualified ministry, she has
maintained the successful contest with the various
forms of infidelity at home, obliging it even to change
its showing, and to shift its ground ; by them she is
now maintaining probably the last struggle with pagan-
ism ; and by them must she fight that last great battle,
in which Christ shall destroy the man of sin by the
sword of his mouth. The names and the virtues of a
few from the myriads of her glorious leaders are left to
the church, as one of the rich gifts of Providence ; and
she may safely challenge the world to show the class
of men, who have done so much to establish truth and
virtue ; while, at the same time, the world may well
challenge her, to show a class of greater scourges than
the ignorant, the fanatical, the worldly, and selfish
ministers of religion have been.

The piety, the peace, the progress of the Church,
and the temporal welfare of society, are connected
more intimately with the character of the Christian
ministry than with any other human cause. Paul
understood this connexion. His views of the nature
and influence of the embassy of reconciliation were
large and profound. No man better understood the
importance of the office, and the necessity of thorough

130 SERMON V.

qualification for it. His prophetic warnings show us,
how painful were his convictions of the evils that the
Church must suffer, of the darkness and confusion
that would settle upon her, under teachers who should
seek their own glory and not her good, — under teach-
ers who knew more of human speculation than of
divine revelation. We are not surprised, accordingly,
when we find so frequent reference to this important
subject, in his letters both to churches and to ministers.
One of his chief sources of anxiety evidently was, the
exposure of the Church to the bad instructions of
incompetent preachers, and to the bad example of
unholy pastors. The history of the Church after his
decease acquaints us more fully with the grounds of
that solicitude. He must die, and his faithful pupils
must die ; — the work must pass into other hands.
What, then, could he do to secure a succession of com-
petent and faithful pastors to the Church ? He could
write, and leave on record to the end of time, his views
and his exhortations. He has done this ; and in pro-
portion as the Church shall feel an interest in the
subject, in proportion as she shall give heed to his
instructions and warnings, and do what is assigned her
for securing a competent ministry ; and in proportion
as the existing race of ministers shall feel their re-
sponsibility, and rightly comprehend their duty in
perpetuating their office ; in that proportion, will the
Gospel be faithfully and successfully administered in
the world ; and, we may add, it will produce its
happy fruits.

But it is time that we leave the threshold of our
subject. " The things that thou hast heard of me
among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faith-

THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. 131

ful men, who shall be able to teach others also." I
seize here the two characteristics, of fidelity and com-
petency, which the apostle especially designates to his
son Timothy, in directing his choice of successors.
And from it I conduct your meditations under the
two topics of piety and ability to teach, as constituting
the qualifications which the Church must both demand
in the candidates for her sacred office, and seek instru-
mentally to impart and augment in the sons of the
prophets. " The same commit thou to faithful men,
who shall be able to teach others also."

We shall direct our attention, first, to the intel-
lectual department of ministerial qualifications, the
ability to teach.

FIRST PART.

Our proposition is, that the Church must secure a
learned ministry. We do not mean to say that all
her ministers must necessarily be men of such attain-
ments, as to merit the title of learned. Piety, an
intimate acquaintance with the Scriptures, good sense,
and an acceptable manner of instructing, may qualify
her sons to do much good, to move in spheres less
conspicuous, and consequently, in some respects less
exposed to the temptations of ambition. Such men
may edify the Church, and lead many to a knowledge
of the Savior. Their prayers may bring blessings to
thousands of their fellow men. All this we believe,
and rejoice to believe ; yet it remains true, that the
Church is called upon, by the providence of her Lord,
to secure a ministry profoundly learned, and dis-
ciplined in all the higher range of intellectual exertion.
By the learning of the ministry, we mean to describe
both knowledge and cultivation ; a knowledge of the

132 SERMON V.

Bible, and of all that can throw light upon its mean-
ing;— a knowledge of the various shades of error which
have misled men in past ages, and to which they are
still exposed;— a knowledge of the human heart, as
gained from the study of the Bible, of history, of our
contemporaries, and of ourselves ; — a knowledge of the
dealings of God with his Church in each period of her
history ; — a knowledge of whatever bears upon the
interests of man as a subject of God's moral govern-
ment ; and a thorough discipline of mind, or the power
of using the mental faculties in the highest exercise
of which they are capable. We are aware of the evil
of an undue dependence on learning. We are aware
of the evils which it may do, when separate from
piety ; but for that we are not pleading. We know
that all the great heresies, which have misled mankind,
have been originated by men of great philosophical
acuteness, and generally by men of great learning ;
that the nation, perhaps, the most profoundly learned,
is now the great nursery of infidelity ; and that the
schools, which they founded for the promotion of piety
and for the propagation of the gospel, are now turned
to the subversion of the gospel, and to the establish-
ment of philosophy on its ruins.

1. The mere knowledge of what he is to teach, is
so varied and so extensive, that a minister must really
be learned, to merit the title of a scribe well instructed,
and able to bring forth from his storehouse things new
and old. If this be doubted by any, let it be asked,
what are ministers to teach, and where and how are
they to find their message ? They are to teach the
substance of what God has revealed in a written
volume. But that revelation was made in languages

THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. 133

now not spoken. It was committed to writing in those
languages. Other writings were surreptitiously brought
in to share its authority. Now, without entering upon
this field of research, to some extent, how is a man
of candid and inquiring mind to find assurance that
he is proclaiming God's revelation ? It may be said,
that many excellent ministers have never attended to
this subject. We admit it, and admit that the most
of us, who are now in the ministry, feel the defects
of our early education in this and other departments.
And we so feel them, as to make us desire strongly,
that those to whom we commit the office, should enter
more solidly and thoroughly into the study of all that
is fundamental to the Christian system. We desire to
see a stronger and a better race of men succeed us.
Sensible of intellectual and spiritual defects, we seek
not to shield our pride by limiting our successors to
the standard of our attainments. We do not say, that
other Christians may not content themselves with the
received canon of Sacred Scripture, and with the re-
ceived translation ; but we do maintain, that he, who
proposes himself as a public champion for the truth
of revealed religion, as a public teacher of the revealed
will of God, ought to go nearer to the fountain. He
ought not to content himself with receiving it at
second hand. He is bound for his own sake, for the
Church's sake, and from honesty to those whom he
opposes, and whose rejection of the Bible he so se-
verely condemns, to prove to his own mind by candid
and prayerful research, that he has the very word of
God ; and to be able to say, not from translation, but
from the words of inspiration, what are the doctrines
of godliness and of eternal life. If any have not

12

134 SERMON V .

time for this, let them be considered the exceptions,
not the models. Let them not decry learning ; and
let not the Church itself act so inconsistent a part,
as to take advantage of the erudition and research
of the men of other days, and then denounce this
very erudition and research, as contrary to the nature
and design of the evangelical ministry. Let her not
forget her indebtedness to her Kennicotts, her Mills,
and her Griesbachs ; no, not even to the German
neologists, who have so solidly proved the accuracy
of the manuscripts from which our own translation
is taken. Let us acknowledge the satisfaction that
we experience, and the indebtedness that we feel to
the men, who, by great learning and great labor,
have proved, that the providence of God has so pre-
served the Scriptures in many languages and among
many nations, before the invention of printing, that
not a single important doctrine or sentiment is lost>
if we expunge from our translation all the passages
in which the manuscripts of highest authority differ
from one another. No ; I repeat it ; Providence lays
this necessity upon us. It has been by severe study,
and pains-taking research, that ancient manuscripts
of the different versions of the Old Testament have
been found, and compared with the copies in the
hands of the Jews. It is by much research and
careful comparison, that the various manuscripts of
the New Testament have been examined. This
fundamental branch of biblical literature, a teacher
of the Bible is bound to know, if he can. He ought
not to be ignorant of the learned and subtle objections,
which have been made to the reception of the Bible
as a divine revelation. He ought not to be ignorant

THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. 135

of the strong and cumulative mass of evidence of
its divine origin, which places Christianity on an
unassailable rock. And receiving this revelation, he
should be able to read it in its native tongue ; for
no person, who has read a book of great merit in one
language, and then read its translation into another,
can fail to have felt that much of its meaning and
beauty, of its spirit and power have evaporated in the
process of translating. The Hebrew and Greek Scrip-
tures ought to become the familiar companions of a
gospel minister. There is a sweetness, unction, and
power in them, which can be felt, but not translated.
The meaning may be expressed -by circumlocution ;
and the translation will thus be equally instructive as
the original ; but it cannot be equally impressive either
on the imagination or on the heart.

2. The minister must be learned, for the defence of
the truths of revelation against the learned. We sup-
pose him now to be prepared to instruct the sincere
followers of Christ from his stores of biblical science —
his rich, and varied, and well-arranged knowledge of
the contents of the Bible. But Providence throws
another class of objectors in his path. These appeal to
history and science, to prove the falsity of Christianity
as a pretended gift of God. They frame imposing pro-
positions and arguments in philosophical form. These,
again, are seducing the minds of the learned and re-
flecting among his hearers, by subtle errors apparently
founded on the very word of God. And they come
forward with their improved versions, and new transla-
tions, and shrewd expositions, assailing the very foun-
dations of the Christian's hope. And what shall this
captain in the Lord's army do ? Shall he turn pale,

136 SERMON V.

and say, l I know I am right, but I do not fight with
the carnal weapons of human reason and science V So
did not Paul on Mars' Hill ; so did he not with the
Corinthian philosophers, who scoffed at the doctrine of
a resurrection. So did not the early bishops of the
Church, when Novatius and the Gnostics, when Pela-
gius and Arius lifted their deadly weapons against the
gospel. So did not the great leaders of the Reforma-
tion. To him, who seriously fears, that God will not
bless the employment of learning and of cultivated mind
to defend the truths revealed in his word, I think it
would be sufficient to cite the fact, that, if great errors
have sprung from men of great learning, it is by the
learned, and by the learned alone, that those strong
defences of the truth have been formed, which, by in-
structing the pastors of the churches, and guarding
them from subtle and plausible error, have, through
them, guarded, and guided, and strengthened the
Church of God herself. We refer to the writings of
Augustine against Pelagius, to the apologies of the
Fathers, and to the galaxy of powerful minds, who, in
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, so enriched
our English theological literature.

We enforce our position, by presenting an additional
consideration from the arrangements of Providence.

3. The great variety of minds, to which a minister is
to preach, creates the necessity for a great variety of
mental furniture and discipline. We have seem him a
student of truth ; now we see him a student of sacred
eloquence, or of the mode of presenting truth ; for it is
one thing to know, and another to teach. The capa-
city for knowledge, and the attainment of knowledge,
will not, of themselves, give that aptness to teach, which

THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. 137

Paul says, should distinguish a bishop. ■ We are sure,
that with a reflecting mind, we should have no differ-
ence on this subject, except as to degrees. For what-
ever prejudices may have arisen justly against wrong
modes of instructing in eloquence, there can be no
doubt, that some degree of instruction in it is important.
This must be admitted fully, the instant that you admit,
that no man ought to preach the gospel, who cannot
speak his maternal language without violating the most
commonly understood rules of grammar, or without the
employment of such rude and vulgar terms, as shock
every person of true refinement. In such a case you
admit the whole of pur principle. You might even be
opposed, in the abstract, to human learning in the min-
istry, and especially to the study of eloquence ; but you
admit here, the importance of instruction in grammar
and propriety of utterance, which are two of the essen-
tial elements of eloquence. The difference between us,
then, can only be this ; that you want two of the lower
branches of the sacred art, — we want to have the whole
range of its power consecrated to the service of God in
the salvation of souls ; you are willing to have the un-
systematic instruction of social intercourse, and the
accidental cultivation of ordinary observation, — we de-
sire the regular, efficient instruction which will secure
its end most surely and most speedily.

The office of the pulpit is threefold — instruction,
conviction, and persuasion.

And shall it be said, that in every school save that

of Christ, none should presume to be teachers but those

who are well taught ; that every science, save that ot

the very Being himself who made all science, requires

instructers thoroughly prepared ; and that this sublim-

12*

138 SERMON V .

est, deepest, richest, most important of all, may be
taught to the world by the most superficial and indolent?
No, none would maintain that ; none would assert, that it
is possible for any one to present the scheme of truth, re-
vealed in the Scriptures, in all its dimensions, in all its
internal harmony of parts, and all its exterior harmony
with man's nature and state, and with the visible part
of creation, without much careful and well-directed
study of the Scriptures themselves. The question,
really dividing us, might be, whether or not the study
of any thing beyond the limits of the Bible itself were
necessary. To resolve this, we must revert again to
the fact, that this revelation is made in two languages
foreign to us ; and besides that, is couched under the
peculiarities of foreign customs, geography, proverbs,
poetry, imagery, institutions, on which information is
to be sought for from other sources, and from new
channels of information, which the providence of God
is continually opening to the diligent students of his
word. To take advantage of these, and to bring out
of his treasure new things, the teacher of divine truth
must be something more than simply a student of the
Bible. And again; the Bible contains a system of
moral philosophy to be applied to all the details of life,
to all the complicated rights, interests, employments
and relations of mankind. And shall one, entirely
ignorant of those relations, employments, and interests,
pretend to guide the conscience of the world ? Shall
men, learned in the history of mankind, in the works
of God, in the principles of moral government, be taught
by those who appear ridiculous in every attempt to
illustrate God's word from his works? Or will it be
said, that all that rich source of illustration is to be ex-

THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. 139

eluded from the instructions of the pulpit ? Has Paley's
Natural Theology, have Chalmers' Astronomical Ser-
mons, been of no use to the Church? We plead for
learning in the ministry.

Such learning as comprehends a wide, profound, and
harmonious view of revealed truths, such as sees the
connexion of those truths with all the great temporal
interests of man, and with all the profoundest subjects
of human research. We want instruction not only for
the ignorant and the devout, but also for the learned
and the indifferent. We desire to see men attracted by
the sublimity and simplicity of the gospel fairly pre-
sented, to listen to the statement of its claims upon their
hearts.

But the word of God is given also for conviction.
Here we advance to a higher function of the ministry.
Instruction contemplates men as willing learners ; but
convictions refers to a hostile attitude. The minister
is to break in upon the agreeable slumbers of conscience,
and arouse her to the painful task of reproach and con-
demnation. A Nathan is to sound in royal ears, " Thou
art the man f — a John to stand in high places, and say,
" It is not lawful for thee." Sin is to be rebuked, not
in the style of the Satirists, simply reproving one or
another form of outward vice, but nations are to be
called upon to repent, like Nineveh ; the deep depravity
of the heart is to be exposed, the fearful position of man
as a rebel is to be demonstrated, the mad career of the
world is to be stopped, the voice of its mirth is to be
hushed, and one profound and universal sentiment of
self-condemnation and fear is to seize the human family.
And this is to be effected through the gospel-ministry.
But that ministry must be occupied by bolder men, and

140 SERMON V .

abler men, and holier men than we are. And not only
the pulpit, but the mighty energies of the press are to
be called into action, to make the world sensible of its
true condition, and of its need of the gospel. The false
views of human character, and of life, contained in the
current literature and philosophy of the day, are to be
proved false ; the veil thrown over the eyes of con-
science is to be torn away, and thunder-peals are to be
constantly sounding in her sleeping ears. God has
promised it, and the day is hastening. But first in the
rank of the means of accomplishing it, is the elevation
of the standard of ministerial qualifications. The grasp
of the Church must be bolder, her aim higher. She
must have Augustines and Chrysostoms, whose elo-
quent and holy appeals can reach the highest minds,
and, reaching, can disturb and convince of sin ; Pauls,
who can plead before those whom talent or station ex-
alts above the reach of ordinary minds, and, pleading,
can make them tremble before God ; sacred orators
who have comprehended the logic of revelation, and
can apply it to bring the whole guilty race, high and
low, learned and ignorant, self-condemned before God.
Another function of the ministry is persuasion. The
power of persuasion depends on many natural qualifi-
cations, but much more on their proper cultivation.
This may, perhaps, seem to some a bold proposition, as
applied to the regeneration of the human heart ; for it
is easy to take such a view of the efficiency of divine
power, and to entertain so jealous a regard for its sa-
cred prerogative, as to make it even blasphemous to
speak of the power of human persuasion, as having any
tendency to renew the soul in holiness ; or to speak of
the training of the schools, as in any degree calculated

THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. 141

to augment the success of a minister in winning souls
to Christ. To all this sentiment, however much we
respect the piety that originates, we cannot the less
deprecate the ignorance that encourages it, and the ten-
dency which it has to limit the usefulness of the gospel
ministry. We must content ourselves here with deny-
ing its truth and justness, rather than with proving its
falseness. It appears to us self-evident, that God has
established a connection between the imparted energies
of his quickening Spirit, and a certain adaptedness in
the instrument, just as truly as between the quickening
energies of his physical power, and the more or less
skilful employment of agricultural implements. And
to deny this, is to declare, that the most slovenly and
disgusting manner in a preacher, the most harsh and
grating pronunciation, the most absurd jumbling of
figures of rhetoric, the most ridiculous miscalling of
men and things, is as fit an instrument for converting
souls, as the eloquence of Whitefield. Oh ! no ; we
need not defend this position, that the art of persuasion
is one of the great instruments appointed of God for the
conversion of the world, — an art for which we have
the faculties by birth, which require to be developed
by culture, and which are capable of an indefinite de-
gree of cultivation.

This holy art of teaching, convincing, persuading,
demands habits of severe study and discipline. The
work of the ministry is pre-eminently an intellectual
work, requiring the highest efforts of mind, and giving
scope to all its faculties. And we are persuaded, that
many, who entered it with a wrong estimate of the im-
portance of preparatory study, have since found their
mistake, when it was too late to provide a remedy. In-

142 SERMON V.

tellectual discouragement, and dull monotony, in his
work, is now the painful lot of many a pastor who
spends a week of active employment, but not in such a
preparation for the pulpit as enlarges, and liberalizes,
and refreshes his own mind. He sees every subject in
the same light from week to week, turns over his Bible,
and finds everywhere the same texts suggesting to his
mind the same trains of thought, and the very same
phrases. He has refused to acquaint himself with the
varied stores of knowledge that God placed within his
reach ; he has neglected to discipline and develope the
higher and richer faculties of his mind ; and now he
reaps the bitter fruits of his ignorance, or of his sincere
but misguided zeal for God's honor. And I will not
venture to say, how much affinity I think there is, be-
tween intellectual and spiritual dulness and monotony.

But in all this we have spoken only of pastors, be-
cause it was concerning them that we have imagined
that we should have to contend with the greatest
amount of avowed or secret opposition to a learned
ministry. Now we apprehend no such objections in
reference to translations of the Scriptures for the heath-
en ; and to the writers of commentories and works of
divinity for the Church and for her pastors.

There is a fourth consideration to enforce our views.

4. The pastor is to superintend important, extended,
and complicated interests, which require both solid
learning and sound discipline of mind.

The spiritual interests of individuals, with all the
variety of their characters, attainments, and circumstan-
ces, and their complicated and delicate cases of con-
science ; the spiritual interests of families, of the young;
the care of his own Church, the general interests of

THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. 143

education, the general interests of the Church ; a know-
ledge of the actual position of his fellow men, and of
the bearing of the literature and political movements
of the day upon the interests of Christ's kingdom ; a
thorough acquaintance with the increasingly important
efforts of the Church to extend the gospel to distant
nations, with the relations of these efforts to their institu-
tions and to the vairous civil governments ; the forma-
tion of a sound literature to supersede the corrupt
influence of that which impiety and scepticism have
generated ; — these are among the duties which God in
his providence assigns to the gospel-minister. For, if
he has them not in charge, no one has ; and, if he has,
then we strenuously maintain, that he cannot know
too much of man as he has been, and of man as he is ;
of the history of the world, and of the history of Chris-
tianity ; of the history of his country, of its political
condition, its literature, and its institutions.

But we have proposed a more distinct reference to
the objections, which may be made to these views. It
may be said, that they promote pride and dependence
on man. We reply, not necessarily. An ignorant
man, raised to a station of influence, is in much greater
danger of pride, than a man of learning. Ignorance is
no security against pride ; nor are learning and piety
incompatible, as has been shown in numberless instan-
ces. And as to dependence upon human power, was
there ever a case in which there was more danger than
in that of Paul ? His gifts and endowments were of
the first order, and the Church was in danger of pla-
cing undue confidence in them ; yet the Head of the
Church conferred them on him.

It may be said, that Paid declared that he re-

144 SERMONV.

nounced all dependence on huw,an learning and elo-
quence. The same kind of distinction must be made
here, as in the cases of fasting, prayer, and alms-giving.
When our Savior commands us not to pray in public
to be seen of men, he means not to prevent public
prayer, but to correct its abuse. Paul employed true
philosophy and true eloquence, in opposition to the vain
systems and the showy declamation, which were the
boast of the Grecian schools of his day. Surely he
would never have objected to the employment of the
simple and manly eloquence of Demosthenes in preach-
ing the gospel ; surely he would not have required of
that orator, if he had lived in Paul's day, had been
converted and brought to preach the gospel, to employ
in the pulpit less good sense, less knowledge of the hu-
man heart, than he had used in the forum. Paul de-
termined to know nothing but a crucified Savior as the
theme of his sermons, and not to speak in the enticing
words of man's wisdom ; but he, nevertheless, availed
himself of his profound knowledge of the Jewish law,
and of the human heart ; of his acquaintance with the
great principles of natural theology, with heathen poets
and heathen philosophers, to reach the consciences and
hearts of his hearers.

It may further be said, that human learning has no
tendency to convert the soul. This is, at last, the im-
portant objection ; an objection which, perhaps, often
recurs to the sincere friend of ministerial learninor.

c

The work of conversion seems so exclusively the pre-
rogative of the Holy Spirit, that no possible connexion
can be seen between it and the study of the classics,
of mathematics, and of philosophy. Perhaps, too, our
theological students themselves often lose sight of this

THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. 145

connexion ; and just so far their studies benefit their
minds at the expense of their hearts.

Let us ask ourselves, whether in this case we do not
exaggerate the truth ? It is true, that God converts
the soul; but does he do it by means, or without
means ? and, if by means, does he make use of human
faculties, and of human language, or not ? If he makes
use of human language, then we should say, from the
analogy of all his works, that the more perfectly lan-
guage is employed, the more calculated is it to secure
the end. I appeal to the common sense of the objecting
Christian, on two of the simplest elements of eloquence.
Perspicuity is one. Now, suppose that a very pious
preacher speaks of the love of Christ, but utters him-
self so obscurely as not to make himself understood ;
and another, of equal piety, explains this great subject
clearly ; which is most likely to be employed of God
for converting men ? Might not the one as well speak
in the Hebrew language ? And here we reply to the
very plausible objection,—" of what use can the mathe-
matics be to the theological student ?" Perhaps of lit-
tle or none, in their application ; but their study seems
to promote exactly what we now have referred to, pre-
cision of thought, and perspicuity of language. Again,
suppose a man to speak of the wrath of God in a dull
and sleepy manner ; and another to thunder in the ears
of the careless, as we may suppose Baxter and Alleine
to have done ; is it not evident, that the Holy Spirit
may be expected to reach the heart more effectually by
the one, than by the other? And yet, although the
professor of eloquence cannot give a soul, he can teach
the soul to utter its sentiments in the most impressive
way. He can teach his pupil to put away the unnat-

13

146 SERMON V.

ural and unoratorical habits that he may have con-
tracted.

On this important topic, we carry you back to the
apostolic college. Our blessed Redeemer opened a
kind of peripatetic, or itinerant theological school.
And never did men possess such a teacher, and never
were such advances made, as under that instruction.
This is evident, when we compare their sentiments, as
expressed in their letters, with those for which Christ
so often rebuked them in the beginning of their studies.
But if learning was not necessary, why not send them
out as soon as they were called ? Why must they be
three years at school, under such a teacher, equivalent
to ten times as many years under others ? It may be
said, — " they were to be witnesses of his life and works ;
they were to be disciplined in piety." All true ; and
yet equally true is it, that they were all this time rapid-
ly learning. And yet, even that was not sufficient ;
they had not learning enough, when leaving the school
of Christ ; and the Holy Ghost himself, by miraculous
power, must complete their instruction, and place them,
in some respects, among the most learned ; that is, by
at once imparting the knowledge of ten or fourteen
languages. It may be said, too, that Christ did not
teach philosophy, nor pay any attention to intellectual
discipline. And yet it is well worthy of notice, that the
distinguished apostle, who was selected to preach to phi-
losophers and courtiers, was taken from the schools.

But to refute this objection by fact, let us look at
modern times, and ask, what class of learned men have
been more blessed in their ministry than Doddridge,
and Watts, and Whitefield, and Wesley, of England ;
Edwards, and Bellamy, and Dvvight of America ?

THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. 147

Who has filled higher places of usefulness than the
learned Luther, Melancthon, Calvin, and Knox ? < Bun-
yan,' it may be said, ' is an exception ;' no, he is a con-
firmation, for he had what many cannot now acquire
but in part, even by the severest study. If all unedu-
cated men can write a Pilgrim's Progress, our argument
loses much of its power. The same may be said of
Fuller. It was the solid learning and mental disci-
pline of those men and not their ignorance, that God
employed for the good of his Church ; and we are im-
pressed by the fact, that the peculiar dealings of God
with men. who were to accomplish extraordinary good,
secured uncommon discipline, both of mind and heart.
So it was with Moses, with the forerunner, and even
with our Lord ; so with Daniel, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah.
They were taken to high places of the universe, from
whence they could catch glorious views of God and
his plans. Oh that our theological schools may be
like their sacred retreats, whence, by profound and
tranquil reflection, by earnest prayer, by special inter-
course with God, by large and lofty views of their com-
mission, our future ministers may be prepared for going
forth to move, to teach, to bless, and save the world !
The necessity of such institutions was felt under the
Old Testament, and led to forming the schools of the
prophets. They were early revived under the New
Testament, perhaps in Alexandria, soon after the death
of the apostles. They are now the hope of the Church,
and must become more and more the object of her pray-
ers and affections. We have said, perhaps, too much
upon the necessity of learning ; not too much abso-
lutely, but so much as to expose ourselves to the dan-
ger of appearing to estimate it above piety.

148 SERMON V.

But this brings us to our

SECOND PART.

We maintain with equal earnestness that the Church
must secure a pious ministry. " The same commit
thou to faithful men/' says Paul to Timothy, men
faithful to God and to his Church ; faithful to their
trust and to the souls of men. And this faithfulness
demands for its first and its last element — piety. A
learned ministry, without piety, is even a greater
curse than an ignorant one. To prove that every
minister ought to be a converted man, — nay, a man
of uncommon piety, as much in moral stature above
his brethren, as Saul was in physical proportions
above his ; — to prove that a minister must be a man
of true piety, is to prove that our bodies need life, that
without his soul, man is but a corpse ; that without
the sun, the world is in darkness and misery. The
men, who assume the sacred office without a renewed
heart, are utterly unacquainted, both with the nature
of its duties, and with its awful responsibilities. We
know that God may have converted many souls by
the preaching of unconverted men ; but his gracious
overruling of human depravity should never be abused
by man, to encourage himself in sin.

But there is no room for reasoning on the subject.
He, that believes in the reality and universal necessity
of conversion, must acknowledge, that ministers are
included in that all ; and must admit its importance
above all to the minister. Every branch. of his duties,
every issue of his ministry, bears prominent on its
front the urgent necessity of great piety. Whether
we consider him as coming from God to man, or as

THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. 149

turning from man in his infatuation, and man in his
feebleness, to supplicate God in his behalf; — whether
we consider the nature of the subjects he is to teach
as pre-eminently matters of experience, or the power
of example ; — whether we look at time and its trials,
or at the judgment and its eternal issues ; — we see
every thing urging upon the ministers of Christ piety,
eminent piety, a close resemblance to their Master, the
intimacy of holy communion with him, the power of a
holy sympathy with him, and the efficiency of prevail-
ing intercession with the Father.

The ambassador of Christ goes forth, from the me-
diatorial throne, chosen^ qualified, commissioned, to
a world, ignorant of God, of his grace, and of his
wrath, blind alike to his holy law and to his scheme
of mercy, blinded and deluded by a subtle spirit. He
is to plead and remonstrate against that world's rebel-
lion ; but how shall he do it sincerely and successfully
if his heart sympathizes not with the government of
Jehovah ? How absurd as well as hypocritical is the
eloquence of a man, who has never laid down his own
rebellious weapons, never yet even acknowledged his
own rebellion, and yet pretends with tears and solemn
entreaties to persuade his fellow men to repent ! The
more eloquent and the more pathetic he is, the more
absurd ; and every convert under such preaching is
but a witness against his own impenitence. The man,
who proclaims to this wicked world the offer of par-
don, must deeply feel the evil of its rebellion, must
earnestly sympathize with the holy government of
God ; sin must be the burden of his own soul ; he must
fear that wrath which he announces in words of terror
to others ; for, perhaps, there is no infidelity so per-

13*

150 SERMON V.

fectly effective, as that which is concealed under
solemn and pompous words about the wrath of God,
where the preacher's soul is not moved at the time
in view of that terrific reality. It accustoms men to
feel, that it is a trifle ; while they escape the reproach
of their own conscience by appearing to acknowledge
its reality. Yes, I may say, that it is one of the grand
impediments to the progress of religion, that so many,
professing to be its ministers, have accustomed the
people to be as much unaffected by it, as they are
themselves. They perpetuate the dreadful pestilence
of religious insensibility by mere contagion ; and under
them grows up the form of godliness without its power.
God deliver us from heartless ministers ! The man
who means to awaken the conscience of this slumber-
ing world must know much of the holiness and the
terrors of God's law, and have awful views of his ma-
jesty ; he must have studied with his heart in Geth-
semane and on Calvary ; he must know the meaning
of that exclamation, " If these things be done in the
green tree, what shall be done dry !"

He, who would meet the inquiring soul and lead it
to Christ, must know the way by experience. Here
the power of the heart is peculiarly employed by the
Spirit of God. He, who would talk profitably of re-
pentance, must talk of it experimentally. He, who
would lead the young convert in the first steps of his
Christian walk, must talk like an old traveller of a
road, that he knows by having traversed it ; he must
meet with something like parental sympathy, the fears,
the joys, the hopes, the doubts, of the babe in Christ.
He, who would be a leader to the Church of Christ,
must be an example of all he teaches ; he must not

THE CHISTIAN MINISTRY. 151

say, Go to the cross for pardon,' hut, 'Come to the
cross.' He must know the snares of Satan, that he
may point them to others ; and he must learn them
from his own heart. He must be taught of God to
teach God's word. He must know the trials peculiar
to Christians in order to sympathize with his flock ;
and when called to the common trials of life, he must
show how to sustain them. How powerful were the
appeals of Paul to the Church when he could say,
" Follow us as we follow Christ !"

The providence of God is evidently preparing the
Church for a wider and more important field of action,
than she has occupied since the apostolic days ; and
none, save men of an apostolic spirit, will be prepared
to guide her in the arduous conflict and the mighty
work that lies before her.

And if this aspect of the ministry presents the neces-
sity of piety, how much more so does the other in
which we behold the minister going from men to God,
to intercede in their behalf. It is well said by a French
divine, " More than half a minister's work must be
accomplished in his closet : it is an affair between him
and his God." Each Christian must be a man of prayer ;
but chiefly he, who undertakes to negotiate between
God and man, in the matter of salvation. The life of,
all our services, the power of our appeals, the light of
our instructions, the efficacy of our consolations, the
savor of our example, — all depend upon the degree
of our communion with God. We are bound to live
in view of both worlds, to cherish the sentiments of
heaven, while we live on earth ; we are like ambas-
sadors to a rebel province, who by constant corres-
pondence with the sovereign and his loyal courtiers,

152 SERMON V.

preserve ourselves from contracting the spirit of rebel-
lion, while we deeply sympathize with the wretched
condition of our rebel fellow-subjects. And where
does the pastor tread more closely in the steps of the
Great High Priest than when, with the names of his
people on his heart, he is before the sprinkled mercy-
seat ? The Church ought to look with much anxiety
to this point ; that her ministers be men of prayer,
of eminent prayerful ness. The promise concerning
the days of her prosperity is — "1 have set watchmen
upon thy walls, O Jerusalem ! which shall never hold
their peace, day nor night." The divine direction
hence is — "Ye, that make mention of the Lord" — the
Lord's remembrancers — "keep not silence, and give
him no rest, till he establish and till he make Jerusalem
a praise in the earth."

But 1 must close this too protracted exercise, by
bringing the subject to this practical conclusion : —
that the Church has a most important part to act in
securing both the learning and the piety of her min-
istry. As to the first, she is to sustain her theological
colleges, and demand of them an efficient course of in-
tellectual training. As to the second, let her distinctly
see that it is that alone which makes learning valuable,
and that, in past ages, Satan has perpetually gained an
advantage, by making her go into one extreme or the
other ; — that of having learning without piety, or piety
without learning. And let her chiefly see what part
she has to act in securing the piety of her ministers.

We may specify several distinct duties ; — and first,
prayer for unconverted youth. In America, we are
made to feel the necessity of this, and are taught by
Providence to pray the Lord of the harvest that he

THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. 153

would send forth laborers into the harvest. We have
not ministers enough to meet our spiritual wants, and
the wants of the Missionary societies. Driven, there-
fore, to look to God in behalf of our unconverted and
educated youth, we have set apart days of prayer for
this object. And the Lord has signally answered our
requests. Let British Churches remember, that there
are not ministers enough to supply the tenth part of the
world with pastoral instructions. But let them chiefly
remember that we are deficient not in numbers only, but
also in ministerial graces. We must give the Lord no
rest, until his ministers love one another more, are less
given to sects and more to souls ; until they come to
greater simplicity and activity, and power and efficiency.

We suggest also special prayer for theological col-
leges. We urge the importance of exalting the stand-
ard of piety before yormg Christians, by the example
of the Church, showing those, who are to preach the
gospel, how to live for Christ. Every day that the
candidate for the ministry passes under your roof, every
time he sits at your board, he is receiving impressions
which may affect his ministry. He learns from your
remarks on ministers and sermons, what the Church
expects of both.

Christian friends ! who revere the memory of her
whom the Head of the Church raised up in a time of
spiritual death and darkness, to encourage and even
guide his faithful ministers ; remember this college, —
her Benjamin, — the child of her right hand. It needs
your pecuniary aid ; with that aid, it may take its proper
position amid the kindred institutions, that are doing so
much to raise the qualifications of the sacred ministry.
It was liberally, nobly endowed. Every thing which

154 SERMON V.

that heart devised was planned on a broad scale. And
yet a college is not the result of the labors of one hand.
It is enough for one to found it ; posterity, who are to
reap its rich advantages, must mature and perfect it.
To accomplish all that she designed, to finish what she
began, requires a spirit of equal liberality with her own.
Who has her spirit ? who counts the cause of Christ all
his care, as she did ? who is prepared to tread in her
path of self-denial and faith ? Who sympathizes with
her zeal for God and the Church? Come, brethren ! come
to our help ; come, I would say, to her help, and enable the
directors of the college to execute their admirable plans.

But important as these plans are, they respect chiefly
the elevation of the standard of learning and intellectual
discipline ; for the other and higher benefits, they look
beyond their plans to the sovereign grace of God, to
Jesus, the Head of his Church, with whom is the residue
of the Spirit. And to-day they commission me to appeal
to your hearts in behalf of the college, the directors, the
pupils, the teachers. Their desire is, that the Holy
Spirit may be the great teacher here ; that Jesus would
abide with them by that Spirit, that he would teach
them the preciousnessof his gospel, and how to preach it.

Christians ! pray much for this school, that here may
be trained the sons of thunder and the sons of consola-
tion. The Church should look with deep solicitude to
these schools of the prophets ; for a perishing world
seems to cast towards them an imploring look; the
perishing heathen are crying as of old — " Come over
and help us." And they ask for spiritual men, men of
prayer, of faith, of zeal ; men, in a word, whom God
shall call, commission, and bless.

Brethren, pray for the College.

SERMON "VI.

THE NATURE AND INFLUENCE OF MATERNAL
ASSOCIATIONS.

" And they brought unto him also infants, that he
would touch them. But when his disciples saw it,
they rebuked them. But Jesus called them unto
him, and said, suffer little children to come unto
me, and forbid them not ; for of such is the king-
dom of God." — Luke xviii. 15, 16.

The prince of darkness has fearfully extended his
empire over the whole human family ; and the Son of*
God, the Prince of peace, has come to " destroy the
works of the devil," to open the prison-door to the cap-
tive, and let the prisoner go free. He has come, with
the voice of authority, to command the prisoner to
escape from bondage, and, with the voice of tender invi-
tation, to entreat him to leave his vassalage, and disown
his allegiance to Satan. And there are two remarka-
ble features in all his commands and invitations; the
one is, that they regard all classes of men, without re-
spect to any of the distinctions, that pertain to the pre-
sent and temporary forms of society ; and the other
feature is. that they extend to human nature in every
age of its existence, from its earliest stages and its first
developments. This feature, the disciples of Christ did
not, at first, understand ; they supposed, that the king-

156 SERMON VI.

dom, which our Lord had come to establish, was of
such a nature, that it required the full maturity of the
understanding to appreciate its advantages, and to enter
upon the discharge of its duties. Hence, (as you may
suppose his group principally to have consisted of
mothers,) when mothers, obeying that maternal instinct,
which often is more wise than the sound deductions of
philosophy, (sound in the eyes of those who make them,)
— that maternal instinct which felt for the little ones,
felt their helplessness and their want, and had learned
the power and goodness of the great Redeemer, — when
they drew nigh, and presented their infants to him, to
come within the blessed sphere of his benignity and
mercy, the disciples interposed, rejected the infants and
rebuked the mothers. But Jesus said, Suffer these little
ones to come to me ; let no man forbid them ; the king-
dom, that I am establishing, reaches even to the infan-
tile state of human existence ; little children, too, are
to be the objects of my grace and of my redeeming
power : " Suffer little children to come unto me."

The first duty, that devolves upon those who have
the care of human beings, is of course physical ; it per-
tains to the animal, the material part of human nature,
because that is first developed. The next development
is unquestionably moral ; the child begins to feel, before
he manifests much understanding. It is unquestiona-
ble, that the conscience is developed much earlier, than
they, whose observation has not been specifically di-
rected to this point, are prepared to believe. It is cer-
tain that the heart is very early developed ; and God
seems, in the very manner of the development of the
faculties of human nature at successive periods, to indi-
cate the kind of care, the kind of instruction, and the

MATERNAL ASSOCIATIONS. 157

kind of influence, which should be brought to bear upon
human nature. Last of all seems to come the higher
range of the intellectual powers.

The first duty, touching the character and interest
of man as a moral being, is to bring him under the
moral government of Jesus Christ. The first duty with
the mind of man is to make him understand and feel
his want and his guilt as a sinner. The first and most
important lesson, that a mother can convey to the heart
and the understanding of her child, is, that he is the
degenerate shoot of a degenerate vine, and that in Christ
alone is his help. His little mind should begin to un-
derstand first the story of redeeming and incarnate
love — the history of Him who became an infant, and
then the " Man of sorrows," and then the bleeding Vic-
tim, and then the living Intercessor and the omnipotent
King, to raise us from our ruin ; and the first attrac-
tions of the little heart, beyond the father and the mother
that begat and that nurture, should be to the great Ben-
efactor, that has come to redeem. l Suffer your little
ones to come to me,' said Jesus : from them that are
indifferent, and from them that have objections to them,
he seems to turn to mothers, and say, l Bring your little
ones to me.'

The first duty to man, as an immortal being and the
subject of God's moral government, is to induce him,
just as rapidly as his affections and will are developed,
to break the bands that bind him to the kingdom of
darkness, and to bring him, an intelligent and a volun-
tary subject, into the kingdom of the Lord Jesus, to
teach him to love, to teach him to obey, to teach him to
serve his " God manifest in the flesh." And it is an
interesting object of investigation, to see what full pro-

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158 SERMON VI.

vision God has made for the reclaiming of man from
his apostacy, the introduction and the conservation of
man in " the kingdom of his dear Son" — and that, from
the earliest period of his existence.

There is something very wonderful in the family-
constitution ; there is something in it. which even the
Church herself has not fully understood, but which
many indications in Providence show that she is going
to understand more fully. There is more power in the
family constitution, there is more moral power in a
mother, than the world has begun to conceive, than
even Christian mothers have yet begun fully to appre-
hend. And, as they advance in faith on God's promi-
ses,— as they rise in strength of a holy confidence, that
seizes the promise of an unchanging God, — as they
become intelligent in those great purposes of his moral
government, which pertain to us, and which are essen-
tial to direct us in the right discharge of duty, — we
have no question that the moral power of the mother
will rise ; and just as far as we get away from Pagan-
ism, and all its degradation of the female sex, just as
far as we get away from the foolish and romantic ideas
of woman, that prevailed in the days of chivalry,— just
so far shall we come into the clear and glorious light
of Christianity, and woman will be, what God meant
she should be in his hand, the regenerator of the human
race.

There is a peculiarity in the maternal feeling, that
no man, who feels himself identified with the interests
of the human race, can observe without himself feeling
the deepest interest. There is something in a mother's
love, that cannot have been unintended ; there is a rea-
son for that peculiar delicacy and tenderness— for even

MATERNAL ASSOCIATIONS. 159

that tenderness of tone, which toe cannot imitate ; there
is a meaning in the fact, that the musical scale of a
mother's voice is pitched differently from ours. It is
one of God's great instruments, for fitting her to reach
man in those periods of his existence, when every thing
is tender in his body and in his soul.

There is an affinity between the feelings of a mother
and a child, that does not exist in kind or degree be-
tween the father and the child, indicating a peculiarity
in the duty and a peculiarity in the responsibility. I
may say, in passing, (because I deem it of importance,)
that perhaps there will become, for a time, extravagant,
and exaggerated, and unharmonious, and unauthorized
views of the duty of mothers, and that fathers will for-
get their peculiar station, — for it is one of great pecu-
liarity, and it is one of equal responsibility different in
kind. I wish not to encourage any exaggerated view ;
I wish not to roll more burdens upon the tender sex.
than God has placed ; but my specific duty will lead me
peculiarly to speak, and alone to speak, of maternal duty.

There is something in the entire helplessness of hu-
man nature, in the entire dependence of human nature, —
there is something in the imitative propensities of chil-
dren,— there is something in that perfect confidence,
that characterizes children, — which fits them to come
so fully, so entirely, under the kind and powerful in-
fluence of the enlightened and sanctified maternal
heart ; and the noblest object on the footstool of God is
a Christian mother, moulding human nature in the first
stages of its earthly and of its immortal existence. Oh !
that I might have light from God, to help even mothers
this day to estimate their high calling and their holy
commission.

160 SERMON VI.

No fruit of sin has been more fatal, than the misun-
derstanding of female duty and female character. One
of the striking characteristics of all heathen lands is the
condition of woman. When the Brahmin priest was
reproached by the missionary, because he saw a woman
dragging her entire length from the point of the com-
mencement of her dreadful pilgrimage to the temple —
(it lay entirely through a large tract covered with mud,
and she was dragging her body through the filth) —
"There !" said the missionary, "that is one of the fruits
of your system !" " Well, what is that ?" replied the
Brahmin ; " it is only a woman !" That tells the char-
acteristic feature of their dark and debasing system ;
" it is only a woman !" And what means the Turkish
harem, where woman is but the animal ? What means
it ? — The light of Christianity has not shone. What is
the present moral and social condition of France —
France, that made the desperate experiment of rejecting
Christianity ? It is a fact, that even the French lan-
guage itself is destitute of the sweet word Home, and
all its sacred, tender associations. I rejoice to say that
God is doing great things for France ; but I speak of it
now as a nation in the whole, a nation of mighty intel-
lect, a nation of immense intellectual power and pro-
gress,— but a nation, that, as a nation, has not a domes-
tic life ; and woman is not known in France (not known
in France as a nation) as she is in England and in the
colonies and the countries that have sprung from Eng-
land. And I rejoice to say, that French writers are
beginning to tell their nation the truth — 'Until you
estimate woman and the marriage contract, and the
marriage relation and the maternal relation differently,
it is in vain that you essay the changes of political gov-

MATERNAL ASSOCIATIONS. 161

ernment ; we must have a change at the fireside, and
we must begin to have a sacred home.'

But although it is evident, that the nations which
speak the English language are in advance of the rest
of the world on this momentous subject, we have no
reason for boasting ; and it will but injure us to reflect
upon that fact, if we do not besides reflect upon the fact
that we are very, very far below the light we have, and
very far from discharging our duties. I speak even of
the higher classes of female mind ; I speak even of our
Christian mothers ; and I say it with the profound re-
spect that I feel in my heart for the mothers in Israel —
that even they have much, very much to learn — much,
very much to attain.

I wish, in this stage of the subject, to direct your at-
tention to a very remarkable prophecy — remarkable, as
being the closing up of the wonderful series of prophe-
cies in the ancient Testament. It is in the book of
Malachi, the last chapter, and the closing verses : —

" Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before
the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord :
and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children,
and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come
and smite the earth with a curse."

I understand that prophecy to involve two points.
The first is, that Christianity (the primary meaning of
the prophecy referring of course to its introduction,
and the secondary meaning to its expansion and more
complete influence on the human race) — that the first
influence of the introduction, and the chief influence
of the spreading, of Christianity in the world is to
restore parental affection. You recollect, that Paul
has said, that one of the characteristics of the heathen

14*

162 SERMON VI.

is, that they are " without natural affection f and you
recollect, that when our missionaries went to the Sand-
wich Islands, they found them rapidly undergoing
depopulation by " infanticide, and mothers would dig
the graves of their own infants yet living, bury them,
throw the earth upon them, spread the mat over them,
and (while the child was perhaps yet struggling) eat
their meal in self-complacency." That is the stern
picture of man without the Bible, and that, in greater
or less degrees, pervades all Pagan countries and every
country, just in proportion as the gospel of the Son of
God fails of effect ; and the first meaning of this pro-
phecy I understand to be the restoration of parental
love. And the second I take to be the proper inclina-
tion of parental love. For now the grand evil in
Christian countries is, not that parents do not love
their children, but that their love is often the ruin of
their children. Misguided parental love now charac-
terizes nominal Christendom. The great care of the
greater part of parents is for the earthly welfare of their
children ; but when the Spirit of God shall come, as
predicted in Malachi, parents will begin to feel that
their children are immortal, and that they are to train
them for glory and immortality, and not for honor —
the bubble that bursts in the hand of him that seizes
it, — and not for the pampering of the flesh, — and not
for the attainment of a station, from which death can
cast them down to perdition, but for the attainment of
those seats of glory, from which he shall never be cast
out that once has possession by grace. The restoration
of parental affection, and the guidance of parental affec-
tion, are to characterize the advancing march of Chris-
tianity through our sinful, wretched world.

MATERNAL ASSOCIATIONS. 163

In every age of Christianity there have undoubtedly
been individual parents, that have understood (to a
remarkable degree, compared with those around them)
their parental duties. We mean not to say, that there
are not now in the churches a great many mothers, that
have a very wide, comprehensive, active view of pa-
rental duty ; we mean not to say, that there are not
now in the churches women, who, if their character
and their maternal history and their domestic life
could be held out to the world, might be a model to
the world. We speak not of these blessed exceptions,
we speak of the general fact ; and all the remarks which
we make upon the subject, must be understood in their
general accuracy and general bearing. But we be-
lieve that a day is dawning, like the day prophesied
by Malachi. And one of the first fruits, perhaps, of
the wide awakening of the consciences of mothers and
the hearts of mothers has been the formation of Ma-
ternal Associations.

Association ! The world is just beginning to under-
stand its power, in some of the highest interests of man.
And I confess that it was not without surprise, coming
from a country, in which these associations for mothers
are rapidly spreading, and coming from a Church, in
the bosom of which I have witnessed from year to year
their blessed influence — it was not without surprise,
that I found intelligent and devoted Christian mothers
here, with strong and even insuperable objections to
the existence of Maternal Associations. I therefore
come with this embarrassment ; I come as an American,
acquainted with American institutions and American
society, and unacquainted comparatively with English
institutions and English society, and therefore I may

164 SERMON VI.

not speak wisely ; but you will understand what I say
to be spoken with that degree of light that I possess,
and for that alone can I be responsible. My impression
is that mothers ought to associate ; under what cir-
cumstances, and by what principles to be regulated,
must be left to the wisdom of those that are in the par-
ticular locality, judging of local circumstances and of
local habits ; but I know not why the great and glo-
rious principle of combined strength and combined
counsel, when two are stronger than one, should not
be brought to bear upon the general duty of mothers.
I can conceive of but one general objection ; and that
is, that mothers may feel that their duties are dis-
charged by being members of, or going to, the Maternal
Association ; whereas that would be an utter perver-
sion, for the design is to fit mothers for the duties of
home by mutual counsel and mutual encouragement.

My commission is to recommend to you, this day,
the formation and the universal adoption (under what-
ever modifications you may find best) of Maternal
Associations. And as your patience will allow me. I
will dwell in confirmation of this position upon the ar-
guments, that are most prominent before my own mind.

1. The first consideration that I urge is, the tendency
of Maternal Associations to promote maternal education.

There may be an appearance of the want of sufficient
respect, there may be an appearance of invidious com-
parison, when I say that mothers need to be educated.
But I think that there is not this want of respect ; for
I think that I should say it even to my own mother, —
'Are there not many things, that might have been
rectified in my education, if you had had the light that
a kind God is beginning to pour upon the great subject

MATERNAL ASSOCIATIONS. 165

of maternal duty?' — and I should expect, from that
good sense and that piety which, I know, characterize
her, to hear her say, < Yes, my son ! every day that I
live I am discovering my faults, my own neglects, my
own want of a sense of maternal responsibility, my
own want of a deep and solemn consideration of the
importance of education ; willingly would I go back,
with the light I now have, and rear my family again.'

There are unquestionably two classes of mothers in
society ; and therefore there is great propriety in the
establishment of two kinds, or, at least two branches,
of Maternal Associations. There are those, who are
competent to be to each other mutual instructors ; and
there are those, who, from the want of advantages of
instruction, had better be subjected to the guidance
of those, to whom God has given more light. I say,
then, l let there be the Mutual Instruction Maternal
Association, and the Maternal Association in which
one is instructed and the other a learner.' And oh !
if there be an angel-visit of mercy on this earth, it is
for the enlightened Christian mother to go to the habita-
tion of her poor and uninstructed sister, and teach her
how to bear her burden, how to train her family. If
God has given her light and given her love, let her go,
as she has " freely received," and "freely give" it to
the needy. It is worth more than the money and the
clothing and the bread, though the money and the
clothing and the bread should come with it.

I need not convince this assembly of the importance
of the moral influence of a mother ; I may dwell upon
it for a moment, only to produce a deeper sense of that
which we already know. It is unquestionable, that
the hopes of human society and the hopes of the

166 SERMON VI.

Church of God are to be found in the character, in the
views, and in the conduct of mothers. Though it is
taking up the very lowest department of this subject,
yet I will state one single fact on the civil bearings of
Maternal Associations. I suppose, that, if you could
trace the history of every criminal, that stands at the
bar of your courts of justice in this great metropolis,
(where there is so much good and so much evil,) you
would find, that nearly every poor criminal there went
through as regular an education, as any physician or
lawyer in your land ; and I suppose, that you would
find, that they had been trained, when children, as
regularly by their mothers for the prison and the
gibbet, as in our schools children are trained for the
important duties of life. When I pass through your
streets, and see the places where the polluting and fiery
poison is sold, and see the mothers with the little
infants at their breasts going into those nurseries of
crime, those hot-beds of poverty and pollution, those
gateways of death and hell, my heart bleeds within
me. A mother, instead of the milk from her breast to
nourish, and the " milk" of heavenly truth for the im-
mortal mind of her child, pouring into its little system
the fiery poison of hell ! Bear with me ; and, if I
thought that there were a vender of the dreadful poison
here, I could not but turn aside from the theme com-
mitted to me, to plead one moment with him ; — so
cruel does it seem to me, for men to sell that which
they know is to ruin body and soul, and to hand out
the fiery glass to a mother to give it to her little child.
Oh ! is there no way of inducing these wicked men to
quit their dreadful employ ? It is all in vain that we
establish prisons, that we carry out the penitentiary

MATERNAL ASSOCIATIONS. 167

system ; we shall only have to do it, so long as the
mothers are training their children as they are. We
must have some improvement in the domestic edu-
cation of the poor, if we want an improvement in our
seats of crime and of poverty. And there is moral
power enough in the Church to accomplish it. I know
that sometimes there are difficulties ; but I have seen
these difficulties conquered. I have seen the perse-
vering visits of one Christian lady conquer the obdurate
heart of a most hardened drunkard, and at last make
her sit down a willing learner at the feet of her bene-
factor ; and I have seen the change in the order of the
little cottage, the cleanliness of the children, the im-
proved dress, the orderly habits, the regular attendance
at the sanctuary, the improved disposition and conduct
of the little children, all coming from the fact that one
Christian mother, who knew the duty of a mother,
and the importance of a mother, had gone to this poor
woman, and waited on her " in the bowels of com-
passion" that belong to Christ and to his people, until
she had persuaded her to do her duty as a mother.

I dwell on this one branch of the subject — the civil
influence alone, that I may on that rest your conviction
of all the higher results, that are to come from the
right guiding of a mother's mind, and the right guiding
of human character between the ages of two years and
twelve or fifteen, which is the peculiar sphere of the
mother's influence. I wish to " magnify the office" of
the mother ; and I think the whole tendency of these
Maternal Associations is to bring it out, and hold it
out to the view of mothers and of the world, in all its
magnitude and importance. Napoleon Buonaparte was
a man of shrewd observation, and he once said to

168 SERMON VI.

Madam Campan — " The old systems of education are
worth nothing ; what is wanted for the proper training
of young persons in France ?" With keen discern-
ment and great truth she replied in one word —
" Mothers." This word struck the emperor ; and the
thought grew upon him. " Behold, then," said he,
" an entire system of education ! you must make
mothers, that know how to train their children."

The influence of Rousseau, with all his infidelity,
has been in some respects good on France. His object
unquestionably in one of his works was to give citizens
to the nation ; and he commenced with mothers. " The
mother's milk," said he, " should be the milk of liberty."
He resorted to the mothers, because he wanted to bring
back mankind to truth, simplicity, and noble sentiments
based on benevolence ; and all that was good, — for
there was some good, and it is growing still, — all that
was good in the terrible French revolution, it appears
to me, can be traced to the influence of his writings,
almost the only pure stream that did flow in those
times. But he failed, in trusting too little to the im-
portance of the character of the mother, and having no
sense of the necessity of training children for heaven.

Man was born for the atmosphere of love ; and when
we tear the little child from its mother, and send it to
a stranger, and to the stern teaching of a stranger, no
one can tell how he feels his loss, and how his little
heart sighs for his home, and for the smile of his
mother, which was the sun of his home. Virtue is not
so much taught to children as infused into them ; and
infused into them at their first stage. Pestalozzi, the
great Swiss instructor, has traced what may be (it
appears to me that it probably is, but, whether it is or

MATERNAL ASSOCIATIONS. 169

not, it suggests an important principle) the first dis-
covery of the principles of moral government in the
intercourse of the child and his mother. (By the first
idea of moral government I mean this — I have a will
of my own, but there is a will exterior to mine and
above mine, and that will has a right to limit mine.)
He supposed a little child to begin to move his arm,
and, as is natural, to find pleasure in the freedom of
the movement, to find his delight in that motion to a
certain length ; but he supposes him to meet, in trying
one day to make this movement, the obstruction of a
table — and perhaps it is the first idea he gets of exter-
nal existence ; then he supposes, that the mother comes
in, checks the child, and forbids him to do something
that he wishes to do ; the child begins to discover the
difference between the involuntary table, the mere
mass of matter that physically obstructed his move-
ment, and the interposition of a will that interrupted
him, and he supposes the first idea that there is a will
out of us and above us to come thus ; and then con-
science wakes up with the feeling, < I ought to submit to
that will .' And the great secret of family-training is,
to teach the child that he is to bow his will to the will
that governs in the family ; and then the great secret
of religious training is, to teach him to bow his will to
the will of God, and to say, " Thy will be done :" and,
if he were brought to this on earth, he would come to
stand in heaven among those shining ranks, whose
entire feeling is, " Thy will be done." And how pe-
culiarly is the mother fitted to exert this kind of influ-
ence on the mind of her child, because she can temper
the sternness of that rigid will, that does not bend to
the child's desire, with all the sweetness of love, and

15

170 SERMON VI.

appeal to all the child's sense of dependence and of obli-
gation to make it acceptable ! The eloquence of a
mother's lips must first persuado tho child to virtue.

The first impressions, that should be made upon
man's angelic mind, unquestionably are such as we
trust will flourish in heaven ; and God has committed
to mothers the work of teaching their children, to pre-
fer honor to fortune, to succor distress, to love their
fellows, to raise their hearts to God. I have been
much struck with a remark made by a French writer.
Of sixty-nine monarch s, who have worn the French
crown, (he says,) only three have loved the people,
and all those three were reared by their mothers with-
out the intervention of pedagogues. A. Bossuet edu-
cated the tyrant Louis XIV. ; his mother did not train
him. St. Louis was trained by Blanche ; Louis XII.
was trained by Maria of Cleves ; and Henri IV. was
trained by Jane of Albret ; and these were really the
fathers of their people." " Good professors can make
good scholars" says this author ; " but good mothers
alone can make good men."

The incidental effect of our Maternal Associations is
to elicit attention and talent to the great subject of ma-
ternal duty, and to draw forth those great lessons of
wisdom, that mothers need to learn in order to fit them
to fulfil it.

2. I will present a second consideration : the tenden-
cy of mothers associating together, as mothers, to confer
on their duties and their difficulties, is to quicken the
sense of their responsibility.

As " iron sharpeneth iron, so a man sharpeneth the
countenance of his friend." There is something in the
social principle, when consecrated to the great work of

MATERNAL ASSOCIATIONS. 171

personal holiness, on which the blessing of God seems
peculiarly to rest. Hence there is so much said in the
Bible of the value of social prayer ; hence it is said,
" Exhort one another daily." And I think it an advan-
tage to have system in this. It is an advantage for
mothers to meet periodically, and to have regular sea-
sons for exhorting each other in each other's duties,
and for increasing in each other's minds the sense of
those duties. A periodical revival of this impression
must, with the blessing of God, be very useful.

3. I come now to a third consideration — the tendency
of such associations to increase family and maternal
religion.

On this subject I speak chiefly from the testimony of
mothers. I have seen extracts from many letters writ-
ten by mothers, and I have the testimony of mothers in
my own church, that they have found that every meet-
ing of the Maternal Association sent them home to their
closets, humbled under a sense of their deficiencies, and
casting themselves more fully on covenant grace to aid
them in the discharge of maternal duty.

One influence is found in the fact, that they have led
to the collection of the best writings calculated to im-
press a mother's heart, and the bringing them together
to hear them read ; and it is unquestionable, as a gene-
ral principle, that a thing read in a large company is
altogether more impressive than that read alone. When
the best writings of the best heads and the best hearts
are brought before a collected assembly of mothers, I
think that the influence must be happy, in elevating the
standard of maternal piety, and having the mothers go
back to the domestic circle to elevate the standard of
maternal religion. I know the fact, that, when an in-

172 SERMON VI.

dividual mother has received a special blessing from
God in answer to prayer, when an individual mother
has found her endeavors owned and blessed of God, and
when she has gone to the meeting to tell it — each
mother has said, « Then I must get nearer to God my-
self, and wait more faithfully upon him, and he will give
me, too, the blessing which he has given to my sister."

4. I urge a fourth consideration in recommendation
of Maternal Associations ; they tend to facilitate the
discharge of maternal duties.

In the first place, they increase the information of
mothers. And I will just run over a little catalogue of
their duties, on which they need information. The
mother's art is the most difficult perhaps in this world.
She has to train the body through the most delicate and
exposed period of its existence ; she has to carry it
through the period, when particular diseases invade it ;
she has to attend to the physical development of the
entire man, in beauty, in strength, in healthfulness.
And then at the same time she has to rear the intellect
and the heart — to judge of a thousand difficult questions
of conscience, that are rising up almost every day in
her sphere. It is a difficult art, I say ; and, like every
other art, we must have mothers more and more edu-
cated in it, to carry on human nature to its highest
possible degree of attainment and perfection. If an
apprentice must be sent, for a certain term of years, to
learn the simple trade of making a watch, or a shoe, or
a hat, what shall we say of her, that undertakes to
mould the mind of immortal man, to prepare it to be
steadfast amid the trials of life, and then to pass to the
spheres of endless glory ? Well might angels wish to
take the place of a mother, when they see how much is

MATERNAL ASSOCIATIONS. 173

to be done in forming the future character of the man,
in those years, when he lies a helpless infant on his
mother's lap. I speak from the testimony of missionary
mothers ; and I delight to recommend it to those, that
feel for their missionary sisters in this land. It is now
becoming extensively introduced in missionary stations.
I was present at a meeting of the Board of Commis-
sioners for Foreign Missions, in America, when this
question was agitated for many hours ; and it was ex-
ceedingly difficult to know what to do ; a missionary
carries his children with Tiim, or they are born in the
country where he has gone, and they are cut off entirely
from Christian privileges ; if they go outside the boun-
daries of their home, they are exposed to the most de-
structive influences ; what was the missionary to do ?
The question came back to us with the most heart-rend-
ing anxieties of Christian mothers and Christian fathers,
and it seemed as if we must call them back — as if it
were too much to ask them, not only to sacrifice their
earthly comforts, but to lay their children's souls (as it
were) upon the altar ; for it seemed as though they
could not guard them. But the manner, in which
some of the missionary ladies have written upon the
subject, is beginning to cheer our hearts. We begin to
think, that what they want is, to make a more complete
society of Christian mothers, and to train their children
under its influence ; and, if it is difficult, God will hear
their prayers and give them peculiar help. Missionary
mothers are rejoicing now in the formation of these As-
sociations, which bring as it were the entire power of
the mothers of the station to bear upon the duty of each
individual mother in the church.

But I was speaking of the points, on which mothers
15*

174 SERMON VI.

need instruction, and on which these Maternal Associa-
tions furnish it. They need to understand the subject
of health of course ; they need to understand the whole
subject of the physical development of man. For man's
body is a wonderful organ. Just see what his hand
alone can be taught to accomplish — what he can do as
a painter, what he can do as a musician, what he can
do as a writer ; — the thousand uses to which the human
hand can be brought, how much power their lies hid
in this machine, and how much skill is demanded prop-
erly to begin, and by and by to intrust to other hands
the full, developing of the physical power of man.
Then she needs for his intellectual education another
class of information ; and then another for his religious
education ; and still another for the formation of his
moral habits, and rightly to interest him in his own
proper department of education. No more difficult
subject can be found than man in his infancy. Mater-
nal Associations tend to facilitate the discharge of ma-
ternal duties by throwing increased light upon this diffi-
cult subject.

And they do it by fortifying the determination of
mothers. The great struggle in a mother's heart is be-
tween her tenderness, that cannot bear to behold the
sufferings of her child, much less to inflict them, and at
the same time the duty faithfully to restrain and reprove
her child ; and, perhaps, there is not a mother, who will
not find her determination more fortified, when, meet-
ing her sisters, they have compared their own cases,
and seen the limits to which duty carried others when
refusing to inflict pain, and the limits to which duty
carried them when inflicting it.

They tend likewise to facilitate the discharge of ma-

MATERNAL ASSOCIATIONS. 175

ternal duties by encouraging mothers. And here I
wish to meet an objection, which seems to imply, that,
if a lady joins a Maternal Association, she has peculiar
need of being instructed. I look at the subject just in
the other light ; I would say, if the kind providence of
God has given to any mother peculiar light on this sub-
ject, peculiar strength and peculiar faith, she is the very
person to go to her sisters and given them the benefit
of the light God has given her, and give them the
benefit of the faith and confidence which inspire her
own soul. Here is the very sphere for her benevolence
and her talent.

5. And I close my arguments in favor of Maternal
Associations, by presenting the fact, that they lead to
concerted prayer for children.

I well remember to have heard it remarked, long
before Maternal Associations were instituted, that, in a
particular church in the State of New York, a number
of fathers set apart an evening in the week to meet and
pray for their children ; and the remark was made to
me fifteen years ago, that every child of those families
was converted to God ; there was not one left out.
Oh ! it must be good for mothers to meet together and
talk of the value of the souls of their children. It must
be good for mothers to meet together, and talk of the
guilt and danger of their children, and together talk
over the precious promises that encourage them, and
together bow them before the mercy-seat, and plead,
(those " two or three gathered together,") that God
would convert their children's souls. I need not dwell
upon such an argument. It is certainly good for you
to pray alone for your children ; and it is certainly
good for you to get your sister to pray also for your

176 SERMON VI.

children. It is good to have regular periodical prayer
for your children, as well as to have constant family-
prayer.

And thus I close my advocacy for Maternal Associ-
ations. 1 have expounded to you the honest con-
victions and the warm feelings of my own heart in
respect to these important Associations ; but (as I re-
marked before) I am unable to judge particularly of
the duty of others, because it is a recent institution,
and may need to be greatly modified in its introduction
to different states of society.

Let me close with a word more particularly ad-
dressed to mothers.

Mothers ! give your children every advantage —
every advantage that truth can give, — every advantage
that a holy example can give, — every advantage that
much pleading the promises of God can give. Yon
feel for the diseases of the body of your child ; you are
speedy in sending for the physician, when the body is
diseased; oh ! feel for that immortal disease of sin, and
send for the great Physician. And, if he comes not at
the first knock, knock again ; for he says " it shall be
opened ;" ask again, for he says that " it shall be given
you;" seek again, for he says that "ye shall find."
Oh ! seek salvation for your children. Seek that they
may be converted early ; for if you want testimonies,
there are enough of us that can give a painful testi-
mony, that it is too late to be converted at twenty and
at twenty-one. Not that we may not — not that we are
not — for some of us reached even that period ; but
what we mean is this — it is too late for many im-
portant purposes. It is so late that it gives, to the end
of life, fearful struggles with the habits of the heart.

MATERNAL ASSOCIATIONS. 177

It is too late, because there is so much left unlearned,
that we should have learned if we had been pious in
our early youth ; we should have gone so much deeper
into the counsels of God, if we had come early to
Christ, and, like Timothy, learned the Scriptures on
our mother's lap, and followed the finger of a mother's
love as it pointed to the Savior. Oh ! pray that your
sons may not grow up in sin ; pray that they may be
converted in their earliest years ; labqr that they may
be converted in their earlier years. Pray that your
daughters, from the first development of their moral
faculties, their moral being, may learn to love their
God and Savior, and be trained for usefulness here
and glory hereafter. Your responsibility is great ; for
the evils of society are to be rectified in the young.
Mothers ! with you, who can harm them, who can
train them, rests this responsibility; and may God's
blessed Spirit impress it on your hearts, and lead you
to seek light and grace at the fountain from which they
come.

Mothers ! bring up your little ones to Jesus. Bring
them by faith ; and if Satan seems to stand and re-
buke, if a wicked and unbelieving world, by its ex-
ample and its influence and its maxims, seems to
rebuke, still bring your little ones to Christ ; still press
even to his feet, and never bear your mother's burdens
alone, but roll them upon a breast that beats in sym-
pathy with yours ; roll them upon the heart, and roll
them upon the arms of the blessed Redeemer. Bring
them to Jesus as their Savior. Bring them to Jesus as
their Sovereign, and teach their wills to bow to his will.
Bring them to Jesus as their pattern. It is said of a
Grecian mother, that, when Alexander the Great was

178 SERMON VI.

passing in the crowd, with his tall helmet and waving
plumes, she raised up her child above her head, and said
to him, " Look there ! that is Alexander the Great, and
you must be another." We only point to the heathen
mother, to teach you to take a high example ; take the
example of Jesus, and teach your child his blessed
history, and say, " There, my child ! be like Jesus ;
tread in the footsteps of Jesus."

I see before me some dear little children. Next Sun-
day afternoon I hope to address a whole sermon to
children, and to tell them how much we, ministers,
love them, how much we, ministers, long to see them
Christians ; I hope then to say something to them, that
the God of grace may bless to their little hearts ; but I
am unwilling that they should go away this morning
without a word. Dear little children ! look at me,
look at me as your friend ; look at me as a minister of
Christ sent by the blessed Jesus to teach you. I want
you to love Christ ; for I have seen dear little children
that loved Christ ; I have seen dear little children, that
wept because they had wicked hearts ; I have seen
dear little children, that loved to speak of the blessed
Savior, who came and died for them. Are you such
a child ? Do you repent for sin ? Do you know how
wicked a heart you have ? Do you know how God
is displeased even with the sins of children ? do you
know that you need the Holy Spirit to make you holy,
and that you need the blood of Jesus to save you?
Dear little children ! have you read the story of the
Savior's sufferings ? Do you remember how they
whipped him, and how the blood ran down his body
as they scourged him ? Have you read how he went
out into the garden, and wept and prayed and lay upon

MATERNAL ASSOCIATIONS. 179

the ground in an agony? Have you never thought of
it all ? It was because he loved your little souls, that
he bore it. You know he never sent little children
away from him ; he always took them in his arms and
blessed them; and you may be sure, that, when he
prayed in that garden, he did not forget you. And
when they nailed him to the cross, and put upon his
head the cruel crown of thorns, and the blood ran
down, dear children ! he was dying for you. If he
had not died, you must have gone to hell ; but he died,
that you might be taken into heaven at last. Will you
love him ? Will you give him your hearts now ? I
seem to see him going from seat to seat, and he stops
at the little children ; many great men would pass you
by, but Jesus Christ will not. He seems to stand at the
door of little children's hearts, and to say, " Behold, I
stand at the door and knock ; if any" little children
" open the door, I will come in" to be their Savior.
Will you open your hearts to him. dear little children?
Will you say, < Come, blessed Savior ! and I will be
thine obedient child ; I will love thee, I will serve thee,
and then, when I die, and my body is laid in the cold
grave, I hope that my soul will rise with holy angels
to love and praise and pray !'

SERMON VII.

CHILDREN URGED TO HEARKEN TO INSTRUC-
TION, AND TO FEAR THE LORD.

* Come, ye children ! hearken unto me ; I will teach
you the fear of the Lord" — Psalm xxxiv. 11.

You know, when a minister preaches, he divides his
sermon into different parts ; sometimes we call them,
heads of the sermon ; and there are some that under-
stand it so well, that they have their pencil and paper
and take down each one of the heads. Now I want
you to recollect them, whether you write them down
or not ; because your teacher, or your parents, will ask
you what the heads of the sermon were. I want every
child to understand now, what the heads of the sermon
mean ; they are the different points about which the
minister makes his remarks.

Now I am going to give you two general heads in
this sermon, and then, under each one of these general
heads, several smaller particular heads.

I. I am going to tell you, in the first place, several
reasons why children should pay great attention to ser-
mons. " Come, ye children, hearken unto me."

I shall give you four reasons why every child ought
to listen very attentively to the preacher ; now, under-

16

182 SERMON VII.

stand that you must recollect these heads — these four
reasons that 1 give.

1. The first is this : if children do not pay great at-
tention to the sermon, they cannot learn. Children
come to church to learn, just as they go to Sabbath-
school to learn ; but you cannot learn what the minis-
ter teaches you, if you do not attend to it. If there are
two children in a class at school, that are going to
study a lesson in geography — and if one of them, all
the time that he ought to be studying, is looking about,
is talking to some other child, is reading some other
book, or is thinking about something else besides the
lesson in geography, which they have to learn — and
if the other child attends to the geography, reads the
lesson over, thinks of it, or, when the teacher is making
any explanation, listens to every thing which the
teacher says — you know which of those children will
be prepared to recite the lesson in geography when
the time comes. Just so in a sermon : that child that
fixes his or her eye upon the minister, that child that
attends to the minister, is the child that will learn the
precious truths which the minister teaches ; but the
child that is looking about, that is talking about any
thing, or that is thinking about something else, cannot
learn any thing that is taught in the pulpit. I have
been quite accustomed to preach and to talk a great
deal to the children in my church, and I have some
very dear children there that I love a great deal ; and
I love them, because they have paid so much attention
to what I have preached to them from the pulpit, and
what I have said to them in the meetings where I
have addressed them. There was one little girl whom
I will tell you about, to show you what kind of hearers

INSTRUCTION OF CHILDREN. 183

we want among children. I have noticed her, as she
sat always in her father's seat in the church, remark-
ably fixing her eyes on me as soon as I rose up in
the pulpit to begin the exercises ; but I did not know
so much about her, till one day, when I was sick and
confined to my chamber, her father called to see me,
and began to talk about his dear little Mary, that was
about nine or ten years of age. Said he, " Have you
ever noticed how my little girl sits in church ?" I
said that I had not particularly noticed any thing but
this, that I used to love to turn to that side of the
church, because, if any one is preaching, he loves to
see every person's eye on him, and, whenever I looked,
this little girl's bright eyes were always fixed on me.
But her father told me more about her. He said, that
from the time I rose in the pulpit, she never turned
her head one moment away from me, except some-
times when I said any thing that touched her heart
very much, she would turn round to her mother, and
say, " Is not that sweet ?" and that was the only time
when she would turn away from the preacher. But
here was what struck me with great force about this
little girl, one so young: it was the custom of this fa-
ther, every Sabbath afternoon, after the second service,
to go home and get all his children around him, and
begin to talk over the sermon of the morning, and
then the sermon of the afternoon ; they found the text,
and each one read it, and then the father would begin
to tell what he recollected of the sermon, and then the
mother repeated what she recollected and that he had
omitted ; and the father assured me, that sometimes
they forgot one of the heads of the sermon, one of the
divisions, and they would turn to little Mary, and she

184 SERMON VII.

would recollect it. I was quite surprised ; but I have
learned more about little children since then, and I
find that they can be very profitable hearers of sermons ;
and ever since that time it has encouraged me a great
deal, even when 1 am preaching to grown people, to
talk especially to children, because I find that dear
little children can understand me ; and that is all a
minister wants, for the people to understand him, and
think about what he says.

2. Now, children ! I have given you one reason
why you should pay attention to sermons, and that is,
that, if you do not, you cannot learn ; and the second
reason is, that yon cannot be made good but by learn-
ing. You will find a text written in the New Testa-
ment, that "faith cometh by hearing;" that is, it is
when people hear the Bible read, and hear the sermon
which explains the Bible, that they get faith in God,
that they get to believe his truth, and then they feel
its power upon their hearts. Recollect, dear children I
that it is not hearing words that will make you good ;
I have known a little child, that would sit and look
right at a person that was telling a story, and, if you
were to go immediately afterwards and ask him what
he had heard, he could tell you almost nothing about
it ; and why? because, though his eyes were fixed upon
the person that was speaking, his thoughts were going
upon some other subject. And I am afraid now,
that there are a great many children in this church,
and even some of those that are looking right at me,
that do not hear me rightly. I am afraid that they do
not hear me talking, or know what I am saying.
Who is that child, which is that child, that is not
understanding what I am saying ? I want that child

INSTRUCTION OF CHILDREN. 185

to think and know. It will do him no good to come
to church, it will do him no good to go to Sabbath-
school or any other school, if his mind is inattentive
to what is said. You must understand the meaning
of what is said ; and if there is any thing, the meaning
of which you do not understand, you ought then to
try and recollect as much about it as you can, and
ask your parents, or ask your teacher, afterwards to
explain it to you. And more than that, dear children !
when you hear sermons, you must listen just as if it
was God himself that was speaking, because he sends
us. We come from God to you ; we have a message
from God to you. How very kind it is of the great
God, that he will stoop from heaven and send a
message to little children ! But he does it ; and where
is that little child that dare be careless while we are
delivering God's message? Children! you ought to
listen to sermons as for your life ; you ought to believe
all that is said, as coming from God, and your hearts
ought to feel it, and then you ought to go away from
the church to obey it.

3. Now I have given you two reasons why you
should attend to sermons — in order that you may learn,
and in order that you may be good ; and the third rea-
son is -this — because ministers love you. Dear chil-
dren ! we love you ; we love you very much. We love
you, because you have immortal souls, that will live
when your bodies are dead ; and because you are going
to the judgment seat of Christ, and going to eternity, to
heaven or to hell ; and it is, that you may not go to
hell, — it is, that you may not live in sin against God, —
it is, that you may not keep those wicked hearts that
offend God,— it is, that you may come to that blessed

16*

186 SERMON VII.

Savior, who, when on earth, laid his hands on children
and blessed them, — it is, that you may believe the gos-
pel with your whole hearts, and die in peace and love
and fellowship with Christ, that we come to preach to
you. We have prayed for you, dear children ! we have
felt for yon ; we feel for you now ; we love you ; and
if we love you, will you not love us ? and if you love
us, will you not listen to us ? It is a great deal easier
to preach to grown-up people, than it is to little chil-
dren,— so many of you are restless and making a noise,
and it is so much harder to explain things to you than
to grown-up people ; and yet we are willing to do it.
Oh ! it is very ungrateful in a little child, not to pay
great attention to what we say, when we come here and
try to teach you. And an ungrateful child never grows
up to be a good man or woman. An ungrateful heart
is one of the things of which God most complains.
Every little child ought to be very grateful to his Sab-
bath school teacher, who comes so regularly, and sacri-
fices so many comforts for you ; you ought to be very
grateful to these teachers, to love them, and to pay them
great attention. And so with the minister, who loves
you, and feels for your souls, and prays to God on your
behalf, and comes to instruct you, and tries to lead you
to the Lamb of God, who has taken away your sins ;
you ought to love him, and you ought to listen to him.
4. And now I will give you a fourth reason why you
should listen to the preacher, listen with your mind,
and attend with your mind, as well as with your ear
and eye ; it is because God himself speaks. I have
already said, that God speaks through his ministers;
but I want you now to treat it as a distinct reason. If
the great God should come down here, as he did upon

INSTRUCTION OF CHILDREN. 187

the top of Mount Sinai, in a cloud, and with lightnings
and thunder and the sound of a trumpet, — if this house
should tremble, and the ceiling should open, and the
glory of the eternal King should appear, and the voice
of God should sound out, — all the children would lis-
ten. Well, children ! it is just as really that eternal
God, whom the angels adore, who is now speaking.
He makes use of us ; but he will bring you into judg-
ment at the last day for every sermon that you have
heard ; and if you do not listen to them, if you reject
them, then God will bring you into judgment for neg-
lecting him and rejecting his message.

Now, children ! do you all understand this first head,
that children ought to pay great attention to the preach-
er ? I have given you four reasons for it. The first is,
that if you do not pay attention, you cannot learn ; and
where is that child, that is willing to be stupid and
ignorant — especially not to learn God's great and pre-
cious truth ? The second is, that, if you do not pay
great attention, with your eye, with your ear, with your
hearts, you cannot be made good. The third is, be-
cause ministers love you. And the fourth is, because
God himself speaks to you by us. That you will see,
when you come to read the rest of the verse : and that
is the next part of our subject.

« Come, ye children ! hearken unto me." Well, what
shall I teach you, when you listen ? I suppose now,
that the greater part of these dear children will listen
to me, for the rest of my sermon ; I suppose that they
have made up their minds to listen very attentively and
very solemnly ; and if so, try to feel what I say, and
pray that the Holy Spirit of God may help you to re-
member it and obey it.

188 SERMON VII.

II. " Come, ye children ! hearken unto me; I will

TEACH YOU THE FEAR OF THE LORD." I Want tO

teach you, dear children, to fear God.

Why ought you to fear God ? I am going to give you
three reasons for that.

1. The first reason why we ought to fear God is, be-
cause he is so great. " Come, ye children ! hearken
unto me ;" I am now your minister, and I am your dear
friend : come, listen to me, and I will teach you to fear
the s:reat God. When I was a little boy, this thought
used often to come into my mind — 'How -is it possible
that God never had a beginning?' Many and many a
time I tried to carry my thoughts back before the world
was, before the angels were — backward, backward into
eternity — and thought, < How is it possible that God
never had a beginning ?' — and then to carry my mind
onward and onward, after we are dead, and after those
that shall come next are dead, the next generation dead,
the world burnt up, the judgment day passed, all of us
in eternity, onward and onward and onward for ever —
and yet God will never cease to be. Oh ! what a great
and awful Being is God ! He existed from eternity, he
exists to eternity ; he exists in himself ; no other being
keeps him in existence ; he is God. He fills all im-
mensity, all worlds, all the universe ; he sustains the
planets, for he made them ; he made the sun, he made
the moon, he made the distant worlds, perhaps millions
and millions of them : he made this world, he keeps it
in being ; he made the beasts and the trees, the birds,
and the fishes of the sea, all men and all children, and
holds them in his hand. What a great God is he, that
takes care of all this congregation ! — what a mighty
God ! Well, this God, so great in power, who made the

INSTRUCTION OF CHILDREN. 189

heavens and the earth, who bnilt the everlasting moun-
tains, and made the sea, — this God, whom the angels
fear. — this great God, who. cast down the rebel angels
into hell, sent a deluge upon this wicked world and
drowned all its inhabitants,— this great God, who sent
the fire of his wrath upon Sodom and Gomorrah, and
burnt them up, because of their sins, — this great God,
who cast Pharoah and all the Egyptian army into the Red
Sea — this great God, who thunders in the heavens, and
can make the earth quake from pole to pole — this great
God, children ! you ought to " fear." He is able to lift
you up, and he is able to cast you down. He is able
to cast all the wicked into hell, and he is able there " to
destroy both soul and body for ever." Would you be
afraid of a lion in your path, that could destroy you ?
God made the ferocious lion ; and if God is " angry
with the wicked," his anger is infinitely more terrible
than the anger of any creature that he has made.
Dear children ! if we fear the creatures that God has
made, how much more ought we to be afraid of the anger
of the great and powerful God ! " Come, ye children !
hearken unto me ; I will teach you the fear of the Lord."
You ought to fear the power and the anger of the great
God.

2. There is another reason why you should fear him,
and this is the second I am about to mention ; it is be-
cause God is so holy. God is holy, dear children ! and
he knows your hearts, he knows your thoughts, he
knows all your words, and he hates every sin. He hates
your sins very much. He requires you to " be holy, as
he is holy." This holy God will punish iniquity.
There is a day coming, when he will bring us all up
before his judgment-seat ; and there is not a child, that

190 SERMON VII.

I am speaking to this afternoon, that will not have to
stand at the judgment-seat of the orreat God. Children !
think of this holy God, who will bring you into judg-
ment ; think of your wicked hearts, and your wicked
lives, and all your wicked words, that God will bring
out at that great and terrible day. You will have to
stand there ; none of us can escape ; death and the
grave will not hold us, for, when the archangel's trum-
pet shall blow, we shall all come out of our graves and
go and stand before God. We, then, who have sinned
against him, we who have provoked him to wrath,
ought to fear his anger. Hence it is said, that all who
are round about him shall " fear before him." You
must approach him with reverence, with repentance,
and with sincerity. And then understand, dear chil-
dren ! (as I preached this morning, and I repeat it to
those who were not here,) that the only way to come to
a holy God is to come through his dear Son. You
must come through Jesus Christ. Your sins are great,
and call for the anger of God, and, unless you approach
him through his dear Son, Jesus Christ, you must per-
ish. I have known some dear little children, (I have
known many of them, for I have seen a great many
children that I think loved God,) and I have seen them
greatly troubled about their sins ; I have seen them so
troubled, that for days, and sometimes for weeks, they
could hardly sleep in quiet, for every night when they
were going to bed the thought came to them, < Oh ! if I
should die to-night ! Oh ! if God should take me away
in my sins !' I used to be afraid of dying, when I was
a boy ; and I wonder now that God did not cut me off
then, so wicked a boy as I was ; and many of you, dear
children ! ought to fear too, for you have been very

INSTRUCTION OP CHILDREN. 191

wicked. I remember, that once I was playing with
some other little boys by the side of a great river, and I
carelessly ran over the edge of the bank and fell into
the river ; but it was low tide ; if it had been high tide,
I should certainly have been drowned ; suppose I had,
then I should have gone to hell, for I was a wicked
boy, as I fear many of you are. Oh ! what a mercy it
was that God did not let me drown then, and did not
let me die in my sins ! And so it is with you ; and you
ought to be afraid of this holy God ; you ought to be
afraid to sleep, while your sins are unpardoned and
your hearts are unconverted, because God is so holy
that he cannot bear to look upon sin, even in the heart
and in the life of a child. And how are you ever going
to dwell in the holy heaven of God, and with his holy
angels, dear children ! unless your hearts become holy?
You must become holy, the Spirit of Christ must make
you holy, or you cannot dwell with God. Therefore
you ought to be very much afraid, lest God should give
you up to your wicked heart, and lest God should take
away his Holy Spirit from you, and then you would
never become holy, and never dwell in his presence.

3. Now I am going to mention a third reason, be-
sides God's being so great and so holy ; and it is,
because God is able to do what he will with you, both
in this life and the next. All the children that hear
me, if they live, will grow up to be men and women.
Children ! who can take care of you in this life ? Your
fathers and mothers, (you whose parents God has
spared,) — your fathers and mothers can do much for
you ; your friends can do much for you ; but there
is a great deal that they cannot do for you. They
cannot make you happy; they cannot make other

192 SERMON VII.

people respect you ; they cannot make you succeed
in any thing you undertake in this world ; all true
happiness must come from God, and the respect of men
must come because God gives it to us ; and all success
in life must come from God ; all real good must come
from God. Now, dear children ! God can do what he
pleases with you. He can let you grow up wicked ;
he can leave you to temptation, leave you to bad com-
pany, leave you to disgrace. I have known the chil-
dren of pious parents grow up so wicked, that the
parents have had to turn them from their doors; I
have known them to fall into the temptations of the
devil and into the company of wicked boys, and to be
led on from one sin to another, till they became so
wicked and so hardened, that their parents could not
bear them under their roof. It is true, as far as we
are able to trace, that the greater part of the children
that are trained up in Sabbath-schools, grow up re-
spectable in this life, though I am afraid very many
of them go down to hell, because they will not believe
on Christ in their hearts. But, dear children ! God
can leave you to temptation, to bad company, to dis-
grace and sorrow; he can take away your parents, he
can take away your friends, he can give you up to a
hard heart, and then, after a life of wickedness, he
can leave you to die in despair. I have seen persons
die in despair ; and I pray to God, that none of you,
dear children, may live in wickedness and at last die
in despair and without hope in God. Children ! be
afraid of God, because he can bring sorrow, woe,
penury, in this life, despair in your dying hours, and
everlasting destruction in the life to come.

"Children! hearken unto me;" you must be afraid

INSTRUCTION OF CHILDREN. 193

of displeasing God ; you must have great reverence for
God. When you read the Bible, you must fear God,
because he is a great and a holy God ; when you go
into your little room apart to pray, you must fear God :
when you go to the Sabbath-school you must fear
God ; when you come into the sanctuary, where God
is worshipped, you must fear God ; you must neither
talk and laugh with one another, nor let light and
trifling thoughts come into your minds, but you must
feel that the place is holy. Come, children ! learn
to fear God. I was delighted this afternoon, to hear
so many children's voices joining in the solemn songs
of Zion ; that is sweet ; but Oh ! how much sweeter
the thought would be, if I could believe that every
child here feared God, that every child here was hum-
bled in the presence of God, sorrowful for having
sinned against him, and that every child here desired,
more than any thing else, that God would take away
his anger and remove his displeasure from them !
Children ! fear God, so as to repent of sin ; fear God,
so as to obey him ; fear God, so that when you go in
secret, you will not dare to sin. Children, when they
get alone, are not afraid to sin, because they are not
afraid of God ; they are afraid to sin before their
parents, they are afraid to say a wicked word before
their father, because he will chastise them, but, when
they get alone, they are not afraid of doing it. " Thou
God seest me," every child should say — " Thou God
seest me" in the darkness, as well as in the light ;
« Thou God seest me" when I am alone, as well as
when I am with my parents. When you get with
wicked children, you should fear him ; when you
hear them swear, when they hand you wicked in-

17

194 SERMON VII.

decent books or pictures, tear God, my children !
The boy that has the fear of God, may grow up to
live to God's glory in this world, and to dwell with
him in his glory in the next. I have no hope of the
boy that has not the fear of God ; if he should do well
in this life (as men say) he would perish for ever in
the next.

Now I am about to finish the sermon : but I want
first to point you, for one or two minutes, to the cases of
three or four individuals, that feared God in their youth.

You recollect little Samuel. You have read his
history. Little Samuel was in the temple night and
day, always waiting upon God, always fearing and
serving God. Samuel, you see, got to be one of the
greatest prophets in Israel ; he anointed Saul, and after-
wards David, to be king of Israel.

You recollect the case of Joseph. When Potiphar's
wife tempted him to sin, Joseph feared God. and refused
to sin ; and God honored him, and saved him, and set
him on high, and made him a blessing to his family
and to the whole land of Egypt.

But I want to tell you particularly of a person, ol
whom you may not have heard so much ; all the chil-
dren in America have heard much of him, because he
lived there, and he was a very great and good man. I
mean George Washington — one of the greatest men, I
think, in some respects that has lived in modern days ;
and I admire him, because, when he was a little boy,
I see the reason why he was sure to become a great
man.. I will tell you two things about George Wash-
ington, when he was a little boy, that were sure se-
curity that he would become what he was. George
Washington would rather die than tell a lie, he would

INSTRUCTION OF CHILDREN. 195

rather suffer any thing than violate the truth ; and one
of the dreadful crimes of children is, that they lie, that
they deceive, though God knows it and writes every
lie and every deception in his book. This boy feared
to lie; and I will give you two instances of it.

His father had imported from Europe a beautiful
cherry-tree, and had planted it in his garden, and
watched it every day with great interest to see it grow.
He had bought for his son George a hatchet to play
with. One day George was in the garden with his
little hatchet, and without much thought of what he
was doing, he came to this beautiful tree, and cut the
bark almost round in several places — for you know
boys are fond of using edged tools in that way. His
father, taking his walk in the garden, found the tree
cut in this way, and he saw it must die. He was very
much grieved, and he saw at once who must have
done it ; but he said nothing, till he met George ; he
did not send for him, but waited till he met him. And
the first time he met him, he said, " George ! some one
has destroyed my favorite tree ; do you know who has
done it?" The little boy, instead of blushing and
turning away, instead of making excuses, instead of
telling a falsehood, looked right up in his father's face,
and said, " My father ! I have done it." Tears in-
stantly rolled down his father's cheek; he laid his
right hand upon his boy's head ; said he, " George ! I
would rather lose every tree in my garden, than that
you should tell a lie ; I like to see the manliness of
your heart, that you should at once confess, < I have
done it.' "

His mother head a little dun colt, a foal that had
never been broken in. One morning before breakfast

196 SERMON VII.

several of George's companions came to see him., and
they happened to go out together into the meadow
where the colt was. George proposed that one of them
should get upon the colt, and ride ; but none of them
would venture. He was a fearless boy himself, and he
got a bridle, (or rather a bit of rope,) fastened it to the
horse's neck, and then mounted it. But the colt was
so restless, and sprang about so much, that at last it
dashed itself to the earth, burst, a blood vessel, and died
almost in a moment. The boys all went to breakfast,
and Mrs. Washington endeavored to amuse them and
make them happy ; but she saw that they were not
happy ; she saw that there was something to make
them sad. At last said she, "Have you seen my
favorite colt?" All the boys blushed in confusion and
distress. Said she — " What is the matter ? has any
thing happened to my colt?" Her little son George
looked right in her face ; said he, ct Mother, I have
killed your colt ?" His mother was grieved of course ;
but her remarks to him were very much like those, that
his father made.

Now I will tell you one other thing about him, to
show in what way I think it was evident that he would
become a great man. He was about to go to sea as a
midshipman ; every thing was arranged, — the vessel
lay out opposite his father's house, the little boat had
come on shore to take him off, — and his whole heart
was bent on going. After his trunk had been carried
down to the boat, he went to bid his mother farewell,
and he saw the tear bursting from her eye. However
she said nothing to him ; but he saw that his mother
would be so distressed if he went, and perhaps never
be happy again. He just turned round to the servant,

PRACTICAL LOVE TO CHRIST. 201

Do you shrink from that low and filthy apartment, from
that emaciated and disgusting frame, because your
senses are trained to refinement? do you pass by on the
other side from the bed of contagion ? So Jesus says,
" I was sick, and ye did not visit me." You are mis-
taken, friends ! that is a bed of state, and Heaven's
prince lies there disguised by all that filth and poverty
— all his ministering spirits are hovering around that
spot. It is a glorious place, in which a poor sinner
may minister to his Sovereign. Do you say that we
have imagined an extreme case. Oh, no, " Inasmuch
as ye have done it unto the least, ye have done it unto
me." l Yes ; but there is another case of debasement,
which surely contradicts your assertion.' What is it ?
1 It is that of the man who has outraged all the ties of
society, trampled its laws under his feet, made himself
the enemy of his race, and cast himself beyond the pale
of sympathy ; and now lies enchained and endungeoned
for his crimes. Surely Christ has no fellowship with
him.' Stop, my hearers ! read the record again ; " I
was in prison, and ye did not come unto me." When,
Lord ! and where ? < There, in that lowest and least
of Adam's apostate children.' But we have not finished
the application of the principle — there is a still further
debasement of humanity. It is a woman, who, having
sacrificed her modesty, purity, refinement and tender-
ness, has become an outcast from society. Does the
Son of God regard her thus too ? Go ask the Phari-
sees, who saw him associating with the worst of men
and women, as their Teacher and Savior, and even re-
ceiving, with the most condescending kindness, Mary's
expressions of gratitude. They can testify that he loved
the worst, and the vilest, with the same tender affection

202 SERMON VIII.

which he felt towards the more upright and respectable.
He associated with them, taught them, encouraged their
reformation, prayed, and died for them, as for others.
Are your doubts removed now ; and can you now take
up this proposition as truth ? Then I answer a very
natural inquiry, Why is it so ?

1. Because Christ's compassion for our race is so
strong and impartial. It is so strong ; therefore, no
man can sink helow it, so long as Justice permits Mercy
to be exercised in his behalf. It is impartial ; and
therefore it regards the Christian family as a great race
of apostates. The grand distinction, that constitutes us
sinners, is so much greater than that which can possi-
bly separate one sinner from another, — except grace
work in us a difference, — that to Christ's compassion it
is nothing. He loves human nature, as such, and as
fallen ; not as holy, nor love!/. And it is of the nature
of sympathy to identify its possessor with its object j
thus it is with the mother ; her first-bam is as the apple
of her eye. Thus Christ feels towards all, — for he died
for all as dead.

2. There is another reason. It is a better test of our
compassion and benevolence than if we helped Christ
in person. He desires that one principle of action in
us shall be, good will to man. Therefore, although he
considers all our good will and kindness to men as shown
to himself, yet he prefers that we shall consider it in
part as done to them, and that we shall sympathize
with him in this pure love of human nature, which
pursues it to the extremities of its folly, and the abysses
of its degradation.

3. There is a third reason. It is thus a strong test
of our love to him personally. He is now in disguise.

PRACTICAL LOVE TO CHRIST. 203

If you can join a party only when it is triumphant, you
betray a want of real and strong attachment to their
principles; if you can acknowledge Christ, only when
he appears in external splendor, that he will despise.
The test now applied to the whole human family is
this : — will you make common cause with Christ when
his cause is despised and persecuted ? — will you labor,
weep, pray, suffer, expend, or die for human nature in
its lowest state, partly for its sake, and chiefly for his ?

Another point is suggested by the subject and object
of our meeting. I am addressing a community, to
whom applications are made continually for the gift of
their property for the benefit of other people. Now, is
this right ? Some say, l No.' I must answer, that it is
right ; it is blessed in those who apply ; it is merciful
in God to afford us the opportunities of charity. It is
blessed to us in the fulfilment of God's precious promi-
ses to the liberal soul.

But let us take a closer view of this point. Why
are we not called upon to give all that we are to give,
and then rest for a time, and prepare ourselves for
another onset upon our sympathies and purses? I
will tell you, my brethren, of this flourishing com-
mercial city ! many reasons why it is not best. And
the first is —

1. Your prosperity would be your ruin. It would
encrust your hearts over with selfishness. It would
tend to degrade your Christian character. The very
fact, that such a question is entertained, betrays a
state of mind full of danger to a Christian. You cer-
tainly take a very low view of God's design in giving
you property, if you love money for its own sake ; if
you love it for the sake of promoting your own grati-

204 SERMON VIII.

fications ; — if you count not yourself a steward of God's
property, and accountable to him for it all ; — then the
more you have the worse. Let me suggest another
consideration.

2. God is lifting this world from sin and degradation
by human instruments. He has himself spared no
expense in the work, not even his own Son ; and we
are most graciously permitted to participate in it. This
is the proper view to take of these calls for money,
perpetually returning. If it is not to promote some
branch of the great enterprise which lies on the heart
of infinite love, and taxes the resources of Heaven's
King, then do not contribute. Benevolence is the
law of his empire ; but what is benevolence ? — to grow
weary of doing good — to wish to have all the good in
one form — to do it one time, and then live in selfish-
ness ? Away with such views, my brethren ! If they
have occupied your minds, banish them. Let your
benevolence to man be like the morning visits of the
sun. It never exclaims, c What ! has this besting
earth returned, with its swarms of begging creatures,
taxing my treasures of light and warmth V Give,
my brethren ! like the sun ; give, like him who made
the sun, and appointed it the emblem of his perpetual
and munificent goodness. This is, probably, the
wealthiest city in the world. Its merchants are
princes. They ought to be first in the princely work
of benevolence. There is magnificence of expendi-
ture, there ought to be munificence in charity. What
moral sublimity would pertain to London, if we could
look upon its mighty commerce, and believe that it
was all consecrated to the promotion of Christ's king-
dom, and the removal of human misery ! Your palaces

PRACTICAL LOVE TO CHRIST. 205

would be more splendid, if they did not cast their daily-
shadows on so many wretched, — most wretched crea-
tures. It is impossible for a mind, properly humanized,
to look at the marks of grandeur and luxury here
accumulated, without the recollection of the contracted
condition of thousands of your citizens. It should be
the earnest prayer of every lover of the human species,
that London may speedily become the model for the
world's beneficence, the great instructor of mankind in
the true and most proper uses of money.

I must now explain, more specifically, the objects,
plans, and claims of the London Female Mission.
Woman is the object of its holy enterprise ; her con-
dition has excited our compassion, and her welfare is
the goal of our pursuits ; and we now solicit your
kind attention to those views of her state which have
enlisted our hearts in this enterprise of mercy. Chris-
tianity has elevated her, and greatly blessed her. But
we indulge a delusion in selecting some instances of
female excellence, which are merely the demonstration
of its benign power, while we overlook the myriads,
who are yet without the sphere of its direct influence ;
it is unfortunate that we so often rest with complacency
in contemplating what Christianity has done, and
may do, — when these results are but the first fruits
of a harvest,— instead of investigating the melancholy
condition of those, whose future elevation may yet
add gloriously to its triumphs. We exhort, then, our
fellow-Christians to behold the lovely and elevated
character of the mothers and daughters in Israel, — tt
remember that the contrast between them and their
Pagan ancestry is the effect of the gospel of Jesus
Christ. We exhort them to turn from these hundreds,

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206 SERMON VIII.

and behold the thousands who are untaught, unrefined,
and unsanctified. That ignorance can give place to
knowledge ; those hearts are capable of the highest
degrees of refinement ; those Magdalenes can yet be-
come the most humble and grateful worshippers at the
Savior's feet, and sing the loudest, sweetest song in
heaven. We propose not, in this statement, to present
the reflection of the whole living picture of female
degradation. If we shall succeed in directing the at-
tention of philanthropists to the subject in any greater
degree ; if we can induce a more earnest examination
into the condition of this important part of the great
social system ; then our first object is gained. We
ask attention, then, to the present condition of the
female sex in Christian countries, and more especially
in this great metropolis.

Mothers. We deem the maternal relation to be
one of the most important in society. The human
character, both intellectual and moral — nay, the entire
man, physical, intellectual, moral, and social— is ex-
quisitely flexible at a certain period of his life. This
period is spent in closer contact with the mother than
with any other being. Her influence is, consequently,
the most powerful in forming the character of the
future man. If you would trace the crimes and
wretchedness of any one generation to their most im-
mediate source, you would find them in the influence
of mothers, in the power of example and precept, in
the neglect of restraint, discipline, and cultivation.
We believe, from our observation, and from the testi-
mony of God, that the human heart is depraved ; that
it is utterly deranged. But we also believe, that the
means of its recovery are granted to man. At the

PRACTICAL LOVE TO CHRIST. 207

most important period of his life, however, he is igno-
rant of his condition, and of the means of his improve-
ment. He has no conception of the nature of his own
beinof. Another must realize it for him ; he has no
estimate of the mighty issues that are suspended upon
the dispositions which he indulges, and the objects he
pursues. Another must see all this for him ; and,
if he did feel it, he knows not by what means his
character can be rightly formed. All this another must
know for him. Now, what affects us in the matter is,
that there are thousands who have the name, and oc-
cupy the station, of mothers, to whom this difficult
and important trust is committed, biit who are utterly
unqualified for it. They may not be deficient in
natural affection, and in the qualifications that regard
the lower wants of humanity ; but it is no exaggeration
to say, that for all the higher purposes of training the
human mind they are utterly unqualified. We find
widely spread the fatal defects in mothers. They are
insensible to the solemn nature and responsibilities of
the maternal relation, exceedingly ignorant of the du-
ties connected with that relation, and yet more ignorant
of the mode of discharging them. Another object of
our attention is,

The Young Female. There is a large number of
our sex, who regard females of a certain class in no
other light than as the instruments of gratifying their
basest desires. The basilisk eyes of lust are fixed
on female innocence and purity, all unguarded as it
is by experience, and unsuspicious of the first steps
of seduction. And no sacrifice of veracity and honor,
of time, expense, and effort, is considered too costly to
secure the victim. The domestic arrangements of the

208 SERMON VIII.

metropolis require annually thousands of young fe-
males to forsake their friends, their parents, and their
accustomed moral restraints; and we are quite con-
fident that hundreds of them come up, like a great
holocaust, to be offered on the polluted shrines of lust !
Not more truly horrible, nor so fatal, is the march of
the deluded worshippers to Juggernaut's festivals.
These facts have arrested our attention. And we be-
lieve the Church will yet feel, that something must be
done to guard the innocent and unsuspecting, and to
stay the work of death.

But we find something still more terrific ; — there is a
system and organization. Seduction has become a
trade, conducted with regularity, and with business-
tact. Hundreds of trained and veteran pimps are now in
the field. They circulate through the country, they are
in the high places, and in the humble sections of the me-
tropolis. Their hearts are like steel, and their con-
sciences like the covering of Leviathan. Their plots
are devised and their schemes laid with the skill of
long experience. Stimulated by the love of money,
reckless of the interests that are to be sacrificed at
every successful issue of their hellish plots, — nay,
proud of that success — they are now at work. Yea,
while we are now deliberating, some infernal hand is
spreading the toils. The victim is almost sure to fall.
But who is it ? Oh ! it is the daughter of a pious
widow, whom poverty compels to send away her last
earthly comfort. It is a link in the sweet circle of an
affectionate family. But the hour of their chastisement
has come. Their peace, their honor, their hearts, are
to feel the lightning's shock ; the blast of death strikes
one of their loveliest plants.

PRACTICAL LOVE TO CHRIST. 209

Fellow-Christians ! we can stand by and behold this
no longer; something must be done for these two
classes of females— the criminal, and the exposed. And
the first thing; we believe, is to secure the attention of
Christians to the actual condition of society in Chris-
tian countries, and particularly in our large cities. It
is impossible to direct the energies of philanthropy to
any object, until the relative importance of that object
is felt. The evil to be removed must be contemplated
in the detail and in the mass, and we must expect to
find at first much incredulity on the subject. Thus it
was with respect to the destitution of Bibles, and the
extent of intemperance in America. When the first
investigations were made, the results were incredible to
those, who had become acquainted merely with some
isolated case, and rested in vague conjectures concern-
ing the actual extent of these evils. The results of
examination were indeed appalling ; and, at first, the
statement of them was received with great incredulity;
we are not, therefore, surprised to find that, when the
first investigations were made in New- York on the sub-
ject of female prostitution, the publication created quite
a commotion. The political journals took up the sub-
ject with violence to defend the reputation of the city,
and to repel the " base aspersions." An exposure was
made of the capital embarked in furnishing and rent-
ing of houses in the most sumptuous style, of the
number of houses inhabited by abandoned females, of
the number of married men who patronized them, of
the number of annual seductions, and of the untimely
deaths, and (which baffles the powers of numbers) the
anguish and despair of these victims of criminal
passion. The statements were denied and ridiculed

18*

210 SERMON VIII.

by the wicked, and doubted by the good. Nor have
we any means now of establishing their correctness,
except the character and ability of the persons em-
ployed in gaining the information, together with the
analogous results in other branches of benevolent
operation. We are, accordingly, not surprised to find
the statistics of prostitution in London the subject of
controversy, nor shall we be surprised to find the num-
bers already given rather below than beyond the
reality.

It is time for the philanthropic portions of the com-
munity to direct their sympathetic attention toward
those two classes of young females — the criminal and
the exposed. It seems to be the glory of our age, that
no branch of human misery and depravity — however
tortuous its windings, however obscure its sources —
shall be left unexplored. Organization, union, effort,
for reaching degraded humanity, however situated —
for removing its burdens, for lifting it to the enjoyment
of the blessings of redemption — is the grand principle
of the Church. And God grant that it may never be
abandoned until Satan has abandoned his throne on
earth ; but that there may be more union, more wis-
dom, humility, zeal, and energy. We are quite con-
fident then that this form of human degradation and
misery will not be overlooked. The evil is too great
to be any longer disregarded. While the cry of the
heathen, of the drunkard and his family, of the orphan,
of the prisoner, of the ignorant, is coming up to the
ears of Christian sympathy, Oh ! let a place be found
in this miserable group for the immortals, who seem
to be, by their circumstances, shut out from the light
of the Gospel almost as effectually as the heathen.

PRACTICAL LOVE TO CHRIST. 211

Nay, if we were not moved by compassion for the
wretched victims of the great destroyer, there are con-
siderations sufficient, connected with our own welfare,
to secure our earnest attention to this subject. If we
regard not their anguish— their bitter recollection of
days of innocence — their shame and remorse — their
awful forebodings ; — if the numbers who are drinking
these bitter waters, — if the tender age of many of them,
— the former loveliness of others— do not effect us ; or,
rather, if our consciences will permit us to pass by
on the other side, and say, « Be ye reclaimed, be ye
saved" — let us, at least, consider their influence on that
society, of which we form a part, and in whose welfare
we have so deep an interest. These miserable beino-s
become, in their turns, the corruptors of others. All
the power of female fascination is enlisted against so-
ciety—many of them, in fact, turn upon our sex with
a spirit of desperate revenge. Such was declared, in
court, to have been the feeling and purpose of an un-
fortunate girl who was murdered in New- York last
winter. Let us, then, recollect that our sons, our
brothers — the young men of promise in our land— are
not proof against the influence of those whose subtlety
and skill has been so graphically noticed by Solomon :
and let us remember, that these houses, in the midst of
our dwellings, are "the chambers of death and the
gates to hell" — that our strong ones are enticed thither,
where they are lost to society, and often to heaven.

But, while we have thus dwelt at some length upon
one department of our labors, perhaps we may have
conveyed the impression, that that is the most import-
ant department in our estimation. But this is not the
case. All the children of the poor are embraced in our

212 SERMON VIII.

plans. We aim to secure the formation of their char-
acter at home — to make that sacred place (as God in-
tended it should be) the school in which man shall
learn his most valuable lessons. We aim, in a word,
to make the great social system more perfect, — as
Christianity is designed ultimately to make it, — by
establishing a more perfect harmony between the mem-
bers of the body ; the one that has abundant honor and
comfort having some line of communication, by which
it may learn the wants and sufferings of the other, and
thus sympathizing with it and imparting to it. This
practical benevolence is just what God has so fully en-
joined upon us in the Old Testament, and more im-
pressively commended and commanded in the New.
The Church is looking and praying for the great day
of Millennial light and glory ; but she looks for it in
vain without that action which God has enjoined upon
her. And that work is to be done in the detail. We
raise large sums of money, and send abroad our mis-
sionaries in companies of five and ten, but those mis-
sioneries must at last come down to minute and specific
labor, or they accomplish nothing. So must we here.
And are objects around us too abundant? We pro-
pose, as the end of our labors, to diminish the tempt-
ations to profligacy in the case of both sexes ; to de-
fend the innocent and unsuspecting ; to expose the
snares of the destroyers ; to spread the knowledge of
the gospel among those who will not come to its reg-
ular ministrations; to diminish the amount of public
crime and mendicity, and to advance the general in-
formation of human minds. In a word, we hope to be
the honored, though unworthy, instruments, in God's
hands, of banishing much actual misery, of preventing

PRACTICAL LOVE TO CHRIST. 213

still more, and of pointing, successfully, many a perish-
ing soul to the Lamb of God. Yes ; we indulge the
hope of meeting, when the toils of life are ended :
many, very many, whom God will give us as the seals
of our labors, rejoicing in his immortal glory. We
aspire even to the issue of seeing immortal spirits res-
cued from ruin, and obtaining the bliss of heaven for
others, and the rewards of grace for ourselves. For
we believe that the hand of the Lord is in this enter-
prise.

Brethren ! the Church has too long rested in a gene-
ral acknowledgment of this enormous evil ; she has too
long doubted the mercy and the promises of God. We
must no longer stand by and see Satan's ravages ; be-
hold all the wreck of the dearest human interests, and
yet do nothing. If there is malice towards man in hell,
there must be love on earth ; if there is activity there,
then there must be energy here. Nay ; if human agents
are doin^ the work of darkness, then human agents
must oppose them with the weapons' of light. If there
is organization here for destruction, then we must meet
it with organization for defence and deliverance. Our
work is improvement, prevention, cure. All are feasi-
ble with God's approbation and blessing. Having given
this general exposition of the objects of the Society,
you will allow me to state the several branches of its
operation.

I. The Instruction of Mothers. To effect this a ma-
tron is selected, of the requisite qualifications for gain-
ing easy access to families, for adapting herself to their
circumstances, and for instructing and counselling. It
will be her object, first, to find a sufficient number of
mothers who are willing to receive instruction, and to

214 SERMON VIII.

form them into sections for the sake of convenience,
then to enlist some benevolent and experienced person,
of her own sex, to take the particular charge of a sec-
tion. After forming several such sections, she will
make a uniform system for the whole, so far as is ne-
cessary, and superintend and direct the whole enterprise
of these maternal meetings. In these meetings the ob-
ligations, the duties, and the encouragements of mothers,
will be explained and enforced. Children will then be
made the subjects of special prayer ; but more of the
details of the plan will be communicated by the Com-
mittee, than we can properly introduce here. One sub-
ject, however, of especial importance we may add in
this connection. Poor and ignorant mothers must be
taught the nature and extent of their children's danger.
There must be excited in them a more lively abhor-
rence of the first step towards ruin, and they must be
made acquainted with the snares of the wicked. They
must teach and warn their daughters. They have a
peculiar commission from God to do it, and the dis-
charge of that trust must be urged upon them.

II. Young Females. We propose to begin with the
most ignorant, to aim at improving their mental con-
dition, guarding them from dangers, and to labor for
their eternal salvation.

III. Young Children. We do not wish to interfere
with the systems of public charitable instruction ; but
there is a wide field of usefulness left unoccupied, after
they have done all that they undertake. If other In-
stitutions are accomplishing all that is necessary, we
shall then be able to direct our energies to the other de-
partments ; but we are sure that, after all which has
been done to secure the religious education of poor chil-

PRACTICAL LOVE TO CHRIST. 215

dren, the field is yet white, very wide, and inviting a
multitude of laborers.

IV. Females of Bad Character. Where prevention
comes too late, we attempt a cure. There are hundreds
of these wretched beings who can yet be persuaded to
return to the paths of virtue. The society has employed
another matron, devoted entirely to this department.
Her duty is to visit them ; to converse with them ; to
distribute such tracts as are adapted to excite their fears,
and to encourage them to abandon their destructive
ways. Besides those, it has become evident that there
are numbers who need no exhortation ; they want di-
rection. They are as weary as galley slaves of their
horrible bondage, but their circumstances chain them.
They know not how to change, nor where to go. They
would fain return to their friends, but the door is closed
against them there. They would return to society, but
society despises them. There is, then, a most import-
ant part for Christian kindness to act. We may inter-
cede delicately with friends, and we may have, in
future, the same cheering success which has crowned
our past efforts. The hearts of anxious parents have
been relieved, their prayers answered, the dead has
been brought to life, the lost has been found. This
should be the great object of solicitude — to have them
restored to the friendship and guardianship of their own
kindred. But, where this is impracticable, — as, in too
many cases, they have no friend, no parent, no home, —
we must resort to the established method of forming
asylums, with but one important modification, — the re-
striction of the size of each asylum, — not allowing
more than twenty or thirty to live together.

Such are the objects of this Society, and such its pro-

216 SERMON VIII.

posed plan of usefulness. Its limited means have ne-
cessarily limited its action. But every stage of its infant
history is marked with the encouraging impress of Di-
vine goodness. We solicit the aid of the Church of
God, of the friends of mankind, of all who desire the
welfare of their fellow creatures. Surely the Savior
meant to embrace these very classes in his memorable
description of the judgment. Surely he will recognise
our efforts in this behalf, when we make them with
reference to his glory.

SERMON IX.

THE TEMPERANCE REFORMATION CONNECTED WITH
THE PROGRESS OF RELIGION.

" The voice of him that crieth in the loilderness, ' Pre-
pare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the
desert a highioay for our God /' Every valley shall
be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be
made low, and the crooked shall be made straight,
and the rough places plain, and the glory of the
Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it
together ; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken
^."—Isaiah xl. 3—5.

It has been announced, that the subject of discourse,
this evening, would be the connection between the
Temperance-reformation and the revival of Religion.
I venture to expand the idea a little beyond the notice,
and say, that it is the connection between the Tem-
perance-reformation and the Millennium.

Isaiah, in the striking and beautiful passage which
has been quoted, spoke of John the Baptist. Our au-
thority for this assertion is the direct declaration of the
Spirit of God ; the record is contained in Matthew, the
third chapter, the first three verses — "In those days

19

218 SERMON IX.

came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness
of Judea, and saying, ' Repent ye, for the kingdom of
heaven is at hand.' For this is he, that was spoken
of by the prophet Esaias, saying, c The voice of one
crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the
Lord, make his paths straight.' " He spoke of this
eminent man, under the figure of the herald that was
accustomed to precede the great monarchs of the East,
when passing through the desert — as in the celebrated
journey of the queen Semiramis, when a rond was
made through the vast deserts of Western Asia ; the
mountains were levelled, and the valleys were exalted,
and the roads too circuitous were made more direct,
and the rough places were reduced to smoothness, that
the sovereign might pass with ease, and in suitable
pomp and dignity. Under this beautiful imagery, de-
signing alone the moral movement of the Messiah, and
the moral preparation for his advent, and his reception
in the hearts of men, — under this beautiful imagery is
described the coming of the Son of God to reign, not
in temporal power, not over man in his political rela-
tions and interests, but over man in his moral relations,
man in his affections, man in his moral, spiritual and
eternal interests.

There is something peculiarly striking in comparing
this figurative language with the early preaching of
the herald of our Redeemer. " Prepare ye the way ;"
the Messiah is to come like one of those oriental
monarchs in their visits to Palestine or to Egypt, — is
to come over a vast desert, — and, when he comes, he
will find mountains and valleys and crooked places
and rough places impeding his march ; all ye people !
attend ; your Sovereign is about to descend from

TEMPERANCE AND RELIGION. 219

heaven, and march athwart this wilderness, and come
to bring redemption to his people ; " Prepare ye the
way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a high-
way for onr God ; every valley shall be exalted, and
every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the
crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places
plain ;' and when this preparatory work is accom-
plished, " the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and
all flesh shall see it together." Now turn to the preach-
ing of John the Baptist. " In those days came John
the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and
saying, Repent." In the fore-front of his mission — the
first word of his sermon to a guilty world — is, " Re-
pent." And what is the meaning of repentance? A
change of mind. About what ? About your life, about
your maxims and principles of action, about the objects
of your heart's affection, about your pursuits, about
your personal character and your personal conduct,
about your business, your traffic, your social inter-
course,— every thing that pertains to your life : go
home, and, under the solemn inspection of the eye of
God, read your heart, and read your life, and bring
your business beneath the light of his holy law, and
see whether they will stand the presence of the Son
of man, who is coming to emancipate the human soul;
" repent — repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at
hand." And then, whatever individual man, or what-
ever particular class of men presented themselves to
the Baptist, he directly " laid the axe at the root of"
their sin, and called upon them not to plead the cus-
toms of society, not to plead their belief that they had
been right, not to plead the fact that their fathers had
done so before them, but to change their minds and

220 SERMON IX.

change their practices, and thus prepare for the coming
of their King. " Repent ! repent !" — he called upon
them to " repent," to humble themselves, to deny them-
selves, to reform themselves, and thus prepare for the
blessings of the new dispensation.

There is something very remarkable in the prophe-
cies of the Old Testament. We learn the general
principle to which I refer, from the practice of the
New Testament writers themselves ; it is, that almost
all the great prophecies in the Old Testament have
more than a single meaning, and refer to more than
one event. And it is evident, that this coming of the
Son of God referred not merely to his coming in the
flesh, not merely to the first outpouring of his Spirit,
but to those great and glorious things predicted in
other parts of the prophecies concerning days that are
yet to come, and that either we, or our posterity, (per-
haps not very far distant,) are yet to see. Who can
doubt it, with this Bible in his hand, that there is to be
a vast moral renovation ? who can doubt it, that the
arm of tyranny is to be broken ? who can doubt it, that
every chain of slavery is to cease to clank upon the
creature made in the image of his God? who can
doubt it, that the Savior and Deliverer of mankind
will make this world the theatre of his triumphs, and
here, where Satan had reigned, the Messiah will set
up his throne and gather his laurels and triumph over
his enemies?

But if that day is to come, when " the earth shall
be filled with the knowledge of the Lord," when " Holi-
ness to the Lord" shall be written " upon the bells of
the horses" and the vessels of our culinary establish-
ments, evidently there must be vast changes. Whether

TEMPERANCE AND RELIGION. 221

it is this generation, whether it is your children, whether
it is the generation after that or not, whoever it be,
they will be a " repenting" generation. They will
not plead custom, they will not plead that their fathers
did so, and that good men do so still ; there will be
vast changes of views, and vast changes of feeling,
and vast changes of practice ; and there will be the
voice of one crying in the wilderness, " Prepare ye the
way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a high-
way for our God."

My object, this evening, is to describe one of the
mightiest obstructions to the influence of the gospel
and the Spirit of God in this world. My object, this
evening, is to describe one of the master-machinations
of the prince of darkness and the enemy of man. My
object, this night, is to describe one of the most fertile
sources of the temporal wretchedness and immortal
ruin of man,, that Satan has let loose on this sin-pol-
luted and cursed world. My object, to-night, is to
show you that which must get out of the way, that
that the Messiah may come and reign in peace, in
purity, in righteousness and mercy, over this wretched
earth.

With the Jews, it was not drunkenness, but religious
error ; it was pride of heart, it was superstitious attach-
ment to forms and ceremonies, to which the Baptist
alluded. With us, it is worldliness of heart, formality
in religion, unbelief of the declarations and promises of
God, and prayerlessness in the Church. These are our
heart-sins, which must be repented of, that Christ may
come in greater power and greater glory to reign in the
Church, and that 'salvation may come out of Zion" to
reign in the world. But these are heart-sins ; there is,

19*

222 SERMON IX.

besides these, a lofty and rugged mountain which must
be levelled. The habit of drinking intoxicating liquors,
and, of course, with it, the entire system and machinery
of making and vending them, is one of the grand im-
pediments to the coming of the Messiah.

I lay down three propositions to be established in the
course of my remarks.

I. The first is this; — The habit of using intoxica-
ting liquors as a beverage is one grand obstacle to the
revival of pure religion and the coming of the expected
Millennium.

I enter first on explanation.

I speak of these substances as beverages — as common
drinks taken by men in health, not by sick men. I
interfere not with the province of the physician ; I must
say, that we have a point to debate with them : but now
I interfere not with them, nor with their prescriptions.
I speak of these substances taken as beverages by men
in health, for the avowed purpose of their stimulating
effect — for personal gratification — under the plea of
nourishment— and for the sake of social, convivial en-
joyment. The idea of taking every day a medicine is
too preposterous to be argued against. We are speak-
ing of them now simply as drinks, as beverages taken
by men in health.

I include them all — the whole range of ardent spirit
and of fermented liquors, wine and beer and cider, with
all that is called ardent spirit; — I include them alb
Their identity is established, in every way that the
subject admits. No man doubts, that the use of ardent
spirit is in the way way of the progress of the gospel of
Jesus Christ ; but a distinction has been made, and it is
against that distinction I now direct my attack. If

TEMPERANCE AND RELIGION. 223

truth is with me, believe me ; if not, let it pass, as the
opinion of an individual, or of many individuals, not
established by argument.

I repeat it, that under this proposition I include all
that can intoxicate, used as a beverage. My proposi-
tion is that no man has a right to use intoxicating be-
verages ; he may have a right to use intoxicating medi-
cines, but not to drink them for his pleasure, and under
the absurd notion of nourishment and for the purposes
of convivial enjoyment.

The identity of all these substances, I remark, is
established in every way that the subject admits. We
go first to the chemist. We ask him, what is the in-
toxicating principle in ardent spirits ? He goes into a
minute analysis : he separates that from them which
intoxicates, and which alone intoxicates ; he says it is
alcohol — a substance discovered in the ninth century ;
he says it is alcohol, modified as it may be. We go to
the physiologist, and we ask him what he thinks of its
effects upon the constitution of man ? He says, that,
when it goes into the human system, it may go in con-
nection with sugar, with wine, with various coloring
matters, with many other substances, and that all that
goes in with it undergoes the healthful natural process
of digestion, but that alcohol works its way pure and
separate out of the stomach into the blood-vessels, and
from the blood-vessels into other vessels, burning and
scorching its way along the whole line of life, until the
laboring struggling system throws it out at some one
of its great operations. < This is alcohol,' says the phy-
siologist. We turn back to the chemist ; we ask him,
'Is there any difference between alcohol in ardent
spirits, and alcohol in wine or beer or cider ?' He says,

224 SERMON IX.

i No,' ' Why ? where is your proof?' Mr. Brande says —
" I have tried whether it is the heat in distillation that
makes the alcohol, and I have proved that it is not ;
for I got alcohol out of wine without subjecting it to
the heat of distillation : I got alcohol out of beer and
out of cider, not by heat ; and I find that alcohol is the
result of the second process of certain decaying vegeta-
ble and animal substances rushing to putrefaction ;"
and if man would let them go, and not stay them by
any process, in a little while the substance would be a
mass of putrefaction ; but man has learned to stop it,
and apply it to purposes, for which the God of nature
never meant it to be applied. When a man finds, that,
by laying fire upon the skin, the skin is burned, although
fire is a creature of God, he gathers from the fact a great
law — that God intended that he should not put fire
upon his skin ; and when a man finds, that, if he puts
alcohol into his stomach, it burns the stomach, and
burns the brain, and burns the soul, he gets at a great
law of God — that he should not put alcohol into his
stomach. It is one of the most absurd arguments —
' that it is a " good" creature of God.'

I wish to nail the great principles of this argument
firmly on your judgment and conscience ; but I have
not time to dwell upon them. So much, therefore, for
the examination by the chemist and the physiologist.
The question about alcohol in the abstract is of little
avail to us ; we do not want to know what it is, where
it is, or where it is not found ; but when we find it thus
affecting the delicate frame of man, and (above all)
rising up into the brain, and going into the soul, and
blighting and desolating its energies and paralyzing its
sweetest affections, then it becomes appropriate to intro-

TEMPERANCE AND RELIGION. 225

duce the discussion of it into the solemn debates, the
solemn instructions, the solemn exhortations of the
pulpit.

We have already said, that all these substances have
the same effect. Man can be made drunk on ardent
spirit, on wine, on beer, on cider. Therefore they are
all intoxicating substances. And, in fine, as I have re-
marked, the intoxicating principle in each is the same
thing ; the only difference is in the degree and amount
of intoxicating substance contained in each. We find
that this dreadful substance, when introduced into the
human frame, remains undigested ; we find it coursing
through the system, to paralyze its energies, to pollute
the heart, to destroy the conscience, to ripen for crime,
to enervate every noble faculty, to repress every aspira-
tion of the soul after happiness, holiness, and immortal
glory. We say, that this is the tendency of all these
substances — of all ; we say, that the characteristics of
alcohol are unique in all, and we challenge the denial
of it. The difference in effect is a difference of decree,
not of kind, When Noah took the fermented juice of
the grape and became drunk, he was as really drunk
as the beer-drinker and the gin-drinker in your streets.
When Lot drank the fermented juice of the grape, he
became drunk and committed incest, as men now be-
come drunk on gin, brandy and rum, and commit in-
cest. It is the same thing, and it is absurd to draw a
line of distinction. When Alexander the Great became
drunk and killed his friend, and when he became drunk
and died, a sot, and a beast, it was on wine ; and it is
just as bad to get drunk, and murder drunk, and die
drunk, on wine, as it is on beer and spirit. When
Korah, Dathan and Abiram, got drunk on intoxicating

226 SERMON IX.

fluid, they put the unhallowed hand to the altar of God
and perished in their sins ; and God made from it a
law, that the priests, when they went to minister at his
altar, should never pollute themselves with it. The
voice sounds from all Asia— 'It is alcohol, that is
making all the natives drunk.' - It is alcohol in Europe,
it is alcohol in Africa, it is alcohol in America, it is al-
cohol in the islands of the sea — alcohol ! alcohol ! the
minister of hell, that has come to blight and curse this
lovely earth, and this already-oppressed family of man.
It is against alcohol, not in place, not as a chemical
substance, not as God means it shall be used, (for he
has a purpose in it,) but alcohol as a beverage, alcohol
handed round the table, alcohol drunk to promote
health, alcohol drunk to promote the flow of social
feeling — against that we point our admonition, against
that we lift our remonstrance, and that we say must
get out of the way, — this " mountain" must come down,
that Messiah may come and reign.

I have now simply explained myself on this propo-
sition. I offer a few remarks to prove it more directly.
I repeat the proposition ; — The habit of using intoxi-
cating liquors as a beverage is one great obstacle to the
revival of pure religion and the coming of the expected
Millennium.

I begin on the very lowest ground of proof — that, if
they do not hurt, they do no good. It is a waste of the
money, that ought to buy Bibles for the heathen and
bread for the poor. They are of no use. I am as
happy in drinking cold water, as the wine-drinker in
drinking wine. I have tried both sides, and I would
not exchange feelings with him. He has abandoned
the cold water, that was the drink of our first father.

TEMPERANCE AND RELIGION. 227

(for there was neither brewery nor distillery in Eden,)
and he has got now into the sparkling circle, where
the gaiety is delusive; but if he would only come back
to that which was the drink of Adam in Paradise, he
would find, that God had made cold water as the bev-
erage of man, and that cold water was most consistent
with physical health, with intellectual energy, with
moral purity, with domestic affection, with religious
sensibility. These beverages are all useless.

Then they are worse. I will not stand, this night,
to say how much a man must drink in order to be
drank. I wish to be most distinctly understood in my
statements on this subject ; I say, that the tendency of
one drop is just as much as a drop can do ; and when
you put two drops into the system, it is twice as much :
and when four drops, it is four times as much ; and
when five drops, it is five times as much ; and I know
not the line where you begin to see the effects. I
speak of the tendency of these drinks ; it is on the
tendency that I fasten my argument ; the tendency of
them always is to produce the demoralizing effects,
that you witness on a broader scale when they are
taken in larger quantities. And here I state the fact,
which first convinced my own mind. When I first
heard Dr. Hewitt deliver a lecture, on ardent spirit
alone, it seemed to me the most ridiculous thing I ever
heard of, and therefore I am prepared to expect that
others may think it very absurd to-night ; it seemed to
me the most Quixotic undertaking 1 had ever heard
of, and a feeling of independence arose in my mind, and
I said — " What ! is this man coming to take my brandy
and water from me ? I will never give it up." It was
a resolution formed hastily and ignorantly. Blessed

228 SERMON IX.

be God for the firmness and wisdom to overcome that
wicked resolution ! The light has broken in upon my
mind slowly, and I am therefore prepared to expect
that many may think me ridiculous now ; but my
mission, to-night, is, as a man, to speak the truth with-
out hesitation, —not to dogmatize, but to leave every
one to answer in this matter before his conscience and
before his God. You will excuse me if I speak
strongly, for I feel strongly ; you will excuse me, if I
speak firmly, for I think I see the truth like a sun-
beam. Now the first thing, which convinced me that
1 must come out from the moderate system, to that
which has been familiarly denominated the tee-total
system, was this — that in the United States of America,
there is no security whatever, (buy your wine where
you will.) that you are not drinking ardent spirits dis-
guised. And I venture to say. the probabilities are
three or four to one even in Great Britain, that your
wines are composed of rum, or gin, or brandy, of the
worst kind. The man that sits down with his friend,
to quaff the substance which he calls wine, may have
to say what I heard a minister say the day before yes-
terday— " Oh ! this is very vile stuff." Yes, so it may
be ; and so it is ; we have analyzed champaign in our
country, and we have found it sugar of lead diluted
and disguised. Think of a man sitting down with his
friend to quaff sugar of lead— one of the most poison-
ous substances ! I say, that the tendency of the
whole family of them is destructive and injurious, al-
though one may so limit himself as not to reach the
degree perceptible to his own mind.

And I affirm further, that their moderate use forms,
in every case of immoderate use, the first stage. I had

TEMPERANCE AND RELIGION. 229

occasion, last evening, to introduce an illustration of
this on the platform ; I simply now state the abstract
principle. No man ever becomes a drunkard, but by-
beginning to drink moderately ; and as long as the
world continues to drink moderately, the world will be
full of drunkards ; and until the world ceases to drink
moderately, the world will not be delivered from the
evils that flow from intemperance. The moderate use
of these substances will perpetuate the immoderate.

I refer now, further to establish my proposition, to
the testimony of the Scriptures — the testimony of the
Bible with regard to the effect of intoxicating sub-
stances on man as a moral and religious being. I will
not now go over the large class of texts, that do most
distinctly reprobate " wine" and " strong drink" in the
Bible ; I shall come to them in the course of my argu-
ment. I speak at present of the examples it sets before
us ; as in the case of Lot, where his incest, his awful
and abominable crime with his own daughters, is
traced directly up to the use of wine. And it is strange,
that the first thing that the Bible tells us about winej
the first picture of it, that is painted upon its canvass,
is drunken Noah ; and the next is drunken Lot ; as if
it would tell the world—" There is the beginning of
the dreadful chapter of drinking!" The Bible says,
that "whoredom and wine take away the heart;" it
puts it with whoredom. " Take away the heart !"
That which " takes away the heart" is a hindrance to
the revival of religion and the introduction of the Mil-
lennium.

Take the testimony of judges ; take the testimony
of jailors, who have had close intercourse with pris-
oners and examined their history. They tell us, that,

230 SERMON IX.

every where, three-fourths of the crimes committed are
traced back to the use of these substances, — perverting,
blinding, benumbing the conscience, — hindering that
sensibility from its exercise which inclines man to
good, and strengthening that sensibility in its exercise
which inclines man to evil.

So much for my first proposition. The habit of
using intoxicating liquors as a beverage is one grand
obstacle to the revival of pure religion and the coming
of the expected Millennium.

II. My second proposition is — That the total cessa-
tion from the said use is in accordance ivith the Bible.
No man need be afraid of going against the Bible by
giving up the use of these beverages.

1. In the first place, total abstinence is recommended
by Scripture principles. When the apostle says, " It
is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any
thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or
is made weak :" "If meat make my brother to offend, I
will eat no flesh while the world standeth ;" he simply
brings forward this great principle. Even if it were
true that our Savior made intoxicating drinks, even if
it were true that he used them, or that he gave them to
others, — yet, in the face of that, Paul says there may
come a state of things, in which it would be my duty to
give up wine, and I tvoidd do it then ; if wine " make
my brother to offend," I will give it up, I will abandon
it. This is the great principle of benevolence. And I
ask, if we have not come into those circumstances
now, when, with the fabricated wine of our modern
communities, we can get nothing but ardent spirits
diluted and disguised, and when we cannot get the
beer-bottle and the gin-bottle out of the hand of the

TEMPERANCE AND RELIGION. 231

poor drunkard, unless we will sweep away all these
substances together ; — I ask, whether we have not come
to that very juncture in human affairs, when the apos-
tle Paul would say, " I will give up these beverages, I
will sign the Temperance-pledge, and I will give the
poor drunkard the force of my example, that he may
follow me and may get away from the source of his
wretchedness."

If all men would act upon these principles, the
world would get rid of drunkenness at once. If any
one stands up on a temperance platform to descant
on the evils of intoxicating liquors, and, in order to
quench his own thirst, lifts the wine glass to his lips,
I apprehend that his own conscience will condemn
him, and the common sense of the world will hiss him
from the stage. There is something in man that ad-
mires consistency ; and it is impossible for a man, who
avows himself a drinker of intoxicating liquors on a
moderate scale, to make any effectual appeal to those
that are getting drunk upon ardent spirits.

2. I take the Scripture examples, that show it is in
accordance with Scripture totally to abstain. I take
the example of the Nazarites, that were to be a pecu-
liarly pure and select and favored class of men ; and
one of the indispensable injunctions to them was, that
they should never touch strong drink ; — of that Sam-
son, who was to be the strongest man in Israel, and, .
therefore, was not to be a drinker of intoxicating li-
quors. I take the case of Daniel and his companions ;
and I dwell upon it with much interest in this view.
Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, ordered that
certain men should be brought before him, " children
in whom was no blemish, but well favored, and skilful

232

SERMON IX.

in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and under-
standing science, and such as had ability in them to
stand in the king's palace, and whom they might teach
the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans." These
were to be selected from the children of Israel then in
captivity ; and the king in his kindness, and according
to the light he possessed, " appointed them a daily
provision of the king's meat, and of the wine which
he drank : so nourishing them three years, that at the
end thereof they might stand before the king. Now
among these were, of the children of Judah, Daniel,
Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; unto whom the
prince of the eunuchs gave names ; for he gave unto
Daniel the name of Belteshazzar ; and to Hananiah, of
Shadrach ; and to Mishael, of Meshach ; and to Aza-
riah, of Abed-nego. But Daniel purposed in his heart
that he would not defile himself with the portion
of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank ;
therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs
that he' might not defile himself. Now God had
brought Daniel into favor and tender love with the
prince of the eunuchs ; and the prince of the eunuchs
said unto Daniel, — <■ I fear my lord the king, who hath
appointed your meat and your drink ; for why should
he see your faces worse liking than the children which
are of your sort ? then shall ye make me endanger my
head to the king ;' " — he was one of those believers in
the nutritious and healthful effects of wine : — " Then
said Daniel toMelzar, whom the prince of the eunuchs
had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azaria, —
c Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days ; and let
them give u3 pulse to eat, and water to drink j—
(" water" said this wise man, " water to drink,)"— then

TEMPERANCE AND RELIGION. 233

let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and
the countenance of the children that eat of the portion
of the king's meat : and as thou seest, deal with thy
servants/' So he consented to them in this matter, and
proved them ten days. And at the end of ten days
their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh,
than all the children which did eat the portion of the
king's meat. Thus Melzar- took away the portion
of their meat, and the wine that they should drink;
and gave them pulse. As for these four children,
God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning
and wisdom." It will be very safe to follow Daniel's
example — physically and morally safe. It will be
very safe also to follow the example of the Rechabites,
that were a Temperance-Society for so many ages in
the midst of the surrounding drunkenness of Israel.
It will be very safe to follow the example of Timothy,
who was so much addicted (so entirely addicted) to
the use of cold water as a beverage, that, when he
became sick and needed wine as a medicine, the apos-
tle had to recommend it to him, and actually to enjoin
it upon him to take it. Timothy, then, was a cold-
water-drinker.

3. I take Scripture precepts upon the subject. I
will mention only two, and pass rapidly on. " Look
not upon the wine, when it is red, when it giveth its
color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright." " Wine
is a mocker;" and if God tells man to put himself
under the influence of " a mocker," then we under-
stand not the meaning of Holy Scripture, which was
given to " make us wise unto salvation."

III. I pass on to my third and last proposition —
That the total cessation from the use of intoxicating

234 SERMON IX.

liquors as a beverage is necessary for the universal
spread of the gospel.

And I establish this proposition, first, by the actual
effects of these substances, and of abstinence from them.
And I wish you to look minutely into this point.

Look at this effect. In the city of London there is
a large number of persons, that occasionally may feel
inclined to go to church ; but one of them is a mother,
and she has not a garment with which a woman of
proper feeling can bear to appear in a public assembly.
And why not? Because her husband has used up all
their substance at the gin-shop. If that husband would
cease to drink intoxicating liquor — if he were not
made indolent by it and prodigal by it, and did not
waste just so much of his daily earnings — he could
buy the proper dress for his wife and his children,
and. then that wife and those children could go to
church in proper character. I have no doubt that
there are hundreds of such cases ; and just so long as
the use of these beverages exists, there will be a large
portion of the poorer classes actually kept out of the
church, and out of gospel-institutions, for the want of
proper clothing.

I ask you to look at another fact. A large number
of men are now unwilling to go to church, and indif-
ferent about it, because they are continually stupified,
and their religious sensibilities deadened, by the use
of these intoxicating liquors. And as long as they
continue to use them it will be so ; but as soon as
that spell is taken off, conscience will awake, and the
solemn striving of the Spirit of God with their souls
will make them feel that the sanctuary is the place for
them, and they must go to the sanctuary.

TEMPERANCE AND RELIGION. 235

Look, I ask you, further still. There are hundreds
who come to our churches, whom the use of ardent
spirits entirely unfits to hear the gospel. It is not
the eye fixed upon the minister, it is not the ear listen-
ing to the minister, it is the awakened heart receiving
the message of the minister, that the minister wants; and
I will ven' nre to say, that every drop of intoxicating
liquor take : has a tendency when taken, (I will not
say to what ^xtent the drop may go, but that it has a
tendency) to interfere with the profitable hearing of the
gospel. And I go further, and say, that the congrega-
tion, who should see the minister in the pulpit sit down
and drink two glasses of wine, would hardly stay to
hear him p reach. And why? They would feel that
there was something like unhallowed fire about him.
And yet they are willing enough to have their minister
go down from the pulpit, and drink his wine in private.
My friends ! I believe that the world is nearer right
than the world believes, and that, if we could get at the
secret consciences of men, they would be with us on
this subject. We know, that if the declaration of Jesus
Christ is true, there is a class of men who are the "stony
ground" and the " way-side" hearers ; and of all hearers,
surely the drinkers and the tipplers of intoxicating
liquors are the persons. We venture to say, that if the
principles of our Society could universally prevail, one
of the chief temptations to thousands to stay away from
the sanctuary — the enjoyments of the ale-house on the
Sabbath — would be withdrawn ; and when that plea-
sure is withdrawn, they would come soberly and so-
lemnly to the house of God.

There is another consideration. When the use of
these substances ceases, there will be fewer temptations

236 SERMON IX.

to backsliding in the church. Very early, in the history
of the church over which God made me pastor, we in-
troduced the Temperance reformation, and applied it to
every person seeking for admission ; and the effect has
been, that that church has been less cursed with drunken
members and doubtful members, (doubtful as to their
sobriety,) than most of the churches with which I have
been acquainted. We have sent. a circular on this sub-
ject to the ministers of the United States, and the re-
turns are most frightful — that a large class of the trou-
blesome cases have arisen from drunkenness, and that
there is an immense temptation to backsliding in the
instance of those, that are all their days walking on the
borders of intoxication. Is it not dangerous to be stand-
ing upon the frontier line of the enemy every day ? is
it not dangerous to " look upon the wine when it is red.
when it giveth its color in the cup, when it moveth
itself aright," because " at the last it may bite like a ser-
pent and sting like an adder ?"

I believe, in the bottom of my heart, although I may
not be able to prove it to others, that if these substances
were swept from our churches, the solemn and lervent
spirit of prayer would increase at once. I believe that
it is a grand represser of prayer. I believe that the
man who has taken three or four glasses of wine at his
dinner, feels very unlike one going to prayer, and very
unlike one going to weep at the foot of the cross.

I believe that if abstinence from intoxicating liquors
prevailed and spread, there would be more money and
more self-denial brought to the work of God in the
world. We were told last night, that, in four counties
in Wales, where the cause of Temperance has spread
most gloriously in the last year, their donations to the

TEMPERANCE AND RELIGION. 237

cause of Jesus Christ have increased in this one year
by six hundred pounds. They have saved it, and their
hearts are made more liberal ; and this money is cheer-
fully consecrated to spread the knowledge of Christ
through the world.

I believe, that ministers will physically have more
strength, almost the very day that they commence
abandoning these substances. And the time is coming,
when ministerial strength will be taxed more and more.
The churches are giving us more and more to do, and
the world is demanding more and more at our hands.
We want strong, iron constitutions now in the pulpit.
It is my firm belief, that every time a minister puts the
intoxicating glass to his lips, he impairs his strength,
irritates the delicate nervous system, and so far unfits
himself for his labors. It is the testimony of ministers
that have tried both sides of the question, that their
voices have become stronger, and that they feel alto-
gether less exhaustion after preaching, when they go
simply to the draught of cold water, if they need any
quenching of their thirst after their arduous labors in
the pulpit. It is the testimony of men of every class
and every age. But I bring up one instance in particu-
lar. In the state prison of Auburn in the State of New
York, there are about eight hundred prisoners annually;
the rigid principle adopted there is, that every prisoner,
from the moment he enters, is debarred the use of in-
toxicating liquor and of tobacco. The criminals have
formerly generally indulged largely in both these sub-
stances. What, now, is the worst effect on these eight
hundred prisoners, who are thus suddenly broken oft*
from these indulgences?— (that is the great fear of the
world,— breaking off suddenly ; but what is the worst

238 SERMON IX.

effect on them?) It is the testimony of the keeper (a
most sensible man), and of the chaplain (a most pious
man), that, in some few cases, the men are pale debili-
tated, and surfer loss of appetite for a week or two, (that
is the worst effect,) but that, after the second week,
they all have a healthy bloom upon their cheeks, they
become more healthy, and no man has been known to
die from it. The testimony of the keeper and the
chaplain is, that every man has risen in physical health
and strength and cheerfulness from it. And we say
that there will be a vast increase of ministerial strength,
when this doctrine shall become prevalent.

You will allow me now to refer to one of the most
important documents, which has been published in the
United States of America on this subject. Before read-
ing it, however, I beg to mention one single fact from
the report of the New British and Foreign Temperance
Society ; during the last year, out of 19,878 signatures,
2637 were from reclaimed drunkards, of whom 479
have been deemed by pastors worthy of admission to
church fellowship. In the past year alone, 479 ! And
here is the infidelity of our doctrine ! here is our infidel
Temperance Society ! (as we have heard the objection
wafted across the Atlantic.) Infidelity ! to bring men
under the power of the gospel, and prepared to hear the
gospel, and to sit down to celebrate the dying love of
Christ !

Now let me turn to my own land, and tell of the
effects of Temperance reformation.

" In one town in Massachusetts, a Temperance dis-
course was delivered near the close of 1827. Numbers
renounced the use of ardent spirits, and conducted all
their business without it. Many were anxious to form

TEMPERANCE AND RELIGION. 239

a Temperance Society : but some among the aged and
influential thought, that they could not do without a
little, and no society was formed, till the young men,
impatient at the delay of their fathers, called a meeting,
and formed a society among themselves. They resolved
to have stated meetings, collect information, and spread
it through the town ; and at the first meeting many
were solemn ; and at the second, anxious for their sal-
vation ; a prayer was offered and the Holy Spirit de-
scended upon them; the anxiety increased — became
general and extended through the town — and more
than two hundred, it is believed, have passed from
death unto life. Ten of those young men are now
preparing for the gospel ministry; and, should their
lives be spared, and their talents consecrated to the Re-
deemer, they may be instrumental in preparing many
for an < exceeding and eternal weight of glory ;' and,
could we trace the influence of that single Temperance
Society, in all its various connections, bearings and
consequences, upon the temporal and eternal interests
of men, the vision would be transporting. And when
the committee saw these societies rising, and extending
their benign influences not merely over one but a thou-
sand towns, and promising to extend them through the
whole land and to all future ages, they could not but
' thank God and take courage.' "

The opinion of the Committee of the New- York
State Society is supported by such facts as the follow-
ing:—A distinguished gentleman from that State writes
— " The great and good work of the Lord goes on in
the midst of us ; and the Temperance-movement, like
John the Baptist, prepares the way of the Lord. One
might follow in the wake of this movement, and say,

240 SERMON IX.

< The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' " Another gen-
tleman, from another part of the State, writes — "In
this country, it is notorious that those towns which
have been the most active in the Temperance-cause,
have been the most blessed by the Holy Spirit. In all
the towns in this county, there have been revivals ;
and, as a general remark, it may be said, that, in every
town, those neighborhoods, which have done most in
the promotion of Temperance, have been most blessed

in religious matters. In C , the Spirit has seemed

to follow the Temperance-effort from neighborhood to
neighborhood ; and so in other places. In short, so
manifest is the connection between Temperance and
revivals of religion in this country, that we no more
expect the latter where the former does not exist, than
we expect snow in summer. This, of course, is a
general remark. There are, undoubtedly exceptions."

I read next the statement of the General Assembly
of the Presbyterian Church in the United States —that
large and respectable body to which I have the honor
to belong, composed of about two thousand ministers.
They say —

" It is now a well-established fact, that the common
use of strong drink, however moderate, has been a
fatal, soul-destroying barrier against the influence of
the gospel. Consequently, wherever total abstinence
is practised, a powerful instrument of resisting the
Holy Spirit is removed ; and a new avenue of access
to the hearts of men opened to the power of truth.
Thus, in numerous instances and in various places,
during the past year, the Temperance-reformation has
been a harbinger preparing the way of the Lord ; and
the banishment of that liquid poiso?i, which kills both

TEMPERANCE AND RELIGION. 241

soul and body, has made way for the immediate en-
trance of the Spirit and the word, the glorious train of
the Redeemer. But, a great work is still to be affected
in the Church. The sons of Levi must be purged.
The accursed thing must be removed from the camp
of the Lord. While professing Christians continue to
exhibit the baleful example of tasting the drunkard's
poison, or, by a sacrilegious traffic, to make it their em-
ployment to degrade and destroy their fellow-men,
those who love the Lord must not keep silence, but
must lift up their warning voice, and use all lawful
efforts to remove this withering reproach from the house
of God."

And thus commissioned by my brethren and fathers
in Israel, I do, in the strength of God and in the love
of Christ and of his Church and of the souls of mem
u lift up," to-night, my " warning voice." However
feebly, it speaks the truth ; and God is in and with his
truth.

I will read but one more document — " A gentleman
from Tennessee writes, that the formation of a Temp-
erance-Society in his vicinity was followed by such a
revival of religion, as in those parts was never before
known ; that in numerous other places where Temp-
erance-Societies were formed, they were followed by
the same glorious results ; and that, in a compass of
about three miles, as the result apparently of the
Temperance-reformation, more than three hundred
persons were hopefully added to the Lord. And so
generally has it been followed by such results, that it
is spoken of in various countries, and even on opposite
sides of the globe, as l John the Baptist,' preparing the
way of the Lord. Whether the reason of this can be

21

242 SERMON IX.

philosophically and satisfactorily explained or not, the
fact is settled, that intoxicating liquor tends from be-
ginning to end to increase human wickedness, and also
to render that wickedness permanent. The men, there-
fore, who make it, and the men, who furnish it to be
used as a drink, are, by their whole influence in doing
this, increasing the vices and augmenting the woes of
mankind. And though some of them profess to be
friends to Temperance, and to wish to have it prevail
and become universal, they are taking the very course
for ever to prevent it."

This is the testimony from the other side of the
water.

I now go on with my argument ; and I proceed to
state that the effects of total abstinence now are re-
sembling the promised effects of the Millennium. What
is the Millennium? It is to produce order. Go into
that family, that, a year ago, was under the influence
of a drunken father — go into that family, now a totally-
abstaining family, and see how order and peace have
begun to prevail. Peace — " peace on earth !" Look
at peace restored in that family ; look at peace restored
in that neighborhood ; see the dove, that has come to
that family and to that neighborhood with the olive-
branch of peace in its mouth. It will not be by mira-
cle, that the reign of order and of peace will come in ;
it will be by the simple operation of ordinary causes ;
and here is one of those grand causes — the prevalence
of the Temperance-reformation.

Love will more abound; for these intoxicating sub-
stances render the heart more and more callous and
more and more selfish. God has declared, that " there
shall be none to hurt or destroy in all his holy mount;"

TEMPERANCE AND RELIGION. 243

and I ask, if on " his holy mount" there will be a
brewery or a distillery? No — no — no! You never
saw a brewery that did not curse the neighborhood in
which it was built ; you never saw a distillery that did
not blight the land over which it rolled its fumes ; and
if that prediction is to come true, and if nothing shall
hurt and nothing destroy in the holy mount of God,
then there will be no fabrication of these intoxicating
poisons.

The very movement of the Temperance-reformation
collaterally aids the revival of religion. Look at its
effect in bringing to view personal responsibility for
personal actions and personal influence. It is doing
just the very thing that John the Baptist did— mak-
ing every individual feel his individual responsibility.
Every Temperance-address to the maker or the vender,
every Temperance-address to the drinker, of intoxicat-
ing liquors, calls him to look at the question again, Am
I doing any hurt in the world ? It makes men see, that
that question, " Am I my brother's keeper ?" is a wicked
question ; you are " your brother's keeper ;" and the
more powerfully the Temperance-question moves on in
the world, the more does it bring men to act under the
solemn personal influence of the feeling of personal
responsibility.

It brings lessons of self-denial. It is hard for a man,
that has been living in luxury on the profits of these
substances, to go and close his distillery, and close his
brewery, and close his ale-house ; it is hard, but it is
right — it is right — it is RIGHT. It is lovely. We
have begun to see it done ; we have quenched the fires
of nearly two thousand distilleries in our own States —
not by force, not by legislative enactment, — but by the

244 SERMON IX.

power of conscience. And I want to know, whether
these distillers, that went and put out their fires and
sold their vessels for old copper, were or were not better
members of society for it, and better prepared for help-
ing onward the work of God ? Let this glorious cause
move on ; let all the publicans of London begin to
tremble, as they see the blood of souls staining their
bands ; let all those, that live by the profits of this
practice, begin to weigh the question solemnly, and
then determine to deny themselves for the good of their
fellow-men ; that is one of the very preparations for the
glorious introduction of this gospel of self-denial.

It creates sympathy for the most degraded. Tem-
perate men have learned to love the drunkard. There
is many a man that gives up drinking simply from this
consideration. And I Avish you to understand, that
I am not, perhaps, expressing to-night the sentiments
of the greater part of the Temperance-Societies in
Great Britain ; I give up all these substances, because
I think them all poisonous ; my brethren do not, and
it is benevolent in them to give up drinking them, as
they do ; it would be murder in me to give a man what
I believe to be poison — it is benevolence In them not
to give it. When a man banishes these liquors from
his table, his guest may be forming that very day the
critical habit ; or that very day he may be a recovered
drunkard. I know that he subjects himself to all the
pain of appearing niggardly and inhospitable and un-
kind : but it is noble to dare to do right, it is noble to
bear sneers, it is godlike to love the poor drunkard,
so that you say, < This right hand shall go off rather
than contribute one movement towards pushing the
drunkard to destruction ; I come out and rid my hands

TEMPERANCE AND RELIGION. 245

from the whole, I come out and separate myself from
the whole machinery of drunkenness, I do it for my
brother's sake !' When I was a little boy, the drunkard
was my sport ; I joined with my companions in de-
riding him along the streets ; now I have learned to
feel that the drunkard is my brother ; and those filthy
rags that cover him, and that filthy mouth that utters
obscenity intolerable, do not repel the man that has
determined to hazard all to save a brother. This is
still my brother ; and he may yet be washed and re-
newed and saved, and shine in the presence of God —
an angel for ever.

You will bear with me perhaps still further, while
I state this great point in confirmation of my argu-
ment; we must send Christianity to the Pagan, but
it must be a purified Christianity — it must not be a
wine-drinking Christianity. When the colonists went
to the United States of America, (which were the colo-
nies originally,) they found there the Indian ; what
have they done to the Indian ? they have almost exter-
minated the tribes ; how ? the sword has done something,
but strong drink has done the work : and, if you want
now to see a degraded being on earth, go to the once
lord of the forest. You have heard of that elevated
bearing, that showed him free as the air he breathed,
and as the leopard of the woods, or the mountain-goat ;
now what is he ? he is the most perfect beast in the
shape of a man, that can be found upon earth ; that is
now the Indian lurking near American habitations, the
habitations of Christian and civilized men. Why ? He
is drunk from morning to night, if he can get intoxi-
cating liquor. Was the Indian a drunkard, when we
went there ? No, no ; when the Englishman landed

21*

246 SERMON IX.

there, the Indian knew none of the curse of intoxication.
But he has learned it ; and I am afraid that God has
yet a controversy with my beloved nation for that sin,
as well as for some others. Oh ! is this the way to lift
up a nation — to carry them these polluting substances ?
I would that every Missionary were a drinker of nothing
but cold water. Why, one of the grand difficulties
that our Missionaries now meet with, is the presence
of our commercial men and our sailors at the stations j
they say, ' There is a specimen of what you want to
make us ; you want to make us like those drunkards f
and they have laughed at the Missionary ; and well
may they. « That is Christianity P Well, the Mission-
ary says, l But these are drunkards !' l What makes
them drunkards ?' ' Strong drink.' ' Well, is that the
line of demarcation in your country? have all Chris-
tians given it up ? ' Oh ! no ; strong drink is made by
Christians, and drunk by Christians ; it is in the
Church that this strong drink lies.' That is what the
Missionary has to tell the Pagan in fidelity and in truth ;
and, as long as he does it, here lies a powerful restrainer
of the influence of our Missionary exertions. Which
of two Missionaries would you rather have go to the
heathen — a man that tells them to drink cold water,
or one that tells them to drink moderately intoxicating
liquors?

You will bear with me in the last argument on this
proposition — the little that can be pleaded on the other
side. What is it?

One man says, I have to take it as a medicine. Now
mark ; every such person is on our side, and he ought
to be a tee-totaller. Every physican that prescribes it
as a medicine is with us, and every patient that takes

TEMPERANCE AND RELIGION. 247

it as a medicine is with us — because it cannot be a
medicine and a beverage too ; it is one or the other.
We contend that it is a medicine, we contend that it is
a poison, fit to be given to sick persons under careful
and proper prescriptions ; we deny that it is proper to
take as a beverage. All these, I say, are with us ; be-
cause the idea of telling people to drink a little diluted
arsenic every day because a physician prescribes it to
the sick is presposterous. So I once said, after arguing
on the deck of a steam-boat with a gentleman upon this
subject, for about half an hour, in the presence of a
crowd of passengers that gathered around us. He ap-
peared to be affected, because I had pressed his con-
science with the truth ; " My dear sir," said he, « it is
cruel in you." " What is cruel in me ?" " Why thus
to press me, when my physician has told- me that I
must drink it or die." " My dear sir ! why did not you
tell me at the beginning of the argument, you were an
invalid ? and why have you been, for this half an hour,
endeavoring to persuade all these people around you
to take your medicine ?n I do not wish to destroy that
plea, and this is not the place nor the time to treat of
it ; but I do wish this distinction to be made, that every
person, who advocates its use as a medicine, gives up
its use as a beverage ; or else it would present this
strange anomaly, that the only medicine in the whole
materia medica to be so used is alcohol. It is not so
with mix vomica, it is not so with coculus indictis, it
is not so with laudanum, it is not so with opium; it is
only so with alcohol. We venture to say, that, when
that point comes to be reflected upon closely, it will be
abandoned.

Appetite can be pleaded. Interest can be pleaded.

248 SERMON IX.

The rules of hospitality can be pleaded. And so can
the Scriptures, inasmuch as on this important subject
the Bible seems to recommend the use of wine. Now
I will, as briefly as I can, present my views on that
difficult and delicate point.

I will say (to begin) that, if I can find that my bless-
ed Redeemer made and gave intoxicating drink, I drop
my strong argument : I simply then say, that I find
that I am better without it, and 1 cannot tell but what
other' people are better with it ; I give up the Tem-
perance cause, because I advocate it on the belief that
intoxicating drink (or alcohol rather,) is a poison, and
I do not believe Jesus Christ ever made poison to give
to a man in health. I state this, in order to show my
profound reverence for the authority of my Savior, and
to dissociate myself entirely from the infidel spirit and
the infidel man that would say, — ' I will maintain my
Temperance, let the Bible go where it will.' I have no
part nor lot with him.

Now I say that it is a question of interpretation, a
question as to the meaning of language. When Jesus
Christ is said to have made " wine" for the feast at Cana,
the question is, what does that word ivine mean ? I
want to get light on that fact. I find that there are two
kinds of wine mentioned in the Bible, because I find
that the Bible in other places reprobates the use of wine
in the most unqualified language. Do you believe, that
Jesus Christ sat at table and made for a company of
people that, which the Holy Ghost has denominated
" a mocker V Do you believe, that the divine Savior
said, "Look not upon the wine," and yet "I will make
it for you" — make that which " at the last will bite like
a serpent and sting like an adder ?" I say it is evident,

TEMPERANCE AND RELIGION. 249

that in the Bible two kinds of wine are mentioned.
Well, then, in this case which kind was it? Here I get
light. I go and examine the nature of acoholic wine ;
I find it always the same ; I find it to be just that kind
of substance described in the Bible, " sparkling in the
cup," and I find it "biting like a serpent, and stinging
like an adder," and leading on to whoredom, and with
whoredom " taking away the heart" of man ; I find it
treating men just as it did Noah, just as it did Lot, just
as it did Korah, Dathan and Abiram ; I find all its
effects, just as described by the prophets in their solemn
reproofs of Israel. Then, I say, I am inclined to believe
a priori that Jesus Christ never made it ; and when I
find, that there were two kinds of wine in use among
the Jews, I rest in the conviction that he made that
which was not intoxicating, and that in the Lord's sup-
per he gave the fruit of the vine, and not the putrifying
substance that is now called wine— that he gave the
pure juice of the grape. 1 ask a person how he recon-
ciles the Bible, if he supposes there was but one kind of
wine ; our view of it takes the passages that reprobate
wine to speak of wine that intoxicates ; and the passages
that sanction wine to speak of the wine that does not in-
toxicate. And I will mention here, (as I have known
it to throw light on some minds,) that you will remem-
ber, in the case of the chief butler in the prison relating
his dream to Joseph, he says that he squeezed out the
juice of the grape into Pharaoh's cup. There you see
was the juice of the grape immediately drunk ; and I
find it a very pleasant drink. We thus find the Scrip-
tures harmonize with nature, with chemistry, with phy-
siology, with fact ; you do not : you cannot reconcile
the thinsr, and we cannot reconcile the thing.

250 SERMON IX.

And then, further, I say that none of you, I believe,
would like to have your children grow up in the same
habit ; or I believe that you would feel safer in having
your children give it up, and you would wish, that,
though you may use them, the next generation might
leave them off, and you feel that the world would be
better.

T make, in closing, one or two inferences from my
subject.

And I say that the venders and manufacturers of in-
toxicating liquors ought to take the subject into most
solemn consideration. They ought to be able to call, if
they have truth on their side, — and I wish they would
do this, I wish that they would call — Anti-Temperance
meetings. I wish that they would have their strong
men. and their strong ministers and their strong speakers
come out and enlighten us. We had a glorious meet-
ing last night ; we had a meeting full of soul, full of
heart, full of earnestness, and full of eloquence ; it was
a blessed meeting, and for one I felt — ' God approves it;'
for one I felt as if we that promoted it were receiving
the thanks of humanity. I ask them to get up such a
meeting, and bring forward their strong arguments and
show that they are right. All I hear is in secret ; I see
a sneer or a laugh ; I am met at this table and at that
table with a jeer and a joke, and a passing jest thrown
out here and there. I wish if there is not truth on our
side, that we might be stopped. If we have exaggerated
views, they must all come down — for nothing but truth
will live and triumph. But after all that, I say that, as
I think, every man engaged in the manufacture of in-
toxicating liquor as a beverage, every man engaged in
preparing it or offering it for sale, to tempt the public

TEMPERANCE AND RELIGION. 251

appetite and to tempt the poor drunkard, ought to stop,
and ask whether this is not one of the "mountains" that
must come down, whether this is not one of the " crooked
places" that must be made straight, one of the " rough
places" that must be made plain, that the Son of God
may come in his gospel and in his Spirit. I ask the
calm and candid consideration of those, that are engaged
in the manufacture or the traffic. They will bear with
me, as a man ; T speak in much love to them, and to
society, which I believe they are injuring. No matter
how kind your intention, no matter how kind your feel-
ing, I believe you are stabbing society in its dearest in-
terests. If I am wrong, do not believe me ; but if I am
right, do not be offended, because I speak it in love : I
speak it as one that must stand at the bar of God, and
hear again what I say from this place of authority and
of instruction ; I say, you are helping to make the
drunkards of London and the drunkards of England —
you, and none but you are making drunkards. You
say, — { they make themselves :' I know they do ; but
you had better go deeply into that solemn question of
moral phylosophy, whether the man, that knowingly
contributes to the ruin of another, even by that other's
fault, will not be held guilty at the bar of God. Of the
man, that had an ox which was known to gore, and let
the ox go loose for his pleasure or profit, God said, —
' let him answer even to his life for the life of any that
may be killed.' The man, that had a flat roof, an ori-
ental roof, without any battlement, God held accounta-
ble for any who fell hence, because he had neglected to
put up a parapet, and the blood was required at his
door. Take care you are not found accessary to
drunkard-making in a guilty sense.

252 SERMON IX.

I ask you to look at this fact ; your success is the
ruin of the public and of families. Every bottle and
every glass you send out goes on a mission of misery
and of death. The drunkard is on the outer circle of
the vast whirlpool, and you are tempting him carelessly
to float along, and each succeeding circle turns shorter
and shorter, and you just turn away when the poor
creature with one ineffectual struggle sinks to rise no
more. Oh ! it is a dreadful trade, to be making drunk-
ards. It is a dreadful thing, to sell out the large mass
in pipes and hogsheads and barrels, that, you knoiv,
goes forth like scorching streams of lava through the
community. You know that it will curse that poor
family ; you know that it will make that man prodigal
of his property, and careless of the wants of his children
and his wife ; you know that it will produce poverty
and disease and misery, and death and hell to men.
Perhaps this bottle will not, but that bottle may ; per-
haps this pipe will not, but that pipe may. It is certain
that somebody is doing the work of death. Six hun-
dred thousand drunkards in England ! who makes
them? who sustains them? Nobody? Does nobody
make money out of these six hundred thousand drunk-
ards ? These six hundred thousand rob their families,
rob themselves, rob the public (for they become paupers):
who gets the money ? See if it is not in your hands.

My brother ! I do not charge you ; I only ask you to
look at the matter. I ask you to go home and pray
over your trade. But how will you frame your prayer ?
Will you ask God to send you more customers and
more drunkards to your brew-house or to your shop ?
why, then you ask to have more of his creatures ruined
in body and in soul ! Oh ! a distillery, or a spirit-

TEMPERANCE AND RELIGION. 253

cellar, is a dreadful place in which to hold a prayer-
meeting. I should think a man could hardly ask God
to bless such a trade. I should like to see how he
would pray over it. Would he say — ' O Lord ! do not
let this bottle do any harm ; counteract the poisonous
and soul-hardening effects of this alcohol ; I do not
want to hurt any one, I only want to get the profit of
tempting them to their ruin ; I do not want to do the
harm that this must do in the natural course of
things V Dare he speak so to his Maker ?

Let me state one other fact ; there are widows pray-
ing against you ; there are widows in this city lodging
a suit in Heaven's chancery against you. They are
weak ; you may not be afraid of them. But God hears
them ; and when the wife says, " May God restrain the
arm, that is taking away my husband !" — and when
the widow sometimes says, in the agony of her soul,
" God blight the arm, that administers that poison !" —
oh ! it may be heard, it may be heard. I would not
stand with you ; I would not live, ministering out the
poison to my fellow-men.

I say (to close the whole) to the vender, to the traffick-
er, to the manufacturer : — You may ruin one soul by
it : one man may die a drunkard, by that which you
make and that which you sell — one man, one immortal
soul, just one! And as God has said no drunkard
shall enter the kingdom of heaven, what will be your
gain if you make one ? — if that one at the judgment
day shall lift up his voice, and say, "You, you were
the author of my guilt, my wretchedness, my damna-
tion ?"

My hearers ! I close ; but my heart — my heart feels
for man. My heart prays, that God would incline his
22

256 SERMON X.

ment of other crimes, they still hold out the severest
of all their penalties against this : — " Thou shalt not
kill."

If this is a command of God, binding us all to avoid
a certain course of action, all are bound to understand
its meaning and extent ; and it must be the solemn
duty of every interpreter of the divine law to explain
it faithfully. I shall resort to two sources of explana-
tion. One is the statute book of God's moral kingdom,
the other is the criminal law of civilized nations, the
result of the combined wisdom and maturest reflections
of successive ages.

We will first consult the laws of men, and carry out
their principles to their legitimate results, considering
them as sound expositors of the divine law. For, it is
a very interesting observation, that the wisdom and
mercy of God's laws have been discovered by the very
necessities of society, just as far as it advances in the
attainment of happiness.

The first thing we find, is the division of murder
into two degrees. The difference between them ap-
pears to be this. It is murder in the first degree to kill
another intentionally — in the second degree, to kill un-
intentionally. And the second degree is deemed to in-
fer guilt, just in proportion as there is manifested a
selfish indifference to human life.

We notice again, that the length of time between
doing the act which causes death and the death itself,
does not alter the criminality, provided the testimony
of medical men will only show that the act was the
cause of the death.

We notice again, that a distinction is made between
two classes of murderers, without any difference in

INTOXICATING LIQUORS. 257

their guilt or punishment. They are principals and
accessories. A principal does the fatal deed. An ac-
cessory makes, or gives, or sells the fatal instrument,
or in some way, knowingly sustains the principal.
With regard to the second degree of murder, they de-
fine it an act which produces death under circum-
stances manifesting not intention to kill, but a wicked
recklessness of human life. — For example : the suffer-
ing a beast to run at large, when it is known to be
mad, or in any way dangerous. You will notice that
it is, the suffering the beast to run at large. But if a
man should turn out such a beast, suppose a lion or a
tiger, whether for sport or profit, and it takes away life ;
this is pronounced murder in the second degree.

We may cite one or two cases from law-reports, to
illustrate what is meant by homicide. A son, who
cruelly and unnaturally exposed his sick father to the
open air in inclement weather, whereby his death was
occasioned, was held to be guilty of murder. And so
was a woman, who caused the death of her child, by
leaving it in an orchard, scantily covered with leaves,
whereby it perished. This is, then, the decision of
human justice ; that, to constitute murder, it is not re-
quisite either to use a deadly weapon, or to show any
other feelings than those of selfish indifference to
human life.

And we may notice once more, what our laws say
about the instrument by which death is caused. They
say it is murder, whether it be by sword, fire, fire-arms,
drowning, beating, or poison. You will notice, they
say — poison. And then our courts depend on physi-
cians to tell them what are poisons. And here I must
stop a moment to inquire, whether or not it can be more

22*

256 SERMON X .

ment of other crimes, they still hold out the severest
of all their penalties against this : — " Thou shalt not
kill?

If this is a command of God, binding us all to avoid
a certain course of action, all are bound to understand
its meaning and extent; and it must be the solemn
duty of every interpreter of the divine law to explain
it faithfully. I shall resort to two sources of explana-
tion. One is the statute book of God's moral kingdom,
the other is the criminal law of civilized nations, the
result of the combined wisdom and maturest reflections
of successive ages.

We will first consult the laws of men, and carry out
their principles to their legitimate results, considering
them as sound expositors of the divine law. For, it is
a very interesting observation, that the wisdom and
mercy of God's laws have been discovered by the very
necessities of society, just as far as it advances in the
attainment of happiness.

The first thing we find, is the division of murder
into two degrees. The difference between them ap-
pears to be this. It is murder in the first degree to kill
another intentionally — in the second degree, to kill un-
intentionally. And the second degree is deemed to in-
fer guilt, just in proportion as there is manifested a
selfish indifference to human life.

We notice again, that the length of time between
doinsr the act which causes death and the death itself,
does not alter the criminality, provided ther testimony
of medical men will only show that the act was the
cause of the death.

We notice again, that a distinction is made between
two classes of murderers, without any difference in

INTOXICATING LIQ.UORS. 257

their guilt or punishment. They are principals and
accessories. A principal does the fatal deed. An ac-
cessory makes, or gives, or sells the fatal instrument,
or in some way, knowingly sustains the principal.
With regard to the second degree of murder, they de-
fine it an act which produces death under circum-
stances manifesting not intention to kill, but a wicked
recklessness of human life. — For example : the suffer-
ing a beast to run at large, when it is known to be
mad, or in any way dangerous. You will notice that
it is, the suffering the beast to run at large. But if a
man should turn out such a beast, suppose a lion or a
tiger, whether for sport or profit, and it takes away life ;
this is pronounced murder in the second degree.

We may cite one or two cases from law-reports, to
illustrate what is meant by homicide. A son, who
cruelly and unnaturally exposed his sick father to the
open air in inclement weather, whereby his death was
occasioned, was held to be guilty of murder. And so
was a woman, who caused the death of her child, by
leaving it in an orchard, scantily covered with leaves,
whereby it perished. This is, then, the decision of
human justice ; that, to constitute murder, it is not re-
quisite either to use a deadly weapon, or to show any
other feelings than those of selfish indifference to
human life.

And we may notice once more, what our laws say
about the instrument by which death is caused. They
say it is murder, whether it be by sword, fire, fire-arms,
drowning, beating, or poison. You will notice, they
say — poison. And then our courts depend on physi-
cians to tell them what are poisons. And here I must
stop a moment to inquire, whether or not it can be more

22*

258 SERMON X .

wicked to kill by one poison than by another? Does it
make any difference to the interests of society, whether
you murder by arsenic, or by alcohol, if both be poisons?
Does it make any difference to the law of God, to an
enlightened conscience, to the agonized wife or parent,
to the poor suicide who has rushed to the bar of his
God, unbidden and unforgiven ? Yqs, my hearers ! it
does make a difference. And you shall yet see on
which side the difference lies. But I have only anti-
cipated so much, in order to show that human laws are
not consistent with themselves— that murder by one
poison is punished with the most ignominious death,
while murder by another is sustained by the very same
code. And another of its imperfections, which indeed
is intrinsic, is this — that it has tried in vain, to punish
self-murder. The ignominious exposure of the corpse
was a punishment which alighted alone on the broken-
hearted, innocent survivors. God, however, can punish
suicide. And there is, my hearers ! another law by
which, and another tribunal at which, all men must be
judged. I have referred to human laws, merely be-
cause, as far as they go, they illustrate the divine. But,
as has been remarked, they do not carry their own prin-
ciple far enough, and hence are inconsistent with them-
selves. Not that I can discover in the Bible any other
principles on this subject, than those now described.
But it is evident, that, as the Psalmist says — " Thy
commandments are exceeding broad." There is an
extent of application, which is not known in human
jurisprudence. It is said, for instance — " If a man hate
his brother, he is a murderer." Here is murder de-
tected, condemned and punished, when found only in
the heart, without an overt act. I admit that human

INTOXICATING LIQUORS. 259

tribunals can never judge thus. But our Judge will.
When our Savior explained the Mosaic law he re-
marked—" It has been said, thou shalt not kill, but I
say unto you, whosoever shall say to his brother, thou
fool ! is in danger of hell-fire." Here, in explaining
the sixth commandment, he ranks the mere expression
of contempt as, in God's sight, tantamount, in guilt, to
murder. Even under the Mosaic law, it did not require
any direct act which caused death, to constitute murder.
It was then just as it is now ; if a man had an ox that
was known to push with his horn, and he killed a man ;
both the ox and his owner were held responsible, and
both were sacrificed. Or, if he built a house,— as their
roofs were flat and places of much resort in that warm
climate, — if he neglected to put up a parapet on the
outer and inner wall,— and by that neglect a man should
fall over and be killed, the blood was upon that house.
We see, then, the following principles embraced in
this law : —

1. Certain things are means of life and happiness,
when used in a certain way. For instance, you may
employ fire-arms to destroy beasts of prey, poisons as
medicines, alcohol in manufactures, &c.

2. These articles may be made instruments of misery
and death, by being used in certain other ways. Fire-
arms may be used to take away the life of an unoffend-
ing fellow creature. Arsenic, or alcohol, may be taken
into the human system in such quantities as to destroy
life. The latter has indeed been called " a good crea-
ture of God." So is fire ; but is that any reason why
you should kindle it in the middle of your floor, or
upon your bed? God made every thing to be put in
its right place, but as we shall presently see, he never

260 SERMON X.

made alcohol for the human stomach, nor the human
stomach for alcohol.

3. To use them thus on our own persons, or rather
to abuse them, is suicide.

4. To give them gratuitously, or to sell them to
another to be thus abused, is murder.

To illustrate ;— if you sell a deadly weapon to a man
when you know his intention thus to abuse it, if men
can prove that you know it, they will convict you of
murder, as an accessory. And, as God can prove it, he
will certainly hold you guilty.

5. Human and divine laws admit but one excuse or
plea. That is — involuntary, or unavoidable ignorance ;
when you could not know the use to be made, or had
no reason to suspect such use ; or if you could not
know the tendency of the article to produce death
when so used. For if you had, and yet should sell or
give, it would betray that very recklessness of life, after
which the law searches.

I would now pass from this discussion of abstract
principles, to consider the following proposition.

To use alcohol as an ordinary drink, is suicide. To
make, give, or sell it to be so used, is murder by the
statutes of Heaven ; and ought, in consistency, to be,
by the laws of human governments. It was some time,
after the reformation commenced, before its friends
would call the "moderate" use of alcohol, immoral.
They were yet more cautious in pronouncing the traffic
an immorality. But there is now no hesitation on the
part of those who have thoroughly examined the sub-
ject.

We will first introduce some comparisons that have
been made.

INTOXICATING LIQUORS. 261

{; The time will come, when reflecting men will no
more think of making and vending- ardent spirits, or of
erecting and renting grog-shops as a means of gain,
than they would now think of poisoning a well, from
which a neighbor obtains water for his family, or of
arming a maniac to destroy his own life, or the lives
of others."— Chancellor Walworth.

" Can it be right for me to derive my living from that
which is spreading disease, and poverty, and premature
death throughout my neighborhood ) Would it be right
for me to derive my living from selling poison, or from
propagating plague or leprosy around me ?"

•• Can it be right for me to derive my living from
that, which is debasing the minds, ruining the souls,
destroying for ever the happiness of the domestic circle,
filling the land with women and children in a condition
far more deplorable than that of widows and orphans ;
which is the cause of nine-tenths of all the crimes
which are perpetrated in society, and brings upon it
nine-tenths of all the pauperism which exists : which
accomplishes all these at once, and which does it with-
out ceasing ?- Do you say you are not responsible for
the acts of your neighbor 1 Is this clearly so ? Is not
he who navigates a slave-ship a pirate T— Rev. R. F.
Wayland, a Baptist.

We will now introduce some of the epithets that
have been used.

- It cannot be denied, that distillers, venders, and pur-
chasers of ardent spirits are accessories to the crimes
of drunkenness. It is an unhallowed traffic,

AND LIKE THAT IN HUMAN BLOOD, SHOULD RECEIVE
THE REPROBATION OF THE CHRISTIAN WORLD."

Circular Letter of the Nora Scotia Baptist Association,

262 SERMON X.

" Who made the 300,000 drunkards that now defile
and disgrace our country ? Who caused the death ot
the 30,000 sots who have died in the United States
within the past year ? Where does this responsibility
rest? It must be somewhere. It can be nowhere
else than upon the dealer in ardent spirits. I am deeply
convinced that the evils of intemperance can never
cease, till the virtuous in society shall unite in pro-
nouncing the man, who attempts to accumulate wealth,
by dealing out poison and death to his neighbor, as
infamous? — Rev. Mr. Pierpo?it, Unitarian.

" I consider the man who deals in ardent spirits, a
pirate on the rights of community." — Gerrit Smith.

We will now introduce a few of the assertions that
have been made.

" To make or sell ardent spirits for common use, is
as wicked as to make or sell poisons for the same pur-
pose. It being admitted that the use of this article is
destructive to health, reputation, and property, (and
the proof on this point is overwhelming,) it follows
conclusively, that those who make it, sin with a high
hand against God and their fellow men. The blood
of murdered souls and bodies will be required at their
hands? — Judge Dagget, of Conn.

" This question we fearlessly submit to reason and
to conscience. Is it not morally wrong ? Is it not an
offence against sound morality and true piety ? We
fear that all, engaged in this traffic, will be held ame-
nable at the tribunal of the great day, not only as par-
takers of other people's sins, in directly furnishing
them with the means of committing the sin of intem-
perance, but as responsible too, along with them, for
those deeds of iniquity committed while under the

INTOXICATING LIQ.UORS. 263

influence of the intoxicating draught." — Glasgow
paper.

'•'• The traffic in ardent spirits as a drink, is an im-
morality, and ought to be viewed as such throughout
the world." — Synod of Alb any ', and Gen. Associations
of Conn., Mass., and Maine.

" The evil effects of ardent spirits are not exhibited
alone on those who drink. The very traffic stands
unrivalled for its hardening and debasing influence
on those engaged in its operations." — John L. Chand-
ler, M. D.

" No one can doubt that the traffic in ardent spirits
is productive of immorality." — Rev. D. Skinner, Uni-
versalist.

" I challenge any man who understands the nature
of ardent spirits, and yet, for the sake of gain, con-
tinues to be engaged in the traffic, to show that he is
not involved in the guilt of murder." — Dr. Beechery
Presbyterian.

" They who keep these fountains of pollution and
crime open, are sharers, to no small extent, in the
guilt which flows from them. They command the
gateway of that mighty flood, which is spreading
desolation through the land ; and are chargeable with
all the present and everlasting consequences, no less
than the infatuated victim who throws himself upon
the bosom of the burning torrent, and is borne by it
into the gulf of woe." — Dr. Spring, Presbyterian.

"No proposition seems to me susceptible of more
satisfactory demonstration than this ; that, in the pre-
sent state of information on this subject, no man can
think to act on Christian principles, or do a patriot's
duty to his country, and at the same time make or

264 SERMON X .

sell the instrument of intoxication." — Rev. H. Ware,
Unitarian.

Such are the comparisons, epithets, and assertions
by which leading men of various professions, and va-
rious religious denominations have expressed their
views of this traffic. One or two of them have done
more, as you perceive, than call it immoral. They
have shown wherein the immorality consists. Yes,
they have asserted the very doctrine of this discourse.
And now to the proof of that doctrine ; which is — that
to use alcohol as an ordinary drink is suicide ; to make,
give, or sell it to be so used, is murder by the statutes
of Heaven, and ought to be, in consistency, by the
laws of human governments. The validity of the
proof depends upon the truth and justice of those prin-
ciples, which we have found in the laws of civilized
countries, and in the Bible. To them we must, there-
fore, refer. It has been stated that, in a case of murder,
three things are inquired after. 1. Was the person
killed ? 2. Was it by an overt act of another ? 3. Was
it done with feelings of malice, revenge, or by an un-
dervaluing of human life 7 And the feelings of the
murderer determine whether it is murder in the first or
second degree. Another inquiry may arise. Is he
principal, or accessory? If he directly administered
the poison, in the case of death by poison, he is prin-
cipal. If he sold it to a second person, knowing that
he meant to sell it to a third, to be used in a way that
injured life ; then he is an accessory before the fact.
And the only point further needed to prove our propo-
sition, is — whether alcohol taken into the stomach is a
poison. On this point, whenever there is any doubt
in a court, they send for medical men. These are the

INTOXICATING LIQUORS. 265

witnesses, I shall presently subpoena, after you have
listened for a few moments to the vender's pleas. I say
nothing now about the suicidal guilt of drinking alco-
hol ; because it will be involved in the other principle,
if that be established.

Pleas of the alcohol seller:

1. If I should kill a man by arsenic, it would be
murder ; but I sell alcohol.

I grant, that this plea will now acquit you at the
bar of an unenlightened conscience, of an uninformed
public sentiment, and in the criminal courts of human
governments. But, from what part of God's statute
will you draw the ground of such a plea? In which
chapter is it written, — • you shall not kill by arsenic,
but you may by alcohol ?' When inquisition is made
for blood ; when a precious human life has been de-
stroyed ; can that righteous lawgiver admit such a
distinction?

2. But I deny that it is a poison like arsenic. Then
let us call in the medical men. We be^in with Dr.
Rush. He declared, that it was a poison, which brought
on eighteen or twenty of the most painful, formidable,
and fatal diseases. Go to all the books on Materia
Medica. Look at the index, for the word alcohol, and
you will be referred to the class of narcotic vegetable
poisons, and find it ranked, for its effects on the human
body, with henbane, deadly nightshade, and hemlock:
and considered as exerting on the human frame an in-
fluence similar to the continued action of the plague,
typhus fever, and small-pox. While they thus con-
sider alcohol a poison, when taken into the stomach,
they trace its deadly march, and watch its effects on
the vital organs. It is carried by the blood to every

23

266 SERMON X.

one, and each is deranged by its touch. They have
extensively signed the declaration in this country and
in Great Britain, that it is the constant source of dis-
ease and death. Many of them assure us, that the
Cholera gathers half its virulence from the poisonous
effects of alcohol " I have no doubt,''* says an eminent
physician, " that one half of the men, who die of fevers
every year, might recover, had it not been for the use
of spirituous liquor. No one but a physician knows,
how powerfully all inflammatory diseases are increased
even by what is called temperate drinking; or how
fatally the best remedies in the world are counteracted
by the same cause. I have seen men who were never
intoxicated, prostrated twenty days with a fever, who,
but for the use of ardent spirits, probably would not
have been confined to the house for a day." Dr.
Hosack has remarked that one in ten of the Quakers
lives to eighty years, while the average of human life
is such that only one in forty lives to that age. This
he traces to their total abstinence from the use of dis-
tilled liquors. Thus it is manifest, that the use of
ardent spirits takes an average of fourteen years from
every human life. A physician in this State, from his
own observation and accurate calculation, ascertained
the difference between the life of the sober and the
drunken to be about thirty years. Can it then be over-
rating, when the number destroyed by alcohol in the
United States is computed to be 50,000 annually ? And
can any vender of ardent spirits plead before an intel-
ligent community, or at the bar of God — £ I am not
selling poison V But he continues his apologies.

3. ' You surely cannot call it murder, when a man
may drink this poison for fifty years and not die.-

INTOXICATING LIQUORS. 267

This plea we have anticipated, by showing that the
length of time between the act which caused death, and
the death itself, does not alter its criminality, provided
medical men will testify that the act caused the death.
And although it may screen you at an earthly tribunal,
it surely cannot at that bar where infinite justice pre-
sides. If some men do drink and live fifty years, others
lose thirty years of life. These United States lose yearly
from thirty thousand to fifty thousand lives by you and
your colleagues in the work of death. Who is respon-
sible for these, if you are not ? He replies again :

4. < I have no unkind or malicious feelings towards
any of my customers!! There is in history a famous
case parallel to this. When Jesus of Nazareth stood
before Pilate, the Roman governor reverenced him ; he
was convinced of his innocence ; he indulged none but
the kindest feelings towards him. And when at last he
signed the death warrant, he took water, before the peo-
ple, and washed his hands. Did he wash from his soul
the stain of murder ? I apprehend that we shall give
a unanimous verdict in that case. There is another : —
Judas Iscariot seems never to have entertained any
malice prepense towards his Master. And when he
saw the unanticipated result of his treachery, he was so
astounded and overwhelmed with a sense of guilt, that
life was intolerable. Another case : —The highwayman
who stopped Rowland Hill in his carriage, had no ma-
lice, as is evident from the sequel ; and was even a
tender hearted man, driven by the wants of his family
to this desperate course. Suppose he had murdered
Mr. Hill ; would he have been guilty ? If so ; then let
us draw a parallel. The vender of alcohol has no un-
kind feelings towards the victims, who die beneath the

268 SERMON X .

scorching fires of the still. Neither had Pilate, nor
Judas, nor the highwayman in the cases alluded to.
The vender only wants to obtain money. So did Ju-
das and the highw ay man. Pilate only wanted to save
his credit. The vender would even be rejoiced to ob-
tain his ends without the fatal results. For venders
are men, possessed of conscience and sensibility. They
can feel distressed at another's woe. And their busi-
ness is to them a source of much distress, whenever
they do trace it to its results. It would, this hour,
lighten up the corroding burden from ten thousand dis-
tressed minds in this country ; it would create a jubilee,
if it could be ascertained and proclaimed abroad, that
all which has been said about alcohol is false, and
should be contradicted by the same intelligent, upright,
competent, influential men, who have expressed their
views on this subject. So would Pilate have rejoiced
to have saved his honor and his victim. So would
Herod Antipas have delighted to save John the Baptist,
and at the same time his credit with those who sat about
him. Judas and the highwayman wanted only money,
not the destruction of life. See, then, your common
criminality, and the righteous principle on which you
will together be condemned, — the principle, which we
have found in our statutes, and which will be found in
the statute books of Heaven. You, and Herod, and
Pilate, and Judas, and the highwayman, cause death
simply by caring more for your own honor or paltry
gain, than for the life of a fellow being. Murder ', oc-
casioned by recklessness of human life, will be your
crime, no matter what your feelings may be.

Let us hear him again :

5. < If I do not sell, others will.1 Carry that plea

INTOXICATING LIQUORS. 269

before the bar of your fellow mortal. Tell him that
there are a great many murderers ; and if you did not
commit murder, some one else would. Oh ! shame on
the degeneracy of man ! — degeneracy of heart and stu-
pidity of understanding, that he can for one moment
ease a laboring conscience with so shallow a plea.

6. ' If respectable men leave it, bad men ivill take it
up? Then the ministers of the gospel Ir d better become
managers of our theatres and keepe is of gambling
houses. Our governor had better take all the murder-
ing and highway robbing into his own hands, to have
it done respectably, and to keep worse men from it.
How much consolation it must administer to that
wretched wife, who sits shivering at midnight over the
dying embers, to think that her husband is drinking at
the store of a pious deacon, who has prayed over his
barrels and bottles and measures ! How it mitigates
the horror and the guilt of his awful death, to reflect
that it was done by a respectable man ; and that he had
a license from the civil authorities to do it ! Oh ! mock
not the bleeding heart with such an apology. Oh !
venture not to the judgment seat with such a plea !
To this it has been replied, since the first delivery of
this discourse. < The law does not forbid the sale of
ardent spirits, while it does forbid murder.1 This is
an evasion, not an answer. We have not asserted that
human laws made this traffic murder, but that it is in-
trinsically so, and will be so construed by the law of
God, and that your plea, — that you wanted it done re-
spectably,— will appear infinitely foolish at the bar of
God.

Now, there is one plea which will be valid, if you can
sustain it. It is, — that you were necessarily ignorant

270 SERMON X .

of the nature and tendency of alcohol when used as an
ordinary drink. You must not only be ignorant, but
necessarily so. If mere ignorance were a sufficient
excuse, then men have only to remain ignorant of what
is right and what is wrong ; and every thing they do is
innocent, however destructive of the interests and hap-
piness of others. This excuse has been long ago swept
away by every criminal court. And it is only when
ignorance is un ivoidable, that a person may do a wrong
action without guilt. Let it then be understood, that
whatever may have been the case in former days, the
venders of alcohol can no longer plead necessary ignor-
ance. For they may know the true nature and neces-
sary effects of alcohol on the human system.

It was often said, — l Why, very good men drank and
sold ardent spirits ; were they all suicides and mur-
derers?1 This is a fair question, and should be fairly
answered. The morality, or immorality, of any action
is always the same in itself considered. Right and
wrong: are eternal and immutable distinctions. The
moment in which two intelligent beings exist, there also
exist natural relations between therm And out of these
spring, naturally and necessarily, duties and obligations;
and whenever to the natural are added artificial rela-
tions, out of these spring new duties and obligations.
Every action they then perform is either right or wrong,
conformed or not conformed to a natural, eternal, un-
changeable standard. This standard is not the result
even of the Divine will, nor an object on which even
Omnipotence can exert itself. Much less do right and
wrong depend on the fickle opinions of men, on human
legislation, public sentiments, or the customs of society.
The very holiness of God is conformity to this standard ;

INTOXICATING LIQUORS. 271

it is not, first making a thing- right, and then being eon-
formed. But God is holy in loving and choosing what
is right. Every custom is then eternally right or wrong.
That is — it was always wrong for men to be shortening
their lives by drinking a poison ; just as wrong as it is
now. It was always as wrong to capture the natives
of Africa and sell them in a foreign country as it is
now. It is no more really piracy, now that civilized
nations have thus denominated it, than it was then.
But the degree of personal guilt does depend on the
degree of light which an individual, who sincerely de-
sires to know what is right and what is wrong may
obtain. If the nature and essential effects of alcohol
could not be known by our fathers, as they are known
by us, then they were not so guilty. No one can be-
lieve that it was any thing else than murder in an in-
habitant of India to kill her child ; and yet no one can
believe that she is as guilty, as a mother in Albany who
should do the same thing. But, should we confer a
favor on these heathen mothers by permitting them to
remain in darkness ? or is it philanthropy and duty to
go and pour the light of God's eternal law upon their
practices, and tell them distinctly, that it is murder?
Will their civil and domestic condition be injured or
improved by such a mission and such preaching?
'Why,' they reply, 'our mothers were many of them
very good, and they did so. Were they guilty of mur-
der ?' The only true reply is, and must be — they com-
mitted murder, as they committed all the other crimes
for which God condemns them. But the degree of their
guilt depended on the knowledge they could have that
it was wrong.

To return, then, from our digression, I repeat ; — to

272 SERMON X .

sell alcohol as a drink, is now murder in the sight of
God, without any mitigation ; and that, for two reasons :
because alcohol kills, and because this may be known
to be its natural effect. If any are ignorant, their ig-
norance is voluntary. They love the darkness more
than the light, and they will not come to the light lest
their deeds be reproved. Nor would I make so tre-
mendous a charge against the traffickers without proof.
You will not require me to give an extended proof,
that alcohol is a poison and an enemy of human life.
I speak of that substance which Segalas, an eminent
French physiologist introduced into the vein of a dog,
and he instantly dropped down dead. I speak of that
substance, of which, if the speaker should drink that
tumbler full, he would probably in ten minutes gasp in
the agonies of death. You know the substance : it is
poison — sheer, unnutritive, fiery poison. This is the
first fact on which this awful charge is founded. The
second is — that the distiller, the wholesale merchant,
the grocer, the tavern-keeper, may know its nature and
effect. If that is true, O my fellow-citizens ! tremble.
For, He cometh, He cometh to the judgment. And
when inquisition is made for blood, if you cannot fly
behind this last refuge of involuntary ignorance, your
case is hopeless. Let us, then, see how the matter
stands. Every drinker and vender of alcohol in this
city may know that it kills — from two sources : —

1. From physicians, who declares that this is its
natural and necessary effect, as truly as it is of fire to
consume ; that it is no more adapted to do man good
than henbane is. Now, suppose the man who dropped
down and died just after leaving a grocery, had been
last at yours. A coroner's jury pronounce it death

INTOXICATING LiaUORS. 273

caused by intoxication. You are arraigned for mur-
der ; one of those physicians who has already pro-
nounced alcohol a poison, is subpoenaed as a witness.
He is ordered to examine the corpse. He comes into
court and says, — < The death was manifestly caused
by the alcohol that he had just drunk.' The court
then ask ; < Is alcohol a poison ?' l It has always been
so ranked by medical chemists. I have analyzed it,
and I pronounce it a poison.' Other witnesses are
called in to show that you administered that poison. I
ask then, on what principle will an honest jury hesi-
tate and refuse to pronounce you guilty ; when the
court shall have instructed them that you might have
known the nature of the article and its natural effects,
from the immense number and variety of the publi-
cations, sermons and addresses which repeat the testi-
mony of the physician ? From this city alone millions
are issued every year. This is precisely one of that
class of cases in which the testimony of the physician
turns the scale in the decisions of the jury, even where
life and death are at issue. But these very men now
tell you, that you are dealing out poison. Will God
then hold you guiltless, even if man approve your
course ?

But there is still another source of knowledge, which
leaves you yet more inexcusable : — it is, your own ob-
servation, confirmed by that of men of every class.
Not as in the former case, the tracing internally its
fiery track over one tissue of the body after another,
and from one channel of life to another; but its visible,
external effects ; effects so manifest, any child eight
years old can trace them to their cause; effects to
which you can get testimony until no house could hold

274 SERMON X .

the statements which might be written. Ask your little
child, as he sees your neighbor, a stout, strong man,
reeling out of your store, l What ails that man V
1 Why, father ! he is drunk ; you gave him something
from that decanter, and that makes him stagger so.'
Never were cause and effect more manifestly connected.
Its first visible influence is on the muscles. And if the
man were a giant, this serpent would coil around him,
and wrap his iron sinews in its fiery embrace until,
from very infantile weakness, his head would be too
heavy for the muscles of the neck, the hands too
weighty for the muscles of the arm, the body too heavy
for the knees ; and then they bend, and reel and stag-
ger, until he presses to the earth, just as closely as
a log.

This is but the beginning of the work of death. I
hope I shall not exaggerate in any thing. In a case
where the truth is so awful, it would be both foolish
and sinful to state any thing but facts to produce the
deepest impression.

The next thing which you cannot fail to observe is,
that the brain is strongly and injuriously affected. The
brain is the most delicate and mysterious part of the
human body : its state may generally be known by the
state of the mind. Look then at the attack you have
made on this vital organ. If your customer be De-
mosthenes, whose eloquence, one hour before, has made
a continent tremble ; look at him now as your poison
begins to seize the brain. See his drivelling; mark
his eye. — Its lightning-flash is gone. Hear his speech ;
blasphemous, obscene, idiotic ! Oh ! where is his
mind ? Ask not — the poison of Arabia is maddening
his brain. But I cannot, now, follow the history of

INTOXICATING LIQ.UORS. 275

those signals, which nature, tortured, scorched and mad-
dened in every vital organ, successively holds out. The
eye, the color of the face, its muscles, the nose, the tremb-
ling hand, plead eloquently, that you would stop your
victorious attack on every citadel of life. The loss of ap-
petite,—indigestion, — soon proclaims that another vital
organ, — the liver, — is yielding to the universal con-
queror whom you have sent to wage this unrelenting
warfare.

Our city and New- York taught us some impressive
lessons on this subject, during the prevalence of the
cholera. One in sixty of our alcohol-drinking popu-
lation died ; while only one in twenty- five hundred of
the members of our temperance-societies died by it. In
New- York, it is said, that of the six hundred taken to
Park Hospital, scarcely any died who had drank no
ardent spirits for two years. It was remarked by an
intelligent observer, that if it had not been for the sale
and use of ardent spirits, there would not have been
cholera enough to suspend business for a single day.

Did you ever see a case of delirium tremens ? —
Did you not think then that alcohol was a poison ?
Did you hear the scream, the maniac-scream? — did
you see the poor wretch trying to drive away the devils
with which his distracted fancy was filling the air ? —
did you see him try to wipe off the filthy snakes which
he saw crawling all over his body ? Did you not think
then that alcohol was a poison? In the year 1833,
Mr. Hogan tells us, that in our jail alone, from the rum
sold in this city, there were at least one hundred cases
of delirium tremens. The only death there in the
year, was that of a woman by this horrid disease.

It has been observed by our judges, police magis-

276 SERMON X.

trates and jailers, that scarcely a case of murder occurs
in this country, but under the influence of alcohol.
You probably read the account of that father, who
after spending the evening in a scene of groveling dis-
sipation and frantic not, was transformed into an in-
furiated demon ; went home ; found his wife and chil-
dren in bed ; took the axe and knocked them all in
the head, like so many brutes; then cut his own throat,
and madly hurried to tell his Judge, that for a paltry
pittance, his neighbor gave him the bowl of madness,
that turned his brain, and he rushed to murder, to
death, to hell. Do I exaggerate ? God forbid. Only
go to the files of newspapers in our city for ten years,
and. if you cannot learn that alcohol is a poison, then
you must either plead idiocy, or stand convicted of
voluntary ignorance.

Where would you find alcohol if he were a real per-
son ? Is there a scene of rioting, profaneness, debauch-
ery— is there a place of sinful amusement, a place
where the mind is exhibited in its utmost depravity, in
which its influence is not predominant? Is there a
hovel of wretchedness and want, in which you may
not point to the badges of misery ; and say, ' These
are the natural fruits of this tree V It poisons the mind
as well as the body. The horrid murders recently
committed on the Baltimore rail-road can be traced en-
tirely to the influence of the whiskey drank by the la-
borers in immense quantities. After the laborers there
became accustomed to the frequent use of it from the
hands of the contractors, they became indolent, and at
pay-day were cut down in their wages. They vowed
revenge, and such a scene of turbulence and blood as
was enacted on the Baltimore and Washington rail-

INTOXICATING LIQUORS. 277

road, has been seldom seen in this country. The ter-
rified inhabitants were seen flying from their houses in
utter dismay. And it seems as if God permitted this
occurrence in order to punish those contractors, and to
lift the light so high and glaring on this point, that
none could any longer sin ignorantly.

Alcohol is poison. No fact in human science is
established by evidence of a more certain kind, and of
greater variety, than this — that alcohol is a poison. Its
general properties and its hidden effects on the body
are attested by hundreds of scientific men. Its external,
obvious effects, are attested by the senses of millions.
These effects are not rare and occasional, but regular
and necessary. The drunkard's woes and premature
death are entirely unnatural, and the direct and legiti-
mate result of drinking a poison. Where is, then, the
ground of an apology to any one in this country who
has eyes or ears — that he was ignorant of the nature
and effects of ardent spirits ? We see none. Let us
then repeat the doctrine of our discourse : — ■

To use alcohol as an ordinary drink, is suicide.
To make, give, or sell it to be so used, is murder, by
Heaven's law, even if that law be interpreted by the
principles adopted in human legislation.

But the crime of the spirit- vender has yet another
aggravation. It not only is murder, but is, in all its
bearings, the most cruel form of murder ever yet de-
vised by Satanic cunning and malice. It is different
from any form of murder which highwaymen or pirates
ever adopt. Contrast a death by alcohol with one
caused by a pistol-shot.

Mark —

1. The protracted bodily suffering. You boast that
34

278 SERMON X .

your customers live a great while. Yes, but how do
they live ? Hours, months, years in protracted disease
that first preys on one delicate fibre, and then on
another. Who hath woes ? The drinker of your slow
poison.

A pistol-shot drives through the heart, and one or
two convulsive struggles finish the sufferings of earth.

2. There are protracted shame, fear, convictions,
and struggles. You say, — ' My customers are free
agents. I do not force them to drink.' Yes, they are
free, and that makes your species of murder so cruel.
Give it to a swine, and he is not called to render ac-
count for the sin of drunkenness, or any crimes result-
ing from it. But you give it to a man ; a free account-
able being. His relations to God and to society are
various and complicated. He is a subject of God's
moral government, an object of redeeming mercy's
tenderest regard. He is a son, brother, citizen, friend,
father. Every glass, that you hand out, vibrates along
the most delicate chord, jars in harsh discord amid
some of the sweetest music of life, disturbs its most im-
portant harmonies, and runs in its influence farther, in
extent and duration, than you have yet conceived. If
a robber had pierced a man through with a sword, he
might be for weeks writhing in bodily pain ; but his
mind would not be agonized with shame. He is wil-
ling that his friends should come and see him. The
victims of your cruelty, all the way down through the
long, slow process of death, lose the cheerful openness
of virtue. They burn with shame as with an inward
fire. The society of the good used to make them
happy ; but now it renders them wretched. The
gradual loss of character comes, in the detail, like the

INTOXICATING LI Q, U O R S . 279

daily sting of a scorpion. Where the smile of appro-
bation and the salutation of respect were once re-
ceived, the cold indifference of neglect, or the more
rough-edged sneer of contempt, cuts across every sen-
sibility of the man whom you are so slowly mur-
dering.

I have spoken of the drunkard's fears. They are
peculiar to himself, the peculiar product of your slow
poison. I know his first launch is into the outer circle
of the maelstrom. The day smiles sweetly, the waters
play harmlessly around his little bark. It is easy to
float. It requires no oar, no helm. There is motion
without effort or care. The circle sweeps with so large
a diameter, it seems like a straight line. But ah ! the
delusion ! It is the curve of death. Each successive
sweep is swifter and in a diminished circle. But at
first it lulls to a sweet feeling of security. This gen-
erally continues, until it is too late to put back the frail
bark ; and, as it drives over the first inward declivities
on the edge of the awful tunnel, then begin to break
upon the ear a terrific roar of the mighty waters rush-
ing through their subterranean outlet. Can you tell,
dealer in poison ! — can you tell what images of terror,
what unearthly sounds of horror are racking the soul
of your customer while you are quietly resting on your
pillow? Remember, that it is the angelic nature of
man rushing to ruin. Oh ! these are, — these must be
terrors, that baffle description. Remember, that, as he
looks down the yawning abyss, and hears without the
roaring of a thousand thunders, within he is goaded •
with the last appeals of a guilt-oppressd conscience.
It will not suffer the suicidal plunge until it has once
more asserted the rights of God, and told the terrors of

280 SERMON X.

a coming judgment. Remember, that thirty thousand
every year are swallowed in this vortex. See how
thickly they cover the dark waters. See the security
and hilarity of the nearest circle. Hear the blas-
phemies and babblings that rise above the roar of
waves. But, Oh ! look on the inner circles. See the
sons of promise there. See how richly some of their
barks are freighted with the happiness of others. Mark
how they are now starting from their dreams. Listen
to the cry of despair ; mark the fitful, convulsive, un-
availing struggles as they try to press from destruction.
O the struggles, the deadly struggles of a man, who
feels himself really becoming a drunkard, and that in
view of all it involves ! Venders and makers of alco-
hol ! you murder slowly. So do the North American
savages. They do not aim to secure death alone.
They lengthen life, where instant death would be
mercy. They put off the day and hour of actual
death, to fill up the interval with torments. You do
the same, not intentionally, but as actually and as
fatally to the wretched victims as if it were so.

And again, —

3. It sends men to a certain and eternal hell. If
infidelity says, 'That is harsh and presumptuous/ 1
place my feet on the pedestal of truth, the word of God,
" No drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of God." Al-
cohol, I say from the Bible, fits men for hell, slowly^
but surely, and then leaves it not to any other agent,
but carries them to the verge of the precipice, and, to
crown all its career of cruelty and murder, plunges
them into a burning eternal damnation. I mean, — the
alcohol- vender does. And between this fact and sheer
infidelity, there is no middle ground of belief. You

INTOXICATI N"G - LIQUORS. 281

may close your eyes and ears against it ; but it is true
as the word of God.

But this species of murder has yet a wider reach of
cruelty. Other kinds may distress a large circle of re-
spectable friends. Bat they strike one painful blow,
and leave the soothing hand of time to heal the wound.
This lashes and pierces with scorpion-sting, for months
and years, and adds continually another and a keener
point, to keep innocent hearts bleeding. I allude to the
painful and protracted anxiety of friends, when the
doubtful point begins to be agitated — ' is he becoming
a drunkard V None, but they who feel it, can tell how
that agitation turns every sweet fountain of earthly en-
joyment into wormwood and gall. I allude to the
anxiety, which is started again in their minds, when
one experiment after another is ingeniously made to
keep the self-destroyer from the place of murder, and
from the allurements of the alcohol-vender. For it is
upon your place of traffic that they now look with as
much horror, as you would upon the spot where the
wife of your bosom was murdered. Decorate them as
you please. These are the associations with which the
place of your daily business is connected in the minds
of those who love your customers. I might charge you
still farther in summing up before a jury entertaining
the common sentiments of justice and humanity. The
disgrace of numerous friends, the wretchedness of un-
pitied, unrelieved poverty, the destruction of kindly
feelings, — all mark the success of your business. Un-
der your influence, the father loses the character of
counsellor, supporter, companion, patriarch, priest, and
becomes the tormentor, the burden, the curse of those
he has sworn to love and bless. He exerts but one

24*

282 SERMON X.

kind of influence steadily on his children ; and that is,
to train them to sin and misery.

But I stop. The detail need be carried no farther.
If the traffic in alcohol is murder, and that of the most
cruel kind : we may and ought to inquire, Who will
be found to partake of its guilt, remotely or directly ?

WHO IS GUILTY?

If the Temperance societies should at once perfectly
accomplish the objects of their efforts, there would be
saved to this nation, millions of dollars annually; thirty
thousand lives would be saved and added to the strength
and the happiness of this nation ; and wretchedness
whose amount cannot be measured, would be prevented.
If they entirely fail during this year, then the river of
burning lava will roll on its hery course. On its scorch-
ing bosom will still be seen, writhing in protracted ago-
nies, three hundred thousand human beings made for
holiness and happiness. Thirty or forty thousand will
plunge into endless miseiy this year; and a larger
number in the next. And as these murdered souls rise
to the bar of God, he will make inquisition for blood.
On whose hands will it be found? Remember the
principle of criminal law taken from the law of God.
If an ox was known to be dangerous, and by being
turned loose, destroyed life, the owner, so exposing the
life of others, was made to answer for it with his own.
Let us go then to the fountain-head. Whence flows
the river of death ? Does it come, like the beautiful
Hudson, from fountains which God has made ? No ;
the little rivulets which swell its tide, are made by man.
God never made a distillery. And he never made al-
cohol, but in the process of vegetable destruction. It is
the product of the process of fermentation. It is found

INTOXICATING LIQ.UORS. 283

naturally in the vessels of no living, healthful plant or
animal. And when artificially introduced there, it
proves its origin. Begotten by the process of death, it
tends directly and powerfully to death. Why do not
the owners of distilleries close them ? Because the love
of money is stronger in them than shame, humanity, or
conscience. Yea, they will grasp it, though they know
it to be the price of tears and blood, though it be wrung
from the hard earnings of the poor, and is the last de-
pendence of a famishing family ; provided it comes to
them through second hands, and they see not the misery
they cause. Let us go along this river of death, and
see the various agencies which have a guilty connec-
tion with it.

1. The Distiller, Importer, and Vender. They keep
this fountain full, and open the channels through which
it may flow. Every maker and vender must admit that
drunkenness is a horrible evil. But how much drunk-
enness is there throughout these states ? A gentleman
in this state, has caused a thorough investigation to be
made lately in three counties in a section of this state,
which ranks high for morality. With a population of
about 49.000, there are upwards of 21,000 who drink,
- moderately," and about 1900 drunkards ; i. e. nearly
one half are tipplers, or occasional drinkers, and one in
26 is a drunkard. Apply that proportion to the whole
Union, and we have 500,000 drunkards. Is this vice
horrible in one man — what is it when accumulated and
multiplied in half a million ? And who perpetrates this
guilt and wretchedness ? Could it exist if you would
all abandon your business, and other men have too
much humanity and conscience to enter it ?

But the maker replies : ' I do not force any one to drink ;

284 SERMON X .

I make it, and if men choose to kill themselves with it,
I am no more responsible, than if I manufactured cor-
rosive sublimate, and men chose to drink it.' Here I
believe is, at last, the most satisfactory reasoning to the
manufacturer's mind. But it is only one of the speci-
mens of sophistry by which men quiet a disturbed con-
science, without doing themselves the justice to reflect
upon it soberly, as in the sight of their final Judge.
They make alcohol as a beverage; they make it,
knowing that it will be drank, and knowing that the
appetite for it is the life of their business. They make
it to be drank, just as truly as ever men make pistols
for the destruction of life, or counterfeit money for cir-
culation. If they make it for the arts ; why not make
it in the form of pure alcohol, in which it is needed in
the arts ; why color it for the eye and drug it for the
taste ? The plea is insincere. If there be in the manu-
facturer's heart a prayer, which never was framed into
words, it is, — l Let men get an increasing appetite for
ardent spirits ; this I desire just as earnestly as I desire
the comfort and respectability of myself and family.'
And he doubtless often feels secure, because he sells to
venders and not to drinkers. Just as secure is he from
the piercing eye of Justice, and from her dreadful sen-
tence, as is the maker of counterfeit money. He never
cheats any person. He sells to men who know the
nature of the article. If they choose to injure the com-
munity, he, poor innocent man, cannot help it. He is
merely making an honest livelihood by selling printed
paper, which is one of God's good creatures. This
apology has often satisfied the wholesale vender. But
the difference is, — that you deal out death by the hogs-
head, your neighbor by the gill. Your beams are laid

INTOXICATING LIQUORS. 285

in blood three stories high, his but one. The apology
of the retailer we have sufficiently examined. We see,
then, a flood of burning lava rolling down over a lovely
country, laying every thing waste before it. The dis-
tillery is the volcano, tended by the respectable distiller.
The wholesale vender digs the larger channels, and the
retailer carries it home over the lovely little garden spots
where bloomed the sweetest plants of domestic happi-
ness, and into the sanctuary of the living God, and
around the very altars devoted to holiness. Yea, they
have carried it up into the sacred desk ; and even there,
the mighty have fallen. Who furnished it to the man,
who, in this ward, last year, knocked another in the
head and killed him? Who furnished it to the Captain
of the Rothsay Castle, when he madly drove his steam-
boat on the shoals, and destroyed two hundred precious
lives ? < Oh !' exclaimed a man, who had made much
money in the traffic, as he looked around from his store
upon the once thrifty farmers, who had been brought
to ruin by trading with him, — l Oh !' it is a horrible bu-
siness.' I stand and look at a distillery ; at the hogs-
head rolling into a wholesale store ; at the barrel, the
jug, taken in by the retailer. I ask the physician ; —
' What is the nature of that substance, and its effects if
men drink it V I ask the police magistrate, the judge,
the man of observation, the wife. One clear loud voice
answers ; ' Poison — poison — the deadliest, crudest poi-
son.' It kills both body and soul, and creates all around
it an atmosphere of death. Look at that decorated bar-
room. Its gilding is the mask of the assassin. Look
at that smiling bar-tender. Can he be so ignorant as
not to know what a train of evils he is setting in motion?
Has he not read, nor observed ? He has laughed at the

286 SERMON X.

temperance society. Has he prepared to answer his
final Judge?

Do I address a manufacturer, or vender, to-night?
Have I invaded your rights 1 Oh ! no, you are the
invader. And this is but a feeble attempt to throw a
wall of defence around the rights and happiness of com-
munity. Do I appear to you harsh ? No. It cannot
be ; for it is not in my heart. Believing fully the
doctrine of this discourse, I must feel moral disappro-
bation. But with it I feel anxiety and distress in pros-
pect of your final account and retribution. Facts are
stubborn things. And I am stating but a few of an
innumerable class, and those, in a manner too feeble
fully to exhibit the wrong that you are doing, and the
miseries that you are inflicting. The poor unfortunate
wretch, who bought your spirits, and committed murder
under their influence, lies in prison, waiting the day of
execution. But you are upheld and shielded by the law
to make more murderers. O that day — that dreadful
day, when even-handed justice will apportion different-
ly from the awardings of imperfect man ! There re-
main for you but two alternatives. Go on and meet
your Judge. We will use no other force against you
than persuasion. Resist that ; die a rum-vender, and
meet your customers at the bar of God. Or, repent
and renounce your sin ; make all the reparation to God
and man in your power, and apply to the mediation of
the Lord Jesus Christ for forgiveness.

Another class share in this guilt.

2. Those who license the traffic. It is, surely, but a
plain inference of common sense, that licensing this
traffic in the present state of things, is licensing all the
crime which results from it. In other words, our mu-

INTOXICATING LIQUORS. 287

nicipal officers and commissioners of excise license men
to commit murder by poison ; to dishonor God and de-
stroy man. What is the effect on the vender o£ every
license you dispense ? It shields his conscience from
the perception of his guilt. It stands in the way of that
holy, searching, murder-forbidding law of God, which
would drive him to despair or repentance. Rum-
venders want generally no better shield against the law
of God, than the license which they have received from
a civil officer, and for which they have paid. It pre-
vents public sentiment, however powerful, from reaching
them. Why, they say, < These are fanatics, that would
interfere with our lawful business.' Yes, you make it
lawful for them to continue and multiply the murder-
ous traffic. The license stands right in the way of one
of the noblest reformations of the age ; one which, most
deeply of all, involves the best interests of our country.
Would you believe that you were doing right , even if
appointed for that purpose by the governor, to license
piracy, counterfeiting, or murder by arsenic ? If not,
where is the moral right of licensing murder by alco-
hol ? " Thou shalt not kill," neither as principal, nor
as accessory. You say, — < I am appointed to execute
the law.' You ought not to accept an office which
requires you to do a moral wrong. But the law does
not require you to license a single individual. The
law restrains you from doing it, unless you have evi-
dence that the public good demands it in every indi-
vidual case. If the licensing officer is under oath, and
if he is required to obtain under oath, the declaration
that the public good demands every rum-selling estab-
lishment which is licensed, then I fearlessly assert that
there is not only murder, but what God will consider

288 SERMON X .

perjury somewhere ; when, in a city like Albany, in
every twelfth house rum is sold for the public good.
Is the multitude of rookeries in our city, which contain
a jug, bottle, and glass, where nothing but rum is sold,
really licensed by men who have sworn only to consult
the public accommodation in such licenses? Did I
believe that our licensing officers were ignorant, I would
appeal on a different ground. But they are not. They
are men of sense and observation. And I am unable
to account for their conduct in this matter, but by sup-
posing that they dare not offend the many who are
interested in the traffic. And if this be really so, I
exhort them as honest men to resign their office. I say,
as honest men. The public appoint them as guardians
of the public welfare. But when a strong band of mur-
derers rises up and threatens vengeance, they dare not
meet them. Give us commanders that dare defend us.
I would no more dare to license a man to sell ardent
spirits in this city, than I would dare to be an accessory
in any other way, to every crime committed under its
influence. Those who do it, with their present light,
violate the sixth commandment.

Intimately connected with this, is the guilt of —
3. Legislators. It is not out of my province, per-
haps, now to remind this respected class of our citizens,
that their station gives them influence, for the uses and
practical results of which, God holds them responsible.
They must pass another and purer ordeal than public
sentiment. We have no complaint to make of past
legislation on this subject. It was manifestly designed
for the public good ; and has already outrun public
sentiment. On the licensing officers rests the heaviest
portion of this guilt. Men of very bad character are

INTOXICATING LIQUORS. 289

engaged in the traffic, contrary to law. Minors and
apprentices are permitted to buy and drink without the
consent of guardians, contrary to law. Bad conduct is
permitted in these drinking places, notwithstanding the
law has required recognisance and securities for keep-
ing an orderly house. This the legislator has honestly
tried to prevent. He has tried to prevent the common
tippling in groceries, by requiring the vender to swear,
that he keeps a tavern expressly for the accommodation
of travellers. Nor should it be forgotten, that the
existing laws were made in days of such darkness, that
the best men did not hesitate to engage in the traffic.

But a day of light has come. It is not boasting to
say it — we have light on this subject, which imposes
new duties on all classes. It is chemical light, phy-
siological light, moral light. By its clear shining, we
are enabled to see one portion of the community prey-
ing upon the wealth, and health, and life of the other.
We now see the injustice of raising a revenue from a
business, which makes the non- vending part of com-
munity pay, in the form of street begging, poor and
criminal tax, more than twice the revenue without any
pecuniary profit, but with incalculable moral loss. We
now see, that in the very requirement of recognisances
for good conduct, lies the admission of such a natural
fraternity between the traffic and bad conduct, that they
must require of him, what is required of no other mer-
chant, that he does not, in the pursuit of his lawful
business, allow that unlawful conduct which directly
results from it. We see by the light of this day, that
legislation of a more decisive character is required. It

is, TO MAKE THE TRAFFIC A CRIME BY LAW.

And why cannot the traffic in certain specified forms

25

290 SERMON X.

of alcohol to be drank on the premises be made a penal
offence ? Because, it is said, so many respectable men
would consider it an unconstitutional abridgment of
their privileges of drinking in taverns and stores, that
it would be intolerably offensive to one part, and cun-
ningly evaded by the other. If this reasoning be valid , a
Legislature had better never use any portion of its in-
fluence to put down crime. If rum-selling be a crime,
(and upon the truth of that position is based all the
legitimacy of my conclusions and the propriety of my
appeals,) then the legislators, as the constituted moral
barrier between the state and those destructive vices
which lay desolate its social blessings, are bound to lay
their strongest hand on this crime. And so long as
they do not, they are, in the eye of pure morality, ac-
cessories to the murders and other crimes involved
essentially in the traffic. Where is the moral difference
between such a course and the suppression of lotteries ?
They were once protected by law. But by the same
power you have crushed them, and they can now live
only by skulking and hanging out false signs. Look
at your power. Stretch out your wand over the land
like Moses, and the plague will be stayed ; the foun-
tains of blood dried up.

In view of these truths, let me ask, what is the duty
of the Church ? Where should she be found on this
subject ? Her place is in the fore-front of every moral
reformation. IN either indolence nor cowardice befits
her high vocation. The temperance-reformation is a
holy enterprise. It was commenced under the influ-
ence of the Bible, and its holy philanthropy, after the
world had abandoned the hope of reform. It began in
the Church. Devoted men of God gave it the first im-

INTOXICATING LIQUORS. 291

pulse. They discovered the grandest principle which
ever rewarded the toil of philosophers — that total absti-
nence would rid the world of its direst curse, its dead-
liest plague, whose ravages were yearly widening. It
was begun in prayer ; and I have been surprised that
Christians could doubt the propriety of praying in the
public meetings connected with this subject. Cease to
associate prayer with it, let it swing off to the low
grounds of expediency and political economy, and the
cause inevitably runs down. We owe all our success
to the smiles of God. Still and perpetually let the
Church seek their continuance. The Church is bound
by all her vows and professions, by her covenant obli-
gations, by her duty to man and to the cause of virtue,
to sustain every society which seeks to reform the com-
munity by proper means. There are several ways by
which she may act, in her appropriate sphere, in ac-
complishing this work.

1. By preaching. It is the duty of her ministers,
to exhibit this subject in the light of the Bible and
eternity. If it involved a mere question of political
economy, affecting the national industry and wealth ;
if it were a merely medical question of the healthful-
ness or unhealthfulness of a certain substance, then it
would not come specifically within the scope of the
gospel preacher. But if the traffic in intoxicating li-
quors, and their use as a beverage, are sins, and enor-
mous sins ; if the souls of men are destroyed by this
traffic ; if its success and extension is the overthrow
of religion ; if the millennium cannot come while it
flourishes ; then must the ministers of Christ sound
the notes of alarm. They must give a clear and
solemn exhibition of the guilt and the everlasting con-

292 SERMON X.

sequences connected with these practices. In fact, I
see not how we may expect the discontinuance of a
traffic in which so many are interested, unless the
public mind is led to contemplate it strongly in its
everlasting consequences to drinkers and venders.

I know that we often hear remarks about going too
fast for public sentiment. And I would, that there
were as much time as we have now occupied to discuss
that point in this connection. There is a plausible, ex-
tensive and mischief-working-error concerning it. Let
me ask a question: — Should ministers in preaching,
follow public sentiment, keep pace with it, or lead and
reform it? If a minister tells the people what they
knew before, he may refresh their memories ; but he
cannot instruct them as a scribe who brings forth
" things new and old." If he tells the people, that those
things are wrong, which they knew to be wrong before
he told them ; he will not offend them indeed, nor incur
the charge of fanaticism. But will he do them any
good ? If public sentiment is ignorant, who is to en-
lighten it ? If it is wrong, who is to rectify it ? Is it
not the very business of the prophets of the Lord, the
teachers of morality and religion? Must they not
show the people, that many things which they received
from their fathers, and which are now fashionable and
much admired, are nevertheless wicked ? Or must they
always wait until the people find out from some other
source what is right, and what wrong ? So did not
Enoch, nor Lot, nor Jeremiah, nor John, nor our Re-
deemer. Public sentiment was altogether wrong on
many important points in morals ; yes, and it was de-
fended on those very points by reference to the Bible,
but our Savior plainly instructed and solemnly rebuked

INTOXICATING LIQUORS. 293

them. To be sure, it did not much increase his popu-
larity. Nor could it, in the nature of the case. To
oppose what is popular, must be unpopular. But his
satisfaction was found in purifying the moral atmos-
phere, and in saving millions then unborn from error,
sin, and eternal ruin. If these principles be correct,
we shall benefit you and the cause of temperance but
little, if our discourses, snail-paced and cowardly, creep
up only as high as public sentiment has reached. It
is our duty to gaze into eternity, and borrow the light
of that day, when the pleadings of custom and appetite
and interest will not be heard ; but truth — clear, simple,
eternal truth — will try every man's work and character,
and fix his destiny. And if any reproaches must come
on any class of men for advocating truth, let the leaders
receive the first charge.

The Church must sustain it by —

2. Her practice. Theory, however correct, will not
move the world, if those who advocate it contradict it
by their practice. If the traffic is murder, how can
church members continue to buy and sell it ? I only
ask the conscience of the Church, and the common
sense of the world. If the Church is the light of the
world, what kind of light does that member hold out
who sells alcohol ? The light of an ignis fata us, that
shines to decoy and destroy. The point is settled, that
so long as religion is respected, the world will not rise
above the Church in morals. One professor of religion,
who is consistent in other respects, by continuing to
vend this poison, may quiet the conscience and harden
the heart of fifty others in a city like this, and be an
effectual shield to guard them from the truth. " Nei-
25*

294 SERMON X .

ther be partaker of other men's sins." The Church is
bound —

3. To purify herself. Is it a murderous traffic ; or
is it immoral even on any other ground ? then how can
any Christian church admit to its bosom and welcome
as a faithful, obedient disciple of Jesus Christ, one who
continues in it ? As a pastor, I could not welcome such
a person to our communion and Christian fellowship.
This has been viewed as very high and untenable
ground. I cannot see, one inch below it, a footing for
consistency ; I shall be thankful, if it be there, to find
it. If there be a vender in the bosom of your church,
labor with him in love, pray for him, weep over him ;
but O ! leave him not until he has abandoned the cruel,
guilty traffic. If he does not, see where he will stand
in the judgment day. Jesus Christ will arraign a poor
trembling culprit, and say to him, « I was sick and in
prison and hungry ; and your crime is, that you neither
visited nor fed me." Lord, when ? he inquires. " In
that poor creature, and that. Depart therefore accursed,
into everlasting fire." Then he will turn to this ven-
der, and say, " Come, blessed of my Father ; for I was
sick and you visited, hungry and you fed me." When?
he inquires. Jesus points to the same as before. What
will the condemned wretch think of justice, when he
recognises in those very beings those whom this church
member had made drunkards ; whose drunkenness
caused their sickness, imprisonment, and hunger? The
crime of one was, he had not attended to them after
they were sick and hungry. But the virtue of the
other was, that he not only had not regarded their
wretchedness after it existed, but was the grand volun-

INTOXICATING LIQUORS. 295

tary, selfish author of it all, in the midst of light and
rebukes ! Oh ! tell it not in Gath, that such are the
hopes of Christians !

' Vender of alcohol — go home, and write upon every
vessel containing this substance, " Thou shalt not kill."
And may the finger of God write on your heart — " No
murderer hath eternal life abiding in him."

SERMON XI.

VALEDICTORY SERMON.

" I have no greater joy than to hear that my children
walk in truth?— Z John 4.

John was a venerable Christian Pastor ; and when
we use his language as expressive of our feelings, we
do it with an humbling consciousness of un worthiness.
Yet I think that I can adopt this language with much
sincerity, concerning a church, over which I have
watched, and wept, and prayed. The end of a pastor's
labors and desires is, to lead his flock to walk in the
truth. Desiring to condense my ministry, as it were,
into one closing discourse, I adopt this sentence, with
the hope that it will be brought afresh to your memo-
ry, whenever you think of me, — " 7" have no greater
joy than to hear that my children walk in truth?

TO WALK IN TRUTH.

It is a beautiful idea. Pilate once asked, " What is
truth ?" Had he waited for an answer, he might have
heard it sublimely said, " I am Truth !" Oh ! had
he, for a moment, laid aside the judge and become the
child, his dark and wandering soul might have seen
the dawning of a new and eternal day. What is truth?

298 SERMON XI.

Things as they are, things as God apprehends them,
facts, eternal realities. — Where is truth ? It used to be
written all over the heavens. The earth was a rich
volume, inscribed with truth on its ever varying pages.
The heart of man was instinct with truth. But the
heavens are now covered with sackcloth. The eye of
love no longer reads the mystic characters written on
every wonderful and beautiful object. The heart of
man is perverted. He has come to hate the light and
the truth. His philosophy, which can do nothing more
than classify known facts, and conjecture unknown ex-
istence, can never teach him. God must teach him in
plain, unequivocal language. God must teach him
authoritatively ; because the truth is often unwelcome.
God must identify his instructions with signs and won-
ders. Once this was not necessary. Then the heart
of man was true to the voice of God. It then needed
no stupendous miracle to say to man — this is your
Father and your God : hear him. But now the mes-
sage must come from him, accompanied by strong and
indisputable credentials. Where is truth ? In Jesus ; —
" I am the way, and the truth, and the life." It is in
Jesus and his word. " Art thou a king then ?" asked
Pilate. " To this end was I born, and for this cause
came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto
the truth? " No man hath seen God," said this great
witness, " at any time ;" no philosopher, no son of
science, no student of the stars, no deep observer of man.
These have boasted of light, but they have groped in
darkness. They have not seen God. His character,
and his government, and his purposes, they have not
discovered. O ! my children ! if I were leaving you to
the cold instructions of philosophy and science, my

VALEDICTORY SERMON. 299

heart would sink within me. I should not expect to
meet you forgiven, sanctified, glorified, in the land of
spirits. But ye have heard the voice of the only be-
gotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father. And
his word is quick and powerful. You have heard it in
your grave of sin ; it has quickened you into life spirit-
ual, and will raise you by a second resurrection, to life
eternal.

Let me explain the text. John was the honored in-
strument of converting many from the error of their
ways. He thus became their spiritual instructor. In
this relation, he uses the language of these epistles, and
calls them, children ; some of them, perhaps, his seniors
in age. There were two classes of error to which he
saw them exposed ; — the errors of religion and those of
irreligion ; the one consisting in the perversions of the
Scriptures, and the other in an utter disregard of them
as untrue or unimportant. The world has its errors,
and the Church has hers. The holy and benevolent
anxiety of this patriarch was, that his children should
shun them both, and walk in the truth ; that their minds
should be enlightened, their hearts animated, and their
steps directed by the truth. In his absence, in his ban-
ishment, nothing could cheer his heart but to hear this
concerning them. They must walk in truth.

Is the Bible unkindly severe? is it unjust, and does
it aim to make us unsocial, when it says. " The whole
world lieth in wickedness ;" — " the friendship of the
world is enmity with God ?" — meaning by the world,
the uncontroverted. Is it unkind and unjust when it
cautions Christians against their influence, because they
are deceived and deluded ? " The god of this world
hath blinded the minds of them that believe not." But

300 SERMON XI.

have not Christians escaped beyond the circle of that
influence ? Not so long as they are social beings, with
an imperfect character, surrounded by unbelieving
friends. The world is in error, deep, practical, de-
structive error. With some it is an error of theory.
With all it is an error of the heart. It is painful to see

them walking in the deceitf'ulness of their own imagin-
es o

ings, to be amused, to be cheered and flattered, until
they awake amid the disappointments of another world.
The Church must see that the world is in darkness
and error, and must show them their path. And it is
the more needful to caution you on this point, because
the most dangerous errors of worldly men are not put
in the form of distinct propositions ; but they come in-
sidiously and powerfully instilled into your very heart,
through every channel of social feeling. — The errors
of the world come commended and palliated by the
fascinations of wealth, rank, talent, refinement, station
and friendship. You do not hear them proclaim, there
is no God, no heaven, no hell ; but it is proclaimed in
every plan, every sentence, every tone, every step. I
wish to be understood : there is a powerful and insidi-
ous influence from the world, which will induce you
to walk by sight, and not by faith, unless greatly watch-
ful. I will mention some of their errors.

I. They are in fatal error on the subject of Happi-
ness.

No reference is here made to their theories ; but I
speak of those practical views which control their
hearts and conduct. This point admits of illustration.

1. They seek the transient gratifications of a day,
because they esteem them more important than their
everlasting welfare in an immortal state. Show me

VALEDICTORY SERMON. 301

two men who act as if they had immortal souls one
hour after they have left the worship of God ; and I
will show you ten who act as if man's interest were
concentrated here. They do not walk in truth. For
it is true that we are immortal— it is true that the in-
terests of time are as a feather in the scale against the
vast interests of our ever-enduring son Is. It is true,
that present happiness is a cheap sacrifice if its abandon-
ment be connected with the blessings of eternity. Yes,
the world, the intelligent world, the learned, the mighty,
the high, the low, the bond and free, despise the crown,
the harp, the song, the society, the joy of heaven, be-
cause the pursuit of them would interfere with some
fleeting, selfish duty. It is true, that the world shrink
from the pain, the shame of a day ; but they rush into
the shame and agony of eternal damnation. — Here is
error and delusion, just as ruinous as avowed infidelity.
It is sympathy with these errors, and falling in with
this current, that cause the distressing backslidings in
the Church. It is error which you can scarcely com-
bat with reason; for none defend it. But this only
makes it the more dangerous. To walk in truth, is to
walk on earth in the light of heaven, to be directed
through time's darkness by the beams of eternal day.

2. Another mistake about Happiness is— They
know not in what it consists.

Happiness is found in the favor of God— misery in
his frown. The world deny it. They seek happi-
ness in the smiles of popular favor. They chase the
approbation of erring man, and turn away from the
smile of God. They dread the contempt, and the wrath
of man. But they have no fear of God's indignation,
no dread of his contempt. This is not truth, my

302 SERMON XI.

fellow-men ! This is not regarding things as they are.
And one hour of bliss under the smile of God before
his throne, or of agony beneath his executed curse3
would give a demonstration such as words cannot
furnish. There is a luxury in the tears of penitence ;
there is peace and joy in believing. Sometimes it is
a foretaste of heaven to be in a social circle of pray-
ing friends. But the world knows nothing, practically
believes nothing, of this. My sorrow will be, when I
hear that my children come under this influence ; my
joy will be enlarged when I hear that they walk in
truth ; that they are not looking for happiness where
the world seek it ; for I shall know, that, if they do, they
are sowing the wind, and must reap the whirlwind.
Truth, and truth alone, will endure the test of time.
For a season, it may seem to the superficial observer
that the world is right ; but the magic spell must be
broken ; the frost-work must melt away.

3. The ivorld overrate Happiness.

There is something more important than present
happiness. It is character — not reputation, but char-
acter ; and there is no excellence of character but holi-
ness. Believe it ; — it is more important that you be
holy, than that you be happy ; or rather, since holiness
ensures happiness, I would say, — it is more important
that you deny yourself, in order to obtain perfect holi-
ness, than that you have any degree of present happi-
ness. It is not according to truth, to live in such a
contracted sphere of selfish desires and grovelling
motives as actuate a wordly heart. Man was made for
virtue and benevolence. He is placed and preserved
here to train himself for heaven, under the sweet in-
fluences of the gospel and grace of Jesus Christ.

VALEDICTORY SERMON. 303

II. Another error of the world is} — They underrate
excellence.

Their admiration is carried away with superficial
and even unholy traits of character in man. But the
glorious excellence of God — the transcendent loveli-
ness of Jesus Christ, they do not value ; and where
some faint reflection of the beams of that loveliness is
seen in the regenerated, they do not admire it. But
here is truth. God is amiable and glorious — the vision
of Jesus' charms is ravishing. Were you out of this
dark, smoky, sin-blinded world, were you among the
sons of light, the tall hierarchies of heaven, had you
wings to soar and mount on high, you would realize
it. But the world walketh in a vain show.

III. They adopt false 'principles.

I will select but one of these for illustration ; what
is popular is right — what is unpopular is wrong. — It is
a doctrine, which would for ever confirm the empire
of the arch deceiver over mankind. It is the doctrine,
by which Luther was met, and by which he was ranked
an ultraist. It met Jesus Christ in his labors as a re-
former. He was ahead of public sentiment. His doc-
trine was unpopular, therefore it was wrong ; its pro-
mulgation agitated the community and drew down the
indignation of the great conductors of public senti-
ment ; therefore it was wrong. This is not truth, and
may the Church never walk in it.

There are errors in the Church too ; I do not mean
those fundamental heresies which sap the very vital
principle of religion : but I refer to errors which seri-
ously retard the progress of personal piety, and enervate
the arm of her power. There may yet come in among
you those who will bring damnable heresies. But as

304 SERMON XI.

I do not see from what quarter the attack will arise, nor
in what form the enemy will come, that must be com-
mitted to the Great Shepherd.

The practical errors of the Church to which I refer,
are —

1. Extravagant views of human depravity and
inability.

By these, man has been turned into a machine, and
his responsibility virtually denied, and his sense of obli-
gation paralyzed. On this subject it may suffice now
to say, that the Bible and human consciousness corres-
pond. The Bible exhibits man as deeply depraved,
and yet as totally inexcusable for his past and present
wickedness, and fully responsible to do his duty im-
mediately and for ever. To this the consciousness
and the observation of mankind respond. The heart
of man is depraved. There is no question of its deep
depravity. But the depravity of his heart has not
taken away his power to do what God now requires
of him ; else the foundations of responsibility are de-
stroyed, and man would only have to do wrong to
make it impossible that he should be any longer under
obligations to do right. In the language of the Pres-
byterian Confession of Faith : " God hath endued the
will of man with that natural liberty, that it is neither
forced, nor by any absolute necessity of nature, deter-
mined to good or evil." And to fortify this senti-
ment, their well-chosen proof-text is the address of
Joshua to the Israelites — " I call heaven and earth to
record this day against you, that I have set before you
life and death, blessing and cursing ; therefore choose
life, that both thou and thy seed may live." The fall
perverted, but did not destroy the free agency of man ;

VALEDICTORY SERMON. 305

perverted the use of his powers in action, but did not
destroy the existence of those powers which distinguish
man as a subject of moral government, from animals,
and which lie at the foundation of all obligation.

It is a truth, then, which you must hold, if you
would vindicate the justice of Jehovah's government,
that he exacts of his creatures that which they have
the native powers to perform, while there is such an
utter, certain, and desperate aversion of disposition
and will to it, as to make the interference and con-
stant agency of the Holy Spirit indispensable. Thus
is the justice of God vindicated, while the pride and
self-sufficiency of man are brought low, and the Church
brought to feel the need of the Spirit's agency.

2. The Church entertain extravagant views of the
sovereignty of God.

There is a strong inclination to refer the religious
interests of man to God, in a way which would appear
to them perfectly absurd, if applied to the common
affairs of life. It is true in the spiritual world, that
Paul may plant and Apollos water, but God must give
the increase. But it is equally true in the natural
world. Now the error we speak of, is — to omit the
most earnest and skilful employment of means adapted
to the end, in the salvation of the soul, because we
depend on God for success. So did not Paul, the
unwearied missionary. The error is, — to rest satisfied
when the Church is cold, and sinners are going care-
lessly to perdition ; and to attribute it to the sovereignty
and the purposes of God. That is practical heresy,
which makes the Church weak in her opposition to
the prince of darkness. This error shows itself in the
manner of directing sinners. They are often told,
26*

306 SERMON XI.

not to do what God requires them to do, but to do
something else in order to obtain the power to do what
God requires. It is supposed that the sinner has power
to pray acceptably without the Spirit, to plead without
faith, without repentance, with a proud, selfish, unsub-
dued heart, and to plead successfully for the Holy
Spirit ; but that he has no power to repent. This, my
brethren ! is neither rational nor scriptural. So did not
Paul, nor Peter. Point me to the place where they
urged an inquiring sinner to pray in impenitence and
unbelief for grace to enable him to repent ; where did
they not press the mind directly to the cross, and urge
the rebel child to fly with penitential sorrow to his
father's feet to obtain forgiveness—

" And I consent you take it for your text, —
Your only one, — till sides and benches fail."

This error has still another pernicious form. It is in
making men very zealous about the Spirit's agency j
but not warning them, nor rousing their hearts to the
exercise of frequent and fervent prayer. Now it is
true, that we are dependent on the Spirit for spiritual
life. It is true, that the moral waste around us will
never bud and blossom as the rose, unless the " south
wind" blow upon it. But it is just as true, that the
mere belief of that, neither honors nor obtains the in-
fluences of the Holy Spirit. It is prayer, secret and
social, fervent, faithful and frequent, that must obtain
them for self and others. To say nothing of secret
prayer, how often ought the Church to be assembled
in her public and social character to pray for the Holy
Spirit, in order to put becoming honor upon his blessed
office ? Let the eight days' prayer-meeting of the apos-

VALEDICTORY SERMON. 307

ties give us some general direction, if not definite model.
Prayer, sincere, humble and fervent, honors the person
and office of the Eternal Spirit.

3. The duty of the Church concerning the improve-
ment of public morals.

The Church of Christ and her ministers are bound
to be the leaders of public opinion in all questions of
morality. I admit that Christians and ministers have
the entire right of examining every proposed improve-
ment in public morals, and likewise the means of
affecting that improvement. That is, they are account-
able to God, and not to man, for their conclusions on
these points ; and it is not fair uniformly to make these
opinions tests of their piety or their infidelity. But
with these concessions, I would distinctly assert that
the business, the duty, of the Church and her ministry
is, to rectify a false and depraved public sentiment. It
is the business of the ministry to take for granted, that
a world lying in darkness and wickedness has a wrong
standard of morality, that the popular customs and
maxims of society stand in direct hostility to the law
and will of God, then to point out to the world how
and wherein it is thus wrong, and to urge it, by all the
tremendous sanctions of God's word, to abandon sin, and
seek forgiveness. So Isaiah and Jeremiah and Daniel
and Ezekiel understood their commissions. So did
John the Baptist. So did Jesus Christ and each of his
apostles.

Strange that it should be a question, whether or not
we should oppose actual and popular sins just as fast
as they are discovered ! Why, every motive of love to
God and benevolence to man urges it. And yet a large
number of pious men tremble, when we agitate a wicked

308 SERMON XI.

world, by urging it to abandon some fashionable and
deep-rooted sins. To me it is passing strange, for in-
stance that it should be thought fanatical or inexpe-
dient in us, to declare the system of domestic slavery,
as sanctioned by lav/ and carried out in practice in
our southern States, to be a high crime against God
and man. Sometimes they tell us that it is of no use
to agitate it in the North ; we should go to the South.
Then, we reply, our action at best is harmless. But
again they tell us, that it will rend the Union. My
brethren ! I wish I had the time now to examine this
point with you by the Bible, and in the light of the
great day of accounts, I have no fear, that Jesus
Christ will then reproach me for proclaiming it a crime
to treat immortal mind as the property of man, a mere
machine to work for the pecuniary benefit of another.
If there is not blood staining our nation in this mat-
ter, and if it is not the duty of Christian ministers
to call the nation to repent and put away the sin.
then I must confess that I have mistaken the whole
design and commission of God's ambassadors. But
I shall have occasion again to refer to the subject
of ministerial prudence; — a very important qualifica-
tion in its place, but a very hurtful one when unduly
exercised.

It would now remain to describe to you the truths
to be believed and practised. But for this I refer you
to the Confession* read this day in your presence, and
to all my past ministry. I have endeavored to give
you a comprehensive, distinct, and minute view of the

* Referring to the confession subscribed by the members admitted on
that day.

VALEDICTORY SERMON. 309

truths revealed for your salvation. I have consciously
withheld no portion from you. The character, the
government, the providence, the purposes of God — the
divine and human character, the work, and the offices
of Jesus Christ — the personality and offices of the
Spirit of God — the apostacy, total degeneracy and ruin
of man — his absolute dependence on the grace of God
— his exposure to eternal wrath — his duty, immediate
and indispensable, to repent— the vast responsibility of
Christians — the promises attached to the commands —
the glorious privileges and prospects of the children of
God, have been explained and urged with all the power
received from heaven. And now, dear brethren ! it
remains for' you to walk in these truths, by know-
ing and believing them as living realities, by feeling
their transcendent importance, by governing your con-
duct thereby, by obeying them yourselves, and by
spreading the knowledge and influence of them among
others.

The importance of it is seen in a thousand considera-
tions. God had great and especial ends to accomplish
in this peculiar revelation. He gave you this truth
that you might walk in it ; for on this depends your
personal holiness — your happiness — your usefulness.

These are powerful considerations. But I wish to
urge and to expand two others : — The peculiar mercies
of God to this church, which powerfully augment the
obligations of its members to do his will ; and the con-
firmation which he has given in its progress, of certain
great principles.

We may say of this church, as Balaam said of Israel,
when its tents lay spread far and wide along the valley
beneath him, " What hath God wrought ? according

310 SERMON XI.

to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel —
what hath God wrought V

I have felt my soul, my being, identified with this
church. More than eight years have rolled away since
I saw the first little band cluster together in the name
and strength of the God of Israel, to raise another ban-
ner to his glory. To have said much about it before
the present time, would virtually have been to speak
of myself. But that period is past. Since the purpose
has been fixed to leave you for a time — perhaps for
ever — a new feeling has come over my heart. I feel
as if I could stand aside with a more chastened affection
and more impartial eye to behold the wonders and
riches of Divine mercy. Of the fifty-five who laid the
first foundation stone of this spiritual structure, only
twenty-eight are now among us. Of the two hundred
and thirty-two who constituted the church at the close
of the first year, and saw that dark, distressing period,
when nothing but the naked hand of Christ held us up
among the roaring waters, only one hundred and eleven
are now with us. They recollect, they can never for-
get those days. It was "one day known to the Lord,
not day nor night ; but it came to pass, that at evening
time it was light." To-night I take with you a re-
view of that period. To those, who now constitute
this church, my message is — behold what the Lord
hath wrought ! It is befitting this solemn and trying
occasion to recount, like Israel of old, the mercies of
God, that you may praise his name, — that you may
understand more definitely the history of the principles
of this association, with which you have become so inti-
mately connected,^that you may feel your obligations.

It is usual on such occasions for the pastor to speak

VALEDICTORY SERMON. 311

of his own labors. I cannot do it. If I tell all that is
in my heart, 1 shall fall upon my knees and cry, — " De-
liver me from blood guiltiness." I shall supplicate for-
giveness of the church — I shall weep at the feet of
sinners, and ask them to forgive my selfishness, and
my unfaithfulness and cruelty to their souls. By the
grace of God something has been done ; but grace
and power were given that have not been always im-
proved.

But this I pass over, to make mention of the wonder-
ful acts of Him who has established with his people an
unchanging covenant. " O give thanks unto the Lord ;
call upon his name ; make known his deeds among the
people. Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him, talk ye
of all his wondrous works. Glory ye in his holy
name ; let the heart of them that seek the Lord, re-
joice. Seek the Lord and his strength ; seek his face
evermore. Remember his marvellous works that he
hath done ; his wonders, and the judgments of his
mouth ; O ye seed of Abraham, his servant ! ye chil-
dren of Jacob, his chosen !" To illustrate his good-
ness, let us place the beginning and the end of the
period of eight years together. On the 16th of Novem-
ber, 1828, I preached the first sermon to a company
collected in the consistory room, kindly offered to us
by the officers of the North Dutch Church ; who have
thus imposed a debt, which we would cheerfully repay
in the same currency if an opportunity occurred, as we
have endeavored to repay it in thankfulness and bene-
dictions.

There were then two views taken of the enterprise.
On the one side, both the friends and the enemies of
God said it was an unholy enterprise, unwise and un-

312 SERMON XI.

called for ; I was charged with fanaticism and boyish
indiscretion. It was said by the sagacious, " What do
these men build ? behold, if a fox go up on their walls
they will fall down." When this building was com-
menced, some ridiculed ; obstructions met us in the
usual financial arrangements, suspicions were set afloat
concerning the safety of crediting any one connected
even indirectly with the enterprise. When the first
indications of the special presence of God's Spirit were
experienced, we were branded with the severest ep-
ithets, and the ears of God's children were open to the
falsehoods of the wicked. Then understood I the
meaning of the Psalmist, and the feelings of the blessed
Savior in some measure : " My soul is among lions,
and I lie even among them that are set on fire, even
the sons of men whose teeth are spears and arrows,
and their tongue a sharp sword; who whet their tongue
like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows,
even bitter words."

Now, God forbid that I should refer to the past in a
spirit of revenge, or of boasting. I should loathe myself
if I could ever indulge such feelings, but especially
on such an occasion. God knows my heart towards
this whole community, and towards those who were once
my bitterest enemies. I do not boast ; but I say, that
on the one side were these views and feelings, and pre-
dictions; on the other, with much human imperfection,
we certainly had for our leading principles and feel-
ings— a determination to sustain the plain, honest ex-
hibition of the truths of the gospel, without consulting
unconverted men, whether they were pleased or dis-
pleased— and an unwavering confidence that God
would bless us if we served him !

VALEDICTORY SERMON. 313

There were many considerations which induced me
to remain here. Low and selfish motives were at-
tributed. My friends ! (I say it to the glory of God,)
I had as much confidence when I met in the first
prayer- meeting with twenty persons, that God would
greatly bless us, as I have now that he has blessed us.
Do not call it presumption, for I knew that I was sur-
rounded by a praying band. Among many other
considerations which induced me to remain and bear
the peltings of the pitiless storm, was the fact, as stated
then to me, that a number of Christians were engaged
in prayer from sun-set to sun-rise, that I might not be
permitted to leave the city. That turned the scale ;
I could not desert such spirits ; and I knew God would
bless them. I saw it, I felt it ; and I feel now as if I
could go gladly to attack the spirits in the pit, if God
sent me, surrounded by such hearts. And, more than
this, this enterprise and my unworthy name were on
the lips of hundreds of God's praying people, from this
city to Buffalo. An eminent saint, who preached over
a wide circuit, was in the habit of encouraging the
churches to bear our cause to the mercy-seat con-
tinually. I consider this church as a monument
inscribed with the evidences of the power of prayer,
and the faithfulness of Jacob's God. The enemy said
u By whom shall Jacob arise ? for he is small." We
replied — 'In God is our trust ; we will make our boast
in the Lord.'

Now let us see how the Lord hath dealt with us.
Truly he hath encouraged the hearts of them that be-
lieved, and he hath silenced the enemy and avenger.
I preached from Nov. 1828, to Feb. 1829, at which
time the church was organized. And it seemed as if

27

314 SERMON XI.

the Lord would try our faith, by suspending the mani-
festation of his favor, until as a distinct, organized and
consecrated church, we sat down for the first time, to
celebrate the death of Christ. I shall never forget that
day. After its toils were over, I was sent for. late at
night, to see a trembling soul who had that day been
brought to see her guilt and danger. That was the
first fruit of a glorious harvest. An inquiry meeting
was appointed ; and to my surprise, upwards of sixty
were present. From that day to this, we have not
passed the year without some special outpouring of the
Spirit of God.

It would animate the hearts of other Christians to
hear a description of the exercises of many who have
been converted. Never can I forget that beloved apart-
ment of this building, where I have met the inquirers,
and where 1 have seen them consecrate themselves to
God and the Lamb. Oh ! what changes in individual
character ; in families, — nay, in neighborhoods, hath
God's blessed Spirit wrought ! Within this period,
there have been united to this church, by letter and on
confession 1012 members, making an average of 125
each year. The Sabbath School has contained 1500
pupils.

We have contributed moneys which 1 can trace as
follows : Domestic Missions, $853 ; Tract Society,
.$823 ; Colonization, $215 ; Bible Society, $170 ; City
objects, $1220; Sabbath SchooL, $700; Theological
Education, $4964 ; Foreign Misssions, $4900. Total,
$13,843— an average of $1730 per annum. We in-
curred immediately on our organization a heavy debt,
which is now, by our own exertions and the aid of
friends, nearly extinguished.

VALEDICTORY SERMON. 315

Forty-six of our brethren and sisters have changed
their connection with the earthly for one with the
heavenly church. How glorious it has been to see
them turn to the Lord, and seriously address them-
selves to preparation for death, and then to witness the
reality of the change, and its importance tested and de-
monstrated in the honest hour of the soul's approach to
the judgment-seat. To see the law-condemned sinner
repent, the rebel return and obtain forgiveness ; to fol-
low the soul through its successive stages of heavenly
improvement and refinement ; and then to stand on the
verge of the river of death, to wade in and support the
departing spirit until it catches a view of the celestial
glory, to hear it shout, to see it just touching the bliss-
ful shore — this is a minister's salary. Mine has been
paid. "Behold, what hath God wrought? If it had
not been the Lord who was on our side, now may Israel
say, when men rose up against us ; then they had swal-
lowed us up quickly when their wrath was kindled
against us ; then the water had overwhelmed us, the
stream had gone over our soul ;. then the proud waters
had gone over our soul. Our soul has escaped as a bird
out of the snare of the fowler; the snare is broken, and
we are escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord,
who made heaven and earth." " Ye are my witnesses,"
saitli the Lord. We are, mighty God ! Thou hast
glorified thy mercy and thy truth in the midst of us.
There is yet another aspect of God's dealings with us.

He has kindly chastened us. We have not been
exempt from the common experience of troublesome
members, backsliders, general coldness and utter apos-
tacies. But in looking back on the rapid advance of
this enterprise, the wonder is that in such a sudden

316 SERMON XI.

forming into one mass, of so many people, of such va-
rious habits, temperament and education, that more
difficulties have not occurred. It is wonderful that
self-will, the last of all the human passions to be sub-
dued, the great nuisance of every moral government,
has not shown itself more strongly and more vexatious-
ly here. It would have done so, but the hand of the
Lord has been with us. He tempered the fire that was
consuming our dross. We bless him that he has af-
flicted us, and so afflicted us. And now we may look
back on those days of rebuke and say — "When the
Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like
them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with
laughter, and our tongue with singing ; then said they
among the Gentiles, the Lord hath done great things
for them. The Lord hath done great things for us,
whereof we are glad. They that sow in tears shall reap
in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing pre-
cious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing,
bringing his sheaves with him."

In addition to this view of God's mercies to the
church, I would impress obligation, by showing that
God has in a particular manner confirmed, in the
midst of us, certain great principles.

1. The power of prayer.

The foundation-stone of this enterprise was laid
emphatically in prayer ; the duty of prayer has been
enjoined and urged incessantly. Meetings for prayer
have been multiplied to a degree, in the estimation of
many, extravagant. Now it is not fair to presume, that
there has been any more sincere prayer here in pro-
portion, than with other Christians. But it is fair to
suppose, that there has been as much in proportion, and

VALEDICTORY SERMON. 317

consequently that there has been in fact more real
prayer than in most societies around us. We have as-
sembled in the early morning for months. We have
met, for long periods, at 10 o'clock every morning to pray
directly for the conversion of the impenitent. We have
believed in the transcendent importance of the conver-
sion of men. We have prayed for it. We have witness-
ed it in hundreds of joyful instances. All our history is
such a demonstration of the efficacy of prayer, that, if I
had never had any other proof, I should feel an over-
whelming sense of obligation to pray without ceasing.

2. God loill bless the faithful exertions of his people.
When we speak of faithfulness, it is only relative.

It has been found here, that whenever we employed
certain instrumentalities with earnestness, they were
blessed. Whenever the church has consecrated special
seasons to prayer, and to exertions to awaken in the
community a sense of the importance of personal reli-
gion ; they have never failed of success.

3. That to feel for others, and to give of oar pro-
perty for their good, is blessed.

We commenced with a love to the cause of evangel-
izing the world. In debt as a church, poor as indi-
viduals, we have never yet failed to do our proportion,
not of what ought to be done, but of what has been
done in this great cause. There were times when the
faith of some of our brethren staggered on this point;
it seemed to them presumptuous to be sending away
hundreds of dollars to others, when a heavy burden
hung upon our own wheels. But we have never failed.
For the last six years we have supported a foreign mis-
sionary ; and during the current year we have raised
by subscription nearly $300 more. But we have lost

27*

318 SERMON XI,

nothing. The monthly concert of prayer has been to
us a delightful season. In watering others, we have
ever been watered ourselves. And when at length we
struggled to roll off* our heavy debt, God helped us.
He inclined the hearts of our young men to step promptly
forward ; and he raised up for us kind friends in the
community.

4. The duty of the Church to take a high stand in
the reformations which benevolent men are urging
forward.

We have been met. as before remarked, with the sen-
timent in various forms — that the Church and her min-
isters must not go in advance of public sentiment. The
pledge to abstain from ardent spirits was thought by
many to be a very good thing : but it was not discreet
to introduce the subject into the pulpit, and to urge it
forward. We believed not so. Nay more ; we believed
that it was our duty as a church to admit no one to our
communion who would not enter into this stipulation.
We wanted no Christians, who could stand aside and
look with indifference upon this noble effort of philan-
thropy and piety. We have never had occasion to re-
gret it, but much reason to rejoice in it. God has
blessed it. Many reformed inebriates have entered this
church, and to my knowledge there is no case of re-
lapse. The walls of this building have resounded for
successive months with the pleas of the eloquent friends
of temperance ; and many a heart has been gladdened,
as the father, husband, and son have come forward and
pledged themselves to the abandonment of the destruc-
tive drink. The plea for the Sabbath, and the plea for
the seventh commandment, have been urged here.
And I rejoice that on this platform has been urged the

VALEDICTORY SERMON. 319

claim of the enslaved. I have heard of the danger of
exposing the building and the audience to molestation.
I have heard of something worse, — the odium attached
to the cause of liberty. But we have gloried to bear
that odium. We rejoice that God enabled us to erect
one of the buildings in this city where the cry of the
oppressed and down-trodden could be echoed in the ear
of Christian sympathy. We feel assured that it is right.
We bless God for the assurance which his providence
affords us, that it is right for his church to be the pioneer
of moral reformations. The right of opinion is a na-
tural right ; the right of expressing opinion is another,
conferred by the author of the human constitution ;
and both sacredly guaranteed by the bond of our politi-
cal union. And I know nothing more alarming in
modern politics, than the attempt to brow-beat free
American citizens in the peaceful maintenance of eter-
nal truths, and to persecute them for the candid, manly,
and courteous expression of those sentiments. We
have a right to try to convince the north and south.
Ministers have a right from God, and a commission
and a warrant from the American constitution, to expose
the sins and dangers involved in the system of oppres-
sion legalized and practised among us. I am ashamed
to hear it said, that there are places in America, where
you cannot candidly and temperately discuss great
questions of public duty and safety.

5. The propriety, policy, and importance of plain,
direct, pungent preaching.

Here I make no contrasts. Hearing no preaching
out of this place, I am unable to form a judgment con-
cerning the various styles adopted in this city. But I
know, that when I preached to another congregation,

320 SERMON XI.

they turned me from them because I preached too di-
rectly and pungently. I never could hear any other
objection on the most careful inquiry. On that point I
was entreated to change. But on that point this church
took its stand from the commencement, and determined
to welcome the most direct and pungent preaching that
was according to the word of God. Now for the im-
portance of it ; it is to us most manifest that God has
connected the conversion of hundreds with that as an
indispensable means. As to the policy of it; it was
said — t Why men will desert your churches.' God has
shown us that it is not so. And more than that, T am
the living witness to the fact, that the churches in this
city will now bear a degree of directness and pungency
that would once have been thought intolerable. I am
told that I have altered. I say, that public sentiment
has altered. One of the most convincing proofs of it to
me is, that I am ashamed now to preach those very ser-
mons which made the disturbance in the Second Church
because they are too tame and pointless.

And now, dear friends ! having shown what God hath
wrought for and by this society, you will permit me to
speak more directly of God's mercies to me as your
Pastor. No man can tell what I have passed through
in this city. My entrance here was flattering ; my re-
ception, every thing I could ask as a man and a minis-
ter. So long as Foreign Missions was my topic, all
went well. But when I turned to show the amiable
and moral and respected of this community, that they
were more guilty than the heathen, and were going to
a deeper condemnation, they rose in might against me.
I had never known an enemy before, since my conver-
sion. I had never been slandered. But now a new

VALEDICTORY SERMON. 321

scene awaited me in this goodly city. I was reviled ;
my sermons and sentiments were misrepresented ;
friends grew cold and enemies multiplied. For a
stripling this was new, and, you may be sure, well
nigh overwhelming. My heart overflowed with love
to all. I could not see why any should persecute me.
But oh ! it was a blessed school. I would not part
with the lessons there learned for all the enjoyments
of an undisturbed prosperity. Yet for three years I
walked the streets of this city, feeling as if, by God's
command, I was an intruder here. I have felt as if the
very houses frowned upon me. Cheerfully would I
have fled and hid myself like Elijah in a cave : but
the very style of the opposition showed clearly, that the
controversy was with God and his word, not with the
lips of clay which uttered it.

But I turn from that, to speak of the hearts which
cherished, and the hands which upheld me, in those
trying days. Brethren ! sisters ! I thus publicly thank
you. You gave not only a cup of cold water to a dis-
ciple when it was a reproach to you, you shared his
sorrows, you shielded his reputation with your own,
you would have shared the last earthly comfort with
him ; you would have died with him for Christ. You
wept for me, you carried my burdens, you prayed for
me. I know it. And my heart thanks you ; my soul
clings to you. But chiefly I recognise the goodness of
God in it, in whose hands are all hearts. I thank the
members of the church for their forbearance and sym-
pathy and respect, and the many proofs of their love.
Nothing but love has made you bear with my very
imperfect discharge of the duties that I owed you.
God hath wrought in you this heart of kindness. My

322 SERMON XI.

highest thanks are due to him. I thank God, this
night, before you all, for his provident care of me. I
have not been prevented by sickness from preaching,
so many as twelve Sabbaths for nearly nine years.
Since commencing to form this church I have preached
to you about one thousand sermons. I have assisted
other churches in sustaining more than thirty protract-
ed meetings. I have delivered ninety addresses on
Temperance ; more than a hundred addresses on For-
eign Missions ; many on Slavery ; many for objects in
our city; for the Tract, Bible, Education, and other
societies ; attended and addressed the various societies
in three anniversaries at New- York, one at Cincinnati,
one at Lexington, Ky., one at Boston, one at Troy. I
have performed a tour through many principal cities in
this state and into Canada, on the subject of Common
School Education.

With the fullest sense of my un worthiness to labor
in so glorious a cause, do 1, this night, render thanks
to God for bestowing upon me the ability and dispo-
sition to perform these labors. Brethren ! I have be-
come a fool in glorying ; but God is my witness, I do
it for his glory. I dare not refrain. I have been a
child of Providence. David could not hold his tongue
from uttering the mercies of God after his great de-
liverances.

And now, brethren ! I am about to say — Farewell !
I leave you, not because I do not love you. My heart
grows closer to you every day. This church appears
to me more interesting, and more important than ever.
I go, because I believe I ought to go. Europe is dear
to my heart ; but America is dearer. And I know
that if permitted, I shall hail its shores again with de-

VALEDICTORY SERMON. 323

light. I go to gather light from the experience of ages,
to see man in other climates, and under other institu-
tions. My soul pants for knowledge, human and
divine. But I would not indulge the desire, could not
that knowledge, when acquired, be employed for greater
usefulness. Be assured, it is not for myself. Whatever
I am now, or may be hereafter, is my country's and my
God's. I consecrate it to the Church of Christ and to
the human race.

Brethren ! what mean ye to weep and break my
heart? If there be pleasure in the prospect of seeing
many wonders, of witnessing the splendid trophies of
human genius, of indulging the powerful desires of
curiosity, I have felt little of it ; and less and less as
the time of our separation has approached. The recol-
lections of the past, the evidences of your ardent and
unbought love, the anticipation of your painful feel-
ings, when an accustomed voice, which your own
kindness has made you love to hear, shall be heard no
more, — these considerations have occupied my mind
supremely. The question, — 'How shall I accomplish
the most good for this beloved people during the brief
period of our intercourse,' — has weighed heavily on
my heart. And now the end of this anxiety is reached,
and I am called to perform the last act of religious
service in this endeared sanctuary. Oh ! it is with a
heavy heart that I say to such friends — farewell !
Deeply shall your names, your countenances be en-
graven on this memory. I shall carry a catalogue of
them with me, and spread it before that mercy-seat, at
which we have so often met. My children ! my
brothers ! my fathers ! walk in the truth. God has
been with you, is with you, has promised still to be

324 SERMON XI.

with you. Look at all the way in which he has led
you. Ebenezers line the path of your history. Each
once speaks to your heart — 'be of good courage, for
our God is an unchanging God.'

Brethren in the eldership ! called to watch over this
flock with me, a double responsibility will now corne
upon you. I can no longer share that superintendence.
But it is not among the least of God's mercies, that the
recent meetings which we have held, the enlargement
of your numbers, and the plan of operations adopted,
give such promise of benefits to the church. Be reg-
ular, be punctual in your sessional meetings. Go to
this afflicted people ; watch over them; for the tempter
will now have peculiar power over many, by making a
readier excuse for deserting the ordinances and the
house of God. Watch over every wheel in our moral
machinery. See that none of them stop, see that each
is kept in repair, and is moving in its place. I com-
mend to you the Sabbath-Schools, the Bible-Classes,
the Young Men's Association, the Maternal Associa-
tion, the Converts' Class, the Prayer-Meeting, the Tract-
Distribution, the Benevolent Societies. See that this
people hear the claims of each during every year. Do
not let them hug their purses, and close their ear to the
cry of the perishing. Call the attention of this people
to the great moral reformations of our day. Enlist
their hearts for the drunkard, the slave, the unwary
youth who walks amid the snares of the licentious, the
Sabbath-profaner. Point this people to the times and
seasons and ways, when they can labor with special
promise of success for the conversion of sinners.

Fathers ! mothers ! love the souls of your children.
Much, much remains to be done for them, that has not

VALEDICTORY SERMON. 325

been done. There is a degree and kind of prayer, of
anxiety, of skill, of perseverance, which yon have not
yet adopted. I entreat every mother of young children
to join the Maternal Association and love it, for it must
benefit you, if your heart is right.

Young men ! be strong in the Lord. Cherish the
association which you have formed. Cherish this
church. Bear it on your strong shoulders, and inspire
it with your own constitutional vigor.

Young women ! the modern development of God's
providences has opened to you new, wide and appro-
priate spheres of great usefulness ; enter and walk in
them.

Aged fathers and mothers in Israel ! I rejoice that
you have almost reached your crown. Be faithful
unto death.

Dear children ! you are very dear to me. It is your
conversion I have sought, and now most earnestly de-
sire. Turn now to the Lord. Give your hearts to him
and serve him.

Dear converts ! next to the impenitent, there is no
class of our church and congregation from whom I so
reluctantly separate. I know that others can watch
over you and teach you. But ye have not many fathers.
" I have no greater joy than to hear that my children
walk in truth."

To the members of the church generally, let me re-
commend a chastened, Christian love to this church. 1
mean not with party-spirit, nor sectarian zeal. But,
because your responsibilities are concentrated here,
here exert yourselves in building up the knowledge of
Christ. Love other Christians, other sects. Look more
at the great points of resemblance, than at the minor

326 SERMON XI.

points of difference. Cherish the spirit of harmony
with one another. Let no root of bitterness spring up,
no schism. Abhor the talebearer and backbiter, the
curse of every community, peculiarly oi a church.
And now, let me express to you my fear of the ad-
vantage, which the adversary will take of my depart-
ure. Your thoughts and conversations concerning a
man may lead even your hearts from God. " When my
father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take
me up," said an ancient saint. This is from the Lord ;
whether I am right or wrong in this step. He directs
it to you. See his hand, and kiss the rod. Yield your
personal preferences concerning him who succeeds.
Finally, brethren ! pray for me.

Once more, unconverted hearers ! let your friend
and brother turn to you. You have honored my
ministry. I thank you for it. But my master — how
have you treated him? And his message,— how have
you treated that ? Oh ! must I, your friend and brother,
be a swift witness against you? Life and death, good
and evil, blessings and cursings have been set before
you in the name of the Lord. But here I leave you
unreconciled to God. May I linger yet a moment
around you ; may I yet persuade you, by all the claims
of God, by all the terrors of his curse, by all the price
paid for your redemption, by all the yearnings of a
brother's heart, to form the great decision by which
you cross the dividing line between life and death ;
to exercise that repentance by which you can honestly
come to Christ, that faith by which you can partake
of the fulness of his salvation. Come, come, I entreat
you. With a lingering step, I turn from you. Will
you come ?

VALEDICTORY SERMON. 327

Citizens of Albany ! farewell ! Have I wronged you,
have I misled? or have I been as a prophet of the
Lord in the midst of you ? Speak ; for I am now seal-
ing the first section of my ministry, perhaps the last
among you. I have stood on yon heights and looked
over your dwellings, and my anxious thoughts have
dwelt upon your spiritual interests ; my fervent prayers
have arisen for you and your children. I have been
willing to labor for the general good, just as much as
for this individual association. If any have injured
me, I would that they knew how fully they are for-
given. If I have injured any, I would that they knew
how sincerely I implore forgiveness. Many of you
have kindly appreciated my desires for your welfare,
whatever you have thought of the imperfect manner
employed to promote it. You are kind, and your kind-
ness will be remembered.

Members of sister churches ! God bless you, and
make you grow in grace and in the knowledge of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Remember your absent brother.

Unconverted fellow-citizens ! hear the last word of a
parting friend ; make Christ your Savior, and Heaven
your prize. " Ye must be born again." Turn, then,
quickly to the Lord, and your souls shall live.

Again, dear friends t fareivell— farewell !

ADDRESSES,

TO PROMOTE THE REVIVAL OF RELIGION;

Delivered in Surrey Chapel, London.

The following addresses were delivered by Mr. Kirk at a meeting in
Surrey Chapel, so well known as the scene of the labors of the Rev.
Rowland Hill. This meeting, or rather, series of meetings, was designed
to make the experiment, whether these means, so much blessed in Amer-
ica, were adapted only to transatlantic minds, or not. The issues were
delightful ; multitudes of ministers, in the metropolis, and through the
country, were encouraged to "prove the Lord" in the same manner;
and they found, too, that his special blessing was awaiting their special
labors and prayers.

These addresses were taken down by a stenographer, and published,
together with several sermons ; in fact, all the exercises of the week were
published in a neat little book, entitled, " The Church Awakened ;" and

had a wide circulation.

28*

ADDRESS I.

Rev. James Sherman, pastor of the Church, having made some very
impressive remarks, Mr. Kirk arose and addressed the assembly : —

My Beloved Christian Friends !

I suppose that few, who have at all reflected upon
the subject, will be disposed to deny, that, immediately
after death, (unless the mind be overwhelmed with the
suddenness, and the awful nature, of the objects which
present themselves to our view,) the mind will wake
up with astonishment — astonishment that we could
have been living so far from God, and astonishment
that we continued so long to view every thing through
a false medium. You can take the smallest coin, and,
by bringing it near to the eye, can conceal the sun
from your view. Small as is the object, its nearness
to the eye prevents you from beholding one of greater
magnitude at a distance. Here, then, is the delusion : —
"The things which are seen are temporal ;" but still
they are" seen, and the sight of them prevents us from
seeing those which are eternal. God has, therefore,
brought in a new principle, which is faith. This looks
not at the things which are seen, but at those which
are unseen ; not to things which are temporal, but to
those which are eternal ; and it presents these unseen
and eternal objects to our view, not as if regarded
through an inverted telescope, but clothed in all their

332 ADDRESSES TO PROMOTE

grandeur and magnitude, and as if constantly before us
and around us.

You have heard of our meetings for the revival of
religion in America ; and I now want to explain to you
one of the principles on which they are conducted, that
you may be able to judge for yourselves.

When we commenced our protracted meetings for a
revival of religion, some ridiculed us. But God gave
us strength to persevere. It is a fact which none can
dispute,- that every minister of Christ may learn some-
thing by coming in close contact with the minds of his
people. It is a grand mistake to wait at home, and
expect that our people will come to us ; we must go out
in quest of them, and ascertain definitely what is their
state of mind, and what impressions our sermons pro-
duce. We stay at home and study theology in our
closets, till, by abstract meditation, we reach a point
intellectually far beyond the reach of our people. We
learn the meaning of technical words and terms, about
which our people know comparatively nothing. We
think that they know them ; but in this we often labor
under a great mistake. To us, these words are talis-
mans, calling up deep emotions ; to them they are cold
and unmeaning. There are men, for instance, who,
throughout the whole week, have been doing nothing
but counting pounds, shillings, and pence. They are
in no way prepared either to listen to, or understand,
their minister on the Sabbath. They attend, perhaps,
in the morning, but have not yet had time to disengage
themselves from the world, and to be prepared for sym-
pathy with the things of a spiritual world. The same
parties attend in the afternoon, a little better prepared.
And why ? Because we have been striking upon their

THE REVIVAL OF RELIGION. 333

flinty hearts all the morning, holding up Christ to
their view, and saying, " Come here, and look !" On
the very same principle, onr evening-meetings have
been best of all ; the people's hearts becoming all the
while better prepared for the reception of the truth. I
found this so strongly the case in my own congre-
gation, that I determined that Monday should not roll
its oblivious wave over the impressions of the Sabbath.
" God," said I, " has given us one Sabbath,---one day
for meeting ; but why should Ave not have two V We
tried it, and my hopes were realized. The impres-
sions of the Sabbath were revived and deepened in
the morning, still more in the afternoon, and most of
all at night. By the aid of some ministers, we held
the attention of the people continually to the truth ;
and we were willing to go on to Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday, Friday, or Saturday ; or, if God gave us
strength, till we were called upon to lay our feeble
bodies in the dust, if it were best.

To render this principle more obvious, let me suppose
a case. I want to sell a house, and the price I fix upon
it is £5000. The price I have fixed upon is large, but
not more than its real value. The person, to whom
I have offered it for sale, knows nothing of its value,
having never seen it, but he has a very clear idea of
the value of £5000. I give him a description of it. but
he still refuses to purchase. I take him and show him
the house, leading him first into this apartment and
then into that ; pointing out to him first this embellish-'
ment and then that ; directing, at the same time, his
attention to fertile lands upon which it is situated, and
the beautiful views by which it is surrounded ; and I
find, by watching his countenance, that the £5000 are

334 ADDRESSES TO PROMOTE

rapidly sinking in his estimation, and that his desire to
possess the house is becoming stronger and stronger,
until at last he determines to buy it.

Just so it is with the sinner. You are not to expect
him to buy the truth, without some effort on your part
to impress upon him a conviction of its intrinsic value.
If you want to do the sinner good, take him all around
the pit of hell ; let him see the flames of that fire which
is never quenched ; let him hear the shrieks and groans
of those condemned criminals, who are for ever shut
up in the regions of darkness and despair ; and when
he has seen this, say, — l Immortal man ! we want to
get you out of that state of torpor in which you have
so long lain. It is not for the sake merely of terrifying
you, but to lead you to see things as you will, one day,
see them in the light of another world.' Take him- all
around the battlements of Zion, the holy city, the city
of our God ; let him tell her towers ; let him mark her
bulwarks ; let him consider her palaces ; let him hear
the celestial music which warbles upon the tongues of
the heavenly choir ; and then say, — ' Consider, immor-
tal man ! at what a price all this has been purchased —
the price of the Savior's blood ; and let the world, which
has so long engrossed your thoughts and affections, and
so long dazzled you with the false glare of its splendor,
go, and go for ever.' Take him all around the cross
of Christ ; show him the dignity of the mighty Sufferer ;
let him see those expiring throes at which all nature
was convulsed.

The truth is God's instrument of conversion ; but
the truth, to be effective, must be closely, solemnly,
and continuously the object of thought. We see the
mind of an individual serious on Sunday, less so on

THE REVIVAL OF RELIGION. 335

Monday, and still less so on Tuesday. The impres-
sions of truth, like the waves of a retiring tide, are
every day more and more feeble. Say to him, then, —
< We want you to see these things on Monday as you
saw them on Sunday ; and we think that if you saw
that lovely face, and those bleeding hands, which were
stretched upon the cross, you would be led to feel the
awfulness of your condition, and the necessity of your
immediately escaping with your life. We want not,
by this, to make the truth more perfect, but to cause
you to feel more of its power ; and if Sunday is not
sufficient for this purpose, let us have Monday, and
Tuesday, yea, the whole week, rather than suffer the
things that are temporal to stand in the way of those
that are eternal.' This is what I call, the Philosophy
of Revivals ; this is the principle on which our pro-
tracted meetings have been held in America — the prin-
ciple of constantly holding the minds of the people
fixed on the truth. The foolish ostrich, when pursued,
buries his head in the sand, and supposes that his body
is concealed. So unconverted sinners fly from the
pursuit of truth, and endeavor to conceal themselves in
a crowd of worldly enjoyments and pursuits. If we
would be faithful to our trust, we must go forth and
drag them from their hiding place, and throw around
them the blaze of truth with so dazzling a splendor that
they shall be unable to withstand it.

Oh ! I have felt in this sacred place, this morning,
so much of the preciousness of Jesus to my soul, and
my heart has so panted with new desires to serve him.
that no language could give adequate utterance to my
feelings. God has opened to my view such a desire
for his glory as for a long time I have not felt. And

336 ADDRESSES TO PROMOTE

many, I presume, can testify the same. I think thut
the Spirit of God is beginning to move on the hearts
of his people in this place ; and my reasons for think-
ing so are two. First, — There has been a little in-
crease in the spirit of prayer ; and secondly, — God has
granted an answer to these prayers in the manifestation
of his presence. If a little prayer will bring down such
joy into the hearts of his people, what are we to expect
when he comes down in the plenitude of his influence,
in answer to the united and fervent prayers of his
people !

I remarked, last night, on the coming of the Spirit ;
and, I believe that we are living in the days predicted
in the third chapter and the first and second verses of
the prophecies of Malachi ; — " Behold, I will send my
Messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me ;
and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to
his temple, even the Messenger of the Covenant, whom
ye delight in : behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of
hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming ? and
who shall stand when he appeareth ? for he is like a
refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap. And he shall sit as
a refiner and purifier of silver ; and he shall purify the
sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that
they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteous-
ness." I may remark, here, that some of these prophe-
cies have a double, or even a threefold signification ;
and that this particular prophecy has had its fulfilment
in the person of John the Baptist, as also at the day of
Pentecost. But our blessed Lord has told us, that -the
kingdom of God cometh not with observation ;" and
we believe that the kingdom of God will come without
observation into your hearts and into mine j and we

THE REVIVAL OP RELIGION. 337

further believe that the messengers, whom the Lord
now sends to prepare the way before him, are his faith-
ful ministers, deeply and anxiously concerned to extend
the boundaries of the Redeemer's kingdom. It is now
fulfilled in the preachers of the gospel, — in my dear
brother, the pastor of this church, clothed with the
spirit and with the power of John the Baptist, and de-
sirous of recovering the backsliding hearts of his peo-
ple to holiness and peace.

I have no time now to speak on this subject ; but I
found a dear brother in a different part of the country,
whose heart God has affected in the same way ; and I
trust there are many on whose minds the Spirit of God
has begun to work. " Behold, 1 will send my Messen-
ger before me," &c. That is just what we want.
" Behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. But
who shall abide the day of his coming? and who shall
stand when he appeareth ?" Oh ! this is a solemn, a
serious time, when God's servants come to search the
hearts of his people. I ask every individual present,
— ' My brother ! my sister in Christ ! do you feel that
the Spirit of God, through the instrumentality of his
ministers, is removing your past sins from your bur-
dened consciences? is causing you to put away the
idols from your hearts, and to make an unreserved
surrender of yourself to his service V Oh ! this is the
work of the Spirit of God. No power, save the al-
mighty energies of the Spirit, could ever produce such
a glorious effect.

Let us, dear brethren ! remark the peculiarity of the

dispensation under which we live. God has required

great importunity on our part as a prerequisite to the

bestowment of the blessing ; and he has left on record
29

338 ADDRESSES TO PROMOTE

many illustrious examples of successful importunity in
prayer. One is the case of Jacob, who wrestled with
the angel till the break of day, and when remonstrated
with, said, "I will not let thee go, except thou bless
me." From this importunity on this occasion, and
from the prevalence of his prayer, his name was
changed to Israel, which virtually signifies, a man of
power with God. The men, who were made the
honored instruments of giving freedom to the slaves,
might be said to be men of power, having had power
with their sovereign and with their country ; but Jacob,
afterwards called Israel, stands pre-eminently entitled
to this appellation, for it is said by Jehovah himself,
" Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel ;
for as a prince hast thou power with God and with
men, and hast prevailed." He takes hold of the con-
descending covenant-promises, and determines to keep
God to his word, and by his importunity, he prevails.

A minister once said — l I have often been struck with
the beauty and force of the following illustration ; —
" There are two kinds of prayers to be seen among pro-
fessing Christians, which may be illustrated thus ; —
A kind and affectionate mother has left her children in
an adjoining room to amuse themselves with play. By
and by, hearing one of them cry, she starts up and
listens at the door, but finds by the well-known tones
of their voices, that it is only pretence. She resumes
her seat ; but shortly hearing notes of real distress
again proceeding from the apartment, she exclaims,
1 My child ! my child /' and rushes at once to its as-
sistance." ' So it is in the Church. Some men stand
up to pray ; but when God listens, he finds that they
are only mocking him in their prayers. By and by he

THE REVIVAL OF RELIGION. 339

hears another cry ; he listens again, and finds that it
proceeds from one of his broken-hearted children; and,
true to his promise, — "Call upon me in the day of
trouble, and I will deliver thee," — he rushes at once to
his aid. If there is a broken-hearted child in this as-
sembly, this morning, let him take encouragement from
this representation of God's regard for his dear chil-
dren. " Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will
deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me."

I have been led to these remarks, dear brethren !
with the view of showing the value and importance of
importunity in prayer. It is a wise and a benevolent
arrangement on the part of Jehovah, that the enjoy-
ment of the blessings we seek should be connected with
importunate prayer.

One reason for requiring this importunity is, that the
Church is often asking for blessings which she is in no
way prepared to receive,

A second reason for this importunity is, that the
Church is often unwilling to do something, which God
requires to be done in order to the attainment of the
blessing. The Church is praying for the Spirit, but is
not doing, in other respects, what God has required.
The farmer ploughs his field, and then casts in his
seed, and waits for the growth and maturity of the
crop. Oh ! there is much to be learned by Christians
in the art of doing good. Whilst you are waiting, for
the Spirit, and praying for the Spirit, you must be seek-
ing for opportunities of casting in the seed of the word.

A third reason, and the last that we shall mention, is,
that the more you pray for the blessing that you need, the
greater will be your desire for it. The more you hold
converse with God, pleading for the salvation of im-

34.0 ADDRESSES TO PROMOTE, &C.

mortal souls, the more impressively will you see their
value, and the more intense will be your desires for
their conversion. Have you come with this desire this
morning ? Is it your concern that the Spirit of God
should be poured out upon the hearts of poor sinners ?
Learn a lesson from the husbandman. Go forth, Chris-
tians ! plough up the fallow ground of your immediate
neighborhoods : tell sinners of their delusion, guilt,
and danger ; and bring them here to listen to the word.
O ! sons and daughters of Israel ! pray for the dews
of heaven to descend upon the Church, for the south
wind to blow upon the garden of the Lord, that it may
be fruitful, and filled with the plants of life

ADDRESS II.

Dear Christian Friends !

I believe that we are just as accountable for a
spiritual famine, as we are for a famine of daily bread
occurring by our neglect. If, in the latter case, we had
omitted to do all, nay, if we had neglected to do any
part of that, which God had appointed by us to do, we
should have been so far guilty ; so far the authors of
our own destitution. And I believe, that it is just as
awful a perversion in the Church as it would be in the
world, for men to allege the sovereignty of God as a
reason for disconnecting the end with the appointed
means. If a farmer were to say, l I have no power to
produce grain or any other crop in my fields ; this
must be the work of God ; he must send the showers
from heaven ; he must scatter abroad the genial rays
of the sun : he must cause the early and the latter rain
to descend ; he must protect the seed when cast into
the ground, and the tender blade when it first appears ;
he must watch over it and ripen it to maturity ; or a
single grain will never grow :' — if he should say this,
we should at once reply, — ' All very true ; this is a
position which none will dispute.' But, if the farmer
should therefore say, — l If God has decreed that barley

342 ADDRESSES TO PROMOTE

shall grow in this field, and that wheat shall grow in
that, grow it will, and there is no need for my labor,
and anxiety, and toil ;' and, if he should act on this
principle, and neither plough the ground, nor sow the
seed, and the land should be filled with famine, — the
folly and the wickedness would rest with the man.
The kingdom of God would go on ; there would be no
interference with the harmony of his plans or his pur-
poses ; but the people, having neglected the appointed
means of safety, would die. It is surprising how men
have reasoned the sovereignity of God out of the nat-
ural, and confined it to the spiritual world.

A famine of bread and of water, my dear Christian
friends ! is an awful thing; but what is this to a famine
of the word of God ? A man, with a large family, who
lived in the midst of one of those spiritual dearths,
where the word has no power, where there is no sol-
emn exhibition of the truth, no weeping minister, no
hearts bleeding with compassion for poor sinners, went
to one of the deacons, and said, — " I can endure this no
longer ; the minister does not wield the sword of the
Spirit in power ; the weapons of the spiritual warfare
do not prove themselves mighty through God to the
pulling down of Satan's strong holds. I see souls dying
around me daily ; my own family are growing up in
sin for want of the power of the Spirit of God on their
hearts ; we must have a revival of religion." The old
deacon listened with great attention ; and then looking
very calm and placid, said, " My dear brother ! we shall
have a revival, if God has decreed that we shall have
it ; but if it be man's revival, it will do no good." The
young man replied, " My dear father ! no man is more

THE REVIVAL OF RELIGION. 343

diligent in his worldly business than you are, and yet
no man believes more firmly in the divine decrees.
Now I want to know whether you stop your plough-
man ; or whether you refuse to put your money into
the bank, on this principle ? If God refuses to bless
your exertions you will have no crop ; and if he should
withhold his care of your money, the bank will be no
place of security. In this mode of reasoning, therefore,
you have been betraying the worldliness and wicked-
ness of your heart. You dare not trust the power nor
the goodness of God in reference to temporal good,
where your own diligence can secure it ; but in refer-
ence to the concerns of immortal souls, you shelter
yourself behind the decrees of God, and you wickedly
refuse to employ the means which he has directed in
his word. In the natural world the sovereignty of God
is no bar to your exertions ; but in the spiritual world
it must be an extinguisher upon every effort."

That God saves the soul is true ; and that the de-
crees of God are absolute, eternal, and immutable, we
do not deny. His decrees cover every thing; they
reach from the movements of those vast orbs, which
roll through the regions of immensity, to the disposal
of the minutest particle of matter. His decrees extend
to the movement of my hand at this moment. There
is not a spoke in the smallest wheel of the immense
machinery but was seen by God from all eternity.
There is nothing done without God. You plough up
your ground, and you put your wheat in the field, un-
der the surveillance of the God of heaven. His decrees,
I repeat, extend to every thing ; and I believe this as
firmly as any man in existence can believe it. I speak

344 ADDRESSES TO PROMOTE

not, then, against the decrees of God ; but against that
wicked inference which is drawn from them, that man
is not a responsible and accountable agent. I bless
God, that I never yet was able to quiet my conscience
with such theology. Woe upon the preaching which
suffers sinners to go down to hell, soothed with the idea
that they are irresponsible beings. We, saints or sin-
ners, are not straitened in God. The idea that man is
not responsible for his want of holiness, is cherished by
the indolent, and cold, and selfish, in the Church. I
repeat it, I am not straitened in God. I believe, in ref-
erence to the inhabitants of London, in reference to the
congregation now assembled in Surrey chapel, that God
is more willing to give us spiritual blessings than tem-
poral. God thinks infinitely more of his spiritual gar-
den, the Church, than he does of the fields of the hus-
bandman, or of the crops on the hills. " If ye being
evil," says God, " know how to give good gifts unto
your children, how much more shall your heavenly
Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?"
You did not give your child, whom you dearly love, a
stone when he asked you for bread ; nor a scorpion
when he asked you for fish. You gave him what he
asked. " How much more shall your heavenly Father
give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him V This one
doctrine, then, rolls the whole guilt of neglecting per-
ishing sinners upon the Church. The Church has not
asked for the holy Ghost as she ought. I have touched
upon this topic this morning to bring down the awful
guilt upon my own soul, and to do the same with you.
I would fain expand this important subject ; but it has
already been keeping me too long from the topic on

THE REVIVAL OF RELIGION. 345

which I am anxious to dwell. It is presented to us in
Mich. vi. 2 :

" Hear ye, 0 mountains ! the Lord's controversy, and
ye strong foundations of the earth ! for the Lord hath
a controversy with his people, and he will plead with
Israel."

" The Lord hath a controversy with his people."
And do you ask me. with whom? He has a contro-
versy with me ; and he has a controversy with every
one of his ministers who is not willing to labor, and, if
necessary, to die for souls. I feel painfully that God
has a controversy with me. I have no right to look
upon dying souls, standing at the open mouth of the
pit of hell, with such feelings of heart as I do. God
has a controversy with his ministers. Where are we
to look for that bleeding compassion of heart which
seeks out sinners, weeps over them, and beseeches and
entreats them to fly to Christ ? And you, my Christian
friends ! God has a controversy with you. And I am
come to plead this controversy, and to have it settled.
A solemn question is asked in the prophecies of Amos, —
" Can two walk together except they be agreed ?" Oh !
if God be not with us this morning, and if we are not
agreed with him, we shall be talking to no purpose ;
our words will be without power. But if God be with
us, we shall hear him saying, " Fear not, thou worm
Jacob ! behold ! I will make thee a new sharp threshing
instrument, thou shalt thresh the mountains and beat
them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff." He
can give such power to our lips that we shall make
London tremble. Oh ! when the heralds of the God
of Israel go before his face, he will smite " the oaks of

346 ADDRESSES TO PROMOTE

Bashan ;" and " all the high mountains" and " the hills
that are lifted up" shall be brought low ; " and the lofti^
ness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness
of men shall be made low; and the Lord alone shall
be exalted in that day." But it is a dreadful thing to
have an unsettled controversy with God ; for two can-
not walk together except they be agreed.

My Christian friends ! I am anxious to have this
controversy settled ; and I have come this morning, I
say, to plead the Lord's cause ; I commence with you,
covenant-people of God ! and I beseech you never to
look up to us as gods ; never to suppose that we can do
God's work without you ; never to imagine that any
success will attend our exertions without your prayers :
for, if you do, God will utterly confound us before your
face. Oh ! brethren ! idolize not man ; idolize none
of God's ministers ; but get down into the dust and
honor God. By our meetings in this place we aim to
make a movement in the Church, and in the world, at
which hell shall tremble. And our plan is simple :
prayer to God for the descent of the Holy Ghost, and
the manifestation of the truth to every man's conscience.
It is vital piety, and not a great machinery, that we
need for this contest. We must not go forth with Saul's,
heavy and cumbrous armor, but with the sling and
pebbles, by which the Goliaths of iniquity are to be
smitten to the ground. And do you think that this can
be done ? It can ; but you must first settle your con-
troversy with God.

In the majority of those meetings which have been
held in America for the revival of religion, the first
mark of the descent of the Holy Ghost was, the people

THE REVIVAL OF RELIGION. 347

of God confessing their sins, bewailing their unfaithful-
ness, and suing for pardon. And, the moment when
the people of God became humbled in the dust, and
the ministers came forward personally and confessed
their sins, sinners began to awake, and to cry for
mercy. They said, "It is time that we awake ; for
if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the
ungodly and the sinner appear V And it will be just
so with you. If you deeply feel what a dreadful thing
sin against God is, you will be humbled, and be led to
sue for pardon ; and it is just in proportion as you.
Christians, or we, ministers, get this feeling, that we
shall know how to talk to other men upon the awful
depravity and wickedness of their hearts. But, till this
controversy with God is settled, we can do no more
than open our mouths in a faint whisper for him. The
Church gets into captivity now, just as the Church of
old did : and at such seasons we cannot sing one of
the songs of the Lord in a strange land; we cannot
open our mouths for God. Oh the dreadfulness of an
unsettled controversy !

Every Christian with an unsettled controversy is an
Achan in the camp. And what a dreadful character
is this ! The whole camp of Israel must be impeded
in their march from this one man havinsf taken the
Babylonish garment and the wedge of gold, which was
part of the accursed spoil. There may be an Achan
here this morning; one who, from practices indulged
in secret, or from a careless disregard of prayer or other
known duties, is now staying the descent of the Spirit
upon this congregation, and impeding the march of
God's Israel to triumph. Oh ! my brethren ! take care,

348 ADDRESSES TO PROMOTE

take care, I beseech you, that you be not placed in this
awful position ; that you be not Achans in God's camp ;
that you have not coveted the Babylonish garment and
the wedge of gold, or hid them in your tents ; that you
are not hugging to your bosom, at this moment, that
which God has pronounced accursed. Oh ! say, in all
the sincerity of your hearts, — " Search me, O God! and
know my heart ; try me, and know my thoughts f tell
me what is this controversy which thou hast with me,
and let it now be settled. If it be a right arm, cut it
off ; if it be a right eye, pluck it out ; if it be the world
that is dear to me, mortify me to it ; or, if it be prayer
that is neglected, stir me up in that duty. Lord ! what
is this controversy with me? What wedge of gold,
what Babylonish garment lies hidden here, that thou
canst not bless me? Let me die rather than be an
Achan to impede the march of thine Israel.

Brethren ! a revival of religion is a personal matter.
As 1 remarked yesterday, « The kingdom of God Com-
eth not with observation." If you settle this contro-
versy, however, and if you are earnest in prayer, the
Lord will come with power into your hearts. I know
not how you may have backslidden from God; I
know not what may have been your besetting sins ;
I know not in the discharge of what duties you may
have been deficient : that is a personal matter — it rests
between God and your own soul ; but this I do know,
that you must be humbled over your backslidings, re-
pent of your sins, and return to the discharge of your
duties, before this controversy between God and you
can be settled. If this controversy should be with me,
and if my cold heart should prevent the descent of

THE REVIVAL OF RELIGION. 349

the Ftoly Ghost, I pray God it may be settled. Oh !
brethren ! let there be deep searchings of heart.

But what is this controversy which God has with
his people ? I might here ran over a list of a thousand
things, and thereby show you the backsliding of heart
and life to which the people of God are sometimes led;
but I shall confine myself, this morning, to one point
alone. It is said in the New Testament, " When the
Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith in the earth ?"
We tell it to the city of London, we tell it to Britain,
we tell it to all the world, that the Son of Man is about
to come on the earth ; not, as the Millenarians teach,
to assume a temporal authority, or to establish a per-
sonal reign ; but in the power of his Spirit, to take pos-
session of the hearts of thousands, and we hope millions
of our fellow-men ; and we take shame to ourselves
that his coming has been so long delayed for want of
our fervent and united prayers. But suppose he does
come ; have you faith ? Will you be ready to receive
him? If not, God has a controversy with you ; for you
are bound to have faith, which is nothing more than
confidence in God, and believing what he says, and yet
you dishonor him by your unbelief.

I take the case of the parent as an illustration of
what I mean. God says to that father, and to that
mother, — < That child of yours is hanging over the pit
of hell, and, unless you take care, will soon be writh-
ing in the agony of eternal torments.' And yet you
will not believe him. You bow the knee at the family-
altar, and you pour out your words ; but there is no
agonizing or wrestling with God for your child. 1
suppose the child to be exceedingly ill. Your anxiety

30

350 ADDRESSES TO PROMOTE

now is all alive. You examine his pulse; you observe
the painful symptoms of disease ; and you send with
great haste for the physician. And why? Because
you have faith in the disease ; faith in the danger of
the child; and faith in the skill of the plujsiclan. Oh !
what anxiety, what use of the appointed means of
recovery, is visible here ! You sit up whole nights,
watching by the bed of your darling child ; you wait
with an intenseness of desire for the hour when the
physician will return ; and if he delays but a few mo-
ments behind the appointed time, your feelings rise
almost to agony. And why is it that you feel and act
thus ? Because you believe.

Make the application of this, my dear brethren ! Dq>
you believe that your child is an enemy to the great
God? Do you believe that the whole head is sick, and
the whole heart faint? Do you believe that without
the appointed remedy he must die, and die eternally ?
And have you sent for the great Physician? and are
you listening at the door, or watching his countenance,
to see if you can discover any hope of recovery ? Oh !
there is balm in Gilead ; there is a physician there ;
and yet for want of faith your child is not healed. Go,
like the Syrophoenician woman to our Lord, and say,
" My daughter, my daughter, is sore vexed with a
devil. Lord ! help me." Is there a man here who
says that this is extravagant ? I tell that man that he
gives the lie to the whole Bible. I believe in the
warning and burning truths of the Bible ; and I delight
to present them to my hearers, because I know that
we all need to be aroused. Just take that one example,
dear brethren ! — the example of unbelief presented in

THE REVIVAL OF RELIGION. 351

your indifference about the souls of your children ; and
begin to plead with God in earnest, and to give him no
rest until he shall come and heal.

I would not thus expand this subject, but I want to
lead you to settle your controversy with God. Why
am I so cold, so indifferent about the salvation of souls,
so unlike the Son of God ? Why are the children of a
king so lean ? Why this want of spiritual health 1
Why this coldness in prayer, this sluggishness in duty,
this backwardness in doing God's work? Oh! my
brother! my sister! settle your personal controversy
with God ; and let Christ have delight in coming to
his garden and eating his pleasant fruit. - Come to the
altar of God now, and plead down the blessing. If
you all settle your controversy with God ; if you all
become reconciled with his dear Son ; if you all obtain
the witness of God's Spirit with your spirit, what a
blessed meeting this will have been ! If we have been
up to the mount, and have held converse with our
Father, then our faces will shine as did the face of
Moses, the beauty of which we shall be unable to con-
ceal from the world.

But suppose God should favor us with a revival of
religion, what will be its effect upon the world? I will
tell you. A minister once said.—" The Church of God
is like a column of air. When the air becomes rarified
it rises up, and other air from around rushes in to sup-
ply its place." Just so is it with the Church. The
moment the Church of God rises in spiritual warmth
toward heaven, it rises, and rises, as a cloud, and it
carries others along with it. The warm air has
ascended ; and the dense atmosphere has rushed to

352 ADDRESSES TO PROMOTE, &C.

supply its place. Christians having been aroused to a
sense of their responsibilities and privileges, sinners
flock around, witnessing the effect which has been pro-
duced. Are there any such present this morning 7
Sinners ! God has a controversy with you. Oh ! I
beseech you, I beseech you, as though God did beseech
by me, — I beseech you in Christ's stead, — as though
the blessed Jesus stood where I now stand, — 1 beseech
you, " Be ye reconciled to God !" O sinners !
delay not one moment ; " tarry not in all the plain ;"
go to God at once by Jesus Christ.

ADDRESS III.

Christian Friends !

It is a very interesting sight, as your beloved pastor
has remarked, to see at this hour of the day, and that,
too, on one of the busiest days of the week, so many
persons assembled together for the purpose of prayer ;
and it brings no small responsibility upon him who
has undertaken to guide the minds of this assembly. I
feel no hesitation, my beloved brethren ! in holding up
to you, and all my fellow-Christians, this one subject —
the desirableness there is that the eternal Spirit, the
almighty Agent of conversion and sanctification, pro-
ceeding from the Father and the Son, should come
into every heart in this assembly ; and the desirable-
ness there is that this eternal Spirit should come down,
in his quickening and sanctifying influences, upon all
our churches. I am impressed with the importance,
and with the solemn duty, of urging upon this congre-
gation the necessity of prayer for the Holy Ghost to
descend upon them, upon every church of Christ, and
upon the whole race of man.

Our subject, then, is the desirableness of pray cr for
the outpouring of the Spirit.

Prayer includes two sentiments — the heart's deep
feeling of its necessities, and an assured confidence that

30*

354 ADDRESSES TO PROMOTE

God will give the blessings sought. The first of these
is spiritual desire, the second is faith.

Let holy desires be enkindled in our hearts. You
have heard that, when the disciples met to wait for the
promise of the Father, they were all of one accord.
Their minds were set upon some great object; they
were in expectation of some great event, some mighty
resting of the Spirit of God upon the souls of his people.
Hence they went as humble suppliants, and waited on
God till the blessing came.

A respected brother of a different denomination, (Mr.
Stevenson,) has said that we are all agreed about some-
thing. I bless God that we are ; and when we get to
heaven we shall be agreed about every thing. We
shall be of one accord. There is one great subject that
would make one vast prayer-meeting of the whole
Church of God, and that one subject is the necessity
and the desirableness of the descent of the Holy Ghost,
and there is none but needs to be baptized with the
Holy Ghost ; and my humble endeavor is now, under
the blessing of God, to increase the sense of that want
in the hearts of all his people. May we now enjoy the
sense of his presence !

We want the Holy Ghost; and if there is desire
enough, and faith enough, we shall receive the Holy
Ghost. But what will be the influence of the Spirit of
God upon our hearts when he does come ? I will not
run over all the wide field, but will select here and
there a few solitary proofs of his presence.

And, First, If the Spirit of God descend upon this
assembly, we shall find what has been the cause of his
absence.

THE REVIVAL OF RELIGION. 355

Blessed be God, we have felt the power of the Spirit
at the meeting just held in Mr. Sherman's house, and
we desire him to visit us again. When he comes, it is
not to convince us of general truths, but of that which
concerns us personally. He tells us what is the cause
of his absence ; he points out the particular sins of
which we have been guilty ; he reveals the nature and
causes of our backsliding from God ; he stamps an in-
dividuality upon our particular failings and short-
comings ; he holds up the glass to our eyes, and makes
us look at ourselves as we really are.

Religion, we know, is a personal matter ; and when
the Spirit of God is come, the " family of the house
of David shall mourn apart, and their wives apart;
the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their
wives apart ; the family of the house of Levi apart,
and their wives apart ; the family of Shimei apart, and
their wives apart ; all the families that remain, every
family apart, and their wives apart." Such is the work
of the Spirit of God. He comes to take us apart, to
show us individually the deformity of our backslidings,
to lead us to mourn over them apart, and to constrain
us to plead anew for sanctifying grace. This personal
influence we need that we may see our individual sins.
Oh that he may show us why we were so dead, why
our hearts did not break under the power of his word ;
why we could be content to live at such a distance
from him ; why we were satisfied when doing so little
for his cause ! No individual man can tell you, but
the Holy Ghost can. He can whisper to your con-
science, and show you where the evil lies. Pray for
him to come, then, and show you why you are so cold.

356 ADDRESSES TO PROMOTE

why you have no more delight in the service of Jesus
Christ, no more devotedness to him. Pray for him to
come upon you as the Spirit of life. Pray for him to
come and convince the world of sin, and the Church
of her backslidings from God. The Church is in cap-
tivity, and she must be made to break the yoke of her
thraldom, and stand forth, in the eyes of the world,
invested with that glorious freedom to which she is
entitled, by virtue of the union that she sustains to her
great Head.

Secondly, If the Spirit of God descends upon this
assembly, he will shed abroad the love of Christ in
your hearts.

How sweet is the love of Christ ! How desirable to
have the love of Christ "shed abroad in our hearts by
the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us !" To be like
Christ, to love Christ; this is heaven begun. And we
have heaven in our souls, and the enjoyment of heaven
in prospect, just in proportion as we have love to
Christ, and likeness to his image. But we want more
love to Christ, and we must have more likeness to
Christ. And how is this to be obtained ? No sermon
can do it ; even prayer itself will not do it ; but prayer
will do it by bringing down the Spirit. Let us, then,
put ourselves in a prayerful and waiting posture for
the coming of the Holy Ghost !

" I will spread the sail,
Blow thou the breeze, and waft me to my home."

If God calls men to be the partakers of his grace, and
if the love of Christ is shed abroad in their hearts,
they will be willing to wear out in his service. The

THE REVIVAL OF RELIGION. 357

love of Christ constrains them. They are willing
to do any thing for Christ so long as he gives them
strength.

We want more of this love. We must not be so
selfish in our religious feelings. We must have the
Spirit of God as a spirit of compassion to perishing
sinners. If we saw the actual condition of sinners,
their deep depravity and guilt, their hideous deformity
in the sight of God, we should not be able to rest by
day or by night. We want the Holy Ghost to show
us their actual condition ; to show us how hateful
they are in God's sight ; and to show us upon what
a fearful precipice they stand. No man can show
us ; nothing but the Spirit of God can do this. But
when he begins to exhibit the awful danger of sinners,
and the certainty of their destruction, the Church is
aroused from her stupor, and puts up her prayers, and
combines her efforts on their behalf. How tenderly
did the Apostle Paul feel, when he said, " My con-
science beareth me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I
have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my
heart; for I could wish that myself were accursed
from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according
to the flesh !" How earnest, how intense, was his
desire for the salvation of his brethren ! And such
is the effect of the love of Christ wherever it is pos-
sessed. It is a love that works ; it is a love that
warms ; it is a love that instructs ; it is a love that
beseeches ; it is a love that prays for, that bleeds for,
and that dies for poor sinners, if called to it by the
providence of God. If this love for Christ dwelt in
the hearts of professing Christians as it ought ; if it

358 ADDRESSES TO PROMOTE

existed in our churches to the extent we have reason
to believe that it should ; how differently would they
act ! Oh ! if we possessed this love, there is not a
street in London, there is not an alley, nor a lane,
in which the voice of tearful and warning expostu-
lation would not be heard. We should seek out
sinners, we should weep over them ; we should warn
them, and '• compel them to come in." Oh ! there
is too little sympathy with the compassion of Christ
in our churches ; they are lukewarm, they are lifeless
and dead. Zion is at ease ; and you, her members,
'are willing to go home to your lovely families, to
your well-furnished houses, to your cheerful fire-sides,
and to your well-spread tables, and see your neigh-
bors going to hell, without so much as an effort to
effect their escape. When I say you, I mean myself.
O this insensible heart ! how little does it weep over
sinners ! how little does it bleed for their woes ! And
is it better with you 1 Oh ! to have the compassionate
mind that was in Christ ! The want of this makes us
feel our want of the Holy Ghost.

Thirdly, If the Holy Ghost should come as we
desire and have prayed for, I will tell you how he will
come, — Sinners will flock to your sanctuaries until
you have not sufficient room to hold them.

How different is the preaching of ministers in a
time of revival ! The world hears of the change,
and comes to listen to them. The world says, — « This
is the kind of preaching that will do us good.' Yes ;
and they are better judges of this matter than some
of you may be ready to think. I have heard men,
during a time of revival, who, by the strength of

THE REVIVAL OF RELIGION. 359

their language, and frequency of their appeals, have
so galled and offended the impenitent, that they have
gone out, condemning the preachers, and saying that
they would never come again ; but these same per-
sons have been found in attendance on the next
sermon. Whether they love or hate the preaching,
they will come to hear it ; and God will humble
their hearts, make them bow down to truth, and bring
them to himself. The apostle Paul said, — " Brethren !
pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have
free course and be glorified;" and we, his uninspired
successors, say, — : pray for us, that we may be
faithful to our trust, and successful in our work.'
We cannot do without your prayers. The arduous
nature of our work, and the opposition we have to
encounter, demand your prayers. Pray for your min-
ister, brethren ! and pray for us, that we may have
the Holy Ghost in our hearts ; and shed a"broad the
spirit of prayer.

The melancholy termination of every revival has
been caused by the withdrawal of divine influence,
and that by the sins of the Church. The efforts at
first were great, and great good was effected. But
in a short time there was lukewarmness of heart,
and they settled down again upon their lees. I hope
that there will be such a revival of religion here as
will continue to the end of time. We do not want
periodical revivals ; but we want a revival for this
year, for the next, and for all the periods of future
time, to continue till the blast of the archangel's tmmp
is heard. To secure this we want the Spirit of God
as a spirit of prayer. Like Jacob, who wrestled with

360 ADDRESSES TO PROMOTE

the angel, " till the morning light," we must say, —
" I will not let thee go except thou bless me." And
this must be not the transient impulse of the heart
merely, but one continued and persevering deter-
mination. If a revival should be granted, and we
should then turn aside, the blame and the sin would
rest with ourselves.

There is often much in a revival of religion that no
eye can see. Some poor, but consistent, mother in Is-
rael, perhaps, has great power with God in her closet.
The state of those around her affects her heart, and she
retires to her closet and pours out her heart in prayer.
She prays for her minister ; and she makes him power-
ful by the prevalency of her prayers. The world sees
his power of persuasion, and his increased earnestness
and success in his work, but they know not all the links
of the golden chain. Ye aged mothers in Israel ! we
look to you for your prayers. Forget us not when you
retire to your closets. Pray that our hands may be
strengthened by the Almighty God of Jacob.

I have one more reason to offer, to show the desira-
bleness of our praying for the outpouring of the Spirit,
and that is :

That, if the Spirit shall descend in answer to our
prayers, there will be a great awakening of sinners to
a sense of their danger.

In the midst of some of our revivals in America, it is
astonishing what effects have been produced. Convic-
tions, of the most astonishing kind, have been brought
under our notice. When the Spirit of God has moved
upon the hearts of a community in answer to prayer, a
single passage of Scripture, or a single warning or ex-

THE REVIVAL OF RELIGION. 361

hortation delivered at some former period, has come
with overwhelming power to the minds of the impeni-
tent. I remember a remarkable instance, which may-
serve to illustrate my meaning. The young man re-
lated this story to me himself. His father and mother
were going to a protracted meeting for a revival of re-
ligion in the neighborhood, and they desired him to
accompany them. He had no desire for such meetings,
and determined not to go. His parents then went, and
left him at home ; but you may be sure that they did
not neglect to pray for him. After they were gone he
began to feel uneasy, and wished that he had accom-
panied them. He determined, however, to drive away
the thought, and tried to amuse himself, taking up first
one thing and then another. He still felt a dreadful
chasm. He then thought that he heard a voice saying
to him, « Come, and let us reason together," &c. He
tried to get rid of it, but in vain. The voice seemed
to say,— < It is thy God who says it ; if you have any
thing to say, answer your God ; come. Is it not rea-
sonable that you should love him?' He again tried to
get rid of it, and went into another part of the house
for the purpose, but, " Come, let us reason together,"
<kc, still sounded in his ears, and so continued to fol-
low him, that he at last cast himself on his knees, and
cried out,—' My God, I have no reason ; I am a most
unreasonable sinner.' He arose from his knees, went
to the protracted meeting, and placed himself beside his
father and mother, to whom he related what had oc-
curred. This was the beginning of the work of the
Spirit on his soul, which resulted in his conversion.
Many such things as this may occur among you, if
31

362 ADDRESSES TO PROMOTE, &C.

the Spirit of God should now come in answer to our
prayers. If not, we may abandon our meetings and
return to our worldly avocation ; or rather humble our-
selves and wait upon the Lord until he come. Impeni-
tent sinner ! we want the Spirit for you, to convince
you of your danger, and to lead you to fly to Jesus
Christ as the sinner's friend. Oh ! let us, my dear
brethren ! pray for the spirit ; and let us determine to
give God no rest until " the day-spring from on high
hath visited us."

ADDRESS IV.

EXTRACT FROM AN ADDRESS ON THE EFFORTS OF
THE AMERICAN CHRISTIANS FOR THE CONVERSION
OF THE HEATHEN.

I may here remark, that the accounts of those dear
Baptist brethren — Fuller, Ryland, Carey, and others —
as to the destitution of the East, laid the foundation of
missions in America. It is strange to find, however,
that the spark which had thus been blown, should have
been so long in kindling among us. About the year
1810, there was a little band of men — four, I believe in
number — among whom was the future husband of Har-
riet Newell, as also, Gordon Hall; — names with which
I have no doubt you are all acquainted. These young
men read the accounts forwarded to them from time to
time ; they heard of the prevalence of infanticide in
the different parts of the globe ; they beheld the iron
sceptre of paganism swayed over the souls of millions
of their fellow-immortals, and they wept ; for the feel-
ings, which brought the Son of God from heaven to
earth, had taken possession of their breasts. Though
they loved their country, their homes, their literature,
cheir civil and religious privileges ; yet, following the
example of him who, " though he was rich, yet for our

364 MISSIONARY EFFORTS

sakes became poor/' they were found ready to abandon
all. and to become as poor as their Master, if thereby
their fellow-creatures might be made rich.

I love to look back to the origin of modern missions,
and to trace the progress they have made ; because I
now find that infidels are beginning to look upon them
with respect. We have given to a whole nation lan-
guage and literature ; improvements in the arts of civi-
lized life ; civil and religious privileges ; and a code
of laws based upon those of Britain and America. In-
fidels ascribe this to the advance of philosophy ; but
far from this is the fact, for it had its origin in that
love to Christ which existed in the bosoms of a few
pious young men. Influenced by love to souls, they
were accustomed to pour out their hearts in prayer at
the back of a hay-stack, which was near to the college;
and there called down a missionary spirit from heaven,
which has proved the glory of our country.

It is always pleasing to trace the simplicity of God's
plans in the execution of his own work. He chooses
the weak things of the world to confound the mighty,
the foolish to confound the wise, and the things that
are not to put to naught the things that are. Philoso-
phers have said, " Extend the arts and sciences, pro-
mote commerce, establish colleges, and send out learned
men.*' We waited for years for these philosophic men
to act, but we waited in vain. They have not that
love for Jesus in their hearts, which would lead them
to eat the bread of sorrow with the poor heathen, for
the sake of elevating them to the enjoyment of the great
and glorious privileges of the Gospel of Christ. No !
God has wrought this by simpler means. He influen-

OF AMERICAN CHRISTIANS. 365

ces the hearts of a few young men with love to him,
and the Spirit of Jesus sanctifies their prayers and
efforts to the accomplishment of this great end.

At the time these young men first met to consult and
pray over the sta*te of the heathen, there was no man in
our country who would then advocate the cause of
missions. A man who would then have given a hun-
dred dollars to the cause of Christ would have been
blazoned from one end of the land to the other ; but
there are now those who give their thousands without
its eliciting more than a passing remark. The contrast
in this, and in other respects, is exceedingly great
When these young men had debated the matter among
themselves, they consulted some of the aged ministers
in the neighborhood upon the subject, but they obtained
no light. At last they thought of going before a body
of Congregational ministers in a neighboring state, who
were about to assemble at their annual convention, and
agreed to lay before them the whole of their feelings
and deliberations upon the subject, and to abide by
their decision. These fathers of the Church were as-
tonished at the glow of their zeal ; but after much
deliberation and prayer, what was the result 1 Why,
that, whilst they did not question the zeal or the devo-
tedness of the parties, it was not possible for the whole
of the American churches, at that time, to support four
men. This was the state of feeling on the subject of
missions in America, in 1810 ; and yet now, blessed be
God ! we have at least three hundred missionaries em-
ployed ; and I know one church that provides for its
minister and supports a missionary. But what next
did these parties do to whom these young men had ap-

31*

366 MISSIONARY EFFORTS

plied for advice ? Why, they sent them to England to
try to raise the necessary funds there ; but, blessed be
God ! the English laughed at them, and sent them
back, telling them to try the churches in their own
country, and not degrade them by saying that they
were unable to support four isolated missionaries.
They returned and tried the churches, and there found
more piety and zeal than they had been led to expect.
Last year, as is generally known, was a year of great
depression to America : and yet there was no flagging
in the missionary spirit. This I consider as a redeem-
ing fact in favor of America, and nothing has more
cheered my heart, during an absence of eighteen months
from that country, than to know that they have been
able to meet the demands which were against them,
without the slightest decrease in the missionary treas-
ure. One society only in America, and that the one
established by these young men, annually expends fifty
thousand dollars in the cause of the heathen. We
have now stations at Siam, at Constantinople, at Bom-
bay, at Calcutta, in China, in the Sandwich Islands,
and at sundry other places; and have in connection
with the Society 300 missionaries, of whom 150 are
ordained ministers. Every time that we receive ac-
counts from the Isles of the Pacific, we find that they
are improving in their civil and political condition, and
that such is their eagerness to receive our tracts and
books, that it is impossible to print them fast enough.
Well may we say, " What has God wrought V To
such an extent did infanticide exist at the time when
we commenced our operations there, that it was cal-
culated that the whole of these islands would have

OF AMERICAN CHRISTIANS. 367

been depopulated in the course of thirty years. In-
stead of this, they are now, not only rapidly increasing
in civilization, but as steadily advancing in numbers.
Here is a striking illustration of the value of money
expended in the missionary cause. Blessed be God for
teaching this people this lesson !